lookinside (lookinside) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-04-13 16:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | #october 2017, mak, mak x sebastian, sebastian |
Who: Sebastian and Mak
When: Tuesday, Oct 17, after school
Where: outside school
Status: Complete
Mak couldn’t say she’d had a completely good day the day before with Hunter, because parts of it had been really hard. But for the most part it had been healing, and she’d been glad for the time alone with him. She’d also been glad that her subconscious hadn’t freaked out at being around him. That would’ve been the worst. They’d cried together and walked through what had happened again, with Mak giving him more details when he insisted, then cried some more. It had ended with cuddles on the couch and lighthearted movies before Mak had to hurry to beat her parents back home. That part had been good. She hoped she’d made it clear that she didn’t blame Hunter for any of it, and that he took it to heart.
She’d had to go back to school on Tuesday, and Mak wished it was cold enough to be scarf weather. There were still finger-bruises on her neck, and she just hoped no one noticed. She wore a hoodie with a bulky hood on it to try and camouflage them a bit, but they seemed to be getting darker before they were getting better. So far she’d avoided her parents seeing them, but her peers were far sharper about some things.
Mak got through the school day with her head mostly down, hoping she looked more under the weather than anything. She stopped by her locker to change out her school books, arranged her hoodie around her backpack straps, then headed out of the school. She had a shift at the library, but it didn’t start for a while, so a slow walk and maybe some homework beforehand were the only things on her agenda.
Sebastian had caught Hunter in the morning, just a quick conversation in the halls, long enough to say he’d be by after school. It had been hard not to hug him on sight, even harder not to hold his hand, or touch him at all. Just being around Hunter made his heart beat faster and he couldn’t seem to keep himself from smiling like an idiot. He ate lunch with Greg and the rest of his friends, since he’d missed them the day before, then finished off the day earlier than usual, with no football practice to follow.
It was a little bit weird leaving the same time as everyone else. It usually didn’t happen until after the season was over, when it was so cold that there was snow on the ground and he rode in with Greg half the time. The weather was getting colder already, enough so that he tucked his hands into his hoodie pocket and considered pulling up the hood, but it’d be a bit longer before they had to worry about snow. On the way to his car, he spotted Mak and jogged a little to catch up with her. “Mak!” he called out, about ten feet from her, then slowing his pace as he caught up. “Hey. How’s it going?”
Mak heard her name and her body gave a startled twitch, her shoulders coming up a bit. She rolled her eyes at herself -- the demon had even used her full name the whole time, what was wrong with her? -- and turned around to look just as Sebastian made it to her. “Oh hey,” she greeted, giving Sebastian a wan smile. “It’s going. How are you?” Aware that she was walking to her own destination but he probably had his car in the nearby parking lot, she stopped on the sidewalk so she wasn’t leading him away from where he’d likely been going. She probably could’ve tried to be more chipper with her answer, but she was still so tired.
Sebastian wasn’t really sure what he had to say, but he’d needed to see with his own eyes that she was okay. He knew Hunter had said the demon had hurt her, but he didn’t really know what that meant. She looked okay, at least at first glance, though there was a worrisome shadow around her neck that drew his attention. It felt like everyone he knew had been beat up in some way over the weekend, black eyes, bruises, and concussions galore. “Not bad. Better. Rough weekend,” he said, giving her a little smile. Hers was far worse, but he knew she could relate. “Just wanted to… to see how you were doing.”
It was hard to miss Sebastian’s black eye, and it had been hard to forget that there’d been a bus crash Friday with the whole football team and cheerleading squad on it, Mak had heard about it plenty over the weekend and at school that day. It just hadn’t registered with her very deeply, considering what her own Friday night had been like. It was a little easier to have sympathy with Sebastian right there in front of her, and she made a face that said as much. “You can say that again,” she muttered, then nodded at his face. “That the worst you got? Glad you’re okay.” Mak wasn’t even sure where to start with how she was doing, so it was better to talk about him.
The bus crash had been unsettling. Frightening, if he’d admit it, though the worst part had been thinking they were trapped, and then worrying about everyone else. By the time he got home, it was just his injuries to tend to, all physical damage that would heal soon enough. It wasn’t like what she’d had to deal with, an experience that could easily haunt her for who knew how long. “I had a concussion, and a knock to the back of my head, so I’m out of this week’s game. And a bruise on my shin that’s worse than my eye, but nothing that won’t heal,” he told her with a little smile. It was hard not to be a guy and show off his war wounds, but he really didn’t think she’d want to see his cuts and bruises.
