Here's the third Ask Vincent Answers post! Thanks so much for all the questions, I tried to answer most of them! If you have more questions, feel free to send 'em to me. :)

* I actually wrote a short story about Vincent's encounter with Ben Hopper at school, feel free to read it below. It's a rough draft, I don't know what if anything I will ever do with it, haha. Hope you enjoy it anyway.

Vincent and Friends

Episode 1: There Must Be Some Misunderstanding

Maddie made her way up the stairs to her friend Vincent's bedroom. When she opened the door she saw Ethan already there, lying on the bed staring into his phone screen as usual, but what was unusual was Vincent on the floor struggling his way through a set of sit ups.

“What are you doing?” Maddie inquired while closing the door behind her.

“Getting huff in shape!” Vincent managed to squeak out.

“He thinks he's fat.” Ethan said without looking up.

Vincent propped himself up on his elbows. “I am fat.” He motioned towards his belly which was almost always poking out from beneath his tee shirt. Maddie responded only with the raising of one eyebrow and crossing her arms. “Ben Hopper said--”

“Here we go...” Ethan rolled his eyes.

“He called you fat?” Maddie asked.

“Not exactly...” Vincent's gaze turned down to the floor. “We were in the cafeteria... Ethan and I were looking for a place to sit when all of a sudden...”

A hand reached out and grabbed Vincent's behind, giving it a tight squeeze. The skunk almost dropped his lunch tray but managed to keep a grip on it. He swung around to see Ben Hopper, a tall extremely handsome rabbit looking down at him. “Oh, sorry fella, didn't see you there.” He smiled.

“But you--” Vincent began.

“Say,” Ben held out a tray of cupcakes “My mom made cupcakes for my birthday but.. there's no way I could eat 'em all. Do you want one?”

Vincent's cheeks were already hot with embarrassment and his previously squeezed rear was stinging slightly... had Ben Hopper just grabbed his ass soley for the purpose of offering him dessert? He was suddenly overcome with the feeling that Ben was trying to trick him. As casually as he could, Vincent muttered “No... thanks...”

Just as he was turning back toward Ethan, Ben said “My bad, you just look like the kinda guy who really likes sweets.”

Vincent turned around to face Ben again. “What's that s'posed to mean?”

“You know...” Ben said pointing down to Vincent's lunch tray “because of that?”

“My lunch?” Vincent looked at the plate of food with puzzlement.

“No, under your tray.” Ben said with a charming smirk.

Vincent lifted his tray up near his face and looked down, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary when Ben suddenly poked his soft belly. “This! Your pot belly tells a story, little skunk.”

Vincent backed up away from Ben's accusing finger and lowered his tray. He didn't think it was possible for his face to turn any more red, but it did. Ben reached out a long arm and placed a cupcake on his lunch tray. “It's okay, I know you want one.” He smiled again and started walking away, calling out over his shoulder “See ya, chunky skunky!”

“He called you chunky skunky??!” Maddie reached down and helpedVincent up off the floor. “I'll kill 'im!”

“I mean... he's not wrong...” Vincent pulled his tee shirt down a bit trying to hide his shame. “Maybe I've been... indulging too much lately...”

Ethan finally took his phone away from his face and set it on the bed. “I think he's got it all wrong...” He said to Maddie. “He's totally misreading the whole situation.”

“What??” Vincent scoffed “What's there to misread? He poked me in the belly and called me fat!”

“No, he didn't.” Ethan put his finger in the air “He grabbed your ass, and poked you in the belly. And not once did he call you fat.”

“Your point?” Vincent crossed his arms.

“That...” Ethan gestured to Vincent's midsection “Is always peeking out of your shirt just begging to be poked, if you didn't want to call attention to it, then get some bigger tops... otherwise, what a tease!” Ethan closed his eyes and shook his head lightly, Vincent had always been a bit stubborn. “What do you think, Maddie?”

“Well, I mean... it is tempting...” Maddie said with a hand on her hip.

“And you do have an irresistibly cute butt.” Ethan said.

Vincent put one hand on his rear and pulled his shirt down further in the front. “Don't get any ideas, either of you!” His cheeks flushed with pink, a regular occurrence for someone so easily embarrassed.

“I think Ben was flirting with you.” Ethan said. “In his own weird way... that guy really needs to work on his game...”

