Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Ororon? Bro? Is that movie still playing?” A familiar voice called out from another room, echoing through the empty and dark apartment.

“Huh? Oh, yeah it is.” The bat-eared man replied, eyes intently glued to the screen. Fontaine films were really a whole different kind of entertainment from the ones they got in Natlan.

Not that there was anything exactly wrong with what he enjoyed in Natlan. Ororon found plenty of solace in tending to his garden, making sure his phlogiston aphids were well looked after, and his vegetables were all growing at a healthy pace.

In fact, he would even say that that felt like the best thing in the world. Why wouldn’t anyone want to do the things he did? He liked looking after his aphids and his vegetables. He wondered how Big Pinecone was doing. It had been growing well after Little Pinecone bumped into it. Well he hadn’t seen Little Pinecone for quite a while. But Big Pinecone was doing fine. He’s actually been hoping for some fruits to grow on him, but it seemed like there was no luck so far. What a shame.

Speaking of which, Ororon still remembered what Ifa said when he introduced Big Pinecone to him.

He had cautiously advised Ifa to watch where he was going, to not stumble over the overgrown roots of Big Pinecone while the pair were going on their walk in the wilderness. 

Ifa had only given him a blank stare initially, confused on what roots a pinecone could have.

“...Roots of a big pinecone? Bro, are you not feeling well?” Ifa had asked, hand extended, and ready to check his temperature.

Ororon had shot him an equally confused look, gesturing at the tree they had passed by. “I’m talking about him, Ifa. He has overgrown roots. I was telling you to watch out and not trip over them.”

The explanation, which Ororon had thought was perfectly satisfactory, only caused an even more confused look to grow on the veterinarian’s face.

“So… this tree is… Big Pinecone.” Ifa said slowly, mind trying to process Ororon’s words.

“Yeah. You get it.” 

“I really don’t.” He quietly said to himself, looking back at the tree.

“This isn’t even a pine tree, bro…”

Later on, Ifa would learn the origins of the name of this tree from Ororon, who recalled the details of an alpaca that he had named ‘Little Pinecone’ who had apparently collided with the tree. Out of convenience to himself, and the incident with the alpaca, Ororon had decided to name the tree ‘Big Pinecone’, since, you know, it was bigger than the alpaca. And calling it ‘Medium Pinecone’ would be a little bit troublesome for him to remember. Therefore, ‘Big Pinecone’ came to be.

Ifa had looked a little winded from his thorough explanation, tipping his hat over his eyes in contemplation. After a few minutes of thinking, he looked up, adjusted his hat to its correct position before clapping a hand onto Ororon’s back. 

“I’m sure Big Pinecone is having a jolly time then.”

Anyways, he derailed off track! Ororon snapped back into the current moment, staring at the movie in dismay. He was in Fontaine. Not in Natlan, with Big Pinecone. He missed such a huge part of the movie. And now he had to watch the parts that he missed. What a pity.

Heaving a sigh, Ororon picked up the remote to rewind the movie, right as Ifa walked into the room, carrying two steaming cups.

“Oh? Movie not interesting you?” He inquired, setting down his own cup before handing Ororon his.

“Nah, it is.” He casually waved the remote at Ifa, nodding in appreciation as he took his drink. “I was thinking about Big Pinecone and got distracted. So now I have to rewind the movie to watch the parts that I missed.”

“Sure, bro.” Ifa chuckled, settling back onto the pillows as he watched the dark-haired man intently rewind the movie.

“Oh, you missed parts of the movie too.” Ororon suddenly realised, turning to face Ifa. “Then rewinding the movie will help you too.”

He only hummed in agreement, too comfortable to form any words. 

Finally satisfied at the point where the movie could restart again, Ororon set the remote down, getting himself equally comfortable before taking a sip of the tea.

The first sip proved to be a bit of a surprise, Ororon’s mouth twisting weirdly as he tried the drink. What was this?

Apparently Ifa had been watching his face, because he let out a laugh the second Ororon’s expressions changed to show his feelings behind the drink.

“Hah! Not to your liking?” 

“It’s… rather peculiar.” Ororon tried to explain, looking deeply into the depths of the drink as though it would explain itself to him. 

“That, my bro, is honey tea. The waiter at that cafe we went to earlier recommended me to try it, so I bought it for the both of us to share.” Ifa explained, sparing the poor drink from having to grow a consciousness and spout words to the dark-haired man.

He then took a sip of the drink, seeming to not share Ororon’s feelings of confusion towards it.

“Honey? But I like the honey that my aphids produce. Why doesn’t this honey taste that nice to me here?” 

Growing more amused to his friend’s distress, Ifa set down his own drink, turning to face Ororon. 

“Well, they produce honey differently in Fontaine than Natlan. Apparently, the honey tea here isn’t a traditional tea mixed with honey like you do at home, but a flavour. They give you tea bags that are flavoured with honey.”

Ororon tilted his head, confusedly staring at his cup. Tea bags?

“It’s not a big deal if you can’t drink it, dude. Here, I’ll take yours.” Ifa said casually, taking Ororon’s cup from him.

Ororon could only watch as Ifa drained his cup, humming in appreciation as he did so. Once the cup was empty, he set it down on the bedside before settling back to continue watching the movie.

Ororon still was stuck in the same position, the tea running through his mind. Honey as a flavour? How did they do it? He thought that honey tea meant steeping the tea leaves with hot water, then draining out the tea to add fresh honey from his aphids to it. That was what honey tea meant, was it not? Then, what was this concept of tea bags with honey flavour? Why was honey a flavour? How did they get the honey into the tea bag? That would just make the bag sticky, he knew that. Did they add the honey during the steeping process? But then, what were the bags for?

His thoughts were broken off with a gloved hand lightly grasping his chin.

Startling, Ororon snapped his eyes up from the blanket, where he was clutching it like it had all the answers to his questions, only to come in contact with a pair of turquoise eyes looking at him in mirth.

“You’re missing all the good parts of the movie, bro. Don’t worry about the tea bags that much for now. Tomorrow we can go and ask that waiter dude more about this, alright?”

At those words, the Mictlan man relaxed, body almost slumping into Ifa’s hold. He knew exactly what would calm him down from his thoughts. He would get all the answers to his questions tomorrow.

As he redirected his focus back to the movie, it was with an internal groan that Ororon realised that he had missed the entire part of the movie that he had taken so much effort in rewinding just now. But he didn’t want to disturb Ifa, who had let go of him to resume watching the movie in great interest.

So, he settled for snuggling next to the Tlalocan man, watching the screen in the dimly lit room together.

…

The next day proved to be rather fruitful, with Ororon sitting next to the cafe owner that Ifa had purchased the tea from while he grilled him on the origins of how that particular form of tea bags came to be.

“Pardon, so you want to learn more about the… ah, starting point of the tea here?” The man, whose name Ororon learnt was Arouet, politely asked.

“Yes. I’m very interested in your tea bags, sir.” Ororon replied back, mustering the most serious expression he could. This was a serious situation after all.

