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….In his defense, Yok hadn’t been trying to set professor Smith’s beard on fire. The spell that he had been trying was complicated , ok? And the foreign professor wasn’t helping by peering over his shoulder and breathing down his neck the moment that Yok even started any spell. One wrong rune and boom. Here he was, thrown out of class for the third time this week.
It was Wednesday.
Resigned to his fate, Yok threw back his shoulders and strolled down the halls of south university, the remarkably nondescript name for one of Thailand's most prominent magic schools. Students from all over came to learn and master forming, planning, and casting spells in all of their various forms. It was notoriously hard to get into and even harder to get a scholarship. This is why students across the university were surprised when first meeting Yok, only to discover that the 2nd year who slept through classes on the regular and couldn’t write and activate a proper talisman to save his life, was one of the few students to receive a full-ride scholarship.
Some called it nepotism
Others called it a fluke
But those who had seen his paintings, seen the way that he could take a brush and paper and bring dreams to life, called it talent.
His paintings were what had gotten him into the university, and if he could have spent all of his time on them alone, everything would have been fine. But Yok had to face the same problem as every other student: General Ed classes. And unfortunately for him, his prowess for art didn’t transfer to any other aspect of his life.
In short, Yok was failing his classes.
This much he knew, and didn’t really see a problem with it. He knew that he wasn’t any good at regular spellcasting or math so why put in effort when he could spend his time practicing his art? That was what he was here for, wasn’t it?
He was drawn up short by a sign pasted on the window of the art studio
NO ENTRY
And in small print under that
(Yok, come see me)
Confused, he went to the office of Miss Sorn, the art advisor and his favorite adult at the university. Bursting in with his typical energy, he turned to the middle-aged woman and asked
“Why did you want to see me? And why is the art studio closed? Are there repairs? Because I didn’t see any workers nearby and I swear the sink is still working so I don’t know why-”
“Yok.”
He paused, taken aback by the serious voice coming out of the normally cheerful professor
“Yes?”
She took a deep breath and steepled her hands in front of her forehead. “How many of your tests did you pass during midterms?”
He thought for a moment, before realizing that aside from his art class, he was pretty sure he had bombed all of them. “Umm…”
Without waiting for him to reply, Miss Sorn continued. “Because I just received word that if you fail any more tests, your scholarship is in jeopardy.”
“Oh.” The quiet exclamation came out of his mouth without him realizing. He had never really been worried about his school attendance, but if he didn’t have his scholarship… His mind flashed to the small apartment he shared with his mother, his job at the garage and her job cleaning just barely enough to keep them housed and fed, let alone covering his school costs. His degree would be their ticket out of there, a chance for him to get a real, well paying job and finally let his mother stop working. If he didn’t have his scholarship he could still paint, but there was no guarantee anyone would think his art was even worth looking at, let alone buying for a good price.
“Well, what can I do?” he asked, slightly incredulously. His failing grades were no secret, and his lack of effort was only brought about after his previous efforts all failed. He was up a creek without a paddle in this case. Doomed because of his grades, but no idea how to improve them-
“Yok.” His teacher's voice dragged him out of his spiraling thoughts.
“What?”
“I may have a solution for you.” She gestured to the corner of the room, where a boy Yok hadn’t noticed was sitting. He was slight, with wavy brown hair and wearing a blue face mask. Dark eyes peered at Yok with curiosity and kindness, and despite having never met him before, Yok thought he could grow to like this boy. Especially with the next sentence his teacher said.
“This is White, he is a graduate student from Russia and he has volunteered to tutor you. For free.” Yok gaped first at his teacher, then at his potential salvation. He drew a breath, possibly to say ‘thank you’ or ‘what will we be doing?’ but what came out of his mouth was instead was
“I’m pretty hopeless at my classes, are you sure you’re up for this?
Whites eyes crinkled above his mask. “I'm sure I can handle it. Prepare to work hard.”
