Who: Sebastian and Hunter When: Saturday, October 14th, late afternoon Where: Hunter’s House Status: Complete
After sleeping most of the day, Sebastian felt well enough to go out by the late afternoon. The problem was, he looked like he’d been in a car wreck. He had been in a car wreck, but he wasn’t thrilled about looking like it. The bruise on his shin he could cover easy enough, and the knot on the back of his head wasn’t visible, but the black eye? There was no hiding it. It felt a little like he’d given up when he decided on a hoodie and jeans, but they were just supposed to be hanging out and being comfortable made him feel better physically. He was heading out the door when he realized he couldn’t take his car, that there was no reason to drive if he was supposedly next door, and that the doctor didn’t want him driving for at least 48 hours after his concussion anyways.
So he took his bike. It was annoying, and it took him longer than he liked, but it worked well enough. If he really needed to get home fast, he could always take an Uber and get his bike later. What mattered was that he got there and that he had a decent cover for where he was while he was gone. He wheeled his bike up the sidewalk when he arrived at Hunter’s house, not all that sure where to put it, eventually laying it in the grass before heading up the porch steps. Now that he was there, he was suddenly worried. He’d never heard back from Hunter after the crash. Even earlier in the day. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door and waited nervously, hoping it was Hunter who answered.
Jen was curled up on the couch with Hunter when they heard the knock and she gave him a little smile before hopping to her feet and grabbing the cash off the kitchen table. She opened the door and her expression was very obviously that of disappointment. "Well, you're not pizza," she muttered, looking Sebastian up and down as she crossed her arms over her chest. She remembered him, that boy Hunter had been fawning over at Jules's party but that didn't mean he'd want to see him now. Hunter was a wreck - but so was this guy, a black eye and all. She'd heard about the bus crash of course since she wasn't the one who'd spent the night not being herself and she knew Sebastian was on the team so... Ouch.
"You're here to see Hunter?" she dubiously asked, arching a brow at him. She'd have to check with Hunter of course but she really didn't think he'd want his crush to come in right now. Her brother was a mess. He kept crying on and off and when he wasn't crying he was just listlessly watching TV with her. She was pretty sure she wouldn't want her crush to see her like that if she was in his place
Sebastian rocked back a step when Jen answered the door, almost wishing it had been Hunter’s father instead of his sister. His dad wouldn’t have known who he was, wouldn’t have wondered what he was doing there, unless Hunter had filled Jen in. That she was expecting pizza instead of him made him think that was probably a big ‘no’. “Sorry,” he said, giving her a little shrug before looking over her shoulder, hoping to spot Hunter. He looked back at her, noting her skepticism, but refusing to let that deter him. “Yeah,” he said softly, tucking his hands into his hoodie pockets. “Is he home?”
"He's sick," Jen said, narrowing her eyes as she studied him. She didn't want him to be there because she'd gone into protective sister mode but if Hunter wanted to see him - and maybe he did - she wasn't going to stand in the way. "He's been sleeping but I'll check if he's awake." She held up a finger in a 'stop' motion. "Stay here." She didn't wait for Sebastian to answer before she closed the door in his face and went back inside.
It was pretty clear she was not bringing pizza and Hunter gave her a worried look when she came back. When she told him who was outside he blinked and sat up. "Fuck. What time is it?" Fuck Was it four already? It had been noon like five minutes ago, hadn't it? "Let him in," he mumbled, even if he looked like shit right now. He winced then and gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry."
He was just the worst, maybe the tea was to blame, that weird tea Reagan had him drinking to get better, but his brain was just scrambled. When Jen stalked off again he pulled his blanket up higher and rubbed his face with the sleeve of his hoodie. How to lose a boyfriend in one day - that was what he could call his life story.
Jen opened the door again, half expecting Sebastian to have left because of how rude she'd been. Maybe half-hoping he had. The last thing her brother needed right now was some hot jock fucking with his head and breaking his heart. "Okay, he'll see you," she said reluctantly and stepped back to let him in.
