Hunter's room looked different and it wasn't just because of all the stuff he'd put in it that he'd never brought with him before. It looked and felt different because it was his room now, and not just for a few weeks. He hadn't finished unpacking but that'd happen soon enough. Right now he was just getting used to the fact that he was home alone and not just alone at his dad's house. His room. His home. It wasn't as big as his room back in Portland, it was never meant as more than a guest room, but Hunter didn't care. It was cozy and it was his and it was far away from Asshole Mitch.
He left the rest of the boxes for now since it was nearly three and he knew Mak would be coming by at any second. He'd only seen her online since last summer so he was looking forward to actually meeting in person. She was the first friend he'd made in Point Pleasant and she'd been incredibly supportive of him coming out and dealing with the fallout at home because of it. Of course it helped that she was queer too but that had just been an awesome bonus.
Mak was jazzed. Hunter was back, and back for good. That was something she had wanted for the longest time, she loved that idiot dearly, and it had happened. The instant she’d gotten off of work, she’d hopped on her bike and rode as fast as she could over to his house, ready to let the summer hangouts commence. They would be the best summer hangouts too, because Hunter wouldn’t have to leave to go back to Portland at the end of it.
She dumped her bike in the yard and took the porch steps two at a time. Grinning from ear to ear, Mak slapped her palms on the front door, but only three or four times before she pulled the door open. Judging by the lack of car in the driveway, she knew Sheriff Barrett wasn’t home, so she wouldn’t get shot or anything. “I’m heeeeere, bitch!” she called into the house with exuberant giggles. God, at least she hoped Sheriff Barrett wasn’t home.
With Mak came a lot of positive energy and Hunter could almost feel it sweep through the house. He grinned widely as he hurried down to see her, glomping her as soon as he got close enough. "Yas bitch! Finally!" As if she wasn't early. It had been a while though so while he jokingly made it sound like she was late he absolutely meant it in other ways. "I missed you, dork," he said as he let go and it was no lie. He was much closer to Mak than even his friends back in Portland. Maybe because they never met long enough to really fight or anything so things could get weird this winter but he doubted it.
Mak gave a happy little squeal as Hunter came into view and hugged him back just as tightly. She was beaming when he let her go, and she drummed on his chest with both hands for a couple of beats. “I missed you too, dummy,” she said affectionately. He looked good, in that Hunter way. Aesthetically pleasing, but not enticing to her at all, no matter how many times she told him he would make a pretty girl. “How was your trip, are you all unpacked yet?” She glanced around them. “Is Jen around?” Selfishly, Mak hoped not. She wanted her best friend to herself for a while.
"We're alone," Hunter told her happily. He didn't mind his sister's company but with guests around it could get awkward and it meant that if Jen wasn't in her room, Hunter and Mak would end up in his room just to be able to talk freely. "And god no, not even halfway done. I thought I left a lot of crap behind but it still feels like I brought too much, you know? Do you want something? We got soda."
“Yes, soda,” Mak confirmed, already turning toward the kitchen. Even with Hunter only living in Point Pleasant during the summer, she knew this house just as well as she knew her own. She’d spent lots of time over there over the years she and Hunter had been friends, and his dad always seemed unopposed to having her around. Which only made sense, because she was amazing and a great influence on Hunter, of course. “I’m so bummed I had to work today, I wanted to come harass you earlier.”
Hunter grabbed bottles from the fridge, laughing a little at her. "Yeah I was sitting here, unpacking, thinking... Wow, I can't believe Mak didn't play hooky for me. I mean, I was literally super upset." He handed her a bottle and opened his own. "I thought you loved me. I guess it's over between us." If things had been different he knew they might have ended up pretending to be together to keep others off their backs. They were just lucky enough that their parents weren’t horrible and society in general was getting more accepting. Not that Mak wouldn't have made a fantastic fake-girlfriend.
