scully, you're not going to believe this

Shifts. Cody had never worked a shift. Life on set wasn’t like that. Felt disingenuous, to call it hard, but… it could be, there were long, long days. But it wasn’t like he was getting cussed out by pissy soccer moms over the toast being underdone, or something. And, obviously… he was getting paid the way he got paid, so. Couldn’t complain. He could drink about it. But he couldn’t complain.

Speaking of, the coffee was almost great enough that he didn’t wish it was Irish. Almost. Cody was working on it, slowly, when Hunter… just called him the fuck out, huh? Little goddamn early for that, wasn’t it? Said smile bent a bit. “Wow. Ah…” It is none of your business. Thanks for noticing? He swallowed that, and another mouthful of coffee. Took a deep breath, swallowed something else - the rock in his throat. Didn’t go down easy. God, he was tired. Was that what he was feeling? Sure. Call it tired. “I… think I do it for the same reasons everybody else does, honestly,” Cody shook his head, vaguely, the words starting to waver. Look up. You don’t cry so easy, looking at the ceiling lights. Then down, fast. Old newscaster trick. With a laugh, or something like that, he did his best to shrug it off. His very best. “Fake it ‘til you make it. Right?”

Hunter regretted his question immediately when he saw Cody’s smile falter. He hadn’t meant to upset the guy, but it seemed he had anyway. He retreated slightly, clearing his throat and looking back at the man in front of him apologetically. “I . . . guess,” he said hesitantly, not entirely sure how to respond. As someone who’d hidden his true identity his entire life, Hunter knew what it was like to pretend he felt one way when he really felt another. But he never would have guessed that Cody Cavaleri would have something to hide behind a fake smile. The guy was famous, he had money, people fawning over him . . . wasn’t he happy with his life?

“Yeah, anybody.” she said mindlessly. There was no warning him. She could flat out tell him she was a demon trying to suck the life out of him and he would probably just laugh it off. Human flaws. She could tell he was a little disappointed and placed a hand on his shoulder smiling, “It’ll be fun, I’m excited.” she said, hoping her touch would calm.

She chuckled at his slip up. She hadn’t been on a date in a long time. Maybe it would be fun, maybe she had finally found a way to be normal. Maybe. “Yeah, here put your number in, I’ll text you when I’m available for the date. Unless that word scares you too much.” she teased, handing him an open contact on her phone.

“I just wasn’t sure if you wanted me to use that word,” Hunter admitted, taking her phone and putting his information into it, texting himself so he’d have her number, before handing the phone back to her. He gave her a smile of his own, feeling a strange trill of excitement go through him. It’d been so long since he’d been on a date . . . he hoped he wouldn’t screw it up somehow.

Unfortunately for people like Hunter was describing, humans could be just as evil as the supernatural and paranormal creatures. She considered his words - Hunter’s rationalization made sense, she supposed. Bad things did happen everywhere, not just here. “In small towns like this it’s easy to feel isolated from the rest of the world, so it may be easy to make up things like that,” she mused.

“I do also think, though, that things aren’t always so easily explained,” she looked at him, a small smile on her face. Especially in a hotspot like this town. Very interesting point of view that Hunter had, she hadn’t heard that before. Annie’s curiosity was still peaked about the cult, she definitely still want to look into it more. “’Course, you might think I have a couple screws loose when I say that out loud.”

“Nah, at least, not any more than most of the other people in this town,” Hunter said with a small smile. He shrugged, then. “I do think there are some things that are more difficult to explain than others. I mean, that’s where the intrigue comes from, that fiction builds off of. Nobody would be interested in The Moth Man if there was a perfectly reasonable explaining for what those people saw. It’s the mystery surrounding it that makes it fascinating. And that’s why I write, to expound on that mystery.”

“Yeah, New York is big but I don’t think there’s a single restaurant there that can compete with the food here.” She said with a shake of her head. Perhaps Blackwood Pines was bigger than she thought. Or- in a more logical approach- she had been more antisocial back then than she thought. She didn’t recognize him and she supposed that was a good thing. At least something in that town still surprised her. No warning bells, so at least she was in the presence of a human. “Hunter, right, nice to meet you. I’m Josie. Yeah, I took it over from my dad, Dr. Evergreen. And as a doctor myself, I should be bothering you about coming in for a check up, but I’m gonna let that slide”

Alex smiled, happy to think that his behavior at the diner hadn’t likely earned him a terrible reputation in town already. It was amusing to think that enough people fell asleep in the diner that the staff hardly took note of it.

