Cursed with immortality, Mars goes on a journey with his lifelong more-than-friends partner Astral, a painfully average future-seeing mage, to find the root of magic, in an effort to ease the side effects of Astral's visions - and to finish their th...
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My stomach was in my throat and I was sure I had already puked out my heart, even though it was beating hard in my ears. Astral was fidgeting next to me, having a hard time sitting still in his seat. They had been evaluating our thesis for a long time now. We could hear quiet voices behind the double mahogany doors, so we knew they were still discussing this.
They could fail us, and we'd have to write it all over again with their notes. It'd delay our journey for a considerable time. I didn't want to delay our adventure. The sooner we got out of here, the better. I wanted to see the world with Astral by my side.
"Do you think they'll mind section eight? I know it was a little weak-" Astral started but I stopped him by putting my hand on top of his.
"Section eight was good." Someone had to be calm here and it wasn't going to be Astral. Section eight was good. It was one of the best ones Astral had written, which was purely about his own visions, recovery time, what toll it took on his body. So, it was very personal for him, also why he was focusing too hard on it.
The doors finally opened, and we both shot up. The professor showed us inside and we stood in the middle of the room. An eight-pointed star was etched into the floor and we stood in the very middle of it. It was supposed to bring you luck if you stood in the middle. I hoped it worked.
"Well, boys. We've read your thesis. Some more than once." The arch mage glanced at our elementals professor who looked particularly satisfied with himself. "And our initial offer still stands. We'd love to fund your journey and your research. Congratulations." He rose to his feet and held his hand out. Astral shook it first and then I shook it. I wondered if he could feel how clammy my hands felt.
"Thank you, arch mage," Astral said and bowed. I bowed with him. Then we were shown outside to the corridor again.
We looked at each other a long moment and then we both smiled. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him close.
"We did it."
"Let's go back to ours and celebrate. Mars, we just got a full ride!" He pulled back, looking like he could barely contain himself.
We ran back to the room, occasionally stopping just to giggle like little girls. We finally got back to the room and Astral was still buzzing, talking about our adventure. I closed the door and turned towards him.
"We're finally going, Mars," he said, smiling.
I nodded. His smile relaxed a little. I wondered if he could see what was on my mind right then. If he could sense, what I wanted the most in that moment. It seemed like he did, as I almost launched forward, and he stepped right into the kiss. I had my hands on the sides of his throat while his got busy with getting my college issued jacket off me. I was nervous, my hands shaking. I didn't know what to do but Astral seemed not even slightly bothered as he slid his hands under my shirt, getting it free of my trousers.
