Chapter Text
Most days, Sylvie feels almost detached from the boarding school lifestyle he had to adopt out of nowhere. Everything about it is so unnatural and fake to him. Nothing could beat his home turf, with its woods stretching for miles, the creatures and animals that inhabit it, and the scent of fresh rainfall after a heavy storm. Sylvie would honestly give anything to experience that again due to the rigid confinements of the school. Alas, he will have to wait until winter break.
At least, that’s what he initially thought. Luckily for him, his geology class professor assigned the students to go on an expedition into the Calypso forest. The goal was to bring back something native to the forest, study it, and present their findings to the professor by next week. It wasn’t his homeland, but Sylvie couldn’t help but be excited to get out of the stuffy classrooms he was forced into, along with other annoying and loud students.
The only downside to this perfect project was that it was a group project with three other members, to Sylvie’s dismay. He had some people in mind who wouldn’t get on his nerves and would be the most helpful to him to achieve a passing grade.
Tellus would be a vital asset to the project since he is 1) a fellow nature elemental who knows plants and geography. 2) relatively smart and won’t become a burden to babysit while in the forest. 3) NOT ANNOYING.
Then, Nigel would also be a good option since he has already been in the Calypso forest. By that logic, Mira could be as well, but Sylvie considers her too gung-ho about everything and probably will kickstart a chain of events that Sylvie would want no part of.
Lastly, Sylvie believes Jing could prove some worth to the team. Sylvie doesn’t know much about his abilities or anything about him, really, but he can absorb lots of damage because of his crystallized body. So, in case something attacks the group, Jing would be the meat shield. Sylvie found this plan to be foolproof of shenanigans and hijinks, confident that he had nothing to worry about if everything went his way.
It did not go his way. Sylvie’s dreams were quickly shattered when a chipper student asked the professor if the members could be picked or if they were already assigned. It was the latter.
And so, all of that leads up to now, with Sylvie guiding three of the most insufferable people he could’ve gotten in his class. The aforementioned Mira just had to be picked out of the many students to be with Sylvie. Maybe if he truly considered her as an option as a potential partner, this entire thing could have been avoided. Next, there’s Viola, whom someone would think Sylvie and she would get along with, as they both hate most things, but her haughtiness and entitlement outweigh all of that. The last one had to be the worst of all. Sylvie found the other two infuriating, but this one sent rage and hatred throughout his entire body. Hakan.
From the first day the two met, it was an all-out warzone. They cemented their rivalry with each other by both being appointed as opposing L-Ball captains for gym class. Both of their competitive natures took the game very seriously, which is probably why everything between them became a contest. Something about that shit eating grin Hakan always donned awakened something from within Sylvie. Something that made him want to beat Hakan’s face in until that idiotic smile went away.
Sylvie pushes through both in the sense that he has to put up with this awful group, and literally by walking through the forest foliage. Luckily, Mira and Viola seem to occupy themselves with conversation, which Sylvie takes relief in since they aren’t pestering him. From the back of the group, Hakan practically drags himself to follow the others, pouting and folding his arms like a child.
“Why can’t I lead the way again? This sucks.” Hakan groans.
Mira disengages with Viola and turns to him. “Sylvie’s a nature elemental, Hakan. He knows a lot more about forests than all of us.”
“No, he doesn’t. He’ll just get us lost.”
Ignoring Hakan’s truly nonsensical objection, Sylvie comes to a halt and blocks the others from moving with his arm. Mira bumps into him since she isn’t looking ahead of her, making Sylvie stumble forward a little.
“What?” Viola says, “Why’d we stop?”
Sylvie points at a small clearing in front of the group. The ground is covered in a bed of purple-ish pink flowers, concealing the soil underneath. The ocean of color seems to almost glow from how it contrasts with the green of the Forest. Unfamiliar with them, Sylvie is wary of the flowers, scanning the features for a semblance of recognition. He hasn’t seen anything like them before.
He suddenly feels someone push past his arm. A certain someone who was previously in the back and had had enough of being dismissed and forgotten. A certain someone who was probably the only one who could outpower Sylvie with ease because of how much taller he is than him. A certain someone with flames for hair and most likely brains.
Hakan swoops to his knees and plucks a flower from the batch. He does this all the while looking directly at Sylvie with that stupid, confident face of his.
“Got it!” Hakan shouts, “Aren’t you glad I found this for us? Now we can head back, and I’ll lead the way this time.”
Sylvie practically feels steam coming out of his ears. “YOU found it? I guided us here!”
“Okay, and? Use your eyes to see what’s in my hand and not yours, dude.”
“Guys, please,” Mira pleads, “We were doing so well without your usual bickering.”
“No, he’s being difficult!” Sylvie retorts.
“And you’re being overdramatic.” Hakan scoffs, twiddling with the stem of the flower.
