Makayla Richberg (makknows) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-10-12 22:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | #november 2017, hunter, hunter x mak, mak |
Who: Hunter & Mak
Where: School
When: Lunch, Tuesday 11/14
Status: Completed
It was still early and yet Hunter was getting a little bit sick of the Sadie Hawkins dance already. It was for girls to invite boys and he was a gay guy. He couldn't help but wonder just how many girls had invited his hot and closeted boyfriend already and it irked the hell out of him no matter how much he tried to ignore it. Come lunch he made a beeline for Mak's locker, leaning up against the one next to it and giving her a little grin. "My queen," he drawled since he was well aware that his best friend had scored the role of Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons in the school play. Hunter thought she'd be amazing, but he still couldn't shake the biased feeling that she should be playing one of the guys. How progressive and super cool would that be? Mixing it up a little, making the whole thing gay. It might happen in a big city super queer and artsy high school but not here.
Mak perked up as she saw Hunter coming, giving him a bright grin before she nudged her locker door shut. She hoped that meant he wanted to have lunch with her, Mak felt like they hadn’t had a chance to really catch up in a while. “Hey!” she greeted as she swung her backpack onto her shoulders. “I could get used to that.” Mak giggled a bit and moved to hook her arm through Hunter’s. “Come on, you’re having lunch with me,” she declared. “Did you bring anything? Or are we swinging by the cafeteria?” Her mother hadn’t let her bring the car today, she had some work stuff to do, otherwise Mak would’ve been dragging Hunter out to pick something up.
"I brought stuff," Hunter replied, more than happy to join his girl for lunch. He also wasn't too excited about going to the cafeteria just to end up pining over Sebastian while unable to be close to him. Being with a closeted guy really sucked, though he was careful not to let Sebastian know that. "Are you taking Sabrina to the dance?" he asked and gave her arm a little squeeze as they started moving. "Or is it too heteronormative?"
She’d brought her lunch as well, so that worked out just peachy, didn’t it? Mak just had to get something to drink out of the soda machine, so that was the direction she steered them in once they started walking. Then they could find somewhere to sit and eat and gossip like they’d been needing to. “Uh yeah, we’re totally going,” she said. “We’ve got to queer up the place, you know? They’re not gonna scare us off. So you and Sebastian are coming too, I hope you know. Me and Sabrina already talked about it, we can be your dates if you need cover or something.”
"Isn't that like the opposite of queering up the place?" Hunter asked with a sad little grin. He loved it, of course, that she was willing to do that, but it was getting to be a bit soul-crushing, this whole hiding thing. He was openly gay and he wanted to bring his boyfriend to all the dances and make out with him wherever the hell he wanted, just like the straight kids. "You should go out and proud and bring your girlfriend as your date." He'd been tempted to ask her to do this very thing but the moment she said it - and how she said it - made him change his mind. There was no need to be dragging everyone into the closet.
Mak wasn’t going to accept that, she could already hear the defeat in his voice. “Oh I’m going to, for real,” she said. “And we’re gonna go and look hot and slay and it’ll be amazing. Which is why you have to be there to see it. Which is why, Mr. Barrett, if the administration decides to be dicks about it, you’re my date on paper.” It was likely that the school people wouldn’t care at all and they would just let them all into the dance in a big group, but just in case, Mak wanted to have a game plan. Something behind the Break In Case of Outdated Heteronormative Emergency glass. “And Sabrina can be Sebastian’s, just in case.”
"I think I can go stag," Hunter said but he still tittered and turned to hug her because she was awesome and she gave him a little boost he so obviously needed. He felt like it might be obvious if Sabrina was Sebastian's date. Everyone knew she was Mak's girlfriend and they'd just show up with a giant Queer stamp on their foreheads but it was still so sweet of her to offer. "You're great, my queen, but you already knew that."
She smiled as she hugged Hunter back, and popped a little kiss onto his cheek. Mak really didn’t think it would be a problem, she just really wanted Hunter to come and have fun. She knew it was difficult for him with Sebastian in the closet, but she didn’t want him to miss out on everything his senior year because of it. “Duh,” she agreed with a grin. She nudged him on toward the soda machine across the hall, then pulled her change out of one pocket. “How are things going with you guys, anyway?” she asked casually enough, giving him a sideways glance.
