You'll be mine, Octavio!

Chapter 3: A Blossomed Friendship

  Octavio awoke fairly early the next morning. By the time he rubbed all the sleepiness from his eyes, his mind had drifted off to Craig. He sat up on his futon and gazed toward the screen that separated his private quarters from the short hallway that connected to the palace gardens. What could the inkling be bringing to the table today? Craig seemed to bring something fresh and exciting to Octavio's somewhat monotonous life. 

 Something special... What time would he be coming again? Wait...

 Octavio facepalmed. "Ah, carp! I forgot to tell him a time to come AGAIN. I can't believe it!" He SO didn't want to spend a bunch of time waiting around for Craig to pop up again. 

 "That idiot. Why should I be the one waiting around for him? HE should be waiting around for me, shouldn't he!?" Octavio buried his face into his pillow defiantly. Defiant towards WHAT though? He wasn't quite sure...

 He sighed.

 "Well, it's actually my fault in the end, isn't it? Wait, why am I getting so worked up about this in the first place?"  Before he could launch into a monologue of self-scolding, he heard a soft "thump" noise come from beyond the screen. 

 He scrambled to put on his hakama and made his way out. The first thing he noticed was Craig. However, this time he was standing as if he had just made a landing from somewhere up high, rather than lying in a clump on the ground. Though, he did seem pretty dazed...

 Octavio slid on his geta, carefully shut the door so as to make no sound, and launched his ambush.  

 "You know," He announced suddenly from behind.

 "AH!" 

 "If you're gonna keep falling over the wall like that, it might be a good idea to learn how to land properly."  He remarked.

 As Craig shook off the shock of his landing, he frowned. "Y'know, you have a way of speaking where I can never tell if you're teasing me or not..."

 Octavio smirked. "Oh, don't worry, I'm totally teasing you this time."

 "Oh gee, thanks Tavi. Makes me feel a whole lot better. And for your information, I landed feet first today!" Craig smiled triumphantly and made a peace sign. 

 Octavio looked him up and down, then narrowed his eyes. "Thank cod you have no bones to break. Good thing we obviously don't have to worry about any brain damage, either."

 Craig's confident demeanor was quickly replaced with a mischievous attitude. 

 "Well, my apologies. I'd assumed you would be as so kind as to catch me as you did yesterday. You're a pretty good landing pad, by the way." He snickered. 

 Tavi slightly reddened while remembering the interaction the two had had yesterday. He had been so close to him... He couldn't think of any retorts for Craig's snarky comment either. 

 "Oh... Oh shut it!"

 After all small talk had been exhausted, the two sat across from each other on the grass in silence. Octavio absently picked at the long blades. He wanted to talk, but he didn't know how. 

 He wanted to learn more about Craig, but how exactly does one go about that? What could they talk about? What interesting things have happened recently...? The most exciting thing that has happened in the past few days was... Craig... Oh no.

 It then dawned on him that he simply did not know how to talk to people on a mutual level, nor did anything that could be fun and exciting to talk about happen to him. This could definitely become a problem when it comes to making friends in the future. Especially since he didn't have any friends to speak of in the first place to use a reference point...