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Marc hated being a prodigy sometimes. Sure, being incredibly gifted at magic in a world where magic was the backbone of society spelled out amazing things for his future, but it was more frustrating than helpful while he was still in school.
Teachers placed high expectations on him, people would make fun of him for messing up even a little, and worse of all, groups of students would hunt him down, either to gush about him or try to get him to tutor them. (Which he could not do; Marc might be good at learning, but he was trash at teaching.)
He hated having anxiety.
Marc dashed through the halls, away from the latest group of fans, mind and body on high alert. He just needed to find a place to hide for a while.
Eventually, Marc's stamina ran out and he placed a hand on the wall to prop his body up as he rested. Or at least, that was the plan before his hand phased through the wall and he fell through, body hitting the ground.
The redhead inside the hidden room yelped, crawling away from where he was laying on the floor. "I'm not skipping class, I swear!"
Marc groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head, "Huh?"
"I go in here for lunch because the cafeteria is crowded and nobody knows about this secret room and then I accidentally fell asleep so please don't be mad Mr-" The boy cut himself off, squinting at Marc, "Wait, you're not a teacher."
"School is over."
"It's over?!" He shouted, standing up, "I completely slept through the second half of the day, oh my god."
They both walked through the illusion of the wall. Funny enough, it was like a one sided mirror in the way that you could see through it from the inside but not from the outside.
The boy turned to Marc once they were fully outside, eyes sparkling in recognition. Marc sighed internally. Here comes the part where he starts getting his privacy invaded.
"Oh hey, I've seen you before! In the school library," He rushed forward, "You were reading that superhero comic, right?"
Marc blinked, "Huh?" He expected the other to realize he was the top student everyone knew about.
The redhead took another close look at him, "Yeah! I'm a fan of that comic too! I wanted to talk to you about it but then I got too nervous and didn't go for it. It's funny we met here. What's your name?"
"O-Oh, it's Marc. Um, you?"
"Nathaniel," He beamed, "Would you mind if I talked about the comic more with you? I've ever met another fan in real life before!"
"Sure!" Marc was a little energized, both from meeting another fan and the fact Nathaniel hadn't brought up his school status yet.
He had a feeling this was going to be the start of something wonderful.
---
Nathaniel ended up becoming one of his best friends in such a short amount of time. The redhead was studying illusion magic, which explained why Marc had never noticed him before, despite his bright hair. After all, invisibility was a common spell to learn in that course. Nathaniel also expressed interest in learned teleportation though. They were basic spells but he managed to use them in creative manners, which amazed Marc every time.
Marc originally assumed he was energetic based on their first meeting, but most of the time, Nathaniel was quiet and shy. Just like him. Turns out, he only gets that excited about things he likes, which is super cute.
Also Marc ended up getting a crush on him. That was also a thing that happened that he's still processing. He's never really had an actual crush before, so this was the first time Marc had felt these emotions.
But he wasn't going to risk ruining their friendship by confessing. Marc was content just being his friend for now. Besides, he didn't think he was ready for a relationship, or willing to subject his boyfriend to people in the school whispering that he didn't deserve Marc. Which sounds insane, but also sounds like something that could actually happen.
He was lucky the training chambers were private. If you reserved them beforehand, you were the only one allowed if you didn't want other people in there.
Marc had done that in the past, but he started letting his friends watch his training session. Nathaniel in particular always looked excited to watch him do magic, even if it was something small that everyone could do, so Marc started inviting him more often.
He was training his plant magic that day so they were in a chamber with grass and trees surrounding the edges of the room. With a wave of Marc's wand, vines grew out of the ground near the base of a tree. Nathaniel clapped from where he was sitting on one of its branches.
Marc beamed at him, "That spell was good, right?"
"Yeah! Super cool!" Nathaniel kicked his legs as the vines grew taller, eventually forming into a staircase for him to walk down to the ground. He giggled as he bounced them, walking up to Marc, “Actually, after you’re done training, can I talk to you? I want to tell you something.”
