Winter had been jumpy all day. He kept thinking about the last thing he had said to Qibli. “I’m looking forward to never seeing you again,” he had growled at him after their argument. It wasn’t true, though; Winter had been missing Qibli badly. It was as if he’d lost a limb, and he woke up one day with it grown back, only to get chopped off again a few weeks later. He had taken Qibli for granted, and now he realized how much he missed him. “Hey, Winter!” someone shouted, in an infinitely cheery voice. It was Kinkajou. *Oh, great. The last thing I need is a colorful ball of sunshine right now.* “Qibli just got back! He told me to tell you to meet him outside the mountain,” she said. She continued, but Winter interrupted her. “He- he still wants to talk to me? Even after what I said?” he asked timidly, afraid to get his hopes up. *Oh, shut up, you blubbering seal,* he scolded himself, *You’re an IceWing. Qibli’s just another SandWing getting in the way.* That thought made Winter feel bad. Qibli wasn’t ‘just another SandWing’, he was Winter’s best friend. *More than a friend,* said a corner of his mind Winter usually blocked. *Gah! I can’t think like that. Why would Qibli ever like me the way I like him?* Kinkajou was staring at him with an expectant expression on her face. “We’ll? Aren’t you going to go see him?” It was then he realized she had been talking while he was reflecting on his feelings. Stupid, stupid feelings, always getting in the way. “Sorry, can you repeat that?” Winter asked. “Wow! I didn’t even know the word ‘sorry’ was in your vocabulary,” she joked. “I said that Qibli wanted to talk to you about something, and that it was really, really important.” She paused, then added, in a dramatic whisper, “/Relationship/-changing important.” She winked. *Oh, no, he never wants to talk to me again,* Winter thought. *Or maybe… he feels the same way,* added that rebellious back corner of his brain. *SHUT UP!* he yelled at himself. He was already walking toward the front of the Academy, and then he started running. When he got to the mouth of the cave system, he threw himself in the air and flapped around, looking for pale-yellow scales. There! He saw him! Winter shot forward, aiming for the SandWing. He landed on the ground next to Qibli. “Oh… hey, Winter.” Qibli said, looking at the ground. “I… I need to talk to you.” “Qibli… I-I’m sorry for yelling at you. I kind of… I guess I just lost my head,” Winter apologized. Qibli looked at him strangely. “I’m not angry with you,” he said. “That whole fight was my fault, anyway. I was- I mean, I just needed to tell you- I love you,” Qibli finished softly. “And not like a- a friend. I mean as in I /love/ you. Don’t- you don’t have to say anything,” he said at the startled expression on Winter’s face. “I missed you while I was gone, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how terrible of a friend I was to you, and…” he trailed off. “I guess this is goodbye, then.” “No, wait!” Winter shouted before Qibli could go. “I love you too! I’ve been trying to tell you but I couldn’t think of the words and-” Winter cut off as Qibli turned around and hugged him. Winter hesitated, then hugged him back. He thought he heard something in the bushes, but when he turned to look nothing was there. ——— Winter and Qibli flew back up to the mountain, talon in talon. Everyone stared at them strangely, and then they awkwardly looked around or congratulated them. After a while, they realized the only dragon they hadn’t seen was Moon. When they got to her cave, they heard soft sobbing. Winter hurried ahead, but Qibli stopped him. “I should probably go in,” he said gently. Winter, reluctantly, agreed. “Hey, Moon. Are… are you all right?” Qibli asked as he entered her cave. She looked at him and tried to smile. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Totally… just fine,” she said. She wiped away the tears from her eyes and she tried to look happy. “Congratulations on… you know,” she said, a little bitterly. *Oh, three moons. THREE MOONS, Qibli, you are so STUPID. Everything she said, the way she looks at me- She has a crush on me! And she thought I liked her back! Of course she did- and I thought I did, too, before I learned the difference between crush and admiration.* “I-I’m sorry, Moon. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said sincerely. “Oh, I’m FINE,” she snapped, looking not at all fine. In fact, she looked the opposite of fine. “Don’t worry about me, just go have fun with your boyfriend, or whatever you guys do together,” she grumbled. “I’ll be fine,” she said again. “You don’t look-” “Just SHUT UP AND GET OUT!” She yelled, obviously bitter this time. He scrambled to get out of the cave before she struck him. He looked at Winter, and he could tell he had heard the whole conversation. “I- Winter, I don’t think we can talk to Moon anymore,” he said, and the look on Winter’s face said that he agreed.
“We’ll… we’ll be alright. Kinkajou will still talk to us, probably…” Winter muttered. “Oh, well. We’ll have each other, and that’s enough for me.” He put on a horrified expression. “Oh, no. That was totally sappy. Three moons, Winter!” He reprimanded himself. Qibli smirked. “It’s alright, I think it was sweet. No need for apologies.” ————————————————————————— I ran out of space so I had to overflow into the credits D’: I wrote this off-site originally, but I decided to bring it to scratch. If I have enough time I might try to draw some ship art. *___* ~ Thoughts /___/ ~ Italics ———~ Timeskip Also, thanks to @DaReelQibli and @DaReelWinter for arguing and giving me the idea to bring this to scratch.
