Who: Sebastian and Greg Where: High School When: After school, Monday, Nov 13 Status: Complete
Sebastian was practically bouncing with nerves by the time he stopped by Greg’s locker, the rest of the day pushed aside for the time being. It hadn’t been the best day, in fact the Sadie Hawkins dance had made it a pain in the ass, but he’d consider himself safe once he got off school grounds. Not that someone couldn’t text or call him, but so far all the offers had come in person, so he was hoping that if he stuck with Greg he’d be good. There was still one last thing to do before he headed home and he wanted his best friend with him to cheer him up if he needed it. “Hey,” he said, leaning up against the locker next to Greg’s as he stuffed his backpack. “Cast list is posted. Come with me to check it?”
Greg had gotten a couple of offers to go to the dance that morning and he was happy to say he was already spoken for. He couldn't imagine how awkward it had to be for Bash who was closeted and supposedly single, Greg was just happy he had a girlfriend and that she'd already asked him to go. He'd worried a little that she might not want to, she sometimes seemed like she might not be into crap like that but she'd surprised him by asking the night before. When Sebastian came up to him he greeted him with a characteristic 'yo', then nodded as he slammed his locker shut. "Bet they'll cast you in some boring romance role," he teased. He didn't really know much about Shakespeare and he always had a hard time understanding what people were talking about in his plays but this was something his best friend was excited about so he'd suffer through it.
“They better not,” Sebastian said with a little laugh. “I’ve already promised I won’t be kissing any girls. I mean, the romance roles are good ones, they’re pretty much the leads, I really hope they gave ‘em to someone that wants ‘em.” There were definitely a few guys that had been pining for the roles, guys that would not be happy with Sebastian if he took the part from them. There’d been a few other guys to try out for Puck, but they’d been lower classmen and, frankly, Sebastian thought he’d done a better job than them. “You’re gonna come see me if I make it, right?” he asked, since he knew Shakespeare wasn’t Greg’s thing. He could go with Phee though. They could laugh at him together.
"Uh duh," Greg scoffed. He might not know what the hell was going on but he'd seen a couple of movies based on Shakespeare's plays and they could be funny at times even if the dialogue was total bullshit. Plus, if his best friend had a part in the play, Greg was kind of duty-bound to see it. "You're going to be insufferable until then, aren't you," he said jokingly. "Always practising your lines, talking old timey English nobody understands but like English teachers and super nerds."
“Are you calling me a super nerd?” Sebastian laughed, giving Greg a playful shove. They both knew he was, just as much as he was gay. It was like the worst kept secret ever, except his place on the football team seemed to overshadow it enough that no one noticed. Probably because he’d never been in a play before. But he’d had four years of football and this might be his last chance to be in a play, so he had to take it. “I’ll try to keep the old English to a minimum,” he grinned, then instinctively looked over his shoulder when someone called his name.
“Sebastian!” Gloria called out, stepping towards him as her friends stayed behind, giggling.
Greg was about to reply when they were interrupted and he glanced back too with a smile and a 'yo' at Gloria. She looked... ready to pounce and he had a feeling she was going to invite Bash to the dance. He couldn't blame her, for all she knew Bash was currently single, his ex had moved on and nobody else was in the picture. Man, being a closeted gay dude had to suck.
Sebastian’s smile was stuck in place, but he made no efforts to step away from Greg, forcing her to come to him, if she really wanted to do this. In the past he might’ve encouraged it. He might’ve stepped in and let his smile turn sweet, not quite shy, but only fake if you knew what it looked like when the attraction was genuine. But this had already happened more than once today and Sebastian was done leading girls on. “What’s up?” he asked, even if he already had a pretty good idea where this was going.
She took a deep breath and held her head high, determination in her eyes. It was now or never, she told herself, and if she missed her chance, then someone else was sure to ask him. “I was wondering if you’d like to go to the dance with me.”
As much as he admired her confidence, Sebastian really wished she could have waited. By tomorrow word would have gotten around that he already had plans, even if no one knew specifically what that meant. “Thanks, but I’ve already got a date,” he answered, still feeling a little bad when her face fell slightly. She was sweet, and sat behind him in Calculus. He helped her with the assignments from time to time, but hadn’t thought he was flirting. Maybe he was wrong. “Sorry,” he added with a little shrug.
“It’s okay,” Gloria smiled, that confidence deflating. “I’ll see you around,” she said, then quickly returned to her friends, no longer quite as amused as they’d been when she’d gone in for the kill.
Greg clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Heartbreaker," he murmured as he watched Gloria walk away, glancing over her shoulder at them as she talked quietly to her friends. "Who the hell are you going with anyway?" He knew it wouldn't be Hunter, Bash would have told him by now if he was planning on coming out - or at least Greg assumed as much.