“Oh… okay,” Sebastian said, left staring at the closed door before he could say any more. He tried to tell himself it was nothing, that he shouldn’t read too much into it, but it was hard not to feel insecure while waiting out on the front porch. Wouldn’t Hunter have let him know he wasn’t feeling well? He’d have been willing to take a rain check. He definitely wasn’t feeling a hundred percent himself. But he’d been looking forward to seeing him and couldn’t help the pang of disappointment he felt at not even hearing from him, of getting all the way there just to be turned away.
When Jen returned, Sebastian held his breath, half expecting her to send him home. He let out a breath and gave her a little smile as he stepped inside. “Thanks,” he said, looking around, hoping Jen would show him where to go. As much as he wanted to poke around and see where Hunter lived, he wanted to see Hunter more.
Hunter was chock full of excuses and he didn't even know where to start. As soon as he saw Sebastian he just wanted to cry again which was annoying and super lame but it also made it a lot harder to focus on what he wanted to say to him. "Hey," he said, drawing the word out a little as he gave Sebastian a pained look. "I couldn't find my phone so-" he trailed off and frowned, narrowing his eyes. "What happened to you?" The black eye was hard to miss and just like that he had that horrible sinking feeling in his gut again. "Did I..?" Had he found Sebastian the night before?
"He was in a bus crash," Jen said quickly, shaking her head at him from behind Sebastian. "I didn't wanna worry you, you had enough going on." She gestured behind her. "I'll be in the kitchen so just... call me if you need me, okay?"
Hunter nodded and mouthed a 'thanks' to her before dropping his gaze to where he'd tugged his hands inside the sleeves of his hoodie. "I'm a little loopy," he mumbled, the corner of his mouth twitching into not quite a smile.
The second Sebastian saw Hunter he knew something was wrong. His eyes were bloodshot and slightly puffy, he looked white as a sheet, and he was sporting a cut and a bruise on his temple that Sebastian knew hadn’t been there Friday at school. They might not have been able to hang out between classes, but Sebastian kept an eye out for him. He’d have noticed. “What happened?” he asked, almost the same time that Hunter asked him.
Sebastian looked over at Jen as she explained for him that he’d been in a bus accident, putting together then that Hunter hadn’t gotten his text. Which explained why he hadn’t replied. Whatever was going on with him, he didn’t think sick was the issue. Sebastian moved over to the couch and took a seat next to him, his eyes ticking to Jen before focusing back on Hunter. He’d have taken his hands if they weren’t completely hidden. “What’s wrong?”
Hunter opened his mouth to speak but there really was no simple way of putting it. "Well, the demon's gone," he said quietly once Jen had left the room. "Things got a little... crazy last night." He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from bawling again and it was stupid how much he just wanted to lean in against Sebastian and curl up against him, he just looked so warm and solid, Hunter didn't think anyone could blame him for feeling that way. "So I have a concussion and I've been drinking magic...tea? And I don't know where my phone is and I'm seriously just... kinda hoping I didn't hurt anyone last night." He knew he'd hurt Mak. He didn't know how badly but he knew it had happened. Jen had probably been right not to tell him Sebastian had been in a crash because processing that now was a strain on his mind. "What happened to you?" he asked, needing a distraction from that pressure building in his eyes and nose.
Sebastian was trying to process the whole thing at once, taking the bits and pieces that Hunter gave him and attempting to see the big picture. It wasn’t working as well as he wanted it to. He had way too many questions, more for every answer Hunter gave. Rather than ramble them all off, he tried to decide on the best one, but none of them seemed all encompassing. “I don’t understand,” he said softly. “How did you get a concussion? Why are you drinking magic tea?” How did they get rid of the demon was the big one, but hopefully that was a relief. Sebastian licked his lips and did take Hunter’s hand then, even though it was wrapped in his hoodie. “A truck hit the bus on the way home last night. Everyone’s okay, but a few of us got a little banged up. Greg, Jules, and I all got concussions.”
"Worst night ever," Hunter breathed, his chest going tight at the thought that Sebastian could have died in that crash and everything would be even bleaker. He frowned softly as he looked at Sebastian's black eye again then reached up, letting his fingers slip out of the hoodie to brush over Sebastian's cheek. "I'm glad you're okay," he said softly and it felt like such an understatement to how he really felt but even if he had wanted to gush at him, he didn't have the energy. He wiped at his own cheeks with his sleeve as he couldn't hold the tears back. It had really started to feel like crying was just a state he was going to be in forever now, it kept coming back. "So... I was possessed," he admitted hesitantly. "And I tried to hurt Mak." He clenched his jaw and really felt the impact of how Not Ready he was to talk about this. "And you know.. witches and they burned the board and it's gone now."
