Who: Hunter & Sebastian Where: School When: Morning, Monday 11/20 Status: Complete
It started off innocent enough. A nudge before class, a question of 'you and McCarthy, huh?', the little glances, some whispers. At first it was even kind of nice that dating Sebastian was no longer a secret but after a while it didn't feel nice at all. Hunter was getting more and more nervous as the morning drifted by and between classes he hurried over to where he knew Sebastian had class that period, hoping to catch him in the hallway. Sebastian was always so reassuring when they were together but when they were apart it was apparently time to doubt everything and Hunter couldn't help but worry that the reality of the situation was going to make him mad at Hunter or something. He wasn't even sure why, he just knew Sebastian hadn't meant to come out and he probably wouldn't have if they hadn't been drugged or something that Saturday night.
While nobody had been outright rude so far, this was the sort of attention Sebastian had never really had to deal with before. The whispers and side glances, the knowing looks, those he’d expected, familiar enough with how gossip worked, but the silence and discomfort put him on edge. Guys that had been chummy with him on Friday seemed cold now, their smiles unsure and conversation lacking. Maybe it was just a Monday, but he couldn’t help but think it was him. It was still early though, so he kept telling himself to keep moving, to get through the day, that today would be the hardest. He was surprised to see Hunter in the hall right then, his appearance a break in the routine, and hated the anxiety that flared up automatically. He could feel eyes on him as he made his way over, but he did his best to ignore them and gave Hunter a little smile. “Hey, everything okay?”
Hunter had imagined that one day Sebastian would finally come out and they could kiss and touch all they wanted, regardless of who was looking and now here they were and he felt hesitant to even pat Sebastian's arm. Everything just felt wrong and even if he knew it wasn't his fault, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was. "I was gonna ask you the same thing," he said with a faint smile that faded as he looked around. "Everyone's... talking."
This wasn’t what Sebastian had envisioned either, but his confidence was lacking when he felt like he was being judged. He wished he could feel like he had at the dance, like none of them mattered, but he knew now that that feeling hadn’t been natural. “I know,” he said softly, his fingers reaching out to brush Hunter’s, desperately needing that contact. “I’m sorry about that. I wish I could stop ‘em, but… they’ll lose interest eventually.” That had been his experience, at least. Gossip got old and then people moved on. “I wish we could just… take the day off,” he said with a little smile. “Hide out at your house till it was over.” Not that that would help. It would just push all this off one more day.
The touch, however small, was soothing and reassuring and Hunter couldn't help but mirror it, lightly brushing his fingers against Sebastian's arm after he'd moved away. "I think people would just talk more if we did that," he said with a sad smile, though the longing for the same thing was pretty evident in his expression. "Do you want to go to Moxie's or something after school? People will talk anyway..." It was stupid how nervous all of this was making him, like the pressure of it all might take Sebastian away from him.
Sebastian gave a sad shake of his head and this time caught Hunter’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I have rehearsals after school. But maybe tomorrow? Or Wednesday? We’ve got the day off. I don’t have anything planned.” Hiding out at Hunter’s house was even more appealing then, especially if his father was at work. But then he had no idea how things were going to play out at home. He had to tell his parents. He had to. “I don’t… I don’t care that they’re talking? I knew that would happen. But people aren’t even trying to hide it and… and I’m just not used to it.”
Hunter could sympathize though he didn't have experience with that sort of thing. He'd never had to do a grand gesture of coming out, it had just gradually happened and his school was a lot larger than Chamberlain High. He gave Sebastian a faint smile again and nodded. "I know it's... it's a lot. I wish I could take it back somehow, until you're really ready." They could have said it was a dare, a joke, something - if they hadn't been kissing and dancing all night after Sebastian came out. That went way beyond a joke.
“No,” Sebastian said, smiling softly as he shook his head. “I want this. I want it for me and for us. I don’t know when I’d ever feel ready ‘cause I don’t know that it’d ever be easy. Or, if it is, I don’t know that I want to wait that long. Now that it’s done, I’d rather get it over with? I just don’t like the inbetween.” So much felt unknown at the moment, people’s opinions up in the air as he waited for them to adjust. He couldn’t make them accept him. He just had to hope that they would, while remembering that some of the people who mattered the most already did.
"Well, now you have to go with me to the movies," Hunter decided. It was a small light in the dark, the fact they could go places together without hiding. He wasn't sure why he decided on the movies when a meal at Moxie's could be fun too but there was something really sweet about sitting in a movie theater, holding hands. Or at least he imagined it was, it wasn't like he'd ever actually tried it. "So I'm expecting a date next weekend."
