Begrudgingly, your best friend: SCE2018 Submission Story
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Once again, he was being dragged around by the notorious redhaired brat he dared called his friend. Worse yet, she was overly excited about something today.
“Cori, slow down. You know I can’t understand you when you talk a mile a minute.” Said pyromancer turned to look over her shoulder from a few paces ahead of him and stuck her tongue out playfully.
Earlier that week, Lionheart had been talking with his friends around Colossus Boulevard when a clearly nervous Cori was spotted rubbing her hands and blowing warm air into clenched fists. Once Lionheart spotted her, he immediately turned his head away, still upset about…the incident. They haven’t really talked much since then. These last few months put a strain on their already weird friendship, and the incident happened to be the final straw for Lionheart.
The thaurmaturge shook his head slightly and brought himself back to the conversation at hand. It seemed his friends were talking about some sort of festival taking place later that week and were working out plans to meet up. He sneered slightly to himself, not keen on the idea of going to a crowded area with screaming students and loud noises. Not really his scene. He leaned against the chilled brick house, turning to look out the corner of his eye to see if that 10-year-old was still there. Much to his chagrin, Lionheart’s eyes locked with Cori’s for a few seconds before he turned away, face slightly red.
‘I’m caught. Please don’t let her talk to me. I’m really not in the mood for this right now.’ Heterochromia eyes squeezed shut as he tried to block out what was most assuredly heavy boots hitting the pavement, coming closer and closer to where he and his friends were standing. Sighing once more, he prepared himself for the inevitably awkward encounter that was to take place and looked in Cori’s direction once more.
Still donning her edge-lord biker gear, Cori stopped a few feet in front of him, her hands behind her head and a pinched expression marring her features. The two stood in silence for what seemed like forever as Lionheart’s friends stared concernedly at the both.
“Uh…we’re gonna get going now. See ya, dude.” One of the thaurmaturge’s friends clapped him hard on the back, knocking Lionheart slightly off balance before they began making their way to the tunnel leading back to the Shopping District.
And now they were alone. Lionheart looked towards the ground, not wanting to meet the girl’s eyes, and it seemed that the feeling was mutual; Cori’s eyes facing towards the skies.
“Well? What do you want?” He bit out harshly. A small pang of regret arose in himself when from his vision, he saw Cori’s boot twitch.
“I…uh,” a small wavery voice began.
Still facing the ground, Lionheart heard the kid take a small shaky breath before speaking once more.
“Are you…going to the festival this Saturday?”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
More silence stretched between the two though not as long as the first bout.
“I just thought that…you know.”
Lionheart jerked his head up as he began to get irritated.
Finally, Cori flung her arms to her sides and slouched.
“Come on, dude! This is hard enough already.”
“Say it fast or I’m leaving.”
“Okay! Okay,” the redhead held her hands out in a cautious pose before standing straight once more.
“Please go to the festival with me, I’m sorry for…that… and I want,” she paused. Lionheart turned away before she could finish her sentence, still not comfortable to talk about the situation all those months ago. It wasn’t until he heard her whimper that he looked back at her and immediately grimaced. The stubborn, hot-headed brat he came to know as an impenetrable pillar of reckless chaotic fun was crying; snot dripping from her nose and all.
“I want to hang out with my best friend again.” She hiccupped.
Thinking back on it now, Lionheart couldn’t bring himself to hate his moment of weakness and succumbing to the whimpers of the brat before him. Ahead of the pair, was the tunnel connecting Ravenwood to the Commons and already could the sounds of laughter and music be heard. Cori jumped up and down in her spot, a borderline maniacal grin etched permanently into her face. She whipped around to face the tall big brother-like friend of hers and yanked on his arm.
“Today, we are going to have the bestest time of all times.”
“’Bestest’ isn’t a word, brat.” Lionheart rolled his eyes. Cori let go of his arm and huffed.
“You know what I mean. Come on! You gotta try this one stall where you can…”
Lionheart thought it in his best interest to just tune out anything the small pyromancer said for the next…how ever long he was going to be stuck there for.
Two hours and the guy was exhausted. Not only had Cori managed to talk the entire time, but she also dragged him on rides like the Shrieking Banshee teacups, the Storm Shark Merry-go-round, and the stupid Krokotopian funhouse. Lionheart paused in his steps to put his hands on his knees for a breather. He had been chasing Cori around, making sure she didn’t bump into people with her spastic running and spontaneous cartwheels. Briefly, he wondered what kind of hell show it would be to have his boyfriend, Hunter and the small girl meet.
