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Satoru stared full of awe out of the window. Watching the scenery flash in an instant. Trees, houses, landscape, animals... it all merged together into one near invisible blur as he stared. Of course, the cursed energy marked by his eyes was as prominent as ever, only slightly more blurred than usual. Suguru snickered at his boyfriend who was nearly glued against the window. "Stop laughing at me." Satoru grumped, not even meeting Suguru's eyes. But the cursed energy residing inside of his boyfriend moved slightly around, indicating that he himself was amused. Suguru merely huffed. "I wasn't. It was a joyous smile." Suguru attempted to defend himself. Satoru pulled his head away from the window, fully taking in the boy sitting opposite of him. His stupid Hawaiian shirt hanging loosely around his shoulders.
“No, it wasn’t. You were laughing at me.” Satoru pointed out. Slipping a little further in his seat, knees touching Suguru’s once more. With all his might, he let his knee slam into his boyfriend, catching the other man off-guard. “Toru, I swear. I was just happy seeing you look so amazed at the scenery outside. Who says I can’t soak up the beautiful view of my stunning boyfriend?” Suguru flirted. Satoru rolled his eyes, sliding his round sunglasses back on top of his head in order to look at Suguru. “Alright. I forgive you. But only because you called me beautiful.” Satoru grinned. Suguru huffed, slamming his knee into Satoru’s as revenge, but the latter boy saw through him, as he always did, and simply pulled up infinity in order to soften the impact of the knee.
“That’s cheating.” Suguru pointed out. Satoru grinned, quickly leaning over and planting a strategic, yet distracting kiss on top of Suguru’s lips, causing the other boy to fall slightly back as his boyfriend pushed him down with all his weight. “How about this.” Satoru teased. Smiling against Suguru’s lips. The other boy huffed into Satoru’s mouth, causing him to deepen the kiss as a response. “That’s evil. Even for you.” Suguru mumbled as Satoru decided to call it quits, pulling himself off of his boyfriend and leaning back into his own seat. “Call it what you want. But we all know that I win.” Satoru grinned.
“I wasn’t aware we were in a competition.” Suguru pointed out. Satoru shrugged as he let his glasses slide back on top of his nose. “It ended already.” Satoru said, grinning widely at his boyfriend. “Is it too late to opt out of the trip?” Suguru sighed rhetorically. After all, he was the one who brought up the idea of going to the amusement park with his boyfriend as a date. Especially given the fact that Satoru had never been to one before in his entire life. They had tried to convince Shoko to tag along, but she explicitly said that she didn’t want to third wheel them. Her exact words had been “I’d rather dissect my own body than watch you two make out on my free day. No thanks.”.
Satoru stared back out of the window again, hand in front of his mouth as he hid his upcoming grin from his boyfriend. The scenery was smashing together a bit slower this time around, indicating that the train was about to reach their next stop. “Is this the stop?” Satoru asked excitedly. Suguru shook his head. “We’re about 45 minutes away.” He replied. Satoru groaned widely, bonking his head against his train seat. “So long!” He whined. Suguru shrugged as he leaned forward, but at the same time Satoru also leaned forward, causing their foreheads to smash painfully together. “Ouch!” Suguru exclaimed, rubbing his forehead to soothe the pain. “You did this on purpose.” Satoru hissed, receiving a side eye from Suguru as he accused his boyfriend of something ridiculous again.
“I will open up this window and throw you out of this train.” Suguru threatened, causing Satoru to playfully stick out his tongue. “Can’t we teleport now? I’m dying to get there.” Satoru whined. “Shut up.” Was all Suguru said, as he slumped back against his seat. Ignoring Satoru’s begging whimpers. Sometimes Suguru wondered to himself why he ever fell for this man. Was it mere desperation, or a more implicit charm surrounding the boy? Suguru watched his boyfriend stare out of the window again, as if the past minutes hadn’t happened at all. And as he stared, the sun gracefully fell on Satoru, illuminating carefully crafted features that made him stand out from everyone else. And for a split moment, Suguru fell in love all over again.
𑣲
Qifrey put the seal of his sylph shoes together, roaring gracefully through the air with Olruggio in tow. “Slow down!” Olruggio yelled, Qifrey merely turned around, putting the seal together once more and shot off even further. Olruggio watched in both horror and awe as his boyfriend spiralled through the air. He knew that one wrong movement would have his lover lose his balance and plummet towards the ground, making it his job to catch him. If someone would’ve asked Olruggio if he minded it, he’d simply huff and roll his eyes. In reality, he did not. He loved and cared deeply for Qifrey, pushing through all of his, sometimes annoying, antics. Even if most of those antics nearly gave him a heart attack on a daily basis.
