Closed Flights of Fancy

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas was excited to hang out with Seb again, even though they hung out together all the time. Seb was the best at thinking of fun and exciting games of pretend to play, which often reminded Lucas of their games of Dungeons and Dragons. It was sad that those games weren't happening as often anymore, as his two older sisters were both often busy with homework and boring teen stuff, and Seb's older siblings were both gone to a fancy boarding school. It made him angry when he thought about it too long, and he was still upset that William and Maddy's characters had been taken out of the campaign. It made their absence feel more permanent, and he had been a bit angry at Seb about that for a little while. But he missed his friend, and wanted to spend some time together. He had an idea to tell him, something he had thought up on his own. Lucas kicked a pebble, then let himself drop down into the grass so he could look up at the sky as he waited for Seb to find him. He hoped he would be on board with his idea, even if a part of him knew it was unlikely to become reality.

 

[Sebastian Kaimarama]

Sebastian was lonely, and bored, and frustrated. Despite his best efforts, his D&D games with the Fletchers were declining since his older siblings had left for Hogwarts, and he didn't know if he could hold them together. Lucas especially kept asking questions about the boarding school Wills and Maddy had gone to, questions Seb couldn't answer without lying or breaking the law. He hated it, he hated lying to his friends, and he was running out of convincing things to tell them. He was good at creating fantasy worlds and interesting storylines, not at deceiving the people he cared about. Nevertheless, he was eager to hang out with Lucas today. It was lonely in the house since his siblings had left, and Sebastian couldn't get over it. He relied on the Fletchers, especially Lucas who was closest to his own age, for social contact more and more these days.They understood how he felt about his siblings' absence, even if they couldn't be allowed to understand why. Seb smiled as he spotted his friend lying on the grass, came over and flopped down beside him. "Hey," he said cheerfully, "how's it goin'?"

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas was a bit lost in his imagination, as he was imagining telling Seb his ideas and different ways the boy could react. He watched a cloud drift by, and tried for a moment to will it to go faster with his mind. It was hard to see if it was actually working, but Lucas hoped that it was. He heard someone flop down beside him and looked to the side to see Seb there. Lucas grinned at his friend, then sat up so he could look at him better. "Hi! It's going okay." He said, shrugging. "I was a bit bored, but now you're here so I won't anymore." He grinned. "Actually, before we have any adventures, I want to tell you about a plan I have." He said, biting the bullet before he could push it off again. He turned to Seb completely, eager to make him listen to what he had to say. "It's something I thought of last night." He lied, as that sounded better than him walking around with this for months without being able to gather the courage to bring it up.

 

[Sebastian Kaimarama]

Sebastian chuckled a little at the implied compliment. "Well, I'm glad I'm not boring," he said, shifting til he found a comfortable position on the grass. He was tempted to lie down as well, but Lucas had already sat up to talk to him. Ah, well, he could watch the clouds almost as well from here. And by the sound of it, Lucas was expecting adventures rather than chill cloudwatching times today anyway, a plan which Seb was entirely happy to go along with. Honestly, he would have been content with just about anything, so long as he was spending time with his friend. For the moment, though, his curiosity was piqued by Lucas’ mention of a plan. "Oh? What are you plotting, my friend?" Sebastian would have guessed something about their D&D campaign, as it was pretty common to run some new concept by him as the DM before introducing it in play. There was a note in Lucas' tone, though, that made him suspect it was more serious . . . although there were serious undertones to the circumstances around the campaign at the moment, too. He knew Lucas was, of the group, most frustrated by Maddy and Wills' absence beside Seb himself, so maybe it had something to do with that. If so, Seb would welcome it; these days, he was increasingly worried that he wouldn't be able to hold the group together on his own.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas grinned. "Definitely not! You're the least boring person ever!" He told his friend. He partly said it because it was true, Seb was always thinking of really cool things which definitely made him not boring. But Lucas also said it a bit because he hoped it would put Sebastian in a better mood when he listened to Lucas' plan. He wanted his friend to help him, but wasn't sure if that would actually happen. Sebastian got weird when Lucas talked about the school his siblings went to, and never seemed to want to talk to it much. Lucas grinned and moved to sit on his knees. "It's not a plot, it's a real life plan." He told his friend excitedly. "I know you're going to go to the same school as Maddy and William next year, and you'll be gone because it's a boarding school. But what if we both ask my parents if I can go there too? You'll have to tell them the name and the information and stuff so we can look things up, but it's a good school, right? All fancy and all that?" He didn't wait to see Seb's reaction, as long as he kept talking the boy couldn't say no. "And it would be good because then I can learn better, and I'll also be with you AND Maddy and William too. We could start a new campaign because my sisters are too busy anyway, and then we can have all sorts of adventures." He finally stopped talking, mostly because he ran out of reasons. "If we ask together and give them the right information, they'll have to take us seriously." He added, his voice pleading now. "Please?"

