GRASSIUS LORE (will never get over this ship name)
@lesson-in-ruthlessness @multi-fandom-lunatic
my lore for cassius x grady π btw i wrote this on a 50min car ride on my phone's notes app so ignore the change of tenses/typos and that kinda stuff haha
Cassius and Grady attended Foxfire together, alongside Kesler, Edaline, Juline, Gisela, Oralie (Cassius' sister who was a couple years younger), Kenric and others. Kesler and Grady were best friends, and they soon befriended Cassius in Level One, towards the end of the year. They all visited each other over the break, Cassius often having to bring his 9 year old sister Oralie along. Cassius and Grady would often sneak out, which was harder for Kesler, due to his many overprotective siblings.
Cassius manifested as an Empath when he was fourteen, in late Level Two. Not long after this, Grady manifested as a Mesmer and tried to hide the ability, but Cassius soon discovered the secret, so Grady told Kesler as well. This was when students began to fear Grady, but Cassius always stood up for him. This did end up causing Cassius and Kesler to be bullied later on, but they didn't hesitate to protect Grady.
When they started Level Three, Oralie began to attend Foxfire, and she sat with Cassius, Grady and Kesler. Oralie often teased Grady and Cassius about being so 'mature' for having abilities, and she treated Kesler like an older brother. She soon stopped sitting with them after befriending Juline. This ended up in Edaline meetingΒ Cassius, Grady and Kesler. It was around then that Cassius began ditching occasional lessons with Grady, since Grady's mentors had been treating him as a dangerous person. They would hide out together, and Cassius began to admire Cassius. He had thought of other boys as attractive before, but hadn't really admitted it until then. He developed a small crush on Grady, but never told anyone. At the same time, Kesler began to like Edaline. Cassius attempted to disguise his crush on Grady by pretending to like Edaline as well, but that backfired when she asked him out. Scared that his sexuality would be discovered if he rejected her, Cassius quickly confessed that he had liked her for a while, when in reality he never had (romantically). After a few months of dating, Cassius managed to break up with her. Edaline was upset about this, and Cassius had to pretend he was as well. Grady asked him if he was okay, and Cassius blurted out that he had a crush on Grady and had so for months. This flustered Grady, who admits that he also has a tiny crush on Cassius. They, unexpectedly, kiss and Grady suddenly asks Cassius out on a secret date. For about a month they dated in secret, until they decided it was too hard to keep it a secret and told Kesler. Kesler supported them (he and Grady are bisexual disasters) and he vowed to keep their relationship a secret.
For about another year, they are dating in secret, and during this time Edaline develops a major crush on Grady. Cassius and Grady eventually break up, since Grady can't bear to keep it a secret any longer, but knows their reputations would be ruined. They were both heartbroken but didn't tell Kesler what happened. Kesler thought Cassius had they Grady in some way and they had a huge argument. Cassius got mad and yelled at him about being a 'stupid, useless Talentless' that doesn't deserve a place in society. Cassius doesn't mean any of this but Kesler and Grady think that he does. They kick Cassius out of their friend group.
Cassius, angry and heartbroken to lose his two best friends, is soon found by Gisela, who befriends Cassius. Eventually, it seems like Gisela is starting to 'take a fancy' to him and Cassius once again pretends to like this girl, but he has no idea he's being manipulated.
A while after Cassius graduated (he was engaged to Gisela), he was visiting his parents when somebody broke into the house and used their Mesmer powers to make his parents choke themselves to death. This somebody left Cassius alone, but he was absolutely heartbroken and horrified. When Oralie found out, she was extremely upset, but she thought that Cassius was being indifferent to the situation and snapped at him for it. Cassius emotions were hard to control and he physically lashed out at her. Oralie was furious, hysterically upset and betrayed at the same time and she cut off all ties with Cassius and they never spoke again, excluding professional reasons.
Cassius was still deeply scarred from his parents death, which ended up in him absolutely loathing Grady, especially since he believed Grady was pretending they were never even friends, let alone their romantic relationship.
