Nerdtastic?
John thought as he made his way to work, he had tried to come up with a word he could use to describe Twilight's quirks.
“Ok, no, that‘s just stupid,” he said out loud, scratching the word on his mental list. "It doesn't roll off the tongue well either... Um..."
“You talking to yourself again?” said a voice from besides him, bringing forth an exasperated sigh.
"Hey, Michael," he responded, not even bothering to turn to look at him.
“Geez, here I thought you were crazy before,” Michael replied and then added. “You need to get out of that house man, come on, I will take you to drink, or maybe you are just in need of a booty call? A strip joint sounds up your alley, what do you say?"
“Michael, I said no, I think I made myself clear before, besides, I don‘t even drink," he replied mechanically. He’d had the same conversation before, making it easier to refuse.
“Of course you don‘t,” Michael shrugged and walked ahead.
Yeah, you keep walking away you condescending prick! John thought grudgingly at his co-worker ahead.
~~~~~
Twilight had just finished her breakfast, smiling happily at the feeling of fullness that fell on her afterwards.
That happiness did not last, as the reminder of a project she had yet to set-out to do, came to mind, and that -for Princess Celestia’s number one student- was simply unforgivable.
She rested on his bed, a parchment idly floating by, a quill resting against her ear as she thought of John; behavioral patterns, and other such details she'd noticed.
'Something to prevent the... Incidents from yesterday repeating themselves,' she thought hopeful.
“The subject can be assertive, however, he is also rather closed in ways,” she began writing as notes. “Subject can be kind, but said kindness comes in spurts, looking as if it were being held back... Further observations need to be done,” she wrote down emphasizing the ''further' part.
She remained thoughtful for a full minute, thinking of something that stood out the most.
"Aha! The subject also has trouble expressing emotions, reason behind this is still not fully understood," she noted, her quill furiously writing down as she spoke.
“And...” Twilight stopped, a revelation coming to her, and quickly, fueling her mind at the different possibilities behind it.
“Oh John…” she said sadly, putting both parchment and quill down. “Maybe I can do something to help him... He is a friend after a-, Huh?” she stopped, noticing what she had said.
'Friend?' she thought, wondering about the first time she'd steamed him enough to think of him as one. 'Not that it's unheard of, I mean, he has flaws... I have flaws,' the reminder of the previous day's events told her he could be nice, after all.
And yet...The reminder of her mentor came to mind; 'there are creatures who can use other's emotions to use against them, however, the idea of John being such a person was simply ridiculous in her mind.
"Yeah, there is no way... He could have hurt me, and... A friend doesn't hurt other friends, right?" she argued, nodding to herself in agreement.
Twilight smiled as she finished writing her notes, and quickly, began on a 'schedule' of sorts, helped by the room's clock, an easy task for one of the most organized ponies in the world. 'And I'm not a bad singer to boot... Although, that's irrelevant at the moment,' she noted.
“There! Now all I have to do is wait!” she smiled satisfied, reaching for one of the books to keep herself occupied as she waited.
“Now if only I could actually read them without effort," she sighed, trying to read the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“For the last time, I don’t know what to call it!” Reuben responded angrily for the third time.
“Well excuuuse me,” John replied frustrated, he was still thinking about what word could describe Twilight, he had given up at the point and was asking his cooking partner for something to help him.
“You know the word for people who keep asking questions?” Reuben asked.
“Well, I guess it could be they are curious?” John answered with a smirk.
“Those people can also be called annoying," Reuben spouted stoically.
“Point taken," John noted, checking his phone. “Whelp! Time for me to go.” John said waving Reuben goodbye and leaving the grill area.
“Alright, see ya tomorrow, John, and don’t forget to pay me, got it?”
John groaned at the mention of money. He had made a bet that he wouldn’t burn himself on his first day on the job... He had failed miserably.
John made his way to the front passing Michael by, and he was stopped.
“What if I have a word you can use, would you let me meet her?” Michael said.
“Wait, what? What are you talking about?” John asked confused.
“You obviously met a girl, right?” John looked at him surprised at his observation, even if he was only half-right.
“Sure,” John replied with a sly smile, he knew Twilight would never agree. 'Perfect.'
~~~~~
An hour later, he had made his way home, a peaceful, normal -to an extent, thinking of his current situation- day overall
“Hey Twilight, I’m home.” he greeted Twilight as he entered the room, noticing her with a book... A book she had been reading the time before. “Hey Twilight, um..." he began, attempting to lay the question easily. "How come you are still reading the same book?”
Twilight looked up and smiled awkwardly at him. “Hey John, and… That’s a funny story… I can’t really read it when there are words I don’t understand well… I get frustrated and try to find a way to figure it out, I found a few but… I‘m not doing so well…” She finished with sheepish grin.
John couldn’t help but smile at the struggling pony. “You are right, I didn’t think of that.” John moved into his drawer and drew a book to take to Twilight.
“What is this?” She asked reading the title. “Oh! Thanks John!” Twilight replied looking at the dictionary. “Maybe I should have asked for this yesterday.”
John looked down as she said that and remembered the night before, something that Twilight seemed to notice, her ears drooping down.
“I’m sorry," both began. "No, wait," the continued. "I was saying that..." they laughed at the final point, shaking their heads in amusement.
“Ladies first?” John motioned, for her to continue.
“Thank you...I’m sorry for the way I reacted yesterday,” Twilight apologized.
“I’m sorry too,” John copied.
“Friends?” she asked, extending her hoof towards John.
“…” 'Are we friends?' John thought as he stretched his hand, fingers and hoof interlocking in an awkward 'hand'shake of sorts.
“I don’t think it can hurt to at least try,” John replied with a smirk.
“Great! That’s step 1!” Twilight exclaimed, taking out a scroll and highlighting a line.
“W-what?” John said as he looked at Twilight’s schedule. “You had this talk scheduled!?” John began and fell his jaw fall.
“Yep! It makes it easy to keep track of things,” Twilight giggled.
“I have to say..." He began having second thoughts but let it out. "You are quite eh... Adorkable, Twilight.” John said, blushing at the words he spouted.
“I am what…? Twilight asked, a similar blush on her face as well.
“Don’t make me say it again,” he replied, covering his face from the sight. 'That was harder than I thought.'
“Oh, well, t-thank you… Is… Is that word a portmanteau of dork and adorable…?” Twilight asked her blush becoming increasingly more noticeable.
“Yes, it is, don’t remind me.” John thought trying to recover from his embarrassment, but was mentally thanking Michael for his help, as much as he hated it.
"Now, now, it's okay, here!" Twilight moved to him and put her legs around him in form of a hug.
John hesitantly moved his arms around her and did the same.
“Huh... This feels… Nice,” he exclaimed awkwardly..
“Hugs usually do silly,” Twilight said mockingly.
"Right..." they stayed like that for a few seconds, simply enjoying each others company.
'I... I could get used to this.