Fire and Ice

Broken

"I don't EVER want to be friends with you! Get it through your head already!" Froakie shouted at Hawlucha, whose face fell. He didn't take any notice, however, as he continued ranting, "You don't care for others! All you are is a heartless, arrogant, conceited prick who can't ever think about anyone except himself! And don't even get me started on your 'I don't give a shit' attitude that you treat everyone with! I don't understand why I'm the only one who hates you, Hawlucha! Just leave me alone!"

Hawlucha stared at Froakie, feeling his heart freeze as the words fell from his teammate's lips. "Fine," he whispered, not trusting his voice not to break if he tried speaking out loud. "I'll leave you alone."

As he turned around and fled the scene, Hawlucha felt something inside him crack. He leaned up against a hollow tree, breathing heavily more due to trying to keep his emotions in check than exhaustion. Hawlucha closed his eyes, a lump forming in his throat and his heart cracking. No matter what he tried, he could never seem to earn Froakie's friendship. Everything he tried was always met with the same result, and it hurt his pride like nothing had ever hurt it before. But because of his stubborn pride, Hawlucha simply couldn't bring himself to give up.

Now, though, he realized he had to admit defeat. There was no chance that Froakie would ever warm up to him, and their argument today proved that for certain. And what made it even worse was the fact that Hawlucha knew that he would never be able to stop caring about the little frog.

Something wet ran down his face. Hawlucha wiped at his eyes irritably. He was not going to start crying. Even if his heart felt like it had been smashed into a million tiny fragments, he wasn't going to cry. He still had a little pride left, after all.

"Hawlucha?"

Even without turning around, Hawlucha knew who that voice belonged to. Froakie. He turned his head away slightly, not wanting Froakie to see how much their argument had upset him.

"Froakie? What do you want?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," Froakie said softly.

Hawlucha sniffed quietly and blinked away the tears welling up in his eyes. "It's okay," he said quietly. "I-I know you won't ever like me."

Froakie shook his head. "No, I-I want to be friends with you. That is, if you still want to," he admitted. "I don't blame you if you don't..."

Hawlucha turned his head to look at Froakie, no longer caring about the fact that his eyes were red and wet. "You-you do?" he asked, hardly daring to hope.

When Froakie nodded, Hawlucha never wanted to forget that moment as long as he lived.