bulldozzerx (bulldozzerx) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-12-11 05:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | #january 2018, greg, greg x sebastian, sebastian |
Who: Greg and Sebastian
Where: McCarthy house
When: Monday afternoon 01/08
Status: Complete
Greg had always felt like the whole vibe at the McCarthy house was a little stifled, at least compared to his own house when his dad wasn't home, but today it was like triple the effect. He somehow felt like he had to apologize to James McCarthy for being there at all and shuffling past him to go to Sebastian's room was more awkward than usual. It was saying a lot when Greg wasn't often affected by awkwardness but James just got to him in ways most people didn't. It was the Dad thing he sometimes felt with his ex girlfriends too, that 'I'm watching you and if you make one wrong move I'll wring your neck' vibe. In James's case he could probably kill Greg without ever touching him and knowing that just made it worse.
He kissed Phee bye-for-now and left her to do her homework since she was more likely to be allowed to visit him if she was done with all of that before hand and Greg did want some alone time with his best friend. Once he was outside of Sebastian's door and far away from James he felt a little more at ease but not for long because he really wasn't sure what he'd find in Sebastian's room. What if he was all messed up like that girl in The Exorcist? Greg cringed a little at the thought before knocking and gingerly opening the door.
Sebastian had wanted to go to school and pretend like nothing had ever happened, but when it came down to it he just wasn’t up to it. Mentally he might have managed, even if he was a bit of a zombie, but physically he was still so run down that staying awake would have been an issue and basketball practice was completely out of the question. He’d agreed to stay home just one day, to rest and take whatever helped his body repair itself, on the condition that he could go back tomorrow. Normally he’d be all for one more day of vacation, but skipping school wasn’t near as much fun when he was actually sick.
He was sitting on the bed listening to music and playing on his phone when someone knocked on the door. “Come in,” he called out, pleased to find he wasn’t quite as raspy as he’d been the day before. There were bruises on his pale skin though, now much more pronounced than they’d been the day before, and dark circles under his eyes from restless sleep. He wasn’t looking to impress anyone though, and the sweat suit he wore hid the worst of them. Still, he wasn’t expecting to see Greg and became aware of how bad he looked when his friend stepped through the door. At least he’d believe he was sick. “Hey, what’s up?”
Maybe it was a good thing Greg had been imagining Exorcist levels of awful because Sebastian didn't look too bad in comparison but he did look bad and Greg winced a little as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "Phee told me what happened," he said, not wanting to dance around the subject. "You look like shit. How are you feeling?" He had about a thousand other questions he wanted to ask but first things first, he wanted to check in on his best friend, not bombard him with questions like an investigative journalist. He moved to pull Sebastian's office chair over to the bed as he spoke. In a way he wished it was a smaller chair so he could straddle it and rest his arms on the back but maybe that was a weird guarded subconscious thing - knowing his friend had been possessed. What if there was still something there?
Sebastian froze, his stomach dropping as he tried to come up with a response. He hadn’t planned on telling Greg what had happened, in part because he knew how much Greg hated keeping secrets, but also because he’d become concerned that he’d eventually become too much for his friend. It had been one thing after another lately and he was sure Greg was reaching his limit for the amount of drama he could handle from Sebastian. “I’m okay,” he said, well aware how unconvincing he sounded, but he had to give it a try. “It’s been rough, I still kind of feel like I’ve been hit by a truck, but… just give me a few days and I’m sure I’ll be better.” He didn’t know how realistic that was, but he was determined to bounce back. He refused to let Baron continue to ruin his life even after she was gone.
Greg did hate keeping secrets but that didn't stop life from flinging nearly every single secret at him to keep so it was already a lost battle. He was starting to feel resigned to it and confessing some things to Phee had helped take some of the pressure off. "You didn't know anything was off?" he asked because he really needed to know. He sort of hoped Sebastian had suspected something because walking around with some freaky ghost inside and not knowing about it was one of the scarier aspects of the whole thing. That meant anyone could be possessed at any given time, how the hell did you fight off something like that when you didn't even know there was something to fight in the first place?
