Crys and Brandon were atop the roof of the Techno Corp. tower. It was a clear night out, the crescent moon illuminating the sky as the city illuminated the ground far below. Crys was seated by the edge of the rooftop, leaning her arms on the rim wall and staring down at the teeny tiny cars going to and fro. Brandon, meanwhile, sat towards the center of the rooftop on his lonesome. A slight breeze gently passed them by as they sat in peace.
"It's always so peaceful up here." Crys said warmly. She had a faint smile.
"Maybe for you." Brandon replied.
"You just don't like the climb. It's not so bad when you're up here." Crys said back, keeping her gaze towards the city below.
Brandon took a few moments before speaking up again. "It's nice seeing you like yourself again." He said warmly.
Crys frowned for a second. "I missed it..." She said, somewhat longingly. She paused for a few moments before adding anything else on. "I guess it helps when you don't have a psychopath showing up in your room every night or a stupid bully trying to start a fight every day." She said with a half-laugh at the end. Crys took a deep breath.
"I can imagine." Brandon replied. "At least the past few days have been pretty quiet."
Crys nodded a little. "At least, for now. Seinhou said he'd have another test..."
Brandon stayed quiet. He didn't know what kind of a response to give.
"But, that's not now, right?" Crys added on after a moment. She looked back at Brandon with a hopeful half-smile.
Brandon smiled back at his friend. "Yeah." He said.
Crys looked back to the city and draped an arm over the rim of the rooftop.
A few quiet moments passed.
"You know, I don't feel as worried when we're up here." Crys said.
"Why not?" Brandon asked, curious.
"We're just so far up from everything. It's like we leave all of our problems down there below us, so when we get up here, it's just us." Crys explained with a small smile.
Brandon pondered the thought. "Pretty interesting." He said. "I mean, we have had some problems here before, though."
Crys took a quick breath. "Don't remind me." She said flatly, obviously not wanting to hear anymore about it.
Another lul took hold between the two friends.
"Hey Crys, I thought of a joke." Brandon spoke up.
"Hm?" Crys replied, curious.
"How does a cactus greet someone?"
Crys tried thinking of the answer for a moment. "Hmm... I don't know."
"Alloe!" Brandon exclaimed with a smile.
Crys took a second to register the joke, then sighed and shook her head with a grin. "That was bad." She said, kindly. She enjoyed Brandon's cheesy joke.
"Bad, but good." Brandon said proudly.
"Where'd you find that one?" Crys asked.
"Didn't find it, actually. Made it up myself." Brandon replied.
"Really? Not bad, in that case." Crys said.
"I mean, I haven't seen it anywhere before, so as far as I know it's original." Brandon continued.
"I haven't heard it before, either." Crys admitted. "Hey, why don't you come join me over here?" She asked after a moment.
"I'm perfectly fine being safe and sound over here." Brandon replied.
"I'll make sure you don't fall." Crys said kindly. "Keep you right next to me, safe and sound."
Brandon mulled over the idea for a second. "Alright." He said, getting up slowly and walking over to Crys. He slowed down the closer and closer he got to her before just sitting down again right behind her and scooting his way up the last little bit.
Crys took an arm and put it around Brandon's shoulder, pulling him in next to her tightly.
Brandon wouldn't admit it, but he liked being this close to Crys. "Can't imagine Tomas would be too happy with you using his rooftop all the time just to lounge around." He said.
Crys gave a small chuckle. "I doubt he'd mind. We actually used to chat up here, mostly before he knew I was a werewolf, er, The Werewolf, I guess. He comes up here when he can't sleep."
"Oh, neat." Brandon said, interested.
Some more quiet crept into the conversation as Brandon snuggled up to Crys a bit more.
"Did you ever think your life would wind up like this?" Crys asked in a now much more somber tone.
"Not really." Brandon replied. "Then again, it's hard to imagine a werewolf from another world being your best friend. Not exactly something you expect to happen."
"Fair point." Crys replied.
"Why do you ask?"
"I don't know." Crys replied. "Guess I'm just a bit caught up in everything going on, still. I mean, I just want to get through high school."
"Same here." Brandon agreed.
"Hey, I have a question, if it's okay?" Crys asked, a tad nervous.
"Hm?" Brandon responded.
"Back at the ice rink, when we all went a few days ago... you said you knew how I felt, but..." Crys trailed off.
"But what?" Brandon asked, not piecing together the question.
"I know you said you leave all that behind in your world, but how do you know?" She asked, curious.
Brandon turned his gaze away from Crys and frowned slightly. "I um..." He murmured. "Look, I'd really rather not talk about it."
"Are you sure?" Crys asked.
"Yeah..."
Crys gave a little nod. "Alright, then." She said, respecting Brandon's decision.
