Chapter Text
It was the day after Grom, and although Ed and Em had ended up having a pretty good time, they were still sore about both getting stood up.
“Can you believe that?” Em said in the illusion homeroom while practicing a spell to make her reflection pop out of the mirror and appear to switch places with her.
“I know,” Ed said. “Why would anyone stand us up?”
Standing next to them, a tall witch with orange hair and blue horns named Keeko snickered. “You’re kidding, right?”
Ed and Em turned to her.
“What do you mean?” Ed asked.
“They probably didn’t want to feel left out.”
“Left out?” Em said.
“Yeah, you two spend all your time together, and anyone else just feels like they’re on the outside looking in.”
“That’s not true!” Ed said.
“Yeah!” Em said. “We spent the whole day apart just last… last…”
Em tried to think, but she couldn’t remember the last time they’d spent the whole day apart.
“See?” Keeko said. “Remember when the three of us were working on that group project? The two of you only talked to each other. You barely even looked in my direction. I would’ve been annoyed except it meant I didn’t have to do any work. I bet your dates figured they might as well just go with each other instead of spending the whole night competing with their date’s sibling for their attention and losing.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Ed and Em both said.
“Let me ask you this: were you going separately, or was it a double date?”
“Separately!” Ed said.
“Yeah!” Em agreed. “I mean, they were going to pick us up at our house… at the same time… and we were going to the same place…”
Keeko smirked. “Have you guys ever been on a date that wasn’t a double date?”
Ed and Em looked at each other. They hadn’t.
“Once you got stood up, did you spend any time with anyone else at Grom, or did you spend the whole night with each other?”
Ed’s and Em’s gazes turned down to the floor.
“It’s a good thing you enjoy each other’s company,” Keeko said. “Because that might be the only company you ever enjoy.”
Ed and Em ruminated on what Keeko said all day. For once, they didn’t talk to each other in class. Anyone who didn’t know better might've thought they were actually paying attention. It wasn’t until after class, in the hallway, that one of them finally spoke to the other.
“I should’ve known you were the reason I got stood up,” Em said.
“Me?!” Ed replied. “You’re just as responsible for me getting stood up as vice versa.”
“Not really,” Em said.
“How do you figure?”
“You think I like spending all my time with you? I have to do it to keep you out of trouble.”
“I don’t need you to keep me out of trouble!”
“Are you joking? Remember the incident with the roc and the emerald?”
“That wasn’t my fault! I was tricked by a group of talking elephants!”
“How many times are you going to blame things like talking elephants for your problems? I guess my worst fear is coming true after all. I’ll be stuck with you forever.”
Ed looked away. “I thought that was a joke.”
Em looked at him. Was he actually hurt by what she'd said? She hadn’t expected that. Maybe she’d taken things too far. But now that she’d said it, what was she going to do, take it back? Besides, he’d get over it. “Well, it wasn’t.”
“Yeah? Well you need me way more than I need you,” Ed replied.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am. You wouldn’t last a day without me.”
“Want to bet on it?”
Ed considered. “That’s not a bad idea.”
Em gave him a mischievous smile. “OK, starting today we’ll stop hanging out. The loser’s the first one who can’t take it anymore. And what are the stakes?”
“How about the loser has to stay in class every day, take notes, and cover for the other when they cut for a whole month.”
“Deal!”
They shook on it.
As they turned away from each other, each took on an almost identical grin and thought this is going to be easy!