Ten years earlier
No one would call the Mervil Orphanage a happy place. Any location with the word “orphanage” in its title would find it difficult to be categorized as such. The shared quality that bound all of the children and teenagers who lived under its roof together was a shadow on their lives. Most took months or even years to truly start on any sort of road to recovery, and they would be reminded of their own loss every time a new child arrived.
This couldn’t be held against the adults who lived with and cared for the bereaved children. They were excellent caretakers. They prevented any bullying or harassment, instead guiding the children towards positive, healthy interactions. They prepared the youngest children for their education and helped the older kids excel in theirs. Most of the kids could already read before they entered New Chicago’s school system at the age of five.
There were seven caretakers in total, four women and three men. Only two of the adults lived in the orphanage full time, but Mrs. Mervil had reached Tier 2 years before any of her kids were born. Mischief was easily noticed even when all of her assistants except for her son left for the night. She didn’t go into much detail about her magical powers, instead letting the kids discuss the topic frequently and fervently.
The most recent theory among the younger children was that she was secretly a ninja, who went out to hunt monsters by night after making sure that they were all asleep. Alex found this theory preposterous. He still subscribed to the theory that she had defensive Abilities, to keep all of the kids in her care safe. It was a bit boring, compared to the ninja theory that his friends had all moved over to, but it just made sense. Of course their caretaker would have magic to protect her charges, duh.
He was still working on an expressive eye roll, to show Damian how he felt about the outlandish new theory. He’d seen Mr. Darvish use the expression to incredible effect enough to have an idea of what it should look like, but he was struggling to copy the man’s exasperation, a word that Mr. Darvish had taught him just recently. He’d been the recipient of plenty of those eye-rolls, so he knew that it really got the point across.
The problem was that spending too much time practicing facial expressions in front of a mirror would quickly be noticed. He was limited to trying it out for only a few seconds whenever he used the bathroom.
His thoughts about how impressive the eye-roll would be once he could pull it off were interrupted by a knock on his door. The firmness of the knock had to be a caretaker, none of his friends could emulate the sharp rapping on the door. Alex looked around the room to make sure things were put away and immediately saw several things that wouldn’t stand up to inspection. The caretakers weren’t excessively fussy about how children kept their own living spaces, as long as nothing was filthy, but they did insist on chores being completed.
Privately, Alex thought that their reasoning that he shouldn’t make a mess for his roommates to have to live with was a bit stupid. Damian, Chris, and Luis all couldn’t care less if he didn’t make his bed. When he pointed this out to Mr. Darvish, he’d just received one of the oh-so-impressive eye-rolls and been told to make his bed, anyway.
Luckily, none of the mess was his, so he didn’t worry about it too much. His quick look did delay him enough that a voice followed the knock instead of waiting for his answer, “Alex, are you in there?” Mrs. Mervil called out to him.
“Yes, Mrs. Mervil,” Alex replied.
“May I come in?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Following the permission being granted, the door opened, and in stepped the woman the orphanage was named for. Her usually smiling face was twisted in a rare frown, which could only mean a few things.
“Alex, can you help me with something?”
Alex nodded, “Sure.”
“We have a new child, joining us here at the orphanage today.” Mrs. Mervil began, explaining the frown on her face. She wasn’t one to show negative emotions to the children, but this simply wasn’t the time for smiling, “She’s right around your age, just a month and a half older. I was wondering if you could show her around?”
“Okay.” Alex agreed with a sad expression on his own face. He had no memories of his own parents, but he knew how much remembering could hurt his friends.
Mrs. Mervil gave him a small smile, “Thank you.”
They made their way to the orphanage’s lobby, not exchanging any more words. Mrs. Mervil’s normally chatty demeanor wasn’t present, and Alex was worried about what he would say to the girl he was going to give a tour. He’d spent his entire life with mourning children surrounding him and he was no longer annoyed by emotional displays, but it was still very awkward for him when a friend was going through a bad day. He never quite knew what to say.
They reached the lobby and Alex vaguely recognized the girl, they attended the same school. They were in separate classes, though, and he didn’t know her name. Mrs. Yu stood behind her, a supporting hand placed on her shoulder.
She was a little bit taller than him, with brown hair that fell a bit past her shoulders. Her hair was a bit tousled, but Alex was too young to really think about minor details like that.
What he did pay attention to was the red in her puffy eyes. They made eye contact as Alex and Mrs. Mervin walked in, and he was initially taken aback by how sad she looked. He had been expecting it but still wasn’t ready for her anguish.
“Hi, I’m Alex.” He waved at her, not even realizing that Mrs. Mervin was about to introduce them, “What’s your name?”
“I- I’m Becca,” The girl stuttered in a stuffy voice that made it clear she had just been crying.
“Hey, Becca, nice to meet you,” Alex said gently, trying to find the right words to say, “Are you okay?”
“N-n-no.” The girl started sobbing again, and Alex felt terrible as he realized that had been almost exactly the worst question to ask.
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“I’m sorry,” He said, on the verge of tears himself because he felt bad for making her cry, “Do you need a hug?”
The girl accepted his offer and cried into his shoulder. That was the day Alex learned that sometimes, all you could do was be there for someone. He didn’t always have the right words, but he could be there. Sometimes, it was enough. Sometimes it had to be enough.
****
“What are you thinking about?” Becca spoke into Alex’s chest. She lay half atop him and half on the grass, curled into his body while he stared up at the stars. They’d kissed for a while but had lulled into a comfortable silence.
“Just remembering the day we met,” Alex replied, “I’ve been thinking about the past a lot today.”
