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You’d always liked your men.. a little stupid. You just couldn’t help it, there was something about a guy who needs your help with understanding things, and getting to see the little light in his eyes when he finally cracks the code that just did it for you. Gordon was certainly that sort of guy. He worked hard to keep up with his peers, particularly his friend Sion, and it was admirable. His hard work paid off too, sure he wasn’t in the top five but he was on track to make it to the tower if he just kept working hard, and you knew that he would. But, the best part about Gordon, was that he was only stupid when it came to academics. When it came to feelings? He was far from it. He seemed to be tuned into your feelings, and what you needed, and could anticipate you needing him before you realised it yourself.
But there was just one little detail. Well, nobody knew.
It wasn’t even for any particularly exciting reason like being star-crossed lovers or some grand secret.. you just sort of hadn’t told anyone. You liked it that way too, being a little private, having something that was just for the two of you. Sneaking around while everyone was busy, hiding behind pillars, slipping away into town to go to the sorts of places students usually avoided. Just something that was wholly yours, outside of the academy’s competitive atmosphere and nobles’ judgemental gazes. Something that belonged to only the two of you.
Classes had just finished for the week, and you knew what that meant. Date night. It was a little tradition the two of you had started a few months after you’d started dating, and it’d continued ever since. You went first to your dorm room to drop off your class supplies, because you definitely wouldn’t need them with Gordon, and it wasted a little bit of time so you weren’t just standing in place waiting for him. If your friends knew, they’d undoubtedly call you lovesick. You couldn’t find it in yourself to care. Why shouldn’t you be a little love sick when you had this borderline perfect partner? Sure, the two of you had your hard moments, but you couldn’t cite a time he’d truly done something wrong. Missing date night to study? Responsible. Forgetting about plans? It happens to everyone during exam season. Being late? A hazard of a secret relationship. All entirely forgivable offences, and you’d done the same to him on all counts at least once.
Once you were sure all your friends would be at dinner, you made your way down to the usual meeting spot - just outside the courtyard, ready to head for the path down into the town. After all, the best way to avoid the eyes of students was to get off academy grounds.
Gordon was already there when you arrived, so you sped up to a jog and laced his fingers with yours as you passed. He fell into step beside you like it was second nature, the pair of you laughing all the way down into town, even as you both panted from the effort, and hands were clammy from the warm weather.
“So, where are we headed?” You asked Gordon, leaning into his side with a smile, enjoying watching the way his eyes reflected the sun as it began to set.
“I was thinking our usual tavern - they’ve added something new to the menu.” He suggested, squeezing your hand in his, leaning in just close enough to bump your foreheads together. You grimaced as you realised he was damp from sweat, his hair sticking to his forehead, and now it had left a residue on yours. You gasped and shoved him away, rubbing at your forehead with your sleeve.
“Gross, Gordon!” But he only laughed. Once you were done scrubbing, he pulled you back with familiar ease and kissed your cheek.
“Sorry, I just like to be close to you.” And you truly couldn’t stay mad when he was sweet like that.
The tavern was quiet, it always was, that was why you’d chosen after all. With a few magic-less lyzance and dwarves running the show, most students at the academy avoided visiting if they could. Not you and Gordon. Those very things became the reason it was your place, somewhere that nobody would find you when fingers locked beneath the table, and knees brushed as you laughed at an awful joke that Gordon had told.
“Come on, try something new.” He encouraged as you pushed the menu away, set on ordering the same as you always did.
“No, I know what I like.” You insisted, rolling your eyes, but your smile gave away your exasperation, showing plain for anyone to see that the affection that ran beneath was far more than just friendship.
“What? Me?” Gordon teased, catching your hand with his to bring it close, pressing a soft kiss to your palm, his grin uncontainable.
“You’re such a sap.”
“Your sap.”
Yeah, this was a secret worth keeping.
Gordon wasn’t the most careful boy at times, especially if Sion was leading the way into some scheme he’d come up with to secure them points or torment the book learner. Youd’d known that long before you’d started to date him, and it only became more apparent with time. Particularly the incident with the sentinel, in which Sion had apparently made a daring rescue (from the situation he’d created himself) to save Gordon and Lyril from being killed.
