Vil knew he would have to deal with the fact he had left so abruptly. The person funding the campaign had made it clear they wanted a good explanation for why he had left, since the shoot was still unfinished.
Saving Cater was more important than some shoot, even if his reputation did take a big hit due to it. His rivals hadn't hesitated to spread the word about his actions, and it would take serious effort to do damage control.
Vil kissed his boyfriend on his head.
"I wish you could come with me. It would make this boring meeting so much more bearable," said Vil.
"Believe me, I wish I could go too. But my dad apparently wants me to give an assessment on someone since I know more about the technical side of fashion than my sisters...and because he heard from Trein about the kidnapping incident."
"How did he react?" asked Vil, honestly curious.
"I think Trein only told him I had been taken hostage, not about the part regarding the princess or the mess that happened. From what I could tell he was more interested in warning me about the dangers of girls who are after rich husbands, rather than a deluded princess," said Cater amused.
To be fair, it was mostly Crowley's fault for allowing her to take up residence in the school to begin with. He should have kicked her out far sooner.
Vil had been more affectionate towards Cater after the incident... to be fair he had almost lost his boyfriend.
A few hours passed, with Vil and his agent arriving at the restaurant early.
As he sat down, Vil had the strangest sense of deja-vu with no idea why. He had never met this client before.
"I hope you don't mind, but I asked my son to join us as well. He knows more than I do about the fashion industry," he said pleasantly.
"It's not a problem," said Vil's agent.
Before Vil could say anything, his eyes widened in shock.
"Cater?" he blurted out in surprise.
"Vil?" said Cater surprised, before he face palmed. "So that's what he meant about someone flaking out on him the other day..."
"You know him?" asked Richard.
"Vil's my boyfriend," said Cater. Vil had made it clear he didn't mind Cater sharing that information, but Cater preferred to keep it quiet. He was done with the shallow friendships that had dominated his life last time on MagiCam.
"Boyfriend?" said Vil's agent, staring at them both.
"Dad, I think I know what this is about," said Cater. "Vil heard from Rook about the kidnapping incident and left the set early because he wanted to be sure I was okay. If not for him, it would have ended badly."
"I suppose this is one way to be introduced to your parent," said Vil dryly. Cater snorted at that.
Richard eyed the two, before he discreetly moved his chair so Cater could sit closer to Vil. It was obvious to him that the two cared deeply for each other, and that Vil loved his son more than his career.
Fortunately for Vil, they were going redo his shoot so that he could still be in the ad.
And Cater had the perfect way to handle the issue Vil was having with his MagiCam account regarding the sudden drop in followers.
The next morning...
Vil had gone to sleep cuddling with Cater...and woke up to several frantic texts from his manager. His account had been 'hacked' overnight and several pictures had been posted. Pictures Vil would normally never share, and were clearly taken by a third party.
When he looked at them, he knew exactly what had happened.
"Cater...did you share your 'secret collection' on my account by accident last night?"
"Take a look at the last post," he said sleepily. Vil scrolled down.
It said something about a 'major update' regarding Vil's relationship status, which had caused his follower count to explode in anticipation.
"...Why those pictures?"
They were good, but they weren't always in his best light which was part of the reason his manager was freaking out. In fact they made him seem almost...normal.
Cater sat up and looked at him.
"I didn't mention this before, but Riddle wasn't the only one to Overblot. Nearly every housewarden did, save for Kalim."
Vil paled at the ramifications.
"You mean I..."
"There was an incident in the preliminaries at the SRC. You were so eager to one-up Neige that you stressed yourself out to the point you snapped and nearly poisoned him with your signature spell. You would have succeeded if Rook hadn't stopped you in time. Almost immediately after, you snapped and went into Overblot," said Cater.
Vil's features were pale hearing this.
"Who else?"
"Riddle's stress came from his mother and the fact no one properly dealt with his trauma. Leona, the stress of being one-upped by Malleus during spell drive every time and the fact that he was treated poorly by his own family for being the second prince. Azul snapped because of his contracts being destroyed and his own childhood trauma of being bullied. Jamil...well, Kalim's antics pushed him to his breaking point. You were too stressed about perfection and one-upping Neige at any cost. Idia...well, I have no idea what happened because Rook and the others refused to speak, but they had to go and rescue you and the other victims because STYX got involved."
Vil looked at the pictures again. Sure, they weren't in his best light...but they did make him seem more...human to everyone. Perhaps that was the goal Cater was trying to go for.
Cater pulled Vil into a hug, which he reciprocated absently. The red head was a major cuddle addict and would happily indulge at any given chance.
Oddly enough he only ever let this side of him out around very specific people. Riddle was one, as was Rook, oddly enough.
"So you want to go official on MagiCam?" asked Vil.
"If nothing else it will likely solve your problem of your count being too low," said Cater with a grin.
Later that evening, Vil and Cater posed for the camera and took a snapshot of them together. Whatever rumors his rivals had spread was now being overshadowed by the hot gossip of the new photos and the announcement of a boyfriend.
