Chapter Text
"Urg–!" Gingerbrave brought a hand to his mouth as he placed down an empty glass that was previously filled with juice on the table.
"Brave? Is something wrong?"
Wizard inquired from beside the Grandmaster, slightly curious about the strange reaction for downing the entire glass of juice. Well, that and his suddenly rosy cheeks.
"I think my drink got mixed up…"
"What do you mean?"
"I uh…might have accidentally downed the entire glass of wine."
Wizard's eyes widened as they completely fixated on the Grandmaster. Mortified when flashes of memories back in the Princess contest from the Hollyberry kingdom played in his head. Memories that were too shameful he'd wish he could forget. Taking a few steps closer to Brave, paying no mind to the extremely close proximity between the two.
"A…- A-Are you alright? You don't feel anything weird, do you?"
Brave merely waved a hand dismissively with a smile, while the other rested on his cheek.
"Oh I'm fine. Sure I'm still 15 and too underage for alcohol but nothing serious. Heh. Face feeling a bit warm though…"
He fanned at himself to help cool down, as if that would help at all. Though he stopped what he was doing when something cool touched his face.
"By Celestials, you're already this warm from just one glass?"
"Y…Yeah I…I guess I am…"
He slowly moved himself away from Wizard and looked elsewhere, face heating up even further from the earlier contact.
"I'm gonna go to a random balcony to cool down for a while. Wanna come along?"
"Um, yes? Obviously. Gotta make sure you don't accidentally bump over something or randomly black out in the middle of this castle."
"Wizard, I'm not even tipsy, let alone drunk. My face just feels warm."
"But still–"
"Unless…"
The teen leaned in really close, their faces just inches apart as Brave stared at Wizard with half lidded eyes and a cheeky smile.
"Don't tell me you're still hung up over what happened in the princess contest back in the Hollyberry kingdom? Seriously, it's already been four years."
"S-Shut–!"
The sorcerer took a few stumbling steps back, pulling up his scarf to hide his flushed face as he pointed at the Grandmaster.
"J-Just shut up! It-! I-It's only right that I follow you to the balcony after you drank a glass of alcohol. While you're underage at that!"
He just chuckled and stood upright again.
"Alright alright. Sorryyy~"
He offered his hand to the kingdom's sorcerer.
"Now, let's get going shall we?"
Wizard eyed on the gloved hand for a moment and begrudgingly took his wrist instead, yanking the boy out of the banquet as he told the servants they'll be getting some fresh air for a while.
"W-Woah-! Slow down would you?"
Wizard didn't obliged and just kept dragging him until they were both on a random balcony. Once they stopped moving, Brave yanked his wrist from the sorcerer's iron grip. Wizard's grip didn't hurt but it did feel a bit sore when he dragged them both outside.
As he rubbed his wrist, ocean blue eyes darted to the sky.
The moon's faint blue glow seemed to be much brighter tonight, along with the stars that dotted the inky black sky as they all aligned.
"Lovely night isn't it?"
The question left Wizard in a soft, almost hushed tone, but Brave heard him.
"Yeah… And feels cool too. Guess we'll go back inside soon enough."
Wizard chuckled while Brave leaned his elbows against the railings and sighed.
"Time sure flies, huh?"
Wizard glanced at the teen beside him. Time changes everything. Nothing is an exception, even Gingerbrave.
He is no longer the reckless freshly baked Cookie he first met back in Matilda's Kitchen. He is taller (which was so unfair), slightly broader shoulders, his features were much more defined, despite the large scar on his left cheek, highlighted by the moon's bright glow, and he had a more mature aura around him.
Not to mention down right handsome-
He immediately smacked his cheek to intercept the thought. Luckily, the Grandmaster didn't seem to notice, despite how loud the smack must have been.
"Y-Yeah…" He answered belatedly. "...four years since you and your twin were baked."
"Mhmn. Four years since we first met."
"Four years since we founded this kingdom together with the others."
"Four years since we began our adventure."
"And four years…" Wizard hesitated. "Four years since we learned about Dark Enchantress' true motives."
"And joined this war against the Order to protect Earthbread, and shed light upon the Truth… Lots of things happened, huh?"
"Yeah…" He let out a huff of breath. "We've changed alot over the years too. And turning 16 this year. Feels unreal."
"Heh. You could say that again." Brave flicked his gaze to Wizard, a toothy grin on his face. "Though I can't say the same for you, shorty."
Wizard choked and whirled around, looking obviously offended by the remark, as though someone had just exposed his most embarrassing secret.
"Excuse-?!"
"It's true." The hero hovered a hand between the two of them, just exactly where Wizard's height would be. "As far as I remember, you barely grow much over the years. Only like 2-3 inches I believe?"
"Shut up!"
"Mmmm I dunno.~"
"Celestials, I would have zapped you with my lightning strikes if it weren't for the fact that we–" He stopped himself, suddenly feeling self conscious over the next few words that were left unsaid, cheeks tinted a soft pink.
"Hmmm? The fact that we what?"
