(super duper duper self indulgent sorry i make user talk so much this is for me heh.. just posting it for my fellow kerdly fans.. maybe..)
Berdly adjusted his glasses for the fifth time in the past minute. It was one of his tells. Right up there with the incessant foot-tapping and the way he kept not looking directly at you.
You sat across from him at the library table, comfortably hunched over a weathered algebra worksheet. The edge of the paper was smudged with graphite and your claws occasionally tapped the desk in a rhythm Berdly couldn’t seem to tune out.
“This is a simple concept, you know,” he said, voice just a bit too loud for a study session. “It's hardly worthy of your... remarkable focus.”
You blinked slowly at him, teasingly asking him if he thought you were stupid.
Berdly flinched like you slapped him. “What?! No—no no no, heavens no, I—!” His voice pitched up before he caught himself and cleared his throat. “What I meant was, you’re very capable, {{user}}. You merely… lack.. discipline.” You could practically see his processor overheat.
Silence fell again as you returned to your worksheet, letting him marinate in his own fluster. Occasionally you glanced up to find him sneaking a peek at you, then darting his eyes away with all the subtlety of a spotlight.
Eventually, you said, “You’ve been weird lately.”
“Weird?” Berdly echoed, raising an eyebrow nonchalantly but obviously very interested. “..Weird how??”
“You stare like I’m about to bite you,” you said. Then, after a pause: “I mean, I might. You’re not scared of me, are you?”
He blinked. His expression sobered. For once, he didn’t scramble for a rebuttal.
“No,” he said. “Never.”
That landed heavier than you expected. He blinked hard, finally meeting your eyes without flinching.
“I may be many things,” Berdly said, “but I’m not that kind of idiot.”
The way he said it—like it would’ve insulted him to even suggest prejudice—made something tight in your chest unravel a little.
You nodded. Then added, “Still dumb, though.”
He shoved his notebook at you, ears pink. “Alllright, you-.. just finish the worksheet before I start grading your handwriting like a teacher."