fragile, do not crush.

“Showing is probably better, thank you.”  Ceylan agreed, taking the book as it was opened up and handed over to her, skimming the writing there. “Ah… yes, I see what you’ve been working on. It’s a tricky little subject area actually, I can see why you might have been a little unsure.  I can help you with this if you want. Let me know when you have some availability and we’ll schedule in some study time. I’ll provide the drinks if you bring some biscuits?” 

Zac nodded. “As long as you’re good with not of them containing nuts,” Zac agreed. “I’m usually free on Tuesday nights.”

“Well that could be taken in entirely the wrong way but I mean… if that’s how you actually feel then okay.” Halliwell answered after a moment because maybe he really wasn’t keen on the interaction. “My name? It’s Hali.” The blonde offered up after a moment.

Zac blushed, anxiety rushing through him, feeling like he just made her feel bad. “No, no, no, that’s uh, not what I meant. I just, uh, I meant like, y’know, could’ve been better, or... that’s not right either. I mean like, we totally could’ve like met without literally running into each other, and I am just making this completely worse. Sorry... sorry,” he was talking so fast that he didn’t get out a breath. He let out a small cough when he finally took one. “Uh, my name’s Zac.”

“Is it? Well if the weather’s nice a hike does sound great,” he agreed with a nod. “Should I invite Thea and/or Maggie as well?”

While Zac was comfortable with Maggie, he was always a little anxious with Thea knowing her issues with him feeling too much, and her feeling too much of that. A pang of anxiety rushed through Zac for a moment, but he needed to spend more time with Thea to be more comfortable, so Zac answered Harry, “Yeah, sure,” he replied. “The more, the merrier.”

“It sounds like we have that in common then.” Halliwell admitted with a little smile as she made sure there was nothing she had forgotten in her tumblr. “Well… it was nice to… bump into you, I guess?” Because she didn’t know how else to put their little encounter.

“I’m not sure I would call it nice, but it wasn’t horrible,” Zac said back. “Uh, nice meeting you... what was your name?”

The awkwardness of the tone caused the girl to pause for a moment and she glanced at the boy stood in her doorway. The uneasiness radiated somewhat and she offered up a friendly smile. It was rare she was unpleasant to anyone and if she was, they usually deserved her ire. “I think someone might have been singing my praises a little too highly but I’ll help where I can. What is your assignment exactly?”

Zac cleared his throat slightly. “It’s uh, it’s about, honestly I’m not entirely sure, I can just show you,” he replied. Zac opened up his book to the bookmarked page. He showed it to the other. “Do you think you could help?”

“Well that’s totally chill,” Harry shrugged, now knowing to expect his sister later today. “Oh don’t worry about it man, you were just passing along a message. Thanks.”

“I’m not entirely sure if it was a sure thing or anything. I just wanted you to know to just let me know if you don’t want me there or something,” Zac said, back-tracking. “Also, I was uh, thinking of going hiking tomorrow, it’s supposed to be nice out, if you want to come.”

Julian nodded at his brother because he guessed it had been a little more awkward than normal between them and he knew it was because of him, “It is, but it doesn’t need to be.” Because he knew what he did might not have been the best thing at the time, but he needed to do it and he wouldn’t take it back. “I mean you went to good people, right? A good family, you know that might not have happened if I had came with you right- they might have split us up or-… I don’t know. I couldn’t risk that happening, Zac. I needed to make sure you’d be taken care of.”

Zac looked down at his hands, pulling at his fingers as Julian spoke. He hated that, he hated that Julian left, and he wasn’t sure what was worse, feeling angry about it or feeling anxious. Both weren’t pleasant feelings. “I was a child Julian, what I needed was my brother, or something that seemed normal,” Zac replied. He then let out a soft sigh. Even though it was awkward between them, Zac still managed to talk to Julian, open up to him, something he didn’t do much with people. But this was his brother. Despite the time apart, he still knew Zac more than most. “I don’t know how to really make it normal again. I’m trying, but so much has changed, and I’m not sure how much we even know about each other anymore.” Zac didn’t want to tell him, but there were parts of him that was scared to open up again to Julian and have him leave again. He couldn’t go through that again, he couldn’t keep going through that.

