Private Sunshine and Shadows

Sunshine cascaded in through the floor to ceiling windows in Mayfield’s home, waking a slumbering Druid and clarifying that he’d nearly dozed through the morning. Looking up at the ceiling, left, right and then sitting up he took in the surroundings one at a time.
“New roof, new bed, bigger windows and…” he paused a moment staring down the purple lotus flower.

“Good morning” enthusiastic as always was his greeting, the flower in kind relayed a similar greeting to the druid, despite being just slightly in the shade of the room, it held to a higher standard of cool temperament. Rising from the confines of his soft coffin, Julian washed away the dreariness from his eyes with a quick rub and went to grab the potted plant. Dragging the end table into the light, he gave the plant a once over to ensure it was healthy and hadn’t sustained any damage in the move from the hospital to this home. Of course it hadn’t, Anthony had said the other druids made certain to properly deliver and see to their placement personally.

“Looks like I chose the right home for you, be well my friend and have a good day” stepping free from his restraining clothes, Julian sauntered about the second level of the home curiously glancing into the odd extra room that was across of Chester’s. Note and clothes in hand, Julian eventually found his way into the bathroom after tarrying on the words left by his host. Chester was certainly the kind of boy that was one in one thousand, that is to say not that there are millions of him running around the world causing chaos and anxiety everywhere… but in the majority of people Julian had met, he’d only met a handful of people as accommodating or as kind hearted… even if that heart was surrounded by a protective layer of cushion.

“I’ll bet he doesn’t have an ounce of fat on that body” he mused, laughing as he hopped in the shower only to be reminded as Chester’s scent returned from the soap used the previous day that he too had a fabulous butt. Slapping a hand to his face, Julian turned the hot and cold dials with his other open hand and stepped hesitantly into the warming cascade of water began to soak his hair. Leaning against the wall, Julian let the water beat up against his back as he stood seeking internal clarity. As Chester’s scent washed down the drain, Julian questioned the legitimacy of his feelings for the boy. Perhaps this was some Florence Nightingale effect, a magicless spell that he was under because someone saved his life and he had no real way to show his appreciation but to give himself over body and soul to his savior.

“Ugh… that sounds like a lame film festival plot line” having filled his mouth with water, Julian gargled and spat at the notion. Clearly he was at odds with that theory, after all there was more to their relationship than rescuer and the one rescued. They’d shared a decent five days together thus far, the two probably unloading some untold number of old bagged onto one another and even letting the other see the hidden sides of themselves that was reserved for friends and… well, family was a tricky subject for both of them. Still, they had a decent amount of things in common, surely based on his previous relationships in which he shared little more than attraction, that there was merit of the additional kind to be found in a relationship with Chester. But then there was that sticky problem, their “friends for now” agreement, if nothing else it benefitted both parties to take a step back and revaluate what they like about one another aside from proximity.

Content with waiting, Julian reminded himself that anything worth doing was worth a little patience and he prided himself on being a patient man. Stepping out of the shower, Julian went about the routine of dressing, eating the brunch prepared by Chester, retrieving his clothes from the previous day, his backpack, coat and shoes and giving them all a good cleansing spell before depositing them inside his pack. Looking about the house for Sylvia he paused a moment at an open window and smirked.

“So, he lets you come and go as you please… interesting” there was something to be said about a person that permitted his prized pet to have its freedom whilst unattended. Of course there was an implied level of trust, but from what he’d seen of Sylvia last night during Chester’s unfortunate slip up, Julian was certain the two had a very close relationship that warranted such trust. With that he exited the home and made his way towards the portals that connected directly to the campus. Giving a quick flick of his wrist, all of the doors in the house became secure, leaving the one window open for Sylvia to find her way back inside.

It wasn’t long after arriving at school that Julian found himself in his guidance counselor’s office, this was as a result of his first attempt to sit in his advanced Herbology class. His teacher taking role neglected to call out his name and upon informing the professor of this error, he seemed to have a preunderstanding of the situation that Julian did not. Such is why he sat dumb founded as Mrs. Glory explained the severity of the situation.

“I don’t understand” he admitted, wondering just how placement tests could have been filled with such oversight. I mean a small error was one thing, but one that did not include certain forms of local flora and fauna that would be common knowledge to other students and a key bit of knowledge required for advanced classes that he ought to be held back to a beginner’s level.

“You have our most sincere apologies for the misunderstanding, but it would be further negligent for us to allow you into the advance class without a complete understanding of the natural applications of certain local herbs and medicines from our area taught in Natural Medicinal 101, you’d find the material very hard to comprehend” Julian’s mouth agape, having already informed his family of his schedule he was rather proud of having made two advanced classes that he’d earned in the original placement test.