Olruggio quickly caught up with Qifrey as they both were soaring through the sky. It was one of those afternoons where they had both decided to ignore all of their duties as a witch and simply enjoy a good day together. Despite spending all of their time together, it was rare for them to not worry about anything for a day. It nearly made them feel normal, were it not for the fact that Qifrey insisted they’d use magic to get to the amusement park. Olruggio had wanted to protest, but Qifrey had already drawn up the windowway, ready to fly for a short distance before pretending to have no clue about anything magic related. Olruggio had wanted to protest, saying that if Qifrey really had wanted to pretend to be normal for a single day, they wouldn’t be taking this kind of transport. Qifrey had simply ignored him, still pretending like all of Olruggio’s warnings didn’t exist as he forced himself to come to a landing in a deserted area. Olruggio quickly followed.
“See? That wasn’t so hard.” Qifrey beamed, all Olruggio did was let out a low grump. “We could’ve easily taken the train.” Olruggio pointed out. Once more, Qifrey pretended not to hear him as he grabbed his boyfriend’s hand and dragged him away onto the main road. “You know I get motion sickness.” Qifrey said. Olruggio knew that was a lie, he just tried to justify using the windowway again. “Then why are we at an amusement park Mr. Motion Sickness?” Olruggio teased. “Exposure therapy.” Was all Qifrey grinned, fastening his pace in order to get into the park faster. Olruggio was left with no choice but to follow, trailing behind his boyfriend like a lost little child.
Together, they manoeuvred their way through the slowly forming crowd, trying to slip between the dwelling people who obviously had no idea what to do or where to go to. Qifrey had been impatient, having looked forward to their trip for far too long. After all, he had been scooped up in their room for the past few weeks in order to prepare for the upcoming Fifth Test. It would allow Qifrey to take on apprentices of his own, and he was desperately yearning to teach his knowledge to the younger generation. This would allow for Olruggio to become his Watchful Eye, essentially letting them have an Atelier on their own. Olruggio wasn’t sure what to think about his best friend teaching little kids, often noticing a more different version of himself slip through his carefully crafted façade from time to time. Perhaps that, too, was a part of Olruggio’s duty. Making sure that whatever hidden desires Qifrey had were kept hidden.
Qifrey did not allow Olruggio any time to dwell too long into his own thoughts regarding the upcoming future, as he was soon dragged into the queue to enter the park. Qifrey was excitedly speaking about everything that he wanted to do while they were there, saying that he wanted to make the absolute best out of their time away from the Great Hall. Olruggio wasn’t sure what exactly had happened these past few weeks in order for Qifrey to wanting to rush the Fifth Test all of a sudden, and it seemed as if the latter watch had no desire to let him know either. All Olruggio knew, was that Qifrey had managed to find a nice and cosy Atelier, far away from the Great Hall in order to get away. Perhaps the place where they had lived for for years was slowly becoming unbearable, or Qifrey simply yearned for something knew. Olruggio wasn’t sure.
Still with his head in slightly in the clouds, he simply continued to let Qifrey drag him through the gates, allowing the two of them to finally enter the park, and let their day of unauthorised fun begin.
𑣲
“Finally!” Satoru exclaimed excitedly, nearly bouncing up and down as they finally got off of the train. He was fast, given his tall legs, nearly forcing Suguru to jog a little behind as the former boy absolutely refused to even slow down a bit. “Calm down, the park only just opened. I doubt you’ll miss out on anything.” Suguru said, Satoru pulled out two lanyards from his backpack, waving them in front of Suguru’s face. “I just want to make a lot of people’s day extremely miserable by flaunting my wealth.” Satoru grinned, grabbing Suguru by the arm and forcefully dragging him along, demanding that he walked faster so that Satoru could start his evil plan.
“Is this the surprise you talked about earlier? Fast passes?” Suguru laughed. He hadn’t expected anything else from Satoru either. The boy had barely any patience and a lot of generational wealth to profit from. Satoru eagerly nodded. “Next time we’ll drag Shoko along! I bet she’d love this too!” Satoru said, they had walked through the scattered crowd, into the fast pass lane to get their ticket checked. “Why not just buy a seasonal pass then? If you like it so much.” Suguru said. “That way you won’t have to spend a fortune on these fast passes.” He added. Satoru shrugged. “I’d grow bored of it after going twice. It’s not like they put up new attractions every week anyway.” Satoru said, Suguru rolled his eyes, and there, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another tall boy with white hair. Satoru immediately noticed it, of course, and jerked his head towards the other boy’s general direction.
