Who: Greg & Sebastian Where: Driving home When: Evening Friday 11/03 Status: Complete
The only person who noticed Greg was late for the showers was Bash, of course, but after tonight's epic loss, nobody really cared what anyone else was up to. They were all a little depressed and slow moving. Greg less so now after Phee had cheered him up, now he was just jittery because he had to tell Bash and get his blessing or something. They were uncharacteristically quiet all the way back and by the time they were in Greg's car it was definitely time. Greg thought about what Phee had said, if Bash got bitchy about it he could technically just kick him out and make him walk. It almost made him laugh because no way would he ever do that but it was a little comical just thinking about it.
Sebastian was fine with the somber mood that had taken over the locker room with the loss of the game. It made it easier to be distant in the showers, a place that always made him uncomfortable, but it gave him a chance to expel the magic that felt like it just kept building. No one was going to notice the water dripping from his hands when ten different shower heads were running. Once they were back on the bus, he closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing, trying to find a sense of peace that would keep anything weird from happening. He’d gotten better at it, but there were still some slip-ups here and there. He was ready to go home and crash when he climbed in Greg’s car, glad that there were no additional parties tonight. “What’cha smiling at?” he asked, glancing over at Greg in time to catch a fleeting smile.
"Something stupid," Greg mumbled, still grinning faintly. Okay so that wasn't the best way to start this conversation. "Doesn't matter, yo. I wanna talk to you about something though and you gotta be cool about it. Keep in mind I've been cool about all your secrets and all and that I'm pretty awesome when you get down to it, you know? You think I'm awesome, right?" Maybe he should wait until they were outside the McCarthy house. That way Bash could storm off in a huff if he got pissed. Or no, then this was better and Bash couldn't storm off and they'd have to talk it through. Fuck, Greg didn't know.
Sebastian frowned a little, only concerned because Greg seemed to think he should be. “Yeah, of course you’re awesome,” he said with a little huff. “Dude, if I’m a baby about something after everything you’ve done for me, kick my ass, okay? What’s going on?” He really hated to think that Greg had something to tell him that he couldn’t handle. He couldn’t imagine what that could possibly be. After everything he’d put Greg through-- coming out, being a witch, and the blood ritual-- it felt like he should be able to take on anything Greg might be dealing with.
"Oooh I'm gonna hold you to that," Greg said, giving him a forced and silly smile. "So uhm, uh... On the scale of one to hulk, how pissed would you be if I dated your little sister?" There, it was out because he wouldn't ask that if he had no intention to so yes, it was out. He glanced at Bash again, squinting a little before turning his attention back to the road. He was not going to crash the car just because he was nervous.
Sebastian’s brows drew together as he stared at Greg, not entirely sure how he felt about that. On one hand, Greg was a great guy and he’d consider any girl that was dating him to be lucky. But when it came to Ophelia, he started worrying about Greg’s track record and how he’d admitted to growing bored after sleeping with girls. “I wouldn’t be pissed,” he finally said, realizing he should say something. “But… I don’t want her to get hurt. I don’t want to be pissed at you for hurting her. Not that I expect you to, but… You know what I mean, right?”
The quiet was unnerving and Greg pursed his lips to the side, then the other side, glancing sideways at Bash as he waited for him to react. When he did reply Greg relaxed a little. "Hey," he murmured. "I'm friends with all my exes." He wasn't friends with every girl he'd ever slept with but Phee wasn't some one night stand. They'd only kissed so far. "I won't hurt her, bro. I mean, unless she does that girl thing where you have no fucking clue what you did, you know what I mean? No wait, you don't, fuck. Why are you gay."
“Yeah, I get to miss out on those things only girls do,” Sebastian said with a little smile, not entirely sure what Greg was talking about. He’d knew exactly why most of the girls he’d dated broke up with him. Or him with them. It almost always stemmed from the lack of chemistry on his part. “So you’d like… date her? Not just… I just want to make sure you’re not bored,” he said, spitting the last part out as quickly as possible, as if that might take off the sting. He’d never worried about the girls Greg chased after before, but they’d never been his sister.
Greg made a little noise in his throat, one that said he wasn't telling Bash everything. "Yeah we kinda... Kissed." A lot. Bash didn't need to know about the lot. "And uhm, I like her a lot and... Yeah I wanna date her and I'm not bored." He glanced at Bash again with a somewhat apologetic expression. "We cool?"
