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It’s been a couple thousand years since Fire Spirit and Wind Archer met, a couple hundred since Fire Spirit confessed his admiration for Wind Archer, and just now, they're finally crossing first base. Wind Archer made sure to set his boundaries clear on what they do publicly—romance should be considered as my everyday motivation to be better that not everyone should be aware of. He’d say. To some extent, Fire Spirit would agree. But, dammit! He wanted everyone in Earthbread to know that the guardian of the wind was his!
Fire Spirit makes his way from The Dragons Valley to the Dessert Paradise, dashing through the air and watching the land from below turn from dry, ashy rocks to plain land dominated by bright green grass. Fire Spirit sighs and inhales the crisp air of the island, something that Wind Archer never misses to take pride in. But even with the strong gusts of wind slapping him in the face and the little, slightly irritating chirps of the critters around him, he couldn’t help but notice the lack of a certain archer pointing his bow at him to make sure he wasn’t an intruder wanting to burn down his precious island.
Fire Spirit makes his way deeper in the heart of the island; the tree of life stands in the middle like an ancient statue that should be saluted every time you walk past it. Wind Archer definitely does that. He hears the yip of an animal, then a celebratory exclaim. He follows that sound and sees his archer surrounded by excited and jumpy cookie-animals. Wind Archer notices his presence and greets him, mouthing a “sorry” before patting one of the animal’s heads. The yellow fox notices him too; he beams at him and alerts his other animal friends.
Wind Archer surprisingly managed to convince his furry friends that they should play with someone else.
Fire Spirit sighs, “Finally some peace and quiet and alone time.” He slyly wraps an arm around the archer, but it was immediately swatted away with a glare.
“No.” Wind Archer fixes his scarf awkwardly. “But I am glad they find your presence unbothersome. Ten years ago, they would’ve been shaking and running to me in fear if you stepped a foot inside the island.”
“Then you’d find me and shoot me with one of your arrows?”
“Likely.” Wind Archer smiles and fails to hide a blush.
Of course, Fire Spirit wouldn’t let that go unnoticed; he teases Wind Archer, and he retorts, and they laugh together. They end their quarrel with Wind Archer planting a kiss on the smug-faced cookie’s lips.
The wind guardian rushes to fix his composure, removing any evidence of their affection.
“That is a one-time thing, so don't think we can do it again,” Wind Archer said.
“Aww, was that my singular PDA ticket gone?”
He smiled at him. “All gone.”
The next day, Fire Spirit comes back to The Dragon’s Valley, high on cloud 9, about spending his last night stargazing (and purifying the darkness; Wind wouldn’t let Fire Spirit skip that.) with Wind Archer. Something about being with that cookie did make his little dough heart soften.
The cookie citizens were more talkative than usual; admiring glares weren’t uncommon for Fire Spirit cookie; he was the lord of flames after all, but these glares seemed more sticky than usual.
“What’s up? Something stuck on my frosting or something?” He asked the knight.
“Sir.. " Knight Cookie lowers his voice. “Are the rumors between you and The Wind Archer true? ”
Fire Spirit felt the rational part of his brain deactivate. He started thinking if he accidentally let his mouth run to the other cookies or if one of his servants overheard him complaining about how Wind Archer felt too moody to talk to him again, or maybe the wind cookie’s scent has been lingering on him because of how much he visits him. He takes a sniff at his cape—no, he still smells like flame jellies and fizzy cola.
“No.. no! Whatt? Wind Archer is cool and all, but you know, I like my cookie a little spicierrr, I want someone who can handle my heat,” he says, with a faux-innocent smile. “Anyways, who told you this? I don’t appreciate unnecessary commotion and speculations about my love life.”
“Devil Cookie did. But he stated that-" before Knight could even finish his sentence, a sudden gust of wind passed through; the strength of the wind almost caused the cookie to fall himself. He looked behind him to see the lord of flames pinned by an archer with intentions of murder glinted in his eyes.
“Fire Spirit Cookie!” He yelled, taking out his sword.
“No! Wait! It’s.. just-... Windy.” Fire Spirit manages to say—impressive considering he’s being choked by a furious Wind Archer right now.
“I TRUSTED YOU! You told me you wouldn’t tell anyone until I’m ready! You SWORE ON YOUR LIFE!” With every word the cookie uttered, every promise he was convinced Fire Spirit broke, he tightened his already deadly grip on the other’s neck.
Knight, fearing Fire Spirits' head might suddenly pop off, decides to intervene.
“Wind Archer Cookie, let go of Fire Spirit Cookie; I can assure you he has kept his mouth closed about you two’s relationship... Or, whatever this may be.”
Fire Spirit felt Wind Archer grow slightly more agitated at the fact that Knight Cookie knows what they are but still complied the best way he could, without involving the death of the cookie in his chokehold. “I’ll remove a hand when you tell me how the word got out,” he glares at Fire Spirit, “and if the reason isn’t because of him.”
Buttershell Fox tugs at the Maple Panda in front of him. “Pandy! Wind Archer said we should play somewhere else.”
“No one else is around to play but him, remember?”
“Yeah! I’m sure they’re so bored without us! C’mon!” Buttershell Fox’s friends sprint towards the last location they saw Wind Archer. Running as fast as their small little legs could take them.
“Wa-wait up!”
It took a while for the fox to catch up to his friends; they were standing behind a bush intently watching something; they looked shocked, mouth agape, like they were witnessing a murder. Buttershell Fox was starting to get worried until he saw what the two were staring at.
He looks away as fast as he can, poking the others to stop them from looking too.
“I knew they were friends now, but I didn’t know it was like that!" Pandy pouted.
Cubby looked as equally offended as him. “So they kicked us out because they wanted to smooch?!”
“Guys, I think they didn’t want us to see that. Maybe it’s their secret!"The fox tries to rationalize; he always seemed to find a way to always take Wind Archer’s side.
“Hmf! Wind Archer never tells us anything anymore! He doesn’t trust us!" Maple Panda sulks.
“No! I’m sure that’s not true. Let’s just keep it a secret for now. We shouldn’t tell anyone about what we saw, okay?” Buttershell Fox suggests, trying to make his voice as big as possible.
“Mmmkk… Fine. But I’m still upset.”
Fire Spirit keeps on coughing to clear the lump he feels on his throat; he worried for a bit that Wind Archer’s hand might’ve left a permanent dent in his neck. But that thought did make him somewhat happy. “Damn. Man. Windy. Heh. You’re really good with your hands.” He says, fighting through his coughs.
Wind Archer sighs, “It can't be helped, I suppose. I wish they just told me... I really do hope the news dies out before it reaches Millennial Tree Cookie.”
Fire Spirit clings into The Wind Guardian’s arms—less to be annoying but more for support. To his surprise, Wind Archer didn’t back away, push him, punch him, or do anything negative he could’ve easily done to a barely recovering Fire Spirit Cookie without much effort.
“Let it be... Cat’s out of the bag, Windy," he teases between breaths.
The next day, more than half of EarthBread knew about their relationship, and Wind Archer never wanted to kill his own boyfriend more.