IGNORANTIA (Dark Academia!Wesper AU)

elf

Nina fixes my tie, then steps back to look at her handiwork. I happily would have gone with my usual gray suit, but Nina insisted on this. Jesper and I are having dinner at Councilman Hoede's mansion tonight, and Jesper and Nina seem a little too excited. No matter how many times I tell them it's going to be boring, they continue to ignore me and giggle about it like a bunch of children.

"I've heard Hoede has peacocks wandering around the gardens," Nina said yesterday during a game night in our dorm room.

"I heard his wife bathes in skim milk," Jesper responded. He turned to look at me. "Have you ever taken a bath in milk? I heard it's great for your skin."

"Of course not," I said. "I'm not a psychopath."

Now Nina grabs me and Jesper by the arm, and pulls us towards a full-length mirror on Jesper's side of our room. She narrows her eyes suspiciously, looking between us in the mirror.

"Something's off," she says. "I can feel it."

I have no clue what Nina could mean by that, because we look really good. Jesper is in a tight green dress, the cut down low to his naval to reveal the glittery gold jewelry shining against his skin. I've been put in a green collared shirt and a black velvet suit. Jesper asked if he could pierce my ears for the event, but I luckily had the gall to tell him no.

"Jesper, what do you think?" Nina asks.

His gray eyes look at my reflection, a quaint smile on his face.

"I think it's perfect," he says softly, like his words might just blow us all away if he said it any louder.

"Great." Nina slaps us lightly on our backs. "Looks like my work here is done!"

"Thank you, Nina," I say.

"Yes, thank you, Nina."

She nods, and turns to pack her suitcase full of costume pieces. Why she has so many, I'm too afraid to ask. But they worked nicely, so who am I to ask? 

Nina gives Jesper a sisterly kiss on the cheek. "Don't have too much fun, you two," she says with a wink. "I don't want to see your ugly mugs on the front page of the news tomorrow morning."

"Oh, but page three is fine?" Jesper teases.

"Page three is fine." She smacks him on the ass before leaving.

I will never understand those two.

Jesper fixes the collar of his shirt in the mirror, smiling at me through the mirror's reflection. He looks so lovely in green. Can I tell him that? How do I tell him that without sounding weird?

"You ready?" he asks.

"As ready as I can be."

He smirks, and turns to offer me his arm. I take it, grabbing my coat on the way out. Snow falls gently outside the windows — a white wonderland of ice — and I slip away from Jesper so I can put my coat on.

"Here, let me help," he says, taking my wool coat from my hands and holding it out for me.

I pause and stare at him, waiting for the punchline to drop. It doesn't. In fact, he seems rather serious about it. Slowly, I turn around to slip my arms in its sleeves, Jesper helping to the best of his abilities. He gently turns me around and fumbles with the buttons. I just stare at him, the concentration on his face friendly and determined. Selfishly, I let myself imagine what we could have together. A life just like the romantic audio drama's that the cook would play every Sunday. A life where it could just be the two of us; no secret jobs or secret evils keeping us apart. Just this. Just simple domesticity. Maybe then I'd be free to tell him how I felt.