"Well done, children! I'm sure that, if we ever need sixteen dogs trained to spin hoops by their noses while on their hind legs within an hour and fifteen minutes, you all would be the first group of children we would call!" Fauna exclaimed.
James smiled brightly at the compliment that had been given to the class and, by extension, him. Compliments were good to have in general, but they were especially nice when they came from Fauna. She always seemed like the nicest of the three Fairy Godmothers, James thought, and for that reason she was his favorite... well, that, and because she wore green, his favorite color. He would never tell a soul, though—much less the other two godmothers. Regardless, he was happy to finally be out of the class, and able to play with his best friend Zandar.
"You may all run along now..." Fauna stated, but, upon seeing Zandar getting up to leave, she added, "... E-Except for you, Zandar. I'm afraid you're going to have to stay a little longer than the rest of the children..." It was plain to see that she was not eager to keep him in the classroom any longer than he wanted to, but rules were rules, and the rules clearly stated that if the child wasn't learning—which was either due to the teacher not doing their job well enough, or, in this case, due to the child just not paying enough attention—they would have to stay until they learned what they had to learn. It was for their own good, Flora and Merryweather would remind her, but she still couldn't help but feel sorry for kids anyway, whenever she had to do it.
Zandar's reaction to this news was about as apathetic as he always was, as of late. Whether that was better or worse than him simply bawling his eyes out was debatable, but it was definitely troubling, especially to James. He didn't seem to care at all that he wasn't going to get to play as soon as the other children were. In fact, from what James could tell by looking at him then and based on how he'd been recently, he didn't seem to care about anything. It was saddening, to say the very least, for James to see his friend—who, up until recently, had been about as energetic and lively as he himself was—looking so dejected. He didn't know why Zandar was acting like this, though, that was more likely due to him never asking than Zandar intentionally keeping secrets from him. He knew he could've asked, but he was a little afraid that the reason might be too sad, that it might be something he didn't want to know about, so he simply hoped that the problem would go away on its own. Now, however, it was apparently affecting him enough for him to have to stay in class longer.
As James was leaving the classroom—still looking at Zandar sitting quietly at his seat, eerily motionless—he made a promise to himself that he would ask Zandar about it as soon as he got out. In the meantime, though, he would have to find something to do.
"... I know!" James thought, "Me and Zandar can play-... oh, yeah, he's in the classroom..." He remembered. He then tried to think of other games he could play that didn't require Zandar being there, but none of them interested him. It was like there wasn't any point in playing if he couldn't do it with Zandar. He eventually gave up and settled on just waiting for him to get out.
He waited for what felt like years, until finally Fauna exited the classroom with Zandar slowly following behind. "Looking as sad as he usually does..." James remorsefully noted to himself. He didn't like the thought of Zandar looking sad being the status quo, but there was no denying it was, now. He didn't sound too happy either, if and when he spoke, which definitely didn't inspire confidence in James, but now he could ask, now he could finally find out what was making his best friend so saddened. Before leaving him, Fauna assured Zandar that she wasn't going to tell the other Fairy Godmothers that he hadn't been paying much attention, and, once the Godmother had left, James walked up to Zandar and asked,
"Hey, um... Zandar? Could I ask you something really quick?"
Zandar had been looking to the ground the whole time before James spoke to him, which prompted him to tilt his head upwards and meet his eyes with James'. He looked concerned, Zandar thought. He assumed that he was going to ask about why he was kept in class longer, a question he was not looking forward to answering. Nevertheless, he would answer it for James. They'd been through a lot together and he wasn't about to push him away simply because he didn't want to admit to not being one-hundred-percent attentive during class. "Then again..." Zandar began, "... he might get even more worried if I do tell him..." He thought, before brushing those worries aside, as he trusted James to be able to handle it. Finally, He replied,
"Sure, James... What is it?"
"Well... I was wondering why you've been so sad, lately." James answered.
Zandar blinked. "What?" He said. Having prepared himself so much to hear James ask one question, he was momentarily taken aback by him asking an entirely different one instead.
"I... I dunno, you've been looking really sad, and I've just been worried that something bad happened to you..." James admitted. When Zandar didn't reply, James hesitantly placed his hand on his shoulder. He wasn't entirely sure whether or not it was a good idea, he just saw his father doing it whenever his mother got sad and figured it would help. "... If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine too. Just know that I'm here for you... alright?" He asked, trying his best to comfort his friend.