Twisting her own soda open, Mak rolled her eyes with a loud ‘pffft’ sound. “Whatever, you’ll never leave me. Don’t even front. Look at everything I provide for you?” She gestured around the kitchen, managing to keep a straight face for a few seconds before she was snickering again. “I do love you though,” she had to add, bumping her shoulder against Hunter’s. Mak had thought more than once that he would’ve made a good boyfriend if she was into boys at all, and she already planned to make him her no-hetero-lifemate if they ended up single in their twenties or whatever.
"You better, bitch," Hunter retorted. "Or I'll leave you for the gardener." He managed to look put off for about two seconds flat before he broke into a smile again. "God I'm so glad I'm here! Portland was like turning me into the shittiest version of me." They'd talked about it of course, how Mitch had brought out things in Hunter he didn't even know were parts of him. It had been hard to face that he could be a genuinely crappy person if he didn't watch himself and he hoped nobody brought it out in him here in Point Pleasant. At least nobody with authority over him like a stepfather had, it was too close and unescapable to have that attitude in his home.
“Yeah, and you can be pretty shitty,” Mak said, her tone full of teasing sympathy. She knew it had actually been bad and hard on him, but Hunter knew she didn’t really mean it. It had been Mitch who had been shitty, and Hunter had listened to Mak rant and rave over FaceTime enough times about his stupid shitty stepfather to know who she really put the blame on. She just liked to give her bestie shit, too. “But I’m so glad you’re here too! Come on, let me see what you’ve done with your room so far and boss you around about the rest of it.” She grabbed Hunter’s free hand to pull him out of the kitchen.
"You're just gonna steal my clothes," Hunter mock-whined as he let her drag him to his room. It honestly wouldn't be the first time his clothes somehow ended up on a friend - or his sister. He had good taste in clothes and they were comfortable so he couldn't really blame them. "Oh, you wanna see something creepy?" he added then, tugging on Mak's hand before they reached his room to pull her over to Jen's room instead. She was weird so she might like it but Hunter sure as hell didn't. Jen had brought her critters. He took small comfort in the fact that she didn't have spiders but she did have snails and beetles which was weird enough.
“You shouldn’t be such a fashion icon, then,” Mak teased, flashing him a grin. She was a petite girl, and she liked ‘boy’ clothes more than the shit they put out for girls, so stealing the t-shirts and hoodies of her dude friends only made sense to her. Not that her parents didn’t buy her what she wanted -- the Richbergs were very understanding -- but there was something better about filching them. If they were stolen, they had more sentimental value. “Uh, always,” she answered, letting Hunter re-direct them. She wasn’t sure if anything in Jen’s room would match her definition of creepy, but she was very willing to find out.
Jen's room wasn't creepy as such, nor was it particularly off limits. The twins tended to invade each others' spaces frequently. She hadn't unpacked anything but a few clothes, all her morning having gone into setting up the habitats for her critters. They weren't gross as such, but Hunter didn't really get having pets like that. He wanted a dog, or at least a cat, something furry and friendly. Snails and beetles were neither. "Dad is so happy," Hunter murmured sarcastically. "Having a big family and lots of pets."
Mak made an intrigued sound as she ventured further into the room. She crouched down to peer into one of the aquariums, watching the beetles in it scuttle around. It was a little weird, but Jen had always been an odd duck, and Mak happened to appreciate weird people. She tapped lightly on the glass that some big snail was stuck to, then turned and straightened to grin at Hunter. “I bet he’s just dreading the day he wakes up with a bigass slug on his face and starts screaming,” she said. “It’ll be super embarrassing. They’re cool, though. Next thing you know, she’ll be getting snakes and shit.”
Hunter suppressed a shudder. "As long as they don't escape," he said bravely and crouched next to Mak to look. "I don't mind the snails, they're slow and harmless. The beetles look like they could take a finger off of you if they wanted to. I'm kind of a big fan of having fingers, as you know." He reached over and tickled Mak's side briefly to make his point, grinning at her as he did.