Beside him, Ifa wheezed, looking at him with laughter dancing in his irises. “ Sir ? Did you get that from the movie we watched yesterday?”

Feeling a confused frown form on his face, Ororon side-eyed the mint-haired man and hissed, “Ifa! Not now, this is a very serious situation. It requires the use of the right words.”

Redirecting back to Arouet, and summoning his serious expression back onto his face, Ororon continued, “Sir. I would like to learn about your tea making practices here.”

Ignoring the chuckle from the partner beside him, Ororon focused on Arouet’s face, which looked like it was torn between humour and confusion at the same time. It looked like he was contemplating if Ororon was actually being genuine about his request to learn about the topic.

After considering this for a while, Arouet seemed to see genuine curiosity in Ororon’s eyes, since he nodded before launching into a spiel of Fontaine’s tea-brewing industry.

It was actually a very interesting talk. Ororon was prepared for a lesson, so he had brought along a pen and paper to write down any interesting tips he could learn. As Arouet gesticulated around with his hands, passionately talking about how the honey flavour is incorporated into the tea leaves to be pressed into tea bags, Ororon dutifully took notes, trying to think of how he could use the honey provided by his aphids into his own drink making.

Maybe he could use it for his Astral Mist? When he worked with the Fatui for a while, they had introduced him to this Snezhnayan drink called Flamewater. Wait, was it called that? He remembered it was something related to fire. Oh wait. Firewater. Right, they had introduced him to Firewater. That’s what it was called. Anyways, he liked the drink, actually. It burned the back of his throat when he threw the drink back the same way he saw the other soldiers do it, but in a way that felt very warm.

But it did lack some sweetness. And Katya had given him the recipe to make the drink, but some ingredients were only found in Snezhnaya and he was forced to rewrite the recipe with more Natlan-native ingredients as a substitute. Then it couldn’t have been called Firewater after that, because he had changed the ingredients in the original drink, right? So, he called it Astral Mist. It felt fitting, considering how the actual drink shimmered in the moonlight when he had drunk it that day with the rest. 

His experiments felt like they didn’t do the drink much justice, though. Ororon hadn’t even considered using honey in the drink. Perhaps Arouet had the right idea.

These all were reasons why Ororon had brought along his notepad, head bent over the paper as he scribbled down his notes. Some parts were what Arouet was talking about, and some parts were just notes to himself on how he could better use his own honey from home.

In the middle of his note-taking session, Ororon noticed Ifa had given up on listening to the cafe owner’s long rambles, instead leaning his chin on his shoulder to read his notes.

Not exactly feeling self-conscious, but confused, Ororon paused his scribbling to hiss quietly at the man, “Are you reading my notes?”

“I’m bored, dude.” Ifa hissed back equally as quietly, trying not to interrupt the passionate speech that Arouet was still in the middle of delivering, “I know I offered to come with you to learn more about the tea-making process, but phew! I did not think that the people here would get so passionate about this kinda thing.”

Taking his words to heart right away, Ororon set down his pen and turned his head to fully face Ifa, whose face was still resting on his shoulder.

“Alright.” Ororon hummed thoughtfully, eyes taking on a distant look as he pondered the current situation, “If this is not to your liking, then we can leave. I have the notes that I need, and I want to go back and watch the movies that we rented too.”

“For real, bro?” Ifa’s eyes sparkled as he pushed himself up to a normal sitting position again. “That’s great! Just let him know that we’re leaving, then.”

Setting his notepad down, Ororon cleared his throat at Arouet, stopping him from launching into more machinations of the cafe-industry in Fontaine next.

“My…bro here is feeling tired, so we will be going to our room now, sir. Thank you for all the advice you have given us about the tea-making industry here in Fontaine.” Ororon said, standing up to bow at a perfect 90 degree angle at the perplexed cafe owner.

“Ah, it is of no problem, of course. Please enjoy your stay in Fontaine and I thank you for being so fascinated by our tea. Come again soon!” Arouet nodded at the pair, before bustling off to help his staff at the counter.

At his departure, Ifa stretched out his legs, heaving out a larger sigh than before, “Geez, I thought this would never end. Thanks for stopping him, Oro.”

Feeling a smile spread on his face at the sound of his nickname coming from Ifa’s mouth, Ororon teasingly bumped his shoulder against the Tlalocan man. “You were the one who offered to bring us here, bro. It’s not his fault that he answered our question.”

“Yeah, guess I underestimated how much the Fontainians love to talk, huh?” Ifa said good-naturedly, standing up and offering his hand for Ororon to use to rise from his chair as well. “By the way, what on Tevyat was that bow just now? Did you get all these from that movie yesterday?”

Ororon accepted the hand, pulling himself up before looking at Ifa with wide eyes. “Didn’t the movie say that when you are addressing a master, you have to bow down perpendicularly and call them sir? I memorised that for this meeting today.”

For whatever reason, it seemed like Ororon apparently was a comedian for Ifa today, considering the man stopped walking after he finished speaking to burst into laughter again.

“Ah, dude, you’re gonna be the death of me. Sometimes, these movies are just for fun. I mean, maybe sometimes you can use them in real life. Depends, I suppose.”

“I see.” Ororon said slowly, processing his words. “So, this was not a situation where you would use the advice from movies in real life?”

“Right on dude!” Ifa laughed, reaching out to tousle Ororon’s hair. “It really depends on the situation, yaknow?”

Ororon did not know, actually. But he was still trying to think about this and so he stayed silent, allowing his hair to be ruffled into a mess. 

Hmm. Depends on the situation.

Interesting.

The two men walked back to their hotel, the mint-haired man chattering away to his heart’s content while the dark-haired man listened quietly.

…

“Oro, bro, do we really want to watch another movie? Haven’t you had your fill of movies for the week?” Ifa asked pleadingly as the two of them slowed to a stop in front of Hotel Debord, where they were residing during their stay.

“But Ifa, I got us this really cool movie to watch. A newspaper said this movie was the best romance movie ever produced.” Ororon replied equally as pleadingly, looking at Ifa through his long eyelashes.

“Romance movie?” Ifa’s nose scrunched up in puzzlement. “When did you start liking that sort of stuff?”

“Well, I thought Granny might like this movie, since she likes reading so many romance novels from Inazuma. I thought we could watch the movie first and maybe I’ll give it to Granny when we get back to Natlan.” 

“Aw, when did our darling boy start finding out about romance?” Ifa replied teasingly, reaching out a hand to ruffle Ororon’s hair.

Ororon ducked under his hand, stepping back with a scowl. “I know romance, Ifa! I read Granny’s books about this all the time!”

“Oh yeah?” Ifa stepped closer, clasping his chin to tilt upwards to face him properly. “And what do you know about it, hmm?”

“Uh.” Ororon’s face took on an air of genuine confusion as he tried to find the words he wanted to use. “I don’t think I know much, actually. But whenever Granny is sleeping and I’m bored, I just pick up one of her books and read. It’s very nice to read! Ifa, I should ask if I can borrow her books and lend them to you, if you’re interested.”

Ifa apparently found his answer funny, since he dropped his gloved hand from Ororon’s face and stepped back, before chuckling. 