“There’d been some signs, but I thought I was cursed,” Sebastian sighed. “My magic started behaving erratically. I’d conjure water and also knock a book from a shelf, or levitate a pencil and somehow set it on fire. Then I tried to sneak out one night, except I don’t remember it. Like, at all. My dad performed a ritual with me that was supposed to help suppress the curse and it seemed to get better.” He left out the part about the mind manipulation because that was the most frightening. He didn’t think Baron had any reason to mess with Greg, but what if she had? And telling him now, what if he questioned every encounter he’d had over the past month or two? He felt like he should ask, just to make sure he hadn’t done anything, but he was also scared to find out in case he had.
"Jesus," Greg whispered and it was probably wise, leaving the mind manipulation out because he was already freaked out about so many things, knowing a person could be influenced like that wouldn't have done him any favors. "I didn't notice anything weird about you," he muttered and even if nobody else had, it felt like he should have. Sebastian had been acting 'differently' for a while now, a lot of things had changed in the last few months, so maybe it was easier to lose this in the shuffle and Greg had to wonder if he really knew his best friend as well as he thought he did. He hadn't known he was gay, he'd never suspected he was a witch, was he just the most oblivious person in the universe or something? He wondered what these rituals looked like, Sebastian seemed to have been through at least three by now. All he could picture in his mind was some movie-esque cliché with pentagons and people in dark cloaks and that just made it all worse. "So you have no idea why? Or what that... ghost wanted? She was like your great great whatever grandma or something, right?"
“I’ve had a lot going on,” Sebastian said quietly. “It was probably hard to tell when it was mixed in with everything else.” He’d been trying for months to appear normal in some capacity, constantly putting on a happy face for other people’s benefit, so he couldn’t really blame Greg for not noticing if something was off. Even if he had, he’d have likely attributed it to the drama at home, his coming out, or the breakup. He knew he shouldn’t be hurt that Greg hadn’t picked up on his odd behavior, especially when he’d been trying to hide that anything was wrong, but he really wished that someone had. What did it mean when those closest to him couldn’t tell that he was living a lie? Was he really that good an actor? “She was a descendant on my mom’s side, the one that cursed Reagan and Caius’s families. She was… She was collecting blood from certain people,” he explained, pulling a pillow into his lap so he could hug it. He was becoming aware that ‘Phee told me what happened’ might not include all the nitty-gritty details. That was probably for the better. The more Greg knew, the more freaked out he was likely to be, so Sebastian was doing his best to keep a heavy subject light. “We think she wanted me. Like, to move in and kick me out, to just take over completely.”
"Jesus," Greg whispered again. That was a lot to take in and he couldn't really imagine what that would have looked like, didn't really want to because imagining it would be even more upsetting. "That's... no way to treat your multiple times great grandson, what the fuck." He sounded a little flippant about it maybe, but his chest felt tight and there was an overwhelming urge to just go over there and hug the crap out of Sebastian. They didn't do that often enough and maybe they should. "I'm really glad you're okay, we're sure you're okay, right? She's totally gone? For good?" He was bouncing his leg and the speed was steadily increasing as his nerves got more frayed. It was like his friends were cursed and, being a vanilla human, he had no way to help them in any capacity.
That was no way to treat anyone in Sebastian’s opinion, let alone family. He had theories about why she’d targeted him, but that’s all they were. He’d never know for sure and that was okay because he didn’t really want confirmation if he’d brought this on himself. He started to shrug when Greg asked if he was okay again because he really wasn’t, but focused instead on the last part of the question. Rather than answer right away, he reached towards his nightstand and picked up a lighter. Sparking it to life, he held his hand over it, feeling the pain of the flame for a few seconds before he pulled his hand away. “Still just me,” he confirmed. “We think she’s gone for good, but… I dunno. Right now that’s the only way I know for sure.”
