Chapter Text
I really didn’t know what to think.
There he was, holding a bouquet of pretty, multicolored roses out in front of himself. It was the most admirable scene ever.
My face was burning, but my body was the complete opposite—a cold shiver running down my spine all the way to my spiked, black-and-white tail.
It was hard not to fall for him so easily. He had everything a normal person with standards could want: a strong, muscular body, a nice facial structure, and he was extremely tall—at least from my perspective. He was attractive, unlike me. (Jokes…)
I was deathly thin, my bones covered by pale skin that caused me to burn in the sun easily. (It’s not like I go out in the sun anyway…)
All I could do was stare into his beautiful, brown eyes, admiring how the sun didn’t shine in them. This was due to the wide-brimmed witch hat that he wore.
It suits him.
After I finally forced myself to listen to the words he was saying, I realized it was a bunch of nonsense. He was mumbling about picking the wrong flowers, which quickly changed to him rambling about plants, then teas… and so forth.
The flowers seemed to be suffering from how hard he was squeezing the many stems, so I decided to quickly take them from his grasp.
He cleared his throat before speaking. “Sorry… it seems I got a little off-topic there…” he laughed nervously. “Anyways, the point is, I really, really want to be friends with you.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but couldn’t find the right words fast enough; he was still speaking.
“I was admiring you from far away and you just looked so interesting, so I wanted to get to know you better… and now that I say that out loud, it makes me sound like a creep—I really wasn’t stalking you! I had just noticed you from a distance, you know?”
I stared at him for a second before replying to his statement—or more like statements—with a blunt observation. “You talk a lot.”
That was the first thing I said to him. My hand clasped over my mouth faster than I was able to stutter out an apology. “You talk a lot,” who even says that!?
Next thing I knew, he was staring down at me with big, puppy-dog eyes. I prayed that he didn’t take much offense to it, so much that he wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore.
His hand moved to the back of his neck, rubbing it awkwardly as he looked away, chuckling softly.
“Heh, so I’ve been told… sorry,” he mumbled.
I let my hand drop to my side, my other hand slightly clenching around the flower stems, just as he had done before.
“I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to be so rude! It was just an observation..!”
I decided right then and there that I would shut up. Maybe that would make everything less awkward.
I lifted the bouquet to my face, covering the flushing red that seemed to thrive in my embarrassment. I let out a groan as I hid behind the flowers.
“I was meaning to ask for your name,” he said after a few moments, breaking the awful silence I had likely brought upon us.
“Two Time is what I prefer…” I managed to mumble, finally lowering the flowers when my face cooled down.
“Prefer?” He questioned.
“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head. I took a deep breath before continuing. “My name is Two Time and my pronouns are they/them.”
“Well, nice to finally meet you, Two Time! My name is Azurewrath! But most call me Azure for short!”
He seemed so understanding… it was nice.
“Azure…,” I muttered, taking in the way his name felt on my tongue. “That’s a beautiful name.”
He let out a breathy chuckle. “Thanks!”
At this point, my neck was starting to ache. I had been practically breaking it just trying to be polite—something I didn’t do often—and look at his face.
“How about we go sit somewhere?” I suggested. “We could settle down and get to know each other, just as you said.”
A smile grew wide across his face. He was beaming with excitement at my small suggestion.
“That’s an amazing idea! I know just the place!”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me along with him, the petals of the roses shaking in the sudden rush of wind.
When we made it to his spot, flowers were everywhere. There were dozens of different varieties blossoming across the field.
“This is… amazing,” I said in awe.
My words were true. It was a magnificent sight—especially with the setting sun painting the background.
“You may be captivated by their beauty, but some of these flowers are poisonous, so I’d suggest keeping your hands to yourself.”
As he said that, I was already squatting down on flat soles with my hands on my knees. My head snapped around so fast that I lost my footing, flailing wildy for something to grab onto.
There was nothing in reach. My balance gave out completely, and I fell backward into the grass with a heavy thud.