“Didn’t know white hair was that common! He looks handsome!” Satoru grinned, Suguru squinted his eyes at his boyfriend. “I can’t help but feel like you’re just speaking out of a certain kind of bias.” He spat out. Satoru shrugged. Suguru watched the other white-haired boy disappear into the crowd, before being pulled along once more by his boyfriend. “So! The first thing we’re doing is this one!” Satoru said. He had pulled out his phone right after they had scanned their tickets, pulling up a picture of a giant roller-coaster that went upside down five times. “For real?” Suguru chuckled. Satoru nodded. “For real real. Let’s go! I don’t want any of them to pass me by!” Satoru said. He hurried onwards, still basically dragging Suguru behind him. The latter boy couldn’t help but grin, allowing to be led the way through the crowd.
Satoru had been right. Most people shot him dirty looks as a tall handsome young boy passed them by without even sparing as much as a blink. All he did was grin from beneath his round sunglasses as he forced Suguru to follow alongside. They were quickly allowed to enter the roller-coaster, the woman working there didn’t even spare them another glance as she pushed down the safety handle down on them. “Keep your hands inside of the cart and watch out for any personal belongings.” She said monotonously. “Sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to remove your sunglasses.” She said to Satoru, who quickly tucked them away without much further ado. Suguru had never seen his boyfriend obey someone this fast without trying to anger them out of pure joy. “Damn, you really want to ride this thing huh?” Suguru laughed. Satoru shot him a quick look, a vile grin, and Suguru could immediately guess his next words, were it not for the rushing wind quickly swallowing the vile remark that Satoru was about to make.
The ride leapt off with a blushing Suguru and a loudly screaming Satoru. The ride itself was fast, shaking both of their bodies across their seats the entire time, treating them roughly like two bags thrown into the back of a truck instead of two people trying to have a good time. It was much wilder than Suguru had anticipated, and he was simply glad that none of his curses actually moved like this. It seemed as if Satoru had a good time on the ride, though. His boyfriend simply looked ecstatic as they were allowed back off, pulling his phone out again and showing another vicious looking ride to Suguru. “This one next!” Satoru yelled. Suguru got dragged along again.
They passed another line of people, another line of foul glances shot their way as Satoru easily passed them without a single care in the world. Suguru tried his best to avert their eyes, but Satoru simply had this bad habit of gaining everyone’s attention, especially with his glasses still off. Everywhere they walked, people gawked at him. A group of teenage girls waiting in line stared with big, in love eyes at him as they passed. Satoru merely grinned, pulling Suguru closer to him in order to show them all that they were together. Suguru could’ve sworn that he heard one of the girls let out a heavy sob.
The guy watching over the next ride merely rolled his eyes at both of them as they arrived hand in hand. “I’m sorry. I only have one seat available for this ride.” The guy said, bored out of his mind. “We’ll take the next ride.” Satoru chimed, the guy merely shook his head. “I’m gonna have to separate you two. There is no waiting for the next ride. Decide which one of you goes on.” The guy said. Satoru let out a heavy sigh. “Let one of those-” Suguru quickly cut him off, knowing that his boyfriend was going to insult someone really quick if he didn’t intercept it in time. “Someone else can go instead of us.” Suguru smiled politely. The guy shook his head again. “None of them want to be split up either. And else they’d have to pass too many people. It’s policy that one of the fast passes goes first. If you don’t pick I will.” The guy said. Satoru shot a quick glance Suguru’s way, who replied with an equally bummed out one. “Okay. Big guy. You go.” The guy decided for them, pulling Satoru away. With his infinity down, he simply allowed the person to grab him and pull him slightly away from his boyfriend.
“It’s okay Toru. I’ll see you afterwards.” Suguru reassured, watching Satoru go in with a pout. He watched the ride leave pretty soon afterwards, Satoru still pouting as the ride shot off. Suguru merely rolled his eyes at his boyfriend acting like a child again. As he rolled his eyes, he caught a glimpse of another man with white hair standing a bit further in the queue. He chuckled to himself, it was the same guy they had seen earlier in a distance. The other guy seemed too busy talking to his friend in order to notice Suguru’s weird, perhaps a tad stalkerish, laugh. A few minutes later, the ride came to a halt, and Satoru got out, staring with big puppy eyes at Suguru as he was forced to move on. Suguru gave his boyfriend a little sorry smile as he got into the next ride.
In the row right in front of him, he could see the other guy with white hair sitting next to his friend. Suguru nearly chuckled. In a way, it felt as if Satoru was still with him on the same ride. He was left with no time to ponder, though, because the ride simply shot off without as much as a blink. Perhaps Satoru had been right. It was not as enjoyable without seeing your boyfriend in the corner of your eyes. Suguru couldn’t wait to get off of the ride again. And as soon as it came to a halt, he quickly got out of it again and made his way towards Satoru.
