“You’ve got to be kidding me, not you too, Dorian”, Candy grunted as they left the hall room.

As Dorian was about to say something, a few students smacked and tapped him on the back yelling ‘they can’t wait’ or ‘see you at the party’. Candy raised an eyebrow at him.

“Party?” Lea asked.

“I’ve got a party this weekend at my dorm and you both are now invited.” He slowly bowed.

“Thanks for just remembering.” Candy scuffed and then laughed it off.

“People are going to show up anyway, without ‘em but back to the main point,” Dorian said dramatically pointing at Lea, “She showed me, what she felt. She showed me what she saw. Candy, I’ve lived here my entire life, I know when people are mates.” He then seemed lost for a bit like a memory overtook him. He remembered their faces, their smiles to each other, how they danced around the room, hand in hand and he thought if he met his fated, he would want it to be just the same. He then sighed and looked down for a bit.

“Are you okay?”

“My parents…they were…they were mates.”

“Oh,” Lea responded. “Did something happen to them?”

Dorian looked up now, into both their eyes. “Their dead, a fire, at our house…It was an-.” Dorian squeezes his face and laughs a bit, “It was an accident and I- I survived.”

Silence. They were alone in the hallway right now. No response from either of them, in fact, Candy didn’t have a response for that at all. Lea wanted to say something but what has she ever said to console someone who’s lost. But she knew when that loss was deeper than what was said.

“Sorry, for getting like this, It’s fi-”

“It’s not.”

Both turned to look at Lea. “I can feel it, in your voice, see it in your face. There’s more to what happened, and I know you might not want to talk about it and that’s fine, you hardly know us, but I can offer to be that friend you need, if you want one.” She turned to Candy, “We can.”

Dorian looked at both of them for a while. Trusting is never easy, he thought, he may never trust anyone in the Academy right now. “Maybe some other time, somewhere more…private.”

Candy and Lea agreed, and Dorian smiled. “Oh, come on don’t be somber with me, weren’t we on about Lea over here just a few minutes ago. My sad story can come later when we have beer and pizza and then we cry about it. But what I want you, Candy to know now is that I really think Lea is on the mark here.”

Candy pursed her lips. She slowly turned over to Lea. “Show me.” Dorian moved them over to one of the common rooms where students came to study and Lea did show Candy what she felt that day.

“That was something.” Was her response after coming out of it. “But seriously, who would have thought your eternal bae was right here in this school, you go babe.” And she smacked Lea on the back.

“But I feel like he’s rejected me already.”

Candy sighed. “And you see, that’s my issue. You don’t really know that yet, so you either talk to him about it or ignore him entirely. Simple.”

“My feelings aren’t that Simple, C. Like, this is the most intense I’ve felt for someone I don’t even know and it’s…kind of scary but exciting at the same time and all I need to do is give it a chance to work. But the way he looked away; it was like he rejected that chance.”

Candy knew when Lea got into in-depth expressing her emotions, it means she wouldn’t let it go till she had closure.

“I’ve heard a bit about the dude,” Dorian added, “ Heard he’s the genius Prince with fire and has his own familiar, not really a teachers pet but they respect his opinions, walks around with Chaddius a lot who wants him to be on the Student council but rejects for some reason. Basically, your guy is THE Introverted yet Genius Horned Ice Prince.”

“And now he’s royalty too.” Candy mouthed ‘nice catch’ to Lea. “Also our student council president’s name is Chaddius?”

“Yeah.” Dorian said and chuckled. “Most Fae don’t get it though, since it’s a human thing.”

“Ah.” Lea and Candy both responded, and they all laughed at the name ‘Chaddius’.

“Hold on.” Dorian got his Scry and began to type. Turns out he knew someone who knew someone that knew Chaddius and found out that he would be coming to his party and Licht would very likely be close by. The plan would be to get Licht and Lea alone to talk.

“This is going to work right?”

Candy put her arm over her “Of course it is. Dorian’s the host and it can’t be that hard to get this Prince in a room alone, he seems like a loner.” Candy and Dorian winked at each other.

“We’ve got your back.” He said.

The three of them decided to go over to Lea and Candy’s dorm to hang out for the rest of the day. As Lea and Candy hung close as they walked, Dorian behind them noticed someone.

He had a bowl cut and circular glasses, no sign of any emotion on his face. From his short stature and teenage features, he seemed like just any 16-year-old stoic and disinterested child. His long-sleeved oversized shirt and tight jeans made him stand out as odd, but his aura made it very clear he wanted to remain behind the scenes. What some would consider to be his only pretty feature were his blank, eerily grey eyes that took in no light.

This boy stared at Dorian and he stared back. The boy then nodded and edged away.

“Dorian! are you coming?” Candy asked from the doorway leading to halls. Dorian decided to not get distracted and get what he needed to do done.

“Yeah sorry just got lost thinking about something.”

“Weirdo.” Candy replied before Lea scolded her for being ridiculous. Dorian watched them as he walked to meet them and unbeknown to himself, he smiled as he did.