Who: Hunter & Jen What: Late night talk Where: Barrett household When: Midnight, Wednesday night 10/25 Status: Complete Warning: None
Jen had almost fallen asleep when her phone buzzed on the bedside table. It startled her out of the beginnings of a dream and she reached out, guided by the glow from the screen. It was a text from Hunter and she didn't need to read it to know what it was about. He'd been doing this a lot lately; texting her in the middle of the night to ask if she was awake. Sometimes she went to his room, other times he came to hers. Sometimes they just talked for a bit, other times they spent the night together. He just wasn't the same since that demon situation and Jen couldn't exactly blame him.
Are you awake?
Yup, that was predictable and Jen thumbed in a quick reply back.
I'm not getting up, you come here
Hunter didn't reply but a minute later Jen's bedroom door opened and Hunter shuffled inside on bare feet, crawling up on her bed. "Sorry," he whispered and she huffed softly, shifting her body to the side and patting the mattress next to her. She was really tired right now, some nights she was still awake this late since she loved being awake at night but for some reason she'd been falling asleep earlier than usual.
"Bad dream?" she mumbled when he accepted the invitation and stretched out next to her, pulling the comforter over himself.
"Yeah," he whispered. "It was stupid but scary." He hesitated before going on and Jen tried to give him an interested look though it was probably lost in the darkness.
"I just knew I- I was running through all these rooms," Hunter mumbled. "Like it was here but not here, sometimes it was like a warehouse or a supermarket or something. But it had your room and Sebastian's room and Mak's... and I was running into all the rooms and every time someone wasn't in there I just knew I'd... -he had killed them. You." He was nibbling on his nails and Jen grabbed his wrist and moved his hand away from his mouth.
"Sounds like a shitty dream," she whispered. "But it was just a dream." She gave his wrist a little squeeze and closed her eyes just for a second. "Dreams can't hurt you anymore, that son of a bitch got burned away."
"I know," Hunter whispered. "But... There's still so much going on and I'm like... What if Sebastian's parents find out about us or..." He trailed off with a frustrated little sound and Jen wondered what it was he wasn't telling her because there was definitely something else on his mind.
She idly stroked his hand with her thumb as she thought about what to say. "Worrying about it won't do you any good. If it happens it happens and if not then you just wasted a bunch of energy worrying about nothing."
Hunter was quiet and Jen draped her arm over him, hugging him a little. He needed to be distracted. There wasn't anything she could tell him that would make him feel better so... She'd sacrifice a bit.
"I met a really cute boy the other day." He didn't need to know about the haunted house bit, it would only freak him out. "He's getting me a mask so I'll have a cool costume this weekend but that means I have to go to that gross Chapman party." She didn't sound too upset about it. She even smiled a little. It was stupid.
Hunter huffed softly. "Oh no, not a party," he mocked her gently
"Are you going?" Jen asked.
"Yeah, we got costumes and everything..." Hunter had told her that already but that was okay, Jen didn't mind late night repetitive rambling. "I'm gonna be Captain America."
"-And Sebastian's gonna be the hottest pirate ever," Jen echoed what he'd told her the the first time around. "Oh my God, Hunter. I need to-" she said abruptly. "Hang on." She felt wide awake suddenly, reaching over him to get her phone. "You need to listen to this song. It's all about Gay Pirate Sebastian."
Hunter laughed a little at that too and lying there in the dark, watching a cute music video to a song about legit gay piratesdid ease his mood considerably. "I have to send that to Sebastian," he said.
"Yeah, tell him you'll still love him in hell," Jen murmured because those were some pretty big words. She wouldn't be surprised if they'd already said that though; the big L word. They were so fucking sappy.
He liked the song, of course he did, it was adorable even if it was a little sad and they didn't talk at all while the video was running. When it ended Hunter smiled faintly and bumped his head lightly against hers. "Can I sleep in here?" he whispered, giving her a hopeful look in that glow from the screen.
"Yeah," Jen whispered back. It was weird to share a bed with him these days, so different from when they'd occasionally crawl into bed with each other when they were younger. She had been bigger than he was for a while but then he'd done that stupid boy growth spur thing and was now stupidly tall - compared to her at least. At least their beds were big enough for two, even if only just.
"Can we listen to that song once more before we go to sleep?" Hunter whispered and he sounded so small, it wasn't like she was going to say no.
"Sure, just put the phone back when it's done," she replied and pushed the extra pillow over to Hunter before hugging her own to her head. "Then you can send it to your boyfriend tomorrow."
Hunter tittered softly and fidgeted with the phone to get the video started again. "What his name?" he asked quietly.
"Hm?" Jen just murmured back, not following his train of thought, her brain uselessly going 'Sebastian?' in some puzzlement.
"Cute boy," Hunter whispered back. Duh.
"Oh..." Jen sighed, trying to clear her sleepy mind. "Liam." She had said too much but she was too tired to explain that it wasn't 'like that at all'. Hunter at least didn't go on about it so that was something. He seemed tired too as he put the song back on and Jen was asleep before the it even ended.