#forthefirsttimeinforever

Dex returned from class at half past four to find Nursey lying supine on the rug in their room, the heels of his hands pressed firmly to his eyes. This was unsurprising. Nursey had likely been there since Dex had left that morning. Dex shrugged his backpack off next to the doorway and stepped over Nursey to make his way towards their bed.

As Dex settled against the headboard, Nursey took a deep breath, lifted his head, and grabbed his wand from where it was tucked underneath his thigh. He pointed it at a small carved bear sitting at the corner of his desk next to a partially destroyed composition book.

“Please. Fucking. Float.” Nursey pleaded.

Dex waited a moment then let out an unimpressed grunt when nothing happened.

“Yeah.” Nursey dropped his head back to the floor and tucked his wand back under his leg.

“Maybe the bear wants you to be nice to it.”

“Maybe the bear’s copping an attitude like the witch who carved it.”

“You think the bear’s not floating to spite you.”

“I think my boyfriend carved me a bear that won’t float to spite me.”

Dex leveled an unimpressed look at Nursey and reached into the pocket of his hoodie to grab his wand. “In aerem.” The figurine rose a foot off the table and followed the path of Dex’s wand to hover over Nursey’s head. “Ledo terram.” At Dex’s command, the bear fell towards Nursey’s forehead. Nursey caught it a second before it hit his face.  "Don’t doubt the Der Bear.”

“I know, I know,” Nursey groaned as he sat up, running his thumb along the inscriptions at the base of the figure. The bear was just over a year old and the edges of the wood were beginning to soften. Dex had carved it for Nursey last year as his final project in Intermediate Charms and Totems. He’d decided to try and give Nursey some everyday luck. It was just for the usual things: staying upright and avoiding bumping into people and objects. He’d imbued it with as much magic as he could. It took months to carve the figure, whisper spells, research which runes to inscribe, and barter with the guy behind the murder Stop n Shop who claims to sell authentic pixie wings. He’d earned an A. Even so, it only kept Nursey from tripping over his feet half the time.

Nursey tossed the Der Bear onto the foot of the bed and reached over to grab his composition book. He scribbled out a few notes on what hadn't worked.

“Come up here,” said Dex, lifting his arm. Nursy closed the notebook and climbed onto the bed to curl against Dex’s side.

“Can I see?” Nursey hummed his approval. Dex pulled out the prompt sheet from the pages of Nursey’s notebook and skimmed the page. Advanced Spells: Original Composition. “Shit, Der. You’ve got to present this in front of the class?” Nursey groaned out an affirmation and turned to burry his head into Dex’s chest. “Are you working with an object of emotional significance?”

“Obviously.”

“Have you chosen a categorically basic spell to adapt?”

“Well if you can pull it off it must be pretty-”

“Shut up. Have you first attempted to write the spell in your preferred personal style?”

“Mhm.”

“So, you wrote a poem for Der Bear before you wrote a poem for me?”

“I’ve written you poems.”

“About me.  Not for me.”

“Just didn’t seem like your style I guess.”

“What’s my style then?” Dex prodded, tossing the paper aside and turning his attention back to Nursey. Nursey untucked his head from under Dex’s chin.

“I don’t know. You want limerick or something?” He leans down to bite at Dex’s jawline.

“You write sonnet for a keychain-“

“-magical keychain,” Nursey countered, shifting to sit on Dex’s lap.

“And I get a limerick?” Dex smirked and ran his hands up Nursey’s thighs.

“It’ll be a great limerick though,” He paused and looked down at his hands which were resting at the center of Dex's chest. He took a breath. “Dex carved a bear for a boy / Who thought that he could play coy / And Dex got his chance / Yes he got in his pants / Now up with his lucky toy.” On the final line, Nursey ground his hips down into Dex. Nursey finally looked up, expecting to find Dex staring back at him. Instead he found his boyfriend grinning in shocked delight over his shoulder.

“What?” Nursey turned around to find the four inch bear floating above the foot of the bed. “No.”