Sylvie takes a moment to consider the possibility of murder and how he can get away with it. But interrupting his thoughts of physical violence, Hakan flinches and drops the flower. He puts a hand to his forehead, groaning and crouching to the ground from the sudden pain rushing to his head. He shuts his eyes and winces from the headache.
“Woah, Hakan, what’s happening?” Mira asks concerningly. She reaches for him, but her hand gets swatted away like a pesky fly.
“Don’t touch me!” Hakan whines, now holding his head in his hands, “I’m-! I’m trying to-! GUH!”
The three decide to back away from him, Sylvie shielding the girls. He isn’t sure what’s happening, but he has a hunch that the flowers had some sort of pollen that caused whatever Hakan’s experiencing. The last thing he would want would be three idiots dealing with the same splitting headache and giving Sylvie one through their whining and groaning.
“Stay here,” Sylvie whispers to Mira and Viola. He approaches Hakan and gets down on one knee to match his level. He brings his hand up to the side of Hakan’s head, then smacks it hard.
“SYLVIE!” The girls cry out.
“What? I’m making him focus on that rather than the pain in his head.”
“Why in the world would that work?” Viola hisses, “He clearly needs help, not a blow to the head, stupid!”
Hakan angrily grunts and opens his eyes from the sudden contact he had with Sylvie’s palm. He grips onto Sylvie’s shoulders, ready to shake him for hitting him. “What the hell was that for, you-”
He freezes. Sylvie stares at his pupils, no longer filled with determination to get back at him, but with something he has never seen Hakan have. He seems almost hungry, desperate even. Why?
Hakan draws short breaths before abruptly pouncing onto Sylvie. Sylvie fully expects a punch to the face right there and then, shutting his eyes to brace for impact. Yet, there was nothing. He flutters his eyes open to see the sky and feels a huge amount of weight on him. Hakan’s arms are wrapped around Sylvie’s torso, his face buried in the smaller boy’s shoulder. After realizing what Hakan’s doing, Sylvie squirms and tries to rip Hakan off of him.
“Wh-! What’re you doing?!” Sylvie blurts out, “Get off me, you buffoon!”
Hakan shifts his head, his lips now lightly grazing the collar of Sylvie’s shirt. “You’re cute when you’re angry.”
Sylvie’s stomach drops. He immediately looks over at Mira and Viola, who are just as shocked and confused as he is. “Okay, fine, there’s something seriously wrong with him, and we need to get help as soon as possible. Just get him off of me already!”
The girls nod and make their way to the two boys. Viola latches onto Hakan and pulls as hard as she can to pry him off of Sylvie. Mira holds onto Sylvie to make sure Hakan doesn’t just take the boy with him as he is lifted up. Though Hakan’s stubborn to let go, the girls manage to separate the two. However, once Sylvie gets back onto his feet, he feels one of his hands get suddenly warm and intertwined. He glances at Hakan with an exhausted grimace.
“What am I? Your mom?” Sylvie fires back, then turns his attention to Viola and Mira, “It’s clear he’s under some sort of…love trance. So I say we head back early to get him medical attention.”
“But what about our item for the project?” Mira asks.
“I don’t want the rest of the day to be like…” he shifts his gaze to Hakan, who’s already lovingly staring back at him. “…this.”
Mira can’t resist letting out a small chuckle at the irony of the situation. Sylvie shoots a glare at her.
The group trudges their way to the teleportation hub to get back to campus. Today was supposed to be Sylvie’s little getaway from everything, yet here he is walking alongside the most aggravating guy he’s ever known. Not only that, but he’s forced to hold hands with him and listen to his awful attempts at flirting. Sylvie refuses to even acknowledge Hakan, who’s practically glued to him. He prays to whatever god was watching all of this unfold to simply end it all for him.
The girls aren’t much help either. At first, they did their best to keep the two apart for the sake of Sylvie’s patience, but like a magnet, Hakan always found a way to sneak up on Sylvie and initiate contact. Mira and Viola realized how much more trouble it would be to restrict Hakan, so they convinced Sylvie to just endure it.
“…Hey, Sylvie?” Hakan mutters, but Sylvie ignores him and keeps his focus on walking forward. Hakan realizes this and comes to a halt, stopping Sylvie from moving any further. “Sylvie.”
Sylvie whips his head around, eyebrows scrunched together, and the corners of his mouth pointed downwards.
“What?” He growled with spite.
Hakan’s eyes soften as he displays a warm smile to Sylvie. “I just wanted to look into your beautiful eyes.”
Sylvie groans from the absurdity of that line and tugs on Hakan’s hand, pulling him forward. He can hear the snickers from Mira and Viola behind them. This is all just a big joke to them, but torture for Sylvie. He never knew Hakan could be so clingy and how much of a burden he is when he’s completely smitten with someone, which is probably the worst fate anyone could have. Just the thought of someone actually finding that idiot attractive or charming makes Sylvie laugh a bit.