“Nah, don’t bother, bro. Wouldn’t want Granny to get the wrong idea about us. She’ll show up at my door and break my legs.” He mock-shivered in fear.

“The wrong idea?” Ororon echoed, tilting his head at the vet. “What’s wrong about me borrowing one of her romance books for you?”

Ifa merely laughed, taking his hand and pulling him to their room, leaving Ororon to stumble behind him in bewilderment. What wrong idea?

In the end, despite his earlier complaints, Ifa settled down remarkably tamely to watch the movie with Ororon, who was fiddling with the television to insert the disc inside to start up the movie.

The technology in Fontaine was truly astounding, he mused as he tried to figure out why the disc wasn’t going in the way he wanted it to. They did not have these kinds of things in Natlan. He remembered that Xilonen enjoyed inventing and tinkering with new gadgets. Maybe he should buy one of these players and bring it home for her to use. Perhaps she could make a Natlanese version of these things? He could probably play a movie for his vegetables if they were bored. Sometimes he had to leave his house to do his duties for the Pyro Archon after all. Maybe having a movie playing would keep them sufficiently entertained in the meantime. Would they like romance? Or were his vegetables more interested in those action movies he also liked? Perhaps he should research thi–

His thoughts were cut off as he felt a warm body press against his own, a hand lightly enveloping his. 

Feeling the hair on his arms rise from shock, Ororon tried to turn around, but was stopped by the hand on his own pushing the disc into its rightful place. He hadn’t realised it, but amidst all his thinking, the disc had laid forgotten in his hands as he had mindlessly been trying to push it in all sorts of directions instead of into the player.

“Zoning out?” A familiar voice chuckled beside his ear before pulling away from him.

“Ifa?” Ororon finally felt like he could breathe, turning around to put his hand on his chest. Why did it feel like he had run from the Stadium of the Sacred Flame all the way to the Masters of the Night-Wind? His heart should not be beating this fast. He hadn’t done anything that was that strenuous. Unless pushing a disc suddenly became a sports activity? Should he ask Iansan about this?

“I tried to call you, but you weren’t responding to me, dude. I thought you got possessed by the television.” Ifa said, walking back to bed as though nothing had happened.

Noticing that there was no response from the frozen Mictlan man, he turned around, only to shoot a cheeky smile, “Well? Put it on.”

Feeling a little puzzled still, Ororon pressed the button to start the movie before going back to the bed to watch it.

However, unlike the night before, he refused to nestle into Ifa’s side, staying determinedly at his side of the bed. Was being near to Ifa the reason why his heart started beating so fast?

Ifa didn’t seem to mind his friend’s sudden refusal to go near him, his hat shadowing any expressions he might have had on his face.

Before he could delve into his thoughts again, Ororon shook his head violently, hood flapping in the process. No! This was not the time for him to zone out again. He was not going to miss the movie again like yesterday. He was going to watch this movie. No way he was going to miss this, Granny’s entertainment depended wholly on him right now. He would even go as far as to say her entire fate depended on him.

With great determination, he turned away from the vet, forcing himself to focus intently on the movie playing in front of him. In his resolve, he didn’t notice said vet looking at him from the corner of his eye, smiling to himself as if he knew the conundrum Ororon was facing.

As he started paying attention to the film, he was greeted by the title flashing on the screen, signalling that it was beginning soon. 

Am I Falling In Love With My Childhood Best Friend?!

That was the title of the movie? Ororon tilted his head questioningly at the movie. Oh well. Perhaps Granny would still like it. He just needs to watch it and make sure he can bring it back to Natlan for her.

Tucking his knees to his chest, he pulled his hood down to better watch the movie. It was rather dark after all.

“Juliette! Are you going to come out and play? There’s still some sun left!” A blonde-haired girl called out at a window cheerily, holding a ball in her hands.

“What does she mean by ‘some sun left’?” Ororon whispered at Ifa, scooting closer to him to ask his question.

“It’s still bright outside, so she wants to play with her.” Ifa whispered back, eyes still fixed on the screen.

“Okay.” Ororon muttered, and started to move back when a hand suddenly snaked around his body, pulling him close.

He started to struggle, but gave up when Ifa showed no sign of letting him go. Giving up and allowing himself to be pulled along, he merely stared up at him with wide eyes, before leaning his head on the other’s shoulder to continue watching. 

Maybe he just needs the warmth. It is kind of cold in here. He thought, feeling very helpful. Ororon was such a helpful person.

“Marinette, it’s you! I’m coming down!” A girl with darker hair opened the window to yell back, face splitting into a huge smile upon seeing the owner of the voice.

“Hurry up, Julie! I snuck out of my house to come meet you. Mama told me I wasn’t supposed to leave because I was being punished.” The girl called Marinette pouted just as her friend walked out of the door.

“Punished? What for?” Julie closed her door before linking arms with her and skipping off.

“I didn’t want to go for piano lessons, because it’s sooo boring! So last week, when mama sent me to go to Mademoiselle Lucine’s house for lessons, I ran away and went to your house to play. But mama found out and told me I can’t leave the house, even to play with you.” Marinette huffed as she tried to recount her story.

“Marie!” Julie wagged her finger as they walked. “You know your mama knows everything you’re doing!”

“Yeah, but I wanted to be with you! Not with drabby old Mademoiselle Lucine and her dusty piano!” 

A blush spread on Julie’s face as she processed her friend’s words, before she turned away to cover her face, “Marie..! You can’t say things like that!”

“Like what?” Marie replied innocently, taking her friend’s hand and pulling her to the playground to throw the ball around.

“What does she mean?” Ororon raised his hand from Ifa’s chest to look at him confusedly. “Why can’t she say that?”

Ifa let out an amused laugh. “You’ll get it soon, bro.”

“Not fair.” Ororon sat up properly, pouting in the same way Marie did in the movie at Ifa’s apparent understanding of the situation.

That did not help him at all because Ifa merely pulled him back into their previous position, not bothering to explain the thing that he apparently knew better than Ororon .

A few years passed. Juliette and Marinette grew into young women, both going to school together, before entering the same university to study in Fontaine. Different courses, of course. Julie decided to major in Marketing, finding an enjoyment in promoting herself to others. Marie, on the other hand, opted for a Music course, discovering that while she still disliked piano for all her years, she actually enjoyed playing other instruments and singing.

“Is this called a time-skip?” Ororon mumbled, cozily huddled up in the blankets.

“Shhh, bro, it’s getting interesting.” Ifa flicked him on the forehead.

“Ow.” He pouted, rubbing his head in pain. Ifa had a firm grip.

In response, the mint-haired man used the hand still wrapped around Ororon to lightly massage the area he had hit as an apology, too engrossed in the movie to say sorry out loud.

“Marie, are you free today? The weather is wonderful, I was wondering if you wanted to go Café Lutece with me?” Julie nervously asked into her phone, fingers tapping nervously on the object as she waited for a response.

“I’m so sorry Julie! Anton asked me to go to the library with him to study for our upcoming exams! Can we meet another time?” A cheery voice sounded out from it.