"He met my dad," Hunter said with a grin and wrinkled nose, suggesting it hadn't been exactly the way he wanted it to go. Mak knew he had told his dad about him but meeting was a whole other ballgame, a lot bigger, a lot scarier. "At least he didn't come home while we were making out... God." He laughed a little and cringed visibly. The door wouldn't have opened but Grady would have known.
“Oh lord,” Mak said and gave a sympathetic laugh. She knew Hunter’s dad was actually pretty cool about him being gay, but it seemed like pretty much no parent was cool about their little babies having significant others. “So how’d that go?” she asked as she got herself a Sprite. Once that was in hand, Mak started to lead Hunter away again. Maybe they could eat and chat right outside the library, it was usually pretty quiet during lunch.
"Could have been worse," Hunter said and he'd already made that plenty clear, hadn't he? It could have been so much worse. "He gave him a ride home, I kinda wanted him to stay the night, you know? The roads were all flooded and stuff and like, dad always works a lot but no, of course he just had to come home the one night I really didn't want him to." He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Maybe parents have like a sixth sense thing going on, like oh no, my kid's boyfriend is at the house, my spidey sense is tingling!"
Mak nodded sagely, even though she’d never had a boyfriend over, for obvious reasons. Still, they seemed to know. Most of them, anyway. It hadn’t stopped Mak from sneaking around with Sabrina ... which was made easier by how chill her parents actually were and how much Sabrina’s dad didn’t give a shit what she did. One was lucky and the other just sad. “I seriously think they do,” she said and rolled her eyes. “Did your dad wanna like, talk about it when he came home or anything? Did Bash freak out?”
"Nope," Hunter replied. "Dad just drove him and Liam home - who by the way now knows about us too, like, everyone is gonna know - and Sebastian was super chill and just... yeah. He came over on Saturday and we binged some Brooklyn Nine Nine, it was all okay." Could have been a lot worse in other words, Hunter was more than a little relieved they hadn't still be in his room when Grady came home. "I really wanted him to stay the night though, so unfair. I mean, we're seniors in high school and it's not like we haven't done it before."
“Liam Wolfe?” Mak asked, raising her eyebrows at him. What had Liam been doing at their house? That seemed like kind of a random connection to Mak, but she guessed those were going to happen more and more now that the Barrett twins actually lived in town. Maybe Jen was making friends. “Glad he was cool about it,” she said, bumping her shoulder affectionately into Hunter’s arm. “I get it though, that sucks ... oh, speaking of ...” Mak flashed him a guilty little grin and wrinkled her nose at him. “Can you be my alibi for Saturday night? I wanna sleep over at Sabrina’s ... can I tell my mom I’m with you?”
"Yeah, absolutely," Hunter replied. "I'm not sure what I'm doing yet, I was kinda hoping we could crash at Greg's again and if we do we can say we're both staying the night, you know, like last time. Are you coming to the bonfire after the dance?" God he hoped the weather wouldn't be shitty, it felt like they needed that last beach party before the winter hit.
That was a relief, and Mak briefly grabbed Hunter’s hand to squeeze it in thanks. She’d been pretty sure he would cover for her, but it was always good to ask and make sure. Their parents knew they were good enough friends and had had enough sleepovers that they didn’t even check anymore. It also helped that Hunter’s dad worked all the time. “I hadn’t heard about it yet, but sure! Sounds fun,” Mak answered with a smile. One more beach bonfire of the season sounded good. Not that she got invited to many. Mak found a good spot for them to set up, and she dropped her bag and plopped down on the floor with her back against the wall.
Hunter slid down next to her and settled his backpack between his legs to dig through it for his lunch. He and Jen had actually prepared some food together the night before, had a nice sibling moment and everything, it had been sweet. "Well you heard about it now, unless the weather is shitty there's gonna be a bonfire and it's going to be awesome except for the whole... You know. Not being obvious about staring at my boyfriend the whole time." It was hard not to feel sulky about it, constantly even, but Hunter still gave her an apologetic smile as soon as he's let the words slip out. "Sorry I'm whiny, I'm just... feeling super whiny so it's hard not to be."
Mak gave him a sympathetic look as she pulled her own lunch bag out. It was pretty simple stuff today, but she was okay with that. “Dude, I think you’ve totally got room to be whiny,” she assured him. “It’s a shitty situation.” Mak leaned over to briefly drop her temple against Hunter’s shoulder in a quasi-hug. She arranged her food how she wanted it on her lap and cracked open her soda, then gave him a sideways sort of look. “Is he thinking any more about biting the bullet and coming out?” she asked. “I know it’s like, a touchy subject with his parents, but ... I dunno, it’s gotta happen sometime.” She shrugged; it was always a personal choice, but she did hate to see her best friend feeling mopey because of it. They were grossly cute, they should be grossly cute out in the open.