Greg watched him, absolutely puzzled. He didn't know about Baron or what she'd been or why this meant what it did so Sebastian was just acting weird as far as he knew. "Okay?" he said slowly, inclining his head. "And that... helps you know that?" Maybe the ghost chick had made him impervious to pain or something - which would have been a cool side effect to an otherwise horrifying situation, he supposed. He was staring at Sebastian a bit blankly and there was a nagging feeling that he was missing something - something he should know. It wasn't a feeling he was a stranger to but it still annoyed him every time.
Sebastian nodded, only afterwards realizing how crazy that probably made him look. “She was a fire witch,” he explained. “When I was possessed, I could suddenly conjure fire and it didn’t burn me. It seemed really cool at the time and I just thought I was getting better with other elements. Now I know better. If it hurts, then it’s just me.” He never thought he’d find pain comforting, but this helped. It was proof that he was alone in his head, that Baron hadn’t waited until the ritual was over and just hijacked him again. He knew he couldn’t keep doing it, that he needed to find a better way to believe it, but this was the best he’d come up with so far.
There it was, that thing that Greg was missing and he snapped his fingers at it clicked into place. "You did not tell me about the fire," he said and wondered if he would have thought that was suspicious at all. Probably not, he didn't know jackshit about magic except for the very little Phee and Sebastian had told him. "Man, this is... this is heavy. Do you need anything, bro? Anything I can do?" Probably not, again, he was so out of his element here. It wasn't like Sebastian was 'just' dealing with a broken heart or some rivalry at school, this was so far out of Greg's comfort zone he didn't even know how to talk about it.
“It was recent. I figured it out during the fog and my dad kind of jumped on me about it.” Sebastian realized now that it had probably been a huge red light to his father, but he hadn’t known better himself. He didn’t know anything really, but he was determined to change that. “I dunno. It’s like… I just want things to be normal again, but I don’t even know what that looks like anymore. I haven’t felt normal since Homecoming.” That was months ago now and he didn’t even think he was the same person he’d been back then.
Greg wished he could convince Jules to tell Sebastian all about what had happened because damn, right now he felt like he was exploding with the secrets. He'd promised her to keep it a secret though and he'd already told Phee and Sebastian probably didn't need more to worry about anyway. "Nothing's been really normal for a while now," he agreed. "With the fog and this and... everything. Shit." He knew he couldn't help Sebastian with any of this so the best he could do was distract him and make things feel a little more normal to the best of his capacity. "You're still doing the play though, right?"
“Yeah,” Sebastian said, rolling his eyes. “I’ve probably lost my mind. It still hurts to move. But I should be able to handle it by then.” He’d already received a fair amount of flak for his part and at this point he couldn’t imagine giving up. “I’m really sorry about all this,” he said, squeezing the pillow a little tighter. “I know it’s a lot, but… it was kind of out of my control.” He really hoped that Greg understood that. Even if he’d started it by seeking out Reagan and wanting to learn magic, there was no way he could stop it all once it got rolling.
"Don't be stupid, it wasn't your fault at all," Greg admonished him though it obviously came from a place of love. "And what's the point of being surrounded by witches if none of them can help you heal up for the play? Can't your dad like... cast some kind of pain-be-gone hex on you?" Greg didn't have much in the way of solutions there, some muscle relief gels and painkillers were the only solutions he had for himself when he was in a bad shape. Somehow he doubted those would help much with Sebastian's problems.
It was Greg’s tone that made him feel better more than his words, like he was an idiot for thinking Greg would blame him. It still made him worry, because it could still be more than his friend wanted to deal with, but he didn’t sound like he was going to give up on him quite yet and that was what mattered. “I don’t think my dad’s much of a healer,” Sebastian said with a little smile. “I’m taking some stuff that the Castell’s made, but… it’s complicated, I guess. Which is fair. It wasn’t really a normal exorcism.”