Mak squirmed a bit and laughed, hitting Hunter’s shoulder lightly. “I don’t even want to know what else you use those fingers for,” she teased. “But yeah, I dunno about keeping beetles. I’d be more into pets you can like, snuggle with.” She did like to stare at the weird ones though, so she took another long look before standing up again. “What did your mom think of all this back in Portland?”
"She's okay with it," Hunter said with a shrug. "Thinks Jen should go be a biologist or something. You know parents, always trying to find the best route for you. Mention playing basketball with the guys and suddenly you're on your way to the NBA." Or maybe that was just his head-in-the-clouds mom who had somehow expected him to go to the Olympics because he made it on the swim team.
“Aw, that’s sweet though,” Mak said, grinning at him. She knew how that went, her own parents had high hopes for her. Expectations, really. Mak knew she could meet at least some of them, it was just intimidating to have people she loved watching her performance so closely. “And hell, maybe she will, and she’ll like ... discover some new beetle in the Amazon or something, and have a bug named after her.” Mak gave Hunter a nudge and started for the door. “C’mon, show me what you brought I can steal.”
"You're so awful," Hunter told her but there was no real edge to it. He got up too and headed after Mak who knew exactly where she was going. He kinda liked that, not having to play host and hold her hand through everything. It was like having another sister - one he had more in common with than Jen. Unlike Jen he had unpacked a lot of stuff and was mostly through putting away his clothes at least. It just showed how different his priorities were from Jen's. "Don't steal everything, I'm gonna need clothes too."
In spite of what she said, Mak didn’t go straight for Hunter’s clothes. She flopped onto his bed instead, bouncing a little as she kicked her shoes off. She’d spent enough time in that room with him to feel comfortable there, and it was a little weird to think he would be there all the time now. Good-weird. There was a box on the bed, and as she crossed her legs indian-style, Mak pulled it closer to poke through it. “So like ... what’d you tell your mom? That you just wanted to live here instead? Was she sad about it? Did you talk to Jen first? Spill the tea, bitch, I want to hear family drama.”
"It was super dramatic," Hunter said with a sigh as he flopped down on the bed opposite her and watched her go through the box. "Things kinda blew up and we tried to talk about it after and I just like told her I want to go stay with dad. Then I sulked for a while until she said yes. But I had to be all 'I'm going to go fucking insane if I have to live with Mitch any longer' and you know, blow it all out of proportion. And then Jen was all 'If he can go, I can go'. She's been wanting to move here since forever so she backed me up and we were all... Team twin power and shit." He snickered as if it hadn't really been that big of a deal and he hadn't cried or anything. "Mom just gave up one day like... Fine. It's one year. She was kinda upset though."
Mak had been pretty sure it had been dramatic, because what mom wanted both of her kids to move away at once, right? Moms of teenagers especially seemed to want to hold on tighter, like they knew their spawn was slipping away. And they were -- all of them were seniors now, college was screaming toward them, blah blah. But hearing Hunter actually talk about it gave her big pangs of sympathy and it showed in her face as she looked at him. “Sounds shitty,” she said. “Sorry it had to be like that. But I mean ... she shouldn’t have married that fucking douchecanoe.” To say Mak wasn’t a fan of Hunter’s stepdad was a massive understatement. “But I’m so like, selfishly glad you’re here, I could die. She’ll be okay.”
Hunter nodded. "Me too! And she'll get over it, you know. We're going home for Christmas and maybe Thanksgiving too. It's not like she'll never see us again, ever. I think she's more worried about Jen, you know. 'Cause she's a girl." Which was totally stupid and they both knew it. Hunter was far more likely to party, have sex and get fucked over by a guy than Jen was. She just wasn't like that, really. Hunter was. "So I promised to look out for her. Like some stereotypical big brother."