“What’s so funny, hun?” Hakan asks, his voice melting from Sylvie’s sudden smile.
“Uh,” Sylvie stammers, “Nothing—what the fuck did you just call me?”
“Hm? Do you not like my pet names for you?”
“I don’t like anything from you. Besides, you don’t actually mean them, so why would I like it-” Before he could go on a tangent about the many reasons why he hates Hakan’s guts, a thumb starts to caress and run circles against the back of his hand. “…If you don’t stop this, I will smash your face into the ground, I’m not kidding.”
Hakan hums and maneuvers behind Sylvie, letting go of his hand and resting his arms over Sylvie’s shoulders. He rests his head on top of the boy’s, nuzzling into his dark green hair and against his small antlers. “You’re so fiesty~!”
“How many times do I have to tell you to get off me already?! You’re heavy!”
Mira and Viola finally take this as a cue to step in and pull Hakan away from Sylvie as if he were Velcro. Sylvie has no idea how long he will be able to take this before he snaps.
Once a moth is in proximity to a light source, it becomes disoriented and mistakes whatever is producing light for the moon and stars, which help moths navigate. This leads moths to spiral towards it, hence the phrase “moth to a flame”. It can also be used to describe a certain fire elemental following and clinging to a tired and fed-up Sylvie.
After being informed of Hakan’s current state, the geology professor informed Sylvie that not much is known about the flower he and the others described. The little information the professor knew about the flower was that it releases a special pollen that alters the brain if inhaled by a person. The victim would first have an awful throbbing sensation in their head, but soon recover upon seeing another person. With the pollen in its system, the brain releases hormones that convince the victim that they are infatuated with the other. Thankfully, the effects are temporary and last up to a week, but judging by Hakan’s insufferable behavior from the forest, a single week is far too long for Sylvie.
His professor did his best to cheer him up by looking at the bright side. At least he could get a firsthand source to conduct his group’s research. This was obviously cold comfort to Sylvie. He’d rather fail the class than have Hakan by his side for another second.
“So, he’s just going to be like this for a week?” Mira asks, after Sylvie explained to her and Viola what happened during his meeting with the professor. Of course, he wasn’t able to do it alone after Hakan begged to go with him.
“Unfortunately, yes.” Sylvie sighs, still reluctantly holding hands with Hakan, who’s completely oblivious of the dilemma he and Sylvie are in.
Viola chuckles to herself, pulling out her Holodex from her pocket. “I almost feel sorry for you. Almost. Not entirely, though.”
A camera snapping noise comes from her Holodex, forever capturing this tender and disgusting moment between the two boys. Sylvie instantly lunges at her and tries to swipe the Holodex from her hands, but can’t get very far since there’s a Hakan-shaped problem keeping him restricted to one place.
“Delete that now!” Sylvie demands, pointing a finger at the icy girl.
“Are you kidding? This is hilarious. Gotta send this to Jing, he’s gonna get a kick out of this.”
“Ooh!” Mira chimes in, “Send that to me too! I wanna show Nigel and Tellus as well.”
“You’re not sending shit!” Sylvie interjects.
A silence falls over them all, only for it to be broken by an automated “message sent!” sound effect from Viola’s Holodex. Not too long after, something makes a ping noise from Mira’s pocket. Sylvie ponders how many people he can kill without getting in trouble with the police. “I hate you all so much.”
“Mhm, yeah, that’s nice.” Viola comments, rolling her eyes, “Anyways, I’m gonna head off to the dining hall for dinner. Best of luck with your temporary boyfriend, Sylvie.”
Before Sylvie can even register the last part of what Viola just said, she struts away from the group and down the hall. Livid, Sylvie looks over at Mira. He notices one of her feet shift a little, pointed in the direction Viola walked off to.
“Don’t you dare,” Sylvie growled.
Mira averts her eyes away from Sylvie and does an innocent hum, not so subtly tiptoeing farther from the two boys. “I, uh, think I’m getting hungry too. I’ll see ya around, Sylv! You too, Hakan!”
She bolts away, not even giving Sylvie a chance to respond. Sylvie swears he just popped a vein at that moment. He breaks himself away from Hakan’s grasp, ready to chase after that traitor of an elemental, but feels something grab onto his waist and pull him close. In an instant, Sylvie meets face to face with Hakan’s neck ribbon that came with his school uniform, but never ties.
“Damn, I thought they’d never leave.” Hakan breathes out as he raises a hand to Sylvie’s face. He places a thumb on Sylvie’s chin and keeps his index finger underneath it, beginning to tilt Sylvie’s head up to his.
