"What bothered you earlier for you to leave?" Hope asked, her lower half under the blanket, with her head resting over her boyfriend's arm.
It was past midnight already, but since they didn't have any class later, they weren't bothered staying up a little late.
The question made John internally frown, knowing well he couldn't simply share what he was doing a few hours ago.
Okay, you thought of what to say a hundred times. Just stay calm. While he tried to reassure himself, John turned his head, meeting Hope's clear blue eyes. "I was frustrated because I still can't give this last step to finish this process of making my soul capable of producing magic."
"Only because of that?" Hope leaned closer to him.
"Well, even if it does not mean a lot, I surely would like to have that done as soon as possible." John sighed, frustrated. Even if he used this reason as an excuse now, he was truly bothered by it.
Seeing his exasperation, Hope tenderly brushed his hair. "It's okay. You will succeed, I know that. You just don't have to rush it."
"Well, that's the problem. From what I learned, this process should have been done by now. And to make it worse, I can't think of the reason why it stagnated." John grumbled, breathing deeply. "I tried to find something in the books that could help me. But there are no registers of it since all witches but the siphoners were born capable of generating their own magic."
Hope patiently waited for him to speak his mind out. "So, what are the options left?"
"Now? Nothing but to slowly discover what is happening."
"So, why the anxiety?" Hope reminded him, followed by a small laugh. "I know you will get to the bottom of it and solve it. Despite you being a little of an idiot, you are smart as well. All you have to do is give it some time."
"I will ignore part of what you said and accept the rest." John rolled on the bed, now facing Hope as she rested over his arm.
For a moment, both of them stared at each other, with none saying anything.
However, for a moment, it seemed John wished to say. It was brief, with him soon letting go of the idea. But as perceptive as Hope was, she noticed the hesitation in his eyes and didn't remain quiet like him.
"What is it?"
"What is what?" John asked, feigning ignorance.
"What you wanted to say just now." Hope said. "I know you wanted to say something. Spit it out, I am here to hear you."
"Nah, let it go. It's just another problem I am dealing with, and I don't want this moment of us together to be mostly about me complaining about things."
"As far as I know, that is part of the reason why two people are together. We not only share the good moments together, but our problems as well so we can help each other." Hope said warmly, still playing with John's hair around her fingers. She enjoyed how smooth it was. "So, come on. Share your struggles with me."
I love her. John thought, sometimes not believing he had such an amazing girlfriend. "Well, it's about that dagger Dr. Saltzman gave me to study and find something about it. Unfortunately, there are no results there with all the things I tried. I know I'm still a novice at magic, but I expected to have found something about it by now."
"If you didn't bring that up, I wouldn't remember about it." Hope blinked in remembrance. "Is it that bad?"
"Worse than the other. At least I know that I'm on the verge of completing that process of adaptation, I just don't know what that last step is. But for that goddamn dagger, I have no idea what to do or if I am close to learning something." John explained the problems he faced on the matter.
At this specific problem, there was nothing that John could do. His meta-knowledge regarding the dagger was minimal, and this minimal wasn't something he could use.
He knew the dagger was one of the three artifacts used to seal Malivore's power and nothing much else. Even the origin of the dagger was uncertain since Alaric and Dorian weren't able to confirm its exact date of creation or where it came from. And since they couldn't confirm it, John wasn't the kind of person to blindly trust his knowledge.
While John rubbed his forehead when thinking of his problems, Hope silently stared at him for a moment. Even if she didn't express it overtly, she was worried seeing her boyfriend so bothered by these things, which were not even everything he worried about since the twins' curse wasn't even mentioned in this conversation yet.
Hope kind of understood why he felt that way. After all, she was also the kind of person who wished to help someone to the best of her abilities when asked of and felt bad when she couldn't do anything.
So, when she saw John reacting the way he was, the only thing Hope could think was of ways she could help him.
"I thought of a way to help you." She suddenly said, attracting his attention.
"How?"
Hope rolled around on the bed and settled herself on top of John, using him like a mattress.