“I don’t need to know,” Sebastian said quickly, really not expecting Greg to fill him in on that part. He was fine talking sex when it had been other girls, but he was not prepared to hear anything more than kissing when it came to Ophelia. That steered into territory that made him all kinds of uncomfortable and it had nothing to do with her being a girl and everything to do with her being his sister. “Yeah, of course we’re cool,” he said, lips twitching up. “I just have to… wrap my head around it, you know? When did this start?”
Greg couldn't help but laugh at Bash's reaction. "Dude, a kiss is not a big deal," he told him, shaking his head a little. He was more than a little relieved that Bash wasn't pissed though and he could absolutely understand needing some time. He had too, when Bash dropped all those truth bombs on him. "And uhm... It kinda happened at the party." He dragged out the word, making it sound like a question because damn, that had been almost a week ago. "I didn't want to tell you until, you know, after the ritual and the game and all."
It wasn’t that it was difficult to comprehend, but more that Sebastian wasn’t used to thinking of the two of them together in that context. And yet, it didn’t really change anything. He still would’ve asked Greg to walk Ophelia home from the party. In fact, he would’ve expected it. “You really thought I’d be mad,” he said, aware that they’d both kept this from him all week. He saw Greg and Phee more than anyone else. They had multiple opportunities to tell him. “Or upset,” he amended. “Do you think I have a reason to be mad or upset?”
"Yeah, I kinda did," Greg admitted and now that he'd already told him he felt like an asshole for thinking that. "I mean, it's Phee." He wasn't even sure what that was supposed to mean, just that she was Bash's little sister. "I mean, if I had a little sister... I guess I'd be fine with you dating her because you know, you're a good guy and I know that but, I don't have a sister so I can't really imagine it? And like, it could be weird?"
“Yeah, it’s weird,” Sebastian admitted with a little laugh. “But more ‘cause, like, I’ve been listening to you talk about sex for years and I really don’t want to insert my sister into those conversations.” He’d never minded hearing about some trick a girl could do with her tongue or whatever, but it changed things when the girl was Ophelia more than it did for him to be gay. “I knew she liked you, though. I just promised her I wouldn’t tell you.”
That made Greg grin. Phee liked him. Well, yes obviously she did or she wouldn't be kissing him all the time but she had before they kissed. "So many fucking secrets, bro," he muttered with a shake of his head. "Can't wait until everyone just comes out of their closet. Not just the gay closet, I mean. Well, my one secret is out and that's the extent of my mysterious depths, count your blessings."
“Hey, that’s a fair secret,” Sebastian said. “You can’t blame me for not telling you. Cause first, it’s not my secret. And second, what if you’d told me you didn’t like her back? Then I’d have to keep that from her. I didn’t want to be in the middle, or the bearer of bad news.” It had been fine, luckily, but Sebastian hadn’t seen any signs of that. At all. He tried to recall them even flirting with each other. “I tell you everything, man. Even the stuff I’m not supposed to. But I couldn’t tell you that.”
"I so don't blame you for keeping that a secret, dude," Greg said, cocking a brow. "I just mean... There are so many secrets suddenly, small ones and huge ones. I'm keeping so many and you know I'm no good at that shit. Or maybe I am 'cause I'm actually doing it but that doesn't mean I like it. It's different when it's not your own secrets, those you're in control of, it's up to you to spill'em. Other people's secrets are like... shit, no."
“Would you rather I hadn’t told you?” Sebastian asked quietly. “I never meant to put you in this position.” Maybe there would be a time when Greg wouldn’t have to keep so many secrets for him, but there was one that would last a lifetime. He would always be a witch. That should never be public knowledge. It made him hesitant to tell Greg about the trouble he’d been having with magic, the weirdness on had been coming and going since Wednesday.
"Fuck no," Greg said quickly. "No, I hate not knowing, I just can't wait until some of those secrets aren't secrets anymore, you know? Trying to keep track of who knows what is like..." He raised one hand to motion a head-explosion, making little bomb noises to go along with it. "Like okay, Jules knows you're gay, but does she know you're a witch?" He'd been so careful not to say anything to her about all that, even when he had a good reason to and then she'd mentioned knowing witches but there'd been too much dancing around the subject to be sure.