“I hate this fucking dance,” Sebastian murmured quietly once they were no longer facing Gloria. “I don’t have a date, but I kinda wanna go and hang out? But I can’t really say that, so… I dunno. Stacy caught me off guard this morning and I told her I already have a date because I couldn’t think of anything else. So I just stuck to it.” So far, no one had come out and asked him who his date was. They’d probably be looking to find out at the dance, but he could always just float the crowd and maybe no one would notice that he hadn’t come with someone specific.
Greg groaned dramatically. "Give me that shovel before you dig yourself any deeper, dude," he said, cocking a brow at Sebastian. "So now what, you just gonna stick a wig on you-know-who and hope nobody realizes?" Maybe that was a little mean but shit, it wasn't like his best friend was surrounded by single ladies who didn't mind being beards.
“No,” Sebastian said, giving Greg a little glare that didn’t last. “He’s pretty, but he could never pass for a girl.” Nor did Sebastian want Hunter to try. That just… wasn’t his thing. What he wanted was to go with his boyfriend, but this had taken him by surprise. He wasn’t ready. “I was hoping maybe a group would go, we could hang out for a bit, say hi to people, and then jet. I talked to Jules and we’re still gonna do the bonfire, if you and Phee still want to come. I guess if that doesn’t work, I’ll just go to the bonfire.” And it sucked to think he’d still spend that time wishing he could be closer to Hunter.
"Your sister formally invited me last night so uh, I'm not doing a group," Greg said with a little frown because it kind of felt like he was leaving his best friend high and dry. He'd really hoped it would never come to that, where he felt like he had to choose between Phee and Bash but this sort of felt like that. "Unless you sweet talk Phee into it, I mean, I'm flexible, bro."
“No, I didn’t mean to the dance, I meant to the bonfire,” Sebastian said with a shake of his head, thinking maybe he’d gotten something mixed up there if Greg thought he wanted him to go as part of a group. “I fully expected her to ask you. And I’d be pissed if you told her you needed to hang out with me because I can’t get my lame ass in gear. I’ll talk to Hunter. I dunno. Maybe I’ll skip it. Or just tell people my plans changed. I dunno.” He really hadn’t thought it all through when he’d told the girls he already had a date. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.
"Get dramatically dumped the eve of the dance," Greg suggested. "Then you can go into a shakespearean monologue about how much love sucks and everyone will feel bad for you and give you booze." It was an idea. Of course then Sebastian would have to invent some heartless bitch at school and somehow keep people from figuring out she was fictional but hell, he wanted to be an actor, right?
“There we go,” Sebastian sighed. “I had a date, but she changed her mind and I still wanted to go because all my friends would be there.” That was actually believable… so long as he didn’t have to say who his date was. It was a faulty plan. He’d have to iron out the details if he wanted to make it work, but… “I’m so sick of lying,” he muttered. Not that he would mind the booze, but he hated manipulating people. “But the bonfire, you think you and Phee will want to drop by? The dance only goes till nine.” Which felt early for a Saturday night. They still had time for a little party.
"Yeah I wanna come," Greg replied and patted Sebastian on the back sympathetically. "C'mon, let's see if you got a part." He figured distraction was the best tactic right now, his best friend was down and it was the sort of thing Greg actually had no idea how to fix. It was too big, bigger than their normal teen bullshit by far and Greg felt a little helpless to deal with it. For now they could focus their attention on the play and Greg grabbed Bash by the arm and dragged him over to where the listings were posted.
Sebastian consoled himself with that, that even if he didn’t go to the dance, he could still hang out with his friends afterwards. And then with Hunter after that. If Greg was cool with that. He really hoped Greg was cool with that. He wanted to confirm, but then they were by the auditorium and he had to face the list. He hadn’t been this nervous about a taped up sheet of paper since the varsity team positions were posted. “Okay,” he sighed, then took a deep breath as he stepped up to the sheet. It took a second of scanning the list before he found his name, then whooped as he hopped into the air, a grin on his face when he turned to face Greg. “I got the part!”
Greg laughed and held his hand up for a high five because that was needed at a moment like this. "You're gonna be the jockiest puck out there. A juck? Pock? I don't know, whatever, you're it." He might not care about Shakespeare but he was genuinely happy for Bash, not to mention since he'd been almost certain some pretentious nerd like Trevor Dickens from band would get the part. Greg was pretty sure Bash would make the part more fun, just from what he'd heard from people about the audition and from Bash himself.