“Ah, I see. It’s fine then. I’ll call you another time. Bye.”

“Bye Jules!”

Julie set down the phone, wincing at how hard she set it down. 

“But it’s been so long since I’ve seen Marie. Who is this Anton guy, anyway? Why is going with him more important than me? She never cancels on our plans like this when we ask to hang out with each other.” She grumbled, pacing the room.

“Okay, now I’m overreacting.” Julie stopped to laugh at herself. “It’s not like she’s always cancelling on me. It’s fine. I’ll call her next week and ask. It’s no big deal.”

…

“Marie, are you free today instead? We couldn’t meet last week but I found this really cute drink at the cafe and I was thinking of going with y–”

“Julie! I’m so sorry, I can’t make it this week either!”

Her face, so excited before, twisted into a scowl. “Why not? I thought your exams were over last week?”

“Well…” A brief silence came over the line, before she continued hesitantly, “Anton asked me to–”

Oh. Him again.

“Anton?” She interrupted her friend, leaning back against the wall in barely-contained annoyance. “Again? What does he even want this time?”

“Don’t talk about him like that!” A shout suddenly sounded over the phone, shocking the both of them into silence for a moment, before Marie continued with a sigh, “I’m sorry for yelling at you like that Jules, but he’s a very dear friend of mine. Next week I’ll call you and we can try that cake you talked about, kay?”

She hung up before Julie could reply.

Tears starting to form in her eyes, Julie threw her phone onto her bed, sinking to the floor and tucking her head into her knees.

“I wasn’t even talking about a cake…”

…

The next week came and passed. Julie’s phone stayed radio-silent, no call coming as promised.

For the first few days of the week, she would hopefully stare at the phone, waiting for it to light up with a call from the one person she was waiting for. 

That hope slowly dimmed with the days, with her not even bothering to wait by her phone by the end of the week. 

This was the first time Marie went back on her words. She was always the more passionate one in the friendship, always pestering Julie to hang out with her whenever she was free. It was… strange for Julie to be the one waiting for Marie to initiate anything with her.

She hated it.

Hands shaking, she opened her phone to Marie’s contact, fingers hovering over the block button.

After a few moments of being frozen in time, she dropped the phone in despair, turning away from it like it physically disgusted her.

“I…I can’t do it.”

“What can she not do?” Ororon whispered, startling Ifa, whose eyes were glued to the movie in interest.

“Dude!” Ifa jumped, pressing a hand to his chest. “You scared the hell out of me!”

“Oh, sorry.” Ororon watched as the man tried to take deep breaths to get his heart beating normally again before he resumed talking. “I’m kinda confused, though.”

Ifa picked up the remote to pause the movie, before letting go of Ororon to face him properly.

“I’m all ears, bro. What did you not get?”

“Why is Julie so upset about not seeing Marie for a few weeks? You and I are friends, and sometimes I don’t see you for a long time, but I feel fine.” Ororon asked innocently, genuinely confused.

“Julie likes Marie, so she wants to see her all the time, dude.” Ifa replied, shrugging his shoulders. 

“Eh?” Ororon tilted his head even more. “But I like you too.”

He laughed at that, seeming to find his confusion cute. “I like you too bro. But when I say that Julie likes her, I mean that Julie has a crush on Marie. She loves her.”

“Oh really? But Julie said that they’re just friends. Why doesn’t she just say that she wants to be in a relationship with her?”

Ifa hummed in contemplation, thinking of how to phrase his answer. “It’s difficult for some people to admit that they like someone in that way. Sometimes the other person might not understand them very well, so they don’t tell them.”

Ororon did not understand the look that Ifa shot him. He understood just fine, thank you very much.

“Well,” He started, chest puffing out in pride, “I bet I would understand just fine. Julie should just be like me.”

The Tlalocan man seemed to find that hilarious, since he burst into laughter, pulling Ororon’s hood over his head.

“I’m sure you would, my bro.”

Mumbling that he definitely would and pushing his hood back, Ororon snuggled back into Ifa’s side, getting comfortable again as the other man resumed playing the movie.

“Julie! Finally I see you! I haven’t seen you around in ages!”A blonde woman bounded over to the dark-haired one, a wide grin on her face.

“Oh. Marie. Hi.” Julie replied unenthusiastically, looking away from her face. She tried to contain the butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

“How are butterflies fluttering in her stomach?” Ororon asked, choosing to ignore the groan that Ifa let out at him interrupting the movie again.

“Dude, I swear, when Cacucu gets back, I’m gonna stuff some of his feathers in your mouth so I can watch a movie in peace.” Ifa threatened, fingers curling in Ororon’s side.

“Ifaa.” Ororon whined, making a face at his words.

“Uh.” His face scrunched up as he tried to remember Ororon’s question. “It’s a metaphor. Butterflies in someone’s stomach means that they’re nervous about something.”

“How does that work?” He asked curiously. “Do they eat butterflies to feel that way? Should I try this for myself? I don’t know if there’s butterflies near my home in Natlan but maybe I can eat one of my aphids…”

Ifa winced at his suggestion, clapping a hand on Ororon’s mouth to stop him from falling down the endless question asking. “No. Please. Don’t do that, Oro. There aren’t any butterflies in her stomach, it literally just means her stomach is uncomfortable because she feels nervous around Marie. Do not eat one of your aphids, I don’t want to bring you to my clinic for this.”

“Is she nervous around Marie because she has a crush on her and she’s scared of seeing her again?”

“Yeah!” Ifa’s eyes lit up at him finally understanding the movie, causing his heart to beat a little faster. “Right on, dude!”

Wait. Why was his heart beating faster? Ah, right. Being close to Ifa was the reason why his heart was beating faster earlier, no? He should move away from him, then.

As Ifa fumbled with the remote to rewind the part of the movie they missed, Ororon tried to detangle his fingers from his side and discreetly tried to move away. He wasn’t from the Masters of the Night Wind for no reason. He’s really good at sleuth and sneaky-work. Ifa wasn’t even going to notice him moving away.

“Where are you going?” Ifa paused in his attempts to rewind to stare at Ororon trying to creep away from him.

Uh oh. Busted.

“What do you mean?” He asked innocently, still discreetly shifting himself to the edge of the bed.

“Like,” Ifa gestured at the empty space between them, “Why are you moving away?”

Ororon’s eyes darted around. He didn’t actually prepare for this. 

“Uh. I’m feeling really hot. Yeah!” 

Phenomenal job, Ororon. He mentally grinned as he patted himself on the back. That was a great save.

However, Ifa did not seem to agree, given how his face twisted into a frown.

“It’s winter. And we opened the windows.”

Oh right. Oh fuck.

“Ummmmmmm. Yes, but you are very hot. So.”

What was Ororon saying? That was not what he meant to say. Well whatever, Ifa would just laugh and dismiss it at one of his usual rambles. He seemed to love doing that whenever Ororon said something he didn’t understand.

Sure dude. He would just say, shrugging and accepting whatever Ororon said.

