Kawaii-Cherri: Yeah, Demetrius isn't going to fair any better in future chapters to be honest. I do also adore Elsie. I wish I was more like her in certain aspects. She's such a queen. I wonder how you're going to feel about this chapter.
Chapter Twenty-two – Skipping stones.
When Sebastian woke up, he could smell coffee. He yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes; it felt like he had been asleep for over ten hours. Everything hurt and ached, his arm stiff and sore, along with the matching wounds on his opposite leg. Blearily, he looked around and spotted the note from Elspeth, he picked it up and read it. A small smile found its way to his lips and he shook his head before brushing his hair back. That's so like her, he thought to himself as he gingerly stood up, a little wary of putting weight on his injured limb. It was bearable and so he decided to step out the tent and follow the scent of coffee.
The grass was a little damp and he spotted Elspeth at the small gas fire that they had brought with them. She was humming quietly to herself and occasionally stirring the coffee that was brewing in a camping tin. He raised a brow as he couldn't help but smile at her obliviousness. Elspeth poured the coffee into a mug and stood up, turning around. She squeaked in surprise and jumped, causing Sebastian to reach forward and grab the mug so that she didn't slop scalding coffee over herself. Some caught the back of his hand and he hissed in pain.
'Oh, fuck!' Elspeth swore as she grabbed the water bottle and tipped half of it over his burning skin. 'Bazz!' She scolded, 'you scared the life out of me,' Elspeth frowned, taking the mug from his fingers now that things had calmed. He winced and shook his burnt hand.
'My fault,' he said, simply. 'Don't feel bad,' he assured as he looked at the red, shiny skin on the back of his thumb.
'Don't feel bad? You got burned!'
Sebastian rolled his eyes and simply waved his hand out the way of her questioning grip. 'It'll heal,' he said simply as he reached down to pick up the mug again. Elspeth was looking at him with annoyance and he leaned forward, playfully patting her on the head. She hissed and batted away his hand. 'Thank you for the coffee. Are you alright? Did you manage to get any sleep at all?' He asked, concerned that somehow his skin might have kept her up.
Elspeth shook her head, 'not really but it was my own fault,' she said as she sat next to him in the camping chairs that they had placed out the day before. He smiled and sipped his coffee, looking at her. She had gotten changed and by the looks of it, and taken a shower. Elspeth wore a strange expression and decided to just dive into the awkward conversation head first. Unsure if she could touch him or not she reached out to rest her hand on his arm before pulling away. He raised a brow at her and tilted his head, wondering what was going on.
He cleared his throat, 'Elsie… are you okay?' He asked. 'It's going to take some getting used to but um, when we're alone, you… you can touch me,' Sebastian mumbled, shifting in his seat. He was still topless and realised he probably should have at least attempted to pull on a t-shirt. 'I mean, if you wanted to, you don't have to, obviously,' he babbled, 'and, uh, it will probably mean that you have to wash your hands before touching anything someone else might tou-'
'Move in with me!' Elspeth blurted out and then sat up in her chair, her hand over her mouth. Sebastian almost dropped his coffee, his hand lapsing and when some of it sloshes out, he jerks the mug back up; making them both jump. 'Uh,' Elspeth began. 'What I mean is,' she cleared her throat and decided to bite the metaphorical bullet. 'Um, I think that you should move in with me, because uh, well, you'd have your own room and uh, well, you'd be free, well not free, but like, away from, uh, Demetrius, and things,' she babbled, trying to explain herself. Elspeth had decided that with the information she found out from Demetrius, she would give it to Sebastian once he had come to terms with current things.
