Not Your Average Fairytale

“U-um! Okay?“ Saya’s response had completely confused her.

“...What?”

“Y-yeah! They totally do! Why would anyone want one?!“ 

❝oh…❞

she liked it? she actually liked it? he’d come out strong, with a grin halfway between a smile and a smirk, all while bracing himself for the harshest of criticism–tactless, tasteless, a great evil against coordinating–not like it actually hurt him since he’d heard it so many times, but…

fuck it. fuck that noise. fuck “sticks and stones,” words hurt more than anything else. it did hurt him when people told him his performance was terrible, more than he wanted to admit. it hurt him, and it always would, and he’d always be surprised to hear anything different.

❝that’s–that’s good to hear. mostly these days, i’ve been hearing the opposite,❞ he said, averting his eyes.  ❝see, cute really isn’t my thing and i was running out of time to prepare, so i figured i’d do a bit of genre-busting. show people something different, something they’ve never seen before.❞

something their small minds couldn’t handle, he thought, but he couldn’t say it out loud. not in front of that praise and that smile.

Your appeal was my favorite, she’d said, but did she know how much it would cost him?

“They’re dumbasses,”She stated,”It was brilliant. You should do shit like that for the other categories. I’d watch them. Maybe...not the confused dragon though.” Nero gained +1 fan. 

“Not really.” Kokoa dismissed and led the way to a hamburger place. She failed to recognize that Kiff was a bit off and-surprisingly- MORE of a pushover. “So how many badges? Or are you a Trial goer?” She started with the questions.

The dark-haired felt the gaze, stared a little back and then started to follow Kokoa, “Y-yes those are good..food.” Gulp. Why was this girl so intent on staring? Maybe it was because they were all hungry? Yeah-definitely. Kiff fidgeted a bit with his hands before going into his pockets; one hand fidgetting his ring.

“Today is gunna be so booooooring!“ 

..Actually steak did sound good to Kiff. He hadn’t had a good meal in a long time. He didn’t question that this was a scam, or the fact that this little girl had wanted a really expensive meal. She was very enticing..and almost seemed like she was..fierce to him. He noticed that she noticed him shaking and immediately stepped back and bowed, “Ah-that’s..not good… We’ll help out for sure..” But! Kokoa was in charge of money, so he looked to the little trainer. 

“Steak, though??? Really? How about hamburgers? Those are a lot cheaper! I’m a trainer and Kiff?” Kokoa looked up at him and shrugged, “…Well I don’t know what he is besides a big ol’ dragon man but I can’t afford a steak dinner! We’re on those small bits of money too!” 

It was worth a shot. “Hamburgers are good too,”She agreed. “Kiff....is a dragon? How interesting.” She really would keep that in mind if she needed to bully someone into doing something for her. It would be a lot cheaper than paying someone.

“Yeah but getting grounded sucks!”

“Preferably something that won’t get me grounded.“

❝well, you gotta admit…i fucked it up in the best way.❞

legal consequences aside, that was one hell of a performance.