But, weirdly, this time that didn’t happen. A red flush spread over the man’s tanned face, making him like a phlogiston torch he always saw in the wild.

“Oh wow.” Ororon said wonderingly, forgetting his original goal of moving away to reach out and touch Ifa’s face. “You look like a phlogiston torch.”

In a show of embarrassment, Ifa yanked his hat down, covering his blazing red face, and slapped Ororon’s hand away. 

“You shut up. Stay over there if you want, I don’t care!” Ifa spluttered out, unpausing the film while keeping his hat still covering his face.

Ororon paused in his attempts of inching away, deciding to move back closer to Ifa to nestle back into his side.

At first, Ifa tensed, not expecting him to come back, and obviously recovering from feeling self-conscious after what had just happened. 

Ororon didn’t mind, merely laying his head on the other’s chest and watching the movie comfortably. It was just him. Ifa wouldn’t stay like this for long.

After a few seconds, it seemed like he was proven right, as a familiar hand snaked around Ororon’s body to pull him closer to the vet. When he looked up at Ifa to discern what he was feeling, Ifa only pushed his head down, refusing to let the bat-eared man see whatever expression he was making.

Giggling a little, Ororon refocused on the movie, sparing Ifa from any more embarrassment.

“Why are you doing this, Julie? What’s wrong?” Marie reached out to her friend, laying a hand gently on her arm.

“Nothing is wrong!” Julie ripped her arm away from the other, tears blurring her vision. “I don’t need your company! Go be with Anton!”

“Wh–” Marie’s words were cut off by Julie running away from her. “Wait! Julie!”

She was too far to hear her, tears falling uncontrollably from her eyes as she ran back to her dorms.

As the movie played that scene, Ororon suddenly heard sniffles coming from above him, and not from the film in front of him.

Slowly looking up, he was surprised to be greeted with a teary-looking Ifa who was clutching onto his hat with his free hand.

“Bro,” Ororon quietly started, “Are you crying?”

“Wh–” Ifa looked down, before yanking his hat onto his face again. “N-No! I’m not!”

Ororon sat up, gently pulling Ifa’s hand away from his hat. The way Ifa was so attached to that hat sometimes made him amused, but this wasn’t the time for that.

“It’s okay, Ifa.” He cooed, wrapping the man in a soft hug. “You can cry, I won’t laugh.”

“You–!” Ifa started to go off on him, before suddenly falling into the hug. “Nevermind, I need this. Shucks, dude. That’s so sad for them.”

“I know, I know.” Ororon consoled him, patting him on the head. “Let it out, Ifa.” 

A few sniffles later, Ifa pushed him away, declaring that he was ready to continue watching the movie again. Trusting his friend, Ororon lay back down, watching the movie continue playing.

“Julie? Julie, please open the door. I’ve been standing here for so long.” Marie slid down the door, eyes almost closing in exhaustion as silence greeted her.

“Please, just talk to me. Julie, please.”

At that, the door swung open, almost causing Marie to topple inside. 

“Talk?” Julie’s eyes glimmered with rage, causing Marie to clamber to her feet in fear.

Marie, I’ve been waiting for weeks for you to talk with me. You kept ditching me, so I left you alone. Why are you outside my apartment now? I fulfilled your wish, didn’t I? Go be with Anton if you want to be with him so badly.” She spat, turning back into her house.

Marie scrambled in, closing the door behind her as she yanked the dark-haired woman to her.

“You’re wrong.” Her eyes glimmered with unshed tears. “Don’t say that, I don’t want you to leave me. You’re my best friend.”

“Right.” Julie laughed bitterly.“Your best friend. That’s all I am to you. Just some friend you can talk to whenever you want, and toss aside when someone better comes along.”

“What do you want from me, Julie?” Marie raised her voice, not understanding the situation. “Are we not friends?”

“I love you, Marie!” Julie pushed her away, throwing up her hands. “And you like Anton, and clearly you don’t like my company, so you can go be with him or whatever it is you want with him. Don’t let me interfere with your life.”

“You.. What?” Marie’s brain looked like it skidded to a stop as she stared at her best friend in confusion. 

Seeming to understand what she had just blurted out in a fit of rage, Julie’s eyes lost its spark as her shoulders slumped.

“I love you, Marie. Alright? I love you. I get nervous around you, my heart beats faster. Okay? I know you don’t feel the same. It’s fine. I just don’t want to get in your way again, so you can just… Just leave. I…” She shook her head desperately, wildly gesturing at the door.

Marie only stared at her, as if her feet were glued to the ground.

“Leave!” Julie shouted, eyes glaring at the floor, as if she couldn’t bear to look at Marie in that moment.

Instinctively, she took a step back, thrown off by her friend’s aggression. 

How had she never realised before? No wonder Julie got so upset when she blew her off to hang out with Anton. But he was really just a friend! 

“I… Julie, Anton is just a fri–”

It seemed like the mention of his name only triggered her further, eyes raising from the floor to glare straight into hers with a fierceness that caused her to take another step back.

“Do not speak about him to me, just go! Get out!”

“No.” Marie said determinedly, stepping forward.

“...No?” Julie’s eyes simmered down, confusion quickly overtaking rage.

“No, I will not.” Marie repeated, taking more steps forward. “I…I believe I was too foolish to notice this, or perhaps too naive, but…” she took a breath, “I love you too, Julie.”

Her mouth hung agape for a second, before she snapped it back shut with a click.

“I don’t need your pity!” She snarled, taking steps back. “You don’t need to say that kind of thing out of pity for me. Just leave, Marie.”

“I will not.” Marie said again, stepping right up to Julie and clasping her chin with her hand. “I will keep saying this until you believe me, but I do. I do love you. I just… never realised.”

There was a beat of silence, before Julie looked up at her, eyes shining with tears. 

“If you’re lying about this, I swear I’ll tell your mama all about this when we go back home.”

“I wouldn’t dare.” Marie said smoothly, before swooping down to capture Julie’s lips with her own.

Julie gasped into the kiss, instantly melting into Marie’s touch. The pair backed up until they pressed against a wall, Julie’s hands tangled in Marie’s hair, while one of Marie’s hands clasped her chin, tilting it at an angle for easy access.

Her other hand wrapped around Julie’s waist, pulling her as close to her as humanly possible, refusing to part from her lips.

What started off as a soft kiss, experimental even, soon evolved into more. Julie’s hands started clawing at Marie, softly whining at her to pick her up.

Marie, being the stronger of the two, lifted the other woman, and swung her legs to wrap around her own waist, all while not parting from her. Her hands started reaching for the other girl’s sweater–

“Alright, I think that’s enough.” Ifa coughed out, stopping the movie before anything too explicit started happening.

“Aw.” Ororon whined, hands reaching out to grab the remote from him. “It was just getting to the part that I read about in Granny’s books!”

He wheezed, keeping the remote at a safe distance. “I don’t think this is the time to watch that, bro. Granny might actually break my arms too if she learnt you watched this kinda movie with me.”

Ororon frowned as he tried to visualise Citlali’s reaction. He supposed Ifa was right. Granny did have a tendency of going overboard when he watched anything that she deemed unsuitable at his age .

