𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 [𝐣𝐢𝐦 𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐱 𝐨𝐜]

Chapter 36 | Charm Crisis

Jim Lake POV

"Happy birthday, Jimmy."

Jimmy.

Liz called me "Jimmy," Jim thought deeply to himself. And how she said it so naturally, along with that look in her gaze when she said it—that look of familiarity and...fondness. It was strange but painstakingly familiar, reminding him of enduring memories of a little girl whose adoring gaze never failed to captivate him. He can only hope that Liz remembers saying his nickname and the memories behind it or, better yet, remember who he was before. But, of course, that's just wishful thinking on his part.

After all, it did not make him feel any better, knowing that he must kiss her tomorrow at rehearsal.

Suddenly, Jim felt the ground swept from under him as he collided his armored back on the grass, the Sword of Daylight vanishing from his hand. He releases a painful groan, his mind pulled from thought as his gaze met with the pointed end of a spear. "I think I just broke my butt."

"Were this an actual battle, Trollhunter..." Draal started, swinging his weapon, startling Jim enough to back up slightly. "You would have just been deprived of your right leg, three fingers..."

Not as gently as Jim hoped he would, Draal smacked the blunt end of the weapon against his leg and fingers and was about to press it forcefully somewhere else. Panicked that his sensitive spot would have a sudden burst of pain, Jim donned his sword, stopping the blunt end from traveling further. "And your gronk-nuks."

"Sorry, I guess I'm just a little distracted tonight," Jim said apologetically, bringing himself to his feet, thinking such a battle was over. However, Draal used the distraction to take another hit. Jim yelped, rolling to the other side, and again blocked his blows. Yet, he was still defeated when Draal's immeasurable arm took Jim down once again after sweeping him off his feet and back onto the ground. "Bular will use your distraction as an opportunity to cleave your head from your shoulders."

"Oh." Jim's expression turned upsettingly, his brows slanting profusely as his lips curved into a shocked and distracted frown. Draal released a frustrated sigh, shoving the pointed spear to the ground.

"What has you distracted this night?" The troll asked, holding his hand out to Jim, who simply grabbed it as he was peeled from the grassy plain. The boy shook his head in slight shame. "You wouldn't understand."

Draal lets out a slight growl from his stone lips as he throws Jim to the other side, pressing him back into the ground with his arm pinned behind his back. Draal roared before speaking. "I am a son of the former Trollhunter, Trollhunter."

"I'm a little preoccupied about kissing Liz," Jim confessed. Draal's eyes grew wide, his unrelenting grip on the trollhunter loosening as the word kissing echoed in the troll's mind.

Kissing? Isn't that a form of expressing affection between two beings? Draal thought to himself, remembering Liz explaining it some years ago. What kind of relationship does this fleshbag – he means human boy – have with Liz? Surely, it cannot be anything more than a mentor and apprentice or brothers-in-arms or perhaps familial. Right?

"I-I don't understand," Draal muttered, mostly to himself. Jim sits up from the ground. "The school play, Romeo and Juliet. We're rehearsing the kissing scene."

Jim flopped onto the grass in defeat. "And I have to kiss her tomorrow."

"Kiss?" Draal repeated the word, his brow furrowing as his suspicions grew. Jim stands up, staring quizzically at Draal as he sits on a nearby rock, thinking the troll doesn't understand what it means. "Yeah, kissing. When two people like each other, they put their mouths together."