Chapter Text
Winter got the comfortable bed, and it was totally unfair. Just because he got there first doesn’t mean he automatically gets the comfortable bed. Nope, absolutely not. He should have given Qibli a fair shot at it. Qibli gladly would have fought Winter tooth and nail for it. Winter probably would have been down for a fight. Instead, the white-blonde boy had dumped all of his belongings on the floor around the bed and practically rubbed his scent all over the damn thing before Qibli had even had a chance to get up the stairs to their shared room in Queen Thorn’s palace.
Qibli groaned, letting his bags drop to the floor in the doorway. “No fair, igloo-face!”
Winter paused in the unpacking of his bags and looked up from the floor with a smug gleam in his arctic-pool eyes. “Should have gotten here first, sand snorter. First come, first serve.” He pulled his tangled headphones out of his duffel and jumped onto the bed, already having shaken all the sand off the thin white sheets. He stretched out wildly all over the mattress, still with that smug look on his face.
Qibli rolled his eyes and picked up his bags, huffing dramatically. He threw his stuff on the other bed and flopped down on the awful mattress, hearing it squeak and groan beneath his weight. He realized how much of a five-year-old he probably looked like right now.
Winter fished his phone out of his pocket and plugged his headphones in, then laid back against the pillow with his arm behind his head and his eyes closed, head slowly bopping to the music. Qibli scoffed; he knew that Winter had the absolute shittiest taste in music and whatever he was listening to was definitely NOT worthy of head bopping, and he was probably just doing it to irritate Qibli further.
Well, my friend, two can play at that game. Qibli brought one leg up onto the bed. “Winter! Hey, Winter!” he called.
Winter cracked one eye open, not bothering to pause the music or remove an earbud. “What do you want now?”
“The moons are going to rise soon, and one of them’s full, remember? The full moon ceremony is happening tonight, and Thorn is expecting us to show up. This ceremony is pretty much the reason we came here, remember?”
Winter arched one eyebrow. “I thought we came here for holiday break? And I thought I was only here because I literally have nowhere else to go?”
“What, are you saying you don’t want to go tonight?”
“Yeah, kinda.”
Qibli shrugged. “Too bad, everyone in the kingdom has to go to these things if they can. It’s tradition.”
“For SandWings, maybe. IceWings, not so much. You can go and party the night away for all I care, doing moon dances and eating moon pies and creating little moon playthings or whatever you guys do at those things. I’m staying in tonight.” Winter closed his eyes again and went back to bopping his head to the beat, which Qibli could now hear streaming faintly from his headphones.
Qibli sighed. “You just don’t want to give up the nice bed, don’t you?”
Winter cracked one eye open again. “Maybe.”
“I won’t steal your precious bed, Winter. I don’t even want it anymore. You’ve practically drowned that thing in your scent already; I’m afraid that if I even brush it I’ll stink of you for a week.”
“Ha-ha,” Winter snapped. “You could use it. Would be an improvement," he added under his breath.
Qibli feigned shock, standing up with his hand on his chest and his mouth open wide. “Are you saying that I smell bad?”
Without a moment of hesitation, the IceWing nodded and replied with a curt “yeah”.
“Oh, and as if YOU smell like cinnamon and roses all the damn time,” Qibli scoffed.
“Excuse you, I’m a supple blend of vanilla and spruce.”
“More like day-old pizza and hormones.”
Winter narrowed his eyes and yanked out his headphones. “I know what you’re doing.”
Qibli arched his brow, genuinely taken aback. “You do? And what’s that?”
“You’re trying to annoy me so much that I just give in and go with you tonight.” His blue eyes locked on Qibli’s black ones.
“... And?” Qibli said hesitantly.
Winter sighed. “It worked. You’re lucky your voice is so irritating to listen to. You can practically get people to do whatever you want just by talking about my scent, three moons.” He got up off the bed and dropped to the floor to search through his duffel bag. He rooted around for a moment before pausing and turning to look at the curly-haired boy standing behind him. “What do you usually wear to these things?”
Qibli could feel the corners of his lips lifting in a little smile and he fought it back. “It’s super casual, so don’t feel the need to dress super fancy or anything.”
