Finding Mikael, as it turns out, is not particularly difficult when Elio exits the classroom and sees him standing across the corridor, waiting. He rolls his eyes and shakes his head, the flower tucked behind his back carefully so he doesn't accidentally crush it. "You know, you do have classes of your own, right?" What is his schedule right now anyway? He thinks back on it and laughs slightly because actually, Mikael doesn't have a class today, lucky sod. "No wait, you don't, well, I suppose you can enjoy just hanging around waiting for me then, huh?" he asks, walking straight up to Mikael (as he is taller than him, as he likes to remind the fifth year at every opportunity) and leans down slightly to kiss him, thumb stroking his cheek. "I have a present for you actually, since we didn't send roses or anything, I conjured you one," he says, holding the pink and white flower between them so that Kael can inspect it. "Do you like it?"
Ever since coming back for the second semester, Mikael has made it a point to memorize his and Elio’s class schedules. Of course, he has far fewer classes than his overachiever boyfriend. Not to mention far fewer club activities since he has none. This usually meant that he and Elio have less time to spend together unless Kael figures out how. The conclusion he came up with was to walk with his boyfriend whenever he could, which meant waiting for him outside of his classrooms and to walk with him to the Great Hall or to his next class. Which was why he was currently standing outside of the Transfiguration classroom.
He hadn’t been waiting long, thankfully, when Elio walked up to him reminding him that he has class to which Kael only raised an eyebrow at. He wasn’t stupid enough to skip classes to meet up with his boyfriend, especially since his uncle taught at this school. He accepts the kiss, responding to it eagerly though it was cut too quickly which made him frown. But not for long. He looks at the flower being presented to him. Recognition follows after, his eyes widening just a fraction as he gingerly takes the flower, inspecting it. “I do.” It was a beautiful piece of conjuration. Far from perfect but that didn’t matter - it was from Elio. He wished he could conjure one for him now, but… He carefully holds the flower in one hand as he takes Elio’s hand in the other, twining their fingers as he walks - a destination already in mind. “Do you know what it means?”
Does he know what it means? Kind of very vaguely. He chuckles lightly to himself and squeezes Mikael's hand in his. "A little, I thought about you mostly and this was what my brain decided to supply, I wanted something that means deep affection, something eternal," though that does make him think it might be a little cheesy, the point is for it for it to be something that Mikael will like and that's what he hopes he's achieved with this. "It's not perfect, but this is the first one I managed to make whole, the one I had before this was just a stem, and I wasn't going to give you just a stem, I feel like that wouldn't have made much sense," he says, shrugging.
He falls into step beside Mikael as they start walking, he's not sure where they're headed, usually the great hall for food, or somewhere he can study, like the library, but he's not got any study sessions with Hinata today, so they have no need of the library. "Where did you want to go today?"
Hinata was on her way back to the Common Room, map in hand when she passed by Kael and Elio walking down the stairs, fingers entwined. She giggled a little at the sight, waving to them before continuing on her merry way.
“My Korean isn’t very good but I believe the mugunghwa is meant to be eternal. Never fading,” he says as they walk. He’s not sure how well-versed any of his siblings are in Korean but they were probably all on the same level since his dad didn’t really speak Korean. His Nihonggo was only a little better mostly because his mum was still fluent. But he at least knew enough about part of his culture to recognize and know about the flower. “I believe some places call this an althea. Consumed by love,” he glances at Elio walking by his side to see how he would react to that. He had been surprised when Elio had given him the flower, not just any flower - but one he’d made himself with his own magic. He would have kissed his boyfriend senseless for that alone if they weren’t in the middle of the corridor. “It’s perfect,” he says with conviction, as if he would take no arguments. Because it was. He didn’t need it to be flawless for it to be perfect. He thinks a little on how Elio would react to where he was taking him before deciding that it didn’t really matter. “My uncle’s office. Then we can go anywhere you wish.”
Elio sort of knew that, maybe vaguely, it's one of the things he'd thought about as he'd conjured the flower in the first place after all. Not that he really specifically understands things like the language of flowers or what things are supposed to mean in that respect and he's noticed that a lot of the time cultures have their own readings on things too, because some flowers don't exist in some places and others do. Usually when they share a continent it's fine, but Asia and most places in North America have different interpretations of different flowers, as well as Europe too. He needs to really do more research on it bit with all of his class work he's not sure he can.
