Chapter Text
The short period between exams and summer break was the best, Merle thought, as the library was finally quiet again.
Not that he hated the kids or anything, he just, you know, wanted to play chess without the sound of children panicking over tests for once.
“Another job well done,” John said, moving his knight to a-4.
Merle grunted. “You didn’t do anything, though.” Then, he moved his knight to a-4 too. Too easy.
“Oh, didn’t I?” Knight to e-4.
Queen to e-7. “No, it was all the jellyfish kids running around, pestering people and yelling at the board.”
John nodded. “Yes, of course,” he picked up his queen and moved it to a-5,“that’s what we want them to believe.”
“I recall you clearly saying it was a lost cause, when was it? Oh, right, literally last week.” And he moved his white pawn to b-4.
John’s impasible expression broke just for a moment in a smile. He moved his queen to a-4 and killed Merle’s knight.
Merle scoffed.
***
There were two parties to celebrate Fisher’s new status as an official school mascot.
The first was held in the hall, and everyone in school was invited. Food and drinks courtesy of the Voidfish committee. Fisher itself didn’t attend, as it was loud and crowded, but Lucretia drew stickers of it to giveaway during the party. They couldn’t have made it without everyone’s support, after all.
The second party took place that same day after class, in the Voidfish room, and only the Voidfish committee was invited. They only had whatever was leftover from the first party to eat, but they also had Fisher, and that was really all they needed to celebrate.
Also, they finally got enough chairs for everyone.
“Cheers for Fisher,” Magnus said, “Saint Bob’s number one science mascot!”
“Cheers!” Said everyone.
“You mean the best school mascot.” Lucretia teased him.
“Lucy, I love our jellyfish child and all, but Bobby is clearly superior. He surpases Fisher in strength, dexterity, and-”
He was booed by everyone in the room, throwing snacks at him. Magnus went back to his seat and ate a chip that landed on his hair like it wasn’t the grossest thing in the world.
“If I may have a word,” Professor Miller said, standing up, “I just want to thank you guys for all the work you’ve put these past years. This all started as a small project to keep a Voidfish in school, and seeing how far we’ve come now, I simply cannot put into words how I feel. So thank you, boys and girl!”
She started clapping and was soon joined by the new recruits, two first years she managed to snatch for the committee in the coming years.
“And of course, I want to formally introduce you to Angus and Noelle, our newest core members!”
Now, it was the old guys’ turn to clap. Magnus was cheering, Lucretia was smiling, even Johann was happy to meet these new kids.
“Well, I don’t want to stall the party anymore, and I’m afraid I’ll start crying if I say anything else,” she laughed, though her eyes were indeed looking watery behind her glasses. “Unless anyone has anything they want to say…?”
“I do,” Johann said. “I, uh, prepared something for Fisher.”
Professor Miller gestured for him to take the word, but Johann didn’t say anything at first. He stood up, then made his way between the chairs -with some effort, now he realized why they never let them have more than two chairs in that room- until he finally reached his violin resting on the desk. He could feel all eyes on him as he positioned himself. Magnus even gasped loudly.
“Can you, uh, please turn around?”
He was still getting accustomed to playing for other people, and five whole people was already pushing things outside his comfort zone. But it was the last meeting, at least if everything went wrong he could run and never come back again.
Just kidding.
He was standing by the door, so with everyone’s back to him, they could see the tank as he played.
The new kids gasped when Fisher glowed in deep purples, blues and pinks. It was a slow song this time, one Johann knew it liked. You could never go wrong with Tchaikovsky.
After he was done, the party officially started.
Everyone ditched the chairs for more space to walk around comfortably, and were now talking to each other while classical music played in the club’s radio. It was fancy as hell. Johann was securing himself the last chocolate chip cookies when he heard Lucretia instructing the new kids.
“You’re gonna need to talk to it,” she was saying. “Social interaction is very important while caring for a Voidfish.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the kids said, one of them, Angus, even writing down every word she said.
