Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

⋆｡°✩ aiden’s pov

Another day, another argument with his parents. Aiden was this close to losing it. What the hell did his parents want him to do? They barely acknowledge him for two weeks and then berate him for being “too distant”. On top of that, it’s one of those arguments in which it gets heated to the point he’s kicked out of the house until the next day.

Fine then. He’d find some spot in the trees to stay at, then sneak into the house later. At least it wasn’t winter.

Except he’d made maybe… one or two wrong turns, leading him to the river. To be honest, Aiden wasn’t complaining; the way the sun hit the water made it glimmer, offering a pretty sight.

What was less of a pretty sight?

The presence of another boy, around his age, sitting on the edge of the shore, reading a book. Observing him from the edge of the treeline, he noticed that he had warm, blonde hair and was wearing a striped shirt (not his style, but… eh). Aiden was pretty sure he’d seen him somewhere, likely around the town. However, he didn’t know his name.

That didn’t really matter - he’d just sneak away, as the boy seemed too engrossed in his book to have noticed him.

He’d just started walking away when a voice rang out.

“Is someone over there?”

Aiden froze, one foot stepped forward toward the rest of the woods. Turning back, he saw that the blonde kid had looked up and swivelled around, seemingly staring right at him. Whether or not he could actually see him was unknown to him.

Well, he thought resignedly, a conversation won’t hurt. Right?

He stepped back into the open. “…hey.”

⋆｡°✩ lukas’ pov

So someone had been watching him. Some brown-haired boy in a green shirt he vaguely remembered seeing at school before.

“Hey,” he replied, closing his book. “You, uh, wanna sit down? There’s a… lot of shore, and not a lot of… well, me.”

Lukas had a feeling the other would just turn and run back into the trees, but, to his surprise, the boy walked over to him. He sat down, chucking a bag onto the grass right beside him.

Extending a hand to him, he cleared his throat. “Name’s Lukas. What’s yours?”

“…Aiden,” the other replied, taking the hand and shaking it.

Lukas smiled. “Nice to meet you. You uhh… come here often?” he questioned.

“No, not really,” Aiden conceded, running a hand through his hair. Now that Lukas had had a closer look, he noticed that it had a colour similar to chocolate. Damn it, Lukas, stop thinking about food! “I generally just… run around in the woods. Not by the river.”

Lukas chuckled, letting go of his hand and folding them neatly on top of his book. “So… are you a… homeless forest-dweller who lives off of nuts and murdered bunnies?”

Aiden’s mouth dropped open, seemingly offended. “What?! No, no no no I am NOT a ‘homeless forest-dweller’ if that’s who you think I am.”

“Haha, yeah, just making sure.”

The two boys sat in silence for a little bit, watching the shimmering blue river crash up against the shore. It was a lovely day, really, Lukas thought, and he hoped that this “Aiden” guy could be his friend.

“It would be pretty cool if you did live in the forest, though. You could teach me about how to fight off mobs and stuff,” Lukas said conversationally, shifting so that he was angled towards him.

“I mean, I’ve got a stone sword. Nicked it from my parents,” Aiden offered, digging through his bag and pulling out the sword, showing it to Lukas. He grinned. “Pretty much new, I think.”

“Wow… that’s so cool!” Lukas exclaimed. “Wait, do your parents mind that you took it? If I stole anything from my parents, they’d chastise the living daylights out of me.”

⋆｡°✩ aiden’s pov

At the mention of his parents, Aiden’s grip on the sword tightened, his smile faltering slightly. “Ah… no, it’s fine,” he replied quickly, tucking the sword back into the bag, putting his smirk back up. “They have like… five of these.”

Lukas frowned. “You okay?” he asked.

“What? Yeah, fine.” He shrugged, trying to appear unbothered, pulling his legs in a little.

“… really, now.” He narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at Aiden.

The other rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh. He put his elbows on his knees and propped his head up with a hand, turning to stare out at the river. Then he said, “I got in a fight with them earlier, so… now, I’m just hanging around in the woods, waiting for tomorrow.”

“Riveting, I know,” he added.

“You’re not going home at all until tomorrow?” Lukas asked incredulously. “Aiden, I have no idea what your self-defence capabilities are, but staying in the forest overnight is probably not the best idea in the world.”

“…I have a sword.”

“Uh huh. And what if you get attacked by a… a thousand… a thousand baby zombies?” Lukas questioned.

“I… what?” Aiden stared at him, a bewildered expression on his face. After a moment, the corner of his mouth twitched upward, as though threatening to become a smirk. The query was just so… random that it was funny. “In what scenario would a thousand baby zombies conveniently go to the specific location where I’m hiding out? And are there even that many in this area?”

Lukas paused. “I have no idea,” he finally admitted.