“Can I buy you dinner?” Sebastian asked, his smile widening. He wasn’t sure what his weekend would look like, positive his parents would know about him by then, but he didn’t imagine them locking him up in his room. One thing he knew for sure was that he’d want to see Hunter and a date, a real date, felt like a celebration. They should be celebrating this, the chance to finally be together in public. It felt like they’d waited forever. “You pick the movie. Anything you want. There’s usually a ton of things out right after Thanksgiving.”
Hunter nodded enthusiastically and that bright smile of Sebastian's definitely made him feel more at ease. "You can buy me dinner if you must," he joked with a little roll of his eyes, as if being treated to food was a hardship. "We can decide on a movie together, I don't want you to go see something you don't want to see." He shifted a little closer to Sebastian, smiling up at him. "It'll be okay. Call me tonight if you need me."
“I must,” Sebastian grinned. If Hunter was going to take him to a movie, then he was going to treat him to dinner. If there were rules about who should pay for what in relationships like theirs, he was unaware of them. He just really wanted to be with Hunter, to have a date like a normal teenager and stop worrying so much for at least one night. When Hunter shifted closer, Sebastian leaned in enough to rest his forehead on Hunter’s for just a second, wishing he could convey how much this all meant to him. “I will. Even if I don’t, I will.”
It was such a brief touch and Hunter missed it as soon as Sebastian moved away. He smiled anyway and gave his hand a little squeeze. Their break was almost over and it annoyed him to the point where he wanted to skip the next session but Sebastian was probably in enough trouble already without fucking up at school. "Which way are you heading?" he asked, ignoring the looks they were getting as people started walking past them to get to class.
Sebastian had always been a model student, but if Hunter had wanted to skip school today and hide out in his room, he would have agreed in a heartbeat. It was probably better that he didn’t though, since he didn’t need his parents getting a call from the attendance office on top of having to come out to them. “AP English,” he answered, nodding in the direction of the classroom. He gave Hunter’s hand another little squeeze, unwilling to let go now that he had ahold of him. “What about you? Can you walk with me?” He had the feeling he’d get to know Hunter’s schedule now, and learn just how long they could spend together before they had to head off in different directions.
"Yeah," Hunter replied without blinking. He could be a little late even, if Sebastian wanted to wait until last minute to go inside the classroom. He felt like he was excused considering his boyfriend was fresh out of the closet and everything was super stressful and weird. He needed to be there for him. Plus, teachers tended to give him a pass because he was polite and smiled pretty when he apologized. "I could come to rehearsal today," he said softly as they crossed the hall. "For a little bit at least, I mean, I know you'll be busy but-" But he wanted to be there, even if he didn't have anything to do with the play today. It was actors only and he was beginning to regret not actually auditioning for something.
Sebastian gave Hunter a little smile and started them off in that direction, doing his best to ignore the people that he could feel looking at them. He’d always garnered attention when he started dating someone new, but never this much. As he glanced over at Hunter, he thought about asking him about the other night, but the timing was weird. They only had a few minutes in the hall and he wasn’t super comfortable with the topic even when they were alone. He was happy to talk about the play though, since that was a much easier topic. “You should,” he smiled. “You can help me with my lines when we’re going over scenes I’m not in. They’re doing a lot of blocking? I think that’s what they called it. Like… walking through it, where we should stand, stuff like that. Nobody has anything memorized yet.”
"Even if you're busy I think it'd be interesting to watch," Hunter replied. "Like sneaking a peek behind the curtains, like literally." And they could grab a few minutes alone after practice before they went home - if he could stay that long. If not then during, like Sebastian said. "I'll help you with your lines anytime," he murmured, giving Sebastian's hand a little squeeze. "But it might just be distracting." He didn't have Sebastian's experience with relationships of any kind beyond friendship and had nothing to compare this to but he still knew people were staring more than was normal. It gave him mixed feelings, a kind of smug satisfaction stemming from dating someone this hot and then guilt and sympathy because Sebastian didn't deserve all this bullshit.
“You know if you’re working the play, you’ll get more than just a peek,” Sebastian laughed softly. Hunter would get a the full behind the scenes experience eventually, and it was something Sebastian was excited to share with him. it didn’t matter that they both weren’t on stage. They could still experience it together. “I could use a little distraction,” he smiled shyly over at Hunter. He knew Hunter was right, that he would probably have better focus if he wasn’t there, but he wasn’t concerned about memorizing anything today. If he wasn’t hanging out with Hunter, he’d probably just be worrying about everything else, not memorizing anything. If he wasn’t going to be productive, he might as well enjoy himself. “Mak ‘ll be there too. We don’t have any scenes together, so even if they call me up on stage, she’ll be around to keep you company.” It would’ve been fun to share a scene with her, but their roles just didn’t cross. He was sure they’d see each other plenty running around backstage, though.
