1. Dance!
The first person Elena goes to for magic help is Mateo. Not only have they bonded over having ties to the time before Shuriki, but Mateo is straight up the only magic user in Avalor. (This is also incidentally how he qualified for the court wizard role.) Except, of course, now there's Elena too, because she has a sceptre and no clue what do with it.
"What, and you think I do?" says Mateo, right after Elena explains all this to him in a single agitated breath.
"Well, you have all your grandfather's books, right?" says Elena. "Maybe there's something there."
"Well, I can't say no to a magic study partner," says Mateo.
So they study. Elena and Mateo sit down in Mateo's basement to pore over Alakazar's books for multiple consecutive hours and Mateo tries a bunch of light incantations. Elena tries the incantations too, but sceptre magic is apparently different from bard magic, and the magic fizzles. It doesn't help that they're not great at focusing; they get distracted with chatter, and at some point, Mateo's mom brings them a snack. Soon enough, the rays of sunlight stop creating spotlights in the workshop through the cracks in the cellar door, and the books are only lit by the glow of candles.
"If only we had a light spell, huh?" says Elena dryly.
Mateo rolls his eyes. "If only," he agrees. "You want to make this room glow?"
Elena shakes her head. "I'm here to learn something new!" Besides, she also still gets tired from glow. Elena points to a page in the beginning of the book, where an illustration paints the picture of a small glowing orb. "How about this one? Luces de baile."
"I've been doing this one for ages, but hey, here's an idea! Why don't I do some light spells that I do know, and you can... maybe try to replicate them with your sceptre?"
Elena shrugs. "Worth a try."
"Luces de baile," says Mateo, barely tapping the membrane of the drum. Four distinct orbs of yellow light manifest in the air, swirling around the tamborita and catch the edge of the drum.
"They're beautiful," whispers Elena, moving closer for a better look. In response, the lights give off a faint sparkle. She looks up, and stares at the way the lights cast shadows across Mateo's face.
"It's not very practical," says Mateo, moving the lights into Elena's open palm, "but it's a fun party trick. You try it; the incantation translates to dancing lights."
Elena nods once. "Dance!" she says firmly. Four more orbs of blue light appear for a moment, but then they fizzle.
"Try again," says Mateo. "The essence of the spell is more graceful than strong."
"Dance," says Elena again. The blue orbs appear again, and they dance around hesitantly. Elena's hand finds Mateo's in the darkness, and he threads his fingers through hers.
"Luces de baile!" says Mateo again. Elena feels his grip on her hand, and four yellow orbs of light form to dance around the blue orbs until they join together, creating four larger tiny suns that cast dancing shadows against the wall.
"Mateo?" says Elena, looking down at their hands. Then she looks up at the dancing lights, and then over at Mateo. "Oh my gosh, I did it! And then you—oh, they're so pretty!" Elena drops her sceptre and deadlifts Mateo, spinning him around and—
The dancing lights disappear. The only light in the basement workshop is from the candles, now burning low, and Elena's face is so close to Mateo's—
And then they're kissing.
2. Illuminate!
A cheer starts up when the doors burst open. "I'm here; I'm here!" exclaims Mateo, running up the lighthouse stairs with a gift and the Sceptre of Light, out of breath. "Sorry I'm late; the rain sucked . I hope I didn't miss too much."
"Oh, it's just you," says Gabe, sitting down and putting confetti back into his party popper.
It's the evening of Naomi's birthday again, and the Captains Turner are expected back any moment. There are gifts and sampler bottles of alcohol from all around the world which haven't been opened because Naomi's parents are uncharacteristically later than even Mateo is today.
"Thanks Gabe. Glad I didn't miss anything exciting," says Mateo in a deadpan. He turns to Elena and hands her sceptre. "You left this in my workshop," he whispers, while Naomi and Gabe have their attentions toward the pier.
"Yeah, because that's where I usually keep it," Elena responds with a frown. "You know that."
Mateo does know that. "But the thing," he says, "for our anniversary—"
" Oh! " Elena exclaims, and then nodnodnods. It's really cute.
The Turners still haven't shown up by the time the sun sets behind a thick fog that begins rolling in, and the four friends decide cut into the smallish dinner spread prepared by Carmen and Julio's small catering team. The four of them make short work of the food, making sure to save plates for Naomi's parents and the dock workers shuffling in for the night shift.
"Well," says Naomi as the sun dips down behind the sea and the harbour lanterns flicker on. "We might as well open the wine and gifts."
"You sure?" says Elena.
"Yeah, we might as well have fun while we wait," replies Naomi. "I just hope they're safe with this weather."