Aiden couldn’t seem to quell his amusement any longer— he snorted, flopping backwards so that he was lying on his back. Lukas chuckled too, holding a hand up to cover his mouth, slightly stifling the sound.

“Do you often ask questions that, theoretically, you would – well, should have the answer to?” Aiden gasped out between laughs.

“Hey, how am I supposed to know the exact population of baby zombies in this town?!”

Aiden stopped laughing for a fraction of a second before he started cackling again, putting his hands on his face. Lukas flopped down next to him, landing with a little oof, his mouth quirked up into a smile.

The two of them stayed there, laughing for a while, under the warm light of the sun. Thoughts of assignments that Lukas had to study for and worries about Aiden’s parents were forgotten, at least in that moment.

Maybe it was a pretty sight after all.

Chapter Text

⋆｡°✩ lukas’ pov

It had been a few months since Lukas had first met Aiden. They’d quickly realised that they had a lot in common; they disliked their parents, loved the same foods, went to the woods often, and absolutely despised this one hallway monitor at the elementary school.

It was winter now. The cosy orange and red leaves from the autumn had long since fallen from the trees, making way for glistening white snow to blanket Beacontown. The river had, miraculously, stayed liquid. How the winding body of water had slipped through the grasp of the cold was beyond Lukas.

Lukas didn’t press the matter of Aiden’s parents— it was clear that it was a touchy subject. However, he had gathered that they were wildly different from his parents, who were a bit too helicopter-y and kept pushing for him to do everything perfectly. Aiden’s parents mostly ignored him and yelled at him when they didn’t. Sure, Lukas’ parents would scold him sometimes, but it seemed that Aiden’s parents did it far more frequently.

He did notice that Aiden seemed a lot happier after spending time with Lukas.

The two had decided to build a tree house. It wasn’t just for Aiden to stay in when going home wasn’t a desirable thing; it was also for the two to hang out. Soon enough, it had turned into a hideout for them, complete with curtains made with old jeans, a large snack box tucked in the corner, blankets, and a few posters of the Order of the Stone.

Lukas’ favourite was Soren; his designs were so intricate and unique, and just… wow. He was also the leader of the Order and probably the most knowledgeable. He hoped that, one day, he’d meet him. Aiden apparently really liked Gabriel. Lukas could see why. They both had swords and likely enjoyed slaying mobs, and he seemed to be the most “out-there” member of the Order, so Aiden could learn a lot from him without having to spend tons of money for a keynote.

“Do you think Soren would make me his apprentice if I met him and, you know, proved my worth?” Lukas asked.

They were in the treehouse, cold wind sneaking through the gaps in the hatch. Lukas was in the middle of taping the windows shut so that they’d be a bit warmer, and Aiden was rifling through his homework folder. He shrugged.

“That’s if you can find him. If I meet Gabriel, I’ll ask him for you,” Aiden offered.

“Aww, you don’t have to do that!” Lukas smiled, scooting over to Aiden (the ceiling was too low for standing).

“I’m just such a nice guy. You should be thankful!” Aiden replied, nudging him.

“I am, I am,” Lukas chuckled, playfully shoving Aiden in return.

Aiden’s expression froze before he gave a slightly strained smile, looking away.

“Oh, shoot— sorry,” Lukas mumbled, quickly retracting his hand, pulling it to his chest. Internally freaking out, his mind flitted through several unpleasant thoughts. Did I upset him? Did I hurt him? Why am I SO inattentive?

They sat in awkward silence for a few seconds before Aiden stretched and continued searching through his folder. “Nah, don’t worry about it. I’m fine. Oh, sh—“

A crumpled piece of paper fluttered onto the floor in front of Lukas. He picked it up, about to give it to Aiden, when he saw the words Happy Birthday, Aiden! written on it in scribbly handwriting, complete with a green-and-white birthday cake sticker attached to it.

“Hey, did you just have a birthday?” he questioned, handing it to Aiden.

“Oh, um-“ he stammered.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?!” Lukas exclaimed.

“I didn’t want you to worry about getting me a gift or something, I-”

Lukas stared at Aiden. Hard. “I’m your friend, dummy. Of course I’m gonna get you something!”

He leaned on the wall, thinking. Aiden sat across from him, fidgeting with the corner of the folder. What would Aiden want, anyway? Probably not a book, since he didn’t seem like the reader type. Was there anything that would be useful?

Actually, there was. A sword.

Aiden had mentioned before that his favourite Order member was Gabriel, he had a stone sword, and seemed quite enthusiastic about killing mobs. And he was pretty sure that his parents had some iron ingots in a chest somewhere in the house, so getting Aiden an upgrade, fortunately, wouldn’t be insanely difficult. Lukas smiled to himself slightly.

“Hey, so, what exactly are you doing?” Aiden questioned, shaking him from his thoughts.

“Thinking?”

“Why?”

“That might be the silliest thing I’ve heard all day.”