The conversation yet again went quiet for a bit, letting the breeze continue to pass the friends by carelessly.
"Will you ever tell me?" Crys spoke up again, almost sounding scared.
Brandon felt bad. He didn't know the answer. "I... I don't know." He said.
"Okay." Crys said, going quiet.
Brandon didn't know what else to say. "I wish we could stay like this forever." He settled on saying after a few moments to change the subject.
"Even with what we've been talking about?" Crys asked. She figured Brandon would've been more upset by her prodding.
"Yeah." Brandon replied. "I don't really mind it, much."
"But you didn't want to talk about any of it?"
"Sure, but you didn't push it... I-I do want to tell you eventually. Just... not now." Brandon said, feeling bad that he probably had hurt Crys' feelings.
Crys gave a hint of a smile. "Thanks." She said.
"I don't want to keep things from you."
"Thanks." Crys said again warmly.
"It's nice up here." Brandon returned to his original subject.
"It is." Crys replied. "It's a nice break from everything... Maybe if we're lucky things will go back to normal soon."
Brandon gave a small laugh. "When have we ever been lucky?" He asked sarcastically.
Crys frowned, then sighed. "Not very often." She said, glum. "I really wish Seinhou would just go away."
"Same here." Brandon said with sympathy.
Crys gave a small chuckle. "Remember when this conversation wasn't all doom and gloom?" She asked jokingly with a faint smile.
Brandon gave another laugh. "Yeah." He said.
Crys took a deep breath. "I do wish we could be here, just you and me, forever."
"It'd be nice." Brandon replied.
"I'm sure your reasoning has something to do with getting a big fluffy hug right now, but hey, that's none of my concern." Crys teased.
"You're the one who has a guy cuddled up next to you, you sure that's not part of your reasoning?" Brandon teased back.
Crys gave a laugh. "Oh come on, is that the best you could come up with?"
"Hey, I tried, okay! I'm not as good at teasing as you are."
"I know, I know. Not bad, but ehh, maybe you could've embarrassed me more."
Brandon groaned. "Tell you what, maybe you should teach me how to flirt, how about that?"
"Oh, I'd be glad to."
"I'm sure you would."
Crys gave a chuckle, feeling much more upbeat again. "I don't know how you manage to turn things around all the time."
"I'm just that good, that's all." Brandon joked.
"Oh, of course. I should have known." Crys played along.
Brandon chuckled a little, proud of his dumb joke.
Crys smiled to herself. She loved her friend. "I really don't know what I'd do without you, Brandon." She said.
"I'm sure you'd be fine." Brandon replied, putting the jokes to the side. "You're a pretty strong person."
"I'm a werewolf, what do you expect?" Crys joked.
"Mentally, you furball!" Brandon playfully joked back.
Crys gave a laugh. "I don't know." She continued. "Honestly, you're the reason I kept going sometimes. You helped me whenever I felt terrible... and you're still helping me. Even now."
"Crys..." Brandon said, feeling embarrassed.
"Sorry if that's a little too mushy..." Crys said, half-joking half-serious.
"I-I'm sure you'd be fine." Brandon said again, not really having anything better to say.
A few moments of quiet took hold once again, letting the two friends stew in peaceful silence.
Brandon yawned, finally getting tired.
"I really don't want to go back home." Crys said, suddenly sounding scared.
"Me either." Brandon said, genuinely enjoying the normalcy that he and Crys had been having.
Crys sighed.
"How long have we even been up here?" Brandon asked out of curiosity.
"Two hours, at least." Crys said.
"How do you know?"
"I'm good at guessing."
"Well, alright. That works, I guess."
Crys took one more deep breath before starting to get up. She kept a grip on Brandon, though. "Come on, let's head home. We've got school in the morning."
"When did you care about going to bed at a decent hour?" Brandon asked, getting up carefully and climbing onto Crys' back.
"I don't." Crys replied as she started making the descent down the tower. "But I also don't want to feel groggy all day tomorrow."
"Guess we can't just stay up there forever, huh?"
Crys frowned. "I wish we could've."
"Hey, would you mind maybe sleeping in my room tonight?" Brandon asked.
"Why?" Crys asked out of curiosity. She didn't mind, but she wanted to know the reason.
"I really like being with you." Brandon said honestly.
"Of course." Crys said, perking up just a little. She couldn't help but think to herself that maybe Brandon missed her. Her usual self, that is. It had definitely been a while since the two of them had had what felt like a completely normal night like the one they just shared.
"Thanks." Brandon replied warmly.
The two friends kept making their way home. When they got there, they climbed into Brandon's room. Brandon quickly got ready for bed and then the two friends got comfy and went to sleep, both feeling the best they had in a long time.