“Well... E's usually right about these things...” Maddie said taking a seat on the bed. “If he watched all this go down and that's what he thinks then... it might be true. Ben Hopper... likes you.”

Vincent's hands fell slack to his sides. “That's ridiculous... Ben Hopper is like... one of the hottest guys in school, he wouldn't flirt with lowly me!” Ethan and Maddie sighed and rolled their eyes in unison. “You're both wrong!”

***
The next day at lunchtime, Vincent weaved his way through the chaos of seats and lunch tables in the cafeteria until he made his way to the section where the popular kids always ate. He'd barely slept the night before, completely dismissing his friends theories and mulling over his rude interaction with Ben Hopper... stewing all night thinking up the string of insults he planned to unleash upon the rabbit when he found him. He inquired with table after table but no one had seen Ben Hopper since the class before.

Vincent dashed up the stairs and out the door onto the patio where some kids preferred to enjoy lunch outside. It was windy, he struggled to shut the door behind him. No sign of Ben out here either. He stopped at the table nearest him and asked if anyone had seen him. One girl shook her head, a boy; without looking up just pointed his thumb toward the football field.

Vincent cleared the wind swept hair from his face and saw the speck that was Ben Hopper sitting alone, all the way at the top of the football bleachers. Vincent really would have preferred catching Ben off guard for his confrontation, but there really was no subtle, quiet way to ascend old metal bleachers. Even if he wasn't making a huge racket stamping up the metal steps and almost tripping over the tall bench seats, Ben could still see him coming from a mile away. Vincent finally reached the top where Ben sat and stood in front of him; fists clenched, steeling himself against Ben's inevitable defensiveness.

“Hey, stripes, what's up?” Ben asked, with a timid smile as he put his sandwich down on the paper lunch bag beside him.

Vincent hadn't been prepared for Ben to receive him with such friendly casualness. He tried to think of the award winning insults he'd rehearsed in his head all night, but his mind suddenly went blank. “I...” Was all he could muster which was followed by an uncomfortable silence that went on much too long for him to salvage his confrontation. Vincent turned to run back down the bleachers; tail tucked between his legs.

“Sorry... about yesterday.” Ben said just as Vincent was about to take a step.

Vincent turned back around.

“I thought about it for a while... chunky skunky... that must've sounded really mean. It wasn't even clever!” Ben looked down at his sneakers for a moment. “Sometimes... I just blurt things out... without thinking.”

“It's... okay, I guess. I mean...” Vincent ran his had through his white mane “I could stand to lose a few pounds maybe, but... I don't need you to point it out to me.”

“Aw... geez...” Ben said. It was the first time Vincent had ever seen Ben Hopper look flummoxed. “I really didn't... Vincent, I don't think you need to lose weight. It's just...” Ben locked eyes with him “Gosh, you just.... you are really cute... I have to admit it makes me a little nervous... and when I get nervous, I say and do dumb things.”

Vincent's hand fell from his hair and he stood there dumbly with his mouth hanging open. He was already surprised to find that Ben actually knew his name, let alone found him attractive. His legs felt a little wobbly beneath him, so he plopped himself down on the bench beside Ben. “You... think I'm cute? Man... Ethan was right.”

Ben turned and looked down toward the patio where the other students were still enjoying their lunches and running around. “Unfortunately... I waited too long to tell you.” He said. “I'm leaving tonight for London with my dad... we're going to be gone for the next six months. I didn't tell anyone I was leaving... that today's my last day here 'cause I didn't want everyone making a big deal about it.” He turned back to Vincent “That's what the cupcakes were for... it wasn't my birthday, my mom made 'em because she assumed I had some sort of going away party planned.”

“It was good.” Vincent said with a shy smile.

“What was?”

“The cupcake.”

“Oh, you actually ate it? After I insulted you?”

“Of course I did, are you kidding me?” They both laughed. When it was quiet again, Vincent slid a little closer to Ben. “Are you coming back after six months?”

“Yeah, I'll be back for school here next year.”

Vincent took out his phone “What's your number? Maybe we'll never know what could've been if you had told me you liked me sooner, but that doesn't mean we can't at least text while you're gone.”

Ben smiled and reached into his pocket. He turned his phone screen toward Vincent displaying his number and Vincent copied it. “I can live with that.” Ben said. The two boys sat in the cool breeze for the rest of lunch period, no one but them knowing why they were both in such a good mood for the rest of the day.


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