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There was surely something in the air that afternoon. Everyday in the land of eternal summer was vibrant and warm, flourishing with life as far as the eye could see. Yet there was something in the air Scott couldn't quite distinguish, because while it was always warm there, Scott also felt warm. The Ice mage who never felt anything but his natural cool temperature was warm. Perhaps he was falling ill, or maybe something else was off. He looked in the mirror once more, brushing his fingers through his hair once more and fixing his usual outfit that he wore to work on Thawdale.
He was ready to go out for the night, plans to meet Amber and Legs at the tavern for drink had the ice mage excited. It would be a nice break from everything going on recently, between Pyro, The Towers, and work in Thawdale, it’s much needed. Although he was a little nervous to be drinking with Legs and Amber considering he “Made a fool of himself” at the ball according to pyro. He would need to be sure not to get too carried away. He was embarrassed enough about the last time he wouldn’t make that mistake again.
It was time to leave so he checked his mirror one more time, before leaving his house and calling Aurora for the trip, the icy blue dragon chirping in delight. “You ready, girl?” he smiled at her, settling himself on her back. “You get to play with Orchid and Gadget tonight okay.” he explained as he she took off in the direction of the tavern.
The tavern didn’t look busy at all tonight, which Scott was thankful for. It was a slow Tuesday night, and he only saw one dragon outside. The copper and brown colors of the gadget, and no sign on Orchid. He settled Aurora next to gadget outside the bar and gave her a pet on the head “play with gadget ill be back soon”. Aurora chirped at Gadget, which seemed to make him happy. Scott gave her one look before leaving her outside and entering the Tavern.
There were maybe two people there, a stranger in one of the seats, and a familiar man with a blue streak in his hair. Scott paused a moment before approaching him, the feeling came back again. For a moment he swore he was warm, hopefully if he was getting sick it wasn't something he could give Legs or Amber. He looked back towards the door and thought for a second maybe he should leave, have drinks another day when he wasn't so uncertain.
“Hey Scott!” a cheery greeting snapped his attention back to the table where legs sat, waving him over. Scott’s smile found him again as he made his way to the bar. It’s probably nothing anyway.
“Hey” Scott took the seat next to the iron mage and noticed the drink in his hand “Watcha got there? Starting without us?”
“There's nothing wrong with a head start. Here I got one for you too, Ice wine.” he slid a bottle to Scott's seat before taking a drink of his own.
“Amber hasn't gotten here yet?” Scott asked “I didn't see Orchid nearby”
“No she actually caught me before i left Wisperville, she was caught up in something and told me to go ahead, said she’d let me know if she was coming late or not”
Scott nodded and took a swig of the ice wine. He had a feeling he knew exactly what Amber was caught up in, and that was playing match maker. Scott suddenly felt a little nervous, it might be a little bit harder not to make a fool of himself. In his conversation with Amber about him not liking women, the fairy immediately figured out with his book, in which he described legs a little different than the other dragon riders. She had been pushing Scott to spend time with Legs. This had to have been on purpose, and now he would be spending the afternoon drinking with legs. He’d have to have a talk about this with her later.
“I know last time we drank I went a little overboard, I promise not to drink that much again” Scott chuckled nervously, earning a short laugh from the other.
“I’ll be real, I wouldn't mind seeing you like that again. It’s not often I get to see you let go, ya know? I know we have nothing to celebrate now but really, let's relax tonight. The rest can wait till morning” legs was already three quarters down his bottle, Scott took it upon himself to try and catch up, swiftly drinking more of his own bottle. He looked back at legs for a moment. Legs had his eyes focused on the display on the bottle behind the bartender, most likely choosing what he could drink next. His new haircut suited him well, he'd taken out the braid Shelby had given him, but his hair was out of his face for the most part. It used to cover so much, that blue streak now settling on his brow bringing out his green eyes. The hair on his neck no longer covers the blue, creeping up his neck, something Scott has never really noticed before.
The Iron Mage’s eyes met Scotts again “so what have you been up to lately?” pulling the Ice mage back to the conversation, and moving his eyes anywhere else.
‘Aside from my best friend being corrupted? Coming out and coming to terms with that myself? Where would I even start?’ Scott thought to himself, for a split moment there was a look he couldn't hide, before sighing and brushing it off “Nothing too much, looking into the crypts, trying to find anything about the corruption.”
Legs hummed in understanding “I get that, but what about outside of work? Or is that all you do?” he joked, taking another swig. That earned a laugh from the ice mage.
“You make it sound like I have no life, I've been plenty busy with everything going on, makes it hard to do normal things. Not like I'm hearing about your hobbies.” Scott was almost done with his bottle. He motioned the bartender for another round, two more bottles were soon sat beside the empty ones.
“Oh come on, that's not fair, Iron keep isn’t exactly the place for hobbies right now.” he pushed the empty bottle aside and opened the new one “you must have something going on, no pretty women live in Thawdale?” Legs took no time drinking down his second bottle.
Scott froze for a moment, he hasn't told Legs yet. He had only come to terms with it himself about two weeks ago. He supposed it wasn’t something he would keep secret from his friends, but he hoped he could put off having to have this conversation again so soon. He trusted Legs of course, and the task seemed less daunted than when he first came out to amber, then the other elementals, yet there was still a pause. His nerves caused him to take another good swallow of the ice wine before speaking.