"I don't know," Hunter sighed, opening the container with his cold pasta and poking at it once he'd unwrapped his fork. "I mean, the smart thing would be to wait until college, or oh my god, after college, just in case... But he can't do that, he's said that. Like he'd just go insane. So... I think he might come out after graduation, maybe. I know he wants to come out before prom so we can go together but it sounds more like wishful thinking than an actual plan, you know?" He was thinking out loud at this point and so he shrugged since he had no definite answer.
“I’m surprised he’s not insane already,” Mak murmured, with more pity than judgement. Even though she hadn’t dated much herself, coming out had felt important to her, like a big step to being her full authentic self. Of course, she’d had the privilege of having progressive, supportive parents. She just wished that didn’t matter so damn much. “Maybe he should come out at prom,” she suggested in a lighter tone, giving Hunter a smile. “Like a big dramatic gesture, how gay would that be?” She snickered a bit.
"So gay," Hunter replied with a little smile. "The gayest. We should show up in silver suits or something." He laughed then because no, that so wasn't his style, but he could imagine it, like a scene from the gayest musical and he knew he had to share that with Sebastian. "I just wish... I don't know, I don't think anyone in school would really care, I mean, they leave me alone, everyone's been cool with me, even the guys you'd think would be total assholes about it. Maybe it's different because he's on the team or whatever but I don't think so. Everyone likes him, he's cool and fun, I don't think they'd care."
Mak cackled a little at the mental picture of the two of them in silver suits, but she settled down when Hunter kept talking and didn’t actually suggest putting sequin rainbows on the backs of their jackets ... though that would’ve been fabulous. She nodded her agreement. “I mean, besides some shitty girls early on, and like ... Victoria Chapman being a cunt sometimes, nobody bothers me either. I don’t think anybody here would care. It’s really his parents he’s worried about, right?” she asked, starting to munch at her food. “And them like, pulling his college money and stuff.” It seemed overly cruel and unlikely to her, but that was her privilege talking again.
Hunter didn't know Victoria well but from what he'd heard so far it was an exception to the rule if she wasn't a cunt. He sighed when she went on and nodded. "I mean, I don't know how bad it really would be, they grounded him for some really stupid stuff and I've never met them... Maybe they're horrible, I don't know. I keep kinda hoping he's just scared for no reason, that he'll come out and it'll all be fine." He let out a little laugh. "Like, 'oh honey no we don't hate all the gays, just the ones who get naked at Pride'. Or something."
“Yeah, I don’t know them either. I barely even know his sister,” she admitted, pursing her lips to one side. Ophelia seemed nice -- quiet, but nice. She just didn’t hang out in the same circles as Mak did. “Oh what’s up with her dating Greg Wheeler, by the way? I mean it’s cool, just ... surprising. They barely even seemed to talk at that party.” Not that Mak was paying a lot of attention to them, she’d more been enjoying Sabrina and watching Hunter be snuggly and happy and gross. “That would be nice though. If Sebastian’s parents didn’t care, I mean.”
Hunter didn't know Ophelia well at all but she was cool with Sebastian being gay so Hunter automatically loved her for it. He shrugged at Mak's question because he honestly didn't know - or really care - what the straight kids were up to with each other. "I really hope they end up not caring, or you know, being nice about it. Sebastian's just freaking out about it and like, he's always super anxious. I can't even imagine being that scared of telling your parents, like imagining my dad as a super homophobe? I can't, it's just too weird and sad."
It was probably more interesting to Mak because she’d gone to school with both of them for a few years, and she considered Greg a semi-friend. Hunter barely knew any of these people. It was cool that Greg was dating a super-curvy nerd, it was just a little surprising in a good way. Mak had thought he was more shallow than that. “I mean, nobody asked for my opinion, but I think he should just do it and get it over with. Seems like he’s building it up way too much in his mind and freaking himself out,” she said sagely. “It can be a mindfuck, but you know ... just do it.” Not that she would tell Sebastian that if he was looking for advice, that wasn’t her place. “Your dad’s super cool though, I couldn’t see him being an asshole about it. Poor Bash.” She made a sympathetic face.
