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“And bro said he was gonna beat me in the finals~”
Flame taunted the currently fuming purple-haired demon glaring up at him. Wemmbu’s cheeks were turning red in anger, cheeks puffed up, mouth trembling into a pout before he was gritting his teeth in annoyance.
“This tournament was absolute ass!” Wemmbu explodes, “I couldn’t use my elytra, I couldn’t use my fireworks, I ran out of pearls—”
“Nyenyenye, I also barely had enough pearls! Just admit it, I’m stronger than youuuu~!”
Flame couldn’t resist it, he briefly pinched Wemmbu’s left cheek.
He was immediately tackled by Wemmbu—or well, Wemmbu tried but Flame was quick to rebalance himself. He laughs as Wemmbu kept trying to strangle him, while Flame only held Wemmbu back just by holding him in place with his hand on Wemmbu’s forehead, careful not to get too close to the base of the purple-haired demon’s horns.
“I would’ve won it—! I could’ve won it!”
“Woulda, coulda, shoulda!”
“I’m gonnA KILL YOU—!”
Someone cleared their throat.
Flame and Wemmbu stopped their antics as they turned towards the source. Theo stood there and despite wearing sunglasses, Flame could see the look of judgement he was directing to them.
“I’m pretty sure the tournament is over, but feel free to kill each other after the awards ceremony.” Theo crossed his arms, yet there was a knowing grin on his face.
“There’s an award ceremony?” Wemmbu asks, genuine curiosity in his tone.
Flame missed the coolness of Wemmbu’s body as he moved to recompose himself.
“Yeah! And ye two,” Theo points two fingers at them, “are the only ones we’re waiting for! So get yer asses back out there!”
Wemmbu cheers, and Flame couldn’t help but do the same. They looked at each other as they shared a high-five, running past the yellow avian as the two raced each other back to the arena.
“What the hell?” Theo whispers to himself as he looks at the two demons’ backs, “and to think they were at each others’ throats earlier…”
Flame let out a yelp as he felt himself getting pulled by the long tail of his blindfold, staggering back in his steps while Wemmbu’s obnoxious laughter zoomed past him.
“Yo, bro! What a fucking cheater!”
Yet Flame’s grin never once left his face.
They made it on the stage, the other participants already waiting for them.
“I got here first,” says Flame immediately.
Wemmbu retorts, “I got here first!”
“Ladies, ladies, yer both beautiful,” Theo pushed himself forward through the space between the two demons, “now can the two of ye get yer asses up there?”
AJTHEBOLD’s speech to start the award went from one ear to another, Flame couldn’t care less about whatever the hell he was saying as AJ put the medal on him. Flame’s shit-eating grin was directed to Wemmbu at his side, who wore a silver medal around his neck.
The absolute venomous look Wemmbu was sending him makes Flame’s victory taste even more delicious.
They left the stage, and the two of them would’ve started another round of exchanging insults if it wasn’t for some random girl’s voice interrupting them.
“Excuse me?”
Flame and Wemmbu turned to the source of the sound, seeing a blonde girl of average height—with blonde hair and green eyes—smiling up at them in excitement. She was holding what seems to be a camera.
“I’m a journalist from Paper Crane, can I take a picture of you two for an article I’m writing?”
Wemmbu perks up, “we have news now?”
“Ah, no. At least, not formally yet,” the girl nods at them, “my dream is to become the head of a news company!”
“Well, it would definitely be good for your rep if you get a picture of the Immortal Demon,” Flame casually throws an arm around Wemmbu, pulling the shorted demon close to him as he holds his gold medal with the other one.
The girl’s eyes widened before she eagerly lifted her camera up for a photo.
“C’mon, Wemm, strike a pose!”
Wemmbu scrambles for a pose, the result ending with him holding up a peace sign with a wide smile.
There was a low shutter sound, the click of a camera, before a brief flash momentarily blind Wemmbu’s eyes. His vision was back to normal in no time, fortunately. The girl takes a few more for good measure before checking the photos again.
“Thank you so much,” she says as the two demons relax their posture, “the next time we meet, I swear I’ll be in a different work position!”
“Sure, lil girlie,” Wemmbu waves a hand at her, “make sure I look good in the pictures, ‘kay?”
The girl chuckles as she gives them a small bow, before running off towards the other contestants and AJ.
The excitement was starting to dwindle down, but there were still lingering high from the tournament and victory. It was only after sun down, the festival was just getting started—if the faint cheers and sounds of the busy crowd from outside of the arena was not enough of an indicator.
Flame clears his throat, “so, uh, what now, bro?”
Wemmbu shrugs, “I dunno…”
Silence enveloped the two of them.