Once they were seated at a booth, Alex scanned the menu for something light, finally settling on what looked like a mini breakfast dish that was simply an omelette and toast.  He memorized the name for when it was time to order, and then looked across the table at Hunter. “So what have you been up to this week? Made any progress on your novel?” He was still super impressed that Hunter was actually writing one. So many people talked about wanting to write, but Hunter was actually doing it.

“Ah, well, my novel not so much,” Hunter admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve hit a dead-end with some of my cult research, so I’ve mostly just been working on my short stories for the magazine. Before she left, Odelia suggested I write about the Wendigo, next. It has ties to Indigenous mythology, so I thought my dad might have some insight on it, even though it’s not really from Cherokee culture specifically.” He shrugged. “I’ve been looking into it, but it’s slow going right now.” He didn’t want to admit that he’d been horribly distracted by everything going on with Addison, and then Odelia leaving town suddenly, and . . . whatever it was between him and Alex.

“Thanks,” he smiled through that, weakly, as Hunter turned away. Some kind of… discomfort, something bristly and claustrophobic, was creeping and crawling through Cody’s chest. Maybe it was being back here, at the diner - even smelled the same, didn’t it? What did they say about smell being the sense most tied to memory, some crap like that? He’d believe it, sitting there, trying not to remember the last time he’d slid into one of those squeaky vinyl booths. That one, specifically. Corner. Nonna’s favourite. It’d been, what, a couple months before that stroke? She was small and old, and he’d just got tall and gangly, sixteen and trying to pull off puberty gracefully. One of those wrinkled hands had slid across the table to cover his nervous, tapping fingers. And where are you going, over there? She’d asked, smiling. His face had flushed hot, ashamed, embarrassed, stumbling into a run through of his schedule - shoots, auditions, tutoring. Life, back in California. Stuff that… just didn’t seem to make much sense, from the Pines. Stop. With that gentle, solid way she had about her. Stay awhile.

His fingers weren’t tapping, now. Only because he’d picked up a few more camera-friendly ways to keep them busy.  Maybe it was Hunter, and how - how he was. Nice. So fucking nice, too nice. No. No, Hunter was fine. Cody was the one being weird. This town was making him weird. He swung that big grin back up when the coffee slid his way. Managed to pin it in place, when Hunter went and got… personal. Great. So, it was obvious. “Oh, sure,” Cody waved the thought away, insistently. Was he okay. “Think I’m getting a migraine.” That wasn’t too bullshitty, was it? Might be true. He raised that coffee, grateful, exhausted. “How, uh - how about you? Early start, huh? Rough…” Well, that sucked, as small talk went. But the coffee was still good, so.

“Yeah, I mean, I get a few early shifts during the week,” Hunter said with an absent nod, hands resting on the counter as he leaned against it, cleaning rag still flung over his shoulder. He studied Cody in front of him, thinking this was a far cry from the Cody Cavaleri from the movies. Not that Hunter thought actors were at all like the characters they played, it was just somewhat jarring to see the object of much of his young adult obsessions in front of him looking like he’d just risen from the grave.

He’d said he was okay, and Hunter didn’t want to pry, but it was pretty obvious the guy wasn’t okay, no matter how big he smiled.

“You do that a lot,” he said before he could stop himself, gesturing toward Cody’s face. “Fake smile, I mean.” He paused, grimacing slightly. “Sorry, it’s none of my business. I’m just . . . curious as to why you think you have to.” He glanced around the empty diner before looking back at Cody. “There’s no one here you need to impress or anything. You don’t have to smile if you don’t feel like it. It’s not like I’m going to be offended or anything.”

Alex wondered if Hunter was always so chivalrous, or if this was just first date nerves. He still couldn’t help but find it kind of cute, even though he was definitely more than capable of finding the door handle on his own. But if opening doors made Hunter happy…

He would appreciate a little help finding his way into the diner, though. It was easy enough to find the door from the sidewalk when he’d walked to the diner himself, but he wasn’t entirely sure where they’d parked so while he could find the diner eventually, being guided there would be a hell of a lot quicker.

“I’m great,” he answered, climbing out of the car. “If I could take your elbow from here to wherever we end up sitting, that’d be helpful. Cars move a little too fast for me to keep oriented, so I’m not quite sure where we parked.”