Sebastian stared at her, a little slumped in his chair. He leaned forward onto his knees and exhales, 'wow, Elsie… that's something,' he mumbled, running his hand over his face before looking over at her. She looked so sweet in the moment, her hands nestled in her lap and she was biting her lip, looking worried. 'Elsie-'
'If you're worried about relationship stuff, don't be!' She interrupted, worried that he might turn her down. That would be awkward. After she left Demetrius in his lab, she had gone into Sebastian's room and had packed a few things for him; laptop, clothing, bedding, that sort of thing. She had packed it all up in some large bags she found in his wardrobe and then literally wheeled his motorbike along the mountain path back to her place. Elspeth didn't want to imagine what Demetrius would be like if he saw Sebastian so soon after she literally destroyed the man's work and threatened his reputation and relationship. 'Um, what I mean is,' she repeated. 'You'd have your own space. You'd literally be like a roommate and you'd not have to worry about covering your skin and hopefully you'd reacclimatise to being well… as normal as you can be? Anything between us is a, um, a separate issue. Not that it's an issue but like, a different subject,' she said weakly. 'Oh, fuck, Bazz, please say something,' she said looking at him. 'I'm digging such a hole-'
He reached over and placed a finger on her lips, silencing her with a little squeak. Sebastian chuckled and moved his finger from her lip to holding her cheek. 'You are talking too much for me to get a word in edgeways,' he pointed out making her giggle and roll her eyes, playfully. He inhaled deeply and looked into her eyes, 'if… it is something that you're really, truly, comfortable with, then yes, Elsie. I would love to move in with you,' he said honestly.
She stiffened for a brief moment; which made Sebastian wonder why but the thought quickly disappeared as she squealed in joy and leaned over to hug him, 'yay!' She giggled, tilting in her camp chair.
Gently, he held her back, 'but you have to accept rent from me,' he said, firmly.
Elspeth gave him a look, her hands on his shoulders. He held her by the waist with one hand, his other held the coffee out the way. 'You can't be serious,' she said, her expression saying it all. She was not impressed. 'You are my boyfriend aren't you?' Elspeth pointed out; her eyes narrow.
Sebastian chuckled and waggled his head from side to side, 'technically, yes?' He said in a tease. Her expression darkened and he laughs lightly in response. 'Elsie, I am yours,' he assured. 'Just not by this town's standards. Not until I give you a bouquet and you said that you didn't want one of those until things were more… comfortable,' he explained. 'And you did say that this wouldn't be related to our relationship.'
'I mean, I did say that. It would feel weird if I took money from you, though,' she admitted.
'That's what's going to separate it from an actual step forward in our relationship,' he said, softly. Although, not that I would complain if she wished to progress our relationship further in any aspect. I know it's going fast, faster than I even thought possible but it… it feels so right, he thought to himself, amazed at his calmness in regards to it all.
'Ugh,' she muttered, not cruelly. It was frustrating that he was right.
'Also, Elsie, if I'm living with you and you want me to be uncovered and things, that means that anyone who comes over is at risk of residue I could leave around the house- Oh, shit, Buddy!' He said as he realised. 'I can't. I can't do this,' he said firmly.
'What? Why?' Elspeth replied, a little confused at his sudden one-eighty turn.
'I could literally kill your dog,' he shook his head and moved back from her. 'I wouldn't ever want to risk hurting him. There's no guarantee that I could keep him safe. The whole point would be futile, I wouldn't ever be able to relax. It was a nice idea but I won't risk it.'
'Actually… um,' Elspeth said, 'that's not entirely accurate,' she mumbled, awkwardly. From what she had read from Demetrius' files; Buddy's fur would protect him from Sebastian's residue, unless he licked himself before it oxidised or Sebastian touched Buddy's mouth, belly or paws; where his skin was prevalent. Sebastian gave her a questioning look and Elspeth realised that she was going to have to lie to him. 'I um, went to see Demetrius this morning. Now that I know about your secret, I decided to find out some more,' she said, feeling guilt run rampant in her stomach.
He frowned. 'Why didn't you just ask me?'
'I wanted to!' Elspeth admitted. 'You said yourself that you told me everything you knew, but this was more of the science side of things? Because I wanted to ask you to move in with me,' she explained. 'I wanted to know more about the whole, toxin thing.' That wasn't a lie, she had always wanted Sebastian to move in with her, ever since she discovered her attraction to him.
With a raised brow, he sipped his coffee. 'Demetrius… he just told you things? He has only ever told me the bare minimum,' he muttered.
