To the Tunes Under the Moon - A Goldric Fic

Chapter 2

About two weeks after that day at the Knee, Edric had almost forgotten about his new friend. Almost.

That night, he was stuck doing illusion track homework that Em refused to help him with. In fact, his two sisters were having a 'girls night' with Willow and Luz. So Edric was totally and utterly bored.

A faint rapping at his bedroom window made him look up from the figure he was creating. Through the foggy glass, flashes of gold and white can be seen. With his heart beating rapidly, Edric runs over and flings open the window.

"Heyyy. Mind if I join you, Ed?" Floating on his glowing red staff is Hunter himself, presumably with a smirk under his helmet.

"Goldie!" Edric laughs whilst helping the boy in. "I mean - Hunter." He scratches his hand nervously as Hunter looks around his room. It isn't much, a desk on the left, a bookshelf and his bed on the right. "Man, I thought you had forgotten about me."

"Forget about you? That's kind of impossible." Hunter adds under his breath, turning to close the window. At his words, Edric feels heat rush to his cheeks.

As Hunter flings the curtains shut, his eyes quickly flick to his staff, which is leant against a bookshelf.

"How exactly are you able to do magic with that thing?" He asks, drifting closer to poke it. "It's not like any palisman I've ever seen." Hunter strides in front of him, blocking the staff.

"Emperor Belos isn't too fond of Palismen or wild magic if you haven't noticed." He says.

Edric folds his arms. "You're doing that voice."

"What voice?" Hunter asks, pulling his robe down.

"Your confident Golden Guard voice. The kind of voice that's like 'Oh, I run this whole dump so you better listen to me.' Cut it out-" Edric stops short as he notices the lack of a helmet on Hunter's head "It's a mask now?" He blurts.

"Oh, uh, for things that aren't missions, I usually just wear a mask. It's lighter." Hunter unfastens the mask and sniggers at Edric's astounded expression. "Sorry about doing 'the voice' or whatever." He mocks. "It kind of comes with the outfit."

"Yeah, well, you sound like a jerk whenever you do it." Edric starts to clear his desk, his illusion track homework long forgotten.

"The Golden Guard is a jerk." Hunter says, sitting on the edge of Edric's bed. It takes all of his willpower not to yelp. Boy. On his bed. In his room.

Unbeknownst to Edric's gay panic, Hunter continues to look around the room with a neutral expression.

His eyes light up at something on the bookshelf. "Is that a deck of Hexes Hold'em?" Edric follows his gaze. "I used to play that game when I was like, four." Hunter jumps off the bed and goes to swipe the deck off the shelf.

"Oh, do you really want to play against me? I'm kind of the best player in my family." Edric smirks, sitting on the carpeted floor. "Come on, I'll wreck you."

Hunter chuckles and sits with him. "To be honest, I might need a reminder of the rules." He says, looking at a couple of cards.

As Edric runs through the rules, he catches Hunter staring intently at him instead of his own cards. He stumbles through his words from there on, distracted by the shine in his eyes.

Halfway through the game, it's already clear that Edric is on the track to winning. Hunter furrows his brow in concentration and stares at his cards. Edric pretends to yawn as he brings out another card that freezes one of Hunter's.

"No!" He yelps, grabbing a clump of his hair.

"Looks like I'm about to win." Edric crows as his card comes to life. The battle wages ferociously across the plaid carpet.