As they moved towards what he assumed was the diner, Alex decided to mention what he’d been thinking about on the ride over. If nothing else, it was probably mildly amusing. “So are you ready for your coworkers to see you here with the guy they probably only know as the bum asleep at table 3?” That had been a pretty bad morning for him, but it’d also been the day Hunter had given Alex his phone number, so it hadn’t been all bad.

Hunter offered Alex his elbow without hesitation once the other mentioned it, leading the way up to the front of the diner and opening the door for them. He glanced over at Alex quizzically, as he mentioned his coworkers, not understanding why they’d think anything of him having a meal with a friend.

“You’re not the first person to fall asleep on one of the tables,” he said with a grin, leading him over to a booth before stepping away to take a seat across from him. “Nor the last, probably. It’s likely they don’t even remember it, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.” He didn’t bother picking up a menu, knowing its contents like the back of his hand at this point. 

      Casper hummed an understanding, but the look of disapproval was hard to wipe from his face. When it came to the forest surrounding them, it was easy to be lulled into the tranquil peace it seemed to encompass, almost easy to forget that it housed more than a few victims deep within. The trees rustled and the deputy only spared a glance to their surroundings, holding fast against the uneasy feeling creeping in around them. He lowered his flashlight.

      “Sure scared the neighborhood watch.” Not an especially difficult thing to do in Blackwood Pines. “Like I said, you’re not in trouble. You catch anything on that camera?” He asked mostly out of curiosity, though if anything had been seen, he doubted Hunter would tell him. 

“Just some trees and bushes, a couple owls,” Hunter said with a shrug, stepping closer to the officer and away from the edge of the forest. “I didn’t mean to scare anyone.” He felt kind of sheepish, kind of like a kid getting caught by their parent with their hand in the cookie jar in the middle of the night.

“I really shouldn’t have tried that one with a writer,” she chuckled. Chewing on her lip, she thought about how she should answer his question. She couldn’t admit to digging up a dead body. Not just because it was illegal - the last thing she wanted was for Hunter to find out the exact way the banshee went about solving the majority of the cases that fell on her table. 

When he began questioning her on just that, the woman raised a brow and flashed another amused grin at him. “I can see where you came to that conclusion but may I remind you that that is illegal and the last thing I need is to be found breaking the law. That could cost me my license.” Of course, that didn’t provide him with an answer, but she needed a second to think up a more logical excuse so as to keep the writer off her trail.

“Hold up, let’s back peddle a sec - you said you followed me in? That can’t be all. You would have to have been loitering nearby in order to notice me. So now I have to ask again - what could possibly lead you to be hanging out around a cemetery this late? Can’t be for inspiration, because this is, funny enough, the least haunted place in Blackwood Pines. That is unless,“ she paused, faux gasping and placing a hand over her chest. “Are you stalking me, Lovecraft? I mean, I get it, I’m pretty fascinating and I’m sure clandestine meetings in a graveyard in the middle of the night is real fodder for your novel but if you wanted to tag along on an investigation, all you had to do was ask.” Except that was a lie, she wouldn’t let him. 

Hunter could feel heat rising to his cheeks at her accusation, and even though he knew she was just trying to change topics to avoid telling him what she was doing, he took the bait, eager to prove he wasn’t some creepy stalker.

“No, of course not,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m doing research.” He held up the smart phone in his hand. “Taking pictures of the graveyard at night to fully capture what it’s like in my descriptions. It’s always best to be there to take the photos yourself because then you have the experience of the atmosphere. It’s different just looking up pictures online. It’s not personal . . . not visceral enough.” He shrugged. “So, yeah, then I saw you and got curious. Now we’re here.” He held his hands out to the side absently.

“So . . . what are you doing?” he asked again.

“Hunter Redbird,” Annie repeated, making sure that she would remember it to look some of his stuff later. She looked at him, curiously at his explanation. She couldn’t say she necessarily didn’t agree with him - after all, she was the one that charged people for exorcisms to get rid of poltergeists and ghosts, as well as whatever witchy-things she could offer them. Of course, she was pretty sure that if someone were in true danger and couldn’t pay she’d do it for no cost, but such a thing had yet to happen. 

“You believe that they believe what they think is real, then.” Annie said, nodding along. “People have an uncanny interest in things they don’t understand - werewolves, vampires, spirits… And I guess I’d even throw aliens onto that list, too, but I’ve never had any personal experiences with them unless you count the movies.” Implying that she’d had experiences with werewolves, vampires, and spirits… Oh my. Not much experience with the former two, however. 

