Normal Days

Smoke drifted lazily out of the server’s mouth. Gill and his boyfriend(?) had left a while ago, and it was easy enough to clean up from there. 

“Heading out for the night?” Holly, the worker for Faith’s hotel, asks. She saddles up next to Dave, who budges over on the sidewalk to make room for her. 

“Nah, gonna stick around for a little bit,” He teases, playing around with his carton. 

Almost all of the employees in Faith smoke. Simply because it was the most exciting thing to do in their little town. And it gave the feel to the whole ‘Yank, Western theme’, but that was just according to their manager.

Holly harrumps, bumming off one of his cigarettes and lighting it. The butt glows a pretty color as she inhales, leaning against him. 

“Long day?” She asks. He shrugs, her head moving against his shoulder at the action. 

“Gill swung by with his boyfriend.” He flashes the bills that were left on the table, “they left me a very generous tip.” 

Holly snorts. “Yeah, I think the guy is staying at my motel. Albus. Nice guy, old though.” 

“What do you expect? Gill is ancient.” 

Small huffs of laughter between them. They sit like that for a while, looking off into the distance as they swap the odd and end stories of the day, just catching up with each other. 

“How’s Frito?” 

“She’s a sweetie, but getting pretty chunky.” 

Eventually, their sticks get shorter, until Dave puts his out on the cement next to him. It goes out with a small hiss.

Holly takes this moment, then, to clear her throat and get to what she really wanted to ask. 

“So, you’ve finished up school now. Thinking about uni?” Dave groaned, loudly, burying his hand in his hands. She laughs at him , how cruel. 

Holly was a few years older than Dave, working full time in Faith with room and board. And her life’s been pretty good. Her girlfriend of three years, Lila, recently moved in with her. But since it was her last year at school, too, she was also thinking about going away for college. 

“I don’t know. Gilligan—” He cuts himself off with a muffled scream, “Gilligan is driving me nuts.” 

Gilligan, Dave’s classmate, was also Dave’s boyfriend. That’s right, didn’t see that twist coming, huh? 

“What’d he do now?” 

“He lost this chess match, and he didn’t take it well. At all. Now he’s got it in his mind that he wants to go to a…” Dave tries to find the words, and when he does, he still can’t quite believe it’s coming out of his mouth, “Magic school?” 

“Magic school? Like,” Holly makes some vague motions with her wands. 

“Yeah, like pick a card, any card.” He reaches for another cigarette, but thinks better about it, “We got into a fight. A pretty big one.” 

“Oh, no. David Johnathan Smith what did you say to poor Gilligan McGonagall?” 

“We made up! Promise, I promise we made up!” 

“But?” 

“But.” Dave’s face turns an interesting shade of red. Then he mumbles something that sounded a little like ‘Ibromingowihim’. 

“You gotta open your mouth a little wider, Dave.” 

“I PROMISED I’D GO WITH HIM, OKAY?! Okay.” Dave’s breaths come in big heaves as he finishes his one-sided shouting match. “I don’t know, man. It was such a spur of the moment thing. And I just. It felt like I was going to lose him, like he’d.” Against his better judgment, Dave does light another one, “Like he’d go away and not come back.” 

“Dave, that’s crazy.” Her eyes bug out a little as she realizes just how much it would affect him. “Dave, you don’t even like going to the stand-up shows here for magic. What the fuck!?” 

“Hey, I don’t like the stand-up because the comedian that does it is a bitch. And I don’t know, okay? I just—” Dave screams even louder, some of the employees turn at the noise, but quickly go back to minding their own business.

“This is your fucking abandonment issues, you know.” Holly says, jabbing her cigarette at him like a disappointed teacher. 

“Not everything can be attributed to my daddy issue.” 

“Yeah, but this sure as shit can.” She takes another toke, and as the smoke exits her lungs, she pins a hard stare at her friend. 

“So, you’re going to be going to magic school? What does that even mean? Where is it?” 

Dave takes out a crumpled and folded piece of paper from his pants pocket. It was folded in quarters, with the corners dog-eared. On it, a bright orange clownfish with a top hat and magic wand was inviting everyone, in big bold letters, to “learn the fantastic and thrilling world of tricks, bamboozlements, and hijinx.” 

“It’s a six week course, we’d get a certificate and everything.” 

“Oh, that’s really short. I mean. You’d still have enough time to attend uni if you wanted. Or come and work full time here.” Dave nods. 