You’d scolded him firmly of course, for daring to go into the dungeon when no adult who could provide help if they needed it would know where they were. But then, naturally, you’d also kissed him within an inch of his life because hearing how dangerous it’d been was terrifying.
To think that any day you could wake up to learn that Gordon, who truly felt as if he were your whole world sometimes, was gone. You’d never be able to put into words how much that thought scared you, how much he truly meant to you. Anyone who had the privilege of seeing you together knew how deep the feelings ran, how close the two of you truly were. The way his name sounded on your lips, the look in your eyes whenever you thought he couldn’t see you. The two of you were the very definition of young and pure love, and you were certain it’d last forever. If he didn’t get killed first.
But the terror of all past incidents combined couldn’t have prepared you for what came next.
The attack on the all-student praxis was something nobody could’ve predicted, and there was a moment where you almost lost Lyril for good. As he and Gordon emerged from the dungeon to join the crowd of students waiting for news on the danger being quashed, you brought both of them into an embrace.
They were okay.
You let Lyril go to a medic to be checked over, but you weren’t about to let Gordon out of your sight. Not this time. People really had died, staff at that, there was a risk involved in this praxis that nobody had been truly prepared for. Yes, at least one student died each year while undertaking the all-student praxis but that was as a result of calculated risks that everyone knew would be there - the idea of sentinels, and worse, roaming around the higher floors of the duneons and particularly targeting the camps that were supposed to be safe? It was chilling.
You cupped Gordon’s face in your hands with eyes brimming with tears. You could’ve really lost him this time. Students had lost their friends already, and Gordon could’ve been one of them. Of course, you couldn’t do more while people were watching, not if you wanted to preserve the limited peace that the two of you had carved out together, but you wanted to. Oh, you wanted to kiss him until the both of you were breathless.
“I’m okay.” Gordon assured as he looked at you. Even like this, you were nothing short of radiant. He could hardly believe that someone like you was truly interested in him. A real brush with death has a way of bringing things into focus, reminding you of what you have and how precious it is. Of course, his friends are important, but in the moment where he truly thought things might be over - the only thing he could think of was you. The way you looked when you smiled, the sound of your laughter, the flush on your cheeks when he kissed you. Just you.
“Are you sure?” You asked him, because for years now of friendship turned to love, you’d been picturing ascending to the tower with Gordon beside you. Now, you could hardly imagine what it’d be like if he didn’t. Couldn’t picture a real life without him, surely it would only be a half life to be living it without the man you were sure you were going to marry.
“I’m sure. I’m okay.” He assured you, wrapping his hands around your wrists to pull yours from his face. To anyone else, it would look like one friend assuring another, brushing off their profound concern. But you knew the real motivation for the action - just to be able to feel you. His thumb rubbed over your wrist, soothing you as he slowly lowered them back to your sides, giving a final squeeze before he released.
He was okay. Gordon had come back to you, like he always did.
What happened hung over the remainder of the year like a dark cloud. So many losses, so much hurt. But, you graduated - both of you headed for the tower, like you’d always planned. That was the night you finally fell into bed together after years of affection between you bubbling just beneath the surface. You’d wanted it to be special, and it certainly was.
He’d worshipped you in the way Gordon knew you deserved. After all, a vision like you deserved nothing less. There was no world in which he could put your beauty into words, the way you’d looked as the moonlight shone through your dorm window to light your skin, the parting of your lips as you gasped his name. The way you’d looked in the afterglow with a tender smile, fingers tracing over his body like he was something worth treasuring. Truly, he couldn’t compare to you, that he was sure of.
Even with the reality of the harsh would you were heading into ever tugging at the back of your mind, you knew you’d be okay as long as you had him. These soft moments that you held so dear to your heart.
With everything that happened at the New Year celebration, you really could do without things constantly happening to you. For things to just go back to how they used to be - calmer, normal. But things never seem to go your way.
After all, you’d been scouted by the ice faction, and so on entering the tower, after a brief look around the colourless garden, you were whisked away to join your fellow faction-mates. Gordon though? He was left behind. That was when the first bloom was explained.
He didn’t stand a chance, even with Lyril at his side. The Zoctonias were strong, and Gordon wasn’t the only one to struggle - in fact the only students to succeed in defeating any (see: all) of them were Will and Julius. Show offs. But still, neither were able to join factions. But, with just a week to prepare, they’d be able to face the Zoctonias again at the second bloom, giving them another chance to join factions.