“I haven’t seen you in ages!” Satoru exaggerated, throwing himself on top of Suguru and burying him in kisses. “Never leave me again!” Satoru said out of the top, like a toddler with separation anxiety. It made Suguru chuckle as he kissed his boyfriend, wanting to divert the unwanted attention. “What’s our next stop?” Suguru asked. He watched Satoru beam up again. “Okay!” Satoru said, pulling his phone back out. They proceeded to ride various rides after that. Passing people here and there, gaining even more various glares from everyone, until Suguru’s stomach let out a big and loud growl. Satoru grinned. “Next stop is lunch! C’mon Sugu, my treat!” Satoru said, as if everything hasn’t been his treat since before they even left the school. But Suguru was simply not allowed to protest it, because as much as Satoru was a freeloader off of his poor monthly allowance, the man also liked to splurge and spoil Suguru rotten.
𑣲
“What do you want to do first?” Qifrey asked, Olruggio licked his lips as he stared at the free map of the amusement park. “Mmm. This pirate boat seems nice. It’s been a while since I got on one.” Olruggio said, Qifrey nodded in agreement. “Seems fun!” He said, following his boyfriend through the crowd as they attempted to make their way towards the pirate boat. The wait was long, but it brought a nice piece of change to Qifrey’s mind, who, for once, wasn’t forced to think about anything but the prospect of simply having fun. Olruggio was glad seeing his lover be so relaxed as he stared at the ride, watching people scream in joy. “I’ve never been on one.” Qifrey pointed out. Olruggio shot a glance at the giant boat. “I’ve only been on one when I was a child. My mom brought me. I don’t remember much of it, only a very tingly sensation in my belly.” Olruggio explained. Qifrey nodded as he watched the gate open for the next people to get on. Finally, it was their turn too.
Olruggio couldn’t really blame Qifrey, given the fact that the poor boy had no memories of his life before he was found. And after that, they had spent most of their days together, not necessarily indulging in normal stuff like going out to amusement parks. Olruggio simply hoped that today would be a good day for Qifrey to make up for all the lost time and memories. Or at least a day where he could forget his worries and all that was taken from him.
They were up next to ride the boat, and both simply took place right next to each other. Their hands touched each other, and a widespread blush appeared across both of their cheeks. Despite dating for a while already, they still took it pretty slow regarding physical affection of any kind. Olruggio didn’t push. Being with Qifrey was more than enough, even if the man remained as close and emotionally cut-off from Olruggio as always. All that really mattered to Olruggio, was the fact that Qifrey knew that whatever was troubling him, he didn’t have to deal with it alone. Olruggio would always have his back, no matter what.
The safety bars of the ride closed, pressing against their middle as the ride slowly began to fall into movement. It started out slow and low, but as the ride went on, it became faster and heavier. The same tingling sensation as Olruggio recalled from his childhood found his way back into his belly. He glanced over at Qifrey, who had his eye shut and was clutching the bar as the ride went on. “You alright?” Olruggio asked. Qifrey nodded, he seemed slightly paler than before they got on the ride. “Just not what I expected.” Qifrey explained. Olruggio looked apologetically at his boyfriend. “It’s okay Olly, I’ll get used to it. It’s fun.” Qifrey said. Olruggio knew that he was lying in order to dampen Olruggio’s concerns. He did not dare to bring it up. Qifrey had always been a good liar, simply by swaying the lie with such confidence that everyone always eagerly fell for it. But to Olruggio, who had known him for years, it was relatively easy to see through. To him, Qifrey was more of an open book. It sometimes just happened that some pages were slightly more difficult to read.
When it was finally time for them to get off the ride, Qifrey sought Olruggio for some slight support, needing his boyfriend to ease the uncomfortable sensation in his stomach. “That surely was something.” Qifrey chuckled, allowing Olruggio to lead him away to a bench a little further away. Settling him down with ease. “Let’s take a minute before deciding on the next one, okay?” Olruggio smiled. Qifrey nodded gratefully, and Olruggio watched the colour slowly return to his lover’s face as he took deep breaths. He purposely didn’t look at the pirate boat again, perhaps he was afraid the motion sickness would catch up with him again.
