The first few minutes that the group spent making their way down the corridor were spent in silence, save for the chatter of students on similar journeys. For Cassandra, her Court, and Grim, it was a comfortable one. For Deuce, it was one of the most awkward walks of his life.
It wasn't until they came to the first of four flights of stairs that would lead to their History of Magic class that Yue, of all people, abruptly broke the silence with a sigh, and turned back slightly to face the navy haired boy as they climbed.
"For the love of God, could you stop acting like we're going to eat you? We don't bite... much.", he said, starting out with an exasperated tone before drifting into a much slyer one, a grin appearing on his face, giving Deuce a glimpse of what might have been canines much sharper than they should have been for a human. Deuce gulped a bit before responding.
"I'm sorry...", he trailed off as he looked down. Not even halfway through his first day and he had already irritated his only... friends? Acquaintances? Whatever the case, things weren't going well.
The eldest of the group, Griffin, if he remembered right, jogged up the stairs at a surprisingly fast pace until he was right beside Deuce. He grinned brightly and started to speak.
"Don't pay any mind to Yue. He's just jealous because he hasn't gotten his daily dose of being the center of attention. He acts like this a lot, though, so you'll have to get used to him being salty 24/7.", the man said. His voice was surprisingly gentle and soft for someone of his athletic seeming disposition.
Yue, meanwhile, had growled at him in a manner not unlike the way an angry teenage girl would and had begun stomping up the stairs at an even faster pace. He only stopped when Cassandra grabbed him gently by the arm and told him Griffin was just messing around and didn't mean it with a smile. Immediately, the boy with the ponytail held by an odd looking red hair tie deflated and regained his neutral expression. The only difference between the way he looked now and how he looked before he started talking was that Cassandra had laced her fingers with his. Deuce wrote this off as nothing of consequence. Girls could be touchy with their friends, right? He had seen girls do that with their friends at his old middle school, granted most of them were girls too. But Yue acted enough like a girl from what little the ex-delinquent had seen of him, so they were probably just good friends. Not thinking there was any other possible meaning behind their joined hands, Deuce forgot about it and refocused on his and Griffin's budding conversation.
"Why will I have to get used to it?", the Heartslabyul student asked.
Not even a second after he said that, Shorter, who Deuce had sworn was just a few steps behind Cassandra a minute ago, had swung his arm around his shoulders.
"Because you're one of us now, dumbass! You're in the Court!"
Deuce blinked at that. He had heard them coin the term at the entrance ceremony, but didn't really know what it meant to them., "Court? What do you mean by that?"
Again, another one of Deuce's... friends? Friends. Had somehow managed to get right beside him. Ash was much quieter than Shorter, however, and was only noticed when he began to speak, causing the first year to jump and nearly start spewing curses. At this point, the wide staircase was starting to get a little cramped with the four of them all walking in time. It was a miracle there wasn't anyone going down anymore, so they weren't blocking their path.
"The Court is short for The Court of Miracles. It's the name of our... friend group, so to speak. We call it the Court because, at the end of the day, we all serve Cassandra. Like knights with their king."
Deuce blinked and remained silent as he tried to understand what 'we all serve her' meant. Ash took this as a sign to continue.
"The Miracle part is because-", and just like that, the green eyed man was cut off.
Thankfully, Eiji didn't come to stand beside him, but he did stop to let him and the others catch up so he was just close enough that they all could hear him without issue.
"-Because it's a Miracle we made it this far.", the innocent looking young man said, sarcasm ringing clear in his voice.
Ash snorted, "Amen to that."
Deuce jumped again, this time deciding to voice his startlement.
"How did you do that?", he asked the latest addition to the conversation.
Eiji blinked innocently and tilted his head, "Do what?", he asked in an equally guiltless tone. Deuce shook his head, maybe he was just really out of it today due to meeting Cassandra (AKA The Most Gorgeous Girl he had ever seen, not that he would say that outloud and risk dying of embarrassment) and wasn't paying attention to his surroundings as much.
Deuce was about to ask Eiji his question again when said young man decided to change the topic.