Of course James wasn't a healer and Greg almost felt stupid suggesting it but it seemed like Sebastian was getting help anyway so that was something. "I think your dad should let you learn from more witches," he muttered. "I just... get the feeling you and Phee won't be using the same kinda magic he probably does." What kind of magic would James McCarthy use anyway, he wondered. Paperwork magic, manipulation in court? He felt like he'd just opened up a whole can of worms by simply thinking about it so he decided not to delve deeper. "Like the Castells, with how Phee is working for them? That seems like more something she could learn and you... I don't know, what kind of magic do you want to learn? I'm guessing defense and healing, right?" On the team, Sebastian was on the offense but outside of the sport he was the least confrontational guy Greg knew.
“Yeah, I like the idea of helping people,” Sebastian said. “But now I think it’s important to be exposed to everything, even if I don’t practice it. You can’t practice defense without knowing what the offense is capable of, right?” Magic might be new to him, but that was how it worked in every sport he’d ever played, so it made sense that that was how it worked there too. “Phee and I talked about that, too. She’s going to talk to Zan Castell. I don’t feel like I can ask Reagan for anything else at this point. It would be too weird after trying to kill her husband,” he sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. He knew Caius knew it wasn’t him, but he’d still like to steer clear of him.
Greg's eyes widened for a moment because Phee had not mentioned that Sebastian had tried to kill anyone. He opened his mouth to speak, hesitated for a moment with only a small gurgle coming out before he composed himself and focused on what was actually important here. "That wasn't you," he said firmly. "That wasn't... How did you try to kill him? No. She. How did she try to kill him?" He was feeling that need to zone out again, just nope the fuck out and go home to smoke and play a game. If he was a total dick he probably would do that at this point but he wasn't a total dick - at least he tried not to be - and he was going to be present for this.
Sebastian cringed as he realized his mistake and wished that Phee had filled him in on whatever she’d shared with Greg. He’d wanted to stay within that realm, not add to it. “With a fireplace poker. And fire. And a knife,” Sebastian said with chagrin. “Luckily, he’s hard to kill. That’s how we all found out I was possessed.” He hugged the pillow a little tighter as he debated whether or not he should say more, eventually deciding against it. Greg looked completely out of his element and he could almost feel himself losing him. It would be like Hunter, except so much worse. He couldn’t let that happen. “Let’s… let’s talk about something else. Anything new at school today?”
Greg wasn't going anywhere, not permanently at least, he just had a lot of things to process lately. A lot. He didn't even see himself as a guy who did well with heavy things. He was good in a crisis like getting Jules to safety and calming Sebastian down when he had a panic attack but this was different. This was all a huge, ongoing thing he couldn't do anything about. "Uhm, nothing new, no. Everyone is just kind of numb, a lot of people absent, some probably never coming back... It was just a weird day. You didn't really miss anything. When are you coming back?"
“Tomorrow, probably,” Sebastian said, still frowning as he tried to process what Greg had said. “Who was missing? Anyone we know?” It was a small town, so the answer was probably yes, but he hadn’t heard of any of their friends dying during the fog and he’d taken it as a blessing. He didn’t think he could handle a funeral on top of everything else.
Greg was usually very on top of what was going on socially at Chamberlain High but he felt all out of sorts now, maybe because there was just too much to keep track of. People had been gossiping at lunch but it was hard to tell how much of it was actually true. He named the few people he suspected had gotten badly hurt and then counted up the ones who'd lost someone and might not come back for a while, grieving period and all. "The only one close to us is Jules, with her step dad still missing," he added. "You know. Everyone else is moving on and stuff but I don't know, the vibe was totally weird."
“Jules?” Sebastian’s eyes widened as the information settled in, leaving a knot in the pit of his stomach. He’d checked in with her after the fog, just to make sure she was okay, but they hadn’t really talked. Now he felt like a bad friend; he hadn’t even known her step-dad was missing. He knew she wasn’t crazy about him, but that still had to be hard. “That sucks. All of it. Just… I guess I was hoping that going back to school would help, but…” He sighed, not sure where to go from there. He wanted normal, needed it, but had no idea how to find it. “Are you, like… totally freaked out by all this?”
