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In the open area of the woodland, the Shepherds had made their campground for a few days.
With the town being a few miles away, they can stock up on supplies and others could get some self-improvement work done with the makeshift training dummies from what they had gathered around the field.
This would have been fine for Ricken to do either of those, if it weren't for the fact that they told him to not get in the way.
He wanted to help in any way he can, or practice his magic more often but some things weren't meant to be.
Well, that's 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦. If he isn't allowed to do much today then he'll be productive elsewhere.
Meandering around to find something to do, he found Henry. The dark mage was minding his own business, sitting on a wooden crate humming to himself.
In fact, there are several crates lying near him, he must have come back with the other Shepherds.
“Hey, you're back pretty early. Did it go well?” Ricken said as he approached.
Melodious humming stopped as the white-haired teen perked up to look over where the familiar voice had called out towards him, he continued his never-ending smile. “Yeah, it did indeed~” Said in a chipper voice. “I'm just here to keep watch until they find a proper place to put these away.”
There are a lot around Henry, and he is just one guy. Since Ricken wasn't able to help with the supply run earlier, he can at least reduce the other mage's workload by being a second bodyguard. “Okay, then how about we both stay here together? I didn't have much going on anyway.”
It was getting pretty boring before Ricken came by, so having someone around is better than nothing. “Sure! The more the merrier.”
The boys waited patiently for a while, until the white-haired broke the silence by asking the brunette if they could play ‘I Spy’ to which the other reluctantly agreed.
They each took turns to figure out what the other had seen, Henry spied a violet flower and Ricken spied a squirrel.
It was the dark mage's turn, and his (rather closed) eyes are locked on to one of the crates and reaches his hand out to pull out an item. “I spy with my little eye something stick-like.”
“Stick-like? That's too vague- huh?”
Ricken turned his head and came face to face with the other teen, who had something in his mouth.
It was a pocky, and it was nearly distracting enough that it almost made him forget who he was talking to.
“Henry! We shouldn't snoop around without permission.”
“It's not without permission if it was meant for the army anyway. Come on, try one!” Plucking a chocolaty goodness from the thin red box to give to Ricken, he continues to munch his own.
Both taking a stick turned into having eaten too much before they had only one left. On which the brunette thought of an idea on how to share it as he remembered something he heard of before, feeling a tad anxious on how the other would react.
“Hey Henry, have you heard of the pocky game?”
“No, but it sounds fun.” His curiosity has piqued.
“W-well, it requires two people.” Even though he just started the explanation, he almost wanted to stop it.
“Hm? Go on.” Henry said, encouraging him to go on.
“And they chew at each end of the same pocky stick at the same time…” Ricken slowly being hesitant with his choice of words.
“Wouldn't that make it difficult to eat?” White-haired head cocked to the side.
“Uh, I mean… kind of? Maybe it's a pointless game, so forget it.” Couldn't say he didn't try, at least he can feel less embarrassed if they both ignored the conversation.
“I still want to try! Come on, let's do it.” The excitement is noticeable as the other practically hopped in place.
“Huh? O-oh okay.” He can get this over with, since he first brought it up.
“Here, I'll hold this up and we'll start at each end of it.” Ricken does exactly that, as he puts a pocky stick on his lips and faces forward. However he’s starting to realize that he is a moment away from actually being kissed by Henry and the new feeling is getting more intense as his face heats up.
If Henry noticed, he didn't make any comment about it before he started to chew on his end of the snack.
Both kept getting closer and closer until Ricken couldn't take it anymore, as he immediately backed off while covering his flustered face. “Ah! You win, you win!”
“Yay! Let's do that again.” This made the other want to search for a new red box as he started to shuffle around items in the wooden crate.
“Wha- huh? Don't you think that's enough?” The only reason why Ricken didn't want to do it again was because the heat that was on his face earlier was spreading and he might not survive another match.
“Not really. I liked the treat and doing something like this makes me happy! Especially when it's with you.” It's the truth too.
“Oh, really? Um. You know, there is another reason why people play this game.”
“What is it?”
“To get close enough for a k… kiss.” He had developed enough courage to finally say why he wanted to do it in the first place, he had a crush on his best friend for a while now and is expecting a rejection from the dark mage.
Instead he got an entirely different reaction.
“Oooh. Neat!” exclaimed Henry.
“Neat?” Surprised doesn't even begin on how unexpected it was to nearly get a kiss and hearing how it could have been 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵.
“Yeah, I wouldn't mind that. In fact, I thought we were going to do that when our faces got near.” Henry is still honest to a fault, but this confession has lightened up both of their hearts for a new relationship that's about to form.
“I see... Sooo, do you-”
“Nyahaha, I do! Let's play again~” As he found another box of pocky, they finished their previous round with no interruption.