M A T C H S T I C K

Collin Lemoire. 21. Chaotic Good. It was a party outside and in and I had to squeeze my way through so many people to take this photo. Somebody emptied one of those huge packets of glitter onto the floor and partygoers were pulling it out of their hair for days afterwards. We were smoking inside and playing music off someone’s phone because the decks broke. I was so happy I could’ve died.

[grayharper]

"You didn’t have to get me anything," he says quietly. "I was the one who left." This feels almost normal, he notes to himself and he misses the old days more. Everything felt so easy— so much more simple and that was weird because he hated simplicity. 

[collinlemoire]

"Welcome back presents are a thing," he says with a shrug, a smirk curling up the side of his mouth. After a long pause, he returns his gaze to Grayson and puts his hands in his lap, leaning forward. "I missed you." He sighs. "A lot has happened."

[grayharper]

"You could make it a night light," he suggests half jokingly and yes, he has practiced that joke in the mirror before. He glanced around the room, eyes shifting from one object to another as he searches for something— an ideal place for a present that doesn’t really fit in anywhere. "A centerpiece would work just as well, I think."

[collinlemoire]

Collin smiles at the joke, walking over to his nightstand and placing the rock there. After a minute of moving things around, it rests in the center, and Collin moves closer to Grayson, sitting. He normally wakes up facing that side of the bed: it will be the first thing he sees in the morning. "Thank you, again," he says, pushing his hands into his pockets. Even now, he can't keep eye contact for long, and finds sudden interest in the carpet. "If I had known you were coming I could have gotten you something."

[grayharper]

There is a slight pause between Collin’s joke and the time Grayson laughs because his eyes zero in on the witches hands, his eyes flashing with anger before it fades. He takes a seat on the ground again and tries to ignore the image of scarred hands that plague him. “No problem,” he adds quietly after a few seconds of silence pass. There is something else in his bag, but it has more to do with Ashton than Collin so he doesn’t mention it, he simply enjoys the way being around Collin makes him feel. However, he still wonders if his best friend would have changed so much if he’d stayed.

[collinlemoire]

Collin watches Grayson carefully, trying to read the look on his face. He stares at the rock again, trying to enjoy the silence. Eventually, he gets restless and stands. "Well, where do you think I should put it?" he asks, looking around at the room. "Maybe we can make it a centerpiece on my nightstand."

[grayharper]

"Yeah, it’s a lot different than Singapore or Rome." He can hear it now, the subtle change in Collin’s voice— it was nice and reminded him of how things used to be before everything went wrong. Grayson glanced back at him and stared at him for one— two seconds before he found something else to focus. It felt nice just being able to look at him again. "Oh yeah," the former hunter says as he pulls of his bag and placed it on the ground between his legs. He rummages through it for a few seconds before pulling out a medium sized piece of molten rock. Slowly he rises and presents it to him. "I found this while I was out and it— it reminded me of you."

[collinlemoire]

"Because I'm a lumpy piece of rock?" he asks, chuckling lightly. He takes the rock in both his hands, setting it in his lap and running his fingers over it. He can only partially feel the rough edges under his scarred touch, but it brings a smile to his face nonetheless. Maybe it was because his hands, for the first time since being mutilated, didn't look so freakish against the cool, dark ridges. That's so stupid, Collin, he thinks, your hands aren't molten rock. Still, he likes looking at them, resting there. "Um, thank you." he finally remembers to say.

[grayharper]

He laughs quietly because that sounds like it would have been ideal, traveling and searching for himself— hoping to be something better than what he was. Grayson ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. “The first few months weren’t ideal, but things got better towards the end. I found a place in Kentucky and got help. It was— it was nice, being able to talk and try to find ways to fix things.” His eyes wandered up to the ceiling. “I’m not a machine however, I’m a human and I’m not something to fix.”

[collinlemoire]

Collin feels the beginning of a smile tug at his lips when Grayson finishes speaking. For once he doesn't try to hide it, though he focuses intently on Grayson's shoes. "Good." he says almost on a breath. The mood is slowly beginning to lift, the ice around the edges of their conversation starting to melt as their words gets warmer. "Kentucky's in America, right?"

[grayharper]

There is a pain in his chest that happens out of now where. Grayson freezes and wonders just how much has changed since he has been gone, what adventures Collin has had that he wasn’t a part of. Suddenly that pain was every where and inhaled, trying to let it all go because it wasn’t a good idea to harbor it. “Okay,” he says his voice shaking. “Collin it is then.”

[collinlemoire]

Collin watches Grayson curiously, unsure of what to say because it's obvious that he's upset. The young witch bites the inside of his cheek, searching for words that won't come. "Um," he finally manages, "so, uh, how was your trip?" He falters, his mouth curving into a faint smile. "That makes it sound like you were on a freaken vacation."

[grayharper]

"Then," he says almost happily. "I guess that I’ll be here for a while." Grayson glances down at his hands again. "I missed you, Matchstick."

[collinlemoire]

"Please don't call me that." he says quietly. Almost embarrassed, he rubs the back of his neck. "I'm just Collin nowadays."

[grayharper]

He didn’t really understand the question. What made him so special— well, he was Collin and that was more than enough. “You’re my best friend,” he said simply. “That’s really all I can say.”

[collinlemoire]

Collin feels the same pang of... something, as before, and he immediately looks down at his hands folded in his lap. He can't accept that answer but doesn't ask Grayson for another. After a moment he pushes the rising emotion back down and lifts his head. "Um, I mean, I won't... ask you to leave or anything."