Greg nodded, giving him a somewhat skeptical look at needing to ask. "Yeah," he replied. "Aren't you?" He smiled anyway, albeit a little tiredly. "I always thought my aunt was just crazy but I still, you know, listened to her and kept safe, even if it felt stupid sometimes. Now everything she said just makes sense. It's different when it's just old stories but we're living it. I miss things being normal. We need to like chill and play video games for a night and pretend it's still last year."
“I feel like I’ve been having a meltdown for so long it’s practically normal,” Sebastian joked, though it wasn’t that funny. He felt fragile and he hated it. This wasn’t who he wanted to be, scared and broken and freaked out and tired. He was so damn tired of it all. “Would it have been better if I hadn’t told you?” he asked, doubting himself. “Would it be less freaky if you didn’t know all the magic madness that we have to deal with?” He couldn’t change that Greg knew, but he could learn from it.
"Dude, no," Greg said almost sharply. "There'd be something going on and I'd be wondering what the fuck was up and it sucks being left in the dark. I'm glad I know, means I'm more able to deal with whatever this town throws my way. Like Holly? She never lied to us. I didn't believe her - I mean, I did believe she thought she was telling us the truth, I just thought she was crazy. But she probably kept us safe more than not. Knowing there's magic and monsters and ghosts, now I know not to fuck with supernatural shit for laughs."
“‘Kay,” Sebastian said, his lips turning up just a bit. He still thought Greg’s life might’ve been simpler if he wasn’t so close with a family of witches, but he understood how knowing what was out there was more likely to keep him safe than not knowing. “You know me. I just worry.” He felt like that summed it all up. Lately he’d been worried about everything, but being able to take one thing off that list helped his sanity. He might not tell Greg everything--he might not tell anyone everything ever again-- but being able to tell him some of it helped.
"Okay!" Greg said loudly and slapped his thighs before getting up. "That's it, I know you're a freak and a weirdo who worries too much so come here." He spread his arms, giving Sebastian a stern look. "Don't leave me hanging, bro." It was time to hug it out, some people didn't like that stuff but Greg did and he was sure that for people who liked it, it was actually good for them. It often felt like the full stop at the end of a sentence, the one thing that could settle things for good. You hugged someone - you were okay now. Whether there'd been a fight or anxiety or whatever else.
Sebastian laughed and hesitated only for a second before climbing off the bed to give Greg a hug. He was still sore and bruised all over, but he wasn’t going to turn down a hug even if it hurt a little. For as much as he liked to be touched, he was never quite sure how to handle it with his guy friends, usually afraid they might get the wrong idea. This was Greg though. If he could just randomly hug anyone, it should be him. “Just take it easy on me,” he smiled as he wrapped his arms around his friend. He couldn’t explain why that helped the way it did, but it did. Everything got a bit better after a hug.
Normally Greg would squeeze because that's the kind of hugger he was, especially with guys. Maybe it was a macho thing, hugging was fine but don't be gentle about it. He was careful not to do that now, holding back since Sebastian had asked him to. It was probably good that he'd asked him to or he might have forgotten, as considerate as he liked to be, he could be a bit mindless about it at times. "I'm really glad you're okay," he muttered, making up for the lack of squeezing by holding on a little longer. "You're like my lil bro. Nevermind you were born first, I don't give a shit. It's not about age here. Or height." He rubbed lightly at Sebastian's back, frowning against his shoulder. "I don't know what the fuck I'd do if you were permanently possessed by some evil witch."
Sebastian closed his eyes and did his best not to cling to Greg, aware that that would be a little too needy. He wondered if Greg understood what that would’ve meant, that he’d have essentially been dead, and decided it was probably better if Greg didn’t know how close Baron had been to achieving it. Not that he knew for sure himself, but she’d been doing something in the forest that day and with that much blood and a beating heart he knew it was dark. “You’d take care of my sister,” he told him. “Or I’d come back and haunt your ass like a good big brother.” Greg did feel older than him at the moment, though it was probably just that he felt stronger, or less fragile. If he was into Greg--which he wasn’t--Sebastian would’ve felt safe with him. He could see why his sister liked the idiot and idly wished he could curl up with him without it being weird. But it would be weird.
