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Rodney hid behind a tree. (Or, well. He tried to. None could ever be bulky enough to hide him.)
Peeking his head out through the side was always a mistake, because Topher was always there. Standing there. Checking his phone for minutes on end.
Somehow, Topher used his phone in the prettiest way that Rodney had ever seen– No!
Back against the tree again, Rodney shook his head rapidly and shut his eyes. A mistake! Because Topher has burned his cute little self in Rodney’s confused little head.
“Guh- Topher… Hair… eyes… good- UGH!” Rodney slapped his own forehead. “You’re not like that , Rodney! …Topher is! Which is super cool… f-for him! Not me! I mean…” He scratched behind his head. “I don’t think- No, I’m not… I think- GAH!”
All dumb-faced and defeated, Rodney slumped onto the ground, knees to his chest, and took a very deep breath.
It’d been like this for days now.
Really, Rodney had completely forgotten that he was in a competition. All he could think about was… not girls.
Rodney hadn’t been thinking about any girl… at all!
Rodney. Not thinking about girls.
Do you know how ridiculous that is?!
And speaking of girls, the clear voice of one could be heard not too far away.
The princess girl from the other team. Ella, was it?
Her voice was angelic.
She seemed so sweet and pretty and loved animals. She’d probably get along with Rodney’s back at the farm.
…Focus on her…
…Heart eyes…
…Pink, blurry vision…
And…
Nope. Nothing.
Lips all wobbly like he was about to cry, Rodney whined.
A bit too loudly.
“Hellooo thereee!” She sang in his direction. It startled him.
“Oh. Um. Hey…!”
Although he tried to force a toothy smile, she caught wind of what he was really feeling.
She walked closer to him and looked up in concern. “Oh my. Are you alright?” A gloved hand made gentle contact with his forearm. “What troubles you, my large friend?”
Hand…
Soft…
Pretty…
Girl…
Nice…
…Nothing.
“UGH! Come on!”
As Rodney looked genuinely mad, Ella jolted back and took her hand away. “I-I… I’m sorry?”
“...Aw, you didn’t do anything…” After shaking his head, Rodney rested his chin on his arm, which was on top of his knees. This made his speech a bit muffled. “That’s what’s bugging me…”
“I… still don’t quite understand…” With a tilt of the head, Ella sat beside him (and made sure to give her squirrel friends down below a loving pat on the head). “But I’m willing to! I hate to see someone in such turmoil…”
Blushing hard but feeling sick to his stomach, Rodney recounted his last big interaction with… him , how he made him feel, and how bad it’s been these past few days.
The farm boy felt so dirty.
The princess held her hands close to her chest.
“Why- that sounds so romantic!”
“Eughhh, don’t call it thaaat… It’s-... It’s not romantic, okay?! Maybe I’m just… I dunno. Sick.”
She giggled. “Lovesick, perhaps!”
Rodney frowned deeply, but sighed and faced away from her.
Ella’s face dropped, now she fidgeted with her dress. “...I’m sorry for the joke. It seems I didn’t take what you said all that seriously… But that really is what I’m getting out of what you told me, Rodney.”
That wasn’t what he wanted to hear either.
She continued, “I know we aren’t on the same team, but you seem to be a big romantic… all the time! What’s so different here?”
“Um? That it’s-” Eyes wide, the redhead stopped himself, worriedly scanned his surroundings and peeked from the side of the tree again, relieved to not see a certain stylish guy. Biting his lip, he then whispered in her ear: “...Topher.”
“...And Topher seems like a swell boy!”
“Yeah, that’s the thing! Right there! He’s a… boy.” Rodney stated, feeling wrong even mentioning that gender. His own gender. “...Not a girl. Even when I asked him about it.”
Ella cocked her head. “You asked Topher if he’s a girl?”
“And now I haven’t felt the warm fuzzies for any girls. Just him.” Another sad exhale from the larger boy. “It just feels weird.”
The princess pursed her lips, some thoughts clearly crossing her mind. “...Love works in mysterious ways sometimes…”
Rodney could tell that she wasn’t done talking, but wow, referring to what he had towards Topher as ‘love’ might send him into an even worse spiral.
