a/n: this story is cliché on purpose, as a way to just have fun plus i like writing these kinds of stories. all characters belong to square enix and the creators of final fantasy + the bravely saga. tanner and some other ocs belong to my friends and i. ps: this story is written all in lowercase because of aesthetic reasons.
EDIT 1/20/2024: i have completely revamped this story! it's thrice as longer as it originally was. comments are highly appreciated! <3
chapter one: al-khampis
The classroom is bustling with activity. In the back of the class, far from most students sits Yew, writing in his diary, waiting for the professor to arrive. Yew is a shy and quiet boy of sixteen years old, having few friends despite his social 'rank', a six-starred scholar. So, while Yew is at the top of the food chain, not many of his peers seem to respect him. It didn't really matter to Yew anyways — he's not here to socialise or make friends, sneak out of class with some boy and make out in the back of the school. He's here to learn: knowledge here around Al-Khampis is as tangible as the pen in his hand.
The school bell rings the second the professor enters the class. She drops her large textbooks on the lectern in front of her. "All right, class," she begins as she opens to a page. "Please open your trigonometry books to page eight." A few students, mostly two or three-starred scholars groan and obey their instructions. Yew reaches beneath his desk, struggling to lift the damn thing and plops it onto the surface with a loud thud. Some students whip their heads around, staring at the brunet boy. One student mumbles, "nerd", and a few giggle and point at Yew, who simply ignores his peers and their snide remarks.
They're just jealous, Yew thinks as he opens to the right page. The book he managed to grab from the library is tattered, has an odd scent and a lot of weird drawings and doodles, that Yew had even spent an entire class erasing whatever he could from the book. He's at least fortunate enough that he already knows what the teacher is discussing — how to search for angles and distance, an introduction to the basics of sine, cosine and tangent. Yew rests his chin in his hand as he dozes off slightly. He sometimes wishes that he were up there in the professor's place, scolding students for making fun of other kids, giving out detention left and right to those who show mean and nasty behaviours towards anyone, regardless of their social status. It makes his heart race thinking about it.
Yew is the heir to House Geneolgia, so once he inherits his father's place, he'll have the opportunity to give orders and almost do as he pleases. Although... something in Yew yearns for change. He has different goals; he wants to learn and use that knowledge to make changes in the world. Sure, the Heroes of Light had already saved the world once. But there's still some improvements that this world - that Luxendarc needs. Such as the erasure of the hierarchy. Al-Khampis is like its own little kingdom, with its own social system in place, known as scholars. There are six ranks, and depending on your rank, you're treated differently.
Well, unless you're Yew Geneolgia — the nerd, the weird kid in the back, the freak. Yew grits his teeth as he recalls insults from his classmates, making fun of him for simply having goals that don't involve training and physical activity. Yew would much rather sit out of physical education or fencing classes, reading a book and keeping notes in his diary. He's a logical learner, after all, and he likes to teach himself and strive ahead of the class. Sure, he'll still pay attention to the lessons, but the introductions bore him still. Setting the textbook to the side and reaching for his diary, Yew opens the journal up and begins to jot down some notes on how angles are measured, what a unit circle is, so forth. It's as easy as kindergarten, he thinks. Yew smiles to himself.
The lesson goes on for a while. Some students go up to the chalkboard and write down answers of what should have been a very easy problem. Yew adjusts his glasses, trying to get a better look at the board. The professor shakes her head, scolding the student for paying no attention to her instructions. She then turns to glance at Yew, gesturing him to fix the student's answer. As Yew stands up, he makes his way over to the chalkboard. A student sticks their leg out, tripping the brunet male on his way up. The class is filled with laughter, Yew's peers pointing at him. "Hey!" The professor shouts, her voice drowned out by the laughter. Yew's glasses had fallen off his face, and he begins to feel around the floor for them. A student kicks his glasses far away from him.
"That's enough!" shouts the professor. She sighs, rubbing her temples. "There is to be no foolishness in my classroom! Yew, head to the nurse's office." Yew nods, standing up from the dirty floor. He eventually finds his glasses, one of the lenses broken, and he puts the half-crooked glasses back on his face. As he walks over to the door, a student throws a paper airplane at him. Yew glares to his right, and the student mouths a "loser" before Yew opens the door, leaving for the medical bay, a long walk from here.
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"Here you go, mon cher." Nurse Magnolia examines the bruise on Yew's knee, applying some medical ointment on the wound. "You must have had a bad fall to take such damage. Does anything feel broken at all? Are you sure you can walk back to the dorms alone?" The look of concern on her face doesn't leave as Yew smiles and shakes his head slowly. He stands up with the aid of the nurse.
