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“Shit!” Veth hissed and Essek looked over at her as vials clinked within the sack she was carrying. “Uh-oh.”
“Veth?” Essek asked and Veth’s head shot up as if she wasn’t aware she was being seen. To be fair, she might not have been. Veth had tucked herself in a corner of the kitchen where Essek had been hanging out for the entirety of the party in hopes that he would have to interact less with the sheer number of people Jester had managed to invite to her engagement party. He shouldn’t have been surprised. He was confident Jester had messaged absolutely everyone she had ever met with probably vague and strangely threatening messages about attending this party or maybe he was projecting his own message from Jester onto everyone.
“Oh hey, Essek,” Veth plastered a smile on her face. “What’s up? I didn’t see you there.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” she said, glancing again at the bag as the vials clinked together as she moved.
“Veth,” Essek gave her a hard stare, and Veth’s shoulders slumped as if giving in.
“It’s nothing really,” she began. “I just brought a few fun potions I picked up to spike people’s drinks with. Create some chaos at the party later, you know. Nothing horrible, but I think one of them’s missing and I think Jester got a hold of it. She had joked about it earlier, but I didn’t realize she had taken it. She’s really improved her sleight of hand. I’m so proud.”
“You were going to spike people’s drinks?” Essek shook his head. “Why am I asking, I’m not surprised. Which one is missing?”
“The love potion, although love potion is a misnomer. It’s more of an infatuation potion, but that doesn’t sell,” Veth peered back into her bag. Beauregard, at this point, had entered the room, having clearly overheard some of what was going on, and snorted.
“What the fuck, Veth?” She laughed.
“Jester asked for some chaos and I was happy to provide it. She knew I had access to some contacts through Yeza and here we are,” Veth said proudly. “See if I give you any potions to spike other people’s drinks with now.”
“Aw man, there would be a few people here who would be so much fun to spike,” Beau leaned up against the counter. “Whose drink was Jester planning on spiking anyway?” Before Essek could say that an equally good question would be who this person would look at first as it was a love potion, they were interrupted.
“Oh, hallo, Essek,” Beau stifled her laughter as Caleb appeared near Essek, flushed a little red. Essek looked surprised from Caleb to where Veth was resolutely not meeting his eye and flushed, feeling the heat creep up his spine. Never mind, any question he had wanted to ask had been answered. Caleb’s drink had been spiked and, somehow, Caleb had seen him first.
He wondered for a moment if he should dispel the effect. It would be a simple casting of a third-level spell and he knew Caleb would be grateful, but part of Essek wanted to take advantage of the attention Caleb was giving him. After everything, Essek had wondered at the potential relationship between them. He hadn’t known he could feel quite like this about anyone until Caleb came along and for a moment in Aeor, he had thought perhaps it had been returned. And then the moment had passed and Essek wasn’t sure what to make of it. Caleb seemed determined to take down the Assembly and had devoted himself to research and politics and Essek had to deal with the ramifications of his own actions in the past and the potential uncovering of his role in the beacons being stolen. They exchanged brief communication and had seen each other only in passing over the months and now they were here. Essek had hoped his feelings would have faded with time, but seeing Caleb again, happy and smiling, had made them return fiercer than ever.
He wanted this so desperately that he wanted to play into the illusion that he was unaware of the potions and the fakeness of Caleb’s infatuation. Just for tonight, Essek would pretend and then wonder if this made him a bad person.
“Caleb,” Essek turned fully to face him. He had taken off the scarf he had been wearing and Essek hadn’t known collarbones could be distracting. “What can I do for you?”
“I just saw you from across the room,” Caleb said, “and it seems to me that everyone else has been blind to the most desirable person in this room. Would you like to dance?” Essek wanted to protest that he wasn’t desirable, he was the furthest thing from that but instead, he nodded and took Caleb’s offered arm. He turned as they left to see Veth and Beauregard with their heads together, talking in whispers. Veth waved him off when she caught him looking and returned to her conversation. He probably should deal with the potions Veth still had or, at least, make sure anything he consumed tonight was not spiked with anything additional.
Caleb pulled him onto the dance floor and assumed the lead position. Essek felt so out of place, he felt his feet touch the ground, no longer floating, and rested his hand on Caleb’s shoulder. For a few minutes, they danced and Essek allowed himself to imagine what this would be like if Caleb had actually asked him to dance.
“You are a fine dancer,” he told him in between songs.