“I guess you’re right.” Ororon pouted, hands dropping back to the blankets. “So, what did you think of the movie?”

“Hmm.” Ifa contemplated, forehead forming wrinkles as he did so. “It was quite a nice movie. I think Granny might actually like watching this.”

“I think so too.” Ororon hummed, deep in thought. “I guess the title of the movie also made sense, then.” He continued, not minding the look Ifa shot at him.

“Huh? What are you on about, bro?”

“The movie title, Ifa, did you forget? It was called… uh… falling in love with my childhood best friend!”

“Yeah?” Ifa prompted him to continue.

Letting out the most obnoxious sigh he could muster, Ororon continued, “Well, Marie and Julie are childhood friends! They fell in love with each other.”

“Yeah bro, they did.”

A moment of comfortable silence overtook them, Ifa fiddling with the remote to turn off the television.

“We also are childhood friends, right?” Ororon suddenly said, causing a choking fit to overtake Ifa.

“Yeah.” He gasped out, after Ororon thumped his back a while for him to recover. “Why do you ask, dude?”

“Just thinking.” Ororon smiled serenely, oblivious to the emotions brewing behind the other man’s eyes.

“Well, don’t let that thinking keep you up now. Time for bed.” Ifa said, tilting his hat over his head as he rose to switch the light off.

“Oh.” Ororon said dumbly, beginning to adjust his blankets. “Goodnight then, Ifa.”

“G’night bro.”

Ororon knew he was supposed to sleep, but his mind kept running on.

Him and Ifa were childhood friends. Was he supposed to be falling for his childhood friend? The same way that Julie started to like Marie?

“Do I like Ifa? He whispered quietly, trying not to disturb the vet sleeping soundly next to him.

When he sneaked a glance at the other man, he showed no signs of having heard Ororon, lightly breathing in and out. Good. He was sound asleep then.

As slowly as he could, Ororon propped himself up, resting his face on his hand as he examined Ifa’s face.

His eyes were closed shut, projecting an aura of calm around him. To be honest, Ifa always had that sort of calm around him. It reflected in his soul with a light green colour, warm and friendly. Ororon always thought it to be because of his profession. He had to be calm in front of the saurians, after all. It would probably be very scary for them to be injured and the vet treating them to also be nervous. He knew that if he were bleeding out and Ifa was scared, Ororon would think something was very wrong.

The aura of calm around him almost never flickered. Even with the most temperamental saurians, or the most irritating saurian owners, Ifa always felt like a reassuring feeling, a rock. 

Oh, a rock was a good way to describe him, Ororon mused. Rocks don’t break easily under pressure, and they’re super reliable. In fact, he has a rock on his night table called Little Gray. One time, he was watering his vegetables when he suddenly tripped over something. In confusion, he peered at what the offending object was, noticing that it just happened to be a rock.

Or maybe it wasn’t just a rock. It did trip him after all. So it must be a pretty important rock. He called it Little Gray. 

Wait, this wasn’t the time to think about Little Gray. He was thinking about Ifa.

Maybe he did like Ifa, Ororon went back to musing. Is that why his heart beat faster when he was near to him just now? He thought that it was because he did a sports activity that even he didn’t know existed, but maybe, it’s because he likes Ifa. Like likes Ifa.

Wasn’t that what Julie said in the movie? Something about loving Marie and her knowing it because she felt nervous around her and her heart beat faster around her?

“Oh golly geez.” Ororon sat up straight. “I am in love with my childhood best friend.”

Don’t ask him if he quoted two movies simultaneously, though. He very much did.

He then flopped back onto his bed. 

Ok, so he’s in love with Ifa. Now what?

He couldn’t do what Julie and Marie did right? There was no one called Anton that they both knew, and Ororon wasn’t the kind of person who got jealous if Ifa was hanging out with others. He knew Ifa had a lot of friends, anyway.

“I should watch more movies. And take notes.” He mused again. Ororon was doing a lot of musing today. And he didn’t like studying. But it was for his best bro, so it was alright. He would do this for him.

Alright, that was the plan. Ororon clapped his hands out loud, jumping at how it reverberated through the quiet room. Right. It was night. Ifa was sleeping. He should be a bit quieter.

He clapped his hands together, quieter this time, with a sense of care into not making any noise this time. The plan was in place.

At that very moment, Ifa stirred slightly, hands rising from where they were laying on the bed to pull Ororon back.

“Bro…come…sleep.” He muttered, disoriented, eyes not opening.

“Coming!” Ororon chirped out, dutifully settling next to him. 

Tomorrow. He thought, falling into a deep slumber, dreaming of the movie they just watched.

…

The sun shone brightly, illuminating the dark figure standing at the side of the bed, towering over a sleeping man.

“Bro! Wake up!” Ororon shook Ifa awake, eyes shining with determination. It was the morning, and he was now ready to enact his plan of telling Ifa that he was in love with him.

“Huh?” Ifa stirred, letting out a groan. “Wh…What time is it?”

“7.30!” Ororon grinned triumphantly.

“What?” Ifa shook off the covers to shoot him a very pointed glare, eyes half-open. “Then why are you waking me up so early? We’re on vacation, dude.”

“Time waits for no one, bro!” Ororon chirped, pulling him up. “We have a lot to do today!”

“What..?” The vet gave up, allowing himself to be dragged by the determined Mictlan man. There was really no arguing with Ororon once he made his mind up.

“At least tell me what you have planned for us today.” He groaned, heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

“We’re going to go rent some movies!”

No sound was heard from Ifa, except for the gargling of water. Ororon felt like he could sense the judgement emanating from him through the walls.

“I’m not even gonna bother questioning you, man.” Ifa finally said, walking out of the bathroom, rubbing the sleep out his eyes. “These movies better be worth waking me up this early in the morning while we’re on vacation .”

“It is.” Ororon dragged him out of the house. No wonder he loved Ifa. He didn’t question things like the others did. He just…accepted Ororon wholeheartedly.

…

The vet allowed himself to be pulled all the way to the market, where Ororon let him go and started talking to some vendors near a Fontainian movie renting stall.

“Ma’am, I would like to rent your best romance movies.” He said with all the determination of a warrior going into battle.

“What?” Ifa muttered next to him, still blearily rubbing his eyes.

“Our best romance movies?” The woman confirmed, eyes lighting up in excitement. “You have come to the right place, young man! We have all the best movies that Mora can buy! Please, please come along and take your pic!”

“Alright! Ifa, bro, you go and sit down, kay? I won’t take long.” Ororon quickly said, pushing him to a bench before disappearing into the shop with the vendor.

“The heck are you on about..?” The man sunk down on the bench, head slumped over as he briefly closed his eyes.

An hour passed, the sun rising up into the sky with a strong glow, light shining over the buildings in the city. Ifa stayed in the same position, steadily breathing in and out as he slept. A gunshot could probably go off and he would not even notice at that point. The weather was just too lovely to stay awake.