Greg was painfully aware of what it would have meant. That Baron bitch would have killed his best friend and he couldn't let his thoughts travel down that road - it was too damn painful. "I'll take care of your sister even if you're here so don't go anywhere," he said, sounding almost grumbly about it but it was just that overwhelming realization that he'd almost lost his friend. He wouldn't even have known until it was too late, no goodbyes, just a sudden, heart wrenching loss. "You should come to my place after school tomorrow," he told him. "We can play something fun or just hang out. We haven't done enough of that lately." It was understandable with the fog and then the holidays but it still sucked and Greg was eager to remedy it.
“I’ve got rehearsal, but after that?” Sebastian asked. “I just want to hang out, maybe play something, talk about girls, I don’t care,” he laughed, realizing how little sense that made. It just put him back to a time when everything made sense. He knew he’d been sheltered up till then, blissfully unaware of how fucked up things were in his town, but he’d been happy. It was a feeling he wanted to capture again. “You’re gonna come see me make a fool of myself, aren’t you? We open Friday night.” He’d thought he’d be nervous, but he felt like he could face anything after what he’d just been through.
"Oh, you wanna talk about girls, huh?" Greg teased him as he sat down again and gave him a skeptical look. "That's gonna be fun, seeing as how I'm dating your sister and you're gay. I can try to talk about guys. Not in detail, just... supportive shit. I think I'm secure enough in my sexuality that I can tell if a guy is good looking or not without it being a thing." They might just end up talking about hot celebrities and maybe that was more fun anyway, far removed from their reality with no traps to fall into.
“I do not want to listen to you talk about Phee,” Sebastian said with amusement. “I can probably talk about girls better than you can guys, seeing as how I did it for years, but now I’m curious to see what you’d come up with.” Mostly, he appreciated the effort, that Greg would even consider it. It felt like there was a hole in a spot they used to be able to talk and sometimes he missed it. “So, pizza, video games, and boys?” he laughed. It hurt his throat a little, but it felt good. It had been days since he’d had a reason to really laugh.
"I'm sure I can come up with something good," Greg snorted before giving Sebastian a decisive nod. "Pizza, video games, and boys. You could even practice your lines on me if you want. I don't understand half that Shakespearian babble but it's probably all in the delivery or whatever." He'd watched a movie or two with his mom and found them amusing, even when he barely understood the dialogue. The actions often spoke loud enough on their own so kudos to ye olde William for that.
“I’ll tell you the plot so you can follow along when you come see me,” Sebastian smiled. He didn’t love Shakespear, but he got it well enough and he found he really liked this particular play, at least a lot more than Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. It was light hearted and funny and had a happy ending and he needed that in his life right now, even if it was just on stage. “You wanna play some now or you got somewhere to be?” he asked. While he’d needed the day to recover and probably would’ve been a zombie at school, he thought he could manage a game or two at that point. It would be nice to hang out a little after being alone all day.
"Let's play something," Greg said, somewhat relieved that Sebastian was in the mood to do that. He thought he could use the distraction and it was definitely a better one than Greg holding up a conversation. He was good at talking shit but when things got too serious he just felt awkward and dumb about it. "Super Mario?" he suggested since the shooter games were probably too heavy and gory for Sebastian right now. But maybe he wanted to shoot some bad guys and pretend they were his bitch ancestor, people coped with stuff in different ways!
Sebastian had known Greg long enough to know that serious talk really wasn’t his thing. It might’ve been different if it was normal high school drama, but this was so heavy that Sebastian didn’t want to burden anyone with it, even Greg, but he hadn’t been given a choice in the matter. “Yeah, Mario would be great,” he said, pulling himself to his feet. He was assuming he could handle a video games, but if Greg totally kicked his ass then he’d blame his condition, for today only. Tomorrow he’d be back to normal, no matter what.