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“Yeah,” Austin told him bluntly. “Because I know exactly how far-fetched it seems, but I would never lie about something that might hurt Jesse. Just wait until Jamie gets here, you’ll see it then.”

Nate looked like he was about to argue—but then Jesse let out another yell of pain, this one sounding like pure agony, and Nate flinched and then knelt by the couch to start trying to help Jesse through the pain like only a trained nurse could.

…Maybe it was lucky, then, that Nate was here. Austin still wished they hadn’t had to spill the beans about Jamie—that was all information that Nate really didn’t need to know—but at least somebody was here to help for now.

Especially when Jesse’s condition got even worse.

Now that the seal was good and truly gone and Jesse had to feel his pain in full, it seemed horrifying.

The gasps and yells soon became chokes and screams as he writhed in agony on the couch, a thick sweat forming on his forehead and his muscles tense and trembling.

Nate asked Austin dozens of frantic questions in between his attempts to help Jesse, and with nothing left to lose, Austin answered them all as best he could.

Anything that might give Nate the information he needed to help Jesse manage such deep and cutting pain.

If that hadn’t been bad enough already, Austin’s phone chimed with another message from Jamie. ‘The road is blocked! Hazel has to take a detour! How’s Jesse holding up???’

Austin immediately called him again. “What does that mean?! How long before you get here?!”

“I don’t – fuck, I don’t know!” Jamie replied. “I could get out and run the rest of the way, but that would take eight or nine minutes from here!”

Over on the couch, Jesse was starting having trouble breathing.

His chest heaved in sharp, frantic bursts, the air coming in ragged and desperate, as if it couldn’t fill his lungs fast enough.

His body curled into itself as his face twisted in agonizing pain, his mouth opening in a silent scream—and then, a horrible, guttural sound came out.

“Jamie!” Austin yelled into the phone. “Fuck! Jamie, run! ”

Through the line, Austin heard the sound of a car door opening and then slamming shut—and he ended the call and returned his attention to Jesse.

His heart was racing wildly in his chest. He felt like he was back in one of his terrible nightmares, the ones where Jesse had taken his place and Austin couldn’t do anything to help him.

There was nothing they could do but wait.

Finally, after what felt like hours even though it had really only been a little under seven minutes, the doorbell rang.

Nate hurried over to open the door, and Jamie burst in.

His gaze fell on Jesse and he gasped in horror as he darted forward.

“Jesse!” he exclaimed, grabbing his partner’s hand in one of his as he pressed the other firmly against Jesse’s chest. “I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry!”

Jamie’s eyes flashed from brown to blue, his hair instantly faded to white, and the familiar light enveloped his hand, glowing softly over Jesse’s heart.

“Holy shit!” Nate breathed in shock.

Jamie glanced up at Nate as if just noticing him for the first time, and then looked over to Austin, eyes wide, like he had no idea how to react.

“It’s alright,” Austin told him, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible. “I already explained everything. I had to convince him not to call an ambulance.”

Jamie nodded, and focused on Jesse again, who blinked up at Jamie between staggering, rasping breaths, his body slowly calming down as the new seal set in place.

Then, just as Jamie retreated his hand, Jesse’s head fell to the side, and he let out a shuddering sigh as his eyes fell shut—betraying that he’d fallen unconscious.

“Shit!” Nate pushed forward and felt for Jesse’s pulse. He bit his lip for a moment, but then let out a relieved breath. “He… seems to be stable, at least,” he said.

With his blood still rushing in his ears, Austin now turned to Jamie. “When the fuck did it get that bad?!” The words came out harsher than he intended, but he just couldn’t help it.

Jamie flinched like he’d been slapped. “I – I don’t know!” Tears filled his eyes, his face twisting as guilt carved deep into his features.

In the back of his mind, Austin knew it wasn’t fair to blame Jamie for this, and clenched his fists at his sides as he fought to make himself calm down.

“Great job,” he still couldn’t help but hiss, “covering up the pain so well that we had no chance to realize it was getting even worse under the seal.”

Jamie’s shoulders caved inward, like he was trying to make himself smaller. “I’m so, so sorry,” he whispered.

* * *

Jesse

Ever so slowly, Jesse came to.

He was exhausted. He’d had no idea the human body could be this exhausted, and he couldn’t help but groan as he took stock of himself and realized that every single muscle in his body was painfully sore.

“You’re awake.”