“Ifa!” A loud shout suddenly resounded through the streets, startling every Fontainian roaming up and about. Multiple eyes suddenly fixed on the offender, as he weaved his way through people to get to the still-napping man.

“Ifa, I’m back!” Ororon shook his shoulders, a blinding smile on his face. 

Even though he was being incredibly loud and definitely a public nuisance, the love that Fontainians had for anything remotely interesting always triumphed over their desire to have a peaceful day. However, realising that nothing too dramatic was going to happen, all eyes on Ororon dropped quickly as they went back to their day-to-day activities.

“Ifaaaaaa. Wake up!” Ororon shook his shoulders even harder. Was Ifa really that tired?

Taking a deep sigh and setting all the objects in his hands down, Ororon gave Ifa a hard shove, pushing him to the floor in the process.

“WH– Dude!” Ifa jolted awake, rubbing his head indignantly. “What was that for?”

“You weren’t waking up.” Ororon offered as explanation, extending his hand for Ifa to pull himself up. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“There are so many things you could have done, bro.” Ifa sighed, taking his hand to rise. “Are you done with your movies?”

“Yep!” Ororon proudly displayed the stack of movies resting on the bench, teetering on the edge of collapse. “All done!”

“Dude…” Ifa trailed off, looking at the sheer number of movies Ororon obtained. “You want to watch all these movies?”

“Yep! That’s why I woke us up so early!” Ororon said cheerily, picking up the discs before grasping Ifa’s hand. “Let’s go back and watch them!”

Ifa groaned, dragging his free hand on his face, but walking along with him nevertheless. “You owe me so much for this bro. When Cacucu gets back, you’re going to treat both of us to dinner for a month.”

“A week?” Ororon pouted at the man, busting out the best puppy eyes he could.

“Two, and you have a deal.” 

“Deal!” He said triumphantly. “Let’s go watch these movies!”

…

Armed with his trusty notebook and pen, Ororon inserted the first movie into the movie player, watching intently as it started to play.

You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged; but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.

His mouth pursed as he faithfully wrote these lines down. Is this really how the Fontainians confessed to each other? Ororon really didn’t think that Ifa would believe him if he started spouting such words to him as a confession.

“The heck are you on about, bro?” He would probably say, dismissing Ororon’s words as one of his usual ramblings. That could not happen! Ifa had to take Ororon seriously.

Sighing loudly, he walked over to the player, removing the disc before inserting a new one in and pressing play.

“Why’d you change the movie, bro?” Ifa lazily asked, lounging on the bed.

“I’m taking notes, Ifa. Can’t you tell?” Ororon waved his notebook at him.

“Yes, I see the notes,” He rolled his eyes, “But the movie isn’t over. Why not let it finish and then change it?”

“Because its purpose has been fulfilled.” Ororon said with a straight face, walking back to the bed.

“Alright man. C’mere.” Ifa gave up, and extended his arms for Ororon to fall into.

“Not now!” He swatted at the vet, sitting down with his back straight and staring intently at the film. “I need to focus.”

Ifa only groaned, throwing his hands over his face. He seriously had no clue what Ororon was trying to accomplish, but again, he knew better than to try and grill him on every one of his weird decisions. Better to just let him do whatever he wanted.

This continued for a while, Ifa drifting off to sleep while Ororon dutifully kept taking notes.

I think about you all the time...I can hardly sleep for missing you. I ache to see you and be near you. I love you with a longing I can barely contain, and I fear it’s going to drown me.

Hm. Ororon didn’t think he was the drowning type. Time to try another movie.

It’s you I love, I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didn’t have one at all. Even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours. You probably guessed as much, but just in case you didn’t.

Ororon scribbled it down, still frowning. It didn’t feel like something he would say.

I wondered, Georgina, if you could imagine being in love with me again, the way I’m in love with you. And that given you’re the best thing to ever happen to me, if you could give me the chance to try to be the best thing that ever happened to you.

He was going to throw something. None of them felt right.

Heaving out a final sigh and giving up on his movie dreams, he paused the movie, before flopping back to lie down.

This wasn’t right. He didn’t feel right. Ororon wasn’t the dramatic sort of person, going around proclaiming his love like how these Fontainian movies. He preferred to keep it short and direct. He knew the simple truth in his heart, didn’t he? All he had to do was say it. Didn’t Ifa say that most movies didn’t apply in real life? Maybe this was just one of those moments.

“Ifa.” Something overtook him and he pushed himself up to shake the vet awake. “Ifa, wake up.”

“Mmmm.” He merely rolled to face the other side, sleepily pushing Ororon’s hands away.

“Ifa!” Ororon tried again. This was not the time for Ifa to be asleep.

There was no response, save for the deep breathing that was emanating throughout the room.

Huff . He blew the hair out of his eyes. Time for his secret weapon.

“Cacucu’s back!” He yelled, pitching his voice to be as high as he could make it.

“What?! Where? Cacucu?” Ifa shot up, totally disoriented.

“Okay good, you’re awake.” Ororon caught Ifa’s hands, dragging him to stand up with him.

“What? Where’s Cacucu?” The vet questioned him, eyes darting around the room.

“He’s still stuck in Monsieur Neuvillette’s office.” He replied petulantly.

“Wh–” Ifa frowned as his brain caught up. “Ok, not cool dude. I thought he returned to us.”

“Sorry Ifa, but it’s important. You weren’t waking up, and you told me not to push you from the bed to wake you up.”

“I’m changing that deal from two weeks to two months.” Ifa muttered under his breath, before turning to look at Ororon. “What is this important thing?”

Ororon took a deep breath, hands suddenly starting to tremble. The Fontainian movies did not say that getting this nervous was part of confessing to the person you love. Actually, maybe they did? He couldn’t remember. All the movies he had watched were all slipping out of his memory, like rushing water passing over rocks.

“Yoohoo, anyone there?” Ifa asked, waving his hand in front of Ororon’s dazed eyes. “What do you wanna say?”

“Ifa,” Ororon started, willing his hands to stop shaking , “Bro, I want to tell you something.”

“Yes?” Ifa stared at him expectantly.

“Uh. After watching all these movies, I have decided. Or I have realised. That. Uh. Uhhhhhh.” Ororon panicked. This was not going the way he thought it would. Not that he had any ideas for how this would go, but it felt like this perhaps wasn’t the way he would have wanted it to go.

He was starting to consider casting his masking spell that he perfected to escape and revise his notes on how to properly confess when gloved hands lightly grasped his.

When Ororon looked up, he was faced with turquoise eyes shining in care and patience. “Take your time, Oro. I’m here to listen to you.”

Ok he was going to do this.

“IloveyouIfa.” Ororon said as fast as he could, squeezing his eyes closed. 

There was a moment of silence, before he dared to open his eyes. When he eventually did, he was faced with a self-satisfied smirk on the vet’s face.

“Did you hear me, should I repeat myself? Wait, should I clarify what I meant? I mean I love you in the way that Julie–”

“Say it again.” Ifa asked–no, demanded, from him, letting go of his hand to grasp his chin.

“Was I too soft the first time?” Ororon’s mouth formed a frown. “Okay, I love y–”

He was cut off by a pair of lips on his own.