Mak laughed and rolled her eyes. “Like she’s the one who needs looking after,” she said with a grin, reaching over to nudge Hunter’s arm. She knew just how he was, of course, even if he might be a little more subdued during the school year. Maybe. They would find out! “But that is dumb, Jen can take care of herself. I mean like ... yeah y’all are twins, but I can’t see her wanting you to get all meddle-y about what she’s up to, you know?” Jen seemed like an independent sort of person. Definitely more introverted than her brother, which was to Mak’s benefit.
"Right?" Hunter laughed. "So much for her being a feminist." He understood to a point though that Jen was a girl and girls had it harder. He didn't get catcalled and he was far less likely to attract predators. Even if he was way cuter than Jen, he thought with some amusement. "She should have asked Jen to look out for me," he joked. "But maybe she realizes I've got you for that."
“D’awww,” Mak said with a bright grin, and pinched one of Hunter’s cheeks. “She’d better. I’m gonna keep your ass out of so much trouble this year. There’s hotties everywhere.” It was true, and there weren’t just female hotties either, though Mak knew Hunter liked those too. There were hotties of all stripes. Mak had zero interest in actually touching boys, but she could appreciate their aesthetic value when they were beautiful. “Sooo I hope you packed a chastity belt,” she added, digging deeper into the box like she was looking for one.
Hunter feigned a mortified frown. "Don't keep me out of too much trouble," he said with a pout and reached over to poke her. "Or I'll do the same to you and you'll never hook up with anyone." Of course they'd have each others' backs, he wasn't worried about that. She was right too, there were plenty of hot guys in Point Pleasant, though Hunter doubted any of them were gay. Maybe someone was bi-curious at least, he could work with that. Either way, eye-candy was always fun too.
“Joke’s on you, I never hook up with anyone anyway,” Mak countered, sticking her tongue out at him. She’d only had a couple of ‘girlfriends’ for a few weeks at a time, and the last one had been early in the school year last year, and never went beyond some making out. What her mom would’ve called ‘petting.’ She snickered and shrugged, heaving a fake sigh. “Okay fine. I’ll let you run wild, you just have to regale me with tales of your conquests so I can live vicariously, deal?” she offered with a grin.
"Yeah, what's the deal with that?" Hunter said with an indignant huff. Mak was cute. Hell, even Hunter had a tiny confusing crush on her that he was never, ever, ever going to act on because it would fuck everything up and be a little like incest. She deserved a hot and fun girlfriend. "Small town blues? There's plenty of girls online, you hermit." Of course he knew internet stuff was different but it could take the edge off. "Isn't there like... a Grindr for girls?"
“No, because girls aren’t disgusting horndogs,” Mak said with authority, then had to giggle. “Okay maybe that’s a lie.” Bored with the box, she moved it down off of the bed and squirmed around to lie down so her head was closer to Hunter and her feet were up on the wall over his headboard. “I dunno, though. I have like ... crushes, but on girls who are way out of my league or so straight. Online is okay, but ... I dunno, it doesn’t help me much right now.” She longed for the physical aspect of relationships too, not just the companionship. So maybe she was a disgusting horndog, but it wasn’t really sex she was craving, it was cuddling and holding hands and little kisses ...
"Okay, straight could be a problem," Hunter agreed. "But no girl is out of your league, Mak." He shot her a stern glance, then grinned. "You're a catch, so if they don't like you they have bad taste." He knew what she meant though. A lot of his friends were totally hot but still single, like you had to have a special something supernatural going to actually get with someone. It was annoying and confusing at times and while Hunter felt like he had that thing whenever he joked around with his friends, meeting guys seemed to be a different story. "So this year's mission is to find you a girlfriend. I'm on it!"
Mak wasn’t sure she agreed that she was a catch, but she would take the compliment, so she grinned upside down at Hunter, her head tilted back to look at him. “You’d better do a good job too, or I’ll just pout at you for the rest of your life,” she threatened, amused. That was why she loved Hunter so much, he was a great friend. “Look for somethin’ nice for yourself while you’ve got your eyes peeled for me,” she added, her grin widening as she reached up and back to pat his arm. “All the boys are gonna go mad for you, I can just feel it. The summer bae becomes the year-round bae, you’ll be in hot demand.”
