The City of Amer

Chapter 4: Courting and Compliments

(I forgot to update yesterday so I suppose I'll double update today, so expect a second part coming this evening. Thank you, Cass <3)

TW: n/a 

If Edric had learned one thing in Amer, it was that life did not pass quietly. While infinitely more boisterous at night, the day, or the afternoon at least was still full of the hustle and bustle of a busy city. His room was fairly quiet, but he had grown so accustomed to noise at work or at night that he filled it with Mozart constantly; a fact that Wilt had teased him about once but then gone out and bought him a Mozart CD. Wilt was just like that, as Edric discovered. Wilt was the guy who flirted with you, calling you every lovey-dovey nickname he could think of, but could never handle flirting in response. Edric had once called him my dear Wilt, and he had turned so red Edric thought he would burst. It was actually probably for the best, considering Edric couldn't really flirt anyway. He usually wound up stuttering and mumbling in response.

His Science work was the only other quiet time. He was researching as much as he could, working on expanding this magnificent planetarium so others could enjoy it as much as he did. He had found a couple stars to add and charted a dwarf planet, but beyond that hadn't done much. He especially didn't do much when Hans stopped by, usually to check in on him (which was basically just Hans flirting and Edric becoming a beetroot) or give him suggestions. So far Hans' little hints had been pretty helpful, and one had led to the discovery of another star, but their conversations were still mostly flirting.

Language was a largely people-based subject, but his section leader, Mrs. Valoda Browning, had quickly realized he was absolutely crap with people, and had set him about translating some random texts. He moved pretty fast on these, and she seemed to be hinting lately that he'd be a good addition to Amer's Library of Languages. Speaking of libraries, Literature was going fairly well. He'd been placed in the Literature organization building, which was just a modern-day Library of Alexandria, containing nearly every book that had ever been published.

Despite his constantly busy days, Edric really liked his work. Each different section provided new environment with unique people, and it was cool to meet all of them. He did, however, appreciate going home every day to a person he actually knew well. Wilt and he had been getting closer, and both seemed to enjoy each other's company. At least, Edric did, and Wilt hadn't turned him away yet, so most likely he felt the same way.

A month into Edric's work at Science he got there a little late. He had stayed up late the night before watching a movie with Wilt, and ended up oversleeping. His hair was unbrushed and seemed to not even need the quills he currently had stuck in it, as tangled as it was. His clothing was rather ugly - an orange lumpy sweater and some jeans that were a weird shade of blue-grey. He'd forgotten socks as well, and his feet weren't the most comfortable in his sneakers. He was crossing his fingers that Hans wouldn't drop by today and that Wilt would still be gone when he got home. He could not be seen by hot guys (who's opinions he valued greatly) looking like a mess.

He opened the door to the dark planetarium flicking on the switch and watching as stars and planets sparkled into view. Despite coming in here almost every other day, he could not get over the beauty of it all. He shook the stars from his eyes and plopped himself in his usual area. He pulled his papers from his bag, spreading them out on the floor as he usually did.

About an hour later Edric was deeply engrossed in the possible location of a new star, one which looked quite like it was about to become a supernova. He wasn't certain, however, and was currently researching that topic. Just then, the door swung open and a rather nervous looking Hans entered. Edric frantically tried to hide his disheveled state, failing completely.

Hans walked over to Edric and handed him a rose made of emerald velvet. "It reminded me of your eyes."

Edric blushed wildly, unused to such compliments. "It's beautiful."