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You weren't one to interact with other students: not with your classmates or underclassmen. They never bothered to talk to you, and you didn't bother them. That's why when you began talking to Rayne, you felt overjoyed. That being said, you began to think that you relied too much on Rayne to feed your desire for human interaction.
Feeling this overwhelming fear of burdening Rayne, you tried to put some distance between you two. You relied on him too much: asking him to tutor you, to eat lunch with only you, having him to accompany you into the forest for research, having him take you out shopping because you didn't want to go alone. You were taking too much of his time that he could be using for his own devices, and you hated it. While Rayne was your only friend, it's not like you were his only friend. To think that "stoic cold-hearted" Rayne had more friends than you.
So you stopped asking Rayne to tutor you after school hours. You decided to suck up your fears and ask your classmates whom you only spoke to once for help. You offered to help tutor students in magic zoology (the one subject you managed to stay at the top of for three years straight) as well as offer lessons for students who didn't have the class in there schedule. Obviously, this all took place after academy hours, and so the time you spent with Rayne after hours reduced by a lot.
You love Rayne, you really do. As much as there were days you wanted to throw yourself at him and rant about your issues, you did your best to become self-reliant. Rayne isn't yours to keep; Rayne wouldn't always be there to help you. Besides, you still see and interact with him for about a third of a day for five days a week. So, it's not like you can't still spend time with him.
Even so, with the tutoring sessions and after-school lessons, you really began to enjoy talking to your peers. You haven't noticed it before, but many of the first years had talent in certain areas of magic zoology. When grading papers and going over beast handling, it was always the first years who had best the grasp on things. However, there were two students who you paid special attention to.
"Finn? Lemon? How have you two been doing?" These two were one of the few students who came by on a regular basis. Though they didn't come every single day, they still came by a good amount. It's these two who were the best students in the class. Lemon was excellent at beast taming, and Finn was best at the veterinary. You were hoping to hire these two after they graduate to help further your research into magical beasts that reside in unexplored parts of the continent: that is, if they decided to pursue a career in zoology. However, you wouldn't mind if they choose anything else.
"Hey! We are doing wonderful, amazing even!" Lemon jumped over your desk and gave you a hug. "So Finn and I got kidnapped by a handsome guy!"
You and Finn both jumped in surprise when that came out of her mouth. Finn began to pull Lemon off you and try to clear the misunderstanding. "We weren't kidnapped! J—just held captive for a while!"
"Finn, that's kidnapping." Though sometimes the first years could be a bit too eccentric for your taste. You're so glad that at least one of them were normal. Thank you, Finn, for keeping Lemon alive.
Lemon swung her arm around Finn and proudly proclaimed, "it's fine! Mash saved us, and we became friends with Lance afterward!"
"Lance? Lance Crown kidnapped you?" You really were worried about these two. Finn seemed even more distressed when she said this and began to defend Lance. Lemon kept talking and made the situation even worse when she said Lance threatened to kill them.
Sighing, you said, "Finn, don't worry. Lance won't get in any trouble for doing that. Trust me, kids in my year have gotten away with worse."
You turned to Lemon and stared her down with disapproval. "Lemon, there are some things that should be kept between you and your friends. I don't want to know how amazing and ravishing Mash Burnedead looked when he saved you."
They both apologized and looked dejected. You swear that sometimes you feel like their older sibling or a mother rather than an upperclassmen. Nevertheless, you stood up and walked in front of them. Raising both your hands, you pet both their heads. "Either way, I'm glad you two are safe." Hearing this, both Finn and Lemon smiled.
"Now, did you two come by just to tell me this or what?"
........
"Eek! I already did today's homework, so please don't make clean the animal enclosure!" Lemon had come by multiple times to talk and rant on and one about her day and Mash to the point it interfered your ability to help other students. Because of this, you had her do work whenever she did this as a deterrent. However, this was only done when there were other students here: there were none today. Either way, she ran away before you could stop her.
This left you and Finn looking at the exit in awe at how fast she could run. You both sighed and looked at each other. "Is she always like this?"
"Yeah, she isn't the only one....." Looking down in defeat, Finn continued, "they're all so weird its actually ridiculous. Mash is muscle obsessed, Lemon is obsessed with Mash, Lance is a sister obsessed, Dot is women obsessed—I'm starting to think that maybe I'm the weird one!"
