♤SPRING SHIELD (MxM) ~fantasy~♤

Beware of spells

Elijah

I knew he'd get lost but I still sent him there. Now he's been gone for a way longer time than he should be.
But he opens the door with a force and looks like he's seen a ghost,"What the hell,Red? I've been looking everywhere for you,did you not hear me?"
He doesn't say anything. He keeps breathing heavily and looking at me weirdly.
"Red?"
"I saw something in there,by accident."he bursts out and I raise a brow,
"What?"I ask,a little scared but not too frightened,
"In a black leather notebook in one of the drawers."Crap.
Literally bull crap. I'm screwed.
I start to panic but I don't let it show. I just cross my arms over my chest and stare at him,"A drawing of me."he stares at me,waiting for a reaction,"You know what I saw,Lewis."his voice starts to rise,and I try to to look guilty,
"What did you see?"Just play dumb. Just play the fool,just this once.
"A drawing,correction, drawings with me in them. One of which was-"
"Was what? What exactly did you see? Because I'm afraid you're trying to suggest something when my family was always in the picture."he points at me out of his daze his finger right in my face,
"I didn't say it yet! You know what I'm talking about you know the drawing,of me with pajamas on,you drew that. It has you're signature and the date. Only you would know that,Lewis! No one else."Oh,I know exactly what he's talking about. I just refuse to say I do because he simply CANNOT know what it is.
I'll make sure of it.
"Okay then prove it show me what you saw,show me the evidence."I gesture to the door and he frowns before running to the door and beelining for my desk. Haphazardly he searches for the book and when he finds it hurriedly he goes through all the pages,
"Right here- wait."he keeps looking but doesn't find it. He never will. "I swear it was just here just a second ago-"
"So basically you made a baseless claim and now that you've been caught you'll say you swear? This so called audacious,inappropriate depiction of you doesn't exist,Kristian."
"No but-"
"No but what? Show me it,show me the sketch amongst all these empty pages."I grab the book from him and pretend to look. He keeps silent as he looks around confused like his reality is being distorted right in front of him. "Red,anything the sleep deprivation is messing with your head,why don't we go downstairs and rest for a while?"
"But...! I just-"
"It's okay to make mistakes."I say simply setting down the notebook into the drawer,slowly I lock it with it's key,"I'll get the file,you can head out."
He breaths and his eyes shake with frustration as he balls his fists at his sides,"I'm sorry."he says to me before rushing out and slamming the door behind him,the sound of him running strong on the other side.
Am I proud of putting a spell on my assistant to make it seem as though the drawing had disappeared? No.
But there's measures I must go to keep honour in my family name. Today,I didn't say anything more to him. I let my sons occupy the silence. I ignored the empty look in his eyes as I knew what he was thinking about.
Make mistakes that shame you,not this family. But there is no mistake that doesn't taint our name,Elijah,so don't ever make a mistake. That's what my father used to tell me when I made mishaps happen.
And it worked all this time. Until the one half asleep night I let my emotions get the better of me in the dead of night and let my desires lead me through the halls of doubt and regret. Blinding me.
Today,I stand as the same place those desires led me,I open the lock to the second last drawer to the left with a click. The notebook in my hands,my fingers know where exactly the page is. The colour dim in the darkness but the silhouette clear to me.
I rip it out and in the still air it's similar to a gun shot. I rip it out and it will be like it never was. I burn the paper in the candle flame and watch as my mistake turns to ash.
I can almost hear my father in my ear.
Never again,Elijah. Never.

_____________

The weekend goes by quickly as soon we're delving into yet another week. The pressure to produce results intensifying but there's nothing I can do,the three dimensional prints aren't coming out right and we're not where I want to be.
I want to have a functional prototype to go with the big promises I made. I can always keep up with my ambitions,my vision. But this time is different,my perfectionism has been turned to an all time max.
Nothing can go wrong. "Wait a minute,let's see where we're going wrong..."Kristian says setting the piece of plastic that was supposed to mimic the design of the central object. He pulls up a picture on the desk top in front of the station,it's a digital version of my concept sketches,
"You won't get anything from staring at that."I say tilting my head back with frustration,
"Maybe this is the problem."my head snaps back up and I move my chair closer to the screen,
"Pardon?"
"Well the central device is a ball,round,its maximising on its aesthetically pleasing and futuristic nature but its essentially... sorry to say this,impractical."The words make something in me start to crack apart.
"No it's not,maybe for another engineer but this is me. I've designed some of the most difficult machines and had a prototype in two weeks-"
"Except its been a month and,poof! Nothing. Let's change the design,Lewis."He tells me,not even giving me enough respect to look at me as he picks at my diagram.
"I don't know who you think you're talking to but I urge you to remind yourself."I grip my armrests of my seats so hard my knuckles turn white,
"Oh,sorry,sir. But seriously you're better than gripping onto the dream of having it look like this."He looks at me like he's disappointed. And it hurts me. A lot.
"I think I can do this,so don't get angry that I disagree."I say,trying to run another simulation by reducing the resolution. He grabs my hand off the key board,
"Lewis,please. You're working on overdrive- let me show you."his hand doesn't leave mine as he reaches for a pen and paper. He sketches away in secrecy. "I was thinking recently while we struggled. To fit everything into the device without a struggle."
Instead of the circle on top on the platform,he put some thing close to a straw,a prism.
"It's a very difficult design on the interior from your notes. I think it might not be as pretty but it's more practical for us,"A pause as he puts the paper down,"And you might have that prototype next week if we do. You can twick it later as well,"
I don't say anything I take my notebook. Making new diagrams.
He doesn't say anything he just watches me as I sketch. I do three pages. "That's it for now."I close the book and check the time while pushing to me feet,
"Where are you headed?"he chases me down the hall as I pull my sweater off my body,
"Changing room,obviously. Unless you want to watch?"I say and his cheeks get insanely red. Almost as red as his hair. "Thought so."I close the door and change into my suit,
"Where are you going?"
"The monthly meeting with the High Board."I answer pulling up my tie,