Two hours into watching the fireworks go off online, Cater got a call from his sister Cadence all but demanding gossip on how long he had been dating Vil of all people and never thought to share.
"You do realize that now most of my family will be demanding to meet you, right?" said Cater laughing.
"Your uncle already approves, as does your father. From the sound of things your sister's likely won't care so long as you're happy," said Vil.
"Actually Cadence said she was more surprised I was your boyfriend and not Rook's," admitted Cater with a laugh.
Vil smiled at that.
"To be honest I thought you two were already together after you stayed on his family's land that one year. I wasn't expecting to be your first."
Cater looked a bit sheepish.
"If he had said something, I wouldn't have turned him down," he admitted. "I'm just not used to anyone thinking I'm worth pursuing."
"Why did you assume Rook and I were dating anyway?" asked Vil. Because that still bugged him.
"Last time you two got married, about six years after graduating. You wouldn't give me the time of day, and I was in Heartsabyl so I could only lust from afar. Besides, Trey's stupidity kept me too busy to get any proper pictures of you," said Cater.
It was almost a pity they had to go to class. Vil was very tempted to keep Cater in bed and spoil him.
Cater half-dreaded the finals, because it meant the end of another year. On the plus side, he'd be going with Kalim and Jamil to the Scalding Sands and spending his summer doing some freelance work keeping Kalim in line.
He could only hope this would help mitigate the circumstances behind Jamil's Overblot by giving him a much needed vacation far, far away from having to deal with Kalim. The poor guy needed it in all honesty.
Vil would be busy as well, as he would be shooting commercials and short videos with the free time he had. But he had promised to visit Cater at least once before the summer ended and take him out on a proper date.
Considering his job would end the moment Jamil was back from vacation, Cater was looking forward to it.
Trein made a point to speak with Cater and insure he had all the things he would need for an extended trip. It was nice, having someone who actually cared be there to remind him of everything.
In the Scalding Sands
The first thing Cater felt when stepping out of the mirror was 'hot'. But he had expected that and had come prepared in much lighter clothes than before.
It didn't hurt that Vil had basically overhauled his entire wardrobe, partially because he had outgrown his old clothes but mostly due to the fact that 'standards had to be kept' in his words.
Vil was a demanding boyfriend, especially about Cater's appearance, but considering he had to put up with Cater being a needy, emotional mess behind closed doors it evened out.
Kalim didn't have to ask to know why Cater was smiling. He was so much happier now that he and Vil were a couple, and they were cute together.
There had been some doubts about the 'stray' Kalim had picked up to take Jamil's place while he went on vacation. His father had humored him, as Kalim was the heir after all. It wasn't like the stray would be as useful as Jamil was on a good day.
The second Kalim attempted to throw a feast (which no one batted an eye at), Cater immediately threw the boy a curve-ball.
"You can throw a feast...if you can do so on a set budget," said Cater smiling at him.
"Eh?" said Kalim.
"I can organize the whole event, but only if you can stay within the budget I set. I told you before this all started I wasn't going to hold your hand as much as Jamil does. It's about time you learn a little thing called fiscal responsibility," said Cater.
Kalim had a deer in the headlights look as Cater gave him what most would consider a massive budget for a feast. It was more than most people would have to play around with, and would guarantee a lavish party, which was what Kalim specialized in.
The white haired boy thought this was an easy task, as he was used to throwing parties for the dorm. He was wrong...so very, very wrong.
Cater felt no remorse for his friend, because Kalim was the heir to a merchant's family. Doing something as basic as a budget for a party should had been child's play, and it made him shake his head watching Kalim struggle.
Honestly, the boy's parents (and Jamil) had coddled the other teen far too much. And by the Seven, he was going to insure Jamil had an easier time dealing with the boy when he got back by making Kalim mature even a little bit.
Outside Kalim's room, evening...
"Are you sure about this?"
"Viper isn't here to protect him, and I highly doubt that stray kid is even aware of how often the spoiled prince is targeted. We'll never have a better chance."
Two assassins silently climbed up the walls to the window belonging to Kalim. While he was doted on to ridiculous levels by his parents and family, that didn't mean he was safe. After all, if he went then there was a chance another of his siblings could take his place. The boy was rather lax about his own safety, since he had been well protected by Jamil for years.
So you could imagine their surprise when, upon reaching Kalim's window, they found a masked individual in a dark robe that blended in perfectly with the night. Was it possible another assassin had already beaten them to the punch.
"Naughty, naughty, sneaking into his room like this..." he said quietly.
Before they could properly react, they saw a spell pen in his hand. A mage!
A whispered word, and the footholds they had used to climb up suddenly became impossible to use. The bastard had cast some sort of spell on the wall to make it slippery!
Unable to hold on, their limited handhold disappeared in an instant. A second spell insured they stayed silent, unable to scream as they fell from the third floor straight to the ground with nothing to stop their fall.
The masked individual made sure no one was observing, before he removed the mask. It was Cater, his expression dark.
He wondered if the would-be assassins would feel any humiliation knowing their demise came from a lubrication spell that Cater and Vil used when they were feeling particularly lazy about prep and wanted to have a quickie before class.
