Closed Talk to the Wind, Talk to the Sky

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery grumbled as Rāwhiti dragged him out of the castle, telling him something about sunshine being important. He didn't really care where they hung out, but it was so much easier to read books and pretend to ignore him when they were inside. Still, he reluctantly followed the other boy outside, putting his cloak down before sitting on the grass. "Did you finish your homework yet?" He asked Rāwhiti, though Emery wasn't entirely done himself.

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Rāwhiti knew it would be a long time before he recovered from the Quidditch losses this year, but he was doing his best. Getting some sunshine was good, and for once he wasn't spending all of his spare time on the pitch practicing. He flopped on the grass while Emery was laying out his cloak, lying back and staring up at the sky. He snorted at Emery's comment, giving him a serious look. "You know I haven't..."

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery sighed. "Of course." He grumbled, lying down on his cloak and looking up at the sky too. "It'd be nice to copy from you, for a change, you know." He said, glancing sideways at his friend. "What else are you bringing to this friendship?" He teased, raising his eyebrows.

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Rāwhiti laughed, rolling slightly to look at Emery. "You're welcome to try copying my work, but I don't think it'll go well for you." He said with a small smile, before looking mock-offended at Emery's next comment. "I bring loads!" He said firmly. "My charm, my wit, all of the muscles." He said pointedly, flexing one arm. "Without me what would you do if you needed to move a really heavy box or something?"

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery rolled his eyes. "I can't copy nothing." He grumbled. As Rāwhiti started listing everything he brought to the friendship, Emery couldn't help laughing a little. "Your wit?" He asked teasingly. As Rāwhiti started to flex, Emery made a point to look unimpressed, though it did startle him a little just how much the Quidditch practice was doing for him. "Use... magic?" He asked.

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Rāwhiti snorted. "I'm funny." He said firmly, giving Emery a challenging look. "You just never laugh at my jokes." He grinned. He rolled his eyes at the comment about magic, continuing to flex. "Booooring. Muscles are better. More convenient."

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery looked at Rāwhiti evenly. "You make jokes?" He asked, deadpan. Then after a beat, a slight smile betrayed him. He looked away quickly. "Anyway. I don't laugh because they're never funny anyway." He muttered. Emery glanced at his arms. "You're not even that muscular." He said, even though compared to Emery, he definitely was.

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Rāwhiti rolled his eyes, elbowing Emery lightly. "They are too funny." He smirked. "You just pretend you don't like my jokes. I know it." He grinned. Rāwhiti laughed when Emery said he wasn't muscular, flexing more insistently. "Wanna arm wrestle, then?"

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery rolled his eyes too, though he rubbed his side where Rāwhiti had elbowed him. "Ow." He muttered. "They've never been funny, not even once." He told him firmly. At the Gryffindor's suggestion, Emery blinked. "Why would I want that?"

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Rāwhiti grinned enthusiastically. "Because obviously I'm not muscular, so you'll beat me easily." He wiggled his eyebrows, propping one elbow up on the grass. "Come on bro, you chicken?"

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery shook his head at Rāwhiti with a sigh. "No, that's not-" He sighed. "I never claimed you were less muscular than me. We can both obviously tell that's not true." He crossed his arms. "I'm not doing this." He told him coolly.

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Rāwhiti rolled his eyes, smirking. "Come on, not like there's any girls looking..." He teased. "Guess I'll save these guns for the Quidditch pitch." He added, unable to help the little flutter in his voice. "Dahlia likes 'em..."

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery opened his mouth and then closed it again, not sure if he wanted to tell Rāwhiti just how little he cared about girls looking in his direction, ever. He blinked when the other boy mentioned someone liking them, then frowned a bit. "Who?"

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Rāwhiti grinned, flexing slightly. "Dahlia Doherty, she's on the Gryffindor team." He explained, smiling so hard his cheeks ached slightly. "She's really cool, we've been hanging out lately." He leaned closer. "I kinda... wanna ask her out."

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery had never heard of this Dahlia before but immediately decided her name sounded really stupid. He frowned. "What?" He asked, his voice sounding odd to his own ears. "Ask... her out?" It seemed like a foreign concept to Emery, but he immediately knew he hated it.

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Rāwhiti nodded, grinning. "Like, on a date. I haven't really figured out what. She's really pretty though, and loads of fun. We always have a laugh." He added, thinking back to their practices. "I really wanna hang out with her more, aye?"

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery stared at Rāwhiti in disbelief. "A date?" He asked, frowning. "Why? That sounds... sounds awful. What would you even do?" He asked, feeling his stomach churn. "I think it's a bad idea. You're always at practice already, so you hang out with her plenty. Right?"

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Emery's discomfort sank over Rāwhiti like a cloud covering the sun. "I dunno!" He said with a shrug. "Hang out, hold hands, kiss... date stuff... not stuff we can do at practice." He said, scrambling for a way to fix this. "What about you and Savannah? We could make it a double date, aye!" He added chirpily, hoping this was the answer.

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery pulled a face when Rāwhiti said what he wanted to do with Dahlia. "Gross." He said, making no attempts to hide his disgust. He groaned when Rāwhiti mentioned Savannah again. "I told you it's not like that. She doesn't like me that way, I asked. And I don't like her that way either." He said, visibly annoyed.

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Any hopes Rāwhiti had of lightening the conversation were dashed immediately. "It's not gross!" He insisted. "That's like, normal, standard date stuff, everyone does that kinda stuff when they go on a date. It's the whole point!" He sighed when Emery pushed back against the suggestion of Savannah. "Fine, but it's still not gross to like someone!"

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery was feeling frustrated, and arguing made it feel slightly better somehow. He was feeling contrary. "I can think it's gross." He told him, lifting his chin. "That can be my opinion." He crossed his arms. "Especially with some stupid girl I don't even know."

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Rāwhiti frowned. "It's literally not gross!" He insisted. "Dahlia's cool, you'd get it if you met her. It's not gross or weird to want to go out with someone I like!"

 

[Emery Mettlestone]

Emery laughed and it sounded mean, even to him. He sounded like Vanity. "I wouldn't like her, I can guarantee you that." He got up, dusting himself off. "I think it's gross and I don't want to hear more about it. Go flex your muscles at her or something." He snapped as he started to walk away from Rāwhiti. He wasn't even sure why he was so mad, but he was. It was burning in his chest.

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

Rāwhiti was used to bickering with Emery, but he had never seen his best friend like this. He couldn't even think of anything to say, watching the Ravenclaw go in disbelief. He couldn't figure out what he could have said that would set Emery off like this, but hollow guilt gnawed at him, the idea of a date with Dahlia suddenly a lot less appealing.