“We can have you retake the test if you like, but as I said, after a review of your initial record, we just simply can’t throw you to the wolves in this manner” in a slunk, Julian knelt forward on his knees taking the news rather grim until it was as if something was trying to poke at his subconscious. Clearly the guidance counselor was waiting for a reply, so attempting to compose himself he was about to ask for another attempt at the test. It was just before he did that the conversation about classes with Chester came to mind, that this Natural Medicinal 101’s course was part of his roster.

“So… would I have to wait until the next semester to start from scratch” he asked pointedly, wondering if he was SOL in a manner of speaking. Perking at the sudden interest Julian showed, the counselor waved a dismissive hand and gave a promising smile.
“Of course not Mr. Harrison, you’ve already an extensive knowledge of certain methodology in regard to Medicinal plants and there applications, local plants and procedures actually comes in the later half of this semesters course load for most classes, so if you’d prefer we can place you in now and you’ll be ready for the advanced classes next semester. In fact…” The counselor began rooting through her phone, pulling up class records and gave a slight smirk.

“There is a Natural Medicinal’s 101 course happening shortly, if you want I could escort you?” elated, Julian took the classes information down with delight clearly evident on his face and accepted the request for an escort as he didn’t want to get lost. Along their way, Julian’s apprehension began rising at the thought that this was possibly one of Chester’s classes and the ability to surprise him in this manner was going to be ever so much fun. Giddy as a school boy when they reached the room in question, the Counselor read a note on the door and instructed Julian to follow her to the greenhouse, evidently she was unaware of the location change as often this decision was left with the professors to work out among themselves who got to spend time where.

Upon reaching the greenhouse, Julian was positively jumping as he edged along the “right side” of the counselor as she had already began working their way up the side of the greenhouse to avoid interrupting role call until it had concluded.

“Excuse me, professor” she called to the man, explaining the situation with the transfer. Likewise the professor introduced Julian by name to the entire class, told him to pick a position from which to observe and with a understanding nod, the professor went back to conducting his lesson and the Counselor departed making sure Julian looked content as he settled near a rather mess of a mop of black hair. Barely able to contain his excitement, Julian withdrew his notepad and number two pencil with the most shit eating grin on his face.

“Hi” body convulsing momentarily like a child that was sitting next to their favorite mighty morphin power ranger, Julian’s foot could be seen tapping with excitement. Something about his inner monologue told him this was going to be the best class ever. Writing a small note down in his notebook, Julian turned it towards Chester explaining the set of circumstances that led him to being in the same class… though honestly it didn’t really explain it in an accurate fashion. Mostly it read “OMG, something crazy happened with my placement test and now we are in the same CLASS! WOOT WOOT” the serious part of him was somewhere far back in his mind, face palming itself from the sheer embarrassment that Julian would put him through.

“This is Awesome. I’m so excited you’re here! I didn’t think I’d see you till lunch!”

“I know, this is going to be the best!” half whispering, half yelling, Julian wanted to match Chester’s level of excitement

Matching Chester’s enthusiasm, Julian found himself inwardly ignoring that others were taking notice their peculiar behavior. Shrugging them off without another moments care, Julian began taking rough notes as Chester began outwardly speaking with what he assumed was his inward monologue.

“This gives us more reason to hang out. I can help him catch up.”

Grinning from ear to ear, Julian continued his note taking and honestly nearly broke his pencil at hearing how Chester was already wanting to hang out. Much as he’d considered in the shower that maybe they needed a little space, to both judge if their feelings were due to proximity or not and to give them a chance to develop other friendships… he was glad things hadn’t turned out like that because when he arrived at his advanced class this morning, the one thing going through his head after he sat down was that he wished Chester was there.

“I’d like that” he replied in a calm whisper, keeping to the Professors list of things they would need as Chester explained that they were working on a project. Transplanting was actually one of the easiest things for a druid, pressing his inner magic into the roots so that the vines grew out of the dirt, making extraction and replanting easier as the roots were simply reduced to their original size. That was the druid way, but this much was why Julian had been sent to Starlight Academy because he was supposed to learn other methods outside of his clans.
Dropping his pencil, Julian scrambled under his desk to retrieve it.