"I'm okay, Ms. Arch," he says as the white haired woman hands him his now slightly repaired glasses. She had apparently used some magic to repair the glasses, but the right lens still has some cracks and said lens needs replaced. Yew puts his glasses back on, fixing them on his face. "I promise, it's only a bruise. It'll heal over time. I've learnt quite a lot about medicine back in the sixth grade, so I can just use an ice pack and it'll feel better."
The tall nurse smiles. "Well that's very good news. Here," she hands Yew a hall pass. "Please take this, and return it when you next have class. I will write to your teachers that you need a day of rest after... what did you say happened?"
Yew shrugs. "I must have been dozing off and tripped on my shoelace." He takes the pass, putting it into his uniform pocket and begins to make his way over to the exit of the medical bay, until the door is forced open. Yew jumps back slightly, startled by the loud collision.
A boy no older than Yew, with long and pretty black hair, nearly collapses onto the ground, blood gushing from his nose as he stumbles into the infirmary. Yew helps the student into a nearby medical cot, cautious enough so he doesn't accidentally injure the boy any further. The other student lays down, hissing in pain. "Hey, Ms. Arch!" Yew calls for the nurse, but there is no response. Yew quickly finds a first aid kit, reaching for it and opening the kit up. He tries to think of what to grab. Alcohol wipes? Bandages? He finds a gauze and some bandages, patching up the boy's wounds carefully.
As he rolls the other male's uniform sleeve up, Yew notices how deep the bruise is, the mixture of blue and purple colours all over his arm. What in the world happened to this guy? Yew grabs for the same ointment Magnolia had given him for his own bruise, gently applying it to where it hurts most. "A-Are you all right?" Yew asks, timid and wide eyed. He nearly drops his medical supplies as he hurries to inspect the other wounds.
The boy grits his teeth, "What does it look like, six-star genius?"
Yew starts to sweat, internally panicking as he carefully wraps the gauze around the other student's bleeding wounds. The student yelps in pain. "Let me do it!" he sits upward, slapping Yew's hands away as he struggles to wrap the gauze. This poor kid... Yew stands back and watches. He only prays that Ms. Arch gets back here soon. Yew has only had experience in classes, but never something like this. Sure, he's tripped many times, no thanks to his pesky classmates. But this particular student is bleeding. Heavily.
When the bleeding finally subsides, the pretty male sighs and lays back in the cot.
Yew hesitates to speak next. "Feeling better at all...?"
The raven haired boy nods slowly, tired. "Yeah. No thanks to you."
Yew lets a sigh of relief escape as he pulls over Ms. Arch's chair, rolling it over to sit down next to the boy on the bed. He seems very familiar, almost like Yew has seen those pretty eyes and gorgeous long hair before. Maybe in a dream. Maybe somewhere. "I-I'm Yew Geneolgia, by the way." He grins shyly. "I'm a scholar."
"Janne."
Yew extends a hand out timidly, but Janne rolls his eyes, attempting to sit up. The pain stings throughout his body as he lays back down with an annoyed huff. "I know who you are. And honestly, I couldn't care less as to what you are here anyways." He turns his head, meeting Yew's pretty green gaze. "But... why would a six-starred scholar like you help someone like me?"
"Because it's the right thing to do."
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"Hey, nerd."
Yew glances away from his textbook as a group of girls, a little older than him gather around his isolated table in the courtyard. One of the girls snatches his book, the brunet yelling and trying to reach back for it. The girl scoffs and opens the book. "Mathematics? Really? Crystals, you're such a boring loser!"
"Give it back!" Yew cries, diving over the table to grab for his book. The girl's friend grabs his arm and yanks him backwards.
"No way, dork," she spits. "You're such a lame-o, Geneolgia. What do you even do for fun?" the bully rips a page from Yew's book, crumpling each page and throwing it to the ground. More and more pages are torn from the book as Yew struggles against the much stronger girl's grasp.
"What a moron," another one of the girl's friends scoffs. "Doesn't have any friends and yet he's supposed to be a six-starred scholar? What a freak."
"I bet he's a virgin too."
"No one would sleep with a loser like him!"