“Oookay. Well, why-?”

“Because I am concocting a plan.”

“...Uh huh. Oh, um, speaking of day…” Aiden gestured to the window, where the light from outside was beginning to fade.

Lukas sighed. Of course, it was getting late already. “Right, right. Probably wouldn’t be great to get mauled to death by a zombie.”

The two started gathering their things; Lukas hastily shoved his book & quill, books, and water bottle into his bag, while Aiden stowed the Happy birthday! Note back into his folder, putting it in his bag as well. After tidying the tree house up some, Lukas shimmied over to the hatch and kicked it open, placing his foot on the nearest rung. Aiden watched as he began to descend the ladder.

“So… wanna meet up tomorrow? Around… one? That’s when my parents are out,” Aiden suggested, beginning his own climb down.

Lukas, observing the other, replied, “Yeah, sounds good.”

The two started down the snow-covered path, talking occasionally. After several minutes, with Lukas falling to the snowy ground too many times to count, they got to central Beacontown, where they parted ways. Aiden began travelling towards the heart of the city while Lukas headed to a more dispersed area where his house was.

When he finally arrived on the porch, he was given the usual “it’s-not-safe-to-be-outside-after-dark” talk by his dad. He nodded, shrugged off his coat, and started up the stairs to his room. Once inside, he hurried to his desk and grabbed a sheet of paper, intending on writing out a plan for Aiden’s birthday celebration.

First, the iron sword – easy enough to make; all he had to do was ask his parents for two iron ingots, and he already had a stick. Then, a cake. Or a pie. Or a cookie. He wasn’t entirely sure how to make the first two options…

For thirty minutes, Lukas sat there, jotting down his ideas. By the time he flopped down onto his bed, the paper was littered with little notes and sketches that definitely would not make sense the next morning. But that was a later issue.

Chapter Text

hey there!

i was super busy studying for midterms and other stuff recently and couldn’t find time to write a chapter i deemed good. however… midterms are over!!! so, more time to continue this.

new chapter in 14 hours maybe

Chapter Text

⋆｡°✩ aiden’s pov

“…and know he knows about my birthday!” Aiden finished.

Gill tilted his head. They were “studying” in the library, though the only thing Aiden had done was complain about how Lukas had found out about his birthday.

“Well, there’s not much you can do about it now,” Gill reasoned. “Besides, you’ve been hanging around with Lukas for a while, yeah?”

Aiden nodded, picking up his pen and twirling it idly as he listened to his friend.

“Okay. You’ve known him for months, so he’s not exactly a stranger. And, from what you’ve told me about him, he seems like a nice guy who’s really friends with you. So, it’s fine for him to know your birthday and get you a gift.” Gill set his mouth into a line, shrugging. “It’s still up to you, but that’s just my opinion.”

“Well, clearly, we don’t have the same opinions,” Aiden snapped, but his expression morphed into a grimace after a moment, dropping his pen onto the table and putting his face in his hands. “Look, I just- don’t want him to get me something that’s too much, you know? Like, if he gets me some… some ticket to one of Gabriel’s seminars or whatever, I’ll slap him.”

Gill couldn’t help but laugh. “Greaaat. One, don’t slap him, and two, we’re a bunch of fifteen-year-olds with twelve dollars in our pockets. I doubt he has the money to buy a ticket.”

Aiden let out an amused breath, crossing his arms. “Fine.”

“Basically, just let him get you something. Yeah? You could do with some more stuff, ya know?”

Aiden nodded. 

Gill turned his attention to the still-unfinished assignments strewn across the library table. He sighed, begrudgingly grabbing his pencil. “Anyways… birthday talk aside, we probably should do the homework.”

Huffing, Aiden picked up his pen as well, looking as though he wanted to be anywhere else.

———

“When the hell would we EVER write a book report in real life?!” Aiden burst out after rewriting a sentence for the ninth time.

The librarian gave him a severe look. He huffed and continued quietly. “This is so stupid.”

Gill had abandoned his own book report and had taken to skimming through the books lining the countless shelves. “Exactly. Obviously, not everyone’s going to be a journalist or… writer, or whatever.”

Aiden gestured a hand vaguely in Gill’s direction as if trying to back his claim for an imaginary audience. Setting down his report for the final time that afternoon, he shoved it into his binder, which he chucked back into his backpack.

Gill glanced over at him, in the middle of skimming through a book he’d found (The Farlands: A Completely Incomprehensible Guide). “Are you heading home already?” he asked.

“Oh, um. Yeah,” Aiden replied. He zipped up the bag, swinging it over his shoulder. “Got some stuff to do.” His statement was only a half-lie; he wasn’t going home, but he did need to finish his bucketload of homework somewhere not under the watchful eye of the librarian.