Naomi opens her gifts, finding a sturdy but fashionable pair of custom-made boots from Elena, a vinyl record of Gabe and Naomi's favourite Norbergian metal group from Gabe, and a handmade music box from Mateo. She also receives twelve different brand new fishing rod designs for testing from Isabel, a coil of Satoan silk rope from Esteban, a set of cufflinks from Luisa and Francisco, and a variety of trinkets from around the world from harbour workers.
The first birthday after Naomi had joined Elena's grand council, Esteban and the castle threw Naomi a belated quinceanera. The year before that, Mateo and Elena hadn't met Naomi yet, and the two of them spent the day learning how to make lights dance. Naomi's birthdays since her sixteenth have been quiet and low-maintenance until this one. Mateo and Elena have skipped every anniversary since they started seeing each other to spend Naomi's birthday with her, and Mateo doesn't mind at all because he's so pleased to have such a wonderful friend.
Naomi thanks each of her friends with a quarter-glass of each of their favourite wines and a hug, and the four of them stare quietly down at Avalor, barely visible through the fog while lighthouse beacon illuminates them from behind.
"You're not going to drink?" says Elena, noticing that Naomi is empty-handed.
"Nah," she says. "I need to be sober to operate the light."
As if on cue, the beacon flickers once, twice, and then goes dead.
"Dammit," grumbles Naomi. She gets down and fiddles with the apparatus for a moment before flopping on the ground on her back. "Well, this thing is just a bucket of metal until the morning."
"I helped Isabel put things together all the time," says Gabe, leaping to his feet. "I'll go grab some tools and see what we can fix." He rushes down the stairs, creaking the floorboards as he goes.
"How are incoming sailors supposed to see the fucking port now?" cries Naomi. "The fog is so thick; what if my parents get lost?"
"Your parents are really good sailors!" says Mateo. "If anyone can navigate through this weather, it's them."
"But," adds Elena, "maybe I can help. Illuminate!"
The entire lighthouse starts glowing a faint blue, and it's almost bright enough to be a substitute for the beacon. "Wow," says Naomi. The light is stunning, and Mateo is awed by Elena and the sceptre every time she uses it.
"Mateo and I found an additional use for the Illuminate spell," explains Elena. "I only have enough energy to do it once, and I was going to use it for something else, but I think I can make the entire lighthouse passively glow. Mateo calls it faerie fire."
The glow has spread to all the objects on their table too, and everything becomes bathed in a blue outline. Everything, that is, except the music box that Mateo gave Naomi. It turns out that Elena did get to do what they planned with the sceptre.
The music box lights up purple with a line of writing along the inside border of the box, and Naomi walks toward it. Naomi picks up the box and reads it quietly.You're wonderful, and we really like you, says the magical purple text in Mateo's handwriting. Will you go out with us?
Naomi looks up with an open-mouthed stare, and Mateo is sure that he and Elena are looking back with matching stares. Then, Naomi jumps on top of Elena, hugging her tightly, and then giving her a quick but hard kiss. Naomi lets go of Elena and pulls Mateo in by the neckerchief, and kisses him too. In his periphery, Mateo can see Elena standing there, slack-jawed and starry-eyed.
The light from the faerie fire also glows brighter.
"Hey, I'm back," yelps Gabe, bursting through the doors with a toolkit. "but I see you guys figured it out—whoa, hot."
Naomi—still kissing Mateo and pouring herself a glass of wine—gives Gabe the middle finger.
3. Envision!
"So... we're asking Gabe out at some point, right?" says Naomi on the morning of her following birthday. She's been in a relationship with Elena and Mateo for a year, and hangouts with all four of them have consistently been better than dates without Gabe. She's also like, ninety percent sure that her partners are on the same page as her on this.
"Yeah, of course," says Mateo.
"Absolutely," says Elena. "We should figure out how. Any ideas?"
"Hmm," says Naomi. She knows that Gabe likes swords, fencing, horses, being selfless, Naomi's favourite music, and these comics from Sato that Esteban introduced him to. "The weapons expo is in town, right?"
"Maybe a riding date?" says Mateo.
"What about," says Elena, and then pauses. "You know what? Let me show you. Envision!"
Elena conjures an scene of the four of them riding through the forest until they arrive at an open clearing, where a pair of curved swords are mounted in the shape of a heart on a tree. Below the tree is a spread of food and artisanal candles on a large picnic blanket. There are also deer trotting around, herding the horses to a corner.
Birds land on tree branches above the illusory picnic, and they begin to sing Gabe's favourite love song. As Mateo, Naomi, and Elena sit down, they each take their turn professing their affection for Gabe, and his eyes literally turn into hearts. "Yes! I'd date you guys, a thousand times yes!" exclaims illusion Gabe.