‘Not even Malistaire could handle the raw energetic power of that duo from the depths,’ he thought in abject horror. Straightening his stance, he caught up to Cori who had stopped at a food stall to purchase what appeared to be a sugary monstrosity advertised as “Whispered Toffee”. He could make out two small Styrofoam bowls in the girl’s hands before she haphazardly attempted to balance both while reaching into her pocket for her wallet. Quickly, he ran up behind her to grab one of the Styrofoam bowls that teetered dangerously and throw a scolding look in her direction before looking down at the bowl. Inside appeared to be plain vanilla ice cream topped with melted toffee. The treat got its namesake for the enchanted toffee produced little puffs of ghosts whispering odd little what-nots.
Lionheart would have to admit it; this treat was mystifying. Begrudgingly, he took a small scoop, assuming Cori purchased one for him, and popped it into his mouth. A myriad of confusing flavors exploded on his taste buds that left him baffled.
So distracted with his treat, the thaurmaturge didn’t notice when Cori placed her bowl on the concession stand and glanced at him before digging in her beginner’s wizard bag. Quickly grabbing whatever was inside, she brought it out and hid the item behind her back. She cleared her throat and blushed slightly before looking towards Lionheart.
Lionheart snapped out of his confused daze to look down at the blushing pyromancer. ‘I have an inkling about where this is going. I’ll have to nip this in the bud as soon as possible…’
“Look, I honestly don’t care. I don’t expect you to remember my birthday. It’s fine.” Heterochromia eyes roamed over the commons, taking in the excited faces of other students, watching friends hanging off one another. Another small pang ached in his chest at the sight, though he wouldn’t admit it; those scenes were touching.
“No! It does matter. You got something for me, and I totally don’t do anything special for you.” Cori jumped up and down, trying to gain his attention.
Relenting, Lionheart bent over slightly to look into her eyes; full attention on her. Slightly taken aback, Cori’s blush increased tenfold, face nearly identical to her hair.
“It’s not like I don’t appreciate you or anything…but I didn’t make it any better by playing it off like nothing happened,” small shoulders began to slouch as she continued.
“I know it’s late, like, really late. But I want you to have this: a late birthday present.”
Presents always made Lionheart feel awkward, and lo and behold, a medium sized box covered in newspaper for wrapping was held out towards him. Discreetly looking to see if anyone was paying attention, he grabbed the present, locked his hand around Cori’s wrist and dragged her over to the stage where the “Lobster Superstar” was delivering an off-key ballad. After finding a decently secluded spot to sit, he let go of Cori’s wrist and plopped down holding her gift in his lap. Cori had taken to playing with the grace by her feet to avoid eye contact which didn’t make the situation any less awkward. Sucking it up, Lionheart tore off the newspaper wrapping from the brown box that laid underneath. With trepidation, he slowly removed the lid from the box…to find it filled with black licorice tootsie rolls and gummy worms. Lionheart looked over at Cori who had her head between her knees, clearly embarrassed. Just barely could he make out her muffled words; “There’s more.” Turning back towards the box, he began pushing candy around to see anything that might stand out when he started slightly. The longer he peered into the box, the more his face began to heat up. Lionheart gritted his teeth as he turned his head away from the box and gently placed it on the ground. Bringing a hand up to his face to cover his increasingly red cheeks, he reached one hand out and patted Cori on the head. Said girl peeked up at him from her knees, just as red as him.
“Fine,” he grits out under his breath.
And how could he not forgive her? They both knew she was terrible at drawing, but she just had to do the whole “World’s Bestest Friend” portrait and he was a goner.
“I think that’s enough embarrassing moments of the day.”
“I agree,” Cori brushed his hand off the top of her head, now back into a normal sitting position. Around them, people had begun to clap for the Rock Lobster’s performance, cheering on the next band; “The Hex Girls”. The two sat in a much more comfortable silence than they have in a while, listening to the music play before the redheaded girl spoke once more.
“You know…over by Penny Dreadful, there was a food fight game…”
Lionheart, one hand still over his face, tried to conceal a barely visible smirk.
“And I still have to kick your butt from last time.” Cori peaked out of the corner of her eye. Blush fully receded, Lionheart stood up and brushed his pants off before placing a hand on his hip, staring down his nose at his small childish friend.
“You’re on, short stack.”
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Here it is. My submission. Also! Shout out to @save-the-spiral and @storm-magic because 1. This was a lot of fun to write and ran on longer than I intended and 2. A huge apology to Storm Magic for this incredibly late birthday present for their OC, Lionheart and my own, Cori Firetail. These two tsunderes needed to bond again. And if it wasn’t clear, it probably wasn’t ‘cuz I’m a terrible writer, Lionheart’s birthday surprise, besides the candy, was a crappy drawing from Cori of him with giant words above saying “World’s Bestest Friend”. Because adorable.
Hope you enjoyed and also, sorry for the super long hiatus. Soon, I’ll be doing a thank you post because, uh, guys, I hit 300 Followers. Like, epic thanks are in order here.
~Until next time, my fellow wizards!!
