finalflight | PSL; [TERRIBLE THINGS WE HAVE DONE]

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PSL; [TERRIBLE THINGS WE HAVE DONE]

[It's difficult being the new kid at school, the new kid in town, everyone a stranger, every setting a readjustment, a fresh (and always failed) expectation to fit in hanging over one's head like a knife. It's even harder when your name is Henry Creel; a twelve year-old boy who is a little too lanky, a little too quiet. Who would prefer to keep to himself and not always look someone in the eye, finding more companionship in books and his collection of drawings than any of the kids his age. Who doesn't look like he wants to try to fit in—and struggles with every teacher’s gentle encouragement—even if he’s hardly a rule-breaker. Always punctual, always presentable, good grades, a nice new home to return to at the end of the day.

But his faith in his own integration is low. He had never flourished in his old town — why should he in this new one? As if moving would change how the world is, how he is, but he tries so hard not to linger on these thoughts today. They make him indescribably—

Well, he doesn’t know.

School lets out. The weather’s nice. It’s time to walk home, detaching himself from the excitable crowd of his classmates as swiftly and quietly as he can, his backpack slung over one shoulder and half-unzipped. He tries to stuff a book into it with one hand, paying no attention to where he’s going, and stumbles right into someone in an utterly ungraceful showing.

The book, of course, goes flying and lands splayed open, pages-down. Blue eyes flick up, out comes an automatic:]

Sorry.

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[ he sees that little spark, the way the compliment hooks into Henry like a fish on a line. he smiles, utterly unkindly. ]

Yeah, it's real good. For a piece of garbage.

[ his fingers curl around the edge of the page, primed to tear it out of the book. you know the gutter where so many of Henry's belongings and books and assignments have ended up? ]

[He can see it before it happens, because it’s happened a few times before now. Alec tossing away a book, or a scrap of homework, or a report card, or anything that shouldn’t be thrown away and into the gutter. But this time, as he watches his fingers curl around the page to rip it out, Henry’s frustration spikes to a new level.

The grandfather clock he’s drawn, it has meaning to him. It represents a strange and unexpected change in Henry, one that he’s only just learning to wrangle, parts of it still manifesting, the rest of it unknown. Alec has no context for that, so he’d not know what kind of offense it is to see it nearly-torn from his sketchbook — as though the other boy were trying to symbolically wrest this new part away from him, to crumple it up like garbage, before he can even understand what it is.

And so he stands to his feet—]

Stop!

[—and without actually meaning to, an invisible force lashes out. It pushes Alec backwards, collides against his face like an open-palmed slap. Hard.]

[ Something unseen shoves against his chest, and Alec takes a stumbling step back, but it's not until that hard whip-crack of force across his cheek that the sketchbook falls from his hand. The edge of the page is half-crinkled, but the drawing still mercifully in-tact.

Alec's hands goes to his cheek, but there's more shock than anger in his gaze. What the hell, he didn't even see Henry cast. His own abilities, his magic, are new. He knows only a handful of spells and certainly nothing like that. But he does know the rules, his dad has drilled them into him every chance he got: do not let other people see you use magic.

His gaze casts wildly around, but thankfully they're alone, the few groups of students still hanging around this late too caught up in clubs or sports to pay them much mind. ]

What are you, crazy?

[Henry goes wide-eyed the moment he sees that invisible force connect against Alec’s face, and how he stumbles backward like he’d been shoved. He stares, his stomach dropping. He’s never… done that someone else before. The most he’d managed was making a book hover a few inches off his desk, and even that had been a strain.

But this? He had felt so— agitated. Is that why—?

What are you, crazy?

Henry snaps out of it, shaking his head.]

No, I… That wasn’t…

[He’s ducking down to pick up his sketchbook.]

You must have tripped.

[ For once, Alec doesn't stop the other boy from picking up his things. In fact, he takes a good couple of steps back, giving him ample room to do so. ]

I didn't-- [ trip. No, no, no. Better not to draw attention to it. If someone else should overhear, it could be bad news. For these few moments, he forgets to be mean. He forgets to be mad. Frankly, he's just scared because he doesn't know what a breach of the rules could mean for either of them.

