#also Rose is a sophomore in this she's just an overachiever and also dramatic

[grimdorks]

prompt: they meet at a magic school, Rose is good at fortune telling and dark (not evil) magic, John has a gift for wind magic and Rose helps him find it.

“Yeah it’s exactly like bird school, which is for birds,” John said into his phone receiver, not really expecting Dave to believe him when he told him he was attending magic school, which is for magic, now.

“Sounds great dude actually you know what would be really cool if there actually was a bird school but like instead of the birds being bird sized it’s just a fuckin human sized pigeon in a suit.”

“I think you’re thinking of Princess Tutu,” John said. Did he ever manage to finish that anime?

“Nah dude the bird in Pee Tee wasn’t a teacher he was the big bad god Egbert try and keep up.”

“Right, right, I forgot that there’s only allowed to be one bird per show. Like how Ahiru isn’t actually a duck since the one and only bird role was already full.”

“Hey here’s an idea shut your fuck.”

John laughed, and then his eyes darted to the library door, where a very ooky-spooky looking girl was exiting. “I think my tutor is here, gotta go, bye Dave!”

“Bye John and also if he’s hot give him my number.”

“Wow, gay.”

“Fuck I’m gay?”

“No but seriously I gotta go now.”

John hung up and smiled at the pretty lady, who was indeed approaching him, one of her eyebrows arched.

“You must be John Egbert.”

“Yup! And you’re Rose?” John asked, extending his hand. When she shook it, a resounding fart noise bellowed down the hall, turning multiple heads, and John broke up cackling.

“I see you’re something of a trickster,” Rose deadpanned.

“And I’ve been doing magic tricks for years, so I don’t see why I need a tutor,” John said, pulling out a deck of cards and shuffling them idly.

“All freshman get an upperclassman to help them through things. Think of it like a big brother system that you might’ve had in a fraternity, had you attended a normal college, which is for normies.”

John blinked, mouth starting around a syllable, before losing his shit. “Were you listening in?” he asked, incredulous but not accusatory.

Rose revealed a painfully stereotypical crystal ball. “I like to think that I’m something of a… visionary.”

John gave the bad pun a pity snort and skipped forward a step, smiling at her. “Guess that means I can’t weasel out of our meetings then, can I?” Not that he wanted to. So far she seemed fun, and also pretty.

“Seers are frequently paired with wind magicians specifically for this purpose. You’re a flighty bunch.”

John grinned. “Speaking of which, when do I get a broom?”

“Sophomore year, but…” Rose grinned at him, “if you feel like owing me a favor, I could be convinced into teaching you how to use that wind magic of yours for broomless flight.”

John grinned back. “What’s the favor?”

“Oh, nothing serious, just a bit of mischief.”

“What kind of mischief?”

Rose hummed and pet at her crystal ball like a cat in a movie, a weird, dark, feathery aura lifting off of her like mist. She turned to him and grinned, eyes going white and all her veins protruding and turning black.

“The mischievous kind.”

Now, John was a teenage boy, so he was no stranger to biological functions, but good goddamn.

“Hot.”

In an instant, the shadows were gone and Rose was snorting her own laughter, covering her mouth and nearly dropping her crystal ball.

“You are, um, the first person to ever have that reaction,” Rose grit out, suppressing her laughter.

“Then you’re hanging out with a bunch of morons,” John said blithely, putting away his deck and hooking his arms up behind his head. He was thinking about flying, now. He’d only seen others do it on brooms, but he was cool and windy and airy and whatever and that meant he could do it without a broom and he definitely wanted  to do that. He got to thinking on the magic he already had access to and how he might channel that into making himself lift off the ground, trying to get a feel for the flow of magic and wind and how they braided together, ironing out the seam where the two met.

“…John,” Rose said, eyes going wide and astounded.

“Rose.”

“You’re floating.”

“Yup! Just like you said I could.”

“…oh we are going to cause so many problems.”