"Nah, my dad just gets awkward," Hunter replied. "But he gets awkward about everything but his job, I think so it's not like it's the gay thing." It was refreshing to hear Mak say these things because it wasn't like Hunter hadn't thought them. He wanted Sebastian to come out of the closet so they could be together all the time and at times it was really hard not to get whiny about it. Hunter thought he was being mature as fuck about it too, just a couple of years ago he would have nagged Sebastian into coming out but he understood how heavy it was now and he could appreciate it wasn't all about him. He rolled his eyes and smacked his forehead. "I can't believe I asked my dad if Sebastian could spend the night though, he must think I'm like a total moron."
Mak winced, but it was in an amused way. “Who, your dad? Or Bash? Either way, you’re totally not,” she assured him. “Your dad probably just thinks you’re a horny teenager. I dunno what the big deal is about queer kids spending the night together, honestly, it’s not like you’re gonna knock him up or something.” She rolled her eyes. Parents were so weird about sex. But she’d personally witnessed Hunter’s dad get awkward over stuff, so she had to imagine that had flustered him. “Sabrina’s dad doesn’t give a shit what she does, but in like, a bad way. So I guess we oughta be grateful on some level. It’s just frustrating.” She shrugged.
"Yeah I'd rather have parents who give a shit," Hunter mumbled, feeling a little guilty for complaining about it when it could be so much worse. "And Sebastian... Sebastian probably thinks I'm an idiot for asking. The look on his face, oh my god." He had to laugh though, a pained little snicker. "It was a desperate attempt! It wasn't that outlandish, you know? Considering the roads were flooding." But no, of course his dad drove a good car, being the sheriff and all.
She huffed a dismissive sound and shook her head. “He was probably just mortified in the moment, but he would’ve been stoked if it had worked,” Mak said with a chuckle. She wiped her fingertips off on her pants leg, then reached over to ruffle Hunter’s hair a bit. “You’re not a moron, shut up. If I didn’t already know the answer, I would ask my mom if Sabrina could stay over too.” One of these days, parents had to say yes, right? She ate some more of her lunch, idly watching a couple of people who walked past them.
Hunter needed to hear that because he really felt like an idiot, even if Sebastian had come over the next day and things had been fine. It just seemed to grow in his mind the more he thought about it and each time it seemed more and more stupid. He tilted his head into the little hair-ruffling and smiled at her. "It was a noble attempt," he said firmly. "And it would have been awesome if dad had said yes." But also worrying because he couldn't imagine that happening - especially this early on.
Mak nodded, positive that both of those things were true. She would’ve been thrilled if her mom was cool with Sabrina sleeping over in bed with her too, but she didn’t think her parents were that progressive. They were cool, but that seemed like a big stretch. “One of these days, somebody’s parents will go out of town again. Until then, I guess we just gotta hone our sneaking around and lying skills.” Mak gave him a lopsided grin. “How about Jen? She find anybody yet to sneak around for?”
"I don't know," Hunter said. "She had a guy over on Friday but she says they're just friends. He's really cute though so I have my doubts. Liam Wolfe, you know him?" Of course it was possible that they were just friends, Jen was weird about boys in general and Hunter had never understood that part of her life. "I think he's a junior." She'd probably be good for an alibi anyway, no matter what was going on Jen always seemed to have Hunter's back.
“Yeah, I think I know who that is,” Mak said with another thoughtful little nod. “I don’t know him super well, but he seems nice enough.” She shrugged a shoulder. “Even just friends is nice, she like, needs some friends.” It wasn’t said judgmentally, as though Jen sucked at making friends or something, just that she wasn’t exactly as sociable as her brother, and a little odd. If Liam Wolfe was into that, more power to him.
"Right?" Hunter replied and he was not averse to being judgmental about his sister's lone nature. The fact that they were twins sometimes baffled the hell out of him, they were so different. "She needs like way more friends, and to lighten up a little. Liam seems nice, like... normal? I don't know." He took a bite of his food and shook his head. Looks could be deceiving, he should know that by now. Maybe Liam was every bit as weird as Jen. Whoever looked at Hunter wouldn't think he had the kind of issues he had now. Of course being possessed by a demon wasn't exactly something people would guess in the first place.