As the bullies laugh, mock and torment Yew, he hears a set of footsteps from behind. Yew prays that it's not another one of this girl's buddies. Though his prayers must have been heard as a young boy walks over and snatches the book roughly away from her. The girl stares, wide eyed and her jaw drops. Her friend lets go of Yew and stares, just as surprised. Yew rubs his wrist, the bully leaving a bruise. His heart begins to race as he recognises the boy. He's the same kid Yew helped treat back in the infirmary, the same kid who'd been bleeding from his nose, bruises all over his face and body. Gosh, what was his name again? Jean? Joan?
"J-Janne!" the girl blushes, grinning shyly as she bats her eyelashes. "Oh my gosh, I didn't—"
"Leave him the hell alone," Janne snaps. "Or I'll stick my rapier right through your damn guts."
The girl's eyes widen as she slowly steps back, before making a beeline somewhere else with her friends following in pursuit. Janne places the book back on the table, sits across from Yew and sighs. "Dumbasses," he mutters softly. "I swear, they're just asking for more trouble."
Yew reaches for his book, hugging it to his chest. "H-Hey," he speaks up finally, now his turn to blush and stammer. "Um... thank you."
"Yeah."
Yew shakes his head, smiling sheepishly. "No, seriously! Thank you. Those girls have picked on me since the first semester and I..." he sighs, staring towards the sandy ground. "I'm not a fighter or anything. I just don't like trouble and drama, I've had too much of it back home." He then peers up and chuckles softly. "Not that I'm not used to it."
The raven haired male blinks slowly, and Yew could have sworn he spots a slight smile on Janne's face. "You shouldn't grow so used to this, the way people treat you like crap isn't right. They're just rich punks who don't know better."
"You've got that right," Yew laughs. "Hey, are you free tonight?"
"I am. What's up?"
Yew opens his textbook, frowning as most of the pages are now torn, some missing, having been blown away in the light breeze that surrounds Al-Khampis. "Well... I was just wondering if you wanted to um... hang out?" he looks up at Janne with doe-like eyes, curious and a little intimidated. He's so glad he has yet to be on Janne's bad side, with the way his eyes seemed to darken as he threatened those bullies. Yew quickly stammers, "If you want to! I have books and board games and... well, I'm not that interesting." He sighs. "No one likes me here."
"You're harmless," Janne points out. "I saw what happened in class."
Yew blushes, glancing away. Truth be told, Yew had no idea Janne was even in the same class as Yew. Does this mean he's also a six-starred scholar? He internally curses; that doesn't matter right now. What matters is Janne — the same Janne who'd protected Yew, and the same Janne Yew cared for back in the nurse's office. He finally replies, hesitance in his voice.
"Y-Yeah... people are cruel here."
"You're not," Janne's own voice is softer and more quiet now, a contrast to his rough exterior. "In fact you're... tolerable than most of the jerks around here." He shifts uncomfortably in his spot across the table from Yew, avoiding eye contact. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to be friends."
"Really?" Yew's eyes seem to sparkle in delight, his smile returning.
"Why the hell not? You don't practically worship the ground I walk on, unlike some people here." He crosses his arms. Yew seems to recall the bullies from earlier, the girls' flustered faces and fake smiles as Janne approached them. It's true that Janne was in fact one of the most popular boys all around Al-Khampis, and since the university is a town within its own campus, everyone knows Janne's name and feared reputation.
But Janne, according to the gossip, is a lone wolf who keeps to himself. He reveals little about himself or his family name. The Angard family was once very close to the Geneolgia family, Yew recalls from his own childhood memories of Mr. and Mrs. Angard coming over to dinner frequently. So a quiet, mysterious lone wolf like Janne befriending anyone on his own is... quite unheard of. Yew shakes his head as he stands up, following Janne back into the boys' dormitories, the memories fading off into the back of his mind.
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"This is boring," Janne complains as he sits on the floor in Yew's dorm room, fiddling with the pair of dice between his fingers. "It's just rocks with numbers on them." He sighs in frustration, tossing the pair of dice onto the board. The dice land on the board, both facing up with the number one. "Doubles. What's that mean?" he points to the dice, waiting for Yew to show him the ropes of the game.
Yew grins to himself and writes something in his diary. Janne raises an eyebrow as his gaze shifts over to the other male. Yew ignores Janne, scribblign relentlessly in his leather diary, the book having a large, golden letter U on the cover. Doesn't Yew's name start with the letter Y? Janne disregards his thoughts as the book slams shut, startling the older boy.