Mak nodded a bit. At least he hadn’t broken anything, or had a worse head injury. She’d worried a lot about the one she’d dealt to Hunter with the flashlight, but he seemed to be okay, nothing permanently scrambled. Her own bruises would heal, the bad ones on her neck and her breast, and the more minor ones from the scuffle with the demon, she just hoped that the nightmares would stop eventually too. Mak was aware she probably hadn’t processed the whole thing yet, but she couldn’t exactly rush it along. “Glad it wasn’t worse,” she told Sebastian, not sure what else to say. She couldn’t even ask about Greg, since she’d seen him earlier that day and he seemed fine too.
“Yeah, me too,” Sebastian nodded. He wanted to know how she was really doing, but he knew he probably wasn’t close enough to her to get that personal. He was just worried. Hunter would probably update him later. “You think Sabrina will come on Saturday?” he asked instead. It felt better to focus on the future, on something that should be fun and hopefully wasn’t super awkward. He’d belatedly realized that Sabrina, while involved with all the magic and demon stuff going on, didn’t actually know he was dating Hunter. Unless Hunter or Mak had told her. But they’d all been kind of amazing at not outing him, magically or sexually, to anyone, even the people closest to them. It made him realize how little he trusted people, especially considering he had a large group of friends wasn’t near ready to tell, outside Greg. “I know the tour is probably the last thing you guys want to do, but I thought I’d ask. I’m trying to wrap my head around a few things and someone told me it was informative, so I thought I’d do it at least once.”
Mak was good with not talking about how she was feeling, at least not yet. It had all been overwhelming and terrifying, and sometimes that demon-scream still echoed in the back of her mind. It had been bad enough through a door, she couldn’t imagine what it had been like in the room. Part of her was glad that the witches had kicked her and Sabrina out before the exorcism, and another part was very busy filling in horrific details. But it was over now, they were safe, as far as they knew. Mak looked a little apologetic and shrugged slightly. “I’m not sure yet,” she said. “I haven't really gotten to talk to her about it. She’s been kinda ... avoidy. But I’ll try to find out. I’m gonna pass on the tour, but all of us hanging out together sounds like fun.” Mak managed a small, genuine smile for him. “We all need something relaxing,” she added with a chuckle.
They all dealt with stress in different ways, he supposed. He did his own share of avoiding, depending on what was bothering him. He also threw himself hard into a distraction of some sort until he was ready to deal with whatever was really bothering him. “That’s kind of what I thought,” Sebastian smiled back at her. “Greg’s gonna join us. I hope that’s okay. And my sister will be around, but probably mostly hang out in her room. But… it’ll be good. Let me know if you want us to pick you up something.” Which was all kinds of vague, but he meant alcohol-wise. Though if she wanted chocolate or candy or popcorn or really whatever, he’d get that too.
“Sure, that’ll be great,” Mak said with another smile. She liked Greg, though they’d never actually hung out except for some tutoring sessions the year before. She knew Sebastian’s sister from around school, but they’d never hung out either. Her social circle seemed to be expanding thanks to Hunter’s cuteness. Mak made a mental note to text him that thought. He needed all of the cheering up he could get, poor thing. “And I will,” she added, able to assume that he meant alcohol, because it was a teenager party. Mak’s thoughts on that kind of depended on Sabrina, but she would see. She hesitated, then glanced up at the sky and lifted a brow at him. “Hey are you busy right now? I’m headed to the library and I didn’t bring my bike today ...”
“You want a ride?” Sebastian smiled, not minding at all. Part of the fun of having a car was piling people in it. It wasn’t huge, so the max tended to be five if three squished in the back, but it had worked well enough so far. “I’m just heading home, then over to Hunter’s for a little bit.” Because there was no way he could wait till the weekend to see him again. He was reminded once again at how much it sucked not to be out, but that was a stress he still wasn’t ready to take on.
That had been what she’d been hoping for, of course, but Mak still asked, “Are you sure?” even while she was turning to head back toward the parking lot. The library wasn’t too far out of the way of either of those places, so she knew it wasn’t a huge deal, but she still appreciated it. The sky looked like it was going to rain at any minute, and she didn’t want to get soaked getting to work. “I appreciate it,” Mak added. She shot Sebastian a little smile. “Give Hunter some smooches for me.”
“Anytime. It’s not a problem,” Sebastian said, nodding for her to following him back the direction of his car. He smiled at the mention of Hunter, the sort that he knew was going to get him into trouble one day, but at least he wasn’t worried about Mak. “Of course.” Lots of smooches, if he had his way.