The Heart and the Hero

Chapter Two - Man's Best Friend: Two Lesbians and a Pit Bull

Blinking suddenly into consciousness in the bright new light of day, Forest sat up quickly, waking up with a start as they realized what today was.

Aha! Their favorite time of the week yet again; fight day. Flexing their shoulders back and forth to stretch out after sleep, they stood up, wrapping their fluffy blanket around themself like a burrito. Humming a little tune, they made their way towards the kitchen, with the intent to go get themselves a bowl of cereal.

However, right in front of the refrigerator door they paused. One picture was hung up there on the door, pinned up with a little yellow magnet. Forest noticed their own face immediately, beaming into the camera and holding up a peace sign, much closer than the other figure. The other person was tied to a chair behind them on a rooftop terrace, unafraid but looking very disgruntled to be in their selfie, looking up through their hair and making a displeased scrunchy face at the camera. Ha.

The person in question, captured in that photo about a month ago, was Forest's greatest adversary; Wolfsbane. Forest felt their heart skip a beat just thinking their name. With a little smile, they reached up, brushing the photo with their fingertips. That photo was one of their favorites, especially since it was one of the only ones they could get of Wolfsbane.

It was almost a game for Forest to see how many pictures they could take before Wolfsbane stole their camera. They made it a point to take at least one selfie every time they won a round, (which wasn't often).

In that photo, they had won against Wolfsbane, but couldn't bring themself to knock them unconscious, so they had just tied them to a chair to take their photo. Forest remembered thinking "Haha! I got them!" right before receiving a spinning kick to the back of the head as Wolfsbane had gotten easily out of their binds. A photo taken seconds before disaster. It was one of their most prized possesions.

They heard footsteps approach from down the hall. "You sentimental sap", Kate teased while rounding the corner. "Good morning. What are you doing today, besides staring longingly at a polaroid forever?"

"Haha..." Forest opened the refrigerator door sheepishly, tearing their eyes away from Wolfsbane's face and finally moving to grab the milk. "I'm just having some breakfast. Would you like some cereal?"

Kate gave Forest a hug and fluffed their hair while walking past, grabbing her keys off the counter. Forest fixed their hair immediately, wanting to look nice for their fight.

"Nope, I'm headed to get breakfast with Cody and going to walk Cery down in the botanical gardens. Want me to pick you up a coffee?"

They poured their milk into a bowl, watching it fill in the spaces around their rice cereal. "No, I think I'll be alright. Can I come with you though?" Picking up their bowl of cereal, they walked over and flopped onto an armchair dramatically in the sunlight, their legs crossed and dangling off one of the armrests.

Kate stared at them for a moment, smiling questioningly. "You... want to come and third wheel along on our date?"

"Yep. It's not like I have anything else to do, and plus, I want to get Cody's opinion on my outfit for the fight today." Forest finished another bite of their cereal and then set the bowl down on the table, gesturing vaguely towards their pajamas.

"Then yeah, you can definitely come! I'm sure Cody would love to help with your fashion dilemma, and you certainly make conversation fun. Get your stuff on quickly though, cause we need to get going."

Forest grabbed their bowl and quickly rinsed it off, leaving it on the rack to dry. They retreated to their room, grabbing their clothes from the dresser, and held some up for reference in the mirror. They had to get their outfit just right, because even though they didn't have a set hero color scheme like Wolfsbane did, Wolfsbane always looked so handsome and pulled together, and they wanted to match that energy.