The black-haired demon looks around, before an idea pops into his mind.
“Wanna go around the town, bro? I heard there are lots of games for these types of things.”
Wemmbu takes a moment to think about it, before a smirk appears on his lips.
“I’ll win more than you.”
“God can strike me down if I’m lying…” Wemmbu snapped his eyes open, pointing accusingly at a smug Flame, “that motherfucker’s cheating!”
“Nahhhh, bro, you just suck,” Flame laughs.
“We’re going to find another game! We’re just getting started, I’m telling you!”
The first game was a ring toss. Considering how the both of them used pearls in combat, this is the easiest game for them. It just so happened the Flame’s ender pearl throws are more accurate than Wemmbu’s—which leads to the long-haired man looking like he’s about to throw a tantrum as he looks at the bottles and the rings that landed on them.
“Which price would you like to take, sir?”
Flame glances at the booth owner, eyes flicking to the rows upon rows of stuffed toys and trinkets placed on the shelf to the side. A round, purple thing caught his attention. Flame pauses.
What the hell is that?
That shit looks like Wemmbu, the fuck?
“Yo, get me that,” Flame points towards it.
The booth owner chuckles awkwardly as he moves to get the plushie. The owner hands it to Flame. Upon closer inspection, it does look like Wemmbu—a medium-sized blob version of Wemmbu. It even got a small cardboard-like tiara on it, small, thin black arms and legs, dotted black eyes and a smile so infuriating and cute at the same time.
Flame stares at the plushie in his hands.
He tosses it to Wemmbu.
“What the heck?!” Wemmbu catches it in reflex, taking a better look at what Flame had tossed to him, “yo! This is literally me!” Wemmbu holds the plushie up to the side of his face as he copies the smile of the damn plushie.
“It’s yours, bro,” Flame smirks, “so you won’t forget who won you that prize.”
Wemmbu lets out an annoyed shriek at him, gripping the plushie with both hands and squeezing at the poor thing—yeah, nevermind, Flame can’t help but find the little guy cute now, being squeezed to death while smiling like that. Wemmbu’s cheeks were puffed up, red dusting his cheeks in annoyance.
Flame’s hands twitched—the urge to squeeze is getting to him.
To the plushie or Wemmbu?
Flame’s brows furrowed at his thoughts—what?
“Argh! Bro! Just you wait!” Wemmbu starts looking around the town, “we’ll play more games, and I’ll win more!”
Games after games, plushies and trinkets were starting to pile. There were so many of them that Flame had to use one of his empty shulker boxes from his e-chest. Wemmbu did the same, the only difference is that he actually filled one and a half boxes. The glare that Wemmbu kept sending to Flame as the purple-haired demon was putting away the prizes that Flame won made everything worth it.
“Still don’t wanna admit it, bro?” Flame chuckles, low and teasing.
“Admit what?”
“That I’m better than youuuu~”
“I won games, too—!”
They were interrupted by the sound of Wemmbu’s stomach growling.
The two demons stared at each other, before Wemmbu closed his shulker boxes, stuffing them in his own ender chest.
“I didn’t notice the time,” Wemmbu sighs.
This chungus forgot to eat?
This won’t do.
“Wanna eat? I’m also gettin’ hungry,” Flame scans the bustling town.
People were still visiting one stall after the other, there were some children running around chasing each other while laughing. The night is still young, and the festival is as lively as ever. There was even a stage somewhere for the performers, Flame could hear the music blasting all the way from where he and Wemmbu were standing.
“There should be a night market here somewhere, heard there’s like, a bunch of food and stuff,” Flame says.
“Wait, really?” Wemmbu stands up, dusting his clothes off, “yeah, let’s check it out! I haven’t attended this festival here before, so…”
Flame leads the way, walking down the cobblestone path with Wemmbu right by his side. The place is crowded, but not overly so. At least Flame is glad that he wasn’t getting overstimulated from all the loud noises. Then again, Wemmbu’s own loudness could quickly make Flame focus on him instead. The guy is just naturally loud, it was a wonder Flame never got truly annoyed by him—
Flame’s arms wrapped around Wemmbu’s waist just in time before the demon bumped into another person walking fast. The person stuttered out apologies, before continuing on their way.
“Thanks, bro.”
Wemmbu’s voice snapped Flame out of his musings.
Their surroundings seemed to drown in Flame’s ears. The music blasting sounded muffled, the crowd around them becoming some sort of white noise and all Flame could feel was Wemmbu’s breath so close to his and the coolness of his body contrasting with his own warmth.
Too warm now, actually.
Flame could feel his heart beating rapidly for unknown reasons.
His arms linger for just a moment before Flame lets Wemmbu stand back on his own properly. He clears his throat.