Her sudden actions caught John by surprise. His eyes widened with her face so close to his, even if he held her in his arms countless times by now. In a futile attempt to regulate his breathing, it just quickened even more, transmitting through Hope how nervous he was..
"Hope?" John blurted out, mesmerized by her light blues.
Seeing his reaction, Hope gave a sultry smile before moving her lips to his ear. "Don't get too used to this, okay?" She whispered, putting her hands on his chest and pushing herself up.
Still a little bit lost, John didn't know what she meant by these words. That is, until the next moment…
Hope held the lower edges of her shirt and pulled it up, revealing her bare, well-endowed chest to him.
Heavens above… Was all John could think, frozen in place.
He truly was unaware of how he should react at this moment. Everything happened so fast and so suddenly that he was still processing the events of the past few seconds.
However, while his mind was still thinking, another part of his body was already responding to the sight before him.
"It looks like someone else woke up." Hope commented, trying to hide a bit of her embarrassment since she was the one to initiate this moment.
"It's an involuntary answer…" John mindlessly said, eyes locked on a single place.
Seeing his expression, Hope quietly chuckled as she reached out her hands, holding him by the cheeks and lifting his head.
When she did so, John's eyes involuntarily moved to her face. Still, they kept moving between her face and chest, with John doing his best to focus on Hope's next words.
"Are you still bothered by those problems?"
"Problems? What problems?" John moved his hands, placing them around her waist. "Right now, I am in Heaven. What problems could I be facing in Paradise?" He muttered, bringing himself closer to her.
The tip of their noses touched and Hope laced her arms around his neck, with a few inches separating their lips from connecting.
When about to indulge in her supple, warm lips, Hope stopped him by placing a finger between them, making him look up into her eyes.
Having his attention, Hope put her finger away and tenderly caressed his cheek. "Only that is off-limits today. I… I want it to be special. I'm not saying it wouldn't be special at any moment with you, I'm just–"
"I get it, Hope." John gently interrupted her, touching their foreheads. "If that's your wish, I will not go against it. Whenever you are ready and I am ready, we can have our moment. Damned shall I be if I ask anything from you when you already give me everything I could ask and more in a girlfriend."
His words brought a smile full of affection to bloom on Hope's lips. She tightened her grip around him and brought him closer. "Then, make sure both of us enjoy this night."
"I will…" John muttered, with him leaning forward to capture Hope's lips and indulge himself in pleasure.
[Scene Break]
As he walked through the corridors and hallways of the school, a small smile was stamped on John's expression the entire time.
Since he had a small dagger on his hand, with him constantly swinging it around in a playful manner, his fellow students and some professors looked at him strangely, and even a little bit afraid when they saw him smiling while playing with a pointy object.
Entering the library, John looked around and noticed a couple people around, some who made his smile wide even more – even if not for the most honorable reasons.
"Hello, Penelope."
"Tsk, what do you want?" Penelope asked, not turning around to greet the young man. "Don't you see I am busy?" She said, storing a book on one of the shelves.
"Of course I do." John leaned against the nearest table, observing the young witch working. "After all, I was the one who chose this as your punishment; something you should be grateful for considering what you did."
Penelope turned around abruptly, giving him a hateful stare. "Didn't you explode a couple windows of the school a few days ago? How the fuck were you not punished for it?"
"I paid to repair it. The same can't be done for what you did."
"What did Penelope do?"
Looking to the side, John and Penelope noticed someone quite close to where they were. To be honest, John had noticed him sooner but the same couldn't be said about Penelope, a witch with no enhanced senses.
With a frown on her forehead, Penelope bit her lower lip. "Nothing you need to know, Wade. Now, get out of here before I turn your clothes into water and make you run back naked and soaked to your room."
"I'm going." Wade didn't dare go against her orders and immediately ran away, knowing Penelope had the guts to do as she said.
As the chubby young man distanced himself from them, a sparkle of curiosity twinkled in John's eyes. Interesting.
"Why did you come here?" Penelope put a couple books aside, then she crossed her arms and stared at the young man. "Did you really just come here to pester or make fun of me?"
