Winter settled in quickly, the winds turning biting cold, the freezing moisture whipping heat away from bare skin in an instant. Asa buried his hands in his coat pockets and tried to push his shoulders up to shield his neck. He needed to get a new scarf. He'd lent his out shortly before the weather turned and it hadn't come back to him.
His walk from work took him past the old, imposing gates of Bloor's Academy. Normally, he didn't have time or interest to give it a passing glance, but every once in a while, he stopped, and looked up at the window where Manfred's study was.
Asa startled to see a pale face staring down at him. He blinked, and the curtain was swinging in front of the window. He shook his head. Maybe he'd imagined it. He started to head on his way again, but it was only a few steps before he heard someone calling his name.
"Asa! Asa, wait up!" Asa turned, brows furrowed. There's no way Manfred could have made it from the study to the gates in such a short- Manfred was bent double just inside the gates, trying to catch his breath. He was wearing dress trousers and a thin-looking button-down shirt, and no outerwear. He lifted his head, and chanced a winning grin when he saw Asa looking down at him, bewildered.
"Hey… thanks for… waiting," he panted.
"Manfred... it's freezing out here."
"I don't care." They stared at each other for a minute. "Er...How've you been?"
Asa smiled indulgently, something warm rekindling in his chest. "Wouldn't this be a better conversation for sitting inside in front of a nice warm fire with some tea? Blue Moon's still open."
Manfred looked lost for a moment. "Yeah. Sure, that sounds good." They walked briskly to the coffee shop down the road, after Manfred had run inside to grab a coat. The trip was mostly silent and full of should-I-says and no-I-shouldn'ts. They both sighed in the warmth of the little cafe. The afternoon was starting to wane, and the deep clouds made the roads darker. An electric fire roared in the corner near a couch.
"Er... do you want to go pick a place to sit? I'll get the coffees." Asa looked at him intently, wondering if he would remember. "Iced pumpkin, right?" Asa grinned. Nodded. Manfred smiled, finally. "Good."
Asa took off his coat and lay it on the arm of the couch while he waited. He watched the fire and was glad for the warmth. It was taking the edge off the cold still lingering on his skin. They sat mostly in silence for a while, letting the beverages warm their fingers. Manfred looked over at Asa, enjoying the way the cold had turned his cheeks so pink.
"Sort of a dreary afternoon for a walk, isn't it?" he asked quietly. Asa nodded.
"I usually walk home from work… but I've been feeling restless lately. I can't sleep well, don't eat much, feel sort of frenzied and trapped when I'm inside." He let his eyes unfocus in the direction of the flames. "So I change my path when I get to feeling it too much, and let the wind carry it all away. I'll come back smelling like the outdoors and it settles my soul back down for a while."
"Are you still painting?" Manfred asked. He remembered Asa used to paint to get his feelings out from being trapped inside him.
"It doesn't always help," Asa muttered. He looked up at Manfred, suddenly. His black eyes seemed so flat, and full of a fathomless depth at the same time. They also looked concerned. "What about you? Shouldn't you be at St. Peregrine's? It's October." He tried not to sound too accusatory.
"I was offered a job working for the Academy," he mumbled, seeming interested in his coffee. Asa wondered with a sinking heart if they hadn't accepted him at the university.
"So you'd rather work in that hellhole with your crazy relatives and a bunch of annoying do-gooders than go off to study theatre?" Asa sighed. "I hope you didn't take the job because your self-confidence was shaken." Manfred had terrible stage fright, despite what the audience may see.
Manfred looked at him from the other end of the couch, helplessly. Suddenly it seemed like a chasm between them instead of the crease between cushions. "Asa, I wasn't accepted, okay? Can we just... drop it?" Asa wanted to pry, but nodded instead.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't—don't apologise. You're not the one who did anything wrong. I messed up my own chances, I messed up my life and others' lives. I messed up our relationship." He stopped, and smiled cheekily. "I messed up Grandfather's franken-horse experiment."
Asa raised an eyebrow. "Is that when your allergies scored one for the do-gooders?"
Manfred nodded, grinning. Asa chuckled.
After a little bit of meaningless conversation, Asa set down his near-empty cup. "So...what's going on with the magnet?" He watched Manfred carefully, and tried not to launch into interrogation mode. Manfred's face fell almost immediately. When he spoke his voice sounded far away.
"We ended up together for a while, until that time I came to your house when he told me everything, about how you were right all along. After that...I pushed him away. The relationship was unprofessional and was a hindrance to the cause. And Titania didn't like him getting more attention from me than she did. When she was upset, she caused trouble for everyone. She's young but she looks like a hag now." He stared into the flames, thinking. Shook himself suddenly, and turned back to Asa with a weak smile. "He's turned his back on me now. Rather grateful for that."
"Why?" Asa sat back into the couch and leaned just a little bit closer.
"He was just someone to waste time with. I couldn't feel anything after you left. The only time I could feel anything other than cold was when I thought about you. But most of that was just guilt and regret because it was my fault, I drove you away." The hypnotist looked over at Asa with glistening eyes.
The wolf boy sighed. "Come here," Asa said gently, pulling Manfred into a hug. Manfred held him tightly, almost desperately, a sinking ship grabbing for the surface. Asa squeezed him gently. Their hearts seemed to be beating in time, reverberating into each other's ribs. Plip. Manfred looked up, and then down at Asa. The shoulder of his shirt was becoming wetter and wetter the more Asa's tears soaked into it. "I don't understand," he whispered. "When we're touching like this I can feel your heart like it's mine. I don't feel empty or incomplete."
Manfred smiled and hugged him tightly. "I know. I feel it too. And that's saying something, Woof." Asa grinned into Manfred's chest. He hadn't called Asa that in ages. "You're the north to my south." Like magnets.
Some are strong enough to stay together despite every measure taken to separate them. Some are weaker, but still will attach without question in nearness to the other. It is inevitable, and not completely explainable. But the heart knows where its opposite lies, and gravitates without question, in longing to be with its other.
"Sirs?" Asa and Manfred looked up at the scruffy girl who worked the counter. Asa sniffled. "We're closing in like ten minutes."
"Thanks." They picked up their coats and headed for the door. The air was dark and cool, swirling around them in gusts.
Manfred watched Asa, his face aglow from the warm lights of the shop. Smiled. "Shall I walk you home?" Asa shyly slid his hand into Manfred's.
"I'd like that."
Shop lights winked out one by one on the street as the world was closing up for the night. They stopped at the apartment door. "Do you want to come in?" Manfred chuckled.
"Silly question, Asa." Asa smiled, nodded, unlocked the door.
They put on the late shows like they did once upon a time ago, and Asa fell asleep snuggled into Manfred's side. Manfred stroked his hair as he let his mind zone out. Soon they were resituated for sleeping, Asa falling back to sleep between Manfred and the back of the couch.
No, things weren't quite like they used to be, but some things, like magnets, never change. Manfred kissed Asa's forehead, and switched off the TV. "Goodnight, Asa."
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fin
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Sorry this took forever, but I think we're finally happy with the way it turned out. thank you for supporting us. /bows/