“I do believe in the paranormal though, I’ve seen a lot of things in this town even after only living here 6 months for it to be considered, uhm, normal.” She shrugged though. To each their own. “It’s cool that you write about it though… What sort of research do you do into old stories? Especially the one about the cult - if you don’t think you’re revealing too much about your novel, of course.”  

“Well, I’ve been hearing stories ever since I moved here when I was a toddler,” Hunter admitted. “And then I’ve read a lot of books on Blackwood Pines in particular, biographies of the founders and prominent figures, stuff like that. And then of course books on the various supernatural and paranormal subjects. Most of what I’ve written so far regarding the cult is made-up, though. Not much has been written about it. It’s a big mystery in of itself.” He nodded absently.

“Personally, though, I think people create monsters because they don’t want to admit that the people around them can be monsters themselves,” he said, staring off at the woods thoughtfully. “Horrible things have happened in this town, but you hear about horrible things happening everywhere, and it’s always a person who did it, not a vampire or a werewolf. But I think it’s hard for some people to imagine that humans are capable of such evil . . . so they blame it on supernatural and paranormal creatures.”

“Oh, no the diner’s fine. Might as well go someplace you already know has good food.” Plus, there was no way he wanted Hunter to waste the gas going all the way to the city just for breakfast. If the other man didn’t mind being seen with him on a date in a small town - at his workplace, no less - Alex wasn’t going to protest. He didn’t know many people in town, so it wasn’t like his reputation was on the line or anything. He almost made a joke about Hunter allowing himself to be seen out with the guy who’d fallen asleep in one of the booths, but decided against it. No need to rehash anything that embarrassing.

“I like strawberries, but that sounds like more food than I could eat this early. I’ll probably get something smaller like… I don’t know… an omelette or something? I guess I’ll have to actually look at the menu this time.” Last time he’d just ordered a cinnamon bun on Hunter’s suggestion.

“Omelettes are good too,” Hunter said with a faint grin, starting forward again through the intersection. In the car, it only took a few minutes to reach the diner. He parked and walked around to open the door for Alex. 

“Are you good?” he asked curiously, not wanting to offer help if Alex didn’t want or need it, but mildly concerned anyway that he might trip or run into something on the way into the diner. He didn’t really know how much Alex could see, and he just wanted to be useful if Alex needed him to be.

Alex grabbing someone’s elbow to follow them was definitely preferred over having his elbow grabbed, but he wasn’t about to say anything about it when Hunter was obviously trying so hard. Normally it might annoy him a bit, but for whatever reason Alex thought it was actually kind of cute that he thought he might need help finding a car in his own driveway. Maybe it was because he knew Hunter didn’t pity him and was just trying to be kind. Or, maybe it was just because it was Hunter, and Alex was too busy having positive feelings about this whole scenario to bother being annoyed by anything.

In any case, Hunter coming around to open his door was adorable. Alex smiled softly to himself as he got in. “So where did you have in mind for breakfast?” he asked, once Hunter was in the driver’s seat. “Do you eat at the diner on your days off?” 

“Uh, yeah, usually,” Hunter said with a nod, as he pulled on his seatbelt and waited for Alex to do the same before starting to back out of the driveway. “Their food is the best, and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. But if you’d rather go somewhere else, I don’t mind going into the city.” It would be a bit of a drive, but he didn’t mind. He’d done the same for Odelia countless times.

“I’m thinking . . . waffles. With strawberries and cream and a side of bacon. How about you?” He glanced over at Alex with a grin once he game to a stop sign.

As soon as Hunter said he’d planned on taking him out for breakfast, Alex’s heart did a funny dance in his chest while his logical side was forced to admit that yeah, planning to take someone out to eat definitely sounded like a date. 

After all, if two people were out running an errand and happened to get hungry, and happened to wander by a place to eat, and happened to stop to eat… that was just the way things went sometimes. But if a cute guy made plans to take you out to a meal…

And this whole thing had been Hunter’s idea, hadn’t it? Alex couldn’t remember, and while he was suddenly tempted to scroll back through his text history to check, he resisted. Because he was about to go on a date. With an amazing guy.

And maybe just this once, if only for a little while… maybe he could convince his brain to shut up about how it’d never work out. Maybe he could just enjoy it.