Marc blinked, mind running rampant with the possibilities, but the one loudest in his mind was the chance of a love confession. He quickly chased it away. No use getting excited over something that wouldn’t happen. “Sure.”
Nathaniel smiled, “Great!”
Marc picked up his spell book off the ground, flipping through pages before eventually landing on one, “Oh, here, I wanted to try practicing this one.” Nathaniel leaned over his shoulder.
A spell to make a tree grow
Warning: Do not stand near where you aim the spell! The seed sucks energy from where it lands, and if anyone is nearby, it will take some from them as well. In a worse case scenario, it has caused comas in the past.
“Oh jeez,” Marc whispered under his breath, turning to Nathaniel, “Stand back.”
The redhead nodded, walking a bit behind him, rocking on the balls of his feet.
He took a deep breath, aiming at the far end of the room, focusing on charging the spell.
There were some voices coming from the direction of the door, but they weren’t too much of a distraction. Probably a group passing by. His expectations were shattered when the door slammed open.
“Oh, Marc!” Lila called out, “I need you to come tutor me! And maybe we could go on a date afterwards!”
“Oh, buzz off!” Chloe huffed, pushing her away, “Hey! Do my homework for me if you’re so good!”
“I told you to stop!” Alix shouted, running in after them, “You can’t break into a training room!”
Marc turned around, startled. The spell building up at the tip of his wand shot off in the intruders’ direction.
Nathaniel screamed, scared for his best friend, “Alix!” With a quick wave of his own wand, he formed a shield between the group and the spell. Of course, Nathaniel had never learned how to make barriers in his classes, since they were never related to the curriculum. But he did know how to teleport.
So he used himself as the shield.
“Nath!” Marc shrieked, wand dropping to the floor as the spell hit Nathaniel directly in the chest. The girls backed up from him, horrified as vines erupted out of the impact point, wrapping around the redhead and dragging him to the ground. The plants dug themselves into the ground, growing before their eyes as green energy shined around the grass.
“Teacher, get a teacher!” Alix shouted, grabbing Chloe and Lila and yanking them out of the room.
Marc ran up to Nathaniel, tears already spilling out of his eyes, “Nath! Nath no!” He dropped to his knees before the other, cradling his face in his hands, hiccuping, “I-I didn’t mean- I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
Nathaniel became more drained with each second that passed, but even so, he managed to say a quiet sentence.
“I wanted to tell you I love you.”
Marc sobbed, burying his face in Nathaniel’s shoulder, “You can’t- No, You won’t. You’re not going to die.”
The vines climbed up Nathaniel’s body, before enveloping Marc’s arms, growth speeding up as it started to sap energy from him as well.
“Not alone that is,” Marc murmured, hugging him tighter, matching the vines starting to wrap around his own body, “I love you too. And that’s why I’ll stay with you.”
Nathaniel softly gasped, managing to meet Marc’s gaze. The other gave an attempted comforting smile, although the tears in his eyes betrayed it. Nathaniel leaned his head forward until it was touching Marc’s.
“Y..You shouldn’t have,” He murmured, “You had your whole life ahead of you.”
Marc laughed quietly, “I’d prefer this than having to live knowing I killed you.”
Nathaniel smiled, “It wasn’t your fault. Don’t go into the afterlife thinking it was. You made my life better in so many ways.”
Marc took a deep breath, feeling Nathaniel’s body starting to go limp, “So did you.”
Those were the last words they spoke to each other before their life dwindled down to nothing.
When Alix managed to get back to the room with a teacher, all that was left was a tree, vines twirling around it’s bark. There were even some leaves shaped as hearts.
---
“I’m back,” Alix called out as she walked into the training room, watering can in her grasp. It was never used much by students anymore. Mostly because of the tree blocking the entryway.
She still came every day. After all, she couldn’t leave her best friends to wither and die.
If they couldn’t survive as humans, she’d make sure they’d survive together in their new form.