“I’ll make it fun,” Sebastian grinned, excited enough that the stress of everything else was momentarily forgotten. “You’ll see. You might even like the play. I can tell you what we’re rambling about before you go in.” He knew some of it was easily lost with the language, but he thought it was one of the easier ones to follow when you were watching it. At least, that’s what he thought when he’d seen the movies. “We should celebrate or something. Milkshakes maybe,” he smiled. “You need to tell me how your weekend went. Phee tell you about Sunday yet?”
"Yup," Greg said and Sebastian really didn't need to know that Phee had come over after her magic session and had a completely different sort of session with Greg. "So your dad's teaching you now, that's pretty cool." he said instead. "Plenty of things to celebrate. Moxie's?" He didn't need to ask. Sebastian had suggested milkshakes and Moxie's had the best ones, it was also sort of their go-to for every occasion. "Should I be calling you Puck all the time now? help you get into character?"
“Yeah, it was… a lot more fun than I thought it would be,” Sebastian said. It had been exciting to finally learn magic from his dad, and even more fun with Phee there with him. There had been times that it was frustrating, when his magic did things he couldn’t seem to control or explain, but he felt like he was finally making some headway. “But yeah, Moxie’s for sure,” he smiled. “You can, but it’ll be weird, and I’m not sure I’ll know you’re talking to me.”
"I'd forget too," Greg admitted, but he was already thinking about fun variations of the name. Pash? Buck? Puckbastian? It made him grin to himself. "Wanna share a ride and come back here or do you wanna meet at Moxie's?" he asked, tapping his hands on Sebastian's arm in a drumming rhythm.
“Sure,” Sebastian laughed as Greg drummed on him. “You wanna drive? Or me?” He felt like he should at least offer, since he knew he’d be bumming rides off Greg once the snow got bad. His little sports car was fun in the summer, but kind of a pain the winter months. “So what’ve you been up to lately? You’ve been quiet.” It felt like he was missing something that had always been there, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. They were still hanging out, even if not quite as often, but that always happened when one of them was dating someone. Yet something was different.
"I'll drive," Greg replied. His car was parked close to the entrance and he never minded being the driver in any situation, unless he wanted to be drinking. "I haven't been quiet," he said as they headed out. "We're just both, it's been busy? I don't know. We'll have a blast this weekend with the bonfire and all. We just need a good party." He had been quiet, no matter what Bash said, Greg still felt like talking about his current girlfriend would make things weird, considering his current girlfriend was Bash's sister.
“Yeah, I feel like the last few weeks have been a bit of a rollercoaster,” Sebastian said. So much had happened, from his family finding out about the curse breaking to being grounded, then finally getting to see Hunter and that horribly awkward meeting of his father. He knew Halloween had only been a few weeks ago, but to Sebastian it felt like forever since the last time he really got a chance to relax. “You think we can crash at your place after the bonfire?” he asked, hoping that wouldn’t be an issue now that Greg was dating Phee. He didn’t want things to be weird, but if he didn’t get some alone time with his boyfriend soon he’d go crazy.
Greg hummed. Usually it wouldn't be an issue but things had changed a lot, hadn't they? "If you can... not be weird about me and Phee being there too then no problem," he replied a bit cheekily. He was more worried about Phee feeling weird about it, maybe not really wanting to have sex or something because she knew her brother was right next door. Now that would be depressing. "We can have a little party after the bonfire or something."
“I won’t be weird, I swear,” Sebastian promised. He really didn’t want to put too much thought into what Greg and Ophelia might get up to back at Greg’s house. He could guess, but that would lead him down a rabbit hole of how incredibly fast things might be moving with them, which wasn’t fair in the least, especially considering how he and Hunter had progressed. “I can pretty much guarantee that if I have the chance to be alone with Hunter, you and Phee will be the last thing on my mind,” he smirked quietly, still careful saying Hunter’s name in public. “A little party’s fine though. There should be music.” For reasons. For reasons for both of them.
"So much music," Greg agreed for the very same reasons and then he laughed because yeah, it was awkward. He'd never planned on dating Bash's sister and even when he found himself interested in her to begin with, he hadn't thought it would progress this way but here they were; Phee getting ready to get on birth control with her mom's permission. Greg saw no reason to tell Bash about that and it felt a little weird to not share things with him.
It occurred to Sebastian then what was different. Or missing. With every girl Greg dated, he was used to hearing all about them, from what they talked about to first kisses to way more than he needed to know about Greg’s sex life. And while he definitely didn’t want that, it was weird not to know anything at all. It was almost like he knew Greg was dating his sister and that’s where the conversation stopped. It made him wonder if everything was okay between them, and if Greg would even tell him if they weren’t. “You and Phee are good, right?” he asked with a little frown. “Like… everything’s good?” Wow, he thought, way to elaborate.
