Rudra raised a brow. "You're the one who lost in the end, not me pal."
"What other person our age could've defended against your maniac dragon shout?" Orion joked with a smile.
He then pouted with a mock expression as he muttered, "I should be charging you for emotional damages."
The two met in the center of the room, simply staring one another down.
Instead of fighting though, they clasped forearms in a quiet moment of mutual respect.
"No hard feelings?" Rudra asked with a smile, liking this new friend.
'Friend?' Rudra froze with a surprised expression.
He had never made a friend before, after all.
It was a weird feeling to call someone by that title.
However, he shook his head of those thoughts as he listened to Orion's response.
"Not unless you count the third-degree burns and fractured ribs." Orion joked with a smirk.
"Then we're good." Rudra responded.
They both chuckled, eyes gleaming—not with hostility, but something fiercer: the recognition of an equal.