The quiet words from Nate prompted Jesse to open his eyes, and he looked blearily around to see that he was still in Austin’s living room, lying on the couch, and Nate was sitting nearby. His expression was gravely serious, and Jesse got the distinct impression he was in trouble.

Jamie and Austin were nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s… the others?” he managed to breathe out with some difficulty, his lungs aching from all his screaming earlier.

“They’re in the kitchen,” Nate told him. “Making dinner together. ”

“…Well, that sucks,” Jesse tried for a joke, as he sorely pushed himself to sit up on the couch. “Jamie can’t cook.“

“You shouldn’t be moving around so much,” Nate sighed, reaching out to take Jesse’s wrist and check his pulse. “You need to rest.”

Jesse wanted to argue, but… he was too tired. “Fine,” he gave in, lying back down and rubbing at his forehead. “How long have I been out?”

“About half an hour,” Nate said, a deep frown pulling at his face. “I was… getting real worried. It’s not good for someone to be unconscious that long.”

“…I’ll be alright,” Jesse told him. “It’s not like normal rules of medicine apply here.”

“Don’t be stupid, Jesse,” Nate said lowly, clenching his jaw.

“Just because the source is magical, that doesn’t mean your body suddenly stops being a human one.

Nature doesn’t work that way; you still have a human heart, and human lungs, and human blood, bones, and muscles!

Magic might be the thing that’s affecting them, but that doesn’t mean they stopped working the way human bodies have always worked. ”

“Not magic,” Jesse muttered as he rubbed his temples again. “Just powers.”

“Whatever,” Nate dismissed. “The point is you’re not made for this, Jesse, and those ‘seals’ aren’t stopping the process, they’re only stopping you from feeling it as it happens!”

“…What?” Jesse stared, a thick sense of dread settling in his stomach. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that this is serious,” Nate said, and then let out a deep sigh, pushing a strand of his long blonde hair behind his ear.

“Look, I know that… the things I said before were wrong, and stupid, and hateful, and I never should have said them. But that doesn’t change the fact that you never should have taken that boy home.

” He fixed Jesse a deep frown. “I always told you not to get involved. It’s not even about him being male or anything; I would’ve said the exact same thing if it had been a girl.

Everything about him screamed da nger right from the start, and if this was a story, I’d tell you to go back to chapter one and write a different ending! ”

“…I don’t care,” Jesse told him honestly.

“If I had the chance to go back in time and start it all over again, I wouldn’t change a single thing.

” He took in a deep breath, pushing past the final, last flicker of lingering fear, to say what he should have said long ago.

“I love Jamie with all my heart, and that’s worth all the pain in the world. ”

Nate stared at him for a moment. “…Is it worth leaving Earth?” he then asked lowly.

Jesse swallowed down the lump that was suddenly forming in his throat. So Nate knew about that already.

“I’m not even going to try talking sense into you,” Nate said. “It’s clear you’re incapable of hearing it, and you’re just going to do whatever you want. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“…I didn’t think you were capable of hearing it,” Jesse repeated the words back to him. “I told you that I was leaving, I figured the rest of it was too unbelievable.”

Nate let out an anxious sort of laugh, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You do see how ridiculous that is, right?”

“I don’t care,” Jesse said again. The words should have come out firmer, but they felt weak, like everything else in his body.

“I’m going with Jamie, wherever that will be.

You can spare the lecture about me having known him for only about seven months and that I don’t even know where I’m going to end up and all that crap. ”

A silence stretched between them.

Jesse expected more pushback, more arguing, but instead, Nate leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as his steel-blue eyes locked on Jesse. “No, kid. You aren’t going anywhere.”

Jesse groaned, and raised an arm to cover his face. “Not interested,” he muttered, muffling the words against his sleeve.

“Let me open your eyes then,” Nate ignored him. “Whatever beautiful virus you’re having there—“

Jesse tensed before he could stop himself, something sharp cutting through the exhaustion. His arm fell away as he turned his head, his glare burning into Nate. “Don’t you dare compare Jamie’s powers to some fucking virus,” he hissed.

Nate didn’t even blink. His gaze shifted—sweeping over Jesse’s body in a slow and deliberate way, so clinical it made Jesse’s skin crawl.

“Call it whatever you want,” he said lowly.

“But keeping the pain in check with whatever Jamie is doing to you will not prevent it from spreading into your whole body, that’s a fact.

” And then, with the most serious, dead-eyed stare that Jesse had ever seen, he spoke the words Jesse would never have wanted to hear.

“You’re dying, don’t you get that? Your time is running out. ”