Just Like That | "The Moth Prince" fanfic

1. The Rain

"This is ridiculous," Fern muttered, his tone absolutely annoyed while looking up at the sky. Standing right next to him, at the threshold of the cave's entrance, Arcade followed their gaze towards the roaring clouds above them: dense and thick like a blanket enveloping the world, and so gray that not a ray of sunlight seeped through them. "I hate the rain."

"I know," Arcade answered, softly. How could he not know? Fern mentioned his dislike every time they had the chance, talking about how much he hated getting wet, grumbling under his breath whenever they heard the distant telltale of thunder. It was pretty obvious that they had a personal thing against it, but Arcade wasn't sure what it was. He'd never dared to ask either.

"It's bothersome, and irritating, and dumb," Fern added, frowning and crossing their arms in a defiant pose. They squinted at the sky as if the sole hatred of his gaze could evaporate every single raindrop into oblivion, and it would've been enough to scatter entire crowds away from them. However, it didn't affect the weather itself, for the water continued falling steadily, echoing all throughout the forest.

"It's..." Arcade hesitated, not wanting to roast the weather like Fern had done. Truth was, he didn't really have any particular feelings towards the rain, but... even though he didn't hate it more than any other person would, it was proving to be really inconvenient that day. He sighed, scratching his neck. "It's definitely not letting me go back to the dorms yet."

Arcade glanced at the trees outside, at their branches shaking under the pressure of the wind, at the leaves flying away in a frenzy every now and again. He couldn't go back yet. He didn't have an umbrella with him, and even if he did, it was already getting late. If he left right then, he'd have to deal with the pouring rain and the inevitable fall of night, which meant the visibility would be terrible on the road. He didn't want to risk a dangerous ride back to school.

"I can't leave until it clears out... at least a little," he muttered, kind of expecting Fern to comment again. It was common that they complained whenever they could, after all. But the prince didn't say anything in response, simply standing still while staring at the rain, so Arcade was slightly caught up by surprise.

He turned to look at them, and he immediately noticed that something on their aura had changed out of nowhere. Their body posture wasn't as stiff anymore. Their eyes weren't as agitated as before. And even after lighting cut the sky in two, brightening it up for a second before a deep rumble of thunder followed, Fern didn't react. He didn't even get more annoyed at the rain, which was... unusual, to say the least.

Arcade blinked at the fairy while they nervously changed the weight of their body from one leg to the other. They did it once, twice, shuffling in place for a couple of seconds, looking like they were hesitating about something, and just when he thought Fern wasn't going to settle on anything, they stopped, uncrossed their arms, and sat down. Arcade's eyes were probably confused enough to act as a question, because when Fern looked up at him, their answer was to shrug.

"Seems that it'll take a while for the rain to stop." Their tone made it sound like their actions were obvious, like Arcade should already be sitting down next to them so they could wait together. But Arcade took too long to process it, and even longer to actually act, and by the time his mind finally caught up to the situation, Fern had deviated their gaze and changed their tone to something more hesitant. "Or would you... rather just stand there until then?"

"Oh," Arcade mumbled, suddenly feeling like an idiot, and was grateful that Fern's attention was somewhere else because he could feel his cheeks heating up in embarrassment. "Yeah... right."

Fern kept their eyes away from Arcade's face while he sat down next to them, and didn't say anything else anymore, remaining silent for so long that Arcade didn't dare to speak either. They just stayed there, quietly staring at the forest outside the cave, waiting for the rain to clear out... but only seeing how it progressively worsened. Lighting kept illuminating the sky, looking like giant, bright scars above them, and thunder seemed to be bigger and louder every time, resonating throughout the forest as if the clouds themselves were throwing a fit at the earth below.