"Nevermind…"
"Haha! Okay, I'll stop now-"
He was interupted by a pinch on his cheek. "Ah-?"
His other cheek got pinched as well.
"Oooww…"
"Payback. Also you still owe me an apology regardless."
Wizard took it even further and stretched out the cheeks, just a tiny bit as to not actually hurt him. Although satisfied with this little revenge… Celestials, why and how could this boy be both handsome and cute?! And could he not stare at him like that with those big, stupid puppy dog eyes of his?
He eventually stopped with his assault when gloved hands were placed on top of his bare ones, unaware that they had shifted into caresses.
"Well, if an apology is what you wanted. Will this action of mine suffice?"
Before Wizard had time to even ponder what his words meant, Brave turned his head to place a tender kiss on his palm. His breath was caught in his throat, face heated up as it went bright red. Staring up at the Hero's half lidded eyes, mouth agape as he was rendered completely speechless. Flushed pointed ears flicking up and down at rapid speed.
"W…Wh-"
"I really am sorry for offending you with the remark about your height." Brave murmured against the magician's palm and pressed his lips on his knuckles, staring at him with such loving tenderness he'd only ever seen exchanged between those in very intimate relationships. "Forgive me, Owlet?"
Wizard didn't say anything and just nodded. The boy in front of him beamed a smile and kissed his knuckles again.
"I'm glad."
Brave smiled, his thumb brushing over the hills of the other's knuckles where it was previously kissed.
Without a word of warning, the Grandmaster stepped forward and pressed their foreheads together.
His breath hitched again and flicked his gaze downwards. He dared not to look into those eyes again, especially this close.
"Wizard?"
"Y…Yes?"
"May I kiss you?"
The absurdity of the question was practically a slap to the face, causing Wizard to remove himself away from Brave until his back was against the doors.
"Wh-?! Wha! What do you-?!"
"O-Only if you want to I-I mean!" Brave frantically waved his hands around, suddenly aware and embarrassed at what he just said. "Ob- Obviously I won't force you to do anything you're not comfortable with. So… y-y'know what? H-How about we uh, we forget this, yeah?"
"N-No wait I-"
He clamped both hands over his mouth, internally screaming profanities in his head over what just left out of his mouth, his back turned to face the teen instead.
Kissing? Him? With Gingerbrave? This all felt surreal, like some sort of fever dream. Except it's not a dream. This is reality. Like actually reality and all of this is happening. But the abrupt absurdity of the question left a part of his mind to ponder about something else as well. When Wizard was drunk from the spiked punch back in the Hollyberry Kingdom, he did…act completely out of character…and wreaked havoc during the princess contest. Could Brave's request be from the single glass of wine he mistakenly drank?
Wizard whirled around and marched towards Gingerbrave, causing the other to take several steps back until his back was against the balcony's railings, his hands raised and palms facing the sorcerer with a confused and flustered look on his face.
"W-Wizard what is this for-"
"Where did the question come from exactly? Are you sure you didn't say that because you were drunk?" Wizard pointed out, his tone a tad bit louder than he prefered. The question seemed to agitate Brave slightly as he frowned.
"I told you, I'm not even tipsy! The only thing that's affected is my throat and my face!"
It sounded reasonable, since their conversation, or most of it so far, sounded too sober to belong to a drunkard. However, Wizard was still quite salty about the remark of his height and decided to continue on with this nonsensical bickering because he is petty like that. "As if! I don't believe you. You reeked of alcohol."
"I only had one glass, jackass!"
"Yeah! One large glass, that is."
"By the fucking Celestials, you can be so infuriating! Can you please shut up?"
"Hah! Make me, you dullard–"
He was cut off by the feeling of soft cotton on the back of his neck, fingers tangling themselves with the white locks. Before he even had time to question the action, Brave leaned down and, heavens above, kissed him.
His brain short circuited. The kiss—his lips—felt gentle, soft, warm and lingered all too short as they both parted. Neither had said anything else after that, too caught up the moment that transpired, just barely a minute ago.
And somehow, The Grandmaster looked even more stunning when bathe under the soft moon light.
However they didn't stay in their moment for long when rapid knockings came from the double doors.
"Gingerbraaaavvve? You done cooling down yet? We have a bit of a situation going right now because half of the minors have passed out during the banquet. A handful of our servants had somehow mistook wine and grape juice together. Help your sib out would ya? Can't handle this on my own."
"Coming, Bright! Thanks for accompanying me here, Wizard."
As fast as possible, Brave moved past Wizard and left the balcony, leaving the latter alone with his thoughts.
The sorcerer's hand move up to his lips, still warm from the kiss from earlier. He mumbled something under his breathe as he stood still.
"He kissed me…"
The reality of the situation slowly sunked in, face bright red while his ears rapidly flicked up and down.
"He kissed me…!"
He repeated and sank to the ground, leaning against the railing pillars with his hands moving to completely cover his face. Wizard stayed there for a handful more minutes before retreating to his room, fully composed as though nothing had ever happened,
Despite his flushed face saying otherwise.
He'll be needing a lot of time to process what had happened.