That meant you’d be without him for a week.
Sure, you’d both been aware that it wouldn’t be as easy to spend time together once you’d joined different factions, but this was another level of that entirely. For him to be without a faction, isolated and looked down on, amongst those who’d grown bitter in the wand graveyard? You couldn’t stand it.
So, what did you do?
You approached Lady Elfaria, of course.
“Lady Elfaria?” You hesitantly asked, finding her finally alone rather than with Sarissa. You had a feeling Elfaria would be far more sympathetic to your cause.
“One of our new recruits,” she observed, reluctantly lifting her head from where she’d perched herself over a window looking over the colourless garden, “why are you here?” And apparently she wasn’t one to beat around the bush.
“Right to it then? I can respect that. I’ve come to ask for permission for something,” she didn’t speak, so you continued, “I’ve heard about your relationship with Will.. and so I want to share a secret with you.”
You took a deep breath. If anyone could be trusted with this, surely it would be Albis Vina herself?
“One of the recent graduates who will be taking part in the second bloom has been my boyfriend for several years now. He means the world to me, and.. I don’t know what I’d have done without him all this time, or what I’d do if he wasn’t able to get into his faction and achieve his dreams.” You explained as succinctly as you could.
“You want to help him for the second bloom.” Elfaria said, a statement rather than a question, a look of morose understanding on her face.
“I do. I’d like to be excused from faction training for the week so I can go help him prepare as much as I can. It’s manipulative.. but eat or be eaten. I know you must want to do the same for Will, but can’t. I’m hoping.. you’ll let me, because you can understand my position.”
There was a pause then as Elfaria looked at you. Though she was your age, it felt like the gap between you was a cavern you’d never be able to cross. You couldn’t dream of catching up to her, but you hoped that inside Albis Vina was still the heart of a sixteen year old girl, who’d take pity on you if nothing else.
“That was very manipulative, you’re right,” she said before anything else, and for a horrifying moment you thought she might not be as amenable as you’d hoped, but then she smiled, “you’ll do well in the tower with an attitude like that.”
“Thank you, Lady Elfaria.”
“Your leave is granted. Don’t waste it, recruit.”
You could scarcely believe it, but you were going to listen to her, and you weren’t going to waste it. With a final nod, you turned on your heel and immediately took off from her room to go down to the colourless garden. You started as a quick walk, then sped up to a jog, and then you were running. You took stairs instead of elevators, jumped to skip distances where you could, and as you closed in on where you knew he’d be, you transformed the floor to ice with a stamp of your foot and began to glide.
He’d agreed to meet you by the crepe shop, because it was easy to find. You saw him in the distance, and you waved at him with a grin, stepping seamlessly from the ice as it turned to dust behind you, preventing anyone else from slipping on it behind you. You wrapped your arms tightly around Gordon and pulled him into a tight hug.
“Well?”
“Let’s get started.”
Gordon felt bad for leaving Lyril behind, but with Emma and the others with him you knew that he’d be fine. Your only concern was Gordon. Maybe you should’ve felt more guilty, but you had faith in Emma. They’d all be fine. Her, Lyril, Mike - even Julius and Will, wherever they’d run off to.
You worked tirelessly together for the entire week. When you slept, it was usually curled up in a safe spot in the dungeon, in each other’s arms. You’d never had so much time together without something getting between you, never been able to sleep side by side. It was a feeling you’d miss like a phantom limb once he got into the fire faction - but it was all going to be worth it. Just a few more years in the tower, and you’d both be fully fledged high mages. No factions could keep you apart.
You defeated beast after beast, mostly serving to watch Gordon’s back so he could fully focus when in the fight. He’d need to work alone to prove himself at the second bloom, and that was what you were preparing for. No relying on Lyril, or working off the hits of his fellow students. Full, independent fire power. Something you knew for sure he was capable of. And he proved that he was at every turn, rarely even really needing your assistance.
One evening, sat by a fire he’d set up for the two of you to keep warm, tucked inside of an ice barrier you’d erected to keep you both safe from monsters potentially passing through, Gordon had kissed you gently.
“You’re doing well.” You’d told him softly before you’d gone in for another, just relishing in the freedom you had here in the dungeon, able to touch each other and be yourselves freely.