Now able to process what’s about to happen, Sylvie swiftly shoves the other boy off of him. He huffs heavily, thinking about what could’ve transpired if he hadn’t done anything. The thought alone makes his stomach feel queasy. As he attempts to get his thoughts in order, he glances over at Hakan, completely surprised by that reaction from Sylvie.
“Did I…Did I do something wrong?” Hakan stutters.
Sylvie freezes in place. Not sure how to reply while Hakan stares at him with eyes that could be compared to a sad puppy. The nature elemental can only manage to croak out a few frustrated mumbles.
“I mean, yes! But...But–no…?” Sylvie audibly groans from the fact that he can’t eloquently string his words together into something that makes sense. “Look, I’m just going to give it to you straight since you obviously haven’t been paying attention this entire time!”
“Oh, I’ve been paying attention, alright.”
Sylvie’s face drops as he flatly gazes at the idiot in front of him. “Not to me, dumbass. I’m talking about the fact that you’re under a love spell and how it won’t go through your thick head! Everything you’re doing and thinking of isn’t real, got it?”
For once, Hakan is left speechless for an uncomfortably long time. Sylvie would usually appreciate the silence and lack of sassy retorts, but now, he kind of wishes Hakan would say something, or anything, really to what he just said.
Sylvie pinches the bridge of his nose and slumps against the wall behind him, landing on the tiled flooring of the hallway. “Why do I even bother telling you all of this? You’re not gonna believe a single word I say when you’re in this condition. You probably won’t even remember anything when this wears off.”
There it is again, that deafening silence, but it gets quickly cut off short when Sylvie hears something rustle beside him. Hakan sits next to him, head turned to show yet another expression Sylvie’s never seen him have before.
“If I am under a love spell,” Hakan starts, “I honestly don’t want it to end. You make me feel…safe? Is that the word? I don’t know…
Sylvie notices Hakan begin to nervously fidget at his own collar. Sylvie takes a deep breath in and out. “Really? Even when I smacked you in the head earlier?”
Hakan snorts a little, but eventually lets out a soft chuckle, “Okay, safe in the sense when you’re not angry at me.”
Unable to keep himself together, Sylvie genuinely laughs at that remark, catching Hakan off guard.
“Trust me, me being angry at you is the least of your problems right now,” Sylvie grins, referring to the photo Viola took of them earlier. Under any other circumstance, Hakan would probably have the same reaction Sylvie had to it.
Hakan makes a reasonably confused face, but quickly switches from that to surprised, a dark red tint appearing over his cheeks. Sylvie doesn’t understand why he’s reacting like this since he didn’t seem to care about the photo earlier. He notices Hakan’s eyes are looking down at something. Sylvie tilts his head down and pauses.
Without even realizing he did it, Sylvie sees that he has his fingers completely intertwined with Hakan’s. For the first time, his face grows warm as he jerks his hand as far as he can get it from Hakan, who’s still a flustered and dumbfounded mess.
“I-!” Sylvie blurts out, “S-Sorry…I guess I was so used to holding your hand that it became instinct.”
“...Ah,” Hakan says, covering his face with the hand that Sylvie held onto, “It’s alright, I like holding hands with you.”
“I honestly wish you didn’t.”
“Not my fault that your touch is addictive.” Hakan springs up and stretches, “Welp, I’mma go hit the showers, the smell of that awful forest is still on me and kinda driving me crazy.”
Sylvie stumbles his way to stand up, “Wait, you’re leaving?”
“Yeah? What? You’re gonna miss me?”
“Huh–no! I mean, like, you’re leaving me alone? Shouldn’t the love spell make you always want to be near me?”
Sylvie feels that queasy feeling in his stomach again. He’s not sure why he cares so much about this; in fact, he should be relieved. He hasn’t had a single moment for himself since they set off for the Calypso forest. Catching a break from the constant touching and romantic advances should put him at ease until tomorrow.
“Heh,” Hakan smirks, “Just because I’m falling for you doesn’t mean I should forget about my basic human needs. You’re not THAT charming, babe.”
He begins to walk away from Sylvie, who, for some reason, can’t think of a good or clever comeback to what he just said. But Hakan stops in his tracks to turn his head to Sylvie. “Hey, Sylvie?”
“Uh, what?” Sylvie stammers from the sudden mention of his name.
“Love you.”
Even under a spell that changes how he feels about Sylvie, Hakan does that same overly-confident smile he always did, but this time it felt different. Nothing changed about it, but something about the way Sylvie saw it now is strange.
“Just go take a shower, loverboy.” Sylvie fires back before going in the opposite direction to his dorm.
He makes a mental note to himself that he should probably head to the infirmary tomorrow. He believes he’s coming down with a fever, judging by how warm he suddenly feels and his stomach feeling off.