Work Text:
Occult October
Prompt 5: Telekinesis
Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku - Magic AU
Pairing: Ieyasu x Mitsunari
“C’mon.” Mitsunari knitted his eyebrows, staring at the dying plant in front of him with his spellbook clutched in his hands. He took a deep breath.
“ With the power of love and light, let this sprout form into new life! ” He waved his hand over the dying sprout.
A second passed where nothing happened, and then a small crack appeared in the pot. The crack slowly started expanding, until the pot completely fell apart and the soil spilled onto the ground. The laughter of his classmates rang in his ears.
“Wow you really suck,” one of them said.
“Yeah, you might as well be a normie.” Another pointed and snickered.
Mitsunari’s lip wobbled as the others continued to taunt him. He stared hopelessly into the soil. But then he took a moment, and glanced up to Ieyasu, who was sitting a few tables in front of him. The other fifth-year was muttering as he read his spellbook, too busy to see what else was going on in the herbiary. To the side of him was his own pot, where a pretty flower had sprung. Mitsunari gazed on in awe. Ieyasu was at the top of the class, and for good reason. Too busy admiring his classmate, Mitsunari didn’t notice Ieyasu was staring back at him until a second after it was socially acceptable to be staring at someone. Mitsunari blushed and looked away.
“Oi,” Ieyasu called.
Mitsunari looked up, but Ieyasu was looking at the kids huddled around Mitsunari.
“You guys are too loud. I’m trying to read here,” Ieyasu snapped. “Don’t you have your own plants to do?” His glare alone prompted the group to disperse. Ieyasu turned back to his reading without a second glance.
Mitsunari gaped at Ieyasu, a flush still on his cheeks. “Th-Thank you, Tokugawa-san.”
Ieyasu didn’t even look up. “I wasn’t helping you. They were annoying me, that’s all.”
Mitsunari hummed. “Tokugawa-san is kind.”
“No, I’m not. Leave me alone.” Ieyasu turned around in his chair. His shoulders were hunched, and the tips of his ears were pink.
Mitsunari smiled on at him before deciding to ask the teacher for another pot.
His teacher sighed. “Ah, Mitsunari. I’m going to have to take points off your marks for today.”
Mitsunari’s eyes widened. “No, please, sensei. I can stay after class to work on it!”
“Do you not have a lesson with Giles-sensei after this?”
“I-I mean after!” Mitsunari pleaded.
The teacher paused. “Mitsunari. I know you have some magical ability, but...have you ever…”
Mitsunari’s heart sank. This was the third earth-magic teacher to start this talk with him.
The teacher regrouped himself. “You’re a bright kid, Mitsunari. And with that head of yours, you could make a great accountant, or perhaps a lawyer. Not everyone needs to have a magic-centered job. There are plenty without it.”
Mitsunari’s eyes started to water. He looked down to his feet to hide them.
“I’m not saying you’re not good enough to study magic,” his teacher continued. “It’s just that some of us have more of an affinity for things than others.”
“I...I wanna try, sensei,” Mitsunari whispered. His voice was hoarse.
“Alright,” the teacher said softly. “I want to see improvement by tomorrow. Otherwise, I think it prudent for you to look at other options.” The teacher patted Mitsunari’s head and gestured at a few more empty pots, then left to help another student.
Whipping his tears away, Mitsunari took another pot to start over again.
Mitsunari beamed down at his magic history quiz. Perfect marks again!
“I don’t see why you’re so happy,” another student said. “What’s the point of knowing magic history when you can’t even use it?” The kid snickered with a few others.
Mitsunari ignored them in favor of hugging his parchment to his chest.
When class dispersed, he dashed over to the herbiary to finish his plant assignment.
Thirty minutes into practicing with no positive results (though thankfully without destroying another pot), Mitsunari slumped over his desk, fighting back tears. Suddenly, he heard a rustle of something fly past his ear. He looked up to see the head of a flower floating in front of him. His eyes fluttered in confusion. He glanced around, but he was alone. Mitsunari looked back to the flowerhead.
“Are you a fairy?” Mitsunari smiled at it softly. The flower floated side to side. Mitsunari took that as a no.
Then the flower floated down and circled the spell instructions in his book.
“ Trace three circles and then a half circle ,” Mitsunari read. “Yes. That’s what I’ve been doing, but it doesn’t work!”
The flower twirled around and then circled the words again.
Mitsunari frowned at it. “What do you mean?”
But the flower only paused, then circled the words again.
Mitsunari stared as it paused, and then circled again. “Wait!” Mitsunari watched the flower again. “Oh! That’s it. I’ve been doing the gesture incorrectly, huh?”
The flowerhead flew up in spirals in the air before setting down beside the pot.
Mitsunari smiled and then tried the spell again. He took a breath.
“ With the power of love and light, let this sprout form into new life! ”
He gestured three circles clockwise and a half circle counterclockwise.
A leaf of the sprout twitched. Mitsunari held his breath.
The leaf twitched again, and then the stem started to grow. Taller and taller until a bud formed. Mitsunari gasped as the bud grew and grew, then sprouted into a small sunflower.
Mitsunari clasped his hands, and tears formed in his eyes again. “It worked!”
He looked down at the flowerhead, but it was missing. Mitsunari scanned the desk and even peeked under his spellbook, but the flower was gone. Mitsunari gazed around the herbiary with a small smile. “Thank you, flower fairy!” And with that, he dashed out of the herbiary, holding the sunflower proudly in his hands.
A few moments in the herbiary passed, and then Ieyasu stepped out from behind a large laurel bush. He sighed down at the flowerhead in his hand. “What an idiot.”