“Cause I know you’re here, you give me strength.” He’d replied, and you’d laughed at how cheesy that was. But you supposed you couldn’t deny it - you’d never have dreamed of speaking to Albis Vina the way you had in order to be here, but you’d done it for him.
“Cheesy.” You’d said anyway, and when he pulled you against his chest to rest, you didn’t resist.
“And you’re beautiful.”
When the second bloom rolled around, you gave Gordon a final thumbs up before you rushed to join your fellow ice faction recruits. Sarissa looked more than displeased, but she couldn’t argue against orders given by Lady Elfaria, so she’d been unable to do anything. Until now, as you suspected many harsh drills were on the horizon.
You bounced on the balls of your feet as you watched the Zoctonias be released, antsy as anticipation clawed at you. He was going to do it. He could do it, you’d seen him beat stronger in the dungeon - the question was just whether he could do it now in front of everyone, with an audience that featured the magia vander themselves.
And he did.
You didn’t care that Julius and Will where nowhere to be seen. Gordon had done it. He turned to you as his gloria changed colour, and gave an unrestrained grin, and you were sure your face matched.
“You’re glowing.” Lady Elfaria had whispered to you, fingers dancing lightly over your skin to catch your attention.
“Your turn.” You’d replied when Will and Julius had finally burst through the doors.
The chaos of the second bloom passed, and you took your seat at Lady Elfaria’s side, opposite to Julius, to comfort her. Yes, she was separated from him again now, but for a moment they’d been reunited, and they would be again.
She’d wailed that you couldn’t possibly understand, because you’d had all the time in the world with yours at school. Julius had looked at you with rabid curiosity, but was quickly distracted again by Lady Elfaria’s wailing. It was a little much, you could admit that much, but after what she’d done for you, you refused to leave her side when she needed comfort. She really was just a sixteen year old like the rest of you.
The toast to Emma was more than well-deserved, at the party to celebrate everyone getting into factions. She’d worked her ass off and dragged her fellow students up into their factions with determination alone.
“What about you Gordon? You weren’t with us?” She’d asked when the room went quieter again. Her smile was warm, and no harm was intended, but you froze where you were talking to Rose a distance away, and Gordon just awkwardly laughed. What was he supposed to say.
“Oh, come on, dude. You were crazy today! You’ve gotta tell us your secret.” Lyril ribbed playfully, his arm thrown around Gordon’s shoulders. “Tell him, Sion!” He’d called up to the balcony where Sion stood alone, watching everyone from above.
“Spill.” Sion had simply demanded, but the cold look on his face softened for just a moment, lips twitching with amusement.
You’d excused yourself from Rose who watched you with narrow eyes. You turned your gaze up to Sion, finding Julius beside him, also observing you, his brow raised. You watched the split second where Julius realised the truth before everyone else, understanding flashing across his face as he linked Elfaria’s earlier words with Gordon’s hesitance now. You stopped beside Gordon, and cleared your throat.
The room went a little too quiet, far more than you were comfortable. You’d not intended to draw the attention of the entire room, but.. what the hell, right? The rest of your lives starts here, why not start as you mean to go on?
You set your glass on a nearby table, along with Gordon’s.
“What are you-” he didn’t get a chance to finish as your lips found his. He melted into it on instinct before he could process the repercussions. The room erupted into a chorus of cheers and clapping. Your arms looped around Gordon’s neck, and his around your waist, keeping you close.
“You’re kidding?” Lyril asked with eyes wide, jaw hanging open.
“Did you really have no idea? I was so sure you’d figured it out so many times.” Gordon said when the two of you finally parted, but he didn’t move his arms from their place around you. Their home.
“I didn’t know! Why didn’t I know?” He asked. You looked up at Julius and Sion - Sion was similarly slack jawed, where Julius only managed to look amused.
“Nobody did.” You answered, looking back over at Lyril with an amused laugh.
“We just never told anyone. It was nice having something that was just.. ours.” Gordon added seamlessly.
You spent the rest of the party like that, pressed up against each other shamelessly, ready to share the truth of your love with the world. They deserved to see it in its purest form, the highest form of beauty that you could name. Love between two people, untouched by expectation or shame.
Whatever came at you from here on out? You’d face it together. The beautiful and the ugly.