“...I myself have found myself in a bit of a similar pickle…”
That made Rodney’s ears perk up. And then he made a face.
“Huh? You liking guys shouldn’t be a problem…? Right? …Or is it a problem? …My head hurts…”
As he whined, Ella placed a comforting hand on his arm again. “You see, my kerfuffle is that I’ve always believed that I would find my prince someday…”
Ella explained more about how she was practically raised by fairytales and romance stories. How they were all pretty similar to one another, and that was what Ella wanted, so she did her best to follow along as best as she could. To get her ‘happily ever after’.
However, time after time, boy after boy, none of them were quite what she was looking for.
Most boys were so… un-princely, to put it nicely. The closest she could find were handsome ones, but– on top of particular issues with them– those boys tended to… Um… Swing in different directions… (Cough, cough… Topher…)
Ella found herself drawn to Sugar. Her beauty, her strength, her humor and charm and just how unabashedly herself Sugar was.
It… confused Ella. She’d never wanted to befriend a girl this badly, this desperately before.
And then Sugar kept pushing her away. Over and over again.
As Ella recounted her feelings, a little bird perched on her finger. The feathers served as a reminder of what she was about to share; of a certain contestant who wore those as earrings.
“...And then, there’s Sky. I was so lost in song, I didn’t even notice her at first. Plus, she is so adorably small and tragically easy to miss at times, hehe. She’s such a good leader, beautiful… gentle and kind, but stern when she needs to be… She’s always there for me when I need it…
And she’s athletic… Such a trait had never… stuck out to me before for a potential love interest, but…”
She swallowed hard and Rodney listened carefully.
“...I don’t know how else to say it– it just… crossed my mind one day, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it… I-I haven’t even talked to her that much! But-... But what if Sky was my prince…?”
“Oh.” Rodney’s mind kinda drew a blank. He could relate to her, understand where she was coming from completely, and that’s why he had nothing else to say but: “Huh.”
Since Ella was so pale, her blush was a dark tone that covered her entire face. “O-Oh! Oh dear! I totally said too much! I-... I’m not even sure how you could-”
“N-No! I mean… You want a prince, right? So… she’s kinda like a prince- or… more like, uh…. Oh! Your knight in shining armor!”
“My knight in shining armor…” Hands over her cheeks, Ella would be a flustered, giggling mess if she didn’t feel so confused right now. “Goodness. That fits her so well…”
“Yeah! It does!”
(…The same way that Topher being Rodney’s girlfriend fits him so well… Despite the whole… well…)
The princess visibly agreed with the statement, but she stared at the ground in vague shame. “...But she’s a girl…”
“You sure?”
Somewhat caught off guard, Ella squinted. “I mean. I haven’t… asked her, necessarily… But I’m quite sure that she is…”
“Dang.”
“I know.”
The two quietly sat back on their shared tree of repressed nature.
The boy eventually broke the silence.
“What now?”
Ella gave it some thought, and frowned. “I’m not sure…”
A few more moments passed as they settled on this… not entirely comfortable silence. Rodney and Ella didn’t know each other very well– before now, anyway. Now they knew each other TOO much. The weather was nice. The sound of the leaves falling and birds chirping was nice. Everything seemed nice. But it wasn’t.
Ella broke the silence with a light giggle.
“Sky would look so precious in armor.”
Rodney didn’t know what to say to that.
She continued, “and you would so take Topher on the most romantic date ever!”
That made him heat up. “Wh-What?!”
“...There’s no harm in playing with our imagination, is there?” She shrugged.
“I guess… But wouldn’t that make us more confused? And feel worse?”
“You do make a good point, my large friend, but we have already shared our problems with one another. Seeing it from a different angle could instead make us smile. Even if just for a moment...” She looked into his eyes, as though looking for reassurance.
“Oh. Huh…”
After some hypotheticals about Sky saving Ella from a tower, and Rodney getting all dressed up to take Topher to a fancy restaurant, it really did make them smile.