"Ah yeah," Hunter huffed. "All the gay boys in Point Pleasant." Sure he'd met a surprising amount of queer kids or kids who just didn't care one way or another back in Portland and it wasn't a big city by a long stretch, but Point Pleasant was even smaller. "One more year and we'll go to college and have so many boyfriends and girlfriends we'll actually miss the simple old days when we were young and innocent." He couldn't even imagine that but it sounded like something older people said when they tried to make him feel better about not being old enough to do anything fun. "I've seriously thought about checking Grindr on here but I'm afraid I'll just die from depression."
“I think you’d be surprised,” Mak told him in a little sing-song voice, poking at him again. She rolled over so she wasn’t looking at him upside down, her feet up and swaying a bit. “There’s more gay boys than girls, I can promise you that. And you totally have to join S.A.F.E. this year! It’s the queer student group. Sabrina Cox is running it, and I’m like ... helping, so you have to join.” She paused, then wrinkled her nose at him. “Use Grindr as a last resort though. You’ll like, find out way more than you want to know about the adults around here, more than cute teen boys, I’m sure.” It was a hookup app, after all, and Mak was positive there were some closet cases around town trying to get laid.
Grindr was terrifying, but Hunter wasn't about to admit to it. He'd often checked it out more for laughs than anything but there was no way he'd have the guts to actually hook up with someone there. It was honestly creepy how some guys put up their location and you could practically pin down who was on there just by glancing around a crowded room. "Yeah I don't think I'll be hooking up with anyone," Hunter said with a grin. "But it'd be nice to get a date or something." He didn't really want to hook up with older guys. They were fun to look at, sure, but no matter how grown up he felt, he always kind of questioned the motives of guys who wanted to hook up with seventeen year olds. It made him feel weird, like he'd get taken advantage of. Like some kind of ... prey. Also his dad would probably throw them in jail so there was that!
“I’ll totally wingwoman for you if you wingman for me,” she offered, giving him a grin back. Honestly, Mak thought he would be crawling with guys and girls the minute he walked into the school. Some of them knew him already from summers, but being in school with that kind of cutie walking around was totally different. “Bet you’ll get a date before I do.” Mak rolled her eyes dramatically and dropped her head forward onto her crossed arms. She heaved a sigh, but was smiling again when she looked up. “So like ... just push your cast-off girls my way as thanks for being the best friend in the universe.”
Hunter laughed and grabbed the box that was next to her to drop it on the floor, making space for himself to lie down too, somewhat mirroring her position. "You got it," he promised, as if it was really that easy. "You like me? Wait 'till you meet Mak!" Of course those girls had already met Mak, unless there was a new hottie in town. He doubted it but he could dream on Mak's behalf. Hell, maybe someone would show up as a total hottie, someone who'd been super plain the year before. Hunter had seen plenty of that happen lately, when puberty didn't fuck someone over.
Mak laughed a bit, rolling her eyes again. She had the same thought; she already knew everybody in the school, unless they got some fresh blood in, so to speak. Even if there were new students, it was highly unlikely they would be lesbians, and even more unlikely that they would be into her. That was just how it was going to go, at least until she got to college, she was pretty sure. Oh well, that was life. She could just live vicariously through the love lives of her friends for another year. “It’s gonna be the best year,” she said, gazing at Hunter with adoration. “And ohmygod, we have to think of some crazy theme for us for prom. Like ... duct tape outfits or something.”
"Duct tape," Hunter echoed with a titter. "We could go as fashion disasters. I could probably get some crime scene tape from dad." Probably not, he could just picture his dad's exasperation if he knew Hunter was even thinking about using police property for something so frivolous, but it would be funny! There was no question he'd go with Mak. He wasn't sure he could go with someone else if he got a boyfriend and she stayed single. It would feel too much like ditching her. If he got a boyfriend it'd just have to be a happy threeway prom and said guy would have to understand. Of course it was easy to think that now that he was single but he really hoped falling for someone wouldn't turn him into a total asshole.