"We also resemble a Court because we have roles within our group, like the aristocracy does within a country, or a royal entourage within a castle. Ash is Cassandra's right hand man, if she gives an order, he makes sure it's followed. He's also in charge when Cassandra isn't around, and only her orders can override his. Shorter is her attendant, he has to carry out her orders and 'do her bidding', so to speak. Griffin is her bodyguard, a position that is more of precaution if anything. He mostly helps her in fights when no one else is there to do so and serves as the muscle of the operation. Yue is her personal assistant. He plans things, keeps us on schedule when we have one, and makes sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to do. Skip is her courier, he delivers packages and letters and scouts out new places for us, though his position is less of an official appointed role and more an informal title. Skips still a kid, ya know? He shouldn't have to work too hard just yet. Cassandra mostly gave him the position to save Shorter and Yue the pain of having to run all over the place on top of everything else they do.", the boy explained, laughing a bit at the end, seeming to recall the last bit from a time a while since passed.
Deuce took a while to process all that information before he asked, "What do you do, Eiji?"
Eiji smiled that disarming grin of his, "I'm her publicist. I make sure her privacy isn't violated by the media and make sure her image, what little of one she has, at least, isn't tarnished by rumors, libel or slander."
Deuce looked at him strangely. He knew what a publicist was, but he didn't know why Cassandra needed one. She wasn't unknown here per say, what with the 'Orientation Ceremony Incident' as people in his dorm had started to call it, but she wasn't a celebrity either like he heard the Pomefiore dorm head was. So what was all this 'role' and 'position' stuff for?
As if he had read his mind, Ash answered his question, likely due to the visible confusion on the blue eyed boy's face.
"We were involved in a lot of things in our community back in our world. Charities, events, we even helped Cassandra run a multi purpose business she built from the ground up and worked with the police of our city on multiple occasions to solve cases of more... paranormal persuasion. Magic isn't widely known in our world, in fact, most people believe it to be nothing but fiction. So our help on those cases is highly valued. And that's to say nothing of the dinner parties and events her family did. They are rather wealthy and well known as a whole, so we help out a lot with those."'
Ash then turned away from Deuce to look directly at the topic of their conversation. She had yet to let go of Yue's hand and chuckled a bit when Skip, who had been walking in time with the red head, wrapped his arms around her waist from behind in an impromptu hug. That startled Grim, who was still on her left shoulder, which caused him to shout something Skip. This did not deter the boy, however, and only made him grin brighter and jump up to grab the familiar off the shoulder of his master. He squirmed and squawked, but seemed to start melting when Skip rubbed behind his ears. Yue then commented snarkily on something the others couldn't make out, causing Skip and Cassandra to laugh and Grim to make a weak protest before he returned to his incapacitated state.
"Our 'jobs' are just Cassandra's way of keeping things organized. Our personal relationships with her come first, and our positions within the Court second, so don't go thinking you're nothing but a worker or a pawn, because you're not. And if you do end up feeling that way, Cassandra will go to hell and back to make you feel otherwise. That's just who she is."
The blonde said this with such sincerity, that it led Deuce to believe Cassandra had done that for him once upon a time. Before he could comment on that presumptuous vow, Shorter, who had yet to remove his heavy arm from around Deuce's shoulders, spoke.
"He's right. Her coming to you is a sign that she sees you as a good, trustworthy person who she wants to become close with. And she hasn't come out of her way this much to become close with someone since she met us."
And this was true. While traveling across the country to save his and the other's lives didn't sound at all equal in effort to inviting Deuce to walk to class with them, it was. At least, it was emotionally.
Cassandra had saved them because she felt it was the right thing to do. She wasn't in love with them at the time, and didn't want to go out of her way to get close to people. Being a Mikaelson meant that, while her family would never betray her, it seemed like everyone else would. Her family had made so many enemies throughout their long lives, and throughout Cassandra's comparatively short one, she had seen the results of her family's adversaries attempts to get even more than once. She didn't fully trust others easily. She liked to see the best in others and give the benefit of the doubt, but she would never go out of her way to make herself available emotionally. The person would have to prove themselves before she let herself open her heart, lest she end up like her dad, mom and uncles, stuck with a belt full of notches of the various betrayals felt throughout their lives being all they had to show for their attempts at happiness.
