Forever and Always: Longzhu x Reader/Original Character

Chapter 3: The Tale of Two Best Friends

We arrived outside of a gated neighborhood, complete with large shrubs around the entire fence that surrounded the houses within. Din slid down Long's tail and flipped onto the sidewalk. "We're here!" He said while turning his head to look back at me and Long. "Wishing time!" Din smiled as he rubbed his hands together. "Ah! Excellent choice! I see where this is going. Now when choosing a palace, it is very important that-" Long was cut off by Din turning sharply to the left and walking through the bushes. I looked at Long with a bewildered expression before I followed after him.

Din stood in front of the metal bar fence while holding onto the bars in front of him. Longzhu rushed after me and slammed his face into the bars and groaned out in pain while holding his snout. "Long! Quit goofing off, this is serious business!" Din scolded the large dragon like he was a child. I snickered at the interaction which earned me an annoyed look from Longzhu. I cleared my throat and averted eye contact before looking forward at the large mansion in front of us, "So... Din... why are we here exactly...????" I asked while moving forward to stand next to Din.

"Ok, you see her?" He pointed toward a girl standing in the entryway of the mansion who was greeting another guest that had pulled up. "That's my second wish, I wish-" "STOP, stop stop stop stop." Long said while making another arm appear after each time he said stop. "We can't do love." Long said while making a broken heart motion with his hands. "What?? No, Long. Its not like that-" Din attempted to explain before Longzhu brought his tail around and wrapped it around his mouth to keep him from blabbering on.

"Couple of rules we should've mentioned, we can't do time travel, we can't kill people, and it pains me to say this (not really) We can't make people fail in love with you." Long explained, Din pulled off the tail covering his mouth and dropped to the ground. "No, no, no, it's not like that long! She's my best friend. That's my wish, I want my friend back." He said while looking back out towards her. I looked at Long with a large smile while he looked utterly baffled. "Awww Din! That's so sweet-" I admired before Long moved to stand in front of Din, "Wait, rewind. You can wish for anything in the whooole world.. and you wanna waste it on a friend??" He said while giving Din a very confused and accusatory look.

"What could be more important than friendship?" Din asked, I quickly appeared beside Din, placing my hand on his shoulder, and looked at up Zhu, "Yeah Zhu! What's more important than friendship??" I said while raised an eyebrow. "Is that a.. trick.. question..?" Long asked, which Din only responded to with a light shake of his head. "Literally ANYTHING! Oh let me think, a golden chamber pot, an army of terracotta warriors, a palace made entirely of jade-" he said the last suggestion with a fondness in his voice and eyes while picking up Din and wrapping his tail around his chest to hold him in the air, "WHY are you wasting a wish on some girl??" He asked. Din stared at him for a couple seconds while I sat there looking back and forth at the two. "Ohhh! That's right! Sorry Long, I cant expect you to understand. I haven't explained everything to you two. Down please." Din said while patting his tail. Long dropped him and I moved to sit next to the other dragon.

"Ten years ago, a cool spring day. A gentle breeze *makes wind noise* A lonely young boy waits after school, thats me, then enter the girl. Li Na! Throwing dumplings and defending my honor!" My eyes followed him as he explained the tale of two best friends. It was a beautiful story that involved kites that kind of looked like Longzhu and simple days in the sun. The story soon grew sad as he explained that after Li Na's father got a better job and they began to have more money they began to pack up their things. He talked about the day he finally fixed their kite (the one that looked like Long) but when he went to go find her, the moving truck had arrived and Li Na was leaving. They said their goodbyes and she got into the Limo waiting for her and her father. "And then she drove away, and I never.. saw her.. again.." he said. I was holding back an oceans worth of tears while Long had his hands of his eyes and his head bowed next to me. Din turned around and seemed slightly shocked to see our reactions, "Aw it's ok guys, I still get emotional too just talking about it." He sympathized while placing his hand on Longzhu's shoulder.

Long removed his hands and instead of tears and sadness, it was only extreme irritation and annoyance within his eyes. He groaned loudly and flopped onto the ground like a frustrated child. "I already told you I can't make people fall in love with you, why do you think I can make someone be your friend????"

"What? No! She's already my friend. I just need to get into the party." Din explained. "A WISH!" Long said excitedly and he quickly lifted himself off the ground, "Why didn't you just say so??" Long said while ignoring the slightly angry side glance I shot his way. "Yeah! I wish to be a princeling." Din said while holding his arms out in a T position. "Alright, stand back! And it shall be so!" Long said and pink smoke shot out of his hands and surrounded Din and once it dispersed, Din had on a traditional yellow Hanfu and behind him was a carriage, horses and all. "I don't think that's what he meant." I whispered to Longzhu while still staring at the scene in front of me.

"What is this??" Din asked with a confused look toward both me and Long. "What's What? You said make you a prince, I made you a prince." Long said while raising an eyebrow and lowering himself so that he was eye level with Din. "No, I said princeling. Ya know, like one of those guys with the fancy suit, and the Rolex watch, and the chauffeured car, the personal assistant and the lady plus one-" Din explained before Long interrupted him with a blubbering sound while shaking his head quickly, he grabbed Din by the top of his head and turned him around to face us. "Hold on, that's like ten different wishes. You only have two." Long huffed with thinly veiled annoyance, "Fine, Fine. How about a temporary version, just for today." Din suggested, and I could sense the incoming negative response from the pink dragon from a mile away so I shoved myself in front of Zhu,

"Thats a WONDERFUL idea Din, it'll get you into the party but it won't force you to change your entire lifestyle!" I said with exaggerated happiness to cover up how unhappy Long seemed to be with everything Din does. Me throwing myself between them did confuse both of them because Din looked at me with a confused look before saying, "Thank you? See Long, she gets it." This snaps Long out of his thoughts and makes his expression go from genuinely confused to his usual old man level grumpiness. "Ugh fine, twenty-four hours. Don't come crawling back to me when she turns you away cause you aren't actually rich." He said before making the pink smoke surround Din once again and this time he had a dark navy suit with a gold Rolex watch on. "Perfect! And a car." Din exclaimed, and Long reluctantly made a hot pink and gold sports car appear on the road next to where Din stood. Din gasped at the sight of it and quickly got in, "and a personal assistant who has to do anything and everything I ask for the next twenty four hoursss." Din quickly added while rolling down the drivers side window. Long sighed loudly before turning himself into a human with a chauffeur hat and a gray suit with a pink tie, the same grumpy look on his face which surprisingly had a goatee.

"Long! You look pretty good as a human!" Din complimented and I snapped my fingers, turning myself into my human form in a puff of turquoise glittery smoke. I had on a long black dress with turquoise velvet opera gloves and gold 3 inch heels. My long slightly wavy black hair was clipped up into a half up half down style. "Same goes for you Bao! And by the looks of it, Long sure agrees." Din's teasing remark tore Longs eyes off of me and changed his expression from pure awe and admiration to annoyance as he turned to Din. He silently got in the car on the drivers side door as Din moved to the passenger seat and I squeezed into the small back row of seats. Longzhu slammed on the gas peddle and we sped off to the party.