Tumblr Academy reimagined

Alistair: I shook my head. "I don't know, but I advise against touching anything while lost. It's best in case something can kill you."

I nodded slightly, “Go for it.”

"Yeah, I don't think Kira would be happy if she had to abduct me from Heaven again."

Aiden: I nodded and stretched out, getting my nerves out. "Okay, where is he, do you know?"
Alistair: I laughed a bit. "No, she would not."

I stood up and headed for the doorway before I paused and looked back over my shoulder. "Hey, thanks for always listening to me when I can't do anything but freak out. It really means a lot."

Alistair: I smiled and leaned back in my seat. "Any time. You're like the little brother that I never had."

“I’m pretty sure he’s in the Library with Alistair at the moment.”

Aiden: I nodded and gave her a thumbs up. "Wish me luck!" I called before jogging out of my room.

I hesitated. "You too. Well, not exactly. You're not like a little brother to me. You're older and taller than me so obviously you're not like my little brother but just a brother."

Alistair: I smiled. "Thank you very much. I'm honoured. Remember, if Aiden hurts you, I will dangle him outside a window to scare him."

I laughed. "You remind me of one of the most amazing rangers ever. Except he didn't dangle the baron out the window, he threw him into a moat. Remind me to tell you about him sometime," I insisted then stepped out of the library and into a hallway.

I followed to make sure he didn’t run again.

Aiden: I jogged to the library and nearly crashed into Nic as he was leaving. "Nic! I-uh..." I was freezing up again. I quickly gathered my senses. "I'm so sorry for being an idiot."

I instinctively cursed in Gaelic upon stumbling into Aiden just as I was leaving the library. If Alistair hadn't distracted me I might have gotten a bit more time to think things over before needing to face him. "You don't have to apologize for anything," I managed. "I should have actually responded instead of just sitting there and freaking you out."

"No, I freaked you out. I'm sorry, I don't know what you're comfortable with, I don't even know if you... well, like me. I like you, Nic. So when you didn't reply, I just thought that you were... I don't know, annoyed or uncomfortable. A lot of people are disgusted by me because I'm not afraid to be me. I used to get called a lot of bad things, and I guess I just wasn't ready for that, but it wasn't fair for me to judge your reaction as your opinion. I didn't let you even voice it."

"I hadn't even finished thinking when you ran off," I pointed out. I took a deep breath as I tried to make the words fit together in my head before I spoke. "I didn't even realize that people of the same gender can like each other until yesterday as I talked to Alistair. That's not a thing I ever saw at my home. My thoughts have been more jumbled since then because I've been reevaluating myself."

I nodded slightly, just hoping that that didn't mean he had internalized homophobia. I was proud of who I am, and it took me a long time to come to terms with that, and I think I'm still coming to terms with that.
"I'm sorry for just making things more confusing. If you want me to back off, or if you're uncomfortable with it, please let me know and I'll back off, no questions asked."

"What? No." I insisted immediately, grabbing his arm to stop him in case he tried to leave before I was finished speaking. "I was just trying to explain that I'm new to this, and that's why I react the way I do sometimes. It's because I haven't felt like this before and I don't know what's expected or how to read other people when it comes to this kind of thing. I may not know the most about this, but I know enough about myself to know that even just being around you feels right.

I hear fireworks and sirens going off in my head. I broke into a grin. "Awesome. So, if you can't read these kind of feelings, I guess I'll just express them better." I winked at him.

I exhaled deeply as I felt my chest relax when the anxiety melted away. I beamed and opened my mouth to respond when I noticed Olivia standing a ways behind him, also remembering that Alistair was in the library. My eyebrows furrowed but my smile remained. "Wow, I think everyone was eavesdropping in on our conversation."

"Oh, uh..." I rubbed the back of my neck. "Olivia was here to make sure I didn't run again. Sorry." I sheepishly smiled.

I glanced back at the doorway to the library, wondering if Alistair had heard everything too. "Was you running again a large possibility?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, you make my mind... stop. Like, I can't really think well when I'm near you, so it was a toss-up."

"You can't think around me, and I can't stop thinking around you," I laughed. "I'm sure the combination of both of us isn't going to make getting anything done difficult in the slightest."

I laughed a bit. "Are are... quite the pair, aren't we? Polar opposites, basically. But isn't that part of the fun? We can learn from each other."