“Yeah.” He pauses, then looks down at the flyer. “Holly, I really like him.” Holly pats his back.

“The entirety of Faith knows how much you like him, mate.” 

“No, like, I want to spend the rest of my life with him.” Holly stops mid-pat. 

“That’s a big thing to say.” 

“But I do. I want to,” Dave makes fast motions with his hands that have the poor fucked up flier even more fucked up, “I want to own a house with him. Get into fights about who does the dishes. I want to. To live a perfectly normal life with him.” His voice gets farther away as he thinks about that perfect life. After graduating magic school, Dave had plans to work at Faith full time for a few years, saving his money. Gilligan, who wanted to go to Uni, would visit him in the off season. Then, when he graduated and Dave worked up to the Rainforest Cafe manager, they could buy the house. Get the car. 

“Dave, isn’t this going a little fast? Besides, everyone changes in their university years. What if—” What if you want different things. What if your opinions change and you’re not that perfect match anymore? “What if Gilligan doesn’t want the same things that you want? Have you talked about this with him?” Dave shakes his head. 

“I want to, but the last time we met up he was in a bad state. His Da thought it was because of losing the tournament, but his Ma, well.” Dave had visited Gilligan in London after their finals week. The boy had been practically foaming at the mouth about going to a magic school. To the point that Dave’s entire visit had been filled with only researching magic schools. 

“...Is Gilligan okay?” 

“I don’t know. Fuck, Holly, I don’t know a lot of things.” He takes another drag, then clears his throat, “But I do know that if Gilligan wants to go to magic school, then I’ll support his decision. Besides, the program does seem pretty fun.” 

“...You’re so whipped.” Dave shoves Holly, who starts laughing. 

They retire to their respective dorm rooms a little later. Sleep doesn’t come easy for Dave, who tosses and turns on the surprisingly soft mattresses. Thoughts about the future, what he was going to do for higher education, his relationship, and his employment at Faith all mushed together to create worries that plagued his poor, overworked brain. 

Sometime during the night, Mr.Sandman must have come in through his window and knocked him over the head with a fucking frying pan because Dave got pulled out of his (frightfully) deep sleep with a loud knocking on his room. 

Attempting to fix his hair, he got up to answer the door, coming face to face with Faith’s mailwomen. 

“Here Dave, this came in for you today. It was marked urgent.” 

“Thank, Sarah. Have a good one.” Well, that was odd. He didn’t really get mail from anyone other than his mum, and she already sent the weekly ‘how are you’ on Monday. So, Dave turns over the (very nice and very expensive looking) envelope, only to find a very familiar name in the top left hand corner. 

Gilligan sent a letter. 

That was really weird. Gilligan’s never sent a letter, he usually just emailed Dave. What the fuck. 

So, Dave tears open the envelope, a sheet of a very nice looking paper falling out. It looked weathered, with a texture that almost reminded Dave of soft tree bark. 

Dear Davey, the letter started off. Dave went to his table to sit down, sparing a glance at the clock. He had the evening shift, so he had time to waste.  

Dear Davey,

10:00 AM, in front of the bank? I’ll be waiting <3

Love you,

Gilligan

Dave looked at the clock, saw 9:30, then gunned it to the bathroom. 

9:50 saw him fucking speeding towards the market to look for breakfast and maybe, like a picnic? Oh my fucking god, Gilligan was meeting him here? What the hell? 

Sure, Gilligan usually comes over to stay with Dave in the summer, but they usually plan this out! 

He starts throwing in cheese, meats, crackers. A nice plate. A thing of grapes. A little teddy bear holding a big heart that says “hope you feel better”. Gilligan likes presents. Yeah, this would work. 

Dave is freaking the fuck out. 

9:58, Dave is fully checked out and briskly jogging to the front of the bank. He notices the slow gait of Gill, the old security guard in his pressed uniform. Dave jogs up to his regular. 

“Morning Gill, how are you?” Gill turns out, a soft smile on his face. 

“Just fine, Dave. Albus and I have plans to meet up for a nice early lunch. And you?” 

“Really good!” And yeah, Dave is practically vibrating with energy. Gilligan! Holy fuck, he gets to see Gilligan again! “My boyfriend is going to meet up with me today!” 

Gill claps his hands together. “Wonderful, Gilligan is going to be coming here!” 

“Yeah!”

“I wish the two of you the best time together today, then.” 

“Thank you, Gill! Oh, I wanted to ask you something.” Gill turns to give Dave his full attention. 

