Chapter Text
“A gift?”
Cleo raises an eyebrow at Lizzie, but can't help the smile forming on their lips, “Is this a bribe to keep your fort unburnt?”
“No!” Lizzie answers far too quickly.
They can just imagine her writing out steps to some long winded plan for ‘Stopping Cleo from burning down the Fairy Fort.’
Step one, give her a flower.
“Right. Well, thanks? It's, uh…” She twirls it around between her fingers, “Cute. And very pink. Does that make it a Lizzie flower?”
Unsurprisingly, Lizzie doesn't pick up on the implication, and her eyebrows knit together – which is also cute, unfortunately.
“No, it's… a rose? You do know what a rose is, right?”
She almost sounds concerned, and Cleo can't hold back a chuckle.
“No, yeah, I know roses. Though, did you pick this one based on its meanings? Admiration, gratitude, appreciation… Sounds like you're really trying to butter me up here.”
She stops herself from adding a final meaning to the list. ‘Early love’, that is.
If Lizzie can't even tell when she's being called cute, she is definitely not flirting through flowers.
“I, uh…” Lizzie blinks, before puffing herself up, as if trying to match Cleo's height, “Of course! Not the, uh, buttering you up. But the meanings! Totally! All of them, for sure, yeah. Just showing how much I… appreciate you! As an ally!”
She ends her made-up-on-the-spot declaration with actual goddamn finger guns and Cleo hasn't felt this endeared in a long time.
They might have just gotten ally-zoned, though. Which… fair.
Not everyone is into threats of arson. Or… zombies.
She smiles back at Lizzie, but it's a little too wide, a little too toothy. Might as well lean into it, if she's gonna be scared either way.
Lizzie's hand seems to twitch, as if she was about to reach for her sword, and Cleo clenches their fist.
Immediately, sharp pain shoots through her hand and she drops the flower.
“Shit,” She winces as she holds up her hand. Pinpricks of blood are already forming, across almost a dozen tiny thorn wounds. How stupid.
“Just so we're clear,” Lizzie had taken their distraction as a chance to back up several paces, which would almost be funny if Cleo wasn't sidetracked, “That was completely unintended and not at all my fault.”
“Nope, definitely me. Only I could pull off something that idiotic.”
Neither of them say anything for a moment. Cleo just stares at her hand, bleeding a little more, and now throbbing painfully.
“Do you, uh…. Need a plaster? Or,” She squints at their hand, “Plasters?”
Cleo can't help but laugh again, “You brought plasters to a death game? Not bandages… plasters.”
Lizzie crosses her arms, trying to look stern and landing somewhere closer to embarrassed, “Look, do you want my plasters or not? My offer goes in three-”
“No, no, I'd love some. I'd never decline such a generous offer, from our greatest ally as well."
As expected, she preens under the praise. She's not entirely sure whether Lizzie just ignores the sarcasm, or doesn't even notice it.
Either way, she leads them over to her frankly tiny house, to patch her up.
BigB is already there when Cleo gets back to their base.
He chuckles a little after she shows the pink plasters littering her palm, “Lizzie got you, huh? Should we be worrying about death by thorns if we get betrayed?”
She adjusts the new flower tucked into her hair with a laugh.
“Nah,” A pink petals falls, and they catch it in their hand, smiling down at it, “I think we've got a good ally over there.”