"I would never make fun of you for doing such an honorable job." John sincerely said. But then, his expression shifted and his eyebrows rose as a result of a thought. "Okay, maybe I would if Dr. Saltzman followed along with everything I suggested for your punishment. You should thank him later, it's because of him you wouldn't wear the garment I thought for you to use."
"Sure, I will. I have no idea what you prepared for me, but I would probably choose to kill myself instead of using it, so I really must thank him." Penelope said in her usual exaggerated behavior.
Her words brought a short chuckle from John, making him push himself off the table. "Okay, I will be a little more serious now. How are you going through your punishment?"
Instead of lashing out at him with words, Penelope sighed tiredly before pulling up the chair next to John to sit down. "Not as bad as I expected when I was called to Headmaster Saltzman's office. But God, how infuriating it is."
"You hate organizing a library that much?"
"Before this? No. But now? My urges when I see someone not correctly putting back the books they borrowed are to punch or break someone's legs." She mumbled, letting her head rest on the table. "You are one of the few who doesn't make it worse."
"You are welcome." John looked down at her, meeting her eyes locked on him.
Letting a sigh of tiredness escape her lips, Penelope closed her eyes to rest them a little. "Why did you really come here, John?"
"No reason, really. I was just passing by when I noticed you. I just wanted to mess with you a little."
"Did you already have your fun then?"
"Just a little, not enough to make me go yet."
"URGH!" Penelope groaned against the table, asking herself what she did to have such a fate.
Her reaction drew a humorous snort from John. He pushed himself off the table and reached out his hand towards her. "Okay, okay, I will be going now. But, I'll be back to mess with you later." He said, messing with her hair much to Penelope's chagrin.
She quickly lifted herself off the table and waved her arms around. "Get off me, you fucker!"
John laughed heartily as he walked away from Penelope.
Left alone, Penelope fixed her hair with a crunched nose as she observed the distancing figure of the young man. How can he be so infuriating? She ruffed, looking around the library to see if there was more work for her.
However, when she noticed Dorian's amused expression when looking at her, she couldn't help but frown. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing." Dorian shook his head, ignoring her lack of respect for her professor. "I just didn't know you and John were friends."
"We are not." Penelope strongly denied the idea, rising up to her feet.
Dorian sent a doubtful look at her direction. "Are you sure? It didn't seem so."
"I am sure." Penelope walked to another table and grabbed a couple books left on it. "He just likes to mess with me for some reason I still do not understand. We don't have that kind of relationship between us." She said, moving towards the bookshelves the books in her hands should be placed back.
Quietly observing her, Dorian shrugged his shoulders and decided to go back to his work as well. However, he didn't forget to tell Penelope what he thought of the interaction between her and the young man.
"In my humble opinion, which might not be worth much to you, people only mess with each other in ways like that when they have a bit of a favourable opinion of you; or at least when they don't dislike you." Dorian stood under the library's entrance, about to walk back to the school's archives. "If you don't really like it, just say that to him and I'm sure John won't bother you anymore. But, if you wish to befriend him – even if only a little bit – I'm sure John wouldn't be against the idea." Having said that, Dorian left the library to Penelope alone.
Indulging in the silence of the library, Penelope tried to ignore the words from her professor and continued on her punishment of organizing the books in the library.
However, because she had nothing else to think of, Penelope couldn't resist the thought invading her mind. Half-way through putting back a book on the top of the shelf, she stopped and quietly muttered her opinion on the matter. "Being friends with that guy…?"
As she imagined the possibility, Penelope unconsciously loosened her grip on the book she was lifting and accidentally let it fall.
Thud!
Feeling the impact upon her head, Penelope immediately let the rest of the books in her hands fall as she covered the top of her head.
"Fuck…!" She cursed under her breath. She bit her inner lip to hold the urge to scream, an urge which originated much more out of anger than for the pain from the accident.
Just as Penelope was dealing with the pain, Josie walked right into the library, only to see the newest school's librarian and ex-girlfriend complaining about her life while on her knees.