He raises an eyebrow as Mikael mentions some of the other things the flower means, going into a bit more detail than Elio had really thought about in the first place. "Althea is a nice name... like your cousin," he says, thinking about one of Mikael's cousins who seems to enjoy picking on him whenever he shows up around the Nightray family. Not like... badly, she just tends to have something to say all the time, the kind of girl who knows exactly what she wants and won't allow anyone to tell her no. "I'm glad you like it, I can probably make you another one later if you want." he's not sure why they're hiding to Conan's office, but he's not really against it either. He's curious to see what he wants to do there, because usually Conan isn't in his office, he's somewhere else.
Mikael was frankly amused that Elio mentioned his cousin. He didn’t think they got along. He would have thought Elio would get along with Theodore the best. Aside from Hinata apparently. “Althea is a nice name. Not a nice cousin.” Though he supposed it was rare for him to actually like his cousins. There were a number of Nightrays his age, the new heirs among them, though he supposed Althea was one of the more tolerable ones. Not that he has a wide pool of choices. He looks at the flower in his hand - they were supposed to be resilient, but he did not dare handle it too harshly. “You can make me as many as you’d like,” he nodded as they headed the last bit of steps, turning towards his uncle’s office. He was definitely going to accept any gift Elio deigned to give him but this tiny flower was special.
It didn’t take much longer to reach his uncle’s office. He looked at his hand entwined with Elio and the other hand holding the flower and had to make a difficult decision. He carefully knocked once with the hand holding the flower and then opened the door. His uncle really should start locking the door to his office. “Uncle,” he greeted the man apparently working on his desk as he walks in, still holding Elio’s hand. “How’s your conjuration.”
Conan was not expecting visitors today. Or well. At all really. He never expects them - though he probably should. Jonah, Rose, and Sayuri still avoid him like the plague. Hinata sometimes says hi in the halls while Elijah pops in at random times. Those were his kids. His niece and nephew however. Well Eurydice always seemed to greet him whenever he sees her. Mikael, he doesn’t know how, but he’s not seen his nephew outside of mealtimes. Or well. At least until now.
Conan blinks as his nephew all but barges into his office, holding the hand of one of his sixth years. Who also happens to be his sort-of nephew? It’s a whole thing. And then he blinks again because that question came out of nowhere? And when he hadn’t even heard a peep from his nephew since starting to work here. So he sets his work aside for now and just looks at… wait… hang on… oh my god… He rubs his eyes as if that would change the image in front of him. But it only shifts enough that Mikael was obviously getting more impatient. Of all the common Liam and Ai traits to inherit really. “Why hello Mikael, I’m doing very well thank you. And you? Good. Yes my conjuration is perfectly up to snuff though I can’t imagine why you’ve come here just to ask that.” Not that his nephew asked so much as demanded. He sighs. Too much of his parents. He waves a hand in greeting at the Gryffindor boy. “Hey Elio. Any difficulties with classes this semester?” That was about the only question he could ask unless he wanted to ask about the hand-holding. He can’t wait to tell Taylor.
Elio isn't sure what they are doing or why they have headed to Conan's office, though he can't help the curiosity on his face. Sometimes Mikael does things he just doesn't know how to interpret. He can't tell if thats just a normal Mikael thing, or if it's Mikael trying to be a boyfriend thing. There sort of isn't anything between those two aspects though, and since he's pretty sure Mikael has never dated anyone before, it's all sort of... new to him. It's kind of new to Elio too, though he's not as inexperienced in relationships as Mikael is, despite the fact he was homeschooled before this year and hasn't that been an interesting and eye opening experience in more ways than one honestly.
He snorts a little as Conan goes on, because Mikael didn't greet him and Elio bows his head to try and hide the laugh that's becoming rather obvious and probably actually impossible to hide. He doesn't take his hand out of Mikael's either, despite the fact he is pretty sure Mikael hasn't yet specifically told anyone. It won't matter for much longer probably because they were at the dance together, someone would have seen them. If not Eury, probably Hina, and she would have for sure told her mum who would have definitely told Ai, so it's probably gotten back to someone - and he won't be all that surprised to find out that actually Conan is also already aware of it. "What are you doing, Kael?"
Mikael rolls his eyes at his uncle’s dramatics, his gaze narrowing slightly in impatience that he tried to hide. It was a simple enough question so he didn’t know why his uncle was taking so long in answering a simple yes or no question. Maybe he should have gone to Benjamin instead. They didn’t really know each other too well, but they did know of each other. But then again, he didn’t want to risk asking for a favor with a man he barely knew. His uncle, at least, Mikael was pretty sure, wouldn’t think of asking anything in exchange for this. Or if he did, it would hardly be anything outlandish. Unlike his mother, Conan was a bit too nice and perhaps a smidge more Hufflepuff. And a little more trying on one’s nerves. But at least he was capable of what Mikael needed.
