(My One and Only) Friend

Julius did not like to deal with others. One could even go as far to say that he had a hatred for people as a whole. He did not like to talk to them, could hardly stand to even be near them. Friends were not something he had any desire for. As far as he was concerned, people existed either as an utter annoyance whose sole purpose was to make his life difficult, or at best, barely tolerable.

One of the few things that he could stand to endure without too much discomfort was stories told by the Orators. When not preoccupied with his duties, and on the rare occasion his patience was not truly spent completely, he would sometimes find himself wandering to the closest auditorium to listen to whatever tale the Orator decided to weave for any who cared to listen. Part of his enjoyment was picking holes in the stories, pointing out to himself that it clearly could not have ended that way, that this or that was so obviously played down, but even still... It was a brief moment where he could pretend that things could perhaps end as perfectly, could be as perfect, as the stories the Orators told.

It was after one of these sessions that he finds himself suddenly approached by the Orator of that day for some unknown reason. He had briefly noticed this specific sidhe after the telling of their (rather dull, he had no qualms admitting) story go over to speak to a group of others, likely friends of their, just moments before they quickly flitted his way with purpose. What their intent was, he was unsure, but it was unlikely to be pleasant.

Perhaps if I ignore them, they'll leave me alone—

"Hello there!" the pink-hued sidhe speaks, a little too loudly. "We should be friends!"

Julius is silent as he stares, baffled by this sudden and outrageous sentiment. He then looks resentfully at the group; they were currently tittering to one another, doing a very poor job of pretending they weren't paying any attention to the two. Clearly this was some kind of joke between the Orator and their friends.

"I don't have time for your games."

"My name is Naoise!"

"Excuse me?" Were they even listening to him? This is idiotic. He wouldn't have come if he knew this is how it would go. The story wasn't good enough to be worth enduring such an unreasonable offense.

"My name," they say, slower but still cheerfully, "is Naoise!"

"Naoise," he repeats, flatly. "I don't have time for your games, Naoise."

He can scarcely ignore the mirthful sounds that erupted from this... Naoise's group of friends. Naoise glances back in their direction, then back to Julius.

"I'm not playing," they say, much quieter now. "I mean it."

"I'm sure you do."

Julius rises and begins to make his way out of the auditorium. He feels a presence close behind, and when he turns to look, there is Naoise following along. It was becoming abundantly clear how stubbornly persistent they intended to be on this.

"I really do mean it though!" they reiterate, which earns a disdainful hum from Julius.

"Go away, Naoise. I don't need friends."

He continues on his way for only a moment when Naoise suddenly darts in front of his path, clearly attempting to block him. It takes everything within Julius' soul to not push right on through the summer sidhe, as incredibly uncomfortable as that would be, just to make a point.

"At least come again and listen to my stories tomorrow?" he asks. "I know you like to come here, I've seen you a few times now. It would make me very happy!"

An uncomfortable silence settles between them. Naoise waits quietly, wisps of himself shaking and revealing his restrained excitement, his eager hope for an answer. Julius, on the contrary, is fuming silently to himself. This was all... for what? To what end? A laugh? Sure, let's torment the friendless sidhe. That'll surely be fun. Had they ever considered there was a reason he didn't want friends? He could just ignore Naoise, make his way home as fast as he could, but something told him that this sidhe would not give him peace unless they got the answer they wanted.

"Fine, I'll come." A lie.

Naoise seems to suddenly glow brighter, clearly pleased with the answer. Seeing their apparent excitement, Julius almost feels a little bad for lying. Almost. "Fantastic!" the pink sidhe exclaims. He finally darts back to his group, but calls back behind him, "I'll see you here tomorrow!"

Julius doesn't respond. He stays where he'd stopped for a moment longer, just long enough to hear loudly Naoise gloat to his friends, "I told you I could be friends with him!"

I knew it.

He quickly makes his way outside the auditorium, then darts off in the direction of his home as fast as he can. He needs to get as far away from the situation as possible.

I knew it was a stupid joke of theirs. Bunch of idiots, all of them.

---

The next day, Julius is sure to keep himself busy for as long as he can, even if that means working until he feels almost ready to snap from exhaustion. He does anything and everything he can, gives himself any excuse to keep himself out of the way of anyone who might bother him, to give himself something to focus all of his attention on as inane as it may be. Eventually, he forgot his conversation with Naoise entirely.

At least, he'd forgotten until the second he heard his name being called from outside his home by an all too recognizable voice.

"Julius! Hello! Hello?"

By the Court's will I will not murder them, he seethes to himself, doing all he can to ignore the calls of a far too desperate bid for attention. After one too many 'hello's, however, Julius finally storms outside to confront the nuisance, finding himself in front of a bright and boisterous Naoise who appeared all too happy to see him.

"Julius!"

"Why are you here?" he demands before Naoise can say anything more. "How did you even find me?"

"Oh! Aislinn told me I'd find you here," Naoise replies happily. "You never came to the amphitheater today, so I wanted to make sure you were okay!"

"Oh, did he now." Of all the presumptuous things for that little twit to do.