“Actually, umm” he stammered, causing his friend to look at him in concern, but gave him the moment to find himself “I don’t actually like women” he spoke quietly, looking down his bottle before looking at legs. The Iron Mage rested his head on his hand, smiling at him.
"Thank you for telling me that” he said so simply. His expression, genuine and pleasing.
“Yeah its kinda a newer realisation, Amber helped me get there, she kinda figured it out before I had even put it together” he said shyly
Legs then turned the conversation back “so are there any pretty Men in Thawdale?”
“Legs!” Scott pushed him away, then hid his embarrassment behind his hands. Legs belting out a laugh that made that warm feeling come back. That warm feeling creeping to his cheeks and turning his cheeks a light blue.
‘Oh’ he thought to himself, ‘that’s what that meant’. That warm feeling, that’s what it was. That loud laugh that filled his chest, and made his stomach turn. Scott's brain had put the pieces together in that instant, and suddenly he really wanted to crawl in a hole.
Legs laughter subsided before putting a hand on The icy mans shoulder “I'm just teasing you, I know how hard it is to have time for most things as a rider. It was nice that we even had time for tonight, I'm really glad we did.” Scott finally came out from behind his hands and looked at the other with a playful pout before downing the rest of his second bottle. “You sure you don't plan on drinking much? We’re going through these pretty quickly” the Iron mage then called for the bartender for another round once more.
“Yeah well, we shall see how the night goes” Scott said, his smile coming back as he took another bottle from legs, realizing his hand still rested on his shoulder. Suddenly that warm feeling didn't feel so daunting, the way Leg’s soft smile carried this aura of kindness, and caring. It made Scott feel safer. So he held out his drink for legs to cheer, and as he did they both took a long drink.
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After five bottles and Scott felt well and tipsy, the night had unfortunately come to its end. The ten empty bottles sat on the bar behind the laughter of the two dragon riders. The talk of work subsided and they soon fell into jokes and conversated about nothing that mattered. Scott had truly felt himself relaxed, content with a successful night out.
“Alright, i think it's time we both get home before neither of us can ride our dragons home” legs stated, but just as he had said so, a crash of thunder rained outside followed by pouring rain. “Oh no.”
“In the place where it rarely rains, our course it would rain on our parade” Scott frowned, leaning on the bar and fidgeting with the empty bottle.
“I don't think those two mind” the Iron mage motioned outside. Scott sat up and looked outside to see the two dragons galloping in the rain, hopping in puddles, and chasing each other. They both turned to each other and laughed.
“Lets go join them," Scott said mischievously, racing outside before the Blue streaked man could disagree. It didn't take long for legs to let out a sign and follow him into the rain.
“I’m all for having fun but I don't want us getting sick” Legs opposed, standing under the roof of the tavern while Scott stood in the rain, grinning all the while getting soaked. “Can you even get sick from the rain? You don’t get cold” The iron mage questioned.
“I’ve been warm all night” Scott said, very obviously without thinking.
“Oh, you've been drinking too much, you really don’t hold your drinks well huh?” Legs laughed. Scott was getting impatient and finally grabbed the others hands, dragging him into the rain with him, much to the dismay of Legs.
“Eveything we’ve been through and you're scared to get a little cold?” Scott challenged grinning. He then ran off to chase after Aurora, calling her over. Both dragons coming back to their riders. Legs mounted Gadget earning a frown from Scott.
“I’m gonna make sure you get home, not letting you fly drunk in a storm” Legs motioned for Scott to get on Aurora. The Ice mage begrudgingly got on his Dragon.
“I trust Aurora know the way home, we could have fun in the rain” he complained, but still followed close by Gadget as they headed towards Thawdale. Flying low to avoid the storm.
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“This storm is really going, might rain all night” Legs looked out to the sky from the front steps of Scott's home in Thawdale. They both stood in front of the door, just out of the rain. Scott didn't want the night to end so soon. He couldn't convince Legs to do anything else because he was “drunk enough”, but Scott disagrees. He looked at Leg’s soaked hair, sticking to his forehead. He couldn't tell if the warmth was from the drinks or the way Leg’s clothes looked wet from the rain. It could very well be both but it didn't concern him too much now.
“Hey Legs” Scott spoke quietly, grabbing the attention of the Iron mage and making eye contact. Met with his green eyes, Scott couldn't remember what he was going to say. All he could think about was never looking away. He slowly reached his hand out and pushed Leg’s wet hair out of his eyes, and rested that same hand on his shoulder “You have very pretty eyes you know” he stated.
Legs laughed softly at the Ice mage “You are so drunk”. The blue streaked man raised his own hand to rest on the others, and squeezed it gently. “We can talk about that another time. You should sleep this off first” he then let go of the other hand, and stepped closer. Scotts swears his heart stopped for a moment, that his soul had left him, as Legs leaned up on his toes, and gave Scott a quick kiss on the cheek.
Scott thought he would actually explode this time, he was speechless as Legs turned away back into the rain and got on his dragon. Scott caught his eye again as the man waved goodbye, and took off. Leaving Scott in front of his door, cheeks flushed light blue, scared if he moved he could wake up from a dream, or die, something like that. It took a minute for him to catch his breath and go inside.
Amber was definitely hearing about this tomorrow.