Sebastian shook his head. “No, I’ve never had a reason to tell her. I don’t think she believes in any of that stuff anyways, so… I’m trying to keep that on a need to know basis, you know? Like, I wouldn’t have normally told Sabrina, but she was having that issue with the Ouija board and it all kind of came out.” Him being a witch hadn’t actually helped the situation, though his knowledge had. Maybe he could have gotten through it all without them finding out, had he been a bit more careful, but it was kind of nice to have friends in the know. At least, he considered them friends now. “At least now I could save them money on hex bags,” he said with a little smile. “Fingers crossed they don’t need them.”
Greg thought about everything that had happened lately and all the secrets he was keeping and how much it might help Jules if she knew she had a witch in her corner and not just some people she vaguely knew around town. "You should tell her," he said. "You're friends now and she's cool. She's already keeping your other secret, you know?" And if Bash told Jules, maybe Jules would tell Bash her own secret.
“Really?” Sebastian asked. “You were just complaining about how big a pain it is to keep all these secrets. I’m never gonna come out as a witch. More people might know, but it’s always going to have to be a secret.” He thought he could trust Jules. He just hadn’t seen a reason to share it with her. If Greg didn’t like being in this position, why would she?
"Yeah I suck at them," Greg said. "Jules is more chill and she's our friend so, I don't know, it'd be easier if she knew too." He didn't really know how to encourage this without spilling Jules's secret but he had to, somehow so he wrinkled his nose as he thought about it for a moment. "I was talking to her about some weird shit the other day, you know? And she knows witches so it was really hard not to just straight out ask if you were one of them."
Sebastian’s eyebrows rose and he considered it for a second. He was pretty sure he wasn’t one of the witches that Jules knew, but that she knew one at all was a surprise. “Okay,” he said, nodding. “I’ll talk to her. If you’re sure she won’t freak out. I feel like we’re in a good place and I really don’t want to freak her out.”
Greg almost told him that just because they were in a good place didn't mean Jules was in a good place, but that came too close to blurting out her secrets so he just nodded instead. "I know I keep bitching about all the secrets but I'm glad you told me and the witch thing? It's really cool," he said. "And yanno, it helps to know if I get into weird trouble that I have weird contacts."
Sebastian laughed a little and nodded. “Yeah, I mean, that’s what I want to get to. To be able to help people. Especially my friends.” He wasn’t sure he was much help now, but maybe someday. “The rest of my secrets… I really do want to come out eventually. I keep trying to plan it. It’s just… really intimidating still. I’ve set a goal for myself though.”
"Goals are good," Greg said and tried not to think about how badly they'd lost the game in that context. "Even the stuff you can do now is pretty impressive though, if you think about it. You can freeze stuff and move water, I mean, that could come in handy."
“It could,” Sebastian said, smiling as he turned his hand over and summoned a little ball of water. It was something he’d learned that week, after he’d lost control and done it on accident. “I’m not sure what, but I like messing with it.” Most of what he could come up with was offensive type of magic, things he didn’t really want to try, but there was probably a lot he hadn’t thought of.
Greg looked over, eyes wide. "Fuck, you can summon water now? Like out of the blue? Shit that's... That's new, isn't it? Could you always do that?" On some level he supposed he could understand how, even on a scientific level, there was moisture in the air and all but fuck. "You'll be really handy to have around in case of fire, dude."
“Yeah, it’s new,” Sebastian confirmed. “Something happened on Wednesday. It was like… like my magic exploded. Mine and Phee’s. I did it then by accident, but I got a feel for it, how it should work, and I’ve been practicing since.” It made him feel more in control of his magic, especially since it was still acting up here and there. He wasn’t sure why, but at least it hadn’t been as bad as that first time.
Greg was beginning to feel like everything was escalating somehow with Bash's magic ramping up, the weird Halloween events, Jules's creepy dream monster. It was a worrying to say the least. "Your magic exploded and you did something on accident? That doesn't sound safe at all," he muttered, frowning. "Good thing you're not a fire-witch!"
