Lander - Before vs. After

The All-Knowing and Wonderful Shannon Wickham

Requested by @SuperStarryR (Sorry, I can't get this to work)

❗️Warning: This part contains minor spoilers for The Music Freaks episode 6. If you haven't seen it, I would suggest watching it before reading this part. It also has some spoilers for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, so if you don't want any, skip to the *warning over*.

    "-so he takes the potion, and it tells him to go down to Hagrid's hut for the memorial instead of waiting for Slughorn in his office, like they'd planned," Luke explained. They were in Zander's room, and Luke was catching him up on what he'd recently read in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

    "Mhm," Zander replied absentmindedly, staring at Luke. His lemon-yellow eyes were sparkling, like they did when he was excited. He was also making several hand gestures to capture the essence of the story, and his mole was moving a bit as he talked. Zander thought it was super cute.

    "And then, on the way, he meets Slughorn and persuades him to come to the memorial - well, Slughorn convinces himself, really, by thinking about the valuable spider venom he could get from it."

    Zander raised an eyebrow. "Just tempt him with something expensive and he'll do what you want, huh?"

    Luke laughed. "Yeah, pretty much."

*spoiler warning over for the Half-Blood Prince*

    They were interrupted by Hailey opening the door to their room. "Dinner's ready," she said.

• • •

    "How was your day, Bethany?" Shannon asked.

    "Awesome!" Bethany replied cheerfully. "Today, someone came into our class and talked about bees and why they're important."

    At the mention of bees, Zander and Luke exchanged grins. When Luke was younger, he had a phase where he was really into bees. He dressed up as a bee for Halloween, he told lots of bee jokes (Why do bees have sticky hair? Because they use honeycombs), and bees were overall his favourite animal. Ever since then, it had become an inside joke between them. Whenever they saw a bee, Zander pointed it out and said, "Hey, look! It's you!"

    "That's cool, honey!" Michael enthused.

    "What about you, Zander?" Shannon asked.

    "Good," he responded. "Oh, I meant to ask if Luke can stay the night?"

    She nodded. "Of course."

    "Great, thank you," he said gratefully.

    She smiled at him. "You know, you two are really close, even for best friends. Are you... more than that, perhaps?"

Before:

    Zander could feel himself turning into a tomato. "W-what?" He stammered. Bethany giggled at her half-brother's reaction.

    Luke was bright red, too. "Uh, n-no, Mrs. Wickham. We're just friends." Was it just Zander's imagination, or did Luke sound disappointed?

    "Oh. Sorry about that, then. And Luke, I've told you before to just call me Shannon," she reminded him.

    "R-right, sorry," Luke said, still a bit dazed.

    "It's alright." She grinned at him.

    Hailey was looking at Zander with a raised eyebrow and a small smirk on her face. He sent her a glare and she rolled her eyes, returning her gaze to her step-mother.

    "Well," Michael said slowly, breaking the awkward silence, "I had a lesson with Luna today. She's making a lot of progress."

    "That's great," Shannon exclaimed, eager to keep the conversation going. "She's such a talented student. I remember one time..."

    Zander tuned her out and thought about the situation instead. Why did she say that in front of him?! I'm not that obvious, am I?

    He inwardly sighed. More than friends. I wish. But that would only happen if he reciprocated my feelings, which he doesn't. Those things exist only in my fantasies.

After:

    Zander could feel heat coming to his cheeks. He glanced at Luke and saw a faint blush on him, too.

    Hailey was giving them a worried look. He sent her a small smile in return to say, We can handle this. She nodded as if she was responding, Good luck.

    He slipped his hand under the table and grabbed Luke's, gently squeezing it. Luke looked over at him and Zander tried to ask him with his eyes if he wanted to tell them. A determined look came over his face and he nodded, his eyes seeming to reply, Let's do it.

    Zander cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention. "Er, actually..."

    "Yes. We are," Luke finished for him, smiling at Zander and holding up their clasped hands.

    Zander studied everyone's faces. He'd already come out to them, but how would they react when they found out he was dating his best friend?

    Shannon was the first to respond. "Really?" When they both nodded, she grinned. "That's amazing! I'm so happy for you two." Getting up out of her seat, she came over and hugged them.

    Over his mom's shoulder, Zander saw Hailey give him a look. Good job. I'm proud of you, little brother.

A/N: Hello! I hope you enjoyed this part. I just wanted to say, thank you so much for 2k reads! I appreciate every read and vote I get, and I love reading your comments. So again, thank you, and have a wonderful day. 🧡💜