“That’s not exactly a happy memory,” Becca frowned, looking up at him.
Alex winced. Reminding a girl of her dead parents right after kissing her might go down as his worst social blunder ever, and that was saying something. It wasn’t like he was an particularly awkward person, but when he screwed up he could screw up big. “No, sorry, not like that…” He trailed off. Excuses weren’t going to dig him out of that hole.
“What was it like then?” Becca asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Well, it’s just, ugh,” Alex paused, “I don’t know how to say this. I’m sorry.”
Becca just stared at him in response. She didn’t seem upset by his blunder but wanted an answer. Alex could understand why, it wasn’t completely off-topic but it definitely didn’t fit the mood.
“I guess I just was thinking about how I had no idea what to say back then, and now I have no idea what to say right now.” Alex finally said, “We’ve been friends for a decade and this is important but I’m just worried I’ll say the wrong thing like I did that day.”
“Alex,” Becca raised a hand to swat at his forehead lightly, “Don’t be stupid. ‘Are you okay’ doesn’t even register as one of the bad things people asked me that week. You were just a concerned kid.”
“Yeah, but I don’t have that excuse now. Can’t afford any mistakes.” Alex grimaced, “It sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud.”
“Probably because you’re being ridiculous,” Becca smiled at him, “If I was looking for someone perfect, who always knew the right words to say, I wouldn’t have just spent ten minutes kissing you senseless.”
“You are a good kisser,” Alex agreed, seizing the chance to change the subject.
“Thank you,” Becca’s smile grew, “Now, what is it you’re worried to say?”
Alex thought for a second, and Becca gave him the time to gather his thoughts. This was an important moment for them. Rushing ahead would get it over with, but could he accept anything but his best when he had a chance with the most incredible person he knew? “Well, what does this mean?” He asked.
“What do you mean, what does this mean?” Becca frowned at him, “It means I got tired of waiting for you to get over yourself and took matters into my own hands.”
“Yeah, but what does that mean? Are we a couple now?” Alex replied, anxiousness clear in his voice.
Becca’s face betrayed some of her own anxiousness, but only for a second. She regained her composure and took a breath, then she started giggling at something, “Yep! When you kissed me, it was a magically binding contract. Now you’re trapped under my spell, bewitched by a potion I applied like old-world lipstick.”
Alex laughed back at the absurd statement, a thrill going through him at the confirmation of their relationship status, “You wicked witch!” he exclaimed, pushing her over onto her back so that he was on top of her before their lips met again.
They kissed for a while before the thrill of the joke wore off and they calmed slightly. Alex rolled onto his back, with Becca happily resuming her position against his side.
“I didn’t know that a kiss could be a contract, a spell, and a potion. How did you pull that off?” Alex asked, breathing a bit heavily.
“Oh, shut up!” Becca swatted his shoulder, “Jokes don’t have to match up to reality. That’s why they’re jokes.”
“So our new relationship is a joke to you?” Alex asked teasingly.
“Not at all,” Becca replied seriously, “I’ve been working on this for weeks and thinking about it for longer.”
“Oh,” Alex was momentarily taken aback by her sincerity, “I guess you did say you were behind Marlin’s nagging.”
There was a heavy pause that only lasted a few seconds but felt like longer as he searched for words that felt right.
“You’re doing it again,” Becca complained, “Just say what you’re thinking and if it sounds terrible I’ll laugh at you.”
“That doesn’t seem fair,” Alex replied, “In fact, that’s the opposite of what I’m going for, here.”
“Too bad,” Becca stated matter-of-factly, a smile on her face, “I was the one who put myself out there and made the first move so I get to laugh at you. It’s my right, you just have to accept it.”
“Okay, okay, give me a second.” Alex laughed, “It’s just, I really like you. You know?”
“Yes…” Becca replied, her tone making it clear that he was free to continue.
“And I've been nervous about asking you out or being in a relationship with you for a while now,” Alex continued, “But I’m really, really happy, right now… I accept your bewitchment.”
Becca grinned at him, and he grinned back, “Good,” Becca replied, “I was running low on potion if you didn’t feel that way yet.” She pulled herself up towards him, and they kissed again.
“I can’t believe you said you used a potion on me,” Alex laughed after they separated, “Love potions aren’t even real!”
“Hey!” Becca protested, “I was in a very stressful situation. You’re the one who just sat around saying you could wait and forced my hand. I didn’t have any good pickup lines prepared.”
“Spur of the moment decision?” Alex asked.
“Yes, all of our friends have spent the past weeks trying to figure out how long it would take you to grow a pair and ask me out.” Becca replied, a threatening smile on her face, “But since you didn’t like my impromptu lines, I’ll just have to tell all of them that I was the one who asked you.”
Alex winced, there wasn’t any sort of taboo surrounding Becca asking him out. Girls asked boys all the time in the Academy. But, there would be a large amount of teasing for his failure to man up after weeks of signals from every direction. The nerves had made him second-guess a large number of signs that were quite obvious in hindsight.
“Do you have to?” Alex asked, “It could just be our secret.”
“You should have thought about that before you made fun of me.” Becca stated, nose in the air, “This is your punishment.”
The two of them bickered playfully for a while, interspersing kisses in their conversation but not risking anything that might get them in trouble with a random instructor who noticed them. They enjoyed their new dynamic, just basking in each other’s presence.
“Oh, Alex, one more thing,” Becca said, smiling up at him.
“What’s up?” He replied.
“You’re a pretty good kisser yourself,” Her smile was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen.
There was a definite swagger in his stride when they made their way back to the dorms that night.