"...So I got a little carried away," shrugs Elena.
"Sheesh, I'm right here," says Gabe.
"Oh," say Naomi, Mateo, and Elena in unison.
There's a brief silence.
"...Well, no time like the present, right?" Naomi says. "Forget about the fancy stuff. It's pretty fucking obvious that we like you, so... date us?"
"You have to!" says Mateo. "Elena and I got together on Naomi's birthday before we really knew her, and you know Naomi started dating us on her birthday last year as well. If you agree to date us today, then our anniversary will align and it'll be like a blessing from the fates!"
"Oh, hell no," says Gabe. Naomi is about to interject when Gabe continues: "Mateo and Elena got together after an romantic study session under some literally magical lights, right?"
"I guess," says Mateo.
"And Naomi joined you guys under the glow of, again, literally magical lights, accented by a romantic as fuck fog rolling in across the harbour. I was there."
"Romantic as fuck ," agrees Naomi.
"So I think I deserve to join the relationship with something just as romantic!" huffs Gabe. "Out of fairness. Totally not because I want to be romanced."
"But our anniversary—" says Elena.
"You guys have all day to romance me in time for our anniversary," says Gabe. "I believe in you."
"You know what?" says Elena. "Challenge accepted. Meet us back here, tonight, ready for the best romance of your life." Naomi knows Elena loves a challenge, and truthfully she does too.
"Yeah, what she said!" says Mateo. "We're going to romance your pants off!"
Bright spots of red flush high on everyone's cheeks as they realise the implications.
Gabe blinks out of it first. "Good," he says. He reaches into his bag, pulls out a wrapped gift, and hands it to Naomi. "Happy birthday," he says, and kisses Naomi's cheek. "See you all tonight."
Naomi stares as Gabe saunters away, and squints. "Oh, it's on," she says.
4. Extinguish!
Elena's bedroom is one of Gabe's favourite places in the castle, especially when he's in it with his partners. Right now, Gabe is working on a training schedule for the new guards while cuddled against Mateo. Mateo is reading a recently unearthed Maruvian tome, and Naomi is sleeping on Mateo's other side with her dock linens haphazardly piled on her face. Candles burn low in the braziers and the moon shines high outside the window, and it would be too dark to read if not for twin orbs of light floating over each Gabe and Mateo's books. It would be an relaxing moment if Gabe wasn't so preoccupied.
Gabe's thoughts are interrupted by the opening door. He looks up and sees a very haggard Elena staggering into the room, sinking down on a nearby chair. "Aw, come on," whines Elena. "You guys are spending your free time doing busywork too?"
"It's not busywork if it's relevant," says Gabe, looking back down to his work.
"It's not really work if I find personal fulfillment from it," says Mateo, also not looking up.
"Nerd," says Gabe.
Naomi's unconscious body lets out a sound that suspiciously resembles "snore—healthy work-life balaaaaance—snore."
"I thought... maybe we could go to bed together tonight?" says Elena. "Our sleep hours never coincide anymore, and I don't think any of us are sleeping enough."
"I mean, you're not wrong," says Gabe. "Eight hours of sleep are necessary to maintaining good health." Elena's schedule has been filled with nothing but political shenanigans and sceptre practice (again, because they decided to make use of the Sceptre of Night), and the other three have similarly been inundated with the chaos of the busy season.
"Besides, I miss you guys," sighs Elena.
Gabe can never say no to his queen when she's being reasonable. Mateo and Naomi totally can, but they recognise their own illogic when they see it—and this is a situation where everyone is tired and on the same page. Wordlessly, Gabe gets up with his files, takes Mateo's tome, grabs Naomi's fatigues, and puts all of it away on the small table at the other side of the bedroom. "We can sleep at the same time today," he agrees, and leads Elena to the bed.
"Sure, why not?" says Mateo, flopping over and arranging Naomi to a more comfortable position. Gabe and Elena join them, laying down. Elena grabs the Sceptre of Night— "Extinguish!" —and casts a spell. A magical darkness emanates from the sceptre's orb, and covers the bed in a soft, comforting void.
Gabe can't see a thing, which means Elena is getting good with that thing. He never knew that darkness could be comforting, but when he's with his partners, he feels safe and loved. He feels a leg tangle in his, and then a hand reach for his across the pile of bodies. And then he feels nothing, because he's warm and happy and asleep at last.
A/N: *logs into FFnet for the first time for years to crosspost this fic*
If you have any Elena/Gabe/Mateo/Naomi ficrecs (or gen recs, or any Elena fandom recs in general, really), please send them my way via comment or PM! I am also DYlogger on Tumblr and Pillowfort, if you'd like to flail with me via PMs there. ^_^