 

[Sebastian Kaimarama]

Seb smiled and nodded, although he never entirely believed Lucas' compliments. He was too bad at interacting with people, other than those who were already his friends, and he was increasingly afraid of failing to keep them without his more charismatic siblings around. He giggled as Lucas told him it was a plan rather than a plot, as though Sebastian didn't think of real life in fictional ways often anyway. But his good mood fell away as his friend continued. What Lucas was talking about would sound wonderful, except that it was impossible. And he couldn't tell him why! This whole situation was so cruel and unfair, and Seb didn't know how to deal with it. He looked down, picking at the grass, so Lucas couldn't see the tears already beginning to prick at his eyes. "That sounds great," he said, then looked back at Lucas, hoping he'd schooled his expression into the correct amount of enthusiasm, hoping he could keep up the act until they dropped this awful topic. He frowned thoughtfully; that was an easier pretence to keep up than being happy about it. "I think we'd better talk to my parents about it first, though, I don't actually have a lot of the details." Mum and Dad would know how to let Lucas down without telling him the truth, and that way it wasn't on him to say no.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas felt a little anxious as he waited for Seb to respond. He had always been evasive about the school his brother and sister went to, and Lucas wondered if this question would put him off. He wrung his hands as he watched Seb, worry growing as the boy didn't look at him and picked at the grass. But then Seb said it sounded great, and even though Lucas thought he was probably worrying about how realistic it was, he was glad he wasn't being turned down completely by his best friend. "Yes! I think so too!" He said, immediately excited. "I think that's good, we should talk to your parents. Can we do that together?" Talking to Seb's parents was something Lucas had considered himself, but talking to a friend's parents without the friend being there was weird, even if Seb's parents were super cool. Lucas felt like a weight had lifted off his shoulders, and he looked up at the sky with a grin. "It'll be cool." He said softly. "I never want to stop having magic adventures with you, even if no one else wants to anymore I'll always play D&D with you, okay? Or anything else." He had wondered if Maddy and William's characters being written out meant that they didn't want to play so much anymore. Maybe that was why Seb was sad. It made sense with them being at school, but it still felt so... permanent, especially when they still came home during breaks. Were they feeling too old for it? Like his own older sisters? He hoped his friend knew he'd always have Lucas. He loved thinking about magic and listening to stories, and didn't think that would ever change.

 

[Sebastian Kaimarama]

Seb nodded warily; he really didn't want to be present for that conversation, but he did want to see what his parents said. Maybe then he could understand how to lie to his best friends in the world. "Yeah! We should definitely do it together." It was an immense relief to him when Lucas went on to talking about something else; Sebastian had worried that he'd want to discuss it further, and he'd have to make up even more lies and feel worse and worse all the time. Instead, he leaned over and gave his friend a hug. "Me too . . . me too." Even if this new topic only made him feel sad in a different way, that was better. At least he could talk about this . . . and he was surprised to find that he wanted to. "I really hope they still want to," he said sadly. "I don't want to lose this. Not for anything." Sebastian was reasonably certain that Maddy and Wills would still want to play when he got to Hogwarts, but two players wasn't enough, and that was so far away, and he was afraid of losing the Fletchers in the meantime.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Excitement and relief flooded Lucas at Seb's words, and he beamed at his friend. "Thanks!" He said, truly happy he had brought it up now. He didn't even remember why he had thought Seb would dismiss him or try to talk him out of it. Seb was his friend, he wouldn't do that. he hugged Sebastian back, clinging to him for a moment. The real scary part was that if he couldn't go to school with him and his siblings, maybe then Seb and William and Maddy would all have a game together without him. The thought of that happening was very scary to Lucas, who felt like their D&D games were some of the most precious and most important things in the world. Sebastian's imagination was so much better than his own, and he didn't know what he would do if he didn't have his friend around to tell stories and play adventures with anymore. He let go of the hug. "If they don't we can make something else, together." He said firmly. "You make the best stories, and I can help! Maybe you could write a book and I could... draw the pictures!" He grinned, liking that idea. Then he sighed and looked up at the sky. "But I don't want to lose it either. That world we made... it's important." The fact that Seb hadn't discouraged his earlier idea had emboldened him, which caused him to say the next part. He didn't look at his friend, his eyes following a cloud in the sky. "Sometimes it feels real. You know?" He asked in a small voice. "Like, magic... that maybe it's real." His cheeks turned pink and he didn't turn his gaze away from the sky in case he would catch Sebastian making fun of him. He knew it was a childish thing to say, but it was a belief he couldn't quite shake. He felt like somewhere in the world there had to be fairies and dragons. And sometimes he dared to imagine he was making things happen that shouldn't happen. Though they could always be explained in some other way, there were a few incidents that made him wonder, and hope. Though that was too private a thing to share even with his best friend.