💎A Collision of Fates💎 (Straight to Gay) (MxM) (18+)

15 - Chris

Breaks from The Academy were surprisingly similar to weekends. Six days on. Three days off.

After Chris had woken up in his room in the castle, he laid in his plush, deluxe bed, feeling rested. It was disturbingly familiar, like he was waking up on a Saturday morning, like he could go downstairs and see Cloe playing in the sunroom, or his mom relaxing by the pool, or his dad frying some bacon.

He pushed away the memories and the accompanying heartache. They were getting him nowhere.

Eventually, he sprang out of bed, put on some casual clothing, a shirt and pants, no waistcoat, no jacket, and went downstairs, just in time for the breakfast bell.

Nick wasn't there, no surprise. After drinking all day, the man probably had a headache to end all headaches. But Adam seemed unaffected by it, at least. He chatted with Landel and Esteck, and with Chris and Mark, all the same. He was deliberately ignoring the elephant in the room, which was fine with Chris, honestly.

After the servants had collected their dishes and they had been excused from the table, Landel and Adam had gone off to go over the calculations homework. For the life of him, Chris could not see what was so difficult about that class. It was just math. There were different symbols for the numbers, but the basics were the same.

He stopped his dad as they were walking down the hall. "Want to go check the city out, dad? I've been ditched by Adam."

Mark smiled at him. "Sorry, son. Got some stuff to do today. Maybe some other time, yeah?"

Chris narrowed his brows. "What could you possibly have to do today?"

"Oh, right." He leaned in a little closer, as though about to impart a secret. "I forgot to tell you. Esteck and I were talking and. And, well, I told him what I used to do in our world—"

"Accounting?"

"Yup," Mark said, crossing his arms. "And, apparently, they've been looking for someone to help do the books in this place. Castle finances, wages, stuff like that. So I volunteered. It's keeping me busy, eh." He shrugged. "It hasn't been bad so far."

Chris was speechless for a few moments and then he shook his head. "So you're... becoming an accountant again? I mean, dad, c'mon, you have the chance to start over, a new beginning, and you willingly choose to become an accountant again?"

Mark laughed, tilting his head back. "I like what I do, Chris. And there is nothing else to do here. It's either that or sit around all day and..." He gulped. "Think."

"Great. So you're ditching me too?"

Mark shrugged. "Sorry. Like I said, though, some other time." And then he left him there, standing in the hallway.

Chris briefly considered going to join Landel and Adam, maybe it would be good to get a little bit of studying in. But they hadn't even learned that much. They had a single calculations course, how much could they really need to study?

If anything, Chris wanted to study World History. Master Lyle was setting a punishing pace in that class, bouncing from decade to decade, listing off names and events like they were passing road signs.

Chris loved that class, even still. He had never enjoyed history all that much in school, but the history of Sesstria was incredible. It was a story of daring feats, epic wars, incredible losses, and amazing comebacks. It kept him on the edge of his seat.

So, alone and bored, Chris wandered the endless halls of the stone fortress, the palace. He climbed spiral staircases up to the top of towers and looked through the small, circular windows. He got breathtaking views of the city, the farms, the forests, and the lakes that surrounded them. He descended into an old, dungeon-like area. It was lit exclusively by firelight, but, as far as he knew, wasn't being used anymore. Which was probably a good thing. Dungeons were not great for human rights.