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[Elio Boneheart]

Elio blinked at Mikael... was he actually serious? He couldn't have been. He was somewhat used to the eccentricities that existed in his relationship with Mikael, and for the most part, he accepted and was used to them. What he was not used to, however, was the fact that Mikael seemed to think he now ran Elio's life. Which he assumed was why his boyfriend was currently letting him know, that under no circumstances should he allow, allow his brother to interact or be friends with Julian - who was apparently another cousin from some branch of the Nightray family... or something. From all he could tell Julian seemed to be a relatively nice kid, and seeing as both he and Rhys were in the same house and year, there was little that Elio could really do to stop them interacting, even if he'd wanted to - which he didn't, because again, Mikael doesn't tell him what to do. "I'm going to assume, for a second, that you're talking to someone that isn't me, because you do not run my life and tell me what to do."​

 

[Mikael Nightray]

Mikael probably should have known that his relationship with Elio was going a little too smoothly. They've had their fair share of bickering, because Elio seemed to really enjoy causing Kael's headaches. He would also not deny that he was quite fine with poking at his boyfriend's temper because it was amusing to see the tables turned whenever Elio would actively try to annoy him. Their conversation today, however, was something that Mikael had already seen as unpleasant before he even tried to bring it up with his boyfriend. The thing was, Kael hadn't really expected a cousin of his to be attending school this year. Much less Laurent's child. Under any other circumstance, Kael wouldn't really have cared if Elio or his family interacted with any of his. The timing, however, of Julian's entry to Hogwarts was not something Kael was willing to overlook. Just a few months ago, his mother and Julian's father had entered a vow pertaining to Mikael's bid for the Nightray headship. And then suddenly, Julian enters Hogwarts New Zealand when his brother and sister - the new heirs - are happily attending Hogwarts Scotland. Julian was here to watch over Mikael for Laurent - worse, gather information. He'd already seen that Mikael was close to Elio, and Elio was close to Rhys, who was his roommate. It was a mess. A stupid, worrisome mess. And so today, he'd tried to breach the topic with Elio by telling him that "It is for the best that both you and Rhys under no circumstance interact with Julian. Avoid him as much as possible." Which has now devolved into this. "I am not trying to run your life, I just need you to listen for once," he said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose because of course, this couldn't be easy.​

 

[Elio Boneheart]

"For once, are you serious?" He couldn't believe that Mikael was accusing him of not listening. When had he not listened? He was constantly listening to Mikael, that's why he was studying so much because Mikael always made sure to remind him that he wanted good grades and so he should study, it was Mikael, that kept telling him to take a break even when he didn't want to. How was he suddenly the one with the problem? "You don't tell me what to do, and you don't get to dictate who my brother is friends with." Elio said, annoyed, angry even. He only had one year with his brother and he wasn't going to ruin it by starting to think he knew better than his brother did. They were in the same bloody house how was Elio going to genuinely go and tell his brother he wasn't allowed to be friends, or spend time with one of the kids he was about to be rooming with for seven years. "I don't know if you noticed this or not from up there on your high horse, but they're in the same house, why are you even asking me this? Rhys can make his own judgements about people," sometimes Elio really wondered just what kind of family Mikael came from. He might have spent time over there, but clearly not enough to have foreseen this.​

 

[Mikael Nightray]

Of course, he was serious. When was he not serious? Elio just loves to contradict Mikael whenever he can, and it causes no shortage of headaches for the Slytherin. In fact, with how often Elio liked to just egg him on, it took him a second to recognize that this conversation was not just Elio egging him on for a round of bickering. "This might be a surprise, but I don't want to dictate who your brother is friends with." Mikael thought Rhys is a little sh!t. But all boys were. And he wasn't about to tell Elio that. One, Rhys already hated him enough and made that quite known. Two, he and Elio were fighting enough about Rhys to add on what Kael thought of the - again - little sh!t. "I can recall quite clearly," he drawled because he was quite aware of the fact after he sat down across from his cousin during dinner after Elio pulled him to the Ravenclaw table. "And I am telling you because you should avoid Julian too and your brother hates me." Two perfectly good reasons for Mikael to approach Elio first before even thinking of approaching his younger brother. And while he would agree that Rhys was probably perfectly capable of handling himself against Julian should do anything funny, he's more... agitated... about what Julian could tell Laurent about Elio and his family.​

