Page 64

Austin

It was very weird to be hanging out with Nate again.

Even now, three weeks after Jesse had shown up and the two of them had had their weird uncomfortable staring contest (thank god they’d worked out whatever the hell that was), and the three of them all sat around his apartment, Austin wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it.

He still just felt… awkward, around the guy. He supposed that made sense. It had been years; he couldn’t expect himself to just snap his fingers and magically be used to it all again.

Besides, there was a pretty big elephant in the room. Nate knew that Jesse planned on moving soon, but he sure as hell didn’t know about anything else going on; not Jamie’s powers, not the fact that he apparently wasn’t from Earth, not about Eleanore, nothing.

And he definitely didn’t know about the powers in Jesse’s body.

Giving his best friend a quick side glance, Austin noticed once more that Jesse didn’t look all too well lately.

The shadows under his eyes had deepened a lot (though Austin could swear he’d tried to cover them up with makeup today), his skin was paler than before, tinged with a slight sheen of sweat, and there was a tightness around his mouth, like every word cost him effort.

His clothes hung looser than they used to, and though he still forced a smirk when the situation called for it, it never quite reached his eyes anymore.

On top of that, his hands were now visibly shaking when he was reaching for something.

It was as if his body was slowly betraying him, piece by piece, and no matter how hard he tried to cover it up, the cracks were beginning to show.

They could only hope that Jamie would remember how to remove the powers from Jesse’s body soon, or else…

Austin forced the thought down before it could take root.

Fortunately, Nate didn’t seem more worried than he’d already been the past few days .

He had picked up on it of course, he would be blind if he hadn’t.

As a nurse, observations were part of the job, after all.

But Jesse had managed to downplay it just enough to get Nate off his case about it.

He couldn’t fool Austin, though; it was clear that the effect of Jamie’s seal was losing its hold, and that the pain had begun to creep back in.

Still, aside from all that really important big stuff, and aside from Jamie being a little late from dance practice to place a new seal on Jesse… things were mostly going okay.

They were all trying to be real casual, just talking as if nothing had happened and dancing around the awkwardness because nobody wanted to admit ‘this is awkward.’ To be honest though, it didn’t feel to Austin like the healthiest way to deal with things.

It made the atmosphere between them kind of strained and uncomfortable, and he would much rather have a serious heart-to-heart and get it all over with to clear the air, especially with what had happened between them.

But he got the idea that Nate was a bit…

old fashioned. He gave the vibe of somebody who wasn’t fully comfortable with being open about emotions; the kind of guy who thought ‘guys don’t do that sort of thing. ’

Maybe Austin was wrong, but he wasn’t in any rush to push it, when they were only just getting reacquainted.

Besides, he couldn’t be too harsh towards Nate about that.

Austin knew all too well how hard it was to let go of all the toxic shit he’d been raised to believe.

‘Boys don’t cry,’ ‘man up,’ ‘stop bitching,’ and all that awful shit his dad had tried to pound into his head growing up.

It had been a real process, trying to un-learn it and let himself just be ‘Austin,’ instead of always trying to be ‘man enough.’

Like, what the hell did that even mean?

Actually, if Austin were completely honest with himself, he’d still been struggling to get past all those old issues and hang-ups as recently as a little over half a year ago.

It had been Jamie, who’d really helped him to finally get over it for good .

Because Jamie liked to have long in-depth talks about his feelings.

Jamie didn’t think there was anything wrong or shameful about loving your friends; and he definitely didn’t think there was anything wrong with loving his boyfriend, either.

Jamie also didn’t think there was anything shameful about crying when you were sad.

Jamie didn’t chafe at the idea of wearing pink sometimes.

Jamie didn’t feel the need to hide his appreciation for children’s movies—especially princess ones.

Jamie had made him rethink everything he’d ever been taught, even more than he already had.

And Austin had come to realize that it was all bullshit.

Even more, it had been Jamie who’d helped him process the accident in ways he hadn’t before.

Austin didn’t know what he would do when Jamie was gone.

It was even worse knowing that Jesse was going with him.

How was Austin supposed to cope, losing his two best friends like that? It just wasn’t fair…

So maybe it was a good thing that he and Nate were getting along again, even if it was a bit awkward, and even if it did have to come slowly.

He’d need to have somebody around to talk to, when Jesse and Jamie ran off together to be…

whatever impossible thing they were going to be.

