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A lot of things had changed since the Day of Unity, but today was a day where Gus found himself enjoying some semi-normalcy. They were eating lunch at Hexside with all the members of his squad- Luz, Amity, Willow, Hunter, and the newest addition to their group, Matt, last name Tholomule.
That took some getting used to. He was still embarrassed he had Matt’s name wrong this entire time, and no one corrected him. The thought of it just made him cringe.
Matt’s addition to the group was still a bit… strange, but the Collector craziness had really made him see Matt in a new light. His leadership skills were definitely impressive. For some reason, though, it made Gus get a weird feeling in his stomach whenever he thought about it. So, Gus dealt with the way any teenager boy would- by butting heads with Matt at every turn possible.
“It’s just like in Blademage: The Five Swords of Friendship, when he unlocks the ultimate treasure sword!” Matt exclaimed, completely interrupting the previous conversation with something that didn’t apply at all to the situation. Gus found it a bit endearing regardless, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to antagonize Matt.
“The true treasure is the friends he made along the way! Duh! That’s why it’s called ‘The Five Swords of Friendship’!”
“Well, friendship isn’t what defeats the main bad guy at the end!” Matt argued back.
“But the main character couldn’t have done it if he didn’t learn all those neat things from his friends and gotten stronger!”
At this point everyone else had returned to their own conversations, tuning out Matt and Gus’s argument, except for Luz, who was watching with amusement.
“You know guys, in the human realm there’s a super cool way that humans resolve arguments.” Luz smiled coyly.
Gus was too entranced by the human realm part to notice Luz’s sly look. Sure, he had stayed there for a few months, but a few months wasn’t enough to study all the vast culture, especially when they were working on finding a way back to the Boiling Isles.
“Well, I am a human expert!” Matt declared with baseless confidence that made Gus’s lips upturn. “I should be able to easily beat Gus. I don’t even need to go to the human world to be a pro at all things human.” He flipped his hair dramatically to solidify his point.
“Oh yeah? Then prove it! You, me, and…” Gus’s reporting voice faltered. “Whatever challenge Luz is talking about!”
“You’re on!” Matt agreed.
“Like taking candy from a baby.” Luz muttered evilly. Gus didn’t understand what babies had anything to do with their challenge, but humans had a bunch of weird phrases Gus didn’t understand.
“Alright guys!” Luz declared, bringing a bright red box from her lunchbox. She pulled out a brown stick of some kind of human food. “So the game goes like this- You each start on one end of this stick, called Pocky, and whoever ends up with the shortest piece left wins.”
Matt looked a bit flustered. “That sounds stupid.”
“What? Not man enough? MANtholomule.” Gus challenged. While the game did sound a bit embarrassing, he got bragging rights and human food out of it. That would be a double win!
“Am too manly enough!” Matt screeched indignantly. He snatched the stick from Luz’s hand and balanced it between his teeth.
“Waf re ou waifing fo?” the shorter witch challenged.
Gus scooted up closer to him and put the other end of the Earth treat between his teeth.
“On your marks, get set… GO!” Luz announced.
Matt started chomping away at the stick at top speed, rapidly approaching Gus’s face. On one hand, Gus should have expected this. He had witnessed Matt’s competitive and petty nature many times, but at the same time, with how flustered he had seemed early, Gus thought he would have some kind of advantage.
Gus flinched backwards at Matt’s rapidly approaching face, breaking the pocky.
“HA! Looks like I am the winner after all, Augustus!”
“I was just getting used to the rules! Best two out of three!” He challenged right back.
“Luz! Give us another pokey!” Matt demanded, sticking his hand out and making a grabbing motion. Luz didn’t seem too upset about giving away another one as she giggled and shot Amity a look before giving into Matt’s request.
They set up their pocky again and Luz announced the start of the next round. This time Gus went for it, chomping along the breadstick at top speed, just to headbutt Matt, causing them both to flinch back and break the stick.
They both stared at each other in shock before Gus held up his end of the stick victoriously.
"HA! TAKE THAT FIRST NAME MATT LAST NAME THOLOMULE!" Gus yelled triumphantly as he showed off his shorter piece of pocky.
"Pft! That was just beginner's luck. This last round will determine the true Pocky pro!!" Matt declared.
"Bring it Captain Tholomule!" Gus taunted.
Luz sighed as she handed over another piece of pocky.
“This isn’t how it goes in the shoujo mangas you made me read.” Amity complained.
Gus wasn’t sure what shoujo manga was, but he wasn’t going to let Amity distract him in such an integral moment. He glared down at Matt, hoping to intimidate the competition as the countdown started.
As soon as Luz reached one, Matt lunged forward, headbutting him with all his might. Gus was so shocked, he lost his grip on the pocky. Matt chomped down at pocky at the speed only a younger sibling could.
“Looks like I win!” Matt bragged, flipping his hair dramatically, seemingly unphased by the headbutt he had just given.
“Actually, we both ended up with no pocky left, so, therefore, we tied!” Gus argued, rubbing his forehead.
“Yeah, but I am the one that ate it. So I am the winner!”
“No, we’re tied!” Gus smirked, leaning into Matt’s personal space.
“Ugh… I should have just locked them in a closet for seven minutes.” Luz lamented as their arguing continued.