Oz Spellman
January 19, 2023 4:39 AM
Nothing to see here (except an awesome, slam dunkin' rat) by Oz Spellman
Even with syphoning spells, the page Oz was writing on (and peeling the writing off, and correcting again and again) was a mess. Maybe it was because he wasn’t great at syphoning spells. Maybe it was because they didn’t work great on ballpoint. Either way, he gave the page up as a bad job, ripped it out and balled it up.“Hey, Noodle?” he called, clicking his tongue to get the attention of the rat on his shoulder, though he was pretty sure she knew her name. He offered her the paper ball. “Do a slam dunk,” he told her, forming a ring with his fingers, which he held a few inches above the floor. Noodle grabbed the ball in her teeth, scurried down to the floor and jumped, front paws catching onto his fingers as she dropped the paper ball through them. “Yeah!” Oz cheered, scooping her up. “Atta girl! Tiny high fives—pew, pew!” She hadn’t quite learnt to do those on her own, but he lifted each of her little paws, pressing them in turn against his hand. It was weird having an animal to hang out with. He’d never had a pet (still didn’t) and he’d been weirded out at first by Xavier having a rat because those were a problem, not a pet. But Noodle wasn’t like the scary rats that hung out in sewers or foraged for garbage. She was sleek, and clean, and smart. In the few years Xavier had had her, they’d already taught her a handful of fun tricks.
“Hey, Xav, did you see her?” he asked. It was not the first time Noodle had done a slam dunk but it was always cute. And it was a good excuse to take a break… “Xav?” he asked, turning to his bed. Seeing as they couldn’t both lie or sit on the bed to study (thank you, stupid bed rule) Oz had taken the floor (and they had actually been going to study, not make out), and was sitting with his back up against his bed rather than taking Gus or Billy’s, so that he was still close to Xav (though they’d done that for a bit out of spite just because the school seemed so determined to stop them).
Xav was passed out, deep asleep with some dense symbolism dictionary open beside him, though Oz suspected the real culprit was the crystal ball still clutched in Xavier’s fingers. Oz… was supposed to be happy that Xavier had found his niche. And he was. But the crystal ball unnerved him. It wasn’t the idea of poking around in people’s futures—or it wasn’t just that. Xavier wasn’t exactly fun or interactive when he was staring deep into the mists of time. And it was his homework, or whatever, Oz got that. But… Xavier didn’t actually need to spend as much time on it as he did. And sometimes it was fine, and Oz could distract him, and he’d be himself, but sometimes, even after Xav put it away, it was like he wasn’t fully there. Either he was taking a long time to tune back into reality, or was wanting to See more… And sometimes, he just flat out exhausted himself. Like now.
The few times Oz had tried to broach the subject, Xav had been snappy and defensive. So, he guessed he wasn’t going to do that again. But it reminded him a lot of a previous phase of Xav’s life. One Oz hadn’t enjoyed much…
He pulled the crystal ball out of Xavier’s fingers, setting it on his nightstand. He was tempted to kick it under his bed, and let Xav lose it for a bit.
“Why are you doing this to yourself?” he sighed, trailing his fingers through Xav’s hair. It was tempting to knot his fingers into it and give it a good tug, and it was tempting to wrap him in blankets and make sure nothing happened to him.
Oz settled for neutral. He certainly had no desire to make Xavier look any cosier or more at home in his bed, because geez, how did this look if anyone walked in?
Almost as soon as he’d thought it, he heard sounds of someone approaching. Oz settled back down, with his back against the bed, Noodle on his shoulder, and his notebook open, like he hadn’t noticed that Xav had taken an impromptu nap behind him. In a totally normal way that best friends did that kind of thing.
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Oz Spellman
Nothing to see here (except an awesome, slam dunkin' rat)
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