A car rumbles close, and Alec whips around only to be flooded with relief when he sees its his own dad pulling up. ]

Go home, Henry. Just... just go home.

[He doesn’t know what to make of all of this. He feels vaguely panicked in ways unrelated to Alec’s own concerns, the kind of underlying shock that goes hand-in-hand with discovering something new and uneasy.

Henry doesn’t reply to Alec. Any words would stick in his throat, anyway, and he gathers up his sketchbook and holds it close to his chest as though that too might go flying away. In fact, he doesn’t even look up as the other boy departs, the eventual sound of a car rumbling away indicating his departure. He just sits there for a minute or two, finally deciding to gather himself up to move back to the bench, only to be interrupted by another brake-squeak of an approaching car.

He knows the low rumble of that engine. Glancing up, it looks like his dad’s already arrived. By the time Henry crosses over to the large family sedan, shuffling into the passenger seat and closing the door, he’s already put his sketchbook away and is expecting the same question as usual.

Hey, sport. How was school today?

He always gets the same reply, or some variation thereof:]

Fine.

[Minutes later, and they’re well on their way home.]

[ On the opposite end of things, Thomas Brennan can tell instantly that his son is panicked, scared in a way that the boy really never has been before. When Alec starts babbling about "breaking the rules" it takes nearly the whole drive home to pry out of him that he means the magic rules and not the same old rules Alec has been breaking since the day he set foot on campus.

It takes a good while more to convince Alec that no one is coming to take him or the other boy, this Henry, away. Accidents happen, and no one saw them, so it's okay.

But what really nags at the back of the man's mind is that it is a small a community of magic users in this area, and everyone knows everyone - or at least knows of them, and "Creel" certainly does not ring a bell.

Later that night, Thomas steps into Alec's room and sits him down for a talk.

---

In a perhaps strange turn of events for Henry, Alec does not appear to antagonize him at all the next morning. They pass in the hallway, but Alec turns his gaze away, a strange look of frustration on his face.

When the children all file into the cafeteria for lunch, only then does Alec step forward, cornering Henry in some quiet corner of the hall before either of them can step in to join the rest. ]

Hey.

[ Yeah, that's it. Hey. ]

[Henry half expected for Alec to come at him full force, the shock of their last encounter long worn off. But he’s surprised to learn that isn’t the case, and that’s nearly almost as disconcerting.

Did he… scare him? But definitely not enough to ward him off forever? There’s no relief in uncertainty.

When Alec corners him right as he’s trying to make his way to the cafeteria, the “hey” is odd, a little jarring, but Henry just expects his interest to still lies with his lunch money more than himself.]

Hey…?

[help]

Hey.

[ Again. Alec seems to be floundering here for some unknown reason. He fidgets a bit, stares down at the tops of his shoes, until: ]

Do you want to... come over... to my house... for dinner?

[ This is, surprisingly, not a trap. ]

[THIS FEELS LIKE A TRAP]

Do I want to... [A beat.] ...what?

[Clearly he heard him wrong.]

I said... [ He clenches his fists, and tries again. ] Do you want to come over for dinner?

[Okay. He didn't hear wrong.

But now he's just so, so very confused.]

...Why?

[What on earth is happening. This has never, ever happened to him. Ever.]

Aren't you... angry?

[ Because my dad told me I had to. ]

I'm not mad. I--

[ He casts a look around before snatching Henry by the arm and dragging him into the nearest restroom. After a quick check under the stalls to make sure no one's there, he comes back into Henry's space to mutter in hushed tones: ]

You have some kind of magic powers, right? Well, me too. And my dad.

[It takes zero effort to drag Henry into the restroom, and not only because he's a scrawny kid who wouldn't be able to dig his heels in and resist, anyway. No, it's mostly because he has no idea what's going on or what's gotten into Alec, and yanking him to and fro is the easiest thing in the world when he's frozen by uncertainty.

He's stiff as a board when Alec ducks into his space and starts going on about magic powers.]

Wh-what?

[To avoid sounding like a broken record, he tries again.]

What are you talking about? "Magic powers?" I don't have... magic. [Maybe Alec's making fun of him. But there's something about his expression, one he's never really seen before, that makes him hesitate to believe this. He looks like he's serious. But he's talking nonsense.

