Work Text:
Clara walked impatiently at the school’s entrance, she looked at her clok and sighed, it has been 15 minutes since the bell that signaled class ended had rang
“Where is that… girl” she whispered
She tried to ignore the blush creeping in her face. Vee was a friend, a very nice one and she certainly had woken certain complicated but amazing feelings.
Among those feelings was the worry that was consuming her right now
Completely sure that something was wrong; Clara ran inside the building and started to check room after room looking for her friend
She finally rushed into the girl’s bathroom when she heard the unmistakable sound of Vee’s crying, she softly knocked the door and whispered
“Vee… Are you there?”
“Uh-huh…”
“Is everything okay?”
After a few seconds of silence, the other girl said
“No… Help…”
The cheerleader opened the door and stared at her friend, she was definitely crying, her hands covering part of her face, several white patches of skin covering her arms and both of her cute (now’s not the time to think about that, Clara) basilisk ears poking out
The human kneeled in front of the other girl and took her hand softly, thinking that would help her calm her down and return to her regular form, but Vee shook her head
“It won’t work… I can’t turn back?”
“Why not?”
“I was too excited to get to school today and I forgot to eat my cards for breakfast, now I don’t have enough magic to keep my form, if I walk home I’ll get too tired and I…”
“You’ll turn into a basilisk”
Vee nodded sadly
“Wait a second, you eat cards for breakfast?” Clara questioned, rising an eyebrow, but immediately added “Probably a magical thing, nevermind. How can I help you?”
Silence, Vee just started to fidget nervously, avoiding her gaze
“Should I go to your house and get your cards?”
“Don’t do that… I don’t want to be a bur-“
Clara interrupted the basilisk by putting a finger in front of her lips, she ignored how red her face was getting before saying
“You’re not a burden, Vee; just tell me how I can help you”
“You can’t get the cards; house is locked until Camila is back in a couple of hours”
“Well, you can’t just stay here, someone might find you”
Vee started to shake again, even more white spots covering her face now, Clara held her hand again and whispered
“Calm down, just calm down… Is there somewhere safe you can go?”
“The abandoned shack in the back of Camila’s house… But it is too far”
“Don’t worry; I can give you a ride”
“You’ll call a taxi?”
“And risking anyone else seeing your true form? No way” she explained, turning around “Hop on”
“What?”
“Hop on” she repeated “I’ll get you to your safe space”
Vee’s ears started to fume at the idea
Turns out, Clara was surprisingly strong and athletic. Vee presumed it was a cheerleader thing, but the human girl run around with her climbed onto her back with ease, waiting on the traffic lights, making casual conversation, reminding her to adjust her hoodie when it started to slip away
“Are you smelling my hair, Vee?” she asked at some point, and the other girl tightened her hug when she felt discovered
“Is that weird?”
“It’s not exactly normal” she replied, turning around a little just to give the basilisk one of her brightest smiles “But I don’t mind it coming from you”
“Cool…” Vee muttered, cuddling against the cheerleader’s hair and inspecting the pink strip running from top to the bottom of it
“It’s a fashion choice” Clara explained, embarrassed
“It looks cute on you” Vee confessed
“Eep!” the human said, stopping suddenly and almost falling, praying that Vee wouldn’t notice how impossibly red her face looked
“Are you okay? Do you need to rest? Should I…” Vee said, trying to disentangle herself
“No! I’m fine! Stay!” Clara said too quickly, squeezing her crush’s (heck, there was no point in denying it now) legs, making sure that she was comfortable “I was just surprised by what you said, that’s all”
She started to walk again without saying another word, but she smiled when she felt Vee, making contact with her hair again
“Stop!” the magical creature suddenly said and her friend obeyed
“What is it?”
“Magic” the basilisk explained, whispering too close to her ear and making her shiver “I smell magic over there, in that bush in the corner of the street”
Following her indications, Clara dropped her friend where she wanted and Vee sat on the ground, smelling the air
“It’s… around… here” she muttered
While she was inspecting it, the bush started to move, Clara looked around nervously before questioning:
“Are you sure this is safe?”
“There’s magic in here” Vee said, completely ignoring her question
She didn’t even pay attention when the bush started to literally talk, and the only thing that crossed Clara’s mind was grabbing a nearby tree branch for protection
“Leave our dominion, impostor!” the bush said, moving again
And then both girls realized that wasn’t a talking bush. Three black rats came out of it, hissing at the intruders
“So-sorry!” Vee said, raising her arms
“We said leave!” another rat screamed, jumping towards the basilisk
Clara jumped in front of her friend and with a twirl, kicked the rat away, her eyes focused on the second one, who was already making its way towards Vee, she managed to catch it mid-air and looked it straight in the eyes
“Leave. Her. Alone” she threatened
“You attacked first!” a third mouse screeched at the other girl, who was currently hiding behind her hoodie
“Stay away from my Vee!” She shouted at the animal, swinging her tree branch with her free hand and hitting the side of the mouse, which screeched once more and as soon as she dropped the other mouse, ran away out of their sight
When all the screams faded away, Vee opened her eyes and lost her breath at the sight in front of her
Clara was standing there, arm extended towards there, giving her the most sympathetic smile she ever saw
“Are you okay?”