"... I think I can tell you..." Zandar stated, taking a deep breath, "It's Hildegarde... I... I told her I liked her..." He admitted, looking down and shutting his eyes tight in fear of James reacting negatively for whatever reason. After a moment or two of silence, Zandar looked back up confusedly and saw James with a confused look of his own. He didn't quite get what he meant, apparently, so Zandar reiterated what he meant by saying, "I mean, not just like her as a friend, I mean that I told her I really liked her..." It still took James a moment to get what Zandar was saying, but he did, eventually, and nodded. "Yeah... so I told her, and... and she told me that she didn't like me the same way... she was nice about it, and it's not her fault she doesn't like me like that... but I'm still sad about it... I don't know why." Zandar said, tears welling-up in his eyes as he did so.
James wasn't sure what to do or say in response to what Zandar had just told him, or in response to him tearing up. All he could really think to do was pull Zandar into a hug, which was what he did, letting him cry onto him instead of letting the tears fall on their own. Zandar didn't resist James whatsoever, as he buried his face into his shoulder without hesitation. "It's alright, Zandar. Everything's gonna be alright..." James repeated, hoping it would make Zandar feel better.
Zandar cried for quite awhile, and James held him the whole time. He was certain that Zandar would've done the same thing for him, had he been in the same situation, so he didn't mind if Zandar needed his shoulder a little longer than he would've thought.
Eventually, Zandar stopped crying. He wasn't sure if it was because he ran out of tears, or if he wasn't sad enough to cry anymore, but he didn't think on it too much. Even though he had stopped crying, he stayed in the hug. He initially accepted the hug because it was what he needed, now it was simply because he wanted to hug James for letting him get all that out. Needless to say, he was very glad he had James as a friend.
James then felt a compulsion to say something, something to encourage Zandar. "... I'm sorry Hildegarde doesn't like you like that, Zandar..." James started, "... but... but you're cool. You're cool, kind, and fun to be with, so I know you'll find someone that does like you like that, someday. Until then, you can count on me to be here, right beside you, whenever you need a shoulder to cry on." He promised. Finally, Zandar pulled out of the hug, noticeably happier than he was when he first accepted the hug.
"Thanks, James." Zandar thanked the blond prince, happily. "I'm... I'm glad I've still got you as a friend. You're the best friend a prince could ever ask for." He smiled.
James smiled right back at the prince and held out a fist. "Best friends?" He asked.
"Best friends." Zandar replied, bumping the fist with his own, before adding, "Forever and ever."
Author's Notes: Hey, I wrote a Fic that wasn't about romance and didn't have any pairings in it! :D I feel so accomplished~!
Okay, so a lot of you may know me as the author who does the James/Zandar or—as I like to call the pairing—Jamdar Fics, so I'm sure it's a little bit surprising to see me do a Fic that's about them that doesn't involve them hooking up and/or being boyfriend-and-boyfriend together. It was a little challenging, writing them as anything but romantic partners, and I want some credit for that! XD But seriously, they can be friends, I can write them as friends, it's all good. :) … If anyone wants to imagine them hooking up later, that's totally and completely fine too. ;) Needless to say, I'll do more Jamdar Fics in the future, so you don't have to worry or anything. :)
So yeah, the idea for this one came about after I watched some recent episodes of Sofia the First ("Scrambled Pets" and "The Princess Stays in the Picture" were their names, I believe) where Zandar looked a little sad. He never said a word in any of them, either! :O That made me want to write a Fic about it, explaining it, and of course James had to be in it too, I can't help but have them together in a Fic, you all must know that by now. XP
Also, sorry I didn't get a Fic out in time for the holidays! D: I really wanted to, I had a Fic that I was going to publish, but I didn't get around to finishing it, so you'll just have to wait until next December to see it. Anyway, Happy Wassailia/Happy Holidays & Happy New Year, everyone. :) Hope you all are doing fine.
As usual, the cover was done by the great and talented Master DuWaul, who... does pretty much all of my covers. XD Really nice person, we're close friends... just like James and Zandar! :D ... Okay, maybe not just like James and Zandar. XP Anyway, I haven't had a cover from Du quite like this before, Chibi-style and all, but I think it turned out really well. :) Hope you think so too... maybe even mention it in your review, if you want? :D I'm sure Du would appreciate it very much if you did. :)
Lastly, as always, thanks for any and all reviews, follows, and/or favorites. Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked my Fic about James and Zandar being best friends! :D