“So uhm. Yeah! We can be partners- I-I I Mean friends.. uhm no, uhm.. I m-mean we can work to-together on our p-project! uhm T-th-the EHERM”

A rather loud thud could be heard as Julian rose violently at the mention of them being partners. Wrapping his hands around the point of impact, Julian’s eyes inadvertently began tearing up from the pain. Muttering curses in the druidic language he retrieved his pencil and mentally kicked himself for having brought such a limited amount of supplies… like it was perfectly normal to him that he should only need one pencil but at that moment his every other thought was snapping it in two and growing a second one from the broken second half… so that he could…

“Ugh… ow” rubbing his head, Julian stood back up and returned to his notebook. Clearly he had no idea where that anger filled tangent was going and he was annoyed at even having been so flustered at being Chester’s partner. It was a simple request and turning to Chester confirmed with a smile that he would be more than happy to join him… that and he had sustained little to no serious head trauma as onlookers desired clarification on that.

“Ahem” the teacher abruptly coughed, bringing everyone’s attention back to the lesson and as they turned back around Julian took to gathering their supplies as the professor motioned for teams to pair up and begin. Returning with the clippers and a single pair of gloves, Julian passed them to Chester almost figuring he would discard them as well as Julian preferred getting his hands dirty.

“So, want to just dig in with me or clip?” he asked, wondering which position he’d prefer. Gauging from the weight of the pot, it might be more accurate for the two of them to lift it out, pull it a little to the side of the plant so that the roots might fall on the tables and then return it to the pot to of course be refilled with fresh dirt and water. Of course he relayed this, wondering if Chester had any preference. He’d presented the team work option of lifting it out together because he didn’t want Chester having all the fun, plus, it did feel like something was off about him… there had been some mention of an energy drink he thought, but could Chester be having such a negative reaction to the contents of a single energy drink? If so, he mentally made a note to keep an eye on Chester, lest he start having a seizure or worse yet a stroke… then again, having noticed his cheery cheeks, maybe it was Julian that was throwing him off so, one could only hope it was the ladder… just friends for now after all.

“D-D-Dig!”

Head slightly at a tilt, Julian posed a quizzical smile at Chester, thinking he hadn't heard him right and was still a bit thrown from his appearance in this class. Passing it off as such, Julian pressed fingers through soil like he was reaching into water. A sort of blissful smile overcame him, those looking on would think it was the most natural element for Julian. Having played in the dirt most of his life, they would not be wrong in that assumption. Closing his eyes, he guided himself around the roots loosening the dirt. Shifting small chunks that had gathered around the root, Julian took his middle and index fingers working the condensed earth into fine grains once more. Diving his hands deeper, partly searching for rocks to see if the professor had implemented this common form draining water to the bottom of the pot so the soil wouldn’t flood… but what he actually found was less round, more smooth and warm.

A blush of embarrassment, Julian suddenly realizing that he had hold of Chester’s hands, he slightly recoiled and went to pull away. Finding that his fingers were latched onto, not tightly but more affectionately, Julian sank once more closer to the pot and gave Chester a warm knowing smile. Perhaps there was no beating these feelings between them, proximity was of course a condition to any friendship or relationship but… the way Chester tugged away finally, it didn’t feel like he was ashamed of what he had done or had mistaken what he was holding onto. Cascading dirt began falling off in larger bits as Chester went to pick up the plant, Julian given little notice began to lift upward pulling the plant free of its prison and began reaching for the Clippers when Chester almost made him drop the plant.

“C-C-Clippers. I-I mean I’ll clip you”

Julian nearly burst out laughing at the implication of what he thought he’d heard, clearly Chester didn’t mean to “I’ll Clip you!”. Having extended his attention towards Chester once more, what Julian heard next was slightly more… uh… distracting and he just about nearly dropped the plant that time.

“uhm Please hold me-- IT hold IT steady.”

“Yup… Yup, ho… holding it steady” voice shaking as was his reaffirmed grip on the plant, Julian had to move closer to Chester to root his stance and grabbed the clippers passing them off to Chester to clip the roots of the plant. Sweating more from embarrassment, he averted his gaze downward wondering exactly how many others were observing this awkward exchange. It was about this time that Chester’s smock began to flap slightly exposing a rather obvious bit pant leg clutching at something tightly along his inner thigh… raising his gaze back to the task at hand, Julian decided to ignore what he thought he saw and instead focus on the penis at hand…. Task, the task at hand!

“I-I’m sorry. I-I don’t know what’s gotten into me...”

"It’s okay” rolling his eyes, Julian huffed out a bit of a sigh as he observed Chester’s shaking hand. Shifting slight, he turned to Chester wanting to comfort him with a touch but instead put on his best smile and reassuring voice.

“Seriously, you got this. Just relax, take a deep breath and clip it… I’ll get this” with a wink, Julian with muscles flexing took on a majority of the plants weight so as to ease up on Chester's burden. Hopefully he didn’t end up cutting off his own finger, but then Chester had practice caring for plants… though under pressure, who knows. Bracing himself for the good or bad news, Julian waited with baited breath for Chester to step up to the plate and prove he was good in a crisis or at very least able to cut wood with a woody.