At first, Olruggio had simply assumed that the motion sickness was a mere excuse in order to use the Windowway, but now he was thinking that Qifrey may really have some kind of motion sickness. “We can pick out slower rides if you want to.” Olruggio suggested, but Qifrey shook his head, not wanting to ruin Olruggio’s day simply just because he felt a little sick from going onto one silly little ride. “No. It’s okay. I didn’t expect the boat to go that high up. The sensation in my stomach and the constant view of the water simply didn’t do me any good. That’s all.” Qifrey explained. It only now dawned on to Olruggio that the boat kept giving a constant view on the water whenever u went up. And as you went down, the dawning view only became bigger. Olruggio should’ve known that it would’ve only worsened Qifrey’s stomach, being exposed to water like that. Even if he couldn’t really get wet, it was still a daunting task for the man to even be unexpectedly flushed wet.
“I’m good now. We can pick the next ride Olly.” Qifrey said, flashing a reassuring smile towards Olruggio. “Are you sure? I don’t mind the more calmer rides.” He emphasised. Qifrey shook his head. “Nonsense. You looked forward to this trip as much as I did. It’s not fair that I’d ruin it for you. C’mon, lets do this one.” Qifrey said, he had taken out the map, and randomly pointed at a ride nearby. “The murderous ride of doom?” Olruggio laughed, Qifrey’s eye shot towards the ride he had pointed at. And surely enough. It was actually named the murderous ride of doom. Qifrey nodded. “It’ll be fun.” He confirmed, Olruggio send him a sideaways glance. Because as much as Qifrey could handle fighting, analysing spells at lighting speed, jumping down countless stories without even as much of a second thought, the man was not made for things like this. But Olruggio didn’t dare to defy him, and simply agreed to go with him towards the next ride.
The queue to ride it was shorter than the pirate boat had been, and as they approached it, a heavy looking warning sign stared back at them. Qifrey looked at it, and Olruggio paused for a hot second. “We don’t have to do this one if you don’t want to.” He said, but Qifrey was adamant right now. “No. I want to do this.” He said determined. Pushing past his fears, he stepped foot in the queue, looking slightly behind him to wait for his boyfriend to follow. Olruggio was slightly sceptical about it, but followed Qifrey regardless. “If you end up puking, do it the other way.” He warned, all Qifrey did was grin. “Do you have so little faith in me?” He smiled. “Yes.” Was all Olruggio grumbled.
Well, what can he say. Perhaps, he knows Qifrey better than he know himself. And he also knows when Qifrey needs to stop or even take slight step back. Because as soon as they had gotten off of the ride, Qifrey had handed Olruggio his glasses and was bent over a trashcan. Causing the latter boy to softly pat the former boy’s back as he rubbed gentle circles across. “There there.” Olruggio comforted. All Qifrey did was groan as he squinted his eye shut. “Perhaps something calmer will be best indeed.” Qifrey reluctantly agreed to it. Olruggio continued rubbing his back as best as he could, until Qifrey felt like his stomach was empty enough and his nerves a little more calm than before.
“That was embarrassing.” Qifrey chuckled, Olruggio simply pulled him closer and gave him his bottle of water. “Drink something. You’ll feel better.” Olurggio said, Qifrey silently obeyed. Allowing his boyfriend to lead him away this time around, letting him pick some quieter rides. Olruggio had been right. The quitter rides were more fun than the heavy ones, and Qifrey allowed himself to relax in the soft spinning teacups. “This is nice.” Qifrey sighed contently. Olruggio agreed as he watched his boyfriend smile gently at the softly spinning scenery around them. Nothing too fast. Nothing too flashy. Just two boys enjoying their day and each other’s company. Olruggio would easily sacrificy the world to see Qifrey always this relaxed. Perhaps this is the life that Qifrey was chasing. Somewhere far away from what they knew. Just the two of them together, with a few apprentices here and there.
As the world continued to gently spin around them, Olruggio couldn’t help but feel excited about what the future may bring.
𑣲
Suguru stared at the massive pile of junk food Satoru had bought for the two of them. An entire plate full of everything his greedy hands had managed to grab. Suguru couldn’t help but stare in disapproval at his boyfriend. “You’re gonna puke given your choice in rides.” Suguru remarked. Satoru dumped the full plate of food without a care in the world on the table. Something fell off his tower, and Satoru simply bent down without hesitation, picked it up, eyed it left and right, and plopped it right into his mouth. Suguru stared in sheer disgust, promising himself that he would not kiss that mouth again today. “Still good!” Satoru smiled with his mouth full. Suguru simply shook his head as he took some food from the giant tower, earning a disapproving glance from Satoru. “This. Is. Mine.” Satoru sneered.