Vee meant to say she was fine or that she felt safe, or even that was so grateful of Clara for being so protective and caring so much of her
But instead, she just got up and launched herself into her friend’s arms, squeezing her as tightly as she could; Clara went completely stiff at the contact
“We n-need t-to get you h-home” she stuttered
Vee took a step back and gave a closer look to her friend’s state. She was panting, obviously too exhausted from the experience
“You must be tired, you should rest” Vee said, looking down
“Not until you get home safe and sound” Clara insisted, taking her hand and noticing they were taking a light green color “Let’s go” she said, frowning
Vee was right, Clara was getting tired, but she wasn’t going to admit it, not when they were so close to their destination and especially not when she started to see so many people turning around and looking at them in the middle of the street.
Trying to find a way to keep Vee’s mind occupied, she questioned
“Why were you so excited to go to school today?”
Vee moved a little and Clara wondered for a moment if she was getting asleep
“What do you mean?”
“You said you forgot your breakfast because you really wanted to go to school, why?”
“Ummmm…” Vee said, followed by an unintelligible explanation
Clara was too busy watching the way her ears bounced up and down while she was talking up… down… up again… occasionally brushing against her own ears and making her smile…
“So… Do you think that’s weird?” Vee finally said, taking out of her trance
“Huh?” Clara muttered
“Oh…” Vee replied and the way her ears practically dropped confirmed Clara something was wrong
The cheerleader tried to excuse herself, but between walking, focusing on Vee’s ears and trying to figure out what she just said, her brain was a literal mess. So before she started to hyperventilate, she just kept walking towards Camila’s house
She preferred the uncomfortable crushing silence instead of talking about what was on her mind right in that moment…
Clara rushed when Camila’s house appeared in the distance, if the movement of Vee’s ears was any indication; she was excited to get there too
She dropped the other girl practically at the entrance of the abandoned house and put her back against a tree gasping intensely, she was forced to open her eyes when a shadow covered her face and there she was, Vee, fidgeting nervously once more
“You didn’t have to do all of this…” she said
“I do what I want, when I want” the girl replied in a supposedly angry voice
It didn’t work at all, as Vee could see the kindness and worry still reflecting in her eyes
“But I do want something from you, you know, as payment for helping you” the cheerleader continued
“What is it?”
“Please tell me what you told me before, whatever it was, I didn’t understand it and I don’t want you to get angry at me”
“It really wasn’t that important” Vee replied, quickly looking away
“Please…” the human girl said, grasping her friend’s hands and realizing how scaly they actually were “I want to know…”
“I said…”
Clara waited
“I said… I really wanted to go to school…” the basilisk repeated
The other girl stared at her intently
“I SAID THAT BECAUSE I REALLY ENJOY SPENDING TIME WITH YOU CLARA!” Vee shouted, so loudly that the birds in the area started to fly away
And also, she transformed into her full basilisk form, when she realized what happened, she curled up in a ball and planted her face in the dirt, avoiding any kind of contact with Clara.
The other girl wasn’t having that, so she knelt at her side and gently touched her blue hair
“There’s nothing weird about that, Vee…”
A single eye looked at her from below
“Actually” the human added, getting all flustered “I enjoy spending time with you, too”
“You mean it?”
“Of course” Clara confirmed and Vee was sure she would melt under her gaze, so she joyfully jumped at her arms, hugging her as hard as she could, hearing her contagious laughter and wishing the moment would last forever
That is, until Clara tried to push her away
“Sorry, I’m just not used to your scales!” she explained when she saw the frown on her crush’s face “They give me tickles!”
“Oh really?” Vee asked and Clara froze at the look the basilisk was giving her
“Don’t you dare…”
“Don’t worry” Vee said, raising her arms and seeing her friend exhaling in relief “I won’t use my hands!” she added jokingly, attacking the cheerleader with her tail and lightly slapping her cheeks
“Stop it!”
“I won’t, I’m enjoying this far too much!”
Both girl’s laughter and Clara’s struggle to break free got interrupted by a cough; they froze as soon as they saw Camila Noceda looking at them from a very short distance
“What’s this?” she questioned, arms crossed
Vee spotted the house’s keys on her hands and quickly grabbed them, hastily crawling away
“Thanks Mom! See you tomorrow, Clara”
“I…” the girl said, but Camila interrupted her
“Let me guess, Vee forgot her breakfast cards and turned into a basilisk on the way back”
Clara nodded
“Did anyone saw her?” Camila asked, genuinely concerned
“No, I made sure of that, I carried her here so she wouldn’t get tired”
“All the way here?” Camila said, surprised
Clara nodded again
“Gracias por eso, Clara” the woman added “Thank you for taking care of her, no wonder Vee always has nice things to say about you”
Clara got up and with a mechanical bow, sprinted out of the forest back to her house, ignoring the quizzical expression on Camila’s face and waving at her back when she heard Vee calling her name from inside the house.
Her heart was running at a thousand miles per minute until she managed to lock herself in her room and stayed there for half an hour
“Vee always has nice things to say about you”
Clara always had nice things to say about Vee, too