“Ohmygod, that’s such a dad pun, you’re so fired,” Mak told him, giggling all the while. Fashion disasters. “Crimes of fashion,” she couldn’t help but add as it popped into her head. She could do dad puns too! She wasn’t seriously thinking ahead to prom, really. Hunter would probably have a boyfriend by then and Mak would go stag and wear a dope-ass suit and dance with all the cute bi girls. A girl could dream, anyway. She was just excited that her best friend was going to be spending his senior year with her. Mak was already looking forward to all of the random pounces in the hallway and the parties and fun high school drama of it all. It was gonna be a good year.
"Oh my god that was not a dad pun," Hunter protested, feigning insult. "Do you know how dope crime tape fashion is? Lady Gaga did it and she looked amazing." Of course that was ages ago but it was still cool because Lady Gaga was amazing. "Of course I'd probably look like an idiot doing but you'd look hot as hell." He gave her a meaningful look, like he was daring her to try it, nevermind that prom was far away and they'd probably not get their hands on the material they needed anyway.
“Uh yeah it’s a dope fashion, but calling us fashion disasters is totally a dad pun,” Mak insisted, thoroughly amused. She rolled her eyes at the rest of it. She doubted she was ever hot as hell, at least to not to the right people. “I’m so not doing it like Gaga, but ... we’ll see.” She grinned a little. Prom seemed a long time off, and they would probably think of a dozen other bullshitty fun ideas between now and then. Or pair off with dates or whatever. Who knew! “And you’d look hot as hell in a paper bag, by the way, shut up.”
Validation was such a nice thing, even if it was joking validation like how he'd look hot in a paper bag and Hunter's tiny confusing crush flared up a little at that. He laughed and shook his head. "Nobody looks good in a paper bag," he insisted, but yes he was pretty happy with the compliment. "And I could get paper cuts, talk about gross!" He was beaming despite the topic and then he started laughing as he started really think about it. "And moving would be so loud," he tittered and started trying to make sounds that sounded like noisy paper.
Mak fell into a giggle fit at the way Hunter ran with her dumb saying, even to the extent of sound effects. She gave him a light playful little push, still snickering. “Idiot, you know what I meant,” she said, grinning. If Mak had any inkling toward boys whatsoever, she knew she would be into Hunter ... but she didn’t. She loved him dearly, but only as a friend and an occasional cuddle buddy. Still, she had eyes, and she knew what girls who liked boys found attractive, so she knew he was hot. He would have no trouble finding dates once school started, she felt sure. As for herself? They would just have to see. No matter what happened, she at least had her best friend with her now, and that made her happy enough.
Being friends with Mak felt like what Hunter imagined straight boys having straight friends felt like. There was no complication there and he could playfully tickle her or joke around without either of them worrying about there being a hidden meaning behind it. "I know what you meant," he said and roll-flopped onto his back, grinning up at her. "I'm gorgeous." He had his days where he knew he was good looking but sometimes he really didn't feel like he was. Like his body was too awkward and he simply got sick of his own face. So, it was nice to hear it from her and joke around about it. Mainly because he didn't have to be good looking around her. They'd still be friends even if they were both dog ugly.
“You are gorgeous,” Mak agreed, grinning. Even if she wasn’t interested in him in That Way, she still loved to build her friends up. And Hunter was a hottie. With a titter, she covered his mouth with her hand and loudly smooched the back of it in a faux-kiss. Then Mak gave him another one -- a real one -- on the cheek and sat up. “Oh hey! Ohmygod I totally forgot to send you this, but you have to see it ...” she exclaimed, pulling her phone back out and opening YouTube with a little bounce against the mattress. She loved that he was right there to show stupid stuff to. It already felt like Hunter had lived there full-time forever, and that was perfect.