Elspeth grinned, hoping it would hide her obvious lying. 'Well, once he knew that I knew your secret, there wasn't much he could actually hide,' she said, a half-truth. 'It uh, it turns out, he had been doing certain tests, because you wanted to move to the city,' she added, which also was another twisted half-truth as she was portraying Demetrius in a more positive way than the real reason he was doing the experiments.
Sebastian tilted his head and his posture relaxed. He sipped his coffee again while Elspeth explained that the toxin he secreted would oxidise within minutes and it wasn't in any way lethal. Also, it couldn't hurt Buddy, if anything, he'd go limp for about a minute, maybe less; it affected humans in a stronger way than animals. For a moment, Sebastian was angry but then it dwindled away. 'Of course, he'd tell you all of this and not me,' he muttered as he looked away from Elspeth.
She felt nauseated and hated lying to him but that was another problem for another day, it was clear he was overwhelmed enough by the last twenty-four hours. 'I'm sorry,' Elspeth said, sincerely.
'So… it's not lethal?' He mumbled, looking at his hand.
Elspeth shook her head, 'not in any sense of the word. Not even if you were to literally dump a litre of it onto someone,' she said, quietly. 'I'm sorry you've been told otherwise,' she added, hating Demetrius more than what she ever thought possible. Seeing Sebastian so defeated and hurt was almost like having pins slowly driven under her nails, completely unbearable. She knew it would take a while to come to terms with everything he had been told and what was the truth or just a lie. She would give him all the information she had discovered, in time. I don't want to completely overwhelm him, it wouldn't be fair, she thought sadly.
He gave her a bitter smile and shook his head as he put down his mug. 'Don't be,' he mumbled, 'it's not your fault.' To overcome the fact that she felt like shit and hopefully distract Sebastian, Elspeth got up and very literally climbed into his lap, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as she buried her head in the crook of his neck. He froze for a moment before relaxing and holding her close, he nuzzled the side of her throat and closed his eyes as he inhaled the scent of her freshly washed hair.
'So, will you move in with me?' She whispered.
Sebastian chuckled and nodded, 'are you sure it will be safe?' He asked, a little wary.
Elspeth smiled brightly. 'Perfectly,' she assured.
'Then, yes,' he agreed and Elspeth wriggled happily, making him laugh. She pulled back and they looked at one another for a moment. Elspeth felt heat rise to her cheeks and she couldn't help but look at his lip ring as her eyes were drawn to his mouth.
For a moment, she thought they might kiss but a realisation kicked in and she became distracted. 'Hey!' She blurted out and grabbed his chin, opening his mouth. 'Your tooth grew back!' Elspeth said, with her fingers practically touching his gums.
He tried to reply but had to grab her hand, removing it manually. 'Yeah, of course it did,' he said with a chuckle. 'Do you know how many teeth I lost when trying to get away from that fish?' Sebastian said, a smirk on his face. 'It practically had armour plating. Anyone would have lost teeth biting that thing. No wonder it was so big, nothing can eat it,' he mused.
'You bit it?' Elspeth replied in surprise.
'Yeah,' Sebastian laughed as he saw her expression. 'Well, I wasn't exactly armed with a switchblade now, was I?' He pointed out. 'I had to bite it to get it to let go of my tail and arm,' he explained.
'You bit the fish,' she stated.
'Yes, Elsie. I bit the fish,' he said slowly with a smile. 'What is so hard to comprehend about that?' He asked as she leaned back. Her legs were half wrapped around him as he had scooted forwards in his seat when she climbed onto his lap. 'My teeth also fall out when I change back to what is considered normal,' he added with a small laugh. 'It's not pleasant but it doesn't hurt. I mean, I shed a literal tail as well as my spine realign and things of a similar nature,' he added as he thought about it.
'The giant, prehistoric, fanged, armoured fish?' Elspeth said, her mind replaying the visual memory of when she saw it under the water. Her thalassophobia had taken quite a deep root in her psyche after that moment. 'You bit it,' she repeated for the third time.
Sebastian was concerned that she had somehow mentally short-wired, 'yeah. What else was I supposed to do?' She wore and expression of that showed her incredulously. 'It bit me first!' He added, sounding almost petulant.