“Of course, dear boy.” 

“How do you feel about magic?” 

Gill goes still, his face frozen in an unreadable expression. “Why do you ask?” 

“Well, Gilligan really wants to go to this magic school after graduating and. It seems a little silly, doesn’t it?” Something in Gill seems to relax. 

“Oh, David. Magic is not silly, it takes great skill and focus in order to hone it.” 

“You know how to do magic?” Dave asks, astounded. He didn’t think Gill would be the type to learn all those stupid card tricks. 

“Of course. Here, you have something behind your ear.” And Gill produces an honest to God solid fucking gold coin. Then places it gently in Dave’s hands. “Come join Albus and I later, if you want, we’re going to grab dinner later on, too.” 

“Huh.” Dave runs his fingers over the engravings of the coin. He’s never seen something like this before. But he pulls himself from these ruminations, looking up to the other man, “Of course, Gill. I’ll see you later then!” Gill nods, a smile still on his face as he walks towards the Rainforest Cafe. 

Dave takes a minute to look at Gill’s retreating form. 

Gil was one of the main reasons Dave started working at Faith. In his Sophomore year, a few weeks into dating Gilligan, he messed up and accidentally came out to his parents. 

They fought. A lot of dishes were broken. His Ma cried. His Da yelled some more. It ended with a long bus ride to the first available place, which just so happened to be Faith. Holly gave him a free room for the night (and the smoking addiction but that’s neither here nor there). But it was Gill who bought him breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe, and said there was an opening for a server. That it came with free boarding. 

It was also Gill who told him about Albus and their own struggles when it came to their relationship. 

“DAVEY!” A shout from a few yards away takes Dave out of his thoughts. 

“GILLIGAN!” And Dave is off like a shot. 

Red hair finds bright blonde as Dave damn near tackles Gilligan to the ground. Lanky arms snake around Dave’s back in a suffocating hug, but Dave doesn’t care. Because Gilligan is here! With him! 

From here, inches away from Dave’s face, he can make out each freckle, each speck of green in his blue, blue eyes. The little dimples in his cheeks as he smiles ear to ear. 

“Hi lovey, I missed you.” Gilligan says, and Dave laughs. 

“I missed you, too.” Dave sniffles, “Fuck, I missed you so much.” Dave didn’t want to admit, least of all to Gilligan, but sometimes it was hard doing this particular type of long distance during the summers and holidays. Dave holds Gilligan just a bit tighter, just to make sure he’s real. 

“Oh, you big softie. C’mon, get off me, you’re heavy.” Gilligan says, his soft voice making Dave smile even wider. Gilligan was gentle-natured in everything but fights and chess, which he argued were the same thing but in a different format. In classes, he was the sweet one, the diligent one. Dave always admired that. But he fell in love with him during a chess match during passing when Gilligan called his opponent’s mother a slag after he lost a bishop. 

Dave helps Gilligan to his feet, the slighter boy nearly flying up.

“Gentle, for Christ’s sake.” Gilligan grumbles, despite not letting go of Dave’s hand. Dave smiles, pulling Gilligan in and kissing him silly. 

When they come up for air, Dave leans close. “How’s that for gentle?” 

“Pretty bad.” Gilligan quips back, as red as his hair. 

“Gilligan Robert McGonagall, I swear to all that is good, if you don’t stop mauling that poor man’s face I will drop you off at animal control!” A shrill and demanding voice makes itself known. As soon as the voice started talking, Gilligan and Dave jumped apart from each other, leaving room for Jesus and then some. 

Dave turns, coming face to face with Gilligan’s Aunty Minerva. A very severe woman, but she held a soft spot for her only nephew, so Dave liked her. Plus, she was pretty funny. 

“Sorry, Aunty Minnie. I promise not to maul my boyfriend in front of you.” 

“You’re going to get yourself sent to the pound, Gilligan.” 

“Gonna bail me out?” 

“With a matching collar and everything. I’ll give you the works.” 

“Awww.” They go closer and Aunty Minnie physically moves between them. 

“Please don’t while I’m here.” Gilligan rolls his eyes and goes around his aunty, cuddling up to Dave despite his aunt’s eye rolling. 

“Hi, Davey.” 

“Hi, Gilligan.” They stare into each other’s eyes and Aunty Minnie makes a vaguely disgusted sounds, with a murmur that oddly sounds like “bloody teenagers”. 

“Well, while you two are doing…that. I need to go and retrieve my students and beat the fear of God into them.” 