—---------------------------------
The next two weeks were absolute torture. White hadn’t been kidding when he told Yok to be prepared to work hard, he felt like he had never thought about anything this much in his life. His nights were filled with mathematical formulas and his mornings with talismans. White taught him everything from runes, to history, to how to take notes. Outside of their tutoring sessions, White was an absolute angel, soft spoken and kind to absolutely everything (the amount of times they had to postpone their lessons because White was helping a student carry materials, or got himself stuck while trying to get a cat out of a tree was slightly ridiculous) but the moment Yok sat down at a desk with White across from him, the quiet boy seemed to be possessed by a demon of education and Yok was forced to sit, helpless, as information was shoved in his brain and his fingers did exercises until something stuck.
Yok was slow, he knew that. Yet despite being strict White never got mad at him, patiently explaining things in different ways until they found one that Yok could understand. The first time he solved a multivariable equation he nearly cried, and when his fire talisman safely ignited without setting anything but the candle wick he was aiming for on fire he dropped everything and hugged White, breathing words of thanks. The boy flinched slightly before relaxing into the hug like someone who hadn’t had one in years. That was when Yok decided that more than a tutor, he wanted to be friends with White.
—------------------
Three weeks into their tutoring sessions, and Yoks world was shifted again. He walked towards the table at the cafe he and White usually frequented, clutching his half-finished worksheets and planning his apologies (miracle worker White may be, Yok still had the attention span of a goldfish) when he stepped around a plant and noticed someone else at their table. The man was facing away from him, so Yok called out to White, who noticed him and smiled before saying something to the man who turned around
And took Yoks breath away.
He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, in awe of the figure in front of him, with deep, soulful eyes and brown hair gently swept to the side.
I want to paint him
“Yok?” He was brought back to reality by the concerned voice of White.
“It’s nothing! He laughed it off and sat next to White, trying not to stare at the Adonis across from him. “Who is this?”
White startled slightly. “This is Dan, he needs tutoring as well, but since I didn’t have time to fit you both I was hoping I could teach you both at the same time? Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, are you alright with this?”
Yok stared at his friend. Was he ok? He could jump for joy right about now! He didn't say that though, he didn’t want to scare his potential muse off already.
“Yeah I’m fine with that if he is!” He extended his hand to Dan for a handshake. “Hi! I’m Yok, can I paint you?” He froze. That… was not what he meant to say. Dan looked confused.
“Do you ask everyone this?”
“No, only the hot ones.” Dan looked even more taken aback at this, and when Yok looked out of the corner of his eye he could see White silently dying of laughter. Curse his motormouth, there went his chance of making a good first impression.
“Sorry!” He rapidly backtracked. “I just need a model for an upcoming project” -he didn't– “and I think you would be perfect for it” There. Now he didn’t sound nearly as crazy. Whites coughing fit was obviously caused by swallowing his water wrong.
Dan stared for another second before smiling slightly. “Will I get anything out of this?”
Yok stared. He was not expecting that response. “...My eternal gratitude?”
Dan scoffed slightly at this. Yok was offended, so of course his brain went and said something stupid.
“How about a bet?”
The terms of the bet were this: if Yok scored better than Dan on the upcoming tests, Dan had to be the model for Yoks project. If Yok didn’t he would have to work at the kissing booth for the school festival. And Dan promised to be there and take pictures.
And so the competition began. Yok may have hated class, but he hated losing even more. He began to take notes religiously, texting White at all hours of the night whenever he had a question and concentrating during their sessions, no more slacking off. Dan was much the same, and White was left to wonder if he should have made a bet with Yok earlier. (It wouldn’t have worked, White was too nice to truly fire up Yok’s competitive spirit.) The competition also helped Yok to focus when all his brain wanted to look at was the man in front of him. They hadn’t talked too often since the bet had been made, both determined to win and thus focusing more on White than small talk, but from what little conversation they had, Yok learned more about Dan. Which of course made it even harder to focus when thoughts of the man with the deep eyes and beautiful voice infiltrated his dreams and his waking moments. But he refused to succumb. Taking his notes everywhere, even the garage where he worked with three other boys.
“What's that?” Gram questioned him, looking at the papers he was looking at between paint jobs.
“Nothing.” Yok replied, trying to remember specific dates for one war or another.
“Can’t you see? He’s studying.” Sean called down from the loft.
“Since when does Yok study?”
“He got a new tutor recently, hasn’t shut up about him.” Blacks voice cut across from where he was working in the corner. Yok was slightly surprised, he didn’t know Black had been paying that much attention to him. Gram smirked slightly
“Oh? And what is this mysterious tutor's name?” Yok could see what Gram was thinking and thought it better to nip it in the bud.