“And don’t let it go long periods of time without music,” Johann chimed in. “Mozart, Paganini, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, Bach -obviously-, but no Wagner. Wagner is bad.”
Noelle cocked her head. “Didn’t he become famous on account of writin’ good music?”
Johann scoffed. “Only people who don’t know about music like him. Fisher actually has a taste.”
“Fisher… has… taste, got it!” Angus said enthusiastically with that round, childish face of his.
Johann leaned towards Lucretia and whispered. “Is it just me, or the first years are getting younger?”
“That’s because I am young! I’m twelve!” Angus said, startling Johann. Oh, he had a good ear too.
“Angus skipped middle school,” Lucretia said. “He’s kind of a genius.”
Johann recoiled at the word. He was that age when people called him a genius, too.
But… Angus looked fine. He did seem to enjoy himself, and hey, he got in High School after all. Maybe he was a real deal genius.
“That’s dope, dude.” He turned towards Noelle. “And what’s your age? Did you skip Middle School or Elementary?”
“I’m fifteen,” Noelle said.
“Oh, shit, my bad, it’s just that you’re so…”
“What, short?”
“I mean-”
“That’s racist, dude.”
“Oh my god I’m so sorry-”
“I’m messin’ with ya!” Noelle exclaimed, laughing loudly. “Oh, man, you had to see yer face!”
Johann huffed, but in the end he laughed with her too.
“Hey, show your senior some respect,” Lucretia scolded her.
“Nah, don’t, older kids are a sham. We’re just pretending everything is cool when in reality everyone’s just scared all the time.”
Lucretia looked at him with a mix of confusion and concern. “Are you feeling alright? Should I call Avi or…?”
He rolled his eyes. “Im kidding, Lucretia.” But when she wasn’t looking, he gave the kids a thumbs up and “blew” a raspberry. Noelle laughed, Angus looked in mild horror.
But speaking of Avi, Johann was starting to miss him. He would be out in another half an hour. Johann texted him, hoping he would read it soon.
***
Johann’s texts were the first thing Avi saw after turning in his last make-up.
Somehow, coming back from a sport injury was harder on the academic aspect than the sport itself. Avi was able to join for the last two games of the season without much incident, but man, missing a week of work really took a toll on him. He still did good, at least he thought, but right now he was only happy the last of his tests was over and he could finally rest his poor tired mind.
He smiled at his phone. Ice cream sounded great about now.
“Yearn check!”
That was all the warning he got before Carey tackled him. Oof! For a girl so small she sure had a ton of momentum.
She pushed him face down on the floor and sat on his back. “No yearning on the halls, man!”
“I wasn’t yearning!” Avi said. “I was just reading a text!”
“Was it Johann’s?”
“Yes.”
“Then you were yearning. You can’t fool me, dude, you’re head over heels for that man.”
“You know what? Yes, I love my boyfriend. Shock! Can I get up now?”
Carey got off his back and helped him up. “I assume you won’t be joining us at the cheer squad party today?”
“I don’t think so, I was gonna hang out with Johann later. You know he’s not big on parties.”
“It’s cool, we already figured you might bail in favour of your sweetheart.”
Avi rolled his eyes. “Come on.”
“Hey, I’m just glad you two finally got your shit together! Took you long enough to ask him out.”
“I guess I owe you for that,” Avi joked, “though if I’m being honest…”
Carey raised an eyebrow. Er. Scalebrow? The Dragonborn equivalent. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah! Everything is great, actually, is just… Well, I guess I expected dating would feel different.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know how to explain.”
“Were you picturing something like the movies? Because that’s bullshit, people don’t act like that in real life. Except Barry and Lup, but they are… intense.”
“No, no. I know that. I didn’t expect some movie magic to solve every problem in my life when I asked Johann out… But I don’t know, our relationship didn’t really change after that?”
Carey stared at him.
“I mean, sure, we kiss now, and that’s very very cool, but aside from that we’re still pretty much the same we’ve always been? We’re still hanging out after class, I go to the Voidfish room to hear him play, he comes to my games to cheer-”
“That’s because you idiots have been acting like a couple since forever. God!” Carey yelled at him. “This is exactly why everyone thought you guys were already dating!”
