wings of fire one-shots 2

qinter

a/n- i apologize if this is trash 

and i have not read the poison jungle yet, so i have no idea what happens, and i am extremely sorry if there is inaccurate information in here

they are still at jade mountain academy

q i b l i

Qibli ran his fingers over and over the ink, breathing in the smell of scrolls and the scent of ink, trying to breathe all his worries and anxiety out. 

Trying.

Qibli slowed down, and he could finally make sense of what he had written without the wave of emotion crashing against him.

W, he read, grasping on to the paper as if his life depended on it.

I.

N.

T.

E.

This can't be-

R.

His sharp hearing picked up on a rustle behind him, and he quickly rolled the scroll shut, full of embarrassment and worry that someone might have read it.

A strikingly handsome ice-blue dragon came in, carrying a sense of elegance along with him. No, Qibli thought, Not just ice-blue. Shimmering white, blazing blue, light turquoise-

"What's that?"

Qibli jumped nearly a foot into the air. "What?!"

Winter looked at him. "The scroll. Do I need to clarify any more?"

"Oh," Qibli blushed. "That's, uh, nothing. Yeah, nothing."

If Winter had eyebrows, they would have been raised so high that they would jump off his face. "Yeah, totally." Surprisingly, he turned away and stepped out the room, snatching a scroll off from his ledge along the way.

Huh. Surprised he didn't try to see what was in the scroll.

He relaxed and unrolled the scroll again, dipping  his quill into ink and then pressing it to the page, moving it so that it would create letters, then words, then sentences.

Dark blue eyes, a sea of emotion and hidden compassion. Blueish- white scales with all the colors of snow, like pieces of ice broken off from the whitest glaciers and icicles. Brave, compassionate.

Qibli stopped, the quill hovering an inch over the scroll. There were thousands, maybe millions, maybe billions of things he could say about Winter, not a single one negative. He would probably never say any of them to Winter, anyways, so there really was no point in writing his feelings down.

Anyways, Winter liked Moon, so it didn't really mat-

No. He couldn't say that. It hurt his heart to say it didn't really matter because he knew that he cared, and at that, way too much.

Qibli was too wrapped up in his thoughts to hear someone try to tiptoe closer to him. He was too busy worrying to notice the dragon's eyes widen as they read the words on the scroll, too anxious to see the blue, icy blush come over the dragon's snout, too conscious of his thoughts to observe that the dragon's mind was whirring, heart was racing, soul was soaring-

Qibli jumped again with a start as the dragon let out a sigh. He slowly turned around to find himself locking eyes with Winter.

No, no, no, no, no.

Qibli raced out of the room, going so fast that Winter was stuck staring at the spot where the dragon of his dreams had just been.

w i n t e r

 Winter stared and stared and stared. His eyes were glued to the scroll, but his heart had grown wings and was pounding against his chest, yearning to be free. The clogs of his mind were whirring and spinning with such force that he was getting dizzy. 

Qibli, cheerful, funny, amazing, amazing, amazing, loved him? The princely freak?

"Yeah, right." Winter scoffed, trying so hard to believe this idea that he had to speak it out loud.

Truth was, Winter was cowardly. He didn't want to confess his love. Oh, yeah, he had dreamed of this day before, but he didn't actually realize it would come true. The idea of imperfectly perfect Qibli loving him was so absurd that Winter was actually thinking this was all just a wistful dream.

What would Narwhal and Tundra say? Icicle? Hailstorm?

All the same thing: You're not IceWing royalty. You're a coward.

Sudden surges of rebellion pounded against him and the sudden impulse to run after Qibli took over him as he rushed through the door. 

And getting scared out of his wits when Kinkajou jumped out of nowhere.

"In case you were wondering, Qibli went that way." 

Winter raced by in that direction, too busy to spit out a snarky remark like he usually did.

Dragons pointed him in the direction of Qibli, and he was too frantic to wonder why everyone knew who he was looking for and helping him. 

A streak of yellow was now in front of him as he flung himself out of Jade Mountain Academy's door and soared into the sky, screaming.

"Qibli! Qibli, wait!"

He was totally unprepared for what came out of his mouth next.

"I love you!"

Qibli stopped, seeming to forget he was still flying, and then plummeted downward. His wings stretched outward quickly, and he beat them furiously. 

"What?!"

"I said, I love you!"

Qibli soared through the air at him, knocking him down into the land below.

Winter felt his sarcasm coming back. "In case you didn't hear because of your evident deafness, I said-"

He was interrupted by Qibli's snout on his own, the butterflies fluttering in his stomach, a deep blue blush dusting his snout . When they broke apart, Winter smiled.

He thought he could smile forever, taking in Qibli's blush, his awkward gaze, the freckles on his snout, his claws fingering the amber earring in a fidgety way. 

Kinkajou materialized out of nowhere. "YES! YES! IT HAPPENED! I TOLD YOU, TURTLE!"

Winter wasn't surprised when Turtle stepped quietly out of the shadows, looking annoyed. He was the stealthiest dragon Winter had ever known.

"Ok, fine, Kinkajou, you win."

Kinkajou took off into the air. "YOU OWE ME THE SCROLL!"

Before they could ask what the scroll was, Kinkajou and Turtle had left them far behind.

"So they've been betting on us." Qibli chuckled. "Were we that obvious?"

"You were," Winter smirked. "with that scroll and writing your feelings down."

"I should have known the almighty Prince Winter would've found out sooner or later." Qibli muttered, earning a shove from Winter. 

Two dragons, one the color of snow, the other like warm sand, wrapped into each other, into a cocoon of love and warmth, settling there for the rest of the evening. 

"I love you."

"I love me, too."