Wings of Fire as Humans

That's rough, buddy

Yay I finally got up off my lazy butt and updated! I had a lot of writer's block, lol. Also SHIPPING!!!! :)

The two teenagers just stood there for a moment, smiling slightly and gazing into each other's eyes-everything else seemed to melt away, leaving only them and a perfect moment.

But then the sights and sounds came back, a gradual awakening to the world. Some of it was beautiful: like the shimmering fireworks exploding outside or the pale silver moon. Some of it...not so much: like a random senior to their left, singing "secret tunnel" off key while preparing to yeet himself into the pool with clothes on. But none of it was nearly as beautiful as her.

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Turtle rang the doorbell of Glory's penthouse and fidgeted with his armband. A girl with a short sleeveless green dress and a tiny ' Happy New Years ' party hat (probably Glory) opened it for him. "Oh, you're one of Kinkajou's little friends. Come on in" she said. Turtle felt a small twinge of shame at her words. 'Little friend'...is that how Kinkajou thinks of me too?

Stepping inside, he set off on a quest to find his friends- how would he do that? By aimlessly wandering and hoping he bumps into one of them. But not Kinkajou. He was nowhere near ready to face her after how utterly stupid he had been at the Winter dance. He had said something along the lines of: "Your friends will always be there for you- including me!" Turtle had practically friendzoned himself, as well as decimated any chance he had of dating the girl of his dreams. So much for confidence and thinking ahead.

Suddenly, he collided with someone and got half a face full of ginger ale. "HEY, WATCH IT!" hollered a familiar voice. "You made me spill my drink!" Turtle stumbled back. "Sorry..." He stammered, about to retreat from the crime scene when he suddenly did a double take. "Peril?" He asked, hoping the person he bumped into was her and not some disgruntled jock who would beat him up without a second thought.

"Turtle?" She replied. "What are you doing at an actual social gathering?" Turtle rolled his eyes. "Haha. Very funny." He said sarcastically. "I know, right? I'm hilarious. But, for real you look really lost here..." She replied.

Turtle looked down. "I...um...I actually don't know. Guess I just wanted to spend time with my friends" -and Kinkajou whispered a part of his brain. Peril cocked her head at him in confusion. "oh....um well we're all over here," She said, indicating to the billiard table on one end of the main hall, where Moon and Kinkajou were playing pool against Winter and Qibli.

"Oh, hey Turtle. We were getting worried you wouldn't come since it's almost midnight,"Called Qibli. "This party is CRAZY- I really wish you'd arrived earlier!" Turtle laughed nervously along with them, trying to hide the fact that he was thinking the same thing, but for a different reason. He turned away and rolled up the sleeve of his sweater to look at the time on his apple watch.

11:50

What? How is it so late?

Probably because you spent multiple hours sitting face down in bed and overthinking. He answered himself. It happened far too often that he skipped things just because he'd spent hours imagining all the worst case scenarios.

Out of nowhere, Qibli put his pool stick down walked up to him, leaning against the edge of the billiard table. "Hey, what's up?" Asked the blond haired boy. If Turtle kept things to himself much longer, he wouldn't be able to handle it. So he decided to let it all out, making sure the rest of the group was out of earshot before he started to rant.

"For one," he began, "I said something wrong to a girl and friendzoned myself literally 30 minutes after I confessed my feelings for her. I have no clue what she thinks of my now because we haven't even talked about it ever since-and I don't know if she even liked me back in the first place and didn't just feel bad for me. I mean, I'm nobody! And also, my sister completely screwed up her entire night and ruined the most romantic moment ever, so she might hate me for that. And even worse: When she needed my emotional support, I offered her a cinnamon roll. A CINNAMON ROLL FOR GOODNESS'S SAKES! But you wouldn't understand anything I just said. You're handsome, popular, and know what to say to girls. I'm the kind of guy who doodles on his journals and collects playbills to hang on the wall. And worst of all, everyone is going to be doing the midnight kiss thing while I don't even know if she likes me or not!"

Qibli patted him on the back. "That's rough, buddy."

Turtle stared at him, blinking. "Is that it? No popular boy advice?" His friend shrugged. "Well, it sounds to me like the only way to know if she really does like you back is to talk to her. You need to be heartfelt, because if you act fake, she won't like you for who you truly are. 'Kay?"

Turtle smiled nervously and looked at his watch again:

11:55

Summon some courage, Turtle! Talking to a girl can't be any harder than performing in front of an audience. He reassured himself. it did not work.

This will be a disaster

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He shuffled up to Kinkajou nervously. She had her hair in a low ponytail and was wearing the same kind of party hat as her sister. "Oh hi Turtle!" She said "can you believe that there are less than 10 minutes left in this year?"

"Yeah. It's pretty crazy. But I need to talk to you-about what happened at the winter dance." He added nervously. Kinkajou inhaled sharply and nodded a little. "So here's the thing. We never really talked about what happened there, after the whole Anemone fiasco. And, I get it if you just want to be my friend-I mean, you probably only danced with me out of pity. But I still really like you. Like, a lot. And it's ok if you don't feel the same, but if you do, will you...go out with me?"

Turtle could hear people around him chanting a countdown to midnight, but he didn't join in. Instead he looked at her, his heart pounding as the year came to an end. But then the spell was broken as they pressed their lips together for the fist time, and he could only hear one sound. Her voice whispering:

"definitely"

This is the first kissing scene I ever wrote! Also, turtlejou is my favorite ship, so I focused mostly on them at the beginning, but the story will focus more on other ships (and turtlejou) don't worry! Hope you liked it!