'I just… didn't expect you to say that,' she mumbled, clearly holding something back.
He shrugged his shoulders. 'What's wrong about it? It was the only option I had.'
Elspeth looked at him and then burst into laughter. 'I'm sorry!' She cackled, 'I'm just imagining you, like, opening your mouth really wide and-' she made a sound while miming a large bite, 'just, fucking, nomming the bastard!' She giggled. 'Like it was some corn on the cob!' Elspeth had practically dissolved into giggles. 'I'm so sorry, Bazz, but it's so much easier to think of it as something funny than the reality of the fact that that fish wanted to literally eat you,' she said as she shook with laughter.
He relaxed, glad that she wasn't having too much of a moment. 'Yeah, thinking about it, it is pretty funny,' he admitted as he chuckled at her continued mime of biting something.
She finally calmed down and exhaled heavily, 'sorry,' she said, wiping under her eye. 'After everything that's happened recently, I kinda needed that,' Elspeth admitted. While her confrontation with Demetrius had been more anger focused than fearful, it was a lot of stress. 'Oh,' she said, quite comfortable on his lap. 'I may have brought a few things from your place to mine, hope you don't mind.'
Sebastian raised a brow and easily stood up, causing Elspeth to squeak in a little fear. He held her with one arm underneath, so she was sitting on his forearm. She gripped onto him tightly and wore an impressed expression. 'You were convinced I was going to agree to moving in, huh?' He said as he carried her into the tent. They really needed to pack up and collect Buddy from Marnie, it was getting on in the day.
Elspeth looked either side of her, his injured arm was the one he used to open the tent with but she didn't seem to be a hinderance. 'Do I weigh nothing to you?' She exclaimed, surprised by how easily he seemed to carry her.
'Looks are deceiving,' he teased in reply before ungracefully dropping her on the air mattress with a grin.
She squealed before hitting the soft bed and bouncing. 'Asshole!' She laughs, reaching up and throwing a pillow at him. 'Seriously though, is that like, some, merman thing?' Elspeth asked. He was slim and fit but not as muscularly defined as Alex; Hayley had great joy in showing Elspeth some pictures he had sent her, though Elspeth had drawn the line at anything below the waist.
He caught the pillow easily and nodded, 'yeah. The way Calypso explained it to me is that all the strength and stamina I develop in my… mer form? Is carried over into this one and so I've actually got to be quite careful,' he admitted. 'I broke so many glasses and bottles in my teens,' he chuckled as he began to pack things.
Elspeth went bright red at the thought of Sebastian being able to pick her up so easily and when he mentioned, "stamina", her mind took a large detour down a dirtier alley. She cleared her throat and started to pack things of her own. 'Oh,' she said, nonchalantly. 'I'm sure that kind of thing will be good to know for the future,' Elspeth said, conversationally, mentally trying to hogtie her hormones and bury them. It wasn't working well and her face was a deep shade of crimson. Desperately, she tried to change the subject. 'So, I um, brought your bike,' she said as the thought hit her.
'My bike?' He repeated as he looked over from where he was rolling up his sleeping bag.
'Yeah,' she nodded. 'I didn't ride it. I just wheeled it down to mine. The keys are on the kitchen table. When do you have to work next?' Elspeth asked.
'Not till tomorrow. Well, anytime I want to, actually. I have deadlines, not set hours,' he explained.
She smiled and shoved a blanket into the bag, 'in that case, maybe tomorrow, you can um, tell your mum about you moving and uh, perhaps, decorate your room? If that's something you wanted to do? Obviously, you don't have to, but I thought we could take a drive to the big furniture store in the city in my jeep,' Elspeth explained. 'Make a day of it?'
Sebastian smiled and walked over to her. Some physical touch seemed to come naturally, other actions he had to think about. It was almost as if he had a physical stutter and he moved his hand towards her face, inching back before extending again and finally tilting her chin so that she looked at him. 'Sounds amazing, Elsie,' he assured as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against her forehead, too shy to actually kiss her. Elspeth smiled and gently leaned into his embrace, enjoying the moment between them rather than dwelling on what it could have been.
Be well. Stay safe.