“Yeah, pretty much,” Sebastian agreed, even without knowing exactly what had gone down with Hunter. Maybe things could have been worse, but he didn’t want to go there. Worse was people in the hospital. Worse was death. His eyes shut briefly when Hunter touched his cheek and he gave him a little smile. “Thanks,” he said, the smile vanishing when the tears started to fall. He wanted to wrap Hunter up in his arms and then realized there was nothing stopping him, so he did just that. By the time Hunter was done speaking, he needed it too. Sebastian went white and held Hunter a little tighter. “You’re lucky to be alive,” he said softly. “You both are. Oh my god.” He closed his eyes and pressed his nose to Hunter’s hair for a second, breathing him in, trying to focus, to not going into his own little panic at the thought of how bad it could have been. “You saw Reagan then? She’s the one that gave you the tea?”
Hunter hadn't had the first clue who he'd been with when he woke up, but the girls had filled him in some on the way back to his house. Reagan Kelly, the same witch as had made them their hex bags. He wished he had a lot of money so he could go pay her when he felt better because he absolutely knew how badly this could have gone. "Yeah," he mumbled and he felt stupidly grateful that Sebastian had embraced him because it was exactly what he needed right now, sore or not. "Reagan and some guy." He tried to relax a little, resting his head against Sebastian's solid chest and knowing under different circumstances he'd just be happily dying at this contact. Right now he was too loopy to feel anything but relief that Sebastian was there and not mad at him or grossed out or something else bad Hunter couldn't account for. "I still don't know if anyone got hurt... I thought I'd hurt Jen, we were home alone... I guess it just wanted to hurt anyone who was with us that night? I don't know." The truth was he was still waiting for someone to come knocking, to tell him someone he knew was dead. It was looking more and more like he had gone straight to Mak's house and he could only hope that was the case.
Some guy. Sebastian wondered who it might be. Whomever it was, Sebastian wanted to know what he and Reagan had done. He wanted to know how to stop these things, how to do more than sit on the sidelines and point his friends towards the other witches. He felt useless, and it didn’t matter to him that he couldn’t have possibly done anything because he hadn’t been there, he’d been in a bus accident. The fact of the matter was that this had been going on for weeks and they waited till Hunter got possessed because he didn’t know shit. He couldn’t even make hex bags. “You don’t remember it then? That… that can be good,” he said, rubbing Hunter’s back, content to hold Hunter as long as Hunter would let him. “I know you don’t know what else you did, but… I think that’s probably a good thing.”
Hunter knew he was right and he also knew it could have been a lot worse. Jen had told him he'd stopped by her room before he left the house but he hadn't done anything - just looked at her weird before leaving. Hunter didn't even want to think about what else could have happened and if Mak hadn't managed to fight back... No, Sebastian was right. He didn't really want to know what he'd done. It hadn't been him and while that was terrifying it was also something he was clinging to in the wake of last night's events. He was startled out of his thoughts when there was a knock on the front door and he pulled back from Sebastian with wide eyes until Jen yelled she'd get it, reminding him it was probably the pizza this time around.
"Are you hungry?" he asked, fumbling around until he found Sebastian's hand, hooking his index finger his. It was weird how calm he was about touching him but it was like everything else was too overwhelming for him to worry about it. He hadn't really eaten anything yet, nothing but that weird tea Reagan had given him so he was starving by now.
Sebastian was trying his best not to go down the rabbit hole of how bad things could have possibly gone. Knowing that Hunter could have left a trail of bodies behind him wouldn’t be beneficial to anyone. But it was hard to shake. If everyone was okay-- okay being a relative term-- then it was a bit of a miracle. He jumped when the doorbell rang, even though he knew about the pizza, and didn’t even bother to disentangle himself from Hunter when Jen called out. If she didn’t know that he was seeing Hunter, she probably should.