Greg's brows rose and he nodded, grinning at Bash. "We're great," he replied, then tacked on a teasing, "Sorry to inform you, bro." He knew for sure Bash didn't want to know even half of how good things were but the question did make him realize the same thing, they just weren't talking as much as usual and Phee was the reason why. "I'm crazy about her, like... she's not like the other girls I've been with," he explained. "So yeah, things are way good."
“Okay,” Sebastian said, relaxing a little. “Good. That’s really great.” He knew Ophelia wasn’t like any of the girls Greg had dated before, in many ways, but he also wasn’t exactly sure why he liked her. He was glad that he did, of course, and he knew that Phee absolutely adored Greg, but it was just… hard for him to understand at times, especially when he had little to no insight into their relationship. “Just… making sure. She seems happy, and you seem happy, but…” He gave a little shrug. He didn’t want to know about their sex life, or if there even was one yet, but he felt like he was missing a lot more than that. “I just wasn’t sure.”
"But what?" Greg asked with a cocked eyebrow. "I mean I know it's weird for you and I don't want it to be but I thought we were cool..." Maybe what they really needed was for Bash to get his ass out of the closet, maybe if he could be happily out and proud in his own relationship he'd feel less weird about this one. Greg didn't know, he sure as shit wasn't going to push for that to happen either but he wasn't blind to how much it weighed on Bash's shoulders.
“We are,” Sebastian said, brow furrowing in confusion. He hadn’t meant to make it sound like he wasn’t cool with them. “You just don’t say much. Usually you’re only this quiet about a girl when you’re bored with her. So I thought I’d ask, you know?” Maybe he was reading too much into it. Sebastian looked out the window, frustrated that he’d apparently made things weird. That wasn’t what he was trying to do at all. “What’d you guys do this last weekend?”
"Listen," Greg said with a pained expression. "I don't have a sister but I kinda imagine that if I did I wouldn't wanna know, you know, what she was up to. With her boyfriend." What had they been up to? Lots of sex, so much sex, he wasn't about to tell that to Bash. "She came over on Sunday and uhm, I was dog sitting for mom and we uh, did a lot more than just chat? I mean, we also chatted a lot and she's funny and smart and I really like her. But also... Lots more than chat. You really don't wanna know."
“Okay, never mind, I won’t ask,” Sebastian said, running his fingers through his hair and giving it a sharp tug. This was going to take some getting used to on his part, no matter how badly he wanted it to be easy. “I met Hunter’s dad,” he said, switching the topic completely since they’d hit a dead end. “It was probably most unimpressive I’ve ever been in my life. I stood there like an idiot. I didn’t even shake his hand.” How was it that he could handle Jules’ parents, but not Hunters? It seemed unfair.
"Oh man," Greg groaned. He'd gotten them out of the parking lot by now and he almost wanted to re-park the car so he could turn and shake Bash a little. "You didn't shake his hand? Why... the fuck wouldn't you- did you just bump into him or something?" That didn't sound like a great first impression. "Did he know you're seeing his kid?" He winced as he tried to imagine the scenario and the look on Sheriff Barrett's face.
“It was in his living room, so I’d say yes,” Sebastian said with a little laugh. “Hunter introduced us. We were just… caught off guard. Like, we’d come down to get some leftover pizza, and Jen had a friend over, and we’d barely gotten past that when he walked in.” He ran a hand over his face as he thought about it, shaking his head at himself. “You ever… not got caught, but almost caught, and you’re so fucking flustered that you feel like it’s really obvious? That was us. And then Hunter actually had the balls to ask him if I could spend the night.” That made him smile a bit now because it was just so insane and he loved him for it. Hi, this is my boyfriend, can he sleep over? There was no way he would have said yes.
"Dude," Greg groaned. "I'm going to die from second hand embarrassment here, please stop." He was snickering though so he was hardly at risk of actually dying but god that sounded painful. "Your boy's got balls." He had a feeling Hunter's dad was nowhere near as easy going about sex and sleepovers as Greg's mom was and he had to count his blessings there. He couldn't even imagine feeling as restricted as most kids his age by their parents. Gross. "You're gonna have to meet him again and make up for it somehow, be super cool and charming and shit."
“Yeah, he really does,” Sebastian smiled. Even though he couldn’t imagine Hunter’s dad ever saying yes to that question, it took a lot of nerve to ask it. More than Sebastian had, though he was hoping he found some and soon. He needed to figure out a way to come out to his parents or he was going to lose his mind. “I’ve gotta make up for it somehow. I don’t know how, but yeah. He knows I’m not out yet, and Hunter said he understands and he won’t get in the middle of that. But I’d really like a second chance at that first impression.” At least they’d been downstairs for pizza. It could have been so much worse.