"Of course!" they continue on, seemingly oblivious to Julius' less than thrilled tone. "No one else I'd asked knew, but he sure did! He was very nice to take the time to help me."

"How... nice of him." Idiot.

Naoise hums in agreement. "And now that I'm here, you can listen to my stories!"

Julius freezes in place, once again baffled by Naoise's boldness. "Excuse me?"

"Well," Naoise begins, "since you missed my telling of them earlier, and I had to find you to check on you anyway, I can simply tell them all to you now! It'll be like your own personal performance!"

Absolutely not. Yesterday was done, gone and passed, but he was not about to put up with this nonsense any longer.

"I don't have time for this," he says bluntly. His patience had run out long before and he didn't care to pretend to care anymore. "Go back to your friends to have your laugh at my expense, just leave me alone."

Naoise flits forward, closing some of the distance between them, to which Julius responds to by backing up.

"I don't understand," they say, having the audacity to sound rather hurt. "But you're my friend too!"

"No, you aren't!" Julius speaks louder, and this time he is the one to close the distance. "I am not your friend! We are not friends."

The pink sidhe is uncharacteristically silent, a very welcome change in Julius' opinion. Not wanting to wait for the reply he was sure to inevitably come, he quickly goes back inside his home, ready to put all of this behind him for good.

---

He hears nothing else from Naoise for the rest of that day, the entire next day, as well as the day after that. It was finally looking as though Naoise had given up on his little joke, just like Julius had wanted. No one ever asked to be friends with him. Everyone knew he didn't want friends.

It was the third day after his confrontation that he finds himself surprised by their all too cheerful voice again shouting from outside his home. His nuisance had returned after all. Julius ignores them, and eventually the calling stops. The next day, they return, and again Julius ignores him. It continues like this for another few days, a cycle of Naoise appearing and trying to get attention and Julius staunch refusal to give it, before finally he'd had enough.

"Is this funny to you?" he demands after darting outside, wisps of himself shaking off his form from barely constrained anger.

Naoise appears undeterred by the other's annoyance. "No, it was never funny," they reply cheerfully.

"Then why are you still doing this?"

"I said I wanted to become your friend, didn't I?"

Julius makes a sharp humming noise of disbelief. The sheer audacity this Orator had was unrivaled by anyone else he'd ever had the displeasure of speaking with.

"You said this wasn't funny to you."

"It's not!"

"Then why," he says, tone dangerously low, "are you still insisting you want to be friends?"

"Because I meant it." Naoise is suddenly much more serious now. The typical mirth in their voice is still there, but it did not carry the usual playfulness that generally came along with it. "It was not to be funny, or to be a joke. I really do want to be friends with you, Julius."

Once again, Julius does not respond to that. For once, however, it was not because he was needing to keep control of himself and whatever biting remark he wanted to say, but instead because he genuinely did not know what to make of this. It had to be a joke, he was so certain of that. At least, he had been certain. No one else had ever committed to a ruse for this long with him. Was Naoise playing the long con? 

"You told me you don't need friends," Naoise continues quietly once it becomes clear that Julius wasn't going to speak up first.

"Yes, I don't—"

"Except," they interrupt before Julius can say more, "everyone needs at least one friend, don't they? It'd be really lonely otherwise."

Again, silence settles between the two sidhe. There were remnants of irritation that remain firmly within Julius, but he isn't sure what to make of what feeling was now intertwined with it. He wasn't sure if it was bad or not yet. It was somewhat uncomfortable, but it wasn't enough to increase his level of annoyance yet.

Perhaps they were lying. Perhaps, perhaps, they were actually telling the truth about this. Was it worth it to even humor him?

His mind is made. At worst, he's proven correct and he settles the problem for good.

"I didn't think you actually meant it," he finally says, voice quiet. Naoise makes a gleeful noise and starts to speak, but Julius quickly adds before they could say anything, "I still would argue that I don't need friends. I prefer keeping to myself. People tire me, and you are absolutely no exception to that. However..."

Naoise bobs in the air silently, waiting for the other to finish. Julius takes this moment to think through what he intends to say next. 

Finally, already wondering if this was going to end regretfully, he hums a bit to himself and finally continues, "If you really are being genuine as you claim to be, if you stop showing up every day to my home to pester me, and you leave me alone when I ask, I will... allow you."

Naoise's reaction was almost explosive as they let out all of their restrained excitement. "Oh! Oh good! Excellent! Yes, I'll do all that! I won't disappoint you, I promise! We're going to be best friends, I know it!"

Julius almost wilts in place, resigning himself ruefully to his fate. He's already considering going back on his word, but... it is rather difficult to do so when Naoise is just so happy.

I can always just tell them to leave me alone, he thinks to himself. I can always tell them to go—

"Bye, Julius!"

He sputters slightly in surprise. That was enough for them, they were going to leave now? Just like that? That was certainly sudden. He hadn't thought Naoise would be so quick to leave. He wasn't going to complain, however. This had been a rather... draining exchange.

"Ah... goodbye."

"I'll come visit you tomorrow before I return to the Summerlands!" comes the cheerful yell back as Naoise darts away. "I'll be sure to visit you often, however!"

He wavers in place for a moment, then returns inside. Sure you will, Naoise.