“Um… kind of? I never turn down pizza,” Sebastian said, directing a little smile down at their hands, then up at Hunter. Impulsively, he leaned in and gave Hunter a quick kiss, then sighed with relief. “God, I’m glad you’re okay. I wish… I wish I could do something to help. I’m like the most useless witch ever.”
"You're not useless," Hunter said in an almost chastising way because he really didn't need to hear Sebastian being hard on himself. "You're the reason we knew... Well, they knew where to go. You're the one who told us about Reagan." He had a lot of feelings going on and while most of them were pretty dark and depressing, the thought of how Sebastian had probably saved his life made something inside him flutter both happily and painfully. He smiled faintly and leaned in to steal another kiss, that intense rush of gratitude making him want to cry again. Ugh, he really needed to find a way to stop doing that. He'd much rather eat pizza and watch something fun with his sort-of-hopefully boyfriend.
Sebastian drew in a breath to protest, but exhaled before he could get it out. He was useless, but Hunter was still right. At least they’d known where to take Hunter. Even if he hadn’t been there, he’d given them enough to save themselves. “I’ll learn more,” he said quietly. “And I’ll tell you everything I can. And we’ll make sure nothing like this ever happens again.” He felt like that was a promise he could make. No more demon possessions. Ever. Hunter’s lips on his brought a smile to his face, along with the urge to kiss him right back. The last one he’d meant as a little peck, but this time he lingered, brushing his nose against Hunter’s playfully before kissing him again. “What kind of pizza did you get?” he asked, barely pulling back.
Jen knew all about Sebastian so Hunter didn't flinch when she returned with the pizza. He felt safer now than he had all day, even if having Jen around had helped a lot. There was just something about Sebastian that made him believe he was really going to be okay, that Sebastian could somehow prevent this from happening again, like he said. He drew a deep breath through his nose when Sebastian stopped kissing him, some of those horrible feelings replaced with good ones for now. "Uh, pepperoni," he murmured. "And something..." God he had not been paying much attention when Jen ordered.
At least Jen was more with it today and she set the pizza down on the coffee table before preparing to leave again. "What do you want to drink, Sebastian?" she asked, her demeanor far friendlier than when she'd first opened the door.
Sebastian’s stomach gave a nervous little lurch when he realized Jen was there, his hold on Hunter tightening just slightly as his eyes tracked her across the room. It was one thing for him to think it was fine if Hunter told her, and another for her to actually see them together. It didn’t bother him, but it did do a little number on his nerves. “Um… I’m good with whatever. Coke? Or water,” he answered, then looked towards Hunter as she stepped out. “Please tell me you told her and that she’s not that cool about everything,” he said quietly.
It was a little tricky because Hunter hadn't told her a lot but she'd sussed out a lot of it just from what she'd gleamed at the party and the way Hunter had been acting ever since. Hunter wrinkled his nose a little and shook his head. "She's pretty much this cool about everything," he replied. "But yeah I think she knew, or you know, suspected and... I may have mentioned you. She won't tell anyone though, don't worry."
He piped down when Jen returned, setting down glasses and a bottle of coke. She crouched by the coffee table and poured some coke for herself, then arched a brow at the boys. "I'll be upstairs but I'll come down and check on you so no monkey business, okay?" She snagged a couple of slices of the pizza before twirling around with a smirk and heading out of the living room again. Hunter absolutely loved her in that moment. It would have been awkward, the three of them sitting there, but Jen didn't like awkward any more than he did.
Sebastian didn’t want to worry, but did that make it six? Could six people really keep his secret? Was it even a secret anymore if six people knew? He tried not to think about it too hard and gave a little nod, wanting to trust Hunter on this one. When she returned, Sebastian bit his lip, wondering how awkward it was going to be with the three of them, when Jen took her leave. Sebastian stared, then eventually laughed. “Is she chaperoning us?” he asked, amused. “Does she really think…?” He laughed again, turning a little red, his mind wandering. He really shouldn’t take that as a challenge.