"I know," Hunter said with an embarrassed little snicker. "But I'm not supposed to be there today so, you know, it's like peeking. Even when I am supposed to be there I'll be busy helping with the set and stuff so I won't really have time to watch a lot... I'm guessing, anyway, I've never done this before." He stopped by Sebastian's class room and turned until his back was against the wall so he could casually lean his shoulder against it. "I'm just biding my time until I can see you in costume."
“Me neither. It’s fun, though. I’m glad you’ll be there,” Sebastian said. He was definitely having to catch up to those who’d been in other plays before, but the was a quick learner and so far it hadn’t been too hard. He stopped when Hunter did, surprised to find they were already at his classroom, and mirrored Hunter’s pose, liking the way it cut them off from just about everyone outside their little bubble. The response that came to him got stuck on his tongue though, and he snickered as a blush crept up his neck. “Um… me too,” he grinned. “I think you’ll like it.”
Hunter should probably feel a little bad for making him blush like that at school but it just brought a cheeky smile to his face. "I looked up some of the costumes for that character online," he admitted. "And damn..." His grin grew until he was huffing out a little laugh, clutching the strap of his bag a little more tightly. "If it's anything like that? You're gonna have to borrow it to wear outside of the play too."
Sebastian loved that smile, plus all the little signs that their brains were on the same wavelength. This wasn’t the time or the place for it, but he didn’t quite care, pleased that his boyfriend could flirt with him openly without worrying who might see them. “Only if you promise to take it off me,” he grinned, biting his bottom lip. Now he was going to have to add dressing room fantasies to his ever-growing list. Not that he needed to go there now. “I’ve seen the design, but it’ll be a while before we do a fitting or anything like that.”
Hunter bet they were going to dial down the sexy because it was a High School production and it was a guy's costume. It was really sad but then they'd always have Sebastian's pirate outfit. "How do the designs look?" he asked, quirking a brow curiously and maybe a little bit hopefully too.
“It’s got these brown, kind of flowy pants that lace up the front, and then a vest that’s supposed to look like it’s made of leaves. There’s some bands that go around my arms, and they can’t decide between horns and what they want to do with my hair, but that’s it.” It probably wasn’t meant to be a sexy costume, but it wasn’t the most conservative either. The director had asked if he was okay not wearing a shirt and it was fine with him, so that’s what they went with. It seemed more fitting and he didn’t want to end up with a leotard beneath the vest. “All the fairies are in earthy colors, but the girls have a little more, like flowers.”
When Hunter was little he'd thought of vests as very proper and prim, kind of a grandfather item, really, but that was before he saw hot guys wearing vests with nothing underneath. There was nothing boring or conservative about that. He could too easily imagine Sebastian wearing that outfit and it wasn't a mental image he needed to be seeing at school so he tried desperately to shake it off before he'd find himself wobbling back to class with a boner. "Oh," he said dumbly, then huffed a little laugh again, his thoughts pretty visible in his expression. "I don't know about the horns, it's like a fairy, right?"
It was Sebastian’s turn to give Hunter a satisfied little smile. Even if he’d not really meant to make his boyfriend uncomfortable, he liked that he could do that to him, that he wasn’t alone in how easily his thoughts turned to the gutter. “Yeah, but some versions have him kind of like Pan and more goat-like. I think they’ll just get lost in my hair, so there’s really no point.” Plus, they’d have to find some way to keep them on his head. It just didn’t seem worth it. “Is your class close?” He asked, wondering just how much time they had left. If Hunter didn’t have to go far, maybe they could meet back up after class. He really liked this thing where he got to see his boyfriend at school.
Hunter had to laugh at that because yes, he could see how the horns would have to be pretty big and obvious to not get lost in Sebastian's thick hair. Fuck, he loved it. He couldn't help but reach up and run his fingers through it (and he could do that in public now!), grinning softly. He didn't want to think about how horns reminded him of demons and that was a whole bag of issues, but he was definitely glad they weren't going with horns. "I'll get there in time, don't worry. But you should be more like Dionysus," he said, letting his hand trail down to Sebastian's face before he pulled it back. "Hedonistic and pretty."
For once, Sebastian didn’t care about the whispers in the hallway, people who were seeing them together for the first time. He was too distracted by Hunter’s fingers in his hair, his mind jumping back to other times Hunter had done that and what they’d been up to at that moment. It was definitely not something he needed to think about at school and he likely need to duck into his classroom to hide in his desk if Hunter kept it up. If the heat in his cheeks didn’t give him away, the boner he’d be sporting definitely would, so when Hunter stopped he was both disappointed and relieved. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only person who thinks I could pull that off,” he laughed softly. “I like that though. He’s like the god of partying.”
