The Gift of Good and Evil One Shots: Volume 1

The Peanut Gallery

Lunch

It was a few weeks following the Blue Forest incident and you were having lunch with Professor Espada. Ever since you'd apologized to him in the infirmary, you two had grown fairly close. You enjoyed hearing his tales of classes past and he loved asking you about what the other realms were like.

Sometimes you would run your lesson plans by him, to get a fresh perspective; and sometimes he would tell you of the latest gossip he'd heard from around the school. Today was one of those days. As soon as you two had sat down at the table, he'd immediately begun telling you of the latest drama.

"Did you hear that Professor Dovey told Manely that he wasn't allowed to attend the ball if he wasn't going to dress up?" He hummed cheerfully. "Oh, Bilious was so upset, he came stomping out to my class just after breakfast. He tried taking one of the bow and arrow sets I had pulled out for my morning class so that he could 'practice his aim.' When I told him I needed it, he took one of the apples I was using as targets and threw it at a tree out of frustration."

You watched as his face lit up. He was chuckling to himself as he relived the memory in his mind.

"That apple..." He laughed breathlessly. "That apple hit the tree with such force that it bounced off and came right back at him!" He was laughing much harder now, holding his belly and slamming his hand on the table. "It hit him square on the forehead and knocked him clean out!"

Rumi's laughter was becoming infectious; you were now chuckling yourself, picturing Manely knocking himself out with an apple.

"I've never laughed so hard in my life!" He exclaimed as he wiped the tear from his eye.

"Gods what I wouldn't have given to see that!" You muttered as you shook your head.

At that moment, Lady Lesso, Professor Dovey, and Anemone all entered the hall. Their classes had all just finished and they were planning on joining you for lunch. You watched as the red haired goddess made her way to the buffet, collecting her food, before coming to sit next to you at the table.

You locked eyes with her for a brief moment as she sat down next to you. You flashed her a quick smile and she did the same before digging into her food. Espada couldn't help the smirk that inched up his lips as he watched the two of you. Though the others around you may not be able to see what was blossoming between you and the Dean of Evil, he most certainly could.

Though, perhaps that was partially because of his unique talent.

Professor Espada's unique talent was that he could hear heart songs; the purest form of expression a person could have. It most accurately reflected how a person was feeling at any moment in time, like a musical mood detector. The songs ebbed and flowed as the individual's mood changed, but also could shift and mix with another's, if they were involved or falling in love.

Rumi had noticed a few days ago that yours and Lady Lesso's heart songs had begun to sound similar; too similar for it to be a coincidence. He promised himself he wouldn't mention it to anyone; not Anemone and certainly not you. You would tell him in time what was going on. But for now, he would just watch and wait. To him, you two seemed like a good match; he was excited to see where this would go.

At that moment, he was pulled from his thoughts when Anemone sat down next to him and Dovey joined you and Lesso on the other side of the table.

"So..." Anemone said as she nudged Espada. "You want to tell me why Bilious was dragged in from the courtyard, unconscious, by some fairies this morning?"

Espada chuckled, shifting to face her excitedly, "You're never going to believe this..."

Unification Ball