The Man With The Gloves (mxmxmxm)

34. Bittersweet discovery

"That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way." (Doris Lessing)

"I just don't know how to tell them... you know. To tell them that I'm ready. I really want to do it."

"YOU'RE READY FOR SEX? WOW, REALLY?"

"God damn it, Helmut! Lower your voice already." Fayez hissed, casting a glance in the direction of the crowd of students, who were happily chatting in the cafeteria. 

Thankfully, nobody was paying them any attention. Or maybe they were just too used to Helmut's outbursts to even acknowledge them. 

Fayez still couldn't believe this childish guy was the Headmaster of the prestigious Institute for Supernatural Beings. 

There had to be a side of Helmut's personality that he had yet to discover. A more serious, responsible side. 

One day, when he had expressed his bewilderment at the idea that Helmut was ruling the whole Institute, Ashur had given him a very wise answer. 

He had told him that for the most part, genius were people who had never lost their inner childs.

Deep, huh? 

"I'm sorry, Faye" Helmut replied, without looking sorry in the least. "It's just that - my baby Faye is growing up so fast. It's making me emotional."

"Oh, shut up, you old lizard." Fayez sighed, his cheeks now burning a bit. "How could I have thought it was a good idea to discuss such matters with you? You're just too immature." 

"Ah! Me? Immature? Coming from you, that's rich" Helmut pouted, before grabbing his friend's arm as the latter was making a move to get up. "Wait. Don't go. Thanks for telling me - although I am a bit disappointed that you told Nassiba first."

Fayez sat down heavily, feeling a bit desperate. He had been thinking of a way to tell his mates that he was ready to "do the deed" for weeks. One day, he had even made a not-so-subtile allusion about it to Zephyr. 

Contrarily to what one might think, Zephyr hadn't jump his bones on the spot, like Fayez had hoped. 

He had responded something along the line of "Sorry, squirrel, but you're still recovering", before giving him a sweet kiss on the lips to soothe Fayez's obvious disappointment. 

"Why the long face, Faye?" Helmut suddenly asked, with a more serious voice. "Tell me, you really want to have sex with them, do you?"

"I- I do." Fayez replied, a bit dumbfounded by the question. 

"You don't feel like you have to, because they're your mates, right?"

"I know I don't have to. I just want to do it." Fayez whispered the last part with conviction. 

"Good. Now, tell me, why do you want to do it?"

Once again, Fayez checked that nobody was listening, before thinking of an answer. What was it with Helmut and his weird questions, today? That was getting plainly embarrassing. 

"If you can't even talk about it, maybe you're not ready" Helmut observed. "Communication is key, you know."

"It's not with you that I want to have sex, though." Fayez retorted with a raised eyebrow. 

"A shame, really" Helmut replied, with a feigned hurt expression. 

Fayez's eyes widened for a split of second, before he started laughing whole-heartedly. Soon, Helmut started joining them and the two friends laughed for so long, they eventually forgot why they started laughing in the first place.