It felt good to actually laugh, no matter how faint it was, and Hunter shook his head. "She's just joking," he said as he was pretty sure she was. She was worried about him too and probably didn't trust Sebastian enough to just leave him with him. Given that she knew what had happened the night before, Hunter couldn't really blame her. He moved a bit stiffly to grab himself a slice of the pizza and moving was a rude reminder that even if Jen wasn't 'chaperoning', he wasn't about to do a damn thing with Sebastian that required much moving. "So maybe when we're feeling better we can have like... a normal date," he said softly, smiling despite the pain.
“She’s cool,” Sebastian said with a little smile. It was hard for him to imagine how his own sister might handle things, though he wanted to believe she’d do the same. Though he supposed he’d need to fill her in on things first, otherwise she might be busy picking her jaw up off the floor. Sebastian grabbed himself a piece of pizza, then settled back beside Hunter, still close enough that they were touching. “Good idea. But this can still count. I mean, what is normal?” he asked before taking a bite. He was hanging out with Hunter. They were alone. No, he didn’t think Hunter would appreciate him jumping him right now, but it still felt kind of like a date.
Hunter was pretty sure that normal was... anything but this, but he appreciated it anyway and he really appreciated that Sebastian was still close to him, their arms touching was definitely comforting in a way he couldn't explain. "I don't know, I guess our lives aren't," he muttered with a faint smile and while that kind of sucked he still felt a little better just sitting there with Sebastian. So much so that he felt compelled to lean in against him again and steal another kiss. "Thanks for being cool about it," he muttered and he honestly couldn't say he would have been this patient if their roles were reversed. He wouldn't have understood it at all and he barely did now even when he was the one going through it. "Tell me about the game?" he asked then, arching his brows at Sebastian as he took a bite of his pizza. The game was something normal, something to focus on that wasn't pain and fear. Even if it had ended with a bus crash. Jesus, what was that night about anyway.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Sebastian said, giving Hunter a little nudge with his knee. “I meant… I’ve been on a lot of normal dates… and… being with you, even under these circumstances, is better than all of ‘em.” He bit his lip, then laughed a little. “Except maybe our last one.” Maybe that was saying too much. He seemed to do that with Hunter, put too much of himself out there. It made him nervous, but Hunter also made him feel safe. He also had a way of making butterflies flare up, regardless of how the rest of his body was feeling. Every stolen kiss was a little better than the last. “Game was good,” he grinned. “Ran in a touchdown in the second quarter.”
That brought a little color to Hunter's cheeks and it was more obvious than normal since he wasn't normally so damn pale. He huffed a little and grinned and while it made him happy it also made him stupidly emotionally all over again. When he had daydreamed about having his first crush it had all gone so much smoother and it had been sexy and cute all the time. No crying, demons, concussions or black eyes involved for sure. Leave it to Sebastian to make it all seem like less of a big deal than it really was. He was a little relieved when Sebastian moved on to talk about the game, it made it easier to shake off those feels and he gave Sebastian a grin, nudging him gently with his elbow. "Of course you did," he murmured. "I told you you'd win, didn't I?"
Sebastian wondered what it meant when Hunter said nothing and blushed. He wondered if he’d embarassed him, if he’d gone too far or been too much. That was easily the case, that he’d gone with a feeling that was a little too extreme. He tried to latch onto the game, something that had been relatively normal, right up until the bus ended up in a ditch. “Yeah, but I try not to be overly confident. Get too cocky and I’ll make a stupid mistake,” he said. He’d seen it happen to a lot of guys. They assumed they were some kind of football god and got lazy. “I’m not really planning on making a career out of it or anything, or even playing in college, but I like the idea of finishing with a winning season.”
Football and college were normal things and Hunter clung to that as he listened. The thought of picking -and going to - college was so distant now though, like something he wasn't sure he would ever do if he actually lived in a world where witches and demons existed for real. He only ate about half a slice of his pizza before dumping the rest back in the box, rubbing his hands together and then on his pants to get rid of the crust. "Have you thought about which colleges to apply to?" he asked to cling to that normal conversation a little longer as he snuggled back up against Sebastian, pulling his hands into the sleeves of his hoodie.
