Tagatha Short Stories

Cherry Flavoured Love

inspired by the song:
Strawberry Mentos - Leanna Firestone

*•*•*

Since he was a young boy, Tedros detested the taste of cherry candy. Cherry suckers, cherry gummies, cherry sours, you name it, he hated it. He hated cherry candy so much that everyone around him had learned not to offer him any. Even Merlin's hat had learned to never offer him a cherry lollipop. So when he saw Agatha eating a handful of cherry buttons, he knew there was another reason not to like her. Anyone who enjoyed the bitter yet sweet taste of cherry was someone he would never call a friend. Tedros stared from his stiff wooden desk as she popped another piece of bright red candy into her mouth. How could someone just sit there and enjoy something so vile. Tedros could never like her. I mean, someone who ate those disgusting candies so easily must have something wrong with them. Only a witch could enjoy something that foul.

~

Tedros stared at the sweet sitting on his desk. It was a present from an anonymous admirer. Clearly not an educated one, anyone with the slightest amount of knowledge about him would know that he hated cherry. But did he? Tedros was curious. He hadn't had a cherry candy in so long, could they really be as bad as he remembered? Maybe he was just exaggerating. The other people in his life seemed to like it. Should he? The temptation was killing him. People could change their minds, he didn't have to hate cherries did he? I mean opinions can change. His opinion of Agatha certainly changed. He saw her smile the other day, she seemed happy, different almost. It was a nice different. That didn't mean he didn't consider her a witch though, it could have been a witchy witch spell, like the one she had used to make him choose her during Yuba's class, I mean, he would never choose a witch on purpose...right? Tedros shrugged his doubts aside and opened the shiny, crinkly paper. The sound of the wrapper echoed loudly throughout the empty classroom. It seemed to make more noise against the barren walls of the room. Tedros stared out the open window. The breeze felt nice against his face. The wind tickled his nose a bit.
"Well, here goes nothing"
Tedros popped the candy into his mouth, he let it sit on his tongue...yup..still gross. It wasn't as bad as he remembered but he definitely wouldn't choose it out of all the candy options. But it wasn't gross enough to spit out. He finished eating it as he waited for his classmates to file in from their break. Maybe cherry wasn't so bad.

~

Tedros felt a lump in his stomach thinking about how Agatha saved him. She had no reason to, afterall, she had snuck into the trial to help Sophie win, which she did, irritatingly enough. Why was Tedros thinking about this so hard, she was just saving him because they were classmates right? Nothing more? Tedros walked quietly down the deserted halls, he was stressed and decided to go for a swim to help relieve his nerves, but he ended up getting so caught up that he didn't notice it was lights out already. He really should be more cautious. He tiptoed past the candy walls of the classroom when something caught his eye. A bright red lollipop had caught his attention, it flashed as the light of the dim moon hit it directly. The first thing Tedros thought of was her. The girl who has risked her life to save him. He picked the lollipop off the wall and stared at it. She ate these without fault, everyday in class he would watch how she blissfully enjoyed the cherry treat, not offering a single care to the punishments of Anemone. Were these things really so good that she would go to detention for them? Tedros popped the sucker into his mouth and continued walking. The taste was growing on him, they weren't as repulsive as he once thought. He passed quietly through the halls, eventually reaching his room door. He pushed the door open as silently as he could, stepping through the smallest crack, before pushing it shut. The soft glow of the dim lantern burning on his bedside table illuminating his way. He let his body fall onto his half-made bed. His damp hair was soaking his pillow but he was too tired to care, he'll deal with it in the morning. He pulled the lollipop out of mouth and held it up in the air, examining it under the dim light of the moon and the lantern. It shined brightly against the pale blue walls of his room. Could he actually start to like cherry? He had dedicated so much of his life to his hatred of cherry and yet, it seemed so insignificant now. Why did he reserve so much hatred towards the red candy for so long? There was no reason to. Was it just because of first impressions? One should never judge someone based entirely on a first impression, so why did he do this to cherry? He popped the candy back into his mouth, one arm resting under his head as he watched the shadows travel around his room. He finished the sweet red candy, left only with a discarded lollipop to remind him of this change of heart. Was he really starting to like cherry?
~
    Tedros took his seat at the crowded lunch tables. It had been a week since the Trial and Agatha had yet to make any contact with him. She would ignore him during class and run the opposite way when she saw him walking down the halls. Tedros understood that she was probably just paranoid about him telling on her but who would he tell? Telling the truth would mean exposing that he was a fraud and that he didn't actually deserve to win the trial. Tedros had been feeling down all week. He missed her sharp tongue and snarky remarks. They were the highlight of his day. Bickering with her had made his time at the school interesting. Tedros pulled a cherry lollipop out of his coat pocket. He unwrapped the candy, drowning out the commotion around him. Why was he thinking about her so much? Recently he had been thinking about the girl much more than he would like to admit. She had been on his mind for all the waking hours of the day, but why? Why now? Was this just because of the trial? He let the taste of cherry fill his mouth as he continued to think about her. Their lives had begun incredibly intertwined. He was always connected to her in one way or the other. I mean he had chosen her troll, her coffin, hell he had even chosen her when she was a roach on Sophie's pumpkin...wait...could it be...oh no...he always chose her...he never chose Sophie...he always chose her...he always chose her! Tedros looked around the clearing but couldn't spot her.