When their eyes met, a bit of awkwardness laced around the library's silence as they stared at each other for a moment and unaware of what they should do.
[Scene Break]
"Hey, Wade." John called out the boy a few meters in front of him.
Listening to someone calling his name, Wade instinctively turned around to see who the person was. When he saw John's figure waving at him, he was immediately surprised. After all, as far as he remembered, he and John had never shared a word before.
"John? H-hi. How are you?" Wade shyly said, waving back a little embarrassed.
Wade was always an introverted, timid guy that rarely talked with anyone at the school. Not because he didn't try to interact with other students, to be honest. Wade tried to make friends, he really did. However, he still had to find someone in the school who shared the same interests as him. That was something that made him spend most of the time in school alone, with someone who rarely talked to him.
Also, another reason people didn't try to befriend Wade was a small rumor going around since the day he enrolled in the school a few years ago.
Rumor that Wade himself started when he introduced himself as a Fae to some people he tried to befriend on his first week of school. From then on, anyone could imagine the life the boy would live in such an environment as a school.
That would explain why someone who had a school life like Wade would be surprised when another person suddenly greeted him out of their own choice.
He is very different from the actor who portrayed him on the show. He looks way younger than me despite our similar age. Seeing how timid the boy behaved, John offered him a comforting smile. "How have you been? Everything is all right?"
"Ah? Yes, yes. It is!" Wade nodded his head a few times, his chubby cheeks shaking a little. "And you?"
He reminds me of a Squirrel. John thought, keeping the noted similarities to himself. "I'm fine, thanks for asking." He calmly replied, finding a spot on the hall to sit down. "If you wouldn't mind, could I ask you something?"
"Sure, sure." Wade nodded once again, keeping himself up. "What would you want to know?"
"Before saying my question, I want to assure you I do not want you to think I am making fun of you. My question will be totally truthful and without malice, I promise that."
Despite John's words, Wade still put up a confused expression. "Okay…"
A bit of weariness was noticed in the boy's words by John, with him knowing Wade probably unconsciously took this tone due to what he lived in school. "Come on, sit down. Standing up all the time must be uncomfortable."
"Ah, okay." Wade found himself an empty chair and sat down on it, his eyes moving around the hall.
Maybe he was a bit too wary, for he was searching for people hiding nearby prepared for what might be a prank.
Fortunately to him, he would be wrong and just have a simple conversation with John.
"So, I heard you are a Fae, or more commonly known as a fairy." John said.
As soon as the word 'Fae' echoed in Wade's ears, his expression paled and he unconsciously cupped his hands together in an attempt to self-comfort himself.
It seemed that despite other students not overtly making fun of him, or at least moving out of their way to bully him because of it, Wade was still very conscious of the fact some of the students made fun of him because of how he introduced himself on his first day.
The entire process of Wade experiencing timidity and a tad of worry to anxiety and fear happened in slow motion to John's eyes.
It seems he is very perturbed by it. John straightened himself. "Wade, do you remember what I just said? I will be truthful and my questions are not to harm you. They are purely out of curiosity of something that I believe and nothing else."
Truth be told, John's initial words played almost no effect on Wade's condition. However, when the young chubby man listened to the ending words, his eyes were slowly drawn to John. "Believe…? Do you believe in me? That I…"
"I do, Wade. I believe that you are a Fae."
When these words reached Wade's ears, he felt like lightning struck him. Tears surged on the corner of his eyes, but he refused to let them roll down his cheeks when he firmly wiped them with the sleeves of his shirt. "I'm not crying…"
"I'm seeing nothing, buddy." John smirked, patiently waiting for Wade to compose himself before talking to him again.
Meanwhile, John's eyes discreetly changed, allowing him to see a little bit more of the world's hidden layers.
It doesn't seem like the affirmation of my belief on what he is has changed anything in him. John thought pensively, leaning his head on the back of his hand. Maybe the fact I already believed in it is the reason no further change was brought? The idea made John frown. I think I will have to ask someone to help me to confirm it.
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