Magic's Wonder

⚠️Warning This story contains Psychical Violence, Mental Health, Fluff, Cussing.⚠️

In the suffocating darkness of the closet, I huddled amidst a sea of forgotten shoes and musty coats. The air thick with the scent of aged wood and mothballs, and a dusty beam of weak light seeped through a crack in the closet door, painting a sliver of the space in an eerie glow. The muffled sounds of chaos outside infiltrated my sanctuary – the distant echoes of raised voices, the rhythm of hurried footsteps, and the sharp metallic clinks of something being knocked over. The acrid taste of fear lingered on my tongue, accompanied by the salty residue of unshed tears that clung to my cheeks. Hands clamped over my ears, attempting to block out the conflict unfolding beyond the closet walls, but the vibrations of the turmoil seeped through, resonating in the pit of my stomach. Time seemed suspended, and the closet became a sensory cocoon, wrapping me in a quilt of uncertainty and fear as the outside world continued its dance. 

The light turned from its soft warm yellow to a harsh turquoise, the sounds of pleas filled the air instead of sporadic yells. Peeking through the crack between the closet doors I’m met with a blinding light brought along with it a piercing sound leaving my ears ringing. Something warm drips from my ears coating my face with a sticky substance. What felt like snowflakes covered my body in patches. Slowly rising from my daze I struggle to see out the crack of the doors. Crawling over to the doors I push one open to see most of the room starkly white, a white form lying on the floor. Footprints in turquoise leave the room as if nothing happened. Opening my eyes I see the roof of my dorm room, water stains and all. Sitting up I look over at the mirror seeing the scars littering my arms, and parts peeking out from under my tank top.

“Another dream of the BlUe MaStEr?” My roommate asks me mocking me. Throwing my pillow at their head knocking them over into the sink. “Really man? You talked about this stranger for weeks when you started here. You only wake up late when you dream of him.” Standing up I pull my tank top off, getting ready for the day

“Turquoise,” I say, ”His magic was turquoise. You think I could forget that tragic accident?” Pulling my polo on before my school sweater. My pants hit my head as I heard the door close. 

‘Why can’t I get over him? He’s dead now, been dead for years.’ I pull my red buffalo plaid pants off pulling my ripped black jeans on, I never wear the school-issued pants. I grab my school bag when I see the mixed-eyed boy walking the path near the dorms. His eyes are said to be magic mixed, meaning he isn’t a human child or a mage child but both. My parents were both mages but I wasn’t blessed with the powers of a mage, essentially I was born human from mages. It is frowned upon to have a mixed child, they can either have more powerful magic or be so weak a simple spell from a child could kill them. Everyone avoids him because he’s mixed but I avoid him because he is the child of the Turquoise Magic user, but I still feel drawn to him. Opening the door to the classroom I see him sitting in my seat, taking a deep breath I walk over to him.

“You’re in my seat,” I say bluntly as he looks over in surprise.

“Says who? We pick our seats,” He's so smug about it that I feel like I’ll lose my cool on him. I kick the bottom of the chair with my foot repeatedly while keeping eye contact with him.  Losing my patience, I snarl at him, feeling my eyes change from their usual hazel eyes to an Icy blue. Monster’s call comes in handy sometimes. He stood up moving a couple of seats over before sitting again. I sit in my seat calming down for class. When the bell rings I go to stand up but feel my chair not move. Quinn is standing behind me looking me in the eyes, curiosity bubbles at the surface of them.

“What do you want? I have other classes.”

“Why are you hostile to everyone?” He asks, chuckling like an idiot. I watch his eyes, his left eye is pure amber brown while his other is a mix of green and blue. His eyes remind me of the Earth, beautiful but dangerous. I stare at him waiting to move, I never let anyone close to me because everything close to me was destroyed in the “Tragic Accident”. After staring at each other another minute he finally moves, grabbing my bag. I head out of the classroom and to my next class. When all of my classes finished for the day I headed to my dorm to see a note addressed to me.

‘Dear Ambrose, We unfortunately have to move you dorm buildings. Your current building needs construction done. You are expected to meet in the courtyard by 7 pm tonight.’ 

When I walk into the room I see my roommate running around like a madman packing super messily. I push them over as I walk to my dresser, pulling out my clothes and placing them on my bed. When I open the closet I see that it’s a mess, the only thing I ever put in the closet is my duffle bag. Fighting the mess I get my bag out placing my clothes before placing the few decorations I had in the bag as well.

“Good Luck,” I say as I leave the room. Walking down to the courtyard I see most of my classmates standing or sitting on their stuff waiting to know how this is going to work and where we will all be placed. When I saw the first teacher I was the first to reach them out of the other students who had questions. After about three minutes I finally got a chance to ask my question.

“Will this affect my dorm and living scholarship? I could only afford these dorms with it,” I ask, trying to be as least monotone as I could be. 

“No it won’t affect your scholarship, but you will have more roommates than you did, depending on where you are placed you could have 2 to 3 roommates, instead of one.” 

When I finally get checked in and find out who one of my roommates is, I notice Quinn’s name on my page.

‘Fffu-uck’

When the door opened I saw that only one bed was open, the one above Quinn.

“Look at who’s finally here! Now we can set rules and settle in,” one of the other roommates yelled, seeming irritated. Later in the night, I could hear Ben and Brody whispering about sharing a room with me. A lot of people know about my scholarships due to my parents’ deaths when I was young, but still not a reason to talk about me. I feel something touch my hand from the wall, pulling myself to see what it was. I notice fingers poking around. Rolling to the edge of the bed I drop my head down to only see the back of Quinn’s head. Poking the said head, I watch as he jumps and hits his head on the bunk.

