The Bookworms' Club

Modern AU (Part 3)

"Don't ever think about coming back to us!"

Rufus hurried out of his parents' house, internally happy that he didn't have to deal with them anymore.

A couple of days passed since the accident at Sabertooth and he finally gathered enough courage to face the people that emotionally abused him for years. It wasn't that bad, actually. He was relieved that he didn't have to see them anymore, not there or at Earthland.

Suddenly, somebody rested their hand on Rufus' shoulder, startling him.

"Hey dude. How did it go?" Orga asked nonchalantly, as if he didn't just gave him a heart attack.

"Uh" he emitted, still a bit confused "good. They disowned me, but I'm actually happy about it" he smiled "I can live freely now" he stated, remembering the great sensation he felt years before when he left his home.

"Great!" The lightning wizard cheered "let's get something to celebrate, it's on me" he grabbed his wrist and started to drag him "I won't accept no as an answer"

In the end, they brought some burgers and fries from a food truck nearby and were eating while sitting on the grass.

Orga was telling some crazy story, but Rufus couldn't focus on it. The wedding was canceled, but he was still stuck in that other world. Did he do something wrong? The note didn't say anything about how to stop the ceremony. His parents disowned him and master Jiemma was dead. Everything should go back to normal. He should be able to go home.

The memory mage took the note out of his pocket and read it again.

Your parents want you to get married for the sake of their company, but you are in love with another person.

Don't let the wedding happen.

He frowned. He was indeed in love with someone who wasn't Minerva, but he didn't think that it was relevant for the story. The note just said he had to stop the wedding.

But maybe that wasn't enough.

Rufus looked back at Orga, who had finished his lunch and was still distracted.

Rufus shifted his body so that he was completely facing his friend. Two days passed and none of them managed to get back home. They were sure their guilds were probably worried sick, so he couldn't lose his time. He had to get out of there as soon as possible.

"What's up?" Orga asked when he noticed his friend's expression.

The minstrel didn't say anything, instead he put his hands on his shoulders.

"Are you okay?" The other asked.

Rufus ignored him and for a moment he focused on his face. He always thought that his friend was handsome, but he always tried to hide his feelings from both him and himself. Maybe he was just afraid of being rejected. But this wasn't the real Orga.

With that in mind, Rufus closed the distance between them, bringing him into a sweet kiss.

***

The air was tense and the silence was deafening.

Lucy hoped that the book could do something about the horrible atmosphere of every sophisticated party she had to attend, but apparently, that wasn't the case.

Honestly, it felt even worse. Even though the man glaring at her wasn't her father, Lucy felt judged by him as he kept glancing between her dress and Nastu, who was stuffing his face with every kind of food he could find on the table.

At least the magic book had the mercy of putting some faceless mannequins as the guests. If there were actual people, she would have died of embarrassment.