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Lea exasperated him. He was petulant, pushy, sarcastic, and always demanding of attention. He was Isa's best friend, first love--true love? No, that is way too embarrassing. He was Isa's crush. An obnoxious, undesired crush, but a crush all the same. Lea didn't know about it yet. Lea wasn't ever going to know about it. Isa prided himself in being the level-headed one of the two, and admitting he had a crush on his best friend was absolutely not level-headed of him. It was downright insane. Ever since puberty hit, Lea practically oozed pheromones and it was more often than not that he'd abandon Isa for a date. Isa was okay with that. Before he moved to Radiant Garden he had always been a solitary kid, the type to be invited to birthday parties out of courtesy rather than friendship. He had liked it that way. When he moved to the Garden, his friendship with Lea had fallen into place so easily that it was bizarre. It was like they had known each other for years before then, so of course it was only a matter of weeks before they declared themselves best friends.
They had been inseparable until Lea hit a growth spurt and all the girls starting fawning over him. Isa didn't care, really. Or at least he didn't used to. He didn't get what all the fuss was about. Girls, dating, relationships--it was all such a burden. He had better things to worry about like school and building his telescope. And okay, maybe girls weren't his cup of tea but neither were boys. At least not all boys. Just boys like Lea. Okay, so maybe it was only Lea, but that was besides the point. The point was that this idiotic crush had manifested itself in the prime of his adolescence and like hell was he going to let it ruin his last two years of high school. He just had to push down his feelings till they were out of his system right? This was all a fluke on his part and given enough time things would go back to normal...right?
A sharp clink against his window made Isa jump. It wasn't the first time he had spent the night dramatically overthinking his situation, and to make things worse he was positive that it was Lea who was outside throwing rocks at his window. The asshole. Best friend-slash-crush or not, Isa thought it was nice to have at least some time every once in a while to be by himself. He looked out his window and sure enough Lea stood outside, a grin plastered on his face like there was no place he'd rather be at one in the morning. Isa felt his heart give a stutter, but he pushed open his window and faced Lea with feigned annoyance.
"It's one in the morning, Lea, this had better be good."
Without skipping a beat Lea started, "I found a back entry to Merlin's place and I think I know where he keeps his fire spells. If we don't get caught you and me will be blowing up shit for weeks. You in?"
Isa blinked. Lea had to be kidding.
"If we do get caught you know that most likely we'll get kicked out of school and probably also put in jail?"
"Yes."
"And you're okay with that?"
"Yes."
Isa stared out across his window at Lea, who had always been one to concoct idiotic plans but never to this degree, and sighed with resignation. Best friend--crush--whatever--if it weren't for Isa, who else would be there to bail out Lea when things went wrong? And he knew magic had been on Lea's mind since at least freshman year, so it was better to get this over with now rather than later.
"This is without a doubt the most stupid plan you’ve ever had. Of course I’m in."
Unaware that it was even possible, Isa saw Lea's grin grow wider at that. He pulled on a pair of jeans and hopped out the window, making his way over to Lea. For a moment Isa forgot about his crush, and they were just two kids on a ridiculous scheme to hijack some spells. But when Isa got close, Lea threw him into a hug that felt more like a head-lock, and Isa's face was buried awkwardly in Lea's neck.
"You're the best, man," Lea laughed into his ear.
"Yeah, whatever. You're welcome. We better not get caught," Isa replied acidly as he attempted to push Lea off himself. He could feel that his face was flushed and his heart was racing.
Damn him and damn his emotions.
This stupid crush was just a fluke.
Lea let go and Isa moved ahead, trying to save face. He didn't notice the peculiar expression Lea wore, like he had only just realized the sky was blue. After a moment, Lea trailed after him. The two stalked off into the night, thoughts of magic fires and explosions cool compared to the bristling heat of embarrassment from having a crush on your best friend.