When Cassandra let herself enter a relationship with them all and let herself start to see Skip and Griffin as friends, it was because she could see they were good people, who would never hurt her intentionally. The mate bond was only an extra nudge on her four lovers' part, she fell in love with them and let them in because she could read their closed off selves like books, and determined they were good people, even if they themselves didn't believe it. She could tell with just a bit of time with a person how much she could trust them initially. She only let those who she felt she could trust with her life get this close to her and her Court. Add on the fact the two of them had a grand total of two conversations and had only known each other a day despite this, the fact she was going out of her way to invite him places and talk to him, and the fact that despite being able to hear her Court and her prospective Court member's conversation about the Court's inner workings and going ons, she had not so much as given them a look of warning, this meant they would likely soon have another amongst their ranks.
Cassandra didn't let most people in easily, but when she found just the right person, her heart became an open door. And it seemed Deuce Spade was the newest admittant.
Not long after Deuce processed what Shorter had said and realized what that might mean for him, Cassandra came to an abrupt stop at the top of one of the flights of stairs. She looked back at her laging Court members and hopeful, before she looked Deuce directly in the eye with a soft, sincere expression and soft smile.
"They're right, Deuce. I don't let just anyone get this close to me or the others. We've all had... issues with finding people we could trust. When we found each other, it was the greatest blessing of all to have gained people who I could disclose all my fears and insecurities to without fear of ridicule or betrayal. And now that I've met you... I feel as if I've gained another."
She said this in a small voice. It wasn't her usual confident and loud tone of voice, and it was barely heard above the chatter of the other students in the stairway. It was a tone that conveyed so much raw emotion it almost made Deuce want to cry. This girl had seen things that made her think trust was something hard to find and even harder to hold on to. It wasn't an attitude people his age usually had, and it made him think that Cassandra might have had to grow up quicker than she should have.
Just as Deuce came to this conclusion, the warning bell rang and they all realized that they had made it up the stairs to their classroom. Realizing they should probably go in or risk getting in trouble, they started to make their way towards the open classroom door down the corridor the stairway led to only to be stopped when Cassandra stepped in front of them and began to speak.
"Deuce, I know that this probably sounds sudden even with all the helpful exposition from the guys, and down right odd from your perspective, but I would like to offer you a position within the Court of Miracles. You won't have an official named position until we can figure out your talents, but you will be just as much of a member as everyone else. You're sweet and funny. Your eyes radiate kindness and you've taken everything we've told you exceptionally well. So, I ask you this, Deuce Spade, will you join the Court of Miracles, but most importantly, will you be my friend?"
The red head slowly walked towards Deuce as she said all of this, finally letting go of Yue's hand since she had retaken it shortly after Skipper released her from his hold. The others parted like the red sea for her with serious expressions on their faces as she made her way over to the boy who had such a strong but gentle grip when she shook his hand, something she believed was reflected in his personality. She then held her hand out to him for the third time that day, though this time seemed much more significant than the first two.
Deuce didn't know why, but he felt as if whether or not he took her hand would decide how his future would go from here on out. Even with the feeling of importance the situation radiated, he knew he had nothing to lose and didn't even have to think about his choice.
He grabbed her hand firmly, and even as he felt the shock that had come to be associated with touching Cassandra, he knew immediately he had made the right call.
Feeling a lot more comfortable now that he knew his place in all of this, Deuce decided to turn the handshake into something he was much more familiar with.
He pulled Cassandra closer to him by her arm until they were nearly hugging, causing her to laugh. She was familiar with the infamous 'bro hug' from Bones and the others, and took the fact her latest Court member was willing to initiate one as a good sign. In the background, she could hear the sound of Skip cheering and the others giving words of welcome. Even Yue, after some nudging from Griffin.
With that out of the way, Cassandra took her newest Court member by the hand and led the way into the History of Magic classroom with ten minutes to spare. They all took a seat on one of the middle bar desks. Griffin, Skipper, Yue, Ash, Eiji, Shorter, Cassandra and Grim seemed to all take up the middlemost desk, with Grim just barely fitting by laying on top of Cassandra's head. Realizing this, the familiar's living seat winced and looked at Deuce with apologetic eyes, squeezing his yet to be released hand softly.