~

Agatha hadn't shown up to their class after lunch, Tedros took it upon himself to find her. He was feeling stressed as he waited for the bell to finally ring. He unwrapped a cherry button and popped it in his mouth, letting the sweet sit on his tongue as he tried to swallow his nerves. The bell rang and Tedros was the first one out of the classroom, he visited the first spots where he assumed she would be, the menagerie and the cafeteria, but she wasn't there. Where else could she be? The Library! Tedros bounded up the tower steps towards the library, trying to draw as little attention as he could. He opened the library doors and was met with the snores of the old turtle. Tedros was pretty sure he was awake...his limbs were moving, they were stamping books and stuff. Tedros headed over to the section he had followed Agatha too the night before the Trial. He walked up the vertical steps towards the 3rd floor of the library. The top floor was the darkest, he followed the dim fairy flow towards the outermost corner. He looked through the shelves, Agatha still nowhere to be found. He reached the end of the shelfs and there she was. She was asleep in between the wall of books and the last bookcase, a thick book of spells clutched in her arms. Tedros had to duck a bit so he wouldn't hit his head against the low hanging ceiling. He kneeled beside her and jabbed his finger into her arm,
"We need to talk"
She didn't budge. Tedros jabbed her a bit harder but nothing. He grabbed onto her shoulders and shook her a bit but she still didn't wake up. Tedros was rapidly growing concerned. Did she get hexed, Sophie seemed pretty mad about the whole thing but would she go as far as casting a curse on her own best friend? Tedros shook her harder but she still didn't wake. Was she dead? Tedros pressed his fingers to her wrist and her neck, she had a pulse. He held a finger under nose, he could feel the warm air she exhaled, so she was definitely breathing. Why wouldn't she wake up. Tedros tried yelling in her ear but still nothing. She was alive but unresponsive. Oh lord, did he cause this? Was he too harsh on Sophie? Was she really evil enough to hurt Agatha? Tedros popped another piece of cherry candy into his mouth, he was stress eating. How do you wake up an unconscious person? Tedros didn't know what to do. A spell! He grabbed the book from her hands and began to flip through it, looking for something that could help him.
"Oh"
Tedros noticed the page she had bookmarked, "true love's kiss" apparently Agatha was researching the topic on her own. Apparently it worked to reverse curses, break spells, and wake a sleeping princess. Tedros wasn't 100% convinced on the princess part but he had no other options. Even if she wasn't his true love, a kiss from him would surely bring her back to her senses, afterall, he was pretty sure she hated him.
"Here goes nothing"
Tedros swallowed the last of the candy before bringing his lips to Agatha's. They were surprisingly soft. He pulled back, waiting for her response. Nothing. Did he do it wrong? He took a deep breath before leaning in again. Tedros was taken by surprise by the hand that was placed on the back of his head, pulling him in. Agatha was kissing him back, Tedros fell into the kiss, wow he thought, kissing is great. When the need for oxygen finally hit he pulled back.
"I-"
"Did you know that you taste like cherry?" she said nonchalantly, almost as if her unconscious episode had never occurred
"Really?" Tedros felt his cheeks burn pink
"Yeah, did you know cherry is my favorite?" She smiled sweetly, Tedros felt his heart beat faster
"I had a hunch"
"You had a hunch?" She asked with a smirk on her face
"Mmhmm"
"Is that why you've been eating all the cherry candy I've been leaving at your desk?"
"That was you"
"At first I left it as something to annoy you with, I had heard that you despised cherry candy,but you don't seem to hate it?"
Tedros rubbed the back of his neck out of embarrassment
"Ha well, I don't really hate it anymore"
"Oh?"
"Yeah"
"So, can I kiss you again? Afterall, you finished all of the cherry candies I had, and I feel like eating something sweet right now"
"Uh yeah" Tedros felt his cheeks burn even hotter
They both leaned in, this kiss was shorter than the last. They pulled away,
"Thanks" she said with that beautiful smile of hers, "see you later" she walked away with a wink, leaving him sitting all alone in the corner of the library.
"Wow" Tedros said to himself. He let himself fall back onto the pile of pillows she had transformed into a bed. It was official,
He loved cherry candy.

Hope you guys enjoyed this one, I just wanted to post a short and sweet story before I posted my other fic,
*cough* an angsty one *cough*

Vote and comment and ideas or requests you guys have for future fics

Requested for @RoseWrites-xo

they asked for a fic of Tagatha falling in love after the trial but I'm not too good at writing canon-complacent fics, sorry😁