“Mhm. I probably should as well.” Gill nodded, as though confirming his own words, moving to shuffle his papers into a pile, then stuffing them into his own bag.

“You just want to go play Muper Sario with Maya,” he said, unimpressed.

“Do NOT! I have very important things to do!” Gill protested.

“Shut up Gill!” Aiden smirked, punching him lightly and turning to walk away.

“Accept the gifts if Lukas gives you something!” Gill called, earning a reproachful “Ahem!” from the librarian as he went in the other direction.

Aiden rolled his eyes, shaking his head. He would, of course, do exactly that, but he didn’t plan on admitting that to Gill.

At the library exit, he paused; should he go home or just wander around Beacontown? To be honest, it was far too chilly to stroll comfortably, but the atmosphere in the house would be even more frigid.

He resolved to stay at the treehouse, since he still had some assignments to finish. But before he could get very far down the hallway, someone came barreling into him.

“Hey! Watch where you’re-“ He faltered slightly, seeing that it was Lukas. “Oh, hey.”

Lukas stood, brushing off his coat and running a hand through his hair. “Oh, aether. Sorry, Aiden, didn’t see you!”

“You’re good. Why are you in such a rush…?”

“Absolutely no reason meet me at the treehouse on Friday at five okay see you!”

With that, Lukas sped away, the exit door slamming closed behind him. Aiden stared after him, then scoffed. “Right.” He watched Lukas’s receding figure for a second longer than he meant to, before shoving his hands into his pockets and walking away.

⋆｡°✩ lukas’ pov

“Lukas Björklund, what exactly are you doing?”

Lukas jumped as the light to the storage room beamed on, hitting his head on a shelf. A few cookies and some iron ingots fell back into the chest. His mother stood in the doorway, a stern expression on her face.

Rubbing the back of his head, he straightened, turning to face her. “I was just-“

“-stealing from the storage room?” his mother finished. She glided over to where Lukas was, observing the ingots and cookies that had fallen back into the chest. “Are you planning on crafting something?”

“Oh! Actually, yes. A friend of mine just had a birthday, and I thought I’d get them a gift.”

“Why are the cookies in the same chest as the iron…” she muttered. Then, “You do know that your father and I are perfectly fine with you crafting things from the storage room?”

Lukas nodded.

“You do also know that we’d prefer if you told us that you were going to be taking stuff from the storage room?”

Lukas smiled sheepishly. “Yeah… sorry, Mom.”

She sighed. “Go make your gift. And remember to tell me next time.”

Lukas watched as his mother left, breathing a sigh of relief. He hadn’t expected to wriggle out of that without a reprimand, but there he was: free to go make Aiden’s sword.

———

Lukas took a slight deviation from his usual schedule that Thursday. Normally, during study hall, he would work on assignments he hadn’t finished in class, or would find a sunny area to eat a snack.

Instead, he went straight past the library and exited the building, heading to the tree line at the edge of the playground, where a group of eleven-year-olds were chasing each other with wooden swords. There, he sat down, taking out paper and a pencil. He was intent on writing something that would make up for the belated celebration.

While Lukas jotted down ideas and wrote a few rough drafts, he thought about what he could do to decorate the treehouse for the intended surprise party. He would’ve gotten fireworks, but that 1.) would’ve caused a fire and 2.) he didn’t have any (surprisingly). In the end, he supposed that just some green paper streamers would do.

Finally, he ended up with a draft he deemed good enough for Aiden. It read:

Dear Aiden,

Happy birthday! I can’t believe you beat me to sixteen by a month! My birthday’s in February.

Thank you for being my friend. It’s been a nice few months — if you hadn’t gone and talked to me that day by the river, I’d probably be sitting on my bed with my nose in a book; it’s what I always do when there’s no one to run around with.

You’ve continuously proven to be one of the best people I know, and I hope my gifts reflect my admiration. I hope we can stay friends for a really long time! You’re amazing.

-Lukas

P.S. - One day, when I’m rich, I’ll get some tickets for Gabriel’s keynote. One for you, me. Gill, and Maya. But… still broke. Sorry, haha!

Satisfied, Lukas folded the card over and slipped it into his backpack. For a moment, he stared at the bag, wondering if he’d overdone the card, but sighed, swinging it over his shoulder as he headed back into the school building. 

One more class, he reminded himself. One more class, then go to the treehouse.

———

The walk to the treehouse was as treacherous as it had been for the past few months. Contrary to prior years, snow still littered the pathways. Lukas suspected that this was a combination of both the generally cold temperature and the horde of snow golems from last week. On the path, he slipped, falling forward and backward at least twice in what he was sure was a repeated comical display of his inability to balance.

But, after several minutes, he grabbed onto the bottom rung of the ladder, making his way up to the trapdoor. He frowned as the leaves cleared, noticing that the lights were already on. Had Aiden decided to go to the treehouse that afternoon? He wasn’t exactly surprised, but it would mess up his plan of decorating it.