“Right?” Sebastian sighed, shaking his head. “It was weird. Even my dad didn’t seem to know what was going on.” He didn’t want to say that it was scary, even though it was. Losing control of his magic made it feel like he’d lost control of himself. “I’ve been working on it since then. Just in case. I’ve had a few other little instances, but nothing… nothing that bad.”
"Whoa, hold up," Greg muttered as he took a turn up the road to the Estates. "Your dad was there? And you're not in trouble?" Had he missed something when he thought it was a secret from Bash's parents too? God this was all so confusing. "Have you talked to your teacher about it?"
“No, I kinda figured Reagan had enough going on right not. But I’ll ask her next time I have a lesson,” Sebastian said. He wasn’t really in a hurry to have another, but if there was something he could do to gain more control then it would definitely help. He’d just wanted a bit of normal for a while. “I think the only reason we’re not in trouble is we didn’t do anything to start it. He asked, but this was totally random. But if my mom finds out, she’d definitely freak out hardcore.” He’d been avoiding her since then, just in case.
Greg couldn't help but wonder if this was somehow related to whatever Jules had going on - like there was something in town that was just driving random people crazy and amping up magic or something. It made him wish Bash would talk to her as soon as possible but he couldn't very well hammer it in without it starting to sound suspicious. "You sure your dad won't tell her about it?" he asked instead since the last thing they wanted was for Brianna McCarthy to freak out hardcore.
Sebastian shook his head. “No, not yet. He said he’d hold off for now. I’m pretty sure she’s the reason we don’t practice, so… I don’t know if he’s gonna talk to her or what, but he kind of said that he’d teach us. So that we’d have better control.” He couldn’t help but smirk a little. It was an expected outcome, but he imagined it would be a good thing. If his father taught them magic, maybe they’d get to see the book. Sebastian was positive there had to be one now. No way did his father have everything memorized.
"Hey that's cool," Greg said, though it sounded a bit like a question. It meant Phee would be learning too and he was willing to bet she was super excited about that. "So you don't have to keep it a secret anymore, at least not from one parent." It also meant his dad would probably take the heat for some of it if his mom did find out since he was now in on the secret.
“Exactly,” Sebastian said. “I’m sure she’ll find out eventually, but I’m okay putting that off a little longer.” He also had some things to say she might not want to hear, things he hadn’t even mentioned to his father. Why did she have such an issue with them practicing magic if it ran in her family? That was the question he wanted to ask, but knew that if it was true, things would blow up big time.
Greg pulled over outside the McCarthy house and let the car idle in park. "See? With all this stuff going on I didn't really wanna add to your worries, you know? We're all good, right? You still taking Hunter to the movies tomorrow?" In that case he'd take Phee somewhere else because awkward. Unless they did a double date? No, still awkward.
“You can always talk to me. Even when I have all kinds of ridiculous shit going on,” Sebastian said, giving Greg a little smile. “We’re good. And yeah, I think so. I mean… I know it’s a risk, that someone might see us, but it’d be really nice to go on a real date.” Not that what they’d been doing wasn’t dating, but they weren’t really leaving the house and it was nice to go out from time to time.
Greg shrugged. "Hey, if anybody gets weird about it just say nobody else wanted to go see that movie with you. We go to the movies all the time, it's not like we're gay for each other." He knew that logic like that didn't really work on annoying and stupid people, but if Bash couldn't go to the movies with a friend - just because he was gay - then his parents were crazier than he'd thought.
“True,” Sebastian laughed, opening the car door and grabbing his bag. He was more worried about people seeing them and drawing the correct conclusions, but it would be a dark theater and people had better things to do than to watch them. Like watch the movie. “Thanks for the ride, man. Text me if you wanna hang out or something Sunday. I’ll probably just be lazing around.”
"Yeah same," Greg replied. "Unless the weather's good, then I might warm up a little before basketball starts. Feel free to join me, you need it more than I do." He grinned at Bash and made a little basketball gesture before winking. "Catch'ya later."
“Now I gotta be there, if only to show you up,” Sebastian grinned. He wasn’t quite ready for basketball season to start, but knew if he didn’t do it he’d regret it. He could never go too long without engaging in some kind of group sport. He loved the camaraderie, the competitiveness, and the physical burn too much. “Good night!” He said, giving Greg a wave before heading in. The game had been a letdown, but there was still plenty to look forward to.