“Watch where you’re going, man. There are lots of people here.”
Still…
Flame’s mind couldn’t help but note the fact that Wemmbu hadn’t pulled away from his touch.
That makes a part of him happy…
“Yeah, yeah, whatever!” Wemmbu shrugs, before his hands catch Flame’s easily, “c’mon! I think I saw the market over there.”
Flame lets himself get pulled by Wemmbu, not knowing what to think as his own hand envelopes Wemmbu’s so easily. He watches the way Wemmbu’s hair and figure glow in the warm light of the festival—giving off a cozy vibe that makes Flame’s heart flutter.
What is going on with him?
They arrived at the night market—stalls were placed in an organized line, owners calling out to passerbies to entice them into buying their food or products. Most of the stalls were selling food, but there are also some that sell souvenirs, trinkets, and the like.
“I wanna eat first, bro. I’m definitely gonna look around at all that stuff, though.”
Flame missed the coolness of Wemmbu’s hand as he walked up to a food stall. He followed closely behind while Wemmbu was already ordering.
“Yeah, can I have one with cheese? And—” Wemmbu turns to Flame, “watchu want, Flam?”
“Uh… uh…” Flame scans the burger menu print on the counter, “spicy buffalo, I guess.”
The next moment, Flame was holding his burger in his hand as he watched Wemmbu look around on another stall, his own cheese burger in his own hand as well. He takes another bite as Wemmbu can’t seem to decide on which to pick. His fingers move through a small rectangle basket of bracelets, then to a smaller one with rings, and to where necklaces were placed.
Flame’s eyes lingered on the one ring that Wemmbu tried on his finger. He moves closer, his free hand raising it to the light and analyzing the size. It looked simple enough, a golden band with a small amethyst stone in the middle. Flame places it back down.
Gold breaks easily. He understood why Wemmbu would just look around. People like them—who fight others at least once a day—these kinds of accessories wouldn’t last long. They would either need to settle for much simpler ones or something made out of sturdier materials.
“Dude, look.”
Flame turned to Wemmbu as he finished his food, throwing the wrapper at a nearby trash bin. Wemmbu was holding up a circlet over his head with a silly grin on his face.
“Bro, you already have a tiara. Talk about being greedy,” Flame chuckles as he picks something that caught his eye, “turn around.”
Wemmbu looked curious at the golden floral chain on his hand, before doing what he was told. Wemmbu was finishing up his own food while Flame’s hands worked carefully as he placed the chain properly on Wemmbu’s hair.
“The tiara is enough, so having something for the back of your hair would be better, bro.” Flame stands back to admire his work.
Gold really suits Wemmbu’s purple, alright. Flame hums in approval.
“Not gonna lie, bro. Looks good.”
“Yeah?” Wemmbu turns around, trying to get a look at it. When he fails to do so, he starts looking around at the shop for a mirror. Meanwhile, Flame turns to the store owner, paying for the item.
They walked out of the store, going to another one.
And another.
And another.
Flame lost track of the time. There’s another food in their hands, then they are gone again. Wemmbu walks into a clothing store and asks Flame which ones look good on him. They all looked good on him. Flame had to wait by a chair while Wemmbu tried them on. The hair chain remained on Wemmbu’s hair, and Flame couldn’t even deny the warmth in his chest upon realizing that.
Wemmbu had to fill up another shulker box with all the items he bought. Most of the items they bought were paid by either of them, with the reason at the beginning being some sort of competition. Half-way through the night, they ended up doing it just because they wanted to.
Flame does not know what to make of it.
Maybe he doesn’t need to.
All he knows is that he definitely enjoyed the day—from the tournament to the festival night hanging out with Wemmbu. It was a good change of pace. Not having to watch his back in case someone attacks him while he travels, being able to enjoy the moment with someone, allowing himself to take in the moment and breathe.
As Wemmbu bids him goodbye—with the promise of beating him next time—Flame can’t help but to hope that he’ll see Wemmbu again. That the thing they had today was just the beginning of more to come. His mind echoes the memories of the day—not knowing that it will continue to do so until he sees Wemmbu next.
Flame held himself back from saying his thoughts out loud, settling on nodding his head at Wemmbu as he waves his hand casually as they parted ways at the outside of the town. Flame starts walking to the direction of his base. He took a few steps before he looked back to check on Wemmbu—only to see the guy doing the same.
Wemmbu laughs before raising that damn plushie, making it wave goodbye to Flame.
Flame’s heart skipped a bit.
He turns away in an instant, feeling his cheeks heat up.
…
He couldn’t hide the joy in his smile.
Flame truly enjoyed this day.