Liam did seem pretty normal, but Mak knew that didn’t always mean anything. But as long as he wasn’t like, bad-abnormal, like some kind of serial killer or a monster in disguise or something, maybe he and Jen could become good friends and it would all be cool. Mak shrugged -- they’d work it out one way or another. “Is she coming to the bonfire with us?” she asked Hunter idly. “I seriously need something like ... fun and sociable that doesn’t turn into some crazy shit. Halloween was just ... weird.” It felt especially weird for Mak after the fact, something she hadn’t really talked about with anybody else.
Hunter thought about it, furrowing his brows, "I honestly have no idea," he replied then and maybe that was shitty of him. Who else was going to invite her? Well, aside from maybe Liam or Ophelia, she had been hanging out with them at lunch sometimes. "I should invite her." Halloween had been weird but only as a word of mouth to him, he'd gone home early that night and missed out on all the weirdness. Or more accurately narrowly escaped it. "We definitely need something nice and normal." Of course now that he thought about it he could totally picture something evil come slithering out of the ocean in the dark and he didn't much care for this new way his brain seemed to work.
“Uh, yeah you should,” Mak said in a ‘duh’ tone and had to laugh a bit. Hunter was sweet and she loved him to death, but just like most other boys she’d known, he could be dense and insensitive sometimes. She noticed he didn’t say anything else about Halloween, and Mak was tempted to start talking about it on her own, but ... it probably wouldn’t help anyway. It wasn’t like Hunter could sort out her weird feelings about thinking she was in a man’s body for her, and she probably couldn’t even explain it right anyway. Why it had thrown her so much. So it was pointless and she should just ... get over it and move on. Yeah. “So ... are you gonna help with the play at all? Do sets, costumes? Have reasons to hang around your boy some more?”
"Hell yeah," Hunter said eagerly, nudging her with his elbow. "And my queen! I'll be working on the set and helping with the lights and stuff, it's gonna be awesome." And also fucking hard since that meant more time around Sebastian without being allowed to touch him or show any sort of affection. Hunter had a feeling he'd be taking those unmet needs for hugs out on Mak. "You're going to be so awesome as the queen... Hippo-something, why can't I ever remember?" It was probably good they gave that role to a thin girl, it'd be too easy to crack hippo jokes otherwise.
Mak beamed at the fact that Hunter was going to be involved, that would just make it more fun. Not that he wouldn’t have had fun anyway, but having a bestie around always made things better. Mak was sure she would end up covering for some making out in the costume closet or something for Hunter and Bash, but that was a small price to pay. “Hippolyta!” she told him with a laugh and a nudge back. “If you just start calling me Queen Hippo, I’m totally going to smack you. She’s the Amazon queen, and don’t you forget it.” Mak bobbed her head sassily, then finished off the last of her lunch.
"I'll just call you my queen," Hunter said with a little titter. "Or queen Lyta. Queen lite?" Joking about it would help him remember the name but it was also fun to rib on Mak a little and he gave her a cheeky smile between bites of his food. "You're gonna be amazing," he murmured then. "I can't wait to see the costumes." He also couldn't wait to see Sebastian in costume, especially after looking up some pictures online of how people usually dressed in that play. He might just die from sexy shock, he was sure. "Sabrina's not gonna be joining us?"
She wasn’t really sure if she was actually going to be amazing or not, Mak had never been in a play before, but she was going to give it her best. She was looking forward to the costumes herself, probably more than most everything else. As long as they didn’t try to put her into something too skimpy, Mak was kind of looking forward to putting on some other identity for a while. She gave a disappointed hum and shook her head. “I tried to talk her into being on the crew, but it didn’t work,” she told him, shrugging her shoulders.
Hunter wasn't that excited about the play itself but everything leading up to it sounded like fun, working with his friends and eventually seeing them in costumes? Yeah, that definitely sounded fun. He'd probably be sick of the play by the time it finally got its audience, having heard the lines over and over and over, but that was okay. He wasn't there for the play. "Is she okay?" he asked, pursing his lips to the side. He didn't know if Sabrina ever got over what happened to them and they hadn't talked about it.
Mak’s brows raised in a bit of surprise at the question. Not that Hunter didn’t like Sabrina or anything, she just didn’t expect that kind of consideration out of him. “Um ... I dunno, honestly,” she admitted, mimicking Hunter’s unsure expression. “I think so? She seems all right, but sometimes it’s hard to tell with her.” If she was being honest, Mak didn’t even really know if she was fully okay. Or any of them. Her brow furrowed a bit more as she studied her best friend. “What about you, how are you doing? Like, for real, for real.”