Oh.

Ifa’s lips were rough, yet tender as they moved against Ororon’s own. He kissed him with such passion that Ororon stumbled back until they hit a wall. As Ifa pushed up against him, his own shoulder blades made contact with the wall, and he shivered. Whether in cold, or in want, he had no idea.

One of Ifa’s hands settled on his waist, while the other tangled up in his hair, pulling him as close as he could. Ororon could only try his best to kiss back, uncertainly putting his hands on Ifa’s head. Was that where he was supposed to keep them?

They broke apart briefly, Ifa whispering, “Don’t overthink it,” before he swooped back in to connect their lips.

This time, Ororon, in fact, did not overthink. Body arching in towards Ifa’s, he instinctively encircled his arms around Ifa’s waist, pulling the man in to him desperately.

“Ifa…” He sighed out, feeling like he was losing his voice with how intensely Ifa was kissing him.

The sound of his name being said in Ororon’s needy tone did not seem to deter Ifa at all, instead spurring him to continue. With a strength that Ororon did not know Ifa had, the man scooped him up in his arms, tightly holding onto his thighs as he continued in his ministrations. 

Ororon couldn’t breathe. But his mind was clouded with a pleasant haze, and he allowed himself to be swept up in the feeling, tilting his head with a sigh to allow for their lips to slot together at a better angle.

Ifa was only too happy to accept, not letting them part for even a second to catch their breath.

As if on its own accord, Ororon’s mouth slightly opened, and Ifa took the opportunity right away, tongue invading his mouth with a greed that he had only ever read about in books. 

Ororon melted into the kiss, slightly mewling at how Ifa attacked his mouth. He was a natural at this.

Eventually, both men finally felt the strain of the lack of air, and broke apart, each taking huge lungfuls of air as Ifa gently set Ororon down on the floor.

“Ifa… you,” Ororon gasped out, “You never said if you liked me back. Do you love me too?”

The man chuckled in response, a gloved hand reaching up to cup Ororon’s face.

“I thought the kiss was a sufficient response. Do you need me to say it out loud?”

“Ifaaaaa.” Ororon whined, crossing his arms and pouting his lips. Yes, he wanted to hear it said out loud! How else would he know?

“Okay, okay.” Ifa laughed, drawing closer to him again, “I am in love with you. Have been, actually, for a long while. Everyone has been teasing me about it for years, Oro. I’m surprised you hadn’t noticed.”

“Really?” His eyebrows raised. Had he really not noticed?

Ifa laughed again, drawing Ororon’s attention to the man’s lips. They were bright red from their makeout session earlier, glossy with saliva. In wonder, he reached out to touch the vet’s lips, finger slowly running through his plush mouth.

When he looked up at Ifa’s eyes, a haze of want had overcome his eyes, looking like he was desperately holding himself back from going back in for another kiss.

Patting himself on the back for making the usually so composed vet like this, Ororon ducked down, connecting their lips again. This was nice.

After a while, the two men parted, both of them once again gasping for air.

“Wait.” Ororon suddenly said, having processed Ifa’s words. “What do you mean you’ve loved me for years?”

Ifa sighed affectionately, leaning down to connect their foreheads together. “It means that I’ve loved you for a long time. What else?”

“Well.” He spluttered out. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I did!” Ifa said indignantly, still pressing his forehead against Ororon’s. “You would just say ‘Love you too, dude’ and move on! Not much I could’ve said to make you understand.”

That was fair. Ororon faltered. Guess he still had some way to go before he got the hint sometimes.

“Hey.” Ifa nudged him, breaking him out of falling into a gloomy state. “You got it in the end, though. I was happy to wait for you, dude.” 

Ifa’s smile was blinding, almost enough to light up the room. Ororon could only stare at it wonderingly. No wonder he always felt so safe and comfortable around him. He loves him.

“I love you, Ifa.” Ororon said genuinely, watching as Ifa’s smile got even brighter, if that was even possible.

“I love you too, dude.” Ifa left a soft kiss on the Mictlan man’s forehead.

“So, are we bros who kiss? Dudes who makeout?” 

“Dude.” Ifa groaned, mood shattering at Ororon’s words. “There is no way that’s happening.”

“Well, what else are we then?”

Ifa sighed at him, dragging a hand down his face. “Did all those films not teach you the word ‘boyfriends’?”

“Oh.” Ororon flushed. “Sure, that works. Ifa, my boyfriend. Ifa, you’re my boyfriend.” He tested out the word.

“And you’re mine.” Ifa smiled softly down on him, wrapping him in a hug.

There was a moment of silence as both men stayed in each other’s hold, enjoying the comfortable silence stretching between them.

“...So, can we finish watching those films I rented?”

“Is that why you were taking all those notes? You were trying to copy their way of confessing?”

“I didn’t use any of them, Ifa, I swear! I said everything from the heart.”

“If you say so, dude.”

“Hey, I thought you said we can’t call each other dude!”

“I can’t address you as boyfriend every single time, can I?”

“...True.”

Ororon put on a movie amidst their squabbles, before heading back to the bed where Ifa was waiting for him. As he settled next to the Tlalocan man, he felt a soft kiss pressed to his crown. Looking up, he was met with eyes filled with fondness and love, before he pressed another kiss to the man’s lips and settled down to watch the movie.

I Did Fall In Love With My Childhood Best Friend: The Sequel.

…

“Granny! We’re back! And we got you a gift and some news!” Ororon called out, hand tightly gripping Ifa’s as he searched through the house for his dear Granny.

“Oh? Who dares disturb Granny Itztli as she’s in the middle of something imp–oh. It’s you . Back from your trip so soon?” Citlali trudged out from her room, a white blanket draped over her.

“What have you got for me?”

“Ifa and I got you a movie to watch!” Ororon triumphantly said, holding out a disc for her to grab as Ifa tried to discreetly hide behind his back.

“About time my grandson remembered his gran–ARE YOU TWO HOLDING HANDS?” Citlali cut herself off to screech, finally noticing the intertwined hands.

“That’s the news we came to tell you!” Ororon proudly declared, holding up their hands as Ifa tried his best to back away even further.

“YOU!” Citlali screamed, grabbing the disc and looking at it before tossing it on her sofa. “IS THAT WHY YOU’RE GIVING ME THIS MOVIE? IFA, I SWEAR. IF YOU DID ANYTHING TO MY BELOVED GRANDSON–”

“Granny, I swear, I didn’t start anything! I cut off the movie before anything serious could happen–!” 

“SO, something DID happen! Ifa, I let you go to a different region with my grandson, and THIS is what you do to him? Where is my spellbook? WHERE IS IT?” She began scrambling around her belongings in search of a certain book, ready to curse out Ifa’s entire existence.

“Granny, granny, calm down.” Ororon said gently, letting go of Ifa to take her hands. “Ifa didn’t start anything, I swear. It was all me.”

There was a moment of silence, before Citlali’s face began turning red and smoke looked like it was blowing out of her ears.

“SO YOU STARTED THIS?”

“Granny–!”