It wasn’t Aiden who he saw in the treehouse; it was that guy named Gill. He didn’t know him that well, seeing as he’d only spoken to him a few times, but he knew that he was one of Aiden’s good friends.

“Hey, Gill!” he said, scooting away from the trapdoor and kicking it shut.

Gill jumped and turned around, holding a handful of what seemed to be paper stars. Upon seeing Lukas, he let out a sigh of relief. “Lukas, you scared me! Thought you were Aiden for a sec.”

“Well, there’s not a single brown hair on my head, so you don’t have to worry,” Lukas replied, throwing his coat into a corner. He took a second glance at Gill and, noticing what was in his hand, said, “You planning a party too?”

“Yeah. I really only gave him a card after dueling practice last Friday, so I thought that maybe doing something extra would be nice.” Gill cut some strips of tape and stuck them and the stars to the wall as he spoke. “You wouldn’t tell him, would you?”

“Nah.” Rummaging through his backpack, he pulled out the paper streamers he’d hastily made from a tattered book & quill he’d found in a dusty drawer. “I was thinking about doing the same thing, actually. Mind if I join the decorating?”

Gill shrugged as if to say Why not?, and shifted closer to the window to let Lukas tape things himself. “Well, with our combined efforts, this party will be…” He paused. “Uh… twice as good. Right?”

“Right.”

The two continued taping decorations throughout the treehouse, occasionally moving items so as to make it look more spread out. Once all of the paper decor had been used, Lukas placed down a wooden slab to act as a table, and Gill threw a purple wool blanket over it as a tablecloth.

“Purple?” Lukas asked.

“It’s a good color,” Gill replied.

“Yeah. It’s one of my favorites, actually.”

“Wellllll, for your birthday, I’ll get you something purple, eh?”

“That’d be nice! Hey, what’s your favorite?”

“It’s kind of boring,” Gill admitted. “Grey. Well, greyscale, anyway.”

“Hm.” Lukas smiled. “Greyscale for Gill. I’ll remember that!”

Just as the sun had started to set and the daylight sensor lamps came on, the two decided to call it a day on decorating and agreed to come back for the surprise party the next day. Lukas headed down the path that would lead to the center of Beacontown and, eventually, his house, while Gill proceeded a little further into the forest. Lukas wondered if he and his family lived in a cottage somewhere within the trees, deciding that, when he had enough diamonds, he would get a nice cottage for himself and a future cat.

Chapter Text

Hello hello hello… Ch 4 is almost done! I haven’t had much motivation to write lately, but I’m practically finished. Expect it in a short while (a few days?)

If anyone is reading this, sorry haha

Chapter Text

⋆｡°✩ aiden’s pov

Aiden got out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He felt like absolute crap, likely because he’d slept late, too engrossed in his sketchbook. A barrel. His water bottle. And Lukas… He grimaced. He had been sketching last night, half-asleep and not really thinking.

When he woke up, his sketchbook splayed open on the floor. Inside, he found a drawing of Lukas. Not just a doodle, an actual, detailed picture. He slammed it close faster than necessary. Did other people ever just draw their friends? He wasn’t sure. He’d only drawn Gill before, but that was only because he’d asked.

There wasn’t much time to wallow in his thoughts before school, so he quickly went about getting ready. Aiden went to the bathroom, putting on a nice-ish outfit to make him feel better about the day: a green top with buttons that looked weirdly similar to Magnus’s trademark outfit, a black jacket, and grey slacks. After a half-hearted (and failed) attempt to fix his hair, he grabbed his backpack, went downstairs, and slipped quietly out of the house.

For January, it was warm, which he measured solely by the fact that the lake wasn’t frozen. Usually, Frost Walker boots were rendered completely pointless at this time of year, but some people were skating around in them. Even so, he still tried to pick out the path with the least ice, hopping from footprint to footprint.

About a block away from the school, someone emerged from a path to his right, falling into step beside him. It was Maya, a friend of his and Gill’s (probably Gill’s girlfriend, though neither of them had actually said it).

“Yo,” she said, pulling her hair out of the ponytail, letting it flop down in a messy brown cascade on her shoulders.

“Hey, Maya. You don’t usually go this path,” he noticed. He hadn’t ever seen Maya in the mornings, but it was likely that they had just never crossed paths.

She shrugged. “I do. Well, sometimes. Only if the regular routes are, like, completely covered in snow.”

“Snow golems done it this time?” he guessed.

Maya nodded, simultaneously pulling him off the current path, as he’d gone down the wrong part of the fork. He stumbled a little before straightening himself and continuing to walk.

“Hey, you know what Gill’s been up to? I didn’t see him at all after school.”

“No, that’s a good question. Haven’t seen him or Lukas for a bit.”