“Ow. What the hell man?” Quinn whisper yells at me.

“Why are you bothering me? Can I try to sleep?” He stares at me like he knows I ain’t sleeping.

“Well I was going to tell you something but now I’m not,” he says, turning and pouting like a kid. I close my eyes and let a soft growl out as I get out of my bed and crawl into his, surprising him as he shifts over to make more room.

“What do you have to tell me?” I lean in getting close to his face, “Or are you trying to waste my time?”

“Just follow me,” he crawls around me, getting off the bed and opening the window. He reaches his hand out to me and I hesitantly take it. Pulling out onto the small balcony each room has, mainly for plants, he takes me up to the roof of our dorm building. “Just wait.”

After about an hour the main lights of the campus turn off, making the stars light up. The only lights on are ones of rooms that haven’t gone to sleep yet. This little ritual would become common, sometimes I would come onto the roof alone. The wind breathes along the sky, my hair moving softly across my face. 

“Wow.” I hear whispered from the roof’s edge. Looking over I see Quinn’s head poking out.

"What do you want?”

“Oh, we’re ordering some takeout. You want anything?”

“I can’t afford it, Dumbass, I’ll just get the school meal.”

“My treat,” He says, “You deserve something better than school food.”

“No.” Hours later when I come back to the dorm I see a to-go box, with a sticky on it.

‘Got you some finger food’

Rolling my eyes I crawl into my bunk. The next morning, I don’t see anyone in the dorm, looking over at the clock I see that it is already halfway through block B. 

“Shit!.” I start to sit up but get instantly dizzy. The room spins so fast that I close my eyes. The click of the door pulls at my attention.

“Fuck, I didn’t think you’d be awake by now.” Quinn’s voice carries through the room.

“What’s going on? Why am I so weak.” I whimper out trying not to cry.

“In the middle of the night, you broke out in a fever and woke me up when you were trying to cool off. You would have fallen off the balcony if I didn’t stop you.” Opening my eyes I look at him. Tears bubble at the corners of my eyes. Quinn rushes over helping me off my bunk. I sit on a stack of pillows and blankets by the window, he won’t let me sit outside. It’s not until around 3 pm that my dizziness clears up enough to see the nurse.

“According to Quinn, you broke out into a fever overnight?” She asks, not believing me.

“Yes, I don’t remember it. I don’t remember anything until I woke up this morning.” She lifts my head to shine her light in my eyes.

“You don't have a fever, your vitals are normal, you’re just dizzy now.” She writes in her notes before looking at me again.

“Have your scars been itchy? It could be another flair-up.” I sit there thinking about it. ‘They were itchy the other day’

“Not really, they itched for a little bit but that’s the common daily side effect.”

“I’m putting you on a short-term anti-itch medication, you can pick it up in the office.” Quinn is waiting in the hall, scrolling on his phone.

“Are you dying, Ambrose?”

“No,” I stare at the ground, “just a flair-up.”

“From what?” He cocks his head to the side. I look at him before he throws his hands up in surrender. When the sun set, I snuck my way to the roof. I pulled on my thicker hoodie, the hood being too big it draped over my head heavily. I sat on the roof, my mind wandering until I started to think about Quinn. 

‘His eyes always draw my attention, the warm flakes of bronze deep within the amber shades, the golden flakes in the green but fade into silver within the blues. The light dusting of freckles on his nose, his chestnut hair that holds rich chocolate to copper tones. Wait, why am I thinking about him?’ I feel heat travel to my cheeks, ‘There is no way that I have fallen for him, he's my enemy.’

I spend the rest of the day sitting on the roof thinking over everything about my life. Quinn pulls me out of my thoughts when he sits down next to me.

“What’s on your mind?” he asks softly, “No one has seen you for hours, the sun isn’t even up anymore.” Looking over at him I notice something I haven't before, his scar. It’s faint, a small delicate line from his lip to his chin. Without thinking I lay my head on his shoulder.  He looks down at me holding something I can’t name in his eyes. The last of the lights shut off making the stars shine, seeming to dance in the sky. Quinn looks back down at me giving a shit-eating grin. His amber eye glistens with the stars, the blue holding small flecks of amber within them close to the pupils showing humanity, in the day hidden by the bright lights. The green seems more of a gold in the night, something mysterious about the unnatural eye color reminds me of the beauty of magic. 

Looking at his lips as I slowly lean closer. His soft lips drag across mine as he moves. I open my eyes to see him looking away from me. I lift my head to hear him giggling. Letting a growl out I hook my finger around his jaw and pull his face to mine. Connecting our lips harshly I slowly crawl into his lap straddling him letting him hold my waist as he moves his head deepening the kiss, before breaking apart.

“Ambrose, you are such a wonderful creature,” pausing as he takes my lips again running his hand up my back under my tank, “Please don’t leave me alone,” he whispers against my lips. Tears start to drip down my cheeks, he cups my face with his hands and caresses my cheeks with his thumbs wiping my tears away. I break the kiss to continue crying, resting my head on Quinn’s shoulder holding a death grip on his shirt. 

“You idiot,” I sob out at him with a small chuckle.

In the morning, I get up early to avoid drawing attention to me being in Quinn’s bed instead of mine. I pull my tank off getting ready to put my polo on when fingers trace down my back following a scar here and there. His lips meet my neck before I push him off of me. I turn around to see Quinn half-dressed for the day.

“I didn’t wake you did I?”

“No, I usually get up early like this,” he says sarcastically. We walk to class together but split in the classroom, taking our seats as class starts. At the end of class, I go to stand up but feel my chair not move. Quinn is standing behind me looking me in the eyes, he looks around the classroom, he takes my lips in a quick peck before leaving the room.