We had been studying all day and I was exhausted. 

"Let's go out into the gardens and have a drink then," Astral suggested with a bright smile after I had been complaining. Anything to get out of studying. And I was agreeing with that for once.

We sat down on a bench in the garden with a bottle of wine to share.

"We're friends, right?" Astral asked, watching me intently with those bright brown eyes of his. Every inch of his being was magic. From the golden pale hue of his skin to the green hair on his head.

"Not even a little bit," I replied and took a swig of the drink. We had this conversation often and there was nothing more fun than teasing my best friend.

"You always know how to sweet-talk me." He smiled brightly in such a fake way. "At least I'm good company."

The best.

"Not really."

"I'm charming."

He was extremely charming.

"As charming as a rabid ferret."

"I'm a good listener."

"You're deaf in your left ear." I handed him the bottle and he raised an eyebrow at me.

"What?"

He had broken through, and I couldn't help but smile. He triumphantly took a swig from the bottle and passed it back to me.

"You're my only friend," he said.

I knew this. As magical as he was, he was also insufferable. I was the only one who could stand to be around him for longer periods of time. I didn't know how I managed. He made me so angry so many times a day, but then he made me smile and I let his former transgressions slide. I reckoned we were both lonely and used the other to ease the loneliness.

I wished he'd stop being so arrogant and pretend it didn't hurt when the others at the college made fun of him. I wished he'd just let me in, but he wouldn't. Being the kind of mage he was, required separation between himself and others. He was supposed to have a single room too, but that obviously didn't happen as I had been his roommate since we were kids. But we weren't kids anymore. Not small kids anyways. We were almost done at the college, and we'd soon need to do our final project to graduate. I only knew I'd go where Astral went. He hadn't even asked, he already talked about where we'd go, as if it was safe to assume, I'd follow. But I always did, and he knew that.

I'd always follow him.

"You're not my only friend," I said and snatched the bottle back.

"What?!" he gasped. "Who else is there?"

"Oh, you wouldn't know them." I shrugged carelessly.

"That's because they don't exist," he laughed and leaned in, grabbing the collar of my shirt and kissed me.

"They could've," I murmured against his lips.

"They could. Because you're lovely, Mars."

I could feel my cheeks burn and I knew I'd be as red as a tomato right now. He did know how to sweet-talk me, and I didn't mind it one bit.

I scribbled something down on a piece of parchment. Astral looked up from his book and stretched over the table to see what it was.

"You studying visions now?"

"Yeah, I'm considering writing my whole thesis about it."

He sat back down again and frowned a little. "Am I your case-study?"

"If you'd like."

"Are you gonna write flattering things about me?" He smirked.

"Would I ever write anything but?"

He snorted and closed his book. "We could write it together. From two different point of views. Mine, which is from the one who actually has the visions, and from yours, the observer. You've also filed all of my visions since we were kids. This could be something ground-breaking."

"You know, that's not a bad idea. And we'd get to work on it together."

"We're good at group projects."

We were both smiling widely.

"What're you learning from that book there?" he asked and nodded towards my book.

"A bit about who gets The Sight. It appears to happen at random within those born as mages."

"Do you think mages are born mages?" Astral asked then.

I frowned a little. That had never occurred to me, that there was a possibility that mages weren't born that way. That maybe they were chosen by some higher power? Maybe they developed the ability to learn magic later on. I aired those thoughts to Astral and he looked very thoughtful.

"That'd mean maybe you could learn too." He got a wrinkle between his eyebrows, and it looked quite adorable. "This should also be our field of study when we leave the college, Mars, you realise that right?"

"We could travel around and figure out other roots to magic. Other cultures have other ways."

The excitement was thick enough to cut through. I couldn't wait for us to leave for our biggest adventure. And we'd be doing it all together.

"Did you find a cure for... That?" Castus asked, ripping us right out of our excitement. And he gestured to me, from his position by the end of the table. His dumb friends were with him too. Both foul-looking and not very bright. Lic and Paxus had always followed in Castus' footsteps, doing whatever he did.

"No, but we found the cure for that horrible disease you call your personality though. Unfortunately, it's death. I'm very sorry," Astral said and slowly shook his head, as if he was relaying terrible news and wanted to show his distaste for it.

Castus didn't even smile. I mean, it was a funny joke. Funnier than his.

"You're going to eat those words, Seer."

"Oh no, you used ranks. Whatever will I do." Astral rolled his eyes. "Don't need The Sight to see you're horse dung."

His pale complexion turned red. And that was about when I was done with this. It'd just be insult hurling back and forth and I wanted to study. I closed my books, shoved them all in my satchel and shot Astral a look, that screamed we were leaving now.

He sighed and rose to his feet too, packing up his stuff.

"Aw, better go when the missus tells you to go, huh, Astral?" Castus said, earning laughs from his posse.

"At least someone genuinely likes me," Astral shot back and slowly lifted his head, smirking at Castus. "I don't have to threaten anyone to be around me."

"No, you just have to fuck them."

I clenched my fists and slammed my satchel down on the table. "Vulgarities in the guise of trying to one-up someone is low. Even for you. We were quietly studying. Nothing drove you to our table. We were minding our own business. And now when we're trying to leave, you still try. Get a life, Castus."

I walked around the table, grabbed Astral and pulled him with me out of the library. He sighed when we came into the hall.

"Why do you always run away?" he asked and pulled his arm out of my grasp.

"Because I'm tired. I wanted to go back to the room and read anyways."

"You know, you can stand up for yourself against mages, right?"

I hated when he could look straight through me. I was so transparent to him and some things I just wanted to keep to myself.

"Mars," he said softly and loosely wrapped his fingers around mine. "You're no less than anyone here."

"But I am," I whispered.

He stepped closer and kissed my cheek. "No, Mars." No other argument. Just 'no.' He didn't need an argument, when he felt this passionately about it. "Come on. I'll brew us some tea and we'll write an outline for our thesis."

I snorted softly and let him pull me back to the safety of our room.