“Oh, ja?” Caleb smiled. “There was a dance hall near the Soltryce that Astrid, Wulf, and I used to frequent as students. I always enjoyed it. Dancing is structured, but it also flows with movement. It’s like magic. Once you know the base pattern, you can add to it or change it without disrupting the flow of movement. I haven’t had many opportunities to dance since then, and fewer still with someone like you.”
“Caleb,” Essek murmured, not sure what exactly he wanted to say, “I will always dance with you. Tell me about Rexxentrum.” He added the last part as if to distract himself from his own feelings. Eagerly, Caleb told him stories from when he was younger as a student, the areas of the city he used to frequent, and then told him about what had changed and what new things he had found. He talked about how strange it was to be teaching at the Soltryce Academy now, how at first it had felt almost triggering to be on campus again and see Ikithon’s tower, but now it felt like coming home again.
“I’ve always wanted to teach,” Caleb told him, long after they had given up dancing and were sitting at a table to the side. Essek was leaning toward him more than was necessary, basking in the closeness of the other wizard for a few more moments. “I had figured it was not in my future after everything so I’m very happy to have been proven wrong. What about you? Have you ever had a desire to teach, Essek?”
Essek considered this and shook his head. “I didn’t think so. I didn’t believe I would have the patience required to be a good teacher, but then a wizard from the Empire came along and wanted very much to learn dunamancy and I found I quite enjoyed it. Maybe one day, but I’m not sure who would hire a wizard with a history like mine.”
“It’s a good thing you have some friends in high places then,” Caleb said, resting his fingers on top of Essek’s. Essek stared at them for a moment, feeling the heat from Caleb from where they were touching and for a moment Essek considered leaning in and kissing him. And then that moment ended and Essek pulled his hand away. He pretended he didn’t see the hurt look that flashed across Caleb’s face.
“It’s late. I should probably go.” He had been foolish tonight. He should not have let himself imagine a world like this. He had known what Jester had done and yet he had played into it because it fit within his own desires rather neatly. He schooled his face into a neutral expression and cast the floating cantrip on himself again. He would not entertain this dream any longer. He couldn’t.
“Essek,” Jester grinned at him as he grabbed his cloak from where it was stowed. “You’re headed out early. Are you leaving with someone?”
“I have some reading I should get done,” Essek said. “I have no one to leave with Jester. It was a lovely party. Congratulations again.”
“I thought-” She paused, considering him. “You and Caleb seemed really close tonight.”
“Well, you did spike his drink with a love potion,” Essek said.
Jester waved her hand as if brushing away the accusation. “Sure, but I only did that to make him actually do something tonight. We were all tired of watching him pine after you without actually saying anything. I figured he could use the magical encouragement. Anyway, it wore off like hours ago and you two were still hanging out.”
“Jester,” Essek started to say and then paused as he processed what she had said. Had Jester really used a love potion to try to set him and Caleb up? Essek shouldn’t have been surprised. It felt like a very Mighty Nein thing to have done seeing how they had addressed his betrayal and everything. And if it had worn off hours ago, Caleb would have realized that he had had an enchantment on him and he had still stayed near Essek. Had Caleb also wanted to pretend tonight?
He turned on autopilot as he turned what sounded like Veth approaching from behind, talking a little more loudly than was necessary and pulling one Caleb Widogast behind her.
“Oh good, you haven’t left yet,” Veth said bluntly. “Caleb, tell Essek how you feel and Essek, tell Caleb how you knew he had taken a love potion the entire time and decided to go along with it.” Caleb was red in the face, the red creeping up his neck and Essek was sure he was similarly flushed, he could feel the heat on his face.
“I thought you were still under the effect of the love potion,” Essek spoke first. “I didn’t want to take advantage of something you did not want, even if I wanted it very much.”
Caleb seemed speechless for a moment. “The love potion wore off while we were dancing. I was having such a good time, I thought it would be a bad time to tell you that Jester had played a prank on me, but I had been wanting to ask you to dance all evening.”
This time Essek didn’t hesitate to step forward and pull Caleb into a kiss. He was slightly taller than Caleb as he was floating but once more found himself on the ground as Caleb’s hands found his waist. This time the moment didn't end and Essek tangled his hands in Caleb's hair.
“Told you it would work,” he heard Jester tell Veth smugly and he was almost positive there were gold pieces exchanged but Essek didn’t care.