Mikael approached his uncle’s desk purposely, ignoring Elio’s question. He gently places the flower on top of the desk as he looks at Conan. “I’m not allowed to conjure until next year. I need that preserved and encased in crystal. Unbreakable.” His words were concise and easy to understand so he wouldn’t have to deal with his uncle for longer than they had to.
Conan knew little of his nephew except for the fact that Mikael probably took on more of Liam than any other his sister’s progeny. And that was saying something considering he sometimes forgot that Jai was Jeremiah’s biological kid and not Liam’s. He definitely did not expect though to suddenly have his nephew come barging in with who Conan guesses is now his boyfriend. Yeah. Definitely not something Conan expected. And while normally (or in the case of Corey), he would be worried about his child, niece, or nephew getting together with a boy - and an older boy at that, he thinks Elio might need his worry a little more. His nephew can be a bit… demanding.
Clearly, Elio didn’t even know why they were here and Conan considered for all of two seconds reprimanding Kael about dragging people to places without warning. His reprimand would definitely fall into deaf ears though. But it didn’t take long for Mikael to reveal what he wanted as Conan stared into the tiny flower on his desk. He reaches out to take it, examining. It seemed like a real flower, but there was a hint of magic. Still, Mikael’s request was simple enough. And harmless. Conan didn’t see anything with not granting it even if he could have been nicer about asking. That seemed like a losing battle though. His nephew was more prone to demand than request. And so he pointed his wand at the flower, murmuring spell after spell to protect the tiny thing until it was encased in a clear crystall ball. Unbreakable as his nephew had asked demanded. “Does this satisfy His Majesty?” he asks with a grin as he places it back on his desk, satisfied with his handiwork. It was a work of art if he does say so himself.
Elio watches as Mikael talks, describing what he wants done with the silly little flower he's made for him. It's kind of cute that he's treating it this way and only making him more determined to make him a flower every day. Plus it will be a good way to practice this spell. It's one of those things that is more difficult because it requires more precise wand work, and Elio has always been far more imprecise rather than precise. If he's able to get the practice outside of class, that can't be a bad thing, right? "Encased?" he asks, watching as Conan does, whatever he does, to get the flower to be as Mikael wants it, surprised and a little taken-aback by the request. It doesn't feel like a Mikael thing to do and yet at the same time it does? It's a weird feeling sitting in the middle of his chest he doesn't quite know how to parse through. Unbreakable, he said, and Elio just watches, not sure what he should say about it as Conan presents the now immaculate flower for Mikael's inspection - which also feels like something he probably would not have been saying even a couple of hours ago. He had not expected his tiny gift to turn into this, but it's kind of nice too. "I love it." But does Mikael?
Mikael watches as his uncle does the spells that he’s not allowed to do just yet. It was annoying - these limitations. He’s looking forward to graduation if only to have more freedom with his magic. Still, it was perhaps better to have asked his uncle to do this. Admittedly, if he were at home, he would have asked his mum. The tiny flower was delicate, and Kael hadn’t been willing to risk damaging it with an ill-cast spell. He didn’t take his eyes off of his uncle doing the work he’d asked while Elio seemingly remained confused about the whole thing. Mikael just gave a small squeeze of his hand. He almost glares at his uncle for the comment but decided against it as he picked up the crystall ball, no longer just a delicate flower. The crystal was pristine, the flower clear inside. Mikael did not regret coming. “It will suffice,” he says with a nod of satisfaction before starting to pull Elio out of the room. “It would be appreciated if you let Mum hear about this from me than Aunt Taylor,” he says, looking back before stepping out of the room. He would not be surprised however if his mum found out before he wrote even with that parting comment. Uncle Conan tells his wife everything. And Aunt Taylor tells his mum everything.
The shock and surprise on Elio's face during the whole exchange is probably not surprising, but it's certainly a new feeling for Elio who has not considered something like this before. He turns to look down at Mikael (who he likes to remind is shorter than him) and squeezes his hand. He always manages to surprise him, even when he thinks there's nothing more than can surprise him. He follows as Mikael pulls him out of the room, letting himself be tugged down the corridor, as they head wherever it is they're going from here. It honestly did not even occur to him that Conan would now tell Mikael's parents, which probably means he's now going to get a lecture, or the third degree or something from his parents with all of this happening. He's not sure he minds, but it's still something he's kind of dreading. He has no idea how to answer any of the potential questions they're going to ask him, after all, he and Mikael are from two completely separate lives. He's rich for a start and Elio and his mum were barely hanging on for the majority of his childhood. What does he even have to offer? He doesn't want to think about it.
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