“All of it?” Suguru huffed, the other boy nodded. “You’re so fucking greedy.” Suguru hissed, simply grabbed Satoru’s wallet before getting up. “I’m buying my own food with your card. Enjoy your speed ride to puke station loser boy.” Suguru said, quickly getting up without sparing another glance at his overly greedy boyfriend who simply began to happily eat his lunch. Suguru couldn’t believe the man he fell for. Out of all the people in the world…
He walked around the restaurant, eyeing every single option they served there, and decided on the spot what he would eat. Something easy on the stomach, knowing that Satoru had no hesitation in picking the wildest rides imaginable. As he gave in his ordered and waited, he took a glance back. Noticing that Satoru had picked a seat closer. Huh, Suguru thought to himself, how nice of him. As he had gotten his food, he walked over towards his boyfriend sitting alone.
“Didn’t think you’d sit closer just for me.” Suguru grinned as he plopped down on the seat, not meeting Satoru’s grinning smile. As he looked up, he stared at another pair of blue eyes. A near similar shade. White hair too. But slightly more bulky and more confused as the man opposite of him slightly tilted his head. “I’m sorry, do I know you?” The other man smiled gently, and Suguru grew embarrassed. “Oh my god.” Suguru blushed, just as a giant shadow began to peek over him. “Didn’t take you for a cheater, Deliverer. Who is this?” Another man said. Golden eyes stared down at him, red marks peeking from underneath his shirt, spreading widely across his very toned arms. Suguru gulped at the two men peeking curiously at him. One slightly more threatening than the other, who kept looking a little lost puppy at Suguru.
“This is embarrassing. I thought you were my boyfriend. You two look just alike from the back. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you.” Suguru said, he got up from the chair again, grabbing his food as he got up. Purposely ignored the amused smile from both of them as he hurried away. Cheeks still red, Suguru hurried away to the next table where Satoru was sitting. Not daring to look back at the two snickering men he had left behind. As Suguru sat down, he pushed his plate away and buried his face in his arms.
“God, Toru, you’ll never believe what just happened. The most embarrassing thing just went down!” Suguru cried out. When he didn’t hear a snicker coming back, which he was extremely used to, given Satoru being Satoru, he lifted up his head. And, his entire life being damned, he stared right at another man. Who, for a matter of fact, did not turn out to be Satoru either. Suguru was forced to do a double take. Rubbing his eyes fiercely as he blinked in confusion at the man in front of him. He, too, wore little round sunglasses. But one of the frames was missing, but he did wear a very amusing smile spread across his face and stared with curious eyes at Suguru. “God, not again.” Suguru mumbled. He bowed his head in embarrassment. “My apologies. It seems that I’ve mistaken you for my friend.” He said. One time, is understandable. Two times, is simply stupid. The other man laughed. Open and loudly as Suguru grew even redder in embarrassment. “I’m terribly sorry.” Suguru said as he picked up his plate again. Not daring to meet the now wheezing man’s eyes as he painfully walked away.
Suguru wanted to die. Perhaps the real mystery as to why he is attracted to Satoru indeed was his looks. How could he even mistake his best friend. Twice? Or perhaps men these days simply took an example of Satoru Gojo’s birth and simply sculpted themselves after it. Or Suguru merely had a type. All in all, it was embarrassing nonetheless, and Suguru was ready for a giant fissure to erupt from the ground and swallow him whole. Sadly, no such thing happened. And Suguru quickly spotted the right man this time.
With blushing red cheeks, he sat opposite of him. Satoru grinned in amusement. “You were gone pretty long.” Satoru sing sung. He leaned over on his elbows, curiously eyeing his boyfriend. “Your cursed energy is all mushed together. You’re blushing mad crazy. Tell me what happened.” Satoru curiously poked at Suguru, who felt his hunger disappear upon thinking back to the two Satoru look alikes he had encountered. Initially, he refused to elaborate. Simply eating his food in silence. He was no longer hungry, but felt like it would’ve been a waste of food if he didn’t finish everything. But after much more poking, both literally and figuratively, he caved. “I sat in front of the wrong men.” Suguru mumbled inaudibly the first time around. “What was that?” Satoru teased. Suguru was pretty sure the bastard had heard him the first time. He just enjoyed seeing Suguru suffer like this, he was sure of it. After all, he had seen Satoru play this stupid little game of him before. Suguru mumbled it again, hand held in front of his mouth. “MMM?” Satoru hummed. Nearly forcing Suguru to speak up and repeat his mistake. “I sat in front of the wrong men!” He eventually cried out.
Satoru pretended to fake gasp, overly shocked and dramatic. Giving him a flabbergasted look. “You would mistake my beautiful face for someone else! How dare you!” Satoru cried out, but his playfulness broke through his voice, and he couldn’t properly contain his grin either. Suguru buried his head back into his hands. “God! All of you looked so similar from the back! And you all had to wear that stupid black shirt too!” Suguru cried out. Satoru couldn’t contain his laughter anymore as he promptly stood up, surveying the area around them.