“The way you worded that is… suspicious.”
“What?! You think I’m lying?!” Qibli was actually shocked. He hadn’t lied at all. In fact, most years he’d gone to the ceremonies in old jeans and a faded T-shirt and nobody said anything because that’s what most people happened to be wearing as well. Thorn might have scoffed and rolled her eyes a bit at the sight of him, but she never forced him to change so Qibli guessed it was okay. “I’m being serious!”
Winter squinted. “Mmm-hmm. Alright. Let me see what YOU’RE wearing first.”
Qibli gestured to himself - sweatpants and a plain black tank top - and widened his eyes at his friend. “Uh, this? Why would I change?”
Winter narrowed his eyes further.
Qibli groaned and rolled his eyes. “Dude, just wear what you’re wearing. You look fine.”
Winter glanced down at his outfit - light blue skinny jeans with rips in the knees and a white T-shirt that fit so you could see the outline of his pecs. In fact, Qibli thought it was overdressing. He’d draw more attention wearing that than wearing rags, not that Winter needed nice clothes to have attention drawn to him. He was kind of like a walking disco ball, big and shiny and hypnotizing. And he didn’t even try. It was just… natural. Perks of being an IceWing, Qibli guessed.
Oh, and the fact that he was a prince, too. But people didn’t even have to know that he was a prince beforehand; you can practically SEE royalty radiating off his body. Perfect skin, perfect hair, eyes the color of the depths of the darkest ocean, bone structure that could kill. But not just in his looks, no. The way he held himself. The way he walked and acted as though he were the most important person in the world, but somehow it came off as stern confidence instead of arrogance. Even after years of living with him, sometimes Qibli still got caught off-guard by Winter’s stunning beauty and he’d end up staring for moons knows how long. Whenever he thought too much about it and his face started to heat up, he forced himself to remember how much of a blubbering idiot his friend actually was and he’d start to feel normal again.
“You think so?” Winter said.
“I know so,” Qibli said with an affirmative nod. “Now get up, let’s go find Thorn and say hi.”
Winter stood up and stretched his arms over his head, and his shirt lifted just enough to expose a line of skin just above his waistband. Qibli whirled around with an stern nope, fuck that and headed out the door, purposefully walking fast.
“Wait, Qibli!” Winter called, and then a moment later he was at Qibli’s side, having jogged to catch up to him. “Dude, really? Leaving me behind like that? I don’t know my way around this palace, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“I was barely out of your line of sight, man. And I wouldn’t leave you alone for all the world,” he added, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Aww, nice to know you care about me,” Winter said, just as sarcastic as Qibli had been.
Qibli playfully punched the other boy’s arm and suddenly broke into a sprint. “First one to the bottom of the stairs gets the first serving of roasted camel!” he shouted once he reached the landing.
As he practically flew down the long spiral staircase, he heard loud thumping behind him and suddenly Winter shot right by him, landing at the bottom first with a loud thud. He bent over, hands on his knees, taking deep breaths.
Qibli jumped down the last step and chuckled. “You’re THAT out of shape? Maybe that roasted camel won’t be the best thing for you, then.”
The thing was, Qibli knew Winter didn’t like roasted camel. And yet when he’d presented the race with the prize being exactly that, Winter had mustered up the energy to race him down the stairs and beat him, too. He’s competitive by nature, I knew that. He always has been. But doing that all to beat me, and for nothing? He feels the need to be better than me. Or maybe to impress me? Knowing Winter, he’s not the “I need to impress everyone” kind of guy. That’s me. He doesn’t NEED to prove anything to anyone. He was born impressing everyone. He didn’t have to work for it like I did. Suddenly bitter, Qibli rolled his shoulders as if shaking away the thought. It wasn’t like Winter had asked to be born into royalty. It wasn’t like Winter wanted people gawking at him everywhere he went. But still, Qibli couldn't fully ignore the thought...
Winter heaved a sigh and stood up. “Ugh, I really need to get back to the gym.”
“But first, it’s party time,” Qibli said with a grin, leading the way to Queen Thorn’s throne room.