Chapter Text
Oisín is once again standing in Fabian Seacaster’s house, kicking off the start of a new school year. Once again, there’s a ranger by his side as he holds a glass of dubiously alcoholic milk. And once again, it’s all Adaine Abernant’s fault.
Unlike last time though, he’s nowhere near the beer pong table. And the ranger currently chatting his fins off certainly isn’t Ivy. She had run off half an hour ago as soon as she got wind of Aguefort Twister being played upstairs (it’s the same as regular Twister except they all try to maim each other into elimination), leaving him stranded alone in the kitchen figuring out how to stall time until it wasn’t a party foul to dip out for the rest of the night.
No one leaves a rager at eight p.m. after all.
It’s not like it’s a boring party. Oisín’s honestly not even sure if Fabian could throw a boring party. And no one's been treating him poorly either. He had at least expected that much after helping almost end the world but if anyone has a problem, they certainly haven’t told him. Although he’s not sure how much of that is people actually being chill vs. Fig’s firm insistence that it’s all love now which meant no fighting unless it was all in good fun.
Obviously they couldn’t completely outlaw violence. They’re still Aguefort students after all.
Oisín blinks and attempts to focus back on the tiefling talking to him. Like the last few times he’s tried, his eyes slide right off her face to the bright orange headband she’s wearing. It’s clearly a favorite; there’s several neat stitches holding the worn fabric together. And every time her voice warbles, she fiddles with the folds braided into her neat plaits. In fact, he’s pretty sure she matched her outfit for tonight to it. The warm whites and burnt browns she’s wearing certainly suggest as much.
It’s such a shame that it’s so fucking ugly.
Gun to his head, Oisín can’t tell you what they’ve been talking about for the last fifteen minutes. He just keeps getting drawn back to that ugly, ugly headband and it’s only due to years of ignoring his parents that he knows when to nod and hum in lieu of actually engaging in the conversation.
If Oisín didn’t have such an excellent internal clock, he would swear an hour had already passed just listening to her talk with how boring she’s been. It feels a little mean to think that about this seemingly sweet girl who approached him with a drink in hand just for him, but it’s true. And it’s his mind so it’s not like anyone will hear him.
She’s just…dull. In a normal teenager way. She came up to him with a big smile and a glass of bad baby milk she shoved into his hand and immediately started talking about senior year and Oisín realized he didn’t know how to connect with his classmates anymore.
Was he excited for senior year? He supposes. He just feels lucky that he gets to have a senior year after what he did.
Wasn't it so cool they were this close to graduation? If he even makes it that far. It’s a week into school and he’s already considering dropping out.
Does he have any college plans? In the loosest sense. He's not even sure there's a college willing to take him.
His therapist says he has a tendency for catastrophic thinking. He calls it preparing for any outcome.
The genial smile stuck to his face starts to burn so he lifts the cup to his lips to have a few brief moments of respite. The smell never gets any less strange no matter how many times he’s exposed to bad baby milk. At least the last time he went through this, there was a cute elf to cut through the pain.
He would do anything to have Adaine interrupt this. At least he knew how to handle interacting with her. Mostly. And maybe then he could disappear from this conversation without being rude.
“Oisín!”
Huh.
Look at that. The divine grace of the Elven Oracle saves him again.
His eyes snap away from the headband, greedily searching the crowd until he can see a shock of blonde pushing its way through throngs of people. He stills himself, making sure that he won’t do something embarrassing like wag his tail as soon as he lays eyes on her, and waits.
Ranger girl has completely left his mind, despite still being in front of him. He doesn’t really care if she notices.
Adaine’s more important.
Oisín spends a moment taking her in as she moves through the last few people blocking her way. Unsurprisingly, she’s stunning. She’s wearing her jeans and jacket like she always does. However, the crop top she’s in is certainly a new sight. It’s dark and flowy and Oisín can see sparkles shine under the light as she shifts.
He sends out a silent thank you to whoever is responsible for this gift.
It doesn’t take her long to make it over. The student body is more than happy to part for the party wizard, and those who aren’t get shoved out of the way via some fairly impressive body-checking. She’s so mean. He loves it.
She huffs with exasperation as soon as she stops in front of him. Her face is flushed red; either from exertion or inebriation. “Be easier to find when I need you.”
“Can't you use your divination to know where I am?” He can’t help the smile that curls across his face. Teasing her just comes as second nature at this point.
“Like I’d waste a spell slot on that.” Crystal blue eyes glance down to the cup in his hand. “Bold choice on the bad baby milk after the last time.”
Wh- how? She wasn’t even there for that.
Oisín can feel himself flushing purple underneath her gaze for a few long moments before she finally has mercy and answers the unspoken question. “Oracle, remember?”
Like he could forget. Still, that doesn’t mean he assumes she uses her grand divination abilities to watch him throw up in the street after his first interaction with dairy. It’s worth it though—even if only retroactively—just for the teasing smirk Adaine’s giving him.
Anything would be worth it if it means she keeps looking at him.
She clearly gears herself up to continue speaking, only to get cut off as the ranger steps forward with a hesitant grin.
“Hi!” Ranger girl glances between the two of them.
Adaine raises a singular, perfect eyebrow. “Hi?”
“I’m Laila.”
So that’s what her name was.
“That’s nice,” Adaine replies blandly. Something unspoken must happen in the five seconds of eye contact the two of them make before Adaine turns back to him, and Oisín watches as she moves to fully block Laila out of the conversation. She’s wearing a smile he’s never seen before as she continues. “I need you at the beer pong table.”
He blinks. “Me?”
“Yes, you.” She rolls her eyes but doesn’t drop the smile. It’s a strange one. He’s quite sure that she’s never smiled like this before. He would be more confused if not for the fact that he’s too busy being blinded by the feeling of Adaine’s attention on him. “The most annoying man in the world has been hogging the table for the past hour and a half, but I can’t just kick him out cause it’ll get messy and turn into a huge party foul. So you’re gonna kick his ass and humiliate him so badly he leaves. Okay?”
As if he would ever say no to her. As if he could ever say no to her.
He gives her a little mock-bow, just to watch her snicker. “Well if our party wizard demands it, who am I to deny you?”
“Great, let’s go.” Laila takes a half-step forward to follow and Adaine whips around with a different grin, one Oisín knows she stole straight from Aelwyn. “Bye!”
“Oh, uh, bye! I’ll see you later?”
Wide brown eyes dart in his direction, desperately hoping to make contact.
But he’s already turned to follow Adaine.
“Huh? Oh, sure, later.”
Half a beat later, Adaine’s fingers wrap around his wrist.