Avi felt his face burn. “It wasn’t that couply-stuff.”
“It was very couply-stuff. Just because you didn’t PDA back then or even now doesn’t mean it wasn’t obvious to everyone you had it for each other.”
“Everyone but us?”
“Everyone but you, yep.”
“Now you know how we felt in first year,” Avi muttered.
Carey started sparkling. “That was different. I actually hated Killian’s guts.”
“Yeah, you sure did.”
Carey punched him in the arm for one point of thunder damage. “Shut up, you dumb himbo!”
“Says the useless lesbian!” Avi retorted, doing two points of psychological damage.
They could have knocked each other out like that had Avi’s phone not pinged then.
“Shit, that must be Johann. I didn’t get to answer because someone yearn checked me.”
“Don’t be a wuss.” Carey said.
“You know I had a concussion like a month…”
“You’re not gonna break your head by falling on your butt… hey, you cool?”
Avi stared at the screen, not daring to open the notification message. “It’s an email.”
“From?”
He showed Carey his phone screen.
“Oh, shit.”
***
After the food ran out, they returned the chairs, and the last member of the committee left, Johann stayed in the Voidfish room. Old habits die hard.
It was weird knowing he would never enter this room again, after spending practically all of his High School years there. To think he would never see Fisher again…
No, that wasn’t completely true. He could still visit, right? Johann hoped so. After all their work, there was nothing this school could do to keep the Voidfish committee away from the Voidfish. And Johann’s home was still there, in Moonlighting. He could pay a visit to school from time to time, check on the club, catch up with Professor Miller…
But he would still miss Fisher.
“You’re kind of my oldest friend here, you know?” He said to it.
The Voidfish didn’t do anything.
“I mean, technically I met Lucas and Lucretia first, but I I bonded with you before them, haha…”
The Voidfish swam slowly away from Johann.
He sighed. “I know you’re still mad at me, and there’s nothing I can do about that now. I just wanted you to know how much this has meant to me, and…” He placed a hand against the tank, “and to say goodbye. I’m going to miss you.”
The Voidfish turned around.
Then, it leaned against Johann’s hand on the glass.
“Hey, babe! Sorry for the wait, Carey intercepted me on my way here and… woah, are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Johann said between sobs.
“Do you need a moment?”
Johann nodded. He didn’t see Avi leave through the tears.
He left the room ten minutes later. Avi handed him a tissue as soon as he saw him.
Johann cleared his throat. “Thanks. How was the test? Are you finally free from the evil hand of Literature?”
“God, yes! I’m not reading another book ever in my life.”
Johann nodded. Books did suck. “Then let’s go get some ice cream.”
“Do you have an specific place in mind?”
“Remember the little cart by the park? I can’t stop thinking about the rice pudding flavour. How do they make rice taste like cinnamon?”
“I would assume it’s the cinnamon?”
“You know what I mean.”
Avi laughed at that. “We have to hurry, then, the cart closes at six.”
“I think we’re good, then. We can get there in five minutes by bus…”
Johann moved to the right, Avi moved to the left.
Johann groaned. “You can’t seriously expect me to walk.”
“Of course not, it’s a fifteen minute walk! We’ll have to run if we want to get there in time.”
“No. No way.”
“Come on, it’ll be like a race.”
“A race for ice cream, how old are you again?”
Avi just kept walking. “I’m getting a head start! Come on, dude, I’m going to win! And you’ll be a loser”
If Avi thought that childish baiting would work on Johann, he was absolutely right.
“Let’s see who’s the loser!” Johann yelled, and he ran after Avi as fast as his legs let him.
Avi laughed at Johann’s sudden change in attitude, but he didn’t let that keep him out the race. He still had a good ten feet and years of experience ahead of Johann.
The park came in sight about ten minutes later, and Johann was barely managing to keep up. He slowed to a stop.
“Wait…” he called for Avi.
