Xavier Lundstrom
May 13, 2021 9:38 PM
Bro time by Xavier Lundstrom
"I can't believe you wanted to do this. It's freezing." Joel proved the point by huffing a could of water vapour into the air. "Look, I'm a dragon! Wait, are dragons real?""I think so," Xavier nodded. He dropped onto the ramp before Joel could ask any more questions, but he was out of practise and promptly found himself sprawling face down on the cold metal.
"Hey, careful." Joel glided to an easy, well-controlled stop beside him and offered a hand. "It's cold enough to snap a finger off if you fall. Hey, if you did, could you magic it back on?"
"Well, I can't," Xavier pointed out. And he knew Joel knew the rule about no magic at home, so he could just assume that was what Xavier meant. He turned his frown away from his brother, and skated off hard. Though of course, Joel was faster, and within a few strides was gliding along beside him again. Xavier wouldn't have minded that. He wanted to be here with his brother, hanging out, and skating.
"You got any new tricks?" he asked Joel.
"Probably nowhere near what you have."
"Can you just lay off talking about my school for five minutes?" Xavier snapped. How had Joel brought skating tricks back around to that?
"I'm just trying to take an interest. There's no one around." He gestured to the deserted skate park. "Xav, what's wrong?"
"I just want to go back to normal for a bit. Back to how it used to be." It was comforting being home, where he knew how everything worked. Where there was some stuff he was actually good at. He wanted that to be real. "Can we just skate?"
Joel nodded, and they did, but Xavier knew the topic was hanging over them, just as much as the solid block of white winter clouds that were obscuring the sky. Maybe more heavily. They were the kind of clouds that made the day stark but they weren't threatening rain or snow. It was the first day like that in a while, even if it was freezing. The question of why he didn't want school to be a topic was harder to face. And it was there, as they weaved around cones, jumped over low bars, and as Xavier splatted himself down the ramp a couple more times until he could remain standing. It was lurking in the back of his head, reminding him that this wasn't his normal any more.
He paused at the top of the ramp, catching his breath.
"I kinda sorta suck at everything," he admitted.
"No, you're doing good-"
"At school. All the magic stuff. It seems like it's really easy for everyone else and I just... can't get the hang of it."
"Yeah, but you're new. You didn't even know-"
Xavier cut him off with a shake of his head. "It's not like that. That's not supposed to make a difference, and there's other people who are new too. It's just me." He was glad the skatepark was deserted because he could feel tears welling up as he admitted the thing that had been bothering him all term. "I can't do it."
"Hey, it's okay." Joel put an arm around him. "So, are you not actually a wizard? Do you think they'd let you quit and come home? Mom said to be excited for you and everything, and I am, but I also miss the heck out of you."
"I dunno." Xavier didn't shrug because he didn't want Joel to think he was shrugging the hug off. He leant into it a little. He could feel his magic, starting deep inside and reaching out to his fingertips. It was like it stretched just that far but couldn't get any further. Most of the time, anyway - he did sometimes get results. He was pretty sure he was a wizard, just a really bad one. Maybe he was so bad they would let him quit and come home though. That sounded like a silver lining.
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Xavier Lundstrom
Bro time
1529
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