Please Remember Me Like This

Magnify the City Lights

Please Remember Me Like This

Chapter 4: "Magnify the City Lights"

Well, it was a good thing Ian stuck around for the Homecoming game—the Dragons absolutely dominated, and Aeric even threw two touchdowns. Had he missed it, he really would have regretted it, even with the prospect of learning more about magic. Luckily, Victoriana did mention they had a meeting the week after, during any away game (Ian rarely attended those—though now he could with his car).

"You sure you don't want me at this game, too?" Ian asked Aeric during study hall, looking up from a draft of his boyfriend's essay. Talking about that, at least, would be easier than trying to edit this. How was he supposed to critique something so moving about how much of a difference his mom made in trying to pursue his dreams? It was already the perfect essay to get him into Willowdale! Ian found himself near tears when he read Aeric state that he had to wait seven years for his mom and how life changing it was to be at their wedding!

"Yeah, babe, it's not the end of the world," Aeric assured nonchalantly. Unlike Ian, he didn't have nearly as difficult a time dissecting his essay, circling something with a red pen. "Besides, if you keep putting this off just for watching me, you're never going to make it to a meeting. Why, are you scared?"

"I mean... a bit," Ian confessed lowly, sighing as the words on Aeric's paper just didn't process right to him. "What if I go and I'm not what she's expecting? What if she thinks I'm weird 'cause the one time she saw me, I was in a dress? What if she wants me to do arcane lightning and I can't and that's like, the only way I can get in? What if—"

Despite them being in a class, their teacher just liked to sit at the desk, playing solitaire as opposed to actually watching anyone, so Aeric was able to get away with leaning over to kiss Ian quickly to shut him up. "What if you go and you meet a hot wizard who's absolutely superior to me in every way?" he retorted, though the playful smile he tried to put on looked a little... sad.

"That would never happen," Ian said, very matter of factly. "I bet no one else is going to be out of high school, anyway. And besides, no one's going to look nearly as good as you do."

"Ah, so you're only dating me for my looks. I get it." At least Aeric could kind of joke around about this, though Ian didn't think it was fair how much his boyfriend undermined himself just because he didn't have "The Gift."

"You are beautiful," Ian assured. "But you're also smart and talented and you're definitely gonna become Salutatorian and the whole class knows it. And you got to do that all without magic."

"Well, if you have no problem complimenting me, then I can at least say with upmost confidence that this group is going to adore what you can do. You've shown so much improvement in your magic even over the summer. And I think at this point, if the group is so small, beggars can't exactly be choosers." Aeric shrugged, going back to Ian's essay after pushing his glasses up his nose.

"So you think I'm just a last minute addition to some elite group?"

"What? No." Aeric sighed, pausing his leg from doing its usual jiggling whenever he did work. "That woman, right? She mentioned how impressive it was that a novice wizard could do arcane lightning. Obviously there's something there she wants to work with."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Sighing in concession, Ian looked back to Aeric's essay. "I guess I just wish you could be there with me to help with the social stuff."

"You're your own person without me," Aeric chuckled, reaching over to squeeze Ian's shoulder. "And they're about to find out just how amazing you are."