Maya’s eyebrows raised. “That’s that… blond guy, right?” she guessed.

“Yep,” Aiden replied.

“You gotta introduce me to him. Lunch, yeah? I’ve never spoken a word to ‘im.”

He shrugged. “I’ll try and pull him over.”

Maya gave him a thumbs up as they entered the school building, almost running straight into the “nerd group,” as Gill had dubbed them: Olivia, Axel, and Jesse. She stepped to the side, with Aiden following suit. He’d heard Maya mention before that she didn’t think much of them, only that their fashion sense was nonexistent. “Who the hell wears suspenders anymore?” she said once.

“I’ve got dueling practice.” Maya paused by the entrance to a side hallway. “Sooo… see you at lunch.”

Aiden watched her stride away, then remembered that he had class as well: Mob Anatomy. He hoped that he would make it before the teacher marked him tardy…

Luckily, he slipped into the classroom with two minutes to spare, taking his usual seat near the window. Gill was missing. Either he was just late, or he wasn’t at school. Either scenario was equally likely, considering his friend’s track record.

After taking too many shoddy notes on the inner workings of a creeper for an hour, Aiden concluded that Gill was simply absent. The teacher dismissed the students a few minutes later, allowing a stream of impatient teenagers into the hallway. Aiden pushed and weaved his way through the crowd, aiming to get to dueling practice.

Fridays were always the funnest day of the week for dueling, as their instructor would let the students bring their own weapons at home, provided that they weren’t above iron class (no accidental murders, thank you!) or had enchantments. Naturally, Aiden would bring his stone sword in those days, since he simply could not handle the wooden ones. Whose idea was it to make them so small?

———

“Lukas, that’s not how you hold a bow,” he pointed out for the hundredth time.

Aiden drove his sword into a dummy and walked over to his friend, who was hastily trying to fix his hold on the weapon. He rolled his eyes exasperatedly as Lukas fumbled with the bow, frowning at it.

“As I said, I have no idea how to do this,” he complained, accidentally scraping himself on the string and dropping the bow entirely. It clattered to the floor with a pitiful thud.

Aiden gave him a look of bewilderment. “We’ve done this for three years…”

Lukas shrugged. “Well, how about you show me then, if you’re so good at dueling?”

Scoffing, Aiden went to stand by him, pointing at Lukas’s errors.

“Your arm’s too low. It should be pretty much by your chin. Your other arm is also a little bent. Don’t hold the arrow where it’s at the string, and tilt the bow so that it doesn’t get loose.”

Lukas narrowed his eyes. “Okay.” He attempted to fix it, managing to put his arms right, but his arrow dislodged and fell to the floor. “Oh, aether,” he sighed exasperatedly.

Aiden bent down and picked it up, deciding to nock it for Lukas, not entirely trusting him to do it himself. His hand lightly skimmed Lukas’s, causing him to tighten his grip on the string.

Aiden felt his cheeks go slightly red, embarrassed for somewhat freaking him out. He deftly ignored how his heart rate had sped up just then, and evenly said, “Don’t do that either, you might injure your arm while firing, and the arrow won’t land where you want it to.” 

Lukas laughed lightly, shaking the bow to try and get the arrow in place, relieving some of the intensity of his grip. “Like in a tree instead of one of the many thousands of baby zombies?”

The corner of Aiden’s mouth quirked up in a smirk. “Right. Let’s just hope neither of us has to encounter that nightmare.”

“Can’t imagine being in the Order, fighting that dragon,” Lukas commented, raising the bow. 

The arrow slipped slightly, making Aiden instinctively reach out with his left hand and adjust Lukas’s, the other hand tucked in his pocket. “Tilt the bow, yeah?”

The other groaned. “I’m more of a writer guy, not a let’s-fire-arrows-and-kill-a-creeper guy,” he lamented, pointing at the target.

“I can tell,” Aiden said, rolling his eyes, walking back to practice with his sword with what little class time they had left.

A few moments later, a whoop came from Lukas’s direction. Sword still lodged in the wool-and-fence dummy, Aiden looked over to find that his friend’s arrow had finally reached the target. Even though it wasn’t a bullseye, it was better than he expected from Lukas. Finally, he thought.

It was in that moment that he realized the delight that lit up in Lukas’s eyes when he achieved something, like landing an arrow. The sun filtering through the windows made his hair bright and gold, even on a winter day.

Aiden snapped himself out of his staring trance when Lukas walked over and hugged him.

“First time in fifteen years I hit a target. Thanks!”

Aiden awkwardly returned the hug, caught between slight triumph and discomfort. “No problem.”

A voice rang out through the dueling room. Of course, that loudmouthed Axel had to interrupt.

“Friendly reminder, there’s something called classes. Did you know that?”

“Buzz off, Axel,” Aiden replied, expression souring.