"Wait, was this on Friday? When you got a ride home?" Greg asked. He'd given Bash a ride the next day but they hadn't really talked about what had happened and why Bash had left his car, just that he needed Greg to cover for him. "Oh god, don't tell me Hunter's dad drove you home... And wait, who else was there?" His brain had circled back to what Bash had said about Jen's friend and Greg was pretty sure Ophelia hadn't been there that night.
“Yeeeeep,” Sebastian drawled with a little wince. “The roads were bad and I didn’t want to risk flooding my car on the way home, especially since I’d told my mom I was going to your house. But I couldn’t exactly stay either.” No matter how good they might’ve promised to be, Sebastian got the impression Hunter’s dad just wasn’t comfortable with it. “Liam Wolfe. He’s a junior, also friends with Phee. He swore he’d keep his mouth shut and I think he’s good for it. Or I hope so.”
"Well I haven't heard rumors today so let's hope," Greg replied. He didn't know much about Liam Wolfe except that he was on the track team and that he talked a lot sometimes - hopefully that didn't mean he'd run his mouth, pun intended. At this rate everyone was going to know Bash was gay long before he was ready to come out of the closet. "At least you weren't the only gentleman caller in the house, right?"
Sebastian almost mentioned that Liam was like him, a witch, and could at least manage that secret, but it didn’t seem right to blurt out, especially if Greg barely knew him. If Ophelia wanted to share that bit, she could, but he wouldn’t. “Jen introduced him as a friend, so I’m not sure it was the same thing, but yeah, that definitely helped,” Sebastian said. “At least the focus wasn’t only on us. And Liam needed a ride home, too.” Most awkward car ride ever.
"If I was the sheriff's daughter and I had a boy over, you bet your ass I'd say he was a friend," Greg said with some amusement. He wasn't going to speculate on that though, maybe they were just friends and either way it was none of his business. "Of all the guys you could have hooked up with, you just had to go with the sheriff's son," he joked. "At least he seems cool with it, right?"
“The pros out-weighed the cons,” Sebastian said with a little laugh. He’d never made a list of reasons why to date Hunter, but imagined that his father being the sheriff wasn’t near enough to deter him. Nothing really was, even being in the closet himself. “Yeah, he seems cool with it. But also a little unsure? Not in a bad way. But more because I’m the first guy Hunter’s ever dated.” He knew it would be different if Hunter were dating a girl, but there was this new, weird worry that Hunter had described, like dating a guy was more dangerous or something. He understood it and yet it was kind of silly, too.
"He'll be super cool about it when he gets to know you," Greg decided and it wasn't just something he was pulling out of thin air. People liked Sebastian McCarthy, it had always been that way. He was nice, polite, genuinely a good person and all those things parents loved. Except maybe the gay thing, some parents might not like that much but that their problem, not Bash's. "You just have to shake his hand firmly and be yourself."
“Thanks,” Sebastian said with a little laugh. He really wanted Hunter’s father to like him because he really hoped to be around for a good, long time. It would have been nice if his parents liked Hunter as well, but Sebastian wasn’t even sure they liked him these days. “I can do that. I mean, I usually can. It’d be nice if I could pick him up for a real date or something.” Soon, he told himself. He didn’t know when, but he had to get there.
"Seriously, Hunter could do a lot worse," Greg said with a slow nod. It was kind of weird to him how little he knew the guy. Hunter seemed a little bit shy around him if anything and while they'd technically spent a whole evening together he hadn't really talked to him much. He was going to have to change that. Clearly he needed to chat with him sometimes when Bash wasn't there. "His dad should be happy it's you."
“He could do better, too,” Sebastian pointed out. Hunter could be with someone who was out, who could hold his hand at school and who could take him to this damn dance. A girl didn’t have to be the one to ask if you were gay, right? That wouldn’t even make sense. “I think he’ll be happier when it’s not a secret. I think everyone will be.” Except his own parents. It was him dreading their reaction that kept him from moving forward, even when he was starting to think he was ready. How many people could he tell and it still be considered a secret? Sebastian drummed his hand on the door, trying to think on something else as Moxie’s came into view. “I’m kinda dying for a milkshake now.”
Greg nodded. "Me too, and some fries," he agreed and the topic suddenly felt too heavy because he had no advice to give on the whole thing. All he could say he'd already said, his house was open if Bash actually got kicked out, he'd be there by his side no matter what, all that yadda yadda - milkshake sounded fantastic at the moment.