Chapter Text
clutching their bags strap at it hung loosely from their shoulders as they walked through the school's campus, wind wiping their hair around and the memory of their conversation with Echo swishing in their mind like the magical drinks he always seems to be drinking.
"remember, it's September second, it's a Thursday and your name is Deer"
"Why is my name Deer?"
"well dear listener of mine. that's why"
"That’s stupid reason."
“You also look like a deer in headlights every time I tease you.”
“That one makes a little more sense.”
They had decided to wear a large black knit sweater and baggy jeans, something casual and comfortable. It felt like they were walking into a job interview except they had only about a fifteen percent chance of screwing it up, the screwing up would be they somehow told their guidance counselor- anyone really- about the fact they were somehow dragged here and that they had seen into a good handful of their lives. As they walked through the doors they fixed their now slightly ruffled hair before walking over to the lady at the front desk who was playing with a rubix cube.
“Um, hello.” They said placing a hand on the counter.
The woman looked up and quickly placed the toy in a drawer looking embarrassed at being caught fiddling with the colourful cube. “Oh! hi, sorry” She babbed “how may I help you?” She tucked a long strand of blond hair behind her ear as she asked.
“Do you know where room 252 is?” They asked, holding out a small sheet of paper with the office number on it.
“Oh just go up the elevator down the hallway” she pointed “and then turn right and go you’ll find it at the end of the hallway.” She ended her sentence with a kind smile, her blond hair had refallen from its spot on her ear making her retuck it behind her ear.
“Thank you.” They replied, giving the same smile back to her before they walked towards the elivatores leaving the woman to retrieve the toy to figget with it some more.
After pushing the up button and a few seconds of waiting the elevator opened with a polite ding, inside was a pretty looking man. He was tall, around six feet and was only wearing a pair of blue jeans, he looked them up and down before smirking and moving to the side to let them in.
As they walked in they let out a small “thank you” as they passed him.
“It’s not a problem.” His voice was instantly recognized by them, the incubus with a heart of gold (gold plated) Gavin was standing right next to them. It took every ounce of power in them to will their blood from rushing to their cheeks, and he could tell. “Anything for a cute thing like you.” He ended it with a wink. Fortunately for them the office was on the second floor and the metal box would not be stopped by Caelum today. They walked off the elevator giving him a polite nod matched with a smile, he stayed on as the doors closed, now that they think about it he hadn’t picked a floor. It seems he enjoys using the elevators to fluster random strangers.
Down the hallway to their right they found a door labeled with the number 252, with a deep breath they checked their clock strapped to their wrist, the hands pointed to it being 2:45, the time they were meant to meet with their soon to be guidance counselor. They let the air out of their lungs as they knocked on the wooden door.
a muffled voice stuttered from behind the door “come in!” The air they had let go was quickly pulled back into their lungs with the same anxiety they left with Gavin. Echo sure enjoyed making them as nervous as can be. He really made their guidance counselor Lasko?! What a dick move, he knew they were nervous about blowing their cover and now they had to pretend they didn’t know this guy, act that they hadn’t played his hot boi summer video on repeat almost 24/7! They would have to smack Echo when they got back, or maybe not, it might ruin his face…
“Hello?” The muffled voice asked, confused.
they cursed under their breath before opening the door, “sorry I was making sure they was the right room.” The apologize with a quick lie before walking over to the chair that sat in front of his desk.
“Oh, it’s no problem really, just thought you might have been one of the teachers kids, he brought them to the office today because he couldn’t get a sitter and they’ve been banging on my door all morning, I think he caught them doing it some time around twelve since it stopped but for a second when oh didn’t come in I thought maybe they had just moved on to a different office and had decided to torment me some more” he didn’t take a single breath the entire time he spook, even when he had to slow down due to his stutters. Once he stopped and finally took a breath he started to apologize “oh my god I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have rambled like that, you don’t need to hear about all that. Uh anyway um, you’re deer right?”
The name only slightly freaked them out, they had gotten used to being called dear by Echo calling them that, we mostly called them “his listener” but dear was also one of his nicknames for them. “Yeah that’s me, also the rabbeling didn’t bother me.”
His face turned a soft shade of pink as they talked “you don’t have to say that.” He said with a smile as he looked for his papers.
“No really, I don’t mind.” They reassured. “It’s kinda soothing in a way.” Their complement made him blush more, they could see why someone would enjoy making him turn bright pink.
He laughed nervously as he found the paper he was looking for and grabbed a pencil. “Well thank you, I mean, uh your welcome? I’m sorry.” As he placed the sheet down between them both he seemed to realized something before cursing quitly “fuck, I mean shit, I mean crap!” He exhaled as Deer tried to suppress the childlike giggles threatening to escape their lips. “I’m really sorry, that’s not the way a D.A.M.N representative should act in front of a new student, I realized I forgot to tell you my name, I’m Lasko.” He held his hand which they presided to shake.
“Lovely to meet you” they responded with a cheerful smile as the cherry on top.
————
They waved the now a little less nervous air elemental goodbye as they left his office. The two of them had planned their schedule for the year in about an hour and had exchanged numbers due to the two of them both enjoying dnd and they wanted to dm the campaign they had been planning but wasn’t able to do (that said it was because they moved cities but in reality it was because they moved dimensions) he said he was looking to find a more magically inclined dm for his more magically inclined group of friends. They had also told him they wanted to go for full certification and he had helped them plan their schedule accordingly. This whole experience was a lot better then when they tried to talk to the guidance counselors at their now old school, the most help they could get out of them was them dropping a class for them so this was a great change of pace.
They clicked the down button on the elevator and after a few seconds the ding chimed before the doors opened revealing once again, Gavin, shirtless as ever and now deepthroating a popsicle. They just stared at him as he slowly pulled the cold treat from his mouth so he could talk “it’s you again!”
“Who?” Asked a voice from beside him, the voice showed themselves as they walked out of the evaluator, the person was wearing a hoodie with the D.A.M.N logo on it. It honestly looked pretty comfy. “Oh, hi! Sorry about him, he’s just like that.”
They gulped down the confusion that had settled in their throat before they spoke. “It’s fine, I already saw him earlier today, in this elevator in fact.”
“Again?” They turned to him as the two of them walked out of the elevator.
“What can I say? The people love me.” He answered. As the pair walked away Gavin and who they assumed was the freelancer turned and gave a little wave “goodbye stranger.” Was what Gavin left them with as the elevator doors closed in front of them.