Rory was adept at keeping his cool. Whenever things would heat up between people around him, he was the go-to mediator. He enjoyed making sure his friends and family were getting along. It gave him a sense of purpose that he felt he was sorely missing.
This would be the first time that Toby had ever come to him for help. They had been friends from childhood, and Rory was always bothering Toby to open up to him. It was a personal challenge, but one that Rory had quietly resigned to in the past few years. The challenge was more a way to tease his friend, and he had never thought it would actually work.
His friend burst through his door. “I need your help.” Sweat poured from his forehead from the sweltering summer heat outside.
“I gave you a key for emergencies,” Rory said, jumping up from his spot crouched in front of a pedestal fan. He still hadn’t gotten around to learning the process for scheduling air conditioning repairs around Canberra suburbs. It was one of those adult problems that he stubbornly refused to learn, instead relying on cold showers and pure willpower to face the summer heatwave.
“This is more of an emergency than when you kidnapped me to see a Panic at the Discord concert,” Toby shot back. He waved a hand over his reddened face, trying to cool down. “I thought you found a gas heating company near Canberra?”
“I did find a heating company last year, but that’s for keeping the place warm. It’s in the name.” Rory poured a glass of water for his friend, who greedily gulped it down. He thought back to the reason for why he had dragged his friend to the rock concert. “And your emergency can’t be more important than my dreams of marrying that lead singer.”
Toby paused, trying to draw breath after sculling the entire cup of water, before replying: “Mine involves wizards.”