Hands gripping whatever he could find purchase with, amazed at the volume of this plant despite its natural size and weight. Tumeric, at least in his dealings with the herb/spice plant was rather tiny and not worth the strain he was currently putting forward to hold it up. Though Julian found the more he shook lightly from that strain, the more bits and clumps of dirt would fall off, alleviating some of the issue. As Chester stepped away for a moment, Julian giving him another confused looked turned back to his burden and began hopping up and down to free as much dirt from the plant as he could.

After several long moments and Chester’s return, the plant was nearly all roots and leaves, Julian smiled as he held it almost effortlessly now, though the plant itself was a very sizable product to behold roots and all… most of it’s weight previously was attributed to Julian’s natural laziness and the soil hardened around the plants base.

“Alright, we need turn the old soil with fresh soil and put this gal back. Then we… Ginger, Ginseng, Goldenseal and Echinacea… Maybe enough for our Valerian and then lunch! What do you think? Think we can do-—- it?”

“Totally, we’re going to be earning our lunch today though” laughing heartily Julian got right to work, thinking the sooner the two got started the less daunting the task would appear. Handing the plant to Chester gently, Julian went to heft the old pot into a compost pile bin for recycling the dirt into the compost pile outside later. He then rolled over a drum of freshly mixed soil. It would be nearly impossible for even their strongest jocks to lift, not to mention it was for the entire class to share, so beginning with a smaller handheld pot, Julian started filling the larger one with dirt until it slowly filled, covering sections of the roots and finally reaching the base of the plant. With Chester spot checking as he did so and watering the plant after it was completely set in place, it was almost certain they hadn’t left a single root uncovered and were able to successfully conclude this part of their project.

Wiping a mild sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his shirt, Julian felt astonishingly proud of his work and eagerly began with the next section of their task. Between working however, Julian had the need to remain sociable and so he looked to the focused figure that was Chester… clearly this wasn’t his first rodeo… which led Julian to pose a rather out of the blue question.

“You know for having been a childhood recluse, you take pretty well to all of this” hands gesturing to the classroom, he clearly meant school and being in large groups before getting to his question.

“That being said, you must’ve made friends before I showed up right? Is there anyone interesting or delicious that I should be worried about?” he teased, it helped the time go by for him but more than that he was enjoying how red it made Chester’s cheeks become.

Quite satisfied with the reactions elicited by his teasing, Julian leaned into the nudge, rubbing his shoulder playfully as if to emphasize Chester’s apparent ‘strength’ and to tease him a mite further.

“Okay, okay… careful, I bruise easily” sticking his tongue out, Julian hopped backwards out of Chester’s range if in case he incurred the dragons wrath hence forth again. Lowering his tone, Julian’s smile turned more genuine, the rubbing of his arm even displayed a comforting touch that was out of range that he wished to give Chester as he spoke from the heart.

“I’m glad to hear that though, that you have other friends. Part of me worried that ‘this’” he wasn’t sure how to emphasize it correctly, without declaring his feelings before the whole class… obviously he’d never embarrass Chester so, so he lowered his voice.

“I was worried, that perhaps you just needed someone that gave a damn and honestly, I’m entirely that kind of person… but…” looking away, Julian’s lips became petrified… on the one hand he wanted to tell Chester, that despite their ‘friends for now’ agreement, that he still held feelings for the boy… that beyond saving his life, he had made quite the impact on the young druid since his arrival and how devastated he’d be if they couldn’t at the very least agree to be friends… even if they both came to the conclusion that dating each other wasn’t a good fit.

“but… but nothing, if you just need a friend, I’d be okay with that” he smiled, that kind of fake smile that was obvious to those closest to him that knew his heart wasn’t in it… but he smiled anyways, knowing he’d lost enough friends to last a life-time and that’s why he could never tell his parents about his sexuality… after all, he’d seen enough articles online and heard reveal stories that would churn Chester’s stomach. The last thing he wanted was to put out others for his choices, let alone his family, so… what did it matter if they knew or not? At least for now, he could bare the weight for their approval.

“So” he took in a huff of air, thinking to change the topic before his inner turmoil spill out on the floor.

“What’cha got in mind for lunch?” At any rate his intrigue was genuine. His smile perking up a bit more, perhaps giving the Mayfield boy an indication that his previous elation wasn’t entirely heartfelt… but who knew if anyone would pay that much attention to someone they’d just met five or… shit, Julian rubbed his head trying to think if it was five or six days and laughing awkwardly as he’d already lost count.

“So much for our seven day anniversary” he muttered sarcastically under his breath.