“Poisonous? What do you mean, poisonous?” I queried from the ground.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me back up into a standing position. He was remarkably strong.
“Well, see over there?” He pointed to a five-petaled flower that was a vivid purple. “That’s Solanum dulcamara, also known as bittersweet nightshade. Though it’s not as deadly as other plants like hemlock, it’s still not very safe to touch with bare hands.”
I nodded along to every word he spoke, though the more I listened, the more lost I got. I stared at the vivid purple petals, suddenly feeling like the entire field was a beautiful minefield.
"Nightshade," I repeated under my breath. My tail gave a sharp, nervous twitch behind me. "Right. No touching the pretty purple things. Got it."
Azure laughed, a warm sound that made my chest tighten in that familiar, frustrating way. He let go of my hand, but the spot where his fingers had wrapped around my wrist still felt like it was tingling. I dusted off the back of my clothes, trying to look put-together despite just eating dirt a few seconds prior.
"Don't worry too much," Azure said, stepping over a patch of innocent-looking white clover to clear a spot for us. "As long as you don't start snacking on them, you'll be perfectly fine. Here, sit."
He sat down cross-legged, his massive frame making the patch of grass look tiny. His wide-brimmed witch hat tilted back slightly, allowing the last rays of the golden evening sun to finally catch his eyes. They practically glowed.
I carefully lowered myself onto the grass a polite distance away, cradling the multicolored roses he’d given me like a shield. My pale skin felt warm under the twilight air, though the shiver from earlier hadn't completely faded.
"So," Azure started, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "Two Time. That's a really unique name. Is there a story behind it?"
Great. The name question. My mind scrambled for an explanation that didn't sound completely ridiculous or reveal too much too fast.
“It just fit, I suppose… I’m not sure how to explain it.”
Azure gave a gentle, understanding nod, not pressing the issue at all. "Fair enough! Sometimes a name just clicks, you know? It doesn't always need a whole backstory."
He leaned back onto his hands, looking up at the sky as the golden hour started shifting into deep shades of twilight purple and orange.
"I guess 'Azurewrath' sounds pretty intense too," he chuckled, kicking his long legs out ahead of him. "My parents had a bit of a dramatic flair. But honestly, I'm glad we ran into each other. I usually spend my evenings out here cataloging plants by myself. It gets a little quiet."
I looked down at the roses in my lap, tracing the edge of a soft pink petal with my thumb. My tail swished slowly through the grass behind me, a lot calmer now than it was a few minutes ago.
"Don't you have other friends?" I asked softly, immediately biting my inner lip. Great, another blunt question. Good job, Two Time.
Fortunately, Azure didn't seem bothered. "A few, sure. But most of them don't really want to sit in a field for three hours listening to me ramble about the chemical properties of bittersweet nightshade," he said with a self-deprecating grin. "They think it's boring. Or creepy. Take your pick."
"It's not boring," I mumbled, the words slipping out before I could stop them.
Azure's eyes snapped back to me, bright and surprised. "Really?"
My face instantly started burning again. I looked away, staring intensely at a patch of harmless grass nearby. "I mean... you're passionate about it. That's better than someone who doesn't care about anything. Even if it is a little weird that you know which plants can kill a person."
Azure let out a booming laugh that echoed slightly across the open field. "I'll take that as a compliment! And don't worry, I only use my powers for good. Mostly brewing teas and making herbal remedies."
The awkward tension that had been hanging over me since he first handed me the bouquet finally began to melt away. The twilight air was cool, but sitting next to him felt warm. For someone deathly thin, pale, and hiding behind a bunch of sharp spikes, I felt surprisingly safe.
"So," I said, finally looking back at him, a tiny, rare smile tugging at the corner of my lips. "What other dangerous plants do you have hiding in this field, Mr. Expert?"
He talked for hours on end. I thought the night would bleed into daylight before he could stop talking, but eventually, he paused, finally realizing how late it had gotten.
We both headed off in different directions—back to our own dwellings—leaving the field of hidden dangers behind us.