“I don’t have a crush on my tutor Gram!” His tutor’s student was a different story, but they hadn’t asked about him.
Gumpa entered the garage before the other boys could interrogate Yok any further.
“What is going on in here?” The man asked. Sean piped up
“Yok has a boyfriend!”
“I do not!”
“Do too!”
“Get down here!”
The ensuing squabble had both Sean and Yok scrubbing the floor till late that night, and all thoughts of Yoks new tutor were forgotten.
—---------------------------
After another two weeks, it was time for end-of-term testing. The week prior to the exams Yok and Dan met a few times separately with an exasperated White (“You two are in different grades, Yok. Even if you studied together you wouldn’t be able to cheat!”
“It's the principle of the matter!”
“... You know what, you’re buying me food after this. I don’t care that I said I’d do it for free, I’m not getting paid enough to deal with this.”)
White got a lot of coffee that week.
Finally, they took their exams. In the practical Yok somehow managed to not explode anything, and all of his talismans, while weak, did what he intended! His examiners were shocked. Then came written exams, and with a cramped wrist, he left those feeling confident that he had at least understood half of the questions.
Then he made a beeline for the art studio and painted until he had to go to work.
Three days later, it was time to see their results. White had agreed to be the mediator and let them use his laptop, so the three of them convened at their cafe, Dan and Yok sitting together at the opposite side of the table from White, who rolled his eyes before pulling up their results. He looked through them slowly, until he got to the end of both and his eyebrows raised. He began to laugh, big hiccuping sounds that made him sound almost like he was choking.
“What? What is it?” Yok asked. Dan repeated the same question.
Breathless, White wiped tears from his eyes, before turning the computer screen towards them. “You got the same scores, on all different tests.”
Dan and Yok looked at the computer screen, then each other.
“So… did we tie?” White took off his mask to take a sip of his coffee and then presumably answer Yoks question, only to be interrupted by a crash from behind them. Yok whipped around, only to see Gram and Sean staring at Black, who had apparently just stood with enough force to send his chair crashing to the floor, a strange, almost wondering expression on his face. He began walking toward them rapidly, and Yok turned back to see White’s reaction, only to see the same expression on his
Identical
Face
Oh Crap. They’ve met!
Just for reference, Yok wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t! He was just good at a select few things, one of which was knowing his mythology.
Basically, Yok was highly superstitious.
So could you blame him that the first time White took off his mask in front of him, Yoks automatic thought was not oh, maybe White is related to my grouchy coworker and instead oh no they’re doppelgangers and if they meet something terrible will happen. (There was no question who was the evil doppelganger. And in mythology the bad things usually happened to the nice one, and Yok wasn’t willing to lose the only person who gave him even a slight hope of passing his classes)
So as Black pushed past him, Yok sent a prayer for the fate of his future class grades and peered from behind his fingers, only to see Black… hugging White? And White hugging back?
Then the noise hit.
It seemed like everyone was yelling, and from the cacophony Yok managed to pick up that Black and White were not, in fact, doppelgangers, but long lost twin brothers. And Yok had actively delayed their meeting.
Oops.
Yok snuck over to Dan, who looked very confused at the turn of events.
“Hey.” Dan turned at hearing Yoks voice, before smiling and turning back to watch the events unfold. Sean looked like he was having a meltdown. After a little bit, they both turned to each other
“So-” they exclaimed simultaneously. Yok gestured for Dan to speak first.
“So I guess we tied, huh?”
“I guess. I still want to paint you though.”
“Oh really, and what will you give me?” Dan looked at Yok while saying this, and something about his gaze, tinged with mischief, made Yok want to take a chance.
“How about coffee?”
“Are you asking me on a date?”
“Do you want me to?” Instead of answering, Dan just extended his hand and smiled. Yok reached out, only to see Black begin to look around out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed Dan's hand and jumped up, pulling the confused man with him.
“Wha-”
“Don’t ask, just run!”
With that, Yok dragged his hopefully-soon-to-be-date out of the cafe behind him, as Black yelled after them
“YOK YOU IDIOT!”
The only response he heard was laughter.