“Aunty Minnie, you don’t believe in God.” Gilligan singsongs. 

“Doesn’t mean I can’t make them believe in it.” 

“Have fun!” Dave says, pulling Gilligan along to the backwoods. There’s this clearing that a lot of the employees go to for stargazing, but it’s a good picnic spot, too. 

Minerva lets out a heavy sigh as she watches her nephew get dragged away by his boyfriend, a small smile pulling on the corners of her mouth. 

“Minerva?” Minerva turns, coming face to face with Albus in his running robes, jogging in place as he pauses. “Minerva, my goodness what are you doing here?” 

The smile drops from her face and gets pulled into a tight line. “Molly is inconsolable and needs to see her children. She’s already counted Mr.Wood as a son.” Then, she draws closer to Albus, lowering her voice to a whisper. “And it’s the minister. Albus, he’s going to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament.” 

“He’s what.” 

But that’s for another chapter. Dave and Gilligan make it to the clearing in record time, Gilligan shedding his jacket to use as a makeshift blanket. Dave takes out the food, putting it on his very nice plate. Then, he produces a teddy bear from the supermarket plastic bag, holding it out for Gilligan. 

“Here, I know how much you like these plushies.” 

Gilligan’s eyes light up, taking the teddy bear like it was something precious and holding it close to him. “I love him. Thank you, Davey.” He draws close, kissing him softly. 

Their picnic flies by, they catch up on the little things. Their grades from the finals, how Gilligan’s parents are. What Dave’s Ma is up to. Lunch passes by all too soon, and when the food disappears, Gilligan lies in Dave’s lap as they look up at the clouds, trying to figure out what they look like. 

“That one kind of looks like a cat on a unicycle.” Gilligan points to the bundles of clouds on the right. 

“No way, it’s a plane with bouncy balls as wheels.” 

“What? Where are you getting plane from what is obviously cat ears?” 

“Look sideways!” 

“You are BLIND!” 

“Maybe you’re just not very creative!” 

They shove each other around a little bit before settling down again to watch the clouds. This time, there’s something a little more charged in the air. 

“So, about magic school.” Dave begins, “what brought that on? I feel like we didn’t really talk about why you were so deadset on it.” 

“Oh, yeah. We didn’t.” Gilligan says, slowly blinking as he sits up. There’s a bit of a breeze that ruffles Gilligan’s hair as he gets lost in thought. 

“My family, my dad’s side…they’re from a long line of magicians, yeah?” 

“Okay?” Dave has met Gilligan’s parents and aunt, but the magic thing was very new. 

“And it was a family tradition for the McGonagall’s to continue doing magic. But I wasn’t born with it.” Gilligan fiddles with his hands, looking for something to do, “And it’s something that I’ve been struggling with, but it got better. Until it didn’t.” His voice grew solemn. 

“I just. It wasn’t like I was without my family, but magic had always been something that everyone could do. And I just…couldn’t.” Dave, a little confused, tried his best to comfort Gilligan. 

“It’s okay, I’m pretty bad at card tricks, too. But we can go to that magic school, yeah?” 

Gilligan sits up, looking alarmed. “Hogwarts? How do you know about Hogwarts?”

“What’s Hogwarts? I’m talking about the School for Trick, Illusions, and Hijinxes.” Dave fishes out the flier and hands it to Gilligan. 

Gilligan, still looking mildly alarmed, just gently puts the flier to the side after reading it over a few time, “Oh, uh yeah. Of course. I struggled with the vanishing cabinet act.” Gilligan shakes his head, he was getting off topic, “But, it caused me to be a bit of an outcast with my extended family. Except Aunty Minnie, she’s always kind to me.” 

He takes another deep breath, “So when I lost that chess tournament, I just. Wasn’t sure if being like this,” he waves his hand, “without magic is something that I was capable of. And I dragged you into that.” Gilligan squeezes Dave’s hand. “I’m sorry for that.” 

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, ‘Gan.” Dave squeezes back, “I”m here with you for the long run. And hey, it’s six weeks. If it’ll make a stronger connection with your family, then I’m more than happy to see it through.” 

“Really?” Dave asks, a small whisper. 

“Yes. Gilligan, I love you, and if magic is this important to you. Then it’s that important to me. Besides, it could be fun to learn sleight of hand.” Dave waggles his eyebrows, and Gillian breaks down laughing, going closer to the other. 

“You’re so full of it, Davey. I love you, too.”