Hunter wanted to tell her he was great because sometimes he really was. Sebastian had a way with kissing his worries away but unfortunately he couldn't spend all his time with his boyfriend. Lying to Mak would suck though and it also felt like a shitty thing to say if she wasn't okay yet either. "Up and down," he mumbled, not meeting her gaze for a few seconds but then looking at her with a sad smile. "Sometimes I'm way okay, like all the way up there but... I still have nightmares and like even if I know it won't come back I feel like it might - or something worse." He never talked about that to anyone, not even Jen anymore. Saying it out loud felt weirdly cathartic, as if it shrank that ball of anxiety in his chest just a bit. "And then Halloween happened and I don't know... I'm a little scared of going to the bonfire."
Up and down sounded about right, Mak could relate to that. She was up and down too. She could also relate to the nightmares. They’d been less frequent, but sometimes she did still dream about Hunter being possessed by the demon and coming after her. Not that she wanted to really tell him that, he felt bad enough. “Yeah,” she agreed with sympathy in her tone, her brow furrowing a bit as she looked at him. “Halloween kinda messed me up too.” Mak reached over to squeeze Hunter’s arm. “I know what you mean. But we can’t like, stop living, you know? So come and see how it goes, try to relax and have fun.”
"Oh yeah I wouldn't miss it for the world," Hunter replied quickly since he hadn't meant for it to sound like he was trying to weasel out of coming at all. He couldn't wait for the weekend, especially if they managed to sleep over at Greg's again. If something horrible came crawling out of the ocean to eat them up, at least he knew Sebastian could probably do something magicky to hold it at bay - at least that was what Hunter told himself because he needed some reassurance to push away the fear. "You haven't really talked about Halloween, you weren't still out, were you?"
Mak was just overly ready to be with her friends and not have to think about much bullshit for a while. The dance would hopefully be fun and easy and normal and then the bonfire would hopefully be the same, and then she could sleep over at Sabrina’s house and just enjoy herself for one full day and it would be great. There were more doubts in her head now that that would be the case than she’d ever had before, but she could still stay positive and hope. Mak lifted her eyebrows at the question, then furrowed them again. She wanted to talk about it, but she didn’t at the same time. It was hard to know. “I was, yeah. Me and Sabrina both were.” It hadn’t been horrible, neither of them had been dressed up as something deadly, thank whatever gods existed. “It was just ... weird, I dunno.” She gave an uncomfortable shrug.
"I'm so glad you didn't get hurt," Hunter whispered, it was too easy to let his mind go to bad places and it wasn't unrealistic at all considering the news. Someone had literally died. "Did you see any of the crazy?" he asked then. Mak hadn't talked about that night and he didn't even consider she might have been smack dab in the middle of it all, going crazy too. At least the bonfire wasn't on any particularly interesting date, he didn't think. Saturday, not Halloween, obviously not Friday the thirteenth. He really hoped there weren't more weird dates he just didn't know about.
While Mak’s experience had been weird and had made her question some things about her gender, she knew she’d gotten off pretty easy. Some people had truly gotten hurt, some had even died, from what she heard. She and Sabrina could’ve tried to rob a bank or something and gotten shot by the cops. She didn’t think Point Pleasant cops were the type to do that, but who fucking knew anymore. “I was like, part of the crazy,” she admitted to Hunter, wrinkling her nose a bit. “I mean like ... whatever happened affected me and Sabrina too. I seriously thought I was some twenties gangster dude. It felt so weird.”
A twenties gangster dude was obviously better than a lot of other options since even twenties gangster dudes had some downtime as evident by Mak being there and not dead or in jail. Hunter could imagine just how wrong that could have gone and his eyes widened in surprise and shock. He hadn't actually talked to anyone who'd been affected and he was curious to put it mildly. Plus she hadn't told him before but they hadn't really had much private time together either. "What was it like?" he asked urgently because 'weird' didn't really cover half of it.
She didn’t answer for a moment, feeling a weird expression on her face while she thought about how to answer that. “It was ... I dunno,” she started, then sighed. “I mean it wasn’t ... bad. Like I just felt like ... a different person. A man, for one. Like, my whole body felt different. And I was all cocky and confident, and just ... I dunno, I was just really horny for Sabrina.” Mak looked a little embarrassed as she glanced over at Hunter and gave another small shrug. “Which I guess could’ve been so much worse, but just feeling like I was in a different body was ... weird.” She knew she wasn’t conveying that part very well, but she didn’t know how else to say it.