“A little bit? I’m kind of all over the place. There’s a part of me that wants to go to New York, or L.A., or San Francisco, but then those are all so far away and out of state tuition’s a bitch, and I don’t really know what position I’ll be in by then and…” Sebastian drifted off, biting at his lip for a second before continuing, changing his angle just a little bit. “I had lunch with Mak yesterday. I don’t know if she told you. She’s going to help me apply for scholarships. I think that will end up driving a lot of where I go.” Because even if his parents didn’t take that from him, he didn’t like the idea of them holding it over his head.
There was something really sweet about hearing that Sebastian got along with his best friend, but at the same time hearing Mak's name made Hunter feel all wobbly inside again. He had hurt her and she wouldn't tell him how badly. "She's smart," he said affectionately and right now all he wanted was to go over colleges with Sebastian and maybe pick one they could both go to which was totally unrealistic and short sighted because they'd only just started dating and it was only October. But that was the kind of thing you did with your boyfriend, wasn't it? "She's definitely someone you want in your corner, she'll totally get you a scholarship." He didn't need to ask why Sebastian's parents couldn't just pay for him. It really wasn't an easy topic, but he already knew what Sebastian was afraid of when it came to his parents and all they could do was hope he was wrong.
“I’ve known that for a while now,” Sebastian smiled. “But this is-- it’s way better than physics.” His grades were important, but this was a shift to helping him with his life and his sanity. He had a whole new appreciation for how smart Mak was. “She seems like a really good friend. Like, I feel a little less scared now? Like I might have options. It’s not all bleak and depressing. And then Greg kinda… He seems a lot more supportive now about me maybe coming out sooner rather than later and… You ever feel like your mind doesn’t stop?” he asked with a little laugh. “Mine’s been in overdrive lately. With everything. So if I seem a little scatterbrained, I’m really sorry.”
Hunter just wanted to squeeze him. He had so much going on and listening to him talk about it helped Hunter not think about his own problems for a while. He smiled a little and rested his head against Sebastian's shoulder. "I'm glad your best friend is cool about it," he said softly. "And you're not scatterbrained, you're fine. Promise." He hoped he wasn't being too clingy but he definitely felt too needy today, like the warmth of another body could keep his fear at bay and Sebastian just felt so good to lean on. "Do you think you have enough time before college to learn all that stuff you're gonna be learning? From Reagan?" He had to ask. He hadn't quite witnessed the power of the witches the night before but he knew what they'd done - roughly - and they'd banished a real demon. One day Sebastian might be able to do that too and that was intense to think about.
Finishing off his piece of pizza, Sebastian brushed his hands off on his jeans and leaned back on the couch a little, liking the way Hunter curled up against him. It was something they really couldn’t do in the car and gave him a new appreciation for the couch. And made him think about how much better it might be on a bed, something he needed to not think about when they were both suffering from head wounds. “Yeah, I’m really, really glad I’ve got Greg in my court,” he smiled. He shifted slightly, wrapping an arm around Hunter’s shoulders, since that seemed more comfortable. And he really liked the feel of it. “I have no idea. I know the earliest you can start is around thirteen, so I’m four years behind. And even then, she’s got years on me. But I figure I can start, and try and tap into whatever network there is for witches. I can call my cousins, see if they’re willing to share and teach. I don’t think there’s really a manual out there, but I’m sure people have written things down, you know?”
It would be hard to sort the bullshit from the truth if Sebastian went looking for written instructions. Hunter might not be a witch but he understood that. "You're smart," he said with a little smile. "You'll learn fast, I bet." Besides, thirteen year olds were pretty stupid so it should be easy to get through those first steps. "Maybe she'll teach you through Facetime," he added jokingly though he supposed that could work. "I need to go see her and like... bring her something," he sighed then. "She probably saved all our lives last night, she and that... guy."
“I hope so,” Sebastian said, fingers lightly stroking Hunter’s shoulder. “I want to learn to protect people. I want to learn how to heal. All I know is the tip of the iceburg, you know?” He couldn’t imagine being powerful enough to exercise a demon, but knowing what to do would’ve been helpful. It hadn’t even occurred to him that that was something Hunter needed to worry about. “Just don’t take her soap,” he said with a little smile. “I don’t know what a witch might want. Cookies?” That sounded silly. But so did flowers and a thank you card. “Any idea who the other guy was?”