Lukas pulled away, a slight smile still on his face. “Well, if there’s such a thing as classes, why don’t we all get going?”

Axel rolled his eyes and left the dueling area, leaving just Aiden, Lukas, and the dozing instructor there.

“I mean, he is right,” Lukas admitted. “Come on! We’ve got World History.”

The two left without bothering to check on the teacher, heading down the hall. The mass of students was gone since they’d left a little later than usual. A few stragglers were still making their way to classes, but other than that, there was basically no one.

“Huh,” Lukas began, “it started raining.”

“It was bright a minute ago!” Aiden commented, surprised.

“Maybe it covered the sun just now? At least it wasn’t during Mob Anat. The windows are always closed, so I can never tell.”

“Guess it’s to protect you guys from Herobrine,” Lukas teased.

“That was a myth that came from elementary school and should stay in elementary school,” Aiden replied sourly, elbowing Lukas.

Lukas shrugged, following Aiden as he deviated to the left. “C’mon, History time,” he said.

“And then, lunch!” Lukas continued as he walked in.

———

While the freshmen and sophomores were always loud as a TNT explosion during lunch, the juniors and seniors were slightly more reserved, if only by a few decibels. Aiden and Lukas took their usual spot at the table by the Building wing, where most people wouldn’t come rushing through, save for the one class that always ends halfway through their lunch.

Maya came over a few minutes later, backpack slung over one shoulder and some new navy blue eyeshadow on, likely applied some time that morning.

“Maya!” Aiden said as she sat down, tossing her bag on the floor.

“Hey, Aiden!” She smirked, then turned to Lukas. “You’re Lukas, yeah?”

“Yeah! And I take it you’re Maya?” He extended a hand, which she stared at for a second before shaking it.

“Uh huh. So, tell me: what’s junior year like for you? I’ve heard all about Aiden’s take.”

Aiden racked his brains, trying to remember when he’d ever told Maya his thoughts on junior year. At least, the in-depth times. “When have I…?”

“Gill,” she answered. “Anyways.”

“Oh,” Lukas replied, in the process of taking his lunch out. “It’s… definitely harder than sophomore year. And, I hate Mob Anatomy. Hate. It.”

That makes two of us, Aiden thought.

“I thought that class was alright. Stupid, but the teacher was fine,” Maya said conversationally, taking out an apple.

Both boys gave her a bewildered look.

“What?” Aiden exclaimed.

“No way…” Lukas laughed.

“Unpopular opinion, got it,” Maya replied dryly, popping a piece of the apple into her mouth.

“Right. Anyways,” Lukas breathed out an amused sigh. “I like that we have some free time, so we can just… explore whatever.”

Maya nodded. Aiden broke apart the cookie he’d crafted and began eating, leaning against the brick wall.

“There’s a lot more time for me to read and write most days,” Lukas continued. “But I don’t really like dueling practice.”

“Solid,” Maya ceded.

“I’m just not that good at it. Y’know?”

“Oh, you bet. Should’ve seen me last year, I was absolute garbage!” Maya giggled.

The three laughed, then went back to talking. Aiden learned that Maya was, in fact, dating Gill (“We are, G’s just too much of a coward to admit it!”), she was concerningly good with the sword, Lukas had been writing about everything related to Beacontown since the summer, and he also had a baby ocelot named Dewey that he’d found just the day before.

“Hey… we should probably get to our last class,” Maya pointed out. “I don’t know about you, but I am not missing Crafting.”

Before either of them could say anything, she got up, stowed away her food, and started to walk away. “Tell me how the party goes!” she called, rounding the corner and disappearing out of sight.

“Party?” Aiden echoed skeptically.

“What.”

“What?”

“Never mind…”

———

Aiden stepped out into the foggy atmosphere of Beacontown after an exceedingly boring redstone lab. Nerdy stuff like that had never intrigued him, and the overenthusiasm of his lab partner, Olivia, had only worsened his mood.

The last of the snow golems had yet to be found, as a few trails of snow still blanketed the school’s lawn. Some of the younger students were engaged in a fierce snowball fight, which appeared to be a reenactment of the Order of the Stone’s battle against the Ender Dragon. He hazily remembered doing something similar at that age, though he couldn’t recall who or where he’d done it.

Proceeding down the path, he made his way to central Beacontown, where he purchased a loaf of bread with the gold he had left over. While he had already eaten lunch, redstone and Olivia’s ecstatic mood seemed to have emptied his stomach. 

Breaking off pieces of it to eat as he continued walking, Aiden passed through the area that would soon be the location of the annual Endercon building competition. He’d never cared much for it, but he thought about competing in it that year. In truth, he felt that his building had gotten a lot better, and with a competent team, it was definitely worth a shot.