Avi almost didn’t turn around, but he quickly ran back when he saw Johann with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. He was by his side in just a second. “Are you okay?”
“No,” Johann said between gasps. “I have a water bottle in my backpack, can you…?”
“Of course,” Avi said as he ran around him and placed a hand on his backpack. “Which pocket is it? I don’t-”
Johann gathered all the energy he had left and made a sprint for it. “See you at the finish line, loser!”
“How old are you?!” Avi yelled behind him.
In the end, they got to the ice cream cart at the same time. Avi caught up to Johann at the entrance of the park and tackled him with a hug to immobilize him. They were laughing so hard it was impossible to start running again.
They didn’t do much walking after that, there was only so much stamina left in Johann for the trip back home, so they just chose a bank to sit for the rest of the afternoon.
It was a beautiful day outside. On a friday like this lots of people walked around the park, specially couples. Johann never pictured himself as one of those who went for walks around the park holding hands and showing affection in public. But he still was here with Avi, wasn’t he?
“Hey, Johann?”
“I’m not letting you eat more of my cone, you can buy yourself another one if you want.”
“It’s not that.”
Johann turned to look at Avi, and any snarky retort he might’ve had died on his throat. Avi looked serious this time. “Is everything alright?”
Avi took a deep breath. “I got into my preferred school.”
“Oh!” Johann smiled, that was very good news! “Seriously? Dude, that’s awesome! Man, you scared me for a moment, I thought you were going to say something bad with…”
But Avi didn’t seem as happy as Johann had expected. He looked… conflicted.
That’s when Johann remembered what was Avi’s preferred school.
“Oh… you’re going to Goldcliff.”
And Johann was going to Neverwinter.
“I’m sorry, Johann, I-”
“What? Dude, you got accepted in Goldcliff! That’s, like, one of the best engineering programs.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I know you worked your ass off studying to get in.” Johann put his hand -the one that wasn’t colding his ice cream- on Avi’s shoulder. “I’m super proud of you, dude, you did it!”
Avi smiled as he reached for Johann’s hand with his own. “Aw, you’re gonna make me cry, man,” he joked, but that only lasted a moment. He sighed. “But seriously, you don’t have to pretend for me.”
“I’m not pretending, I really am happy for you.”
“Johann, Goldcliff is twelve hours away.”
“I know.”
“We won’t see each other anymore.”
“We have the holidays.”
“I won’t be able to come home on every holiday.”
“Then we’ll see each other on the breaks.”
“Those could be months apart-”
Johann threw the cone on a bin and grabbed Avi’s face with both hands. “Avi, I’ve been pining over you for three fucking years.”
Avi stared at Johann through his hold. He didn’t say anything. Well, he couldn’t say anything, as Johann was holding his face really strong.
“I’m gonna miss you,” Johann said, “of course I will. I know I’m not the most touchy-feely boyfriend in the world, but I do love being with to you, and the thought of not having this for months at a time is… not great, what else am I supposed to feel?
“But I can endure that. As long as I know you’ll be back, I can wait another three years if necessary.”
Avi’s eyes welled up with tears. “I’ll miss you too.”
Johann leaned forward and kissed him. They sat like that for a moment. Avi’s tears finally started to fall, but he didn’t let go.
When they separated, he said, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Johann said.
“So much for not being into PDA.”
Johann laughed. “I can make exceptions.”
Avi rested his forehead against Johann’s and sighed. “You’re so not getting away from me until I leave.”
“I figured.”
“You think you know dates? I know so many romantic places, we’re gonna fall in love at least five more times.”
“My mom wants to meet you.”
“Wh- like, today?!”
“No, I mean, whenever. Soonish. Not today, she comes home late.”
“Oh, that’s a relief… not that I don’t want to meet her! It’s just, well, I didn’t even wash my hair today.”
“Gross.”
“Orders from the dermatologist, dude! … But hey, if you don’t have plans for tonight, the guys from the cheer squad are throwing an end-of-the-school-year party, maybe we could check it out?”
Johann thought about it. A party full of people from the cheer and football teams?
“Sure.”