“I don’t see anyone who could possibly resemble me Sugu.” He noticed, crashing back down onto the chair. “Are you gaslighting me?” Satoru grinned. Suguru refused to answer. Satoru laughed, similar to how the other two men had laughed at the moment shameful moment of Suguru’s life. “Whatever. Let’s just go now.” Suguru cried out, with a last snicker, Satoru eagerly agreed.
𑣲
Both Qifrey and Olruggio enjoyed a very peaceful evening together. Choosing slower rides like they had done in the morning, and overall not rushing anything like earlier. They walked through the butterfly garden, took a slow boat tour on a quiet river running through the park, and strutted through the crowd hand in hand. And before either of them had realised it, their peaceful day at the amusement park was slowly coming to an end. “Time really flew by.” Qifrey sighed, checking his pocket watch for the time. “It’s starting to get dark. If we hurry, we can still make it in time for the final light show. I bet it would look beautiful.” Qifrey suggested, Olruggio eagerly agreed. No harm could possibly come from watching a light show. “I’ll grab us some popcorn then. To finish off our date.” Olruggio said, Qifrey sighed contently as he leaned a little closer to Olruggio. “That would be nice.” The witch said. They walked through the park for a bit longer, arriving at a slightly more crowded area for the people who wanted to catch the final lightshow of the day. Olruggio couldn’t really blame them.
“I’ll grab us a good spot.” Qifrey said, Olruggio gave him a thumbs up as he watched his boyfriend merge in with the crowd. He turned around on his heels, marching over towards a snack stand and ordering a medium popcorn for both him and Qifrey to share. With a carton full of freshly made sweet popcorn, with the warmth sticking to his fingers, Qifrey turned around once more. All he had to do was find his boyfriend, share his popcorn, lean in at the perfect moment and give him a passionate kiss during the light show to finish of their date. And although it hadn’t started out as he had imagined, it did turn out pretty good in the end. Thankfully, Qifrey’s white hair stood out in the masses of people and darkness. And Olruggio walked over with a grin.
He stuck the popcorn out, and watched as two people stared at him in confusion. It was another white-haired boy, with a black-haired boy leaning half over his shoulder as they both stared at them. The black-haired boy gave him a gentle, inviting smile, while the white-haired boy simply stared back at him with a poker face. “Sorry!” Olruggio exclaimed, he heard them say something to each other, but refused to stick around for longer than needed to decipher what they said. Olruggio could’ve smacked himself. In hindsight, he should’ve seen that there was another boy slouched across his shoulders in the first place. As he heaved himself a way through the crowd, he finally landed at Qifrey.
“Hey Qifrey.” Olruggio said, being forced to do a double take at first glance. Was Qifrey seriously using a spell to appear taller in order to properly watch the light show, or was Olruggio slowly starting to lose it? He looked up, being met with a pair of full black sunglasses instead of his usual half and half sunglasses. An amused smile was shot his way as his gaze was focused directly at the, now slightly colder, popcorn in Olruggio’s hands. The other man licked his lips as Olruggio instinctively pulled his popcorn slightly away. “I’m sorry. I thought you were my boyfriend.” Olruggio said, quickly hurrying away. Somewhere in the background, he heard a vague “see!”, followed by an amused snicker. Olruggio did not turn back.
Third time’s the charm, and he landed right next to Qifrey. He stuck the popcorn out, watching his boyfriend immediately take a handful. “Sorry it took so long. Pretty crowded.” Olruggio apologised as he looked up at the light show. He was in awe as the buildings began to colour themselves differently, and dancing figures began to move across from them. It followed a story of a woman taming dragons, and it followed her life as she grew accustomed to the dragon folk. But as time went on, and the woman began to settle down, she birthed an egg instead of a baby. She got accused of adultery and bestiality, being shunned by everyone around her. In the end, she was forced to die into the dragon’s pit alongside her child. As the townsfolk pushed her into the pit, she died. But the egg, her child, was saved by the dragon she met in the beginning. And, as the story started to roll into an end, the egg broke open. Revealing a perfectly normal, human child. The light show died out with flames dancing across the buildings.