“Yeah, breakfast sounds great.” Alex leaned in to the house to grab is cane off the little table by the door, and then stepped out, closing and locking it behind him. “No, we should definitely hang out after. You shouldn’t waste your day off driving back and forth.” He forced himself to close his mouth before he could say just how much Alex wouldn’t want Hunter to leave. 

Hunter could have protested saying that it wasn’t that far away and so he didn’t mind driving back and forth, but he didn’t. Instead, he simply smiled and took a step back, hesitating for a moment as he wasn’t sure if he should help Alex to the car or not. He didn’t want to seem like he thought Alex couldn’t do it himself, but he also didn’t want Alex to possibly run into the thing.

“My car is over here,” he said, pausing for a moment longer before taking Alex’s elbow lightly in order to guide him in the direction of the vehicle. “The beat-up green Honda from ‘93.” He smiled ruefully. “I barely use it so I haven’t found the need to get a newer one. It works fine, it’s just . . . ugly.” As soon as he said it, he realized that probably wouldn’t even matter to Alex, but he stopped himself from doubling back, knowing that would only make things awkward.

“Uh, here,” he said, instead, hurrying around to open the passenger’s side door for Alex, just attempting to be courteous and having no idea how this might look to Alex who already thought this was a date.

“Oh! That’s very interesting! I’d like to read some of them - especially about the cult.” Annie was sincere when she said that, perking up slightly. Supernatural and paranormal stories… Did that make him a believer? “I know a lot of weird things go on in this town, that’s sort of why I moved here…” She trailed off. Wilco mewed, rubbing his face against Hunter - pay attention to meeee. Annie grinned at him. 

“I’m a private investigator - I do your normal P.I. work, but I also investigate the paranormal activity in the area when requested.” Or when she stumbled across it - sometimes ghosts found her rather than the other way around. So it goes, she guessed. Annie left out the bit about her offering exorcisms as well - she wasn’t too upfront about that part of her business, and really, she only was when she strictly had to be. Some people didn’t like the idea of spirits lingering on the earth. 

“So - do you believe in that stuff? The stuff you write about? Or do you just like to write about it?”

“Oh, huh, really?” Hunter asked in surprise when Annie mentioned she’d like to read his stories. “I mean . . . I guess you could search my name and things will probably come up. Hunter Redbird?” He paused as he felt the cat bump up against him, turning slightly in order to give Wilco some more head scritches.

“I mean, I believe in it so far as, like, people get really freaked out over it. Ghosts might not be real, but the fear of ghosts is, and I guess I kind of capitalize on that.” He smiled ruefully. “Sounds kind of horrible when I say it like that, but honestly I just find it all really fascinating. The lore and the legends the whole ‘what if’ of it all.” He tilted his head. “I mean, isn’t that what you do with your paranormal investigations? You investigate to put people’s mind at ease or to prove them right in their own minds even if none of it is real. In my stories the monster is always caught at the end, which I guess can give some people peace of mind. I don’t know. I don’t claim to be able to influence others like that.”

He was rambling again, and he was afraid he hadn’t painted himself in the best light, so he fell silent and focused on petting Wilco, hoping she didn’t think he was completely full of himself.

“Oh, no, no, I’m good. Just reminiscing.” She said, her eyes glued to the menu as she read over it in amusement. A rush of memories and nostalgia attacked her before she had a moment to think twice. Memories of dinner after Caleb’s football games, her mom smiling and laughing. Her dad was absent in a lot of them. “I haven’t been here in about… ten years I think. Still remember the menu though.”

She set the laminated menu down and smiled at her server. “I’ll take a strawberry shake and a basket of fries. Extra crispy, ranch and ketchup on the side.” Just like Caleb used to order them. The witch tilted her head at him, her eyes narrowing slightly in thought. “Not sure I’ve seen you before. You a local?”

“Ten years, wow. That’s a long time to go without Mamma’s crispy fries,” Hunter said good-naturedly, curious but trying not to pry. He nodded at her question. “Yeah, I’ve lived here in Blackwood Pines since I was two, but I’ve only been working here at Mamma’s since I graduated college back in 2015. I guess if you haven’t been here since ‘09 you wouldn’t necessarily recognize me.” He smiled, pointing his pen at her. “You work at the clinic, though, right? I don’t remember your name, sorry. I’ve only been in there once within the past couple years. I’m Hunter.” He tapped his name badge with the pen.