 

[Elio Boneheart]

"And yet you're doing exactly that," he said, rolling his eyes. Did he often pick a fight with Mikael because he liked the attention? Yes, and that probably wasn't the best way to handle things when he was bored, but the making up part after was always fun. No, today that wasn't what was happening, he was made because Mikael was trying to exercise authority he simply didn't have and it was pissing Elio off. "Well you clearly can't recall clearly because you're saying the same thing multiple times without even listening to a word I've said. I don't care what's going on in whatever world you live in, in this world, I don't dictate sh!t to my brother, and even if I did he'd hardly listen. Do either of your sister's listen to you?" He knew they didn't he'd witnessed both of them interacting with their older brother enough times to know that for a fact. "I'm not avoiding an eleven year old, what would be the point?" He really didn't know what was going on and honestly he wasn't even sure he'd agree even if he knew the whole story. What Mikael was asking was stupid.​

 

[Mikael Nightray]

"It's not like I have a choice considering who's involved," Mikael said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose because even when Elio wasn't picking a fight with him to pick a fight, it was still a headache. He and Elio hadn't exactly talked about the Nightray family. He was pretty sure that Elio knew that Kael was an heir to the Pureblood family, though he doubted that Elio actually knew what that entailed. Like a lot of Pureblood families, the Nightrays had their traditions. Politics. Values. The Nightrays valued power. And they made sure the Head of the family, as the one who held that power over the family, better have the power and skills to back it up. As an heir, one who was aiming to be the next Head, Kael was expected to defeat all the other heirs in challenges or duels. Other heirs happened to include Julian's siblings. "Yes. Yes, they do." Because this was serious. But as other heirs, Eurydice and Annika would probably understand it better than Elio. And besides, there wasn't more Julian could get on those two that Laurent didn't already know. Elio was another matter entirely. Besides, this wasn't exactly Mikael suggesting they ignore a random first year that popped up in their life like that William. Mikael was suggesting they ignore a family member. A cousin. Someone Mikael already knew. Shouldn't that alone have rang bells in Elio's head? Apparently, his boyfriend didn't trust him enough. "The point is I'm telling you this as a precaution but clearly you won't listen to me."​

 

[Elio Boneheart]

Why didn't he ever just talk to him? He always expected blind obedience and just assumed that Elio wasn't going to question him on something he apparently felt so strongly about but honestly, that had never been part of who Elio was. He was only half of a team player, the rest of the time he expected to be give the entire rundown, not the Clayton's version. "You and your choices," because apparently that was always what it came down to, ugh, the stubborn @ss, and he was far too pent up to really argue whatever this was properly. "No I won't listen to you, you're right," he said, shaking his head. "I'm so done with this, I'm done with you," he said, stepping back and away, "I'm leaving," f*ck off, was implied, but he didn't say it. He needed a couple hours away from Mikael to really focus on what he was asking him, because honestly, he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing.​

 

[Mikael Nightray]

Mikael felt like he'd just been slapped. No. A slap would have been kinder. He'd known since he and Elio had gotten together that this - what they had between the two of them - was too good to be true. Everyone who knew Mikael thought it was too good to be true. That it was only a matter of time before he said something, or did something, and next thing Kael knew, Elio would just leave. He didn't think it would happen quite so fast though. But maybe he should have expected it? He'd already cast it out from his brain, but maybe Elio didn't really want him and he'd just pressured Elio that night in Nightray Manor and this was his out. Or maybe Mikael was just really... he wasn't capable of showing he cared, so maybe he really just wasn't good enough. He didn't know how to fix this when Elio had enunciated quite clearly that he was done. Done with Mikael. They were over and Mikael didn't know how to fix it. Should he even fix it? Was there anything to fix? He didn't want to continue forcing his presence onto Elio - he was... Elio was too important to him for that. So, the only option was for Mikael to just... accept it. And deal with it. He didn't know how. For now, he was just going to go back to his dorm. He'd already lost his appetite.

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F I N I S H E D​