Archive of Our Own ^beta

Fabian examined his jawline in the mirror, adjusting the collar of his white shirt. Right before a party, it isn't uncommon for someone to catch the young Seacaster checking himself out, but when Aelwyn strolled into his room and smirked at him from the reflection of the mirror, it made him very nervous for the slightest moment. It almost made Fabian mad at how confident she was. Just one indication that she was laughing at you, and not with you could make anyone self-conscious. She was pretty much everything Fabian wanted to be but couldn't bring himself to be in full. He glared at her playfully in the mirror. She didn't acknowledge it, only commented,

"Who are you dressing up for tonight, loverboy?".

Fabian rolled his eyes and turned to face her, watching her detach her crutches from her arms and collapse onto his large bed. She wore a satin gold dress, and she really did look stunning.

"Could ask you the same question, 'Wyn." He said, sitting down next to her to pull on his boots.

"Oh no one special, just the entire damn place." Fabian laughed. It wasn't a strange request, either. Aelwyn was just the type of person everyone finds themselves staring at. After a pause, she added, "You didn't answer my question by the way." He knew, as much as she knew the answer, she would just love to hear him say it.

"Lord, Aelwyn, how many times am I going to tell you that I'm not going to tell you?" He said, pulling a tie over his neck.

"Until you admit that it's definitely the Barkrock boy." She comments, pulling herself upright and next to him, grabbing the two sides of the tie and beginning to tie it. Fabian had to try his very hardest to not turn as red as the accents on his suit.

"You're insane, Aelwyn. H-He's my best friend, I don't like him like that." Fabian sharply replied, wincing as she purposefully pulls the tie too tight. Aelwyn pulls him by his tie and gets in Fabian's face and smiles as he begins to crack and blush, "Ha! I knew it. It's bull. You're bull." Fabian pulls away and frowns, not daring to begin another argument. He knows she's right, and of course, Aelwyn knows she's right. Fabian swallows hard as he prepares to see Ragh tonight. The stress lessened slightly as he realized as soon as he could be alone with Aelwyn he could rant about every slight movement the gorgeous boy made. Aelwyn grinned as she realized the same, and how much she could laugh at him. They both reconvened in the foyer of Seacaster Manor as Aelwyn's Unseen Servants finish decorating. They both grinned at each other, admiring each other's outfits, already knowing they'll be the hottest couple there.

Of course, they weren't actually dating, they're both disgusted by the idea in fact, but when even Adaine was referring to them as a couple they figured it was too late to deny the idea. Fabian didn't realize he was gay at the beginning of their "relationship" and was very happy at the idea of dating Aelwyn seriously. But that quickly faded when he realized he had no real attraction to Aelwyn, and Aelwyn already knew the same. They loved acting like a fake couple, it was the funniest thing in the world for both of them, and they both had no desire to end it, although the thought of seriously dating another person was always very tempting.

Fabian heard the doorbell ring and dashed toward the door with a bouquet of flowers in his hands and a mischievous grin on his face. After two and a half years of friendship, Fabian, along with Fig, Kristen, and half the school, had finally convinced Adaine to throw a giant sweet-sixteen party after coming home from saving the world, again. Fabian answered the door to see Adaine glaring at him

"How did you convince me to do this, again?" She said, miserably pushing past him into the house. As Fabian began to follow her and explain the story, Fig ran in after them and dragged her away to finish her makeup. Seacaster Manor's foyer was completely transformed, ready to fill the legions of people that Fabian and Fig combined to invite. Fabian could admit that he felt slightly bad for forcing Adaine to have a party but assured her, and himself, that she would have a good time.

The rest of Mordred Manor soon piled into the house, Ayda, Tracker, Kristen, and most importantly to Fabian, Ragh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~RAGHS POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fig and Adaine barged into Ragh's room in the early hour of the morning via their secret hallway between their rooms to get themselves, and him ready. Ragh had barely been able to sleep he was so excited.

"If I'm going to be forced to go to this party, I'm going to at least want to watch a killer makeover." Adaine opened, pulling the secret door to Ragh's room open. Ragh smile and spun to face her in his desk chair.

"Oh cheer up 'Dine! It'll be fun! You love parties!" Ragh said, jumping up and pulling Adaine into a big side hug.

"Ragh, you're confusing me with my sister, again." Adaine added folding her arms and sitting on his bed.

"Well, you'll learn to love parties." Fig commented, bursting into the room with Ayda in tow, hands filled with makeup supplies, and all the many outfits she'd planned for herself, her sister, her girlfriend, and Ragh. God, it's like sometimes she reads his mind. Tracker and Kristen arrived shortly after, and they all were piled into Ragh's small room, running around preparing for the party. Ragh's desk had been transformed into the makeup station, and his workout equipment had become a rack for all the clothing.

Ragh didn't mind, in fact, it put a big smile on his face. It reminded him of when he was younger, and all of his mom's friends would come over and help out with stuff his mom had trouble doing. And his favorite part began when Ayda, who was putting on her suit jacket, turned to Ragh and asked, "It's so uncommon for you to want to dress up so extravagantly, what caused you to want to dress up for today? Is it just the occasion?" "Yeah, Ragh! Is there finally a special someone?" Adaine added, before being shut up by Fig, who was finishing her makeup. Ragh couldn't help but give them a little hint, "Wellllll," he said quietly, trailing off. He grinned at the immediately following chorus of excited, shocked screaming. Even Adaine and Ayda seemed excited although the screaming majority came from Fig and Kristen. "Who?! I need a name, Ragh!" Kristen shouted, running in from the bathroom. "He's not even someone, yet, but you know him. He'll be there tonight." He grinned as all the girls theorized about who it could possibly be. They actually ended up getting it right fairly quickly, but Ragh was able to throw them all off the trail. All except for Ayda. As they were all going to leave, Ayda cast a spell that allowed the two of them to speak without anyone hearing.

"You know Ragh, although I have trouble with subtext, I am very good at understanding facial expressions, and when Fig was listing off possibilities for your "crush", I saw your face change when she brought up one Fabian Seacaster. If I am mistaken, please feel free to let me know, but am I correct in the assumption that he is the man you've had your eye on?" She said, walking at pace next to him, staring forward as they walked out to the car that was waiting for them by the sidewalk in front of Mordred Manor.

Ragh smiled at the mention of Fabian and looked up at Ayda. "Has anyone ever told you that you're very intimidating?" He didn't respond to Ayda's question, because he figured she already knew the answer.

Ayda broke out in a wide grin, "Yes, people tell me that often. That was my intention." She said, seemingly quite glad to have come across as she wanted

"Well, you're right. I'm really into Fabian." Ragh admitted, looking down at the floor, despite how hot his face became.

"Well, consider me your wing-woman for tonight. Your secret is safe with me, Ragh." Ayda said, leaning down slightly to meet his gaze with a comforting smile.

"I appreciate that Ayda, but he's taken, really. He's head over heels for Aelwyn." Ragh said glumly. Ayda just cracked up, for a while actually, and Ragh couldn't understand.

"What's so funny?" Ragh said, with an angry look on his face. Ayda wiped a fiery tear from her eye and coughed. "Oh, goodness. It's nothing, Fig just taught me that queer people have a knack for knowing when someone else is." She trailed off. "Oh, forget it." She said, with a small smile on her face.

They arrived at the party right before it got into full swing. Ragh was chatting with Ayda as they walked into Seacaster Manor. He looked up to examine the decorations Fabian probably spent a small fortune on and saw the man himself standing at the top of the stairs with Aelwyn and Adaine. Ragh thought he could faint, but Ayda put a tender hand on his shoulder.

Damn.

Just... damn.