“If you’re looking for my roommate, she isn’t here right now. Something about a new movie playing in one of the other rooms I believe.” Ceylan commented when she heard a slight knock to the doorframe of the open room, not turning away from what she’d been caught up in until she’d finished scribbling up her writing in elegant cursive. “Or am I the lucky recipient of your attentions today, hm?” The brunette queried as she finally turned to face her company.

“Actually, uh, yeah,” Zac said awkwardly.  “Someone told me you’re really good with magiphilosophy, and I was wondering if you could help me with an assignment.”

“I mean… I am bad enough on my own so it’d probably help me if you did.” She admitted as she brushed herself off, turning to make sure that she hadn’t dropped anything in the collision. “Oh yes… probably a little bruised but I had probably spent too long without one so it had to happen at some point.”

“I don’t know, I’m pretty prone to random bruises popping up on me, that I don’t even know where I get them from anymore. I just figure that it’s because I fell or something.”

“Yeah but if I’m round yours, you’re not comfortable. I’d rather us both be uncomfortable than just one of us,” Thea replied. “I’m trying to be patient, but Jesus some of your thoughts are intrusive and it’s really quite hard to ignore those.” It was often when she was around Zac that she felt grateful for her lack of a messy mind. “I’m not the most patient person, you must know that by now Zac.”

“Tell me about it,” he huffed. While she got caught of his thoughts and emotions every once in a while, he lived in them. “Oh, I know that. I’ll uh, I’ll work on it though, I swear. Just, don’t do something because of me. I’ll figure things out honestly, it’s kind of what I do. It might actually help more if you did come over, I’ll eventually get more comfortable about it. It kind of makes it worse when you do something you don’t want to do because of me. I don’t know how to really explain it.”

“My feminist quest?” Lottie repeated, narrowing her eyes at the other. “It shouldn’t be just my feminist quest, it should be the whole fricking Otherworlds.” Lottie huffed, “She said she might help me start something, but I don’t see it going anywhere. Royals like their place too much.”

It felt like his heart skipped a beat for a moment when Lottie took his words the wrong way. “No, I, uh, that’s not what I meant. I get that, I just meant like what you want to do. I’m just, uh, I should stop talking now.”

“You should definitely be working on that because I don’t want you bumping into someone who will get mad at you. What sort of a protective older sister would I be if I let that happen to you?”

“It wouldn’t be your fault,” Zac told her. “I mean, you can’t exactly be with me 24/7 to make sure I don’t run into some mean person.”

“And what was it you were worried about, huh?” Julian couldn’t help but ask his brother, knowing the other had been doing a good job at staying clear of him since he started working here. He couldn’t say he blamed him though, if the roles were reversed he would be doing a lot worse to Zac if he had been the one to up and leave after everything. “How else are they going to know I’m a cool teacher if I don’t tell them? I mean, technically I’m not even a teacher, I just- help instruct.” He said with a shrug.

Zac shrugged, awkwardly. “I don’t know, it’s uh, it’s a little awkward between us right now.” Zac tapped his fingers on his notebook he was holding, anxiously. Zac could probably list many more worries that that, but he held back. Julian didn’t really know the extent of Zac’s anxiety, nor what had gone on after he left. He wasn’t exactly entirely sure how to open up about all that, without making Julian feel bad.

“Oh come on, you don’t need to look at me like that.” Julian told the other, looking to the student who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “I work here but technically I’m not a teacher, just a guy who assists, so like I’m cool-… Though might have just lost a cool points by saying that out loud. But seriously, you’re not going to get into trouble.”

“Getting into trouble wasn’t exactly what I was worried about.” While Zac didn’t mind having Julian around again, it still felt really awkward, and it made him a little anxious. So, Zac has been warming up to talking to his older brother again. “Though I also wouldn’t call yourself a cool teacher around anyone else, except maybe Maggie, she’d probably say you were.”

A squeak escaped Halliwell as her butt hit the ground with enough force to make her wince. Thankfully she had nothing much of value on her bar her phone but it was in her jacket pocket so had come out of the interaction unharmed. It took her a moment to assess the damage before she answered the male. “Usually I’m the one who does things like that…” The blonde stated as she finally gathered herself up. “But it’s fine. I’m in one piece.”

Zac held his hand out to help the other up. “I need to really start looking where I’m going more, I’m still working on that. Are you sure you’re alright?”