The plan was all set in motion now. Jesse had officially set Austin up as power-of-attorney, and they had go-bags packed up and ready in their apartment. They were just… waiting to go.

It was stressful, knowing that it could happen any moment.

So when Jesse got a text from Jamie, read it on his phone, and then almost jumped up with a gasp, his hands shaking even more than before, Austin’s heart immediately leapt into his throat.

“What is it?” he demanded. “What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing,” Jesse said quickly, though he was clearly lying as he glanced uncertainly over at Nate. “Jamie’s just… gonna be even later, that’s all.”

“What—oh, just let me see,” Austin sighed, taking the phone from Jesse to read the message himself .

‘Hazel has seen Eleanore following me. She says it’s been happening for a couple of days. idk why she hasn’t attacked me yet, unless she’s just waiting for nightfall or for me to be alone or something. Hazel thinks I shouldn’t take the bus so she picked me up and is driving me to your apartment.’

Well, shit.

“Uh, if you guys… have something to talk about in private, I can leave,” Nate said, looking a bit more uncomfortable now.

Austin hesitated, not wanting to make the guy feel unwelcome or like they were keeping secrets from him—even though they technically were. But this was all very important, so it might be a good idea for him to leave after all. “Maybe that would be—”

Jesse drew in another gasp, and Austin turned to him, expecting more bad news—but this time, Jesse wasn’t gasping at a message from Jamie.

In fact, he dropped his phone right then, the thing slipping from his fingers as if they’d suddenly lost all strength, while he clutched at his chest with his other hand, his face going pale.

Oh shit!

“Jesse?! Jesse, when exactly did Jamie last redo your seal?!”

“It was—gaah!” Jesse groaned, leaning over a little as he pressed both hands against his chest. “It w-was about… four hours ago…”

“What the hell?!” Nate stared in shock, his own face going a bit white as well. “Jesse, what’s wrong? Is your heart acting up again?!”

“I’m fine,” Jesse rasped insistently. “Don’t – don’t worry about me.”

Like hell they weren’t going to worry. Austin pulled his own phone out of his pocket and called Jamie at once, running a hand impatiently through his hair as the line rang through.

Finally, Jamie picked it up. “Austin, it’s fine. I’m safe.”

“What? No, I wasn’t—” Austin shook his head, refocusing on the matter at hand. “Get your ass over here! The seal wore off and it looks like it hurts Jesse pretty bad!”

“Oh damn it,” Jamie muttered in concern on the other line. “I’ll be there as soon as I can! I promise! ”

Austin hung up the line, and shoved his phone back in his pocket. Glancing over to Jesse, he couldn’t help the worry spiking in his stomach.

“Will one of you explain to me what the hell is going on?!” Nate demanded. “Jesse, if your heart’s acting up again, we should call an ambulance!”

“No!” Jesse exclaimed at once, his eyes widening as he kept clutching painfully at his heart. “No, I’m f-fine, I can handle—GAH!” He doubled over in his seat, pulling his knees up onto the chair as he clutched all the tighter at his chest with shaking hands. “F-fuck! Fuck! ”

“Damn it, this is getting worse!” Austin realized with a gasp, as he put a hand on Jesse’s back. “Just try to breathe, okay? Jamie’s on his way!”

“I’m calling an ambulance,” Nate decided, rising to his feet and determinedly pulling his own phone out.

“No, stop it!” Austin called over to him. “It’s not anything a doctor can help with, trust me!”

“What, I’m just supposed to let him have another heart attack on my watch?!” Nate demanded.

“Not a h-heart attack,” Jesse muttered breathlessly. “It’s… because of Jamie’s p-powers.”

Unsurprisingly, this didn’t seem to make Nate think Jesse needed a hospital any less. “You’re delirious,” he announced, stepping forward and taking hold of one of Jesse’s arms. “Let’s get you to the couch, and then I am calling an ambulance.”

“For fuck’s sake, Nate, forget about the ambulance!

” Austin exclaimed, deciding to just throw caution to the wind as he helped Nate move Jesse to lie down on the couch.

“He’s right; Jamie’s some kind of supernatural being or something, and it wasn’t a heart attack that Jesse suffered from all those months back.

It’s some of Jamie’s powers that accidentally got transferred to Jesse, back before Jamie even knew he had them! ”

Nate stared incredulously. “You seriously expect me to believe that?”