Abruptly, he remembered that he had promised to meet Lukas at the treehouse. At five on Friday. Glancing at the clock tower, the next block over, he realized with a jolt that he had fifteen minutes to get there. While it wasn’t the biggest problem, he knew that the snow-and-slush-covered paths would make it difficult to get there on time.

Stuffing the mostly wrapped bread into his backpack, he hurried down the street towards the edge of the town and to the forest, nearly knocking a distracted Jesse to the ground, who gave a surprised squeak as they jumped back. Aiden, who usually would’ve gotten into a heated argument, merely cursed and yelled at them to watch where they were going, earning a retaliatory shout from Axel, which he ignored.

The route to the treehouse was mostly clear, which was a surprise, as he’d expected the residual snow to have merely settled and begun to ice over. Nearing the hideout, he saw a lantern light coming from the window. So Lukas was already there.

Climbing up the ladder, he pushed open the trapdoor, pulled himself in, and…

Was immediately greeted by a barrage of exclamations from a blond-headed person who turned out to be Lukas. Though he’d already expected him to be up there, he really hadn’t anticipated a storm of words. He made a mental note to record when Lukas took on the personality of a four-year-old.

“You came!”

As Lukas closed the trapdoor, he turned around and pulled Aiden into a quick hug, scooting back a few moments later when Aiden froze.

“Yeah, yeah. I did, why wouldn’t I?”

Sitting up, he looked around the treehouse, raising his eyebrows at the decorations: green and grey paper stars stuck on all the walls, strips of coloured parchment acting as streamers, and a platter of sweets set on a slab covered in a purple cloth.

“…what is all this?” he asked uncertainly, pushing his backpack to the side.

“My dear Aiden, this is what you call a surprise birthday party,” Lukas replied. He glanced at the platter and apologetically added, “I don’t know how to bake. Grabbed these from what I had.”

Aiden was, admittedly, still trying to comprehend what was happening. “This is for me,” he said slowly.

“Is that not obvious?!” Lukas rolled his eyes, tugging Aiden over to the “table.”

As he picked up a cookie, signaling to Aiden to do the same, he sighed. “I wasn’t able to get you a present on your actual birthday, so I’m doing this,” He motioned to the decorations, “to make up for it.”

Aiden frowned, breaking off a piece of a wafer to eat. “I don’t need this much, though…” he complained feebly.

“Aiden. Gill and I put all of our effort into this! Just… be happy for once!”

Aiden looked away. Had he not been able to hide the angrier part of him? The one that he was trying to reserve only for at home? He sighed. “What’s that supposed to mean, huh?”

Lukas paused. “Well, you look really annoyed a lot of the time. During dueling practice, especially.”

“...” He crumpled the tissue, pointedly not looking at him.

“I didn’t mean - that’s… that came out wrong. Sorry. I just… want you to like it.”

Aiden bit his lip.“A party hasn’t really been on my mind,” he confessed.

Lukas smiled. “Well, you have one now.”

They sat in silence for a bit, slowly shaving away at the pile of treats on the slab. Abruptly, Lukas sat straight up, reaching over to his bag and rummaging through it. At Aiden’s confused expression, he said,

“I got you a present! Two. But a present.”

Aiden watched as Lukas pulled out two parchment-wrapped items, which were pushed into his hands. At his friend’s look, he hesitantly pulled apart the packaging, an unsure smile playing on his lips.

One of them was a sword, and not just any sword. It was iron, the best easily obtainable weapon material. Pulling it out fully, he swung it around, surprised at how easy it was to handle. “Oh, wow, Lukas. You’ve… really outdone yourself with this!”

“There’s something else,” Lukas mentioned, pointing at the rectangular package still resting in Aiden’s lap.

He nodded, setting the sword down carefully and beginning to open the other gift. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting,  but a leather-bound sketchbook wasn’t high on the list. Though, in his opinion, it was really nice - nicer than the majority of novels he found in libraries and bookstores.

“I saw that you doodle things a lot,” Lukas explained, “so I decided to make a drawing book for-“

Aiden shifted over to him, arm raised slightly. To do what, he hadn’t decided. Pat him on the back? Grab his hand? He blanked, recognizing how weird it was for him to just be sitting there, arm up like a half-zombie. He then decided to do the first thing that came to mind: he hugged him. 

He paused after a moment, then pulled back, a little too quickly to pass as normal. Lukas looked slightly surprised, but a small smile was playing on his face. Aiden was sure that he was blushing, even by something so unimportant. Panicking slightly, he felt his heart rate pick up. What was that?

“Uh…” This is so stupid.

“It’s just a hug,” Lukas offered, seeing Aiden’s expression.

“Sorry- thank you for the gifts. They’re really nice. It means a lot, Lukas.”

“As long as you don’t kill me in dueling practice,” he joked.

“Haha, I won’t,” Aiden assured him, punching his arm. His gaze softened slightly. “Thanks. Really.”

“Anytime.”