Under different circumstances Hunter would have teased her that she was always horny for Sabrina, ha ha, but she looked so uncomfortable and it was such a creepy thing to talk about. "I'm just glad you're safe,” he mumbled because he didn't know what else to say. In his opinion, being a guy was pretty awesome and he knew he wouldn't want to be a girl so Mak probably felt the same only in reverse. He didn't have the imagination it took to really put himself in her shoes and his experience had been completely different. The whole thing only made him more relieved he hadn't actually been there, some twenties gangster probably wouldn't have taken kindly to a gay boy rushing up to hug him.
Mak was partly relieved and partly disappointed that Hunter didn’t press her with more questions -- she kind of felt like talking it out would help her get her mind around it better, but at the same time she kind of didn’t want to. She loved Hunter to bits, but he could be a bit self-involved, and that kind of came in handy sometimes. “Yeah, me too,” Mak agreed with a wan smile. “And like, you too. Glad you guys decided to stay indoors.” A pirate and Captain America could’ve gotten into some serious trouble. Mak was probably lucky that Sabrina had been around to be her ‘dollface’ and distract her. Willing to let it go, she pulled her phone out and checked the time, then nudged Hunter’s arm. “You gonna finish that?” she asked with a little grin, nodding at his food.
"Nah, you want it?" Hunter replied. He could finish it later if she didn't but he'd somewhat lost his appetite after what they discussed and even more so the things it made him think about: the what ifs, the way everything could have gone down a much darker path and how lucky they'd been despite everything that they were still safe and unharmed. He could too easily picture Mak trying to rob a bank or something, or hurt someone - like Hunter had almost done. Jen had been a walking horror when she dressed up at the party before Halloween, what would she have done if she'd gone out again? There were too many bad possibilities and he really didn't want to think about any of them, instead holding his box of pasta out to Mak in case she wanted some.
She took it, because food was much better to think about than everything else. It was all over now, more or less, and there would probably be something else coming down the line for them to deal with. Hopefully it wouldn’t be deadly, hopefully it wouldn’t be at the dance or the bonfire or whatever, hopefully they could deal. That was all Mak could really settle on, given the circumstances. They were pretty helpless until they could all get out of this weird-ass town, they just had to keep hoping. She dug into Hunter’s pasta, not saying anything else until she’d polished it off and offered the empty container back to him to take home. “Thanks dude,” she told him with a little smile. Mak started packing her stuff back up; the bell was going to ring soon.
Hunter made sure the container was sealed up properly, then stuffed it in his bag and started getting up. He held his hand out for Mak and gave her a similarly small smile. "Come hang out with me. Tonight, maybe... Or tomorrow. I miss hanging out with you." It hadn't been long, but just a couple of days felt like forever to a teenager and Hunter knew he'd been pretty preoccupied with Sebastian, even when they couldn't hang out together. Technology was amazing for that.
Mak accepted the hand up, and slung her backpack over her shoulder once she was upright. Her smile at Hunter’s invitation was brighter and warmer. “Okay, yeah,” she said. “I don’t have work tonight, so that would be awesome. I’ll just text my mom and come home with you.” She missed hanging out with her bestie too, and it would be nice to see him somewhere besides school. Impulsively, Mak moved in close before they could start walking to give Hunter a tight hug. “Love you, idiot,” she murmured into his shoulder.
"Love you too," Hunter said earnestly as he returned her hug. She was his best friend and he doubted many friendships would have survived what they had been through. It had been awkward at first and he definitely still felt guilty but she was so accepting and open about it, they would be okay, he just knew it. He didn't try to deny the idiot part, he could be an idiot and she had said it affectionately, it was deserved. "Then we'll get to spend lots of time together for the play."
Their friendship had definitely been through some testing fire lately, and Mak was so grateful that they hadn’t imploded. Ouija boards and demon possessions and new boyfriends and girlfriends and everything, but they were still standing together. Mak was happy about it. “And it’ll be great,” Mak concluded, giving Hunter one more hard squeeze before she let go. She smiled at him as they pulled back. “Meet you out front after last bell,” she said, now ready to get the school day over with so she could hang out with her bestie.
"Definitely," Hunter told her warmly. He'd never really disliked being at school but with Sebastian being in the closet, being there had become something of an endurance test and he couldn't wait to get it over with. "Have a great day, my queen," he then said, stepping back farther so he would have more space for his sweeping, theatrical bow.