Hunter shook his head. He was torn between wanting to find out who the man was to thank him and just forgetting about it all and ignoring that all of it existed. There was no way he was going to be able to do that so he'd probably face those witches again, if only to thank them and see if they wanted him to pay them something. He had no idea how he was going to afford that but because he was pretty sure an actual exorcism didn't come cheap and the fact that it even existed in real life was mind boggling enough without him trying to apply a price tag to it. He was a little confused by what Sebastian said, furrowing his brows as he raised his head to look up at him. "Soap? What's wrong with her soap?"
“Nothing,” Sebastian said, laughing softly. “She sells soap. She owns Belladonna Botanicals, that spa place. I meant don’t give her soap, you know? She’s probably got a ton of it.” It was a little weird, now that he thought of it, that a witch owned a bath and body type store. That in itself wasn’t magical at all, unless there was some face cream that really did make people look younger. “I wonder… Do you think witches use magic at work? Like, as part of their jobs? I know my dad doesn’t… Or I don’t think he does.” It was something he’d never thought about before. Could being a witch really help him as a lawyer? And what did it mean if it did?
"Oh duh," Hunter muttered and clung to the fact he was feeling loopy as an excuse for being slow. He thought about what Sebastian said and nodded. "I would? I guess? I mean, if it helps you, why not?" He tried to imagine his dad if he had access to magic. Maybe catching criminals would be easier, he for sure could use some protection spells in his line of work. "Do you think your dad does magic?" he asked. "I mean, he didn't teach you..."
“I dunno. I mean, I’m not sure how it would help. It’d be like using it at school. It’s not going to make me any better at physics. Only Mak can do that,” Sebastian said with a little smile. “I told her. About the magic. I’ve become shit at keeping secrets lately.” It didn’t bother him as much as he thought it should. He was rapidly losing control of the grip he had on his life and he knew he should be panicking, but there was too much good to do so. “My dad… It’s… I don’t really understand what the deal is. Like, he says it’s dangerous, but so is driving a car, right? I just have to be responsible about it. And careful. If he does magic, I’ve never seen him do it, but it seems like a waste.”
"I mean, as long as you're using it for good and keeping it balanced," Hunter said with a little shrug. "I'd probably be dead if it wasn't for magic, I mean... If there's stuff out there you can't just shoot with a gun or something, then we obviously need magic to deal with it." He didn't understand either, but maybe Sebastian's dad had a good reason for not wanting Sebastian to use it. Like maybe there was some history of people going crazy or going all Fairuza Balk in the Craft or something. "I don't think you could do bad with it," he decided with a little smile. "You're too good of a person." So maybe he was a little biased but he didn't care, Sebastian was super sweet -and hot and cute and smelled good and... He had to kiss him again, though he kept it light this time since he was still feeling like crap.
“Yeah, exactly, that’s why I want to learn,” Sebastian said, feeling better about his choices with Hunter there to validate them. His parents were wrong to keep him in the dark. They were wrong about a lot of things. And maybe someday he’d confront them about them, but right now he wanted to keep it to himself, to live on his own terms, even if it was in secret. He wasn’t ready to deal with them yet. “Thanks,” he smiled back at Hunter, leaning in as he kissed him, then chasing his lips as he pulled back. It was hard not to kiss him more, and he wished they were both feeling a little better. Their weekends definitely hadn’t gone as planned. “You want to put something on?” he asked, nodding towards the TV. He’d love the chance just to cuddle, even if Hunter wasn’t feeling up to anything else.
When they talked about hanging out on Saturday, Hunter hadn't really pictured just watching TV. Then again he hadn't exactly foreseen a bus crash and a demon possession either so this was a lot better than it could have been if everything had been even worse. "Yeah," he murmured and reached for the remote which was fortunately within easy reach - Jen had made sure of that. He didn't really care what they watched, it wasn't about that at all, he just wanted to not think for a while about anything but the way it felt to curl up against Sebastian who he was pretty sure by now was his boyfriend, or as good as. He'd have been a lot more excited about it too under different circumstances. Then again he'd always kind of pictured his first kiss with a guy being at some party when they were both drunk because he hadn't ever imagined he'd be brave enough to kiss someone sober. Everything with Sebastian was a surprise so far.