A Lie

.:1:.

The sound of the door chimes ringing and a pitter-pattering of eager feet didn't rouse the yellow-blue toad. He was used to being ignored and stopped reacting to customers after the first few days of his stay at Fienier's Familiars. It's been nearly a year since his first day. He tried not to notice how adoraburrs and shadowpaws leave the shop every week, and would instead pretend that the layer of dust gathering on his cage was not affecting his nostrils. If anything, the toad knew that he was lucky to have landed with a shopkeeper who knew how to bake; who would have known jelly tarts were this delicious?

His daily jelly tart pile now only had one last pastry left on top of an array of crumbs. The toad eyed it hungrily.

"I don't want an adoraburr, Callum," one of the customers spoke tiredly.

"Are you sure? 'Cause you'll be away from home and from our da—your dad for ten months, and you'll miss him. They are great for cheering you up, plus," rambled the other customer, presumably Callum, "They're so cute!"

The glow toad wondered if he should eat it now or save it for later.

"Then you get one! I can make my own decisions, Callum." The voice and the sound of footsteps drew nearer.

Perhaps he should eat the jelly tart now, enjoy the golden crust filled with its sweet filling.

"Ezran? Ezran, where'd you go?"

"... you like jelly tarts too?" whispered a voice.

The toad snapped its mouth shut. Looking up, he saw big, blue eyes on a brown face topped with a fuzzy dark mane of hair. This... boy was looking at him—no, he was looking at his jelly tart! He croaked indignantly, flashing red. The boy laughed.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm not going to eat your jelly tart! Although, now that you mention it, I am kinda hungry."

Red didn't revert to yellow and the glow toad croaked again, but the young boy didn't respond this time. He just watched the lizard with interest. Sensing this, the toad's red died down and went blue. He curled his tail around the plate with the tart.

"Ezran, there you are! Don't run away like that, you scared me." Callum, the glow toad observed, was not at all like the first boy, Ezran. Instead of blue, his eyes were olive green and his face was whiter. Instead of puffing up like Ezran's hair, Callum's hair fell down all over his face. Oh, and he was much taller.

"I didn't run, Callum, you just suck at multitasking." The taller boy raised his eyebrows, prompting Ezran to continue. "It could be an adoraburr, a drawing, or Claudia and suddenly the rest of the world is dead to you."

Callum's cheeks burned red and lit up his face. The lizard wondered if humans were part glow toad.

"W-what? Claud-Claudia? Oh no, no, we're—we're only friends! Good friends, close friends! She's very smart and funny," stuttered Callum, waving his hands in the air and looking away awkwardly. Ezran sighed and shook his head before kneeling down to take the glow toad out of its container. Quickly, the toad flicked out its tongue and ate his last jelly tart.

"—good at spells, but all mages cast good spells, so it's not like there's anything more to it or special. But I'm not saying she's not special, because she is—"

The glow toad looked at the boy holding him in confusion while licking his lips. Was Ezran seriously going to pick him as a pet? More than that, did he even want to be picked as a pet? His life at a magical pet shop was not the worst and he got to eat many jelly tarts every day. Meanwhile, Ezran pulled up to the shopkeeper and paid in galleons. The shopkeeper looked bemused that the normally fussy toad was placid in the boy's arms and made no movement to stop the exchange.