"You know, if you want to sit with the others I can move-", Cassandra started to speak, but Deuce interrupted her.
"Please don't feel like you have to move just for my sake. I can handle sitting at the desk beside yours.", the ex-punk said with a reassuring smile. Cassandra reluctantly nodded and he took the seat at the end of the desk closest to her as they both reluctantly let go of each other's hands, which put them only five feet apart.
As Deuce took out his notebook and pencil case from his newly organized bag, he chuckled to himself as he realized in the span of less than a day- hell, in the span of less than 3 hours, he had somehow ended up in the apparently very exclusive, ride-or-die friend group that was the other world student's Court of Miracles. It all still kinda felt like a fever dream.
After he opened his notebook to the first page and took out his pencil, he turned to look on the left side of him. He felt someone staring at him, and sure enough, a boy with red hair, a heart mark and a Heartslabyul band around his arm was staring at him with scrutening, narrowed red eyes. Deuce narrowed his eyes right back.
"What the hell are you looking at?", the spade marked boy asked, making use of his delinquent voice in the hopes of scaring this guy into leaving him alone. He had just made eight new friends (if you counted Grim) and he was not about to cause trouble for them or his mother by getting into a fight on the first day.
Red started glaring at him before responding.
"Chill out man! I was just wondering how you know her.", Red gestured towards Cassandra, who was talking with Grim about how much tuna he was allowed to buy at lunch. Deuce scowled before answering.
"She's my friend. I met her this morning by accident and we got to know each other in our first class."
Red's face gained a look of confused realization.
"That's funny. I met her this morning the same way. Well, minus the first class part.", Red finished with a smug grin. Deuce disliked him instantly.
"I'm Ace by the way, a Heartslabuyl first year. So, what's the name of my competition?", Red, now known as Ace, asked with a smug smirk. Deuce's scowl intensened.
"Deuce Spade, I'm a Heartslabyul first year too. What do you mean by 'competition'?", the navy eyed boy asked apprehensively. Ace only seemed to be half listening to him and seemed to be more focused on scrolling through magicam. When the hell did he take his phone out?
Ace blinked and looked up from his phone, most likely only because an ad had popped up for Neige LeBlanch's new line of apple-based beauty products, and responded.
"Hmm? Oh, sorry Juice, I got distracted. What were you saying?", the carrot headed bastard asked in a deceptively innocent tone. Deuce growled a bit before he answered.
"My name is Deuce! D-E-U-C-E! And I asked you what you meant by 'competition'." It was official, he hated this fucker.
Ace took another moment to keep scrolling, and just as Deuce was about to say fuck all and take his phone so he could snap it in two, the bastard sighed and responded.
"What I meant was, Cassandra's super hot, funny, nice, smart and not a total priss. Meaning, I like her and want to ask her out. You keep looking at her every five seconds, and your face is colored pink like it's supposed to look like that. Even if you don't know it, anyone with eyes can see you have the hots for her. And since I want to date her, and you want to date her even if you don't know it, that means you and I are competing against each other for her. That make sense, Juice?", the red headed prick finished in a condescending tone.
Deuce wanted to punch something. This motherfucker was pushing every button he had and he knew it. But Deuce looked back at the subject of the prick and his conversation and realized that, as much as he hated to admit it, Ace was right. He did like Cassandra a lot. He had never had a crush before, so this was all new to him, and while he would never admit it, it took carrot head pointing his feelings out to him to get him to realize them.
Deuce glared at the person who was quickly becoming the bane of his existence. Now that he knew what that thumping in his chest was, he was not about to lose the source of it to this cocky little fuckboy.
"You know what? You're right. I do like her, and I'm not going to lose her to a guy who acts like his head is shoved so far up his ass, he's being smothered by his own bullshit.", he growled out the insult with gritted teeth. Ace made an offended choking sound before responding.
"And I refuse to lose the only non-bitchy girl I've ever met and actually liked to a guy who acts even dumber than he looks."
Deuce glared at the red head and growled again before saying, "Then may the best man win, you little shit."
Ace returned the seething glare and said through gritted teeth, "Likewise, you blue haired jackass."