Having witnessed such a deep and profound story in just a mere lightshow, Olruggio felt like it was no longer the time and place to finish their date the way he had intended. Qifrey clapped his hands, essentially brushing Olruggio’s regrets out of his mind. “That was amazing!” Qifrey cried out, he threw his arms around Olruggio’s neck, accidentally hitting the popcorn, causing some of it to fall out and spread across the floor. “Thanks.” Qifrey sighed as he kissed Olruggio instead. Initially being slightly taken aback, Olruggio quickly fixed his composure and kissed Qifrey back. It was their first kissed that they didn’t share half asleep, like the many kisses before. It was exactly as he had imagined it. Olruggio wrapped his arms around Qifrey and pulled him close, before the crowd around them began to disperse, and essentially pulled them apart. But neither minded it that much, for it had been a perfect end to a perfect date.
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As the time arrived for them to head back home after watching the light show, it seemed as if the entire crowd around them had the exact same idea. It was rowdy to move, let alone keep hold of your partner, and the crowd quickly swept everyone away like the rowdy waves of the sea. “Olly?” Qifrey asked, slightly panicked as he was starting to get separated from his boyfriend. The crowd began to drown his voice out, as everyone began to talk loudly at once. Creating an invisible wall of sound, a cacophony filled Qifrey’s ears as he tried his best to find his friend. “Where are you?” He heard out of the crowd. That was Olruggio’s voice, he couldn’t mistake it for anyone else. “I’m here!” Qifrey said, but his own voice easily got drowned out by everyone else. “Babe?” He heard. Qifrey couldn’t help but blush. It seemed as if that kiss really managed to wriggle something lose in Olruggio, he thought to himself. Without hesitation, he grabbed the hand that belonged to Olruggio and pulled him out of the crowd without looking back.
“Finally! I found you!” Qifrey smiled, squeezing the hand tightly. But instead of the usual squeeze back, he felt the grip loosen and him trying to free himself. Qifrey pretended like it didn’t hurt him at first, but it did. “Sorry, I have a boyfriend.” Olruggio said, Qifrey wanted to do nothing more but to curse his lover out, finally turning right around on his heels, as he came face to face with a near carbon copy of himself. Same white hair, near identical blue eyes with round black glasses staring back at him. An amused smile stared back at him.
“Oh?” The other man said. He sounded just like Olruggio, Qifrey realised. How stupid of him. “So Suguru was right. There indeed is a very handsome man who looks like me walking around here.” The other man snickered, and right at that moment, both Olruggio and another man emerged from the crowd, easily finding their place next to their respective partners.
“This is the guy I told you about Toru!” The other guy said as Olruggio grabbed Qifrey’s hand this time. “Sorry. The crowd was crazy, must’ve pulled us apart.” Olruggio apologised. All Qifrey could do was stare as Olruggio turned him back around. “Have a good night.” Olruggio bid them farewell, dragging Qifrey alongside him. Neither stuck around to hear the two strange men bicker amongst themselves. A loud laugh followed them as they exited the park.
“It’s crazy. I met that guy when I tried to find you earlier.” Olruggio thought out loud. Qifrey couldn’t help but raise a questioning eyebrow at his boyfriend. “I think a better remark is… why does he sound exactly like you?” He pointed out. Olruggio shook his head. “I don’t hear it.” He said, Quifrey squinted his eye at his boyfriend. He was sure that he did, though. But they didn’t bring it up again as they walked towards a more secluded area, drawing up a Windowway back home.
“Anyway, I think it is safe to say that this was a pretty successful date. Wouldn’t you?” Olruggio smiled as he walked through the Windowway, still holding Qifrey’s hand. He gently led him through. Quifrey couldn’t agree more. “Perhaps we can do it once more when we have our own Atelier.” Qifrey suggested. Olruggio nodded as the Windowway closed behind them. “That seems nice.” He confirmed.
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For the way back to the school, neither of them bothered to get back by train, simply trusting Satoru to teleport them back home. “I told you I wasn’t going crazy! There really was a guy running around there, looking exactly like you!” Suguru exclaimed. Satoru just laughed at the silly antics of his boyfriend. “That’s just your brain getting all mushed up by the roller-coasters. Perhaps all you need is a good night’s rest. Love you.” Satoru said, kissing his boyfriend goodnight. Ignoring the squinted stares shot at his back. As Satoru was back into his own room, he couldn’t stop thinking about the guy he had met earlier.
His cursed energy seemed off. Different than normal humans, but also not quite that of a sorcerer. Satoru grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, drawing a circle and simple lines within, like the cursed energy residue of the drawing the other guy had made. Surely enough, the circle lit up for a split second before Satoru drew a firm line through it. Essentially causing the light to dim out again. “Heh.” Was all he said before pulling the piece of paper apart. He watched the magic circle fall into the trashcan, before preparing himself for bed. In his dream, he saw a guy with a pointy hat, roaring through the sky.