Isn't he? After what he's learned he can do, maybe... Maybe not.]

But do you mean that you can... move stuff with your mind, too?

No, it's-- [ he keeps looking at the door, like a twitchy animal on the lookout for a predator. ] Kind of different. I'm learning how to make fire and water and stuff.

Look, I'll show you, but you have to promise you won't tell anyone. I'm not supposed to do magic where other people might see.

Edited (noticed a typo sssh) 2022-11-18 06:45 (UTC)

[Every time Alec looks towards the door, Henry slides his gaze over, too, like he’s obligated to be leery.]

…O-okay. [What else is he supposed to say? He’s still confused, but now he’s curious, too.] I promise.

[ Maybe this is a really stupid idea, but now that it's happening, there's some part of him that excited, weirdly, to share.

Alec crowds close, lifting his hand between them. His brows knit together in concentration as he does his best to recall the runes he needs and etch them in the air in stormy purple light that flows from his fingertips. Maybe that's proof enough of the magic, but then the shaky lines dissipate and a small orb of water appears, floating a little shakily but holding together. ]

[He doesn’t know what to expect. What does “magic” entail, anyway, other than what he’s read in books?

Either way, Henry definitely didn't expect purple light flowing from the other boy’s fingertips. Much less what follows — a little jittery orb of water, hovering there between them.

Sorry, but—]

Woah!

[His voice echoes throughout the restroom. Henry’s quiet and awkward but he’s still… twelve. This is crazy. He can just make some objects float and push stuff around — it’s not even half as neat as what he’s looking at now.]

[ Well, that little outburst certainly breaks Alec's already shaky concentration, and the water orb bursts, splattering to the floor. At least they're already in the bathroom. ]

Ssshh! You're gonna get us caught!

[ Because apparently there's an "us" now. ]

[Henry doesn’t even note the use of “us” because he’s way too !!! about this new development.

But he does return to a whispering tone, his look surprised, then apologetic.]

Sorry. It’s just… I’ve never seen anything like that before. Is that magic? That’s not what I do. I can’t—

[Makes random gestural motions in the air, mimicking Alec’s casting.]

Do that.

[ He nods, almost excitedly. It sure is magic! What is this weird, giddy feeling? Is this what it's like to connect with someone? To exchange secrets instead of trading insults or punches? ]

Well, even if you can't do magic, you got some kind of powers. My dad knows more about it.

[ OH RIGHT. ]

So, um. Do you wanna come over or not? My house isn't anything special or anything.

[Some kind of powers? Henry feels that same kind of excitement, that little thrill, but it’s so foreign to him he doesn’t really know what to make of it. He worries at his lower lip, instead.]

Oh, I think… I can.

[If Alec's dad knows more, maybe he can help him figure out just what these powers are. What he’s supposed to do with them.]

I need to ask my mom but I don’t see why she would say no. She’s always pushing me to…

[Make more friends. Make any friends, Henry. I worry about you sometimes, you know?]

A-anyway, I’m sure she can drop me off in time for dinner at your house. It doesn’t need to be anything special.

[ "She's always pushing me to..." make more friends, maybe? Alec's dad is much the same. He gets it.

But oh. The idea of Henry's family seeing the run down little apartment that Alec calls home makes his stomach drop. Kids are mean. They tease and the sling insults, but he cannot stand the cold, haughty judgement that adults fling his way. ]

Oh. Ummmmm. What if we picked you up instead?

[He blinks, then nods. Henry has the privilege of coming from an upper middle class family, living in a nice neighborhood — sheltered as he is, it doesn’t even strike him that Alec could be ashamed of having his home seen by other adults.]

That’s fine, too. I can give you the address, it’s on Moorehead Street.

[Like that would mean anything to Alec. Anyway. He gives the address proper.]

Let me give you my phone number.

[ Alec fumbles around in his pockets for a second, coming up with an old scrap of notebook paper from somewhere. It was probably once supposed to be homework.

He scribbles out Henry's address on one half, and his own phone number on the other. The latter he tears off and gives to Henry. ]

So, I'll see you later?

[ Is it weird that he's excited? ]

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