"Do you hate them for it?"
Finn looked at you and quietly whispered, "No." He looked out the window to see Lemon running back to Adler's dormitory and gave a soft smile. "Am I the weird one for being fine with that?"
You leaned on the teachers desk and thought, "I wouldn't say you're weird at all for being fine with it. Though, I bet you five have tons of fun together. I'm telling you that it wouldn't be half as enjoyable if they were normal."
You took out your wand and created five little figures out of wind and had them run around the room. You thought about Rayne and how abnormal he was. You never have a normal conversation without having to explain that you didn't want to kill someone and that it's a figure of speech—or how you have to drag Rayne away from rabbit themed isles or shops.
You raised your wand again and created two additional wind dolls and five rabbits.
Life used to be predictable and constant. Every day was the same: no new outfit, no new conversation, no new food recipe, no new class, no new nothing. As "normal" as you appeared to want life, meeting Rayne changed that desire.
"It wouldn't be fun to live a normal life, now would it?"
You and Finn watched the rabbits and wind dolls run around and play.
Finn looked at you and smiled. "No, not at all.........but don't you dare tell them I ever said this!" Finn pointed at you in suspicion. He had been around you long enough to know that you love to gossip when given the chance. "Just thinking about what Lemon and Dot would say is giving me the chills."
You laughed out loud and dispelled the wind dolls. "Finn, you're such a riot!" You held your stomach as you struggled to breathe from laughter. You loved how he went from being defensive to offensive. "Do they know how cheeky you could be!"
Finn got flustered and denied your accusations, "No! Well—I mean, I'm not cheeky! I'm sensible!"
"Sure, sure, whatever you say.'
Calming down, you went back to your desk to continue working: but you didn't want to work. "Finn, sit with me," You pulled another chair from behind you, "Let's talk 'cause I really don't want to do my job...ask me something or anything you never got to talk about."
Finn reluctantly sat next to you and fidgeting watching as you mindlessly graded papers. "Do... Do you have siblings?"
You stopped writing and looked towards him and looked away. "Well...Probably not?"
"What do you mean 'probably not?' "
"Listen—life is complicated, and sometimes the family we have aren't the ones we were born with. For example, siblings shouldn't ignore or neglect you just because of how you were born." You took in a deep breath and exhaled. "You get what I mean?"
Finns eyes softened as he looked at the single line on your face. You stretched as you wondered yourself as to why he was asking such questions. Finn was too young to ask these questions unless....
"Why do you ask? You know what? Scratch that—" You leaned in and hugged him tight: he felt so fragile. "I won't ask and won't force you. However, what I will force you to do is listen to me talk about how much I want a little brother exactly like you~"
Finn's saddened eyes were quickly replaced with disturbance. Just as he tried to push you away, you tightened your hold him. "You—!"
"You're so adorable. I just want to munch on ya! If I was your sibling, I would totally spoil you with all my attention and life savings. I wouldn't let a single thing in this world hurt you even for a second! I would read you storybooks and play with toys with you. I would help you with homework and stay up late to help with your school projects. I would go to every single darn play or sport festival you're in! I would sew and buy the cutest outfits of best quality just for you. I would take you on my zoology research excursions with heavy safety precautions. Oh! The many educational shows and plays I would have you watch....."
You picked Finn up and swung him around. He looked at you as if you were the weird one! "You're unbelievable."
"I know!" Setting him down, you got out your wand and summoned two wind dolls resembling you and Finn. "All I'm saying is that anyone would be lucky to have as a little brother. And anyone who makes their little sibling cry are utter scum!"
Finn looked away the moment you said that. He opened his mouth to speak before being interrupted by the sound of ringing on the teachers desk. He knew what that ringing meant and slowly inched towards the door. "You know, I just remembered that I had to help Mash with homework......"
"Finn, you're the only zoology student here." You looked at him with a deadpan expression, "you know what that means!"
"This is really important!"
"So is the safety of the other students—"
"Bye!"
Finn bolted out the moment he reached the door. There was no way in hell that he would help you—not that you blame him.
Getting rid of dragons was such a hassle, even for you.
"Finn, be lucky we aren't siblings."