[grayharper]

He shrugs his shoulders and glances down at his shoes. It’s the first new pair he’d gotten in a long time. They felt nice and made it easier to move. Grayson really couldn’t say if he was staying or not— he’d come back to make sure Collin was safe and it seemed like he was so moving on sounded like a good idea. However, he didn’t know if he’d be able to leave twice. “I came back for you,” he admits and ignores the way his face heats up because this is sort of embarrassing. “If you want me to stay, I’d have no problem doing so.”

[collinlemoire]

A frown appears on Collin's face, and he looks at Grayson for a moment, as if to ask if he was serious. He looks almost uncomfortable, pulling his legs up onto the bed and staring at his carpet with a trouble expression. Why him? After six months Collin barely thinks about Grayson, save the occasional sad and nostalgic memory. Long ago he had mourned his friend's assumed death. And yet Grayson is making life decisions based on him and it makes no sense at all. "Why?" he finally asks. "What makes me so special?"

[grayharper]

He moves to Collin and follows behind him as he moves forward. It’s weird, walking through the Coven again as something other than a threat. Grayson notices that there is distance between them, Collin is walking a few paces ahead and he supposes that all of this is normal. How do you go back to being friends after six months? You don’t, it takes time, it takes energy. When they arrive at the room, he glances around and whistles quietly. The place looks nice and so he moves to the floor, leaning backwards against the bed. He notices a change in the room and glances back at Collin. “Less weed?”

[collinlemoire]

"What? Um..." he looks around. "Yeah, I guess." He shrugs. Collin hasn't taken much notice of the fact that he was smoking less, but now that he thinks about it, he realizes he has. There's silence between them for a while, Collin picking awkwardly at his sheets. "So, are you staying here permanently?"

[grayharper]

"Okay," he says simply. His lips curled into a smile and he nods slowly because he doesn’t want to make it seem like he is desperate to hang with Collin— even though he is. "Yeah, that would be nice."

[collinlemoire]

Collin just nods and starts to walk, purposefully forgetting about the mess he's leaving behind. He stops in the doorway and waits for Grayson to meet him there before walking again. He isn't sure exactly what to do, or even where to go, but he's hyper-aware that Grayson is right there and finds himself walking just a half pace ahead. Eventually, Collin finds himself at his room, which he supposes is as good as anywhere, so long as Brady is out. Collin uses an unlocking spell and the door swings open. It's empty, so he goes immediately to his bed. "Um... Sit anywhere you want."

[grayharper]

When you fix something, a lot of things get left behind. He left behind slouching because it was a habit he picked up when he didn’t want people to notice him— he wanted to take up space now, to be seen. Grayson couldn’t hold eye contact for long and returned his view to the ground, it feels easier this way. “Yeah, it just sort of stopped one day.” His fingers drummed against the kitchen sink. “I don’t know what else to say other than I’m sorry, Collin.”

[collinlemoire]

"Then don't." Collin says quietly, crossing his arms again. "You don't have to." It's unbelievable, the affect just a few minutes in his presence again has. Collin wants to tell him so much, but he doesn't know how to start. He doesn't know how to be that person anymore. Except, he wants to be, at least right now he does. "Do you want to... Go sit somewhere?"

[grayharper]

Burning soda didn’t smell as good as he thought it would. He ran a hand through his hair and inhaled, leaning back against the kitchen sink. At least he’d gotten through that without crying, right. Grayson stared at him quietly and nods once, twice before he decides to speak up. “It’s okay,” he says quietly. He’s been gone and things are different, he knows that, but it doesn’t stop him from looking at Collin the way he used to look at the stars in the sky. There is a difference though, he notes. “You’ve gotten taller.”

[collinlemoire]

For the first time since first seeing him walk through the doorway, Collin leaves his gaze on Grayson for more than a few seconds. He presses his lips together, some unknown emotion rising in him that he tries to ignore. "So have you." he replies, and there's a strain to his voice that hadn't been there a moment before. "Or maybe you just stopped slouching."

[grayharper]

How do you tell someone you died while you were away and any chance of communication was rendered useless because of the torture? He bit his lip and stopped just short of drawing blood. This wasn’t a thing he wanted, this meeting was supposed to go a lot differently. Collin had a right to be mad though — he hadn’t been in contact with him for months. “Collin—,” he inhaled and looked at him because there was no where else in the room that needed his attention more. “I’m sorry… I left and I got captured and there was so much wrong— with me, with everything. I needed to fix it, I couldn’t come back until I fixed it.”

[collinlemoire]

Collin stares downward for a long time, his expression shifting as he tries to figure out what to say. Here was his best friend, essentially back from the dead, and he was treating him like shit. A part of him felt terrible, yet he couldn't bring himself to treat Grayson the way he had six months ago. He drops his drink when the metal heats up under his angry touch, and he shakes his hands to cool down. "Alright." He gives Grayson a brief look. "I'm sorry I'm an asshole. Welcome back."

[grayharper]

Neither did I. He looks down at his hands instead of Collin because he is familiar with that tone of voice— he can still remember when Octavian ran a knife through Collin’s stomach. However, his hands are different now and there a large scars in the center from where was attacked after he left. “Yeah,” he says through a pained breath. “Me either.”

[collinlemoire]

"Yeah?" There's a stretch of silence between the two of them; Collin electing not to say anything more. Eventually he turns away from his friend completely, moving to the refrigerator to get a drink. "Honestly, I thought the lack of communication meant you were dead." he says casually, cracking open a can of soda. "Nice to know you aren't."

[jasperuttley-deactivated2016021]

She extended her hand until it met his face. “Seek power, become strong, but don’t be a dick.”

[collinlemoire]

"Don't be a dick. Got it."

[blxckgoddess]

"How are your flowers doing?"

[collinlemoire]

"Oh, the ones you gave me? They're great, still cute and sitting on my dresser."