"Oh, Janne! Your rolled snake eyes? That's lucky," Yew gushes, flashing a smile. "It means you've earned double points. Here," he hands Janne a character sheet. Janne takes it and stares at it, confused. He grabs his pencil and erases a number, adding a "x2" next to his attack stat. Yew peers over Janne's shoulder, the boy a little too close for comfort, as he helps Janne with his character. "See, since you're playing a fencer magician, you have more intelligence than you do dexterity."
"Wait, wait," Janne slaps the sheet back down onto the floor. "Is this just an excuse for me to do maths?"
"What? No!" Yew slinks back timidly. For a boy of Angard blood, Janne is quite a hothead. Yew almost... finds it adorable. At least Janne isn't threatening to stab Yew in the guts for making Janne do maths work for a tabletop board game. "It's meant to be fun, Janne. See?" He points to the little minifigure Yew had painted earlier, the figure resembling Janne, from the colour of his hair to his pretty eyes. "See, once you get past the maths portion, you can tell your character's story and what she wants to do next."
"Right. Sorry, I just hate maths." Janne pouts.
"I promise the next time we play, I'll keep maths to a minimum," Yew pats Janne's shoulder, the male wincing at the touch. Yew quickly draws his hand back. "Oh, s-sorry. I forgot you're still healing."
Janne blushes lightly, pouting even more. "Quit worrying about me."
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The next morning Yew wakes up to a soft knock at his door. He stirs and rubs his tired eyes as he slips out of bed, trudging over to the door. Standing at the entrance is Ms. Arch, and next to her is a familiar face - Janne! "Bonjour, Yew!" the nurse greets in a singsong voice. "May we come in?"
"Oh, Ms. Arch! And Janne... of course," Yew grins shyly, stepping to the side. Both the nurse and other boy walk into the room. Janne is carrying a small backpack, coloured with blue, white and some gold. He tosses the bag down, his arms crossed. Yew takes a moment to analyse the situation. Janne looks even worse than he did yesterday. What in the world is going on?
"Yew, Janne here will be your new roommate," Ms. Arch explains softly as she gently pats Janne's shoulder. "He's been having some... conflict with the other boys in the five-star scholar dorms. And since he is in your class, I have been asked to make some new adjustments. Would you be so kind to accept the poor thing?"
"Quit doting on me," Janne pouts, wrinkling his nose. "I'm fine. Gosh, you two are such suck ups." He glances around the familiar room. Yew has a bunkbed, where the bottom lacks a mattress and is instead replaced with a desk. There's also a small couch to the left, facing out the window. The room is larger than most dorm rooms, it even comes with its own bathroom and fireplace. The carpet is made of velvet and is soft beneath the feet.
Janne's continuous pouting only makes the nurse giggle, ruffling Janne's long hair. "It's only because I view you two as my little brothers, non?" She brushes some of Janne's long hair out of his face. "And I hope you two view me as a big sister! Hehe..." Without another word, the nurse winks at Yew, says her goodbyes and walks out of the room, closing the door behind her. The room falls into a pregnant silence as the boys stand there, Yew trying to think of something to say. Anything to make the awkward silence go away.
"So... this is different," Yew confesses, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I actually did pay for my own room, but... I wouldn't mind the company if it's you, Janne!" He smiles, eyes shut.
Janne scoffs as he sits back on the sofa, leaning backwards. "Yeah. Everyone thinks I'm a problem, so I made the problem worse." He raises his fist and does a punching motion. "He deserved it anyways. Called my mom a whore and all that crap." Yew can see some tears forming in Janne's eyes, but the black haired male wipes his eyes, his hand stained with now dried up blood. "Anyways, I guess we're stuck with each other now, huh?"
Yew shakes his head. "I wouldn't say stuck, but I'm happy to have you around, Janne." He walks closer to the other male, sitting next to him on the sofa. "I'm actually happier when it's you around."
Janne chuckles wryly. "You just need a guy like me to protect your back, huh?"
"No! It's not like that," Yew stammers, blushing.
"I'm joking, calm down." Janne relaxes his posture, sinking further into the sofa. "Honestly you give me more things to do around here anyways." Again, he makes another punching gesture. "Some people deserve to make friends with my fists, others deserve a rapier shoved down their throat. What do you think?"
Yew shrugs. "I'm not the violent type... but I agree that some people are cruel."
"The world, Yew," Janne lets out an exasperated sigh. "There's no mercy in this world, and that's what we're gonna fix." He meets the other boy's gaze, smiling. "Together."
Yew had never seen Janne's smile before, and for a change it's so genuine and kind. And yet, something about that pretty smile doesn't match the hidden rage in his eyes.