"Yeah I think you're gonna have to step up your game there," Hunter snickered. Sebastian had really encompassed that stereotype the first night they actually talked when he'd let himself collapse on the couch Hunter was sitting on, drunk and flushed and gorgeous. He'd been pretty well behaved ever since Hunter knew him and Hunter didn't exactly want him to get all drunk and rowdy. That wasn't really what Dionysus was all about either, but there were things associated with him like orgies and stuff that Hunter wasn't all too keen on seeing Sebastian reenact. As long as he was just hedonistic and pretty with Hunter, that was enough.
“I don’t think you’d like that very much,” he said, his smile slipping into something a touch bitter. While Sebastian knew Hunter was just teasing, he managed to touch on a nerve, one that was a little more raw after the weekend. He’d been doing his best not to be that person, to reign himself in a little to be closer to what Hunter seemed to want. He’d stopped drinking so much at the parties they went to, he hadn’t gotten high since before he met Hunter, and he’d done his best not to push for anything Hunter might not want or approve of. His fantasies were just that, fantasies. It left him frustrated at times, disappointed at others, but he was happy overall and he believed Hunter was worth it.
Hunter let out a confused little laugh, more at the smile than the words. "What?" he asked. "If you stepped up your game? I mean, I don't think you need to but..." He tilted his head as he trailed off. Of course he was oblivious to what Sebastian was thinking about, as much as he loved him he really didn't know him as well as he wanted to so his spiral of anxiety was a mystery to him. "I think we could be like awesome party gods - if we actually had a place to throw a party. Although it's nicer when someone else throws a party 'cause then you can just leave and not have to worry about cleaning up after..." He shook his head, realizing he was getting off track there and at the same time proving he'd make a terrible party god.
Sebastian regretted it as soon as he said it, worried that he might push Hunter away when he needed him the most. He knew he was operating at peak anxiety levels today, but that didn’t make it any easier to control. And though his feelings about what Hunter might want had nothing to do with the people around him might be thinking, it was one more thing that he’d taken upon himself to juggle. But listening to Hunter ramble made Sebastian smile and he gave in a little, giving Hunter a dose of what the more hedonistic side of him might be like. “I would be an awesome party god, but a horrible host,” he said, moving closer, his arm bracing against the wall to box Hunter in as his voice dropped so that only Hunter could hear him. “I’d have all the booze and music and everything, but as soon as I’m buzzing I’d want to drag you off to some dark corner and—“ Sebastian bit his lip, unsure if he should continue, Hunter’s possible disapproval stopping him rather than the fact that this was horribly inappropriate for the school hallways.
Hunter was hanging onto his every word, forgetting completely that they were in the middle of a busy hallway in broad daylight. It wasn't until Sebastian stopped talking that his mind cleared a little and it was his time to blush. Laughing he ducked his head and then glanced around, obviously flustered. "Maybe part of being a party god is having temple keepers to take care of the party for you," he suggested, clearing his throat as he tried to shake off that sudden headiness he was feeling. Damn Sebastian for standing so fucking close, all yummi scent and warm skin. "Then we'd be awesome party gods for sure."
“Exactly,” Sebastian grinned, his voice still hitting that low thrum that came with wanting to push his boyfriend up against the lockers and fuck him till he could barely walk. Apparently, it didn’t take getting drunk to want that, or even a party; all it took was standing too close to Hunter and letting his mind play over all the things he wanted to do to him. Unfortunately, there was a mountain of things holding him back, ranging from them being in the middle of a busy hallway with class about to start to the possibility that Hunter might not be into that. Though from the way Hunter blushed, it was possible that particular worry was just in Sebastian’s head. He pulled himself back a bit, reigning himself back in for both their benefit. “I think the key is throwing a kick-ass party that people enjoy as much as you do and not worrying about the cleanup till the party’s over. But I like the idea of temple keepers,” he laughed softly. There was no way he was going to be able to focus in English. No way at all.
Hunter hadn't wanted to go to class and now he wanted to even less which he hadn't thought was possible. The way Sebastian was leaning in so close, the sound of his voice, it was all too much and not enough at the same time. "We should get keepers," he mumbled, glancing past Sebastian at the throng of people moving to get into the classroom. Damn it. "I'll see you soon, okay?" he said softly and because Sebastian was standing so close he was practically asking for it, Hunter leaned up and kissed him lightly on the lips.
It wasn’t the kind of kiss that Sebastian was craving, but it was probably a lot more school appropriate. They were already causing a scene, making it obvious that the gossip going around was true, but Sebastian didn’t care. They’d earned the right to do this much. He smiled as he kissed Hunter back, then pulled back so he could actually head towards his class. “Kay,” he muttered. “See ya, babe.” It wasn’t the words he wanted either, but there were still some things he didn’t want to broadcast to anyone passing by.