Meanwhile, Cassandra was listening to Ash regale her with the tale of Griffin's hilarious attempt to help Ason and the other servants with breakfast with rapt attention, and therefore had not heard a word her two newest friends had just said. Looking to her left to check and see what Deuce was doing, she was confused when she saw Ace of all people sitting beside him, glaring at her blue haired friend. A gesture he seemed to be returning. You could almost see the sparks flying through the air.
'This isn't good.', the golden eyed girl thought, worried. She had been thinking about it all throughout potions, and she had decided Ace would be offered a place in the Court as well. He was kind of annoying, but charming. She likes him and thinks she could trust him on the same level as the guys. If he manages to make enemies with a certain spade marked young man, however, that may make things difficult.
Just as Cassandra was about to say something to the two apparently arguing boys to figure out what was happening and how to diffuse the tension, she startled a bit as she felt something big and furry jump onto her lap from under the desk.
It wasn't Grim, who was still on her head, but some other creature. When the living ball of black fluff looked up at her with lazy eyes, she realized it was just a normal cat. The feline had golden eyes and white patches of fur on its muzzle and face. Cassandra chuckled as she stoked the cat gently and it purred lowly, closing its eyes as it got into the loaf position on her lap.
Cassandra had always liked cats and wanted one for herself, but never had the time to take care of it properly. She sort of had one now in the form of Grim, but he was more of a friend than a pet.
A few moments later, the tribrid noticed a shadow lingering over her and looked up. She then saw a very intimidating, older looking man who had once been quite handsome. He had neat combed back graying hair and narrow, cold gray eyes. He wore a black suit underneath his maroon robes, white silk gloves and a jabot tied off with a turquoise brooch. In short, he looked like the male version of Lady Tremain from Cinderella and was just as intimidating. Cassandra assumed he was the History of Magic professor.
'First it was Cruella De Vil, now it's Lady Tremain. I get the feeling this is gonna turn into a trend.'
Lord Tremain, as Cassandra decided to call him, raised an aristocratic eyebrow at her presence which morphed into a slightly wide eyed expression when his eyes trailed down her form and saw the black and white cat perched on her lap.
"My my, Lucius usually doesn't willingly go up to students without my telling him to, let alone jump out of my arms the first chance he gets to run up to someone he doesn't even know. How peculiar...", his voice was slow and regal, making him live up to his unknown title as 'Lord'. The elder's eyes widened even further when he noticed his pet's low purring at the feeling of Cassandra's attention.
"And he lets you pet him. I must say, this is a first. Never in all my years as his master has he done this.", the patriarchal looking gentleman said in a tone of surprise Cassandra could feel was likely uncommon for him to speak in.
"I'm sorry if I caused him to act out, do you want him back?", the girl asked, internally shaking her head at her stupid question. Of course he wanted him back, the cat was his familiar! Just as Cassandra was about to pick the cat, now known as Lucius up, her professor raised his hand in a gesture to stop her.
"He may remain with you if he wishes, so long as he isn't distracting you from my lesson. I know better than to oppose the will of a cat with my silly human whims.", Lord Tremain said with a small, very visible smile as he cracked a joke. Cassandra absently thought that this wasn't common for him either. Cassandra smirked in response.
"Indeed. Cats have a tendency of doing as they wish.", as she said this, she looked towards her blonde mate and winked, who in response rolled his eyes with a smile. The professor looked between the two confused, but shrugged it off and went to the front of his classroom to write his name on the board.
"I am Mozus Trein, your History of Magic professor for the next four years. If you misbehave, detention. If you talk during class, detention. And if you so much as think of falling asleep in my class, detention.", Professor Trein said as Cassandra mused about having another strict but nice professor and how she wasn't far off the mark with his name. The elder mage then spoke once more.
"We will start with the history of The Land of Proxyen. Turn to page 15 of your text books titled 'The History of Dwarves and Magical Gem Mines'. You will complete the worksheet on pages 16 through 17 and turn it in to me at the end of class. Now, begin."
I'm on a roll, aren't I? Yes, Deuce and Ace currently hate each other for multiple reasons, but we'll have the infamous Adeuce bromance soon. Also, the Court expands! And it's just gonna keep getting bigger, so look out for that. Next chapter, PE and the chaos that comes with it. So long and good night, Thackery Binx.