Brock and Claire
Claire rolled her eyes as the feathered, beaked, and, confusingly, horned monster beside her launched into the standard Greek Games welcoming speech. In Brock's case, it was more like a tirade.
"And WELCOME! To the annual-Monsters University- Greek-GAMES! Let me hear you all give a big CHEER! YEAH! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! I CAN'T HEAR YOU, OVER THERE…"
Claire sidled into the background, signalling to Brock that she was going to take a break. He nodded and winked, not even pausing in his flow of enthusiasm. She walked round the back of the stand, rummaging in her bag for a water bottle. Sheesh, it was hot. Why they had to host the first round at midday, on the football field, she did not know.
In front of the stand, Brock was busy wrapping up, winding the crowd up for one big cheer, before the klaxon sounded and the teams were off.
The sound of hurrying monsters and screaming fans filled the air. Claire leaned back against the commentating booth and listened, trying to see if she could pick out the winners. Roar Omega Roar? They had a lot of supporters, anyway, so it might not be them… Etta Hiss Hiss? Possibly.
"Hey." Brock had snuck up on her, unnoticed. She had forgotten how quiet he could be, when he wasn't screaming at a crowd. He looked shattered, and even hotter than she was- his feathers were wilting in the sun. She felt a strange surge of pity, and handed him her water bottle. "Here."
"Thanks." He glugged down most of it, them spat out the rest, shaking his head as droplets cascaded around him. "I needed that. You'd think they'd have picked a better time? The nights are freezing at the moment, and here we are, in the middle of the day…"
Claire smiled, letting his comforting chatter wash over her. She had never been that great at conversation, but Brock didn't seem to mind. She closed her eyes, opening them to glare at a senior who was leaning back, enclosing them in a heart made out of tentacles. He hurried away, quickly.
Of course, she'd heard the rumours. There'd been a betting pool on them getting together since freshman year, when they hosted their very first Greek Games… not that the betters would be wrong, really. Neither of them had said anything, but she felt like something was going to start, soon.
They'd been pushing the boundaries of friendship since they first met, and while there was very little open flirting going on in front of the mike, the other students would be surprised if they learnt how often she, Claire Wheeler (famous for never smiling) had had to duck out and collapse behind the booth in a fit of giggles, because of an in-joke Brock had referenced, with a sly wink at her when no-one was looking…
She decided that the waiting game had gone on long enough. "Brock?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you want to go out to the movies, Saturday? There's a party at one of the frat houses after, and I thought…"
"You thought what?", he asked, with a twinkle in his eye. Shut up, she thought fondly. You know exactly what I'm getting at here.
"The bookies are getting impatient, after all." She said, with a face and a casual shrug that belied the importance of what she had just said.
Brock's eyes widened in surprise. "Bookies" was how they referred to those who ran bets on them getting together, and while they'd treated them with derision in the past, there had been less of that, recently. He'd never thought Claire would…
"Yes. Yes, of course. I mean- it wouldn't do to disappoint them, would it?"
She smiled. Brock still found it hard to believe that she never smiled for anyone else.
"Come on." She took his hand. "We've got a Games to finish."
And while they were always careful to play up to all the students, and stay professional, a few couldn't help noticing that the commentary for the second half was slightly- different. Brock almost sparkled with enthusiasm, Claire nearly smiled, and both of them looked almost radiant, as if they had a beautiful secret no-one else knew.
The students only noticed this in passing, of course, and only until there was a particularly nasty accident with one of the glow-urchins that required the paramedics on the scene (which hadn't happened in a competition for at least seven years). Claire and Brock passed another one of their signals (there were many), and, while the rest of the crowd was gazing with interest as a monster hyperventilated and was injected with antidote, the two commentators slipped quietly away.