Word Count: 3906

  Febrillus 3

  Sebastian stirs from his sleep with an accompanying yawn.

  His brow furrows as his gaze nds on the sequel he'd finished reading the night before. It is now perched oddly on his nightstand though he's certain he had left it in his mini bookcase.

  Sebastian studies it bizarrely for a moment, sleep still tugging at his thoughts, before finally stretching out to pick it up. Flipping its pages with his fingers, he turns the book to look at its binding and realizes that the spine has been sewn back together, rendering his previous attempts at glue and tape useless.

  No way this was Finn's work.

  "Hm..." he murmurs, dropping the book again.

  Moving around on the creaky bed, he looks to his side and finds that Camille is gone. She's most likely with Lucas who always shows up early every morning to do... whatever it is they do together.

  "I'll ask her about that ter," Sebastian whispers, rubbing his eyes with a yawn.

  Getting up to begin his day at his first period literature css, he slips into the bathroom and changes his clothes all while Finn snores on the bunk bed above his.

  "See you..." he smiles, tapping his friend's leg before leaving.

  But as he walks out the door a shadow suddenly materializes outside the frame.

  "Good morning," Camille smiles.

  With a violent flinch he excims, "You scared me! Why are you just standing out here?"

  She straightens her cuff uncomfortably as she looks down at the floor.

  "...Sorry. I just wanted to know if you wanted to walk to css together. Lucas is busy."

  "I'd rather not," he states curtly before briskly walking away.

  But as he moves, he hears footsteps trailing behind him. Turning around, he sees Camille silently standing two feet away.

  Sebastian repeats slowly, "I... said no. In case you didn't hear me."

  "Yes! Sorry..."

  He starts moving again and it seems like she's finally taken the hint. But not before long, Sebastian hears the shuffle of loafers behind him. Turning around, he finds that this time she's standing six feet away.

  "Am I missing something?" he groans, grasping his hair in frustration.

  She doesn't reply.

  But as they both stand there, eyes dead-locked, Sebastian remembers the other matter on his mind and sighs before approaching her.

  "Hey, I'm just gonna ignore this whole 'situation' and ask you something else... I saw that Sleeping Days was sewn this morning. Was that you?" he questions.

  She brightens up hearing that he saw the book.

  "Yes. When you were reading at the entrance yesterday I saw that it needed some mending so I spent half an hour fixing it after you fell asleep for the night."

  "Um, interesting. You could have just asked..." Sebastian mumbles.

  "Okay, next time then," she replies.

  "...Next time?" Sebastian trails off, "Okay, what's this whole stalking thing about?"

  She doesn't respond.

  "If you don't say anything, I'm going to see this as harassment and press charges," he warns.

  A small gasp slips out from her mouth, hands waving as her eyes flit frantically trying to find the right words to appease the situation.

  He tries not to ugh at her light panic.

  'She's so gullible,' he smiles inwardly.

  After another moment spent nervously fiddling with her sleeve, she finally says, "I just thought... maybe you could talk more about what you said yesterday. You know, about choosing what I want... and everything."

  The smile on Sebastian's face quickly fades and he swiftly leads her aside to the hallway corner.

  Looking around to make sure they were alone he turns back to her and says, "I mean... I can't really talk about things like that here. I don't want anyone to report me for speaking against the government or whatever. Just forget about it. Well, don't forget about it. But don't quote it as coming from me."

  She nods and Sebastian lets out a sigh of relief.

  "If you let me walk with you, I won't report you," she says.

  Sebastian's head whips around to face her thinking that his ears deceived him.

  "Ar-Are you bckmailing me? Again?" he sputters out in shock. "Did you forget that I can tell the administration your secret!"

  "Then we'll both go down."

  She rubs her loafers into the floor tiles.

  "It's a mutually beneficial deal..."

  Sebastian groans and wipes his face in exasperation.

  "You. Are. Evil..."

  Turning from the corner he walks away, pauses, then moves aside, creating room in the narrow hallway. She happily slips into the space, matching his stride.

  They walk to css together as Camille wears a soft smile while Sebastian grouses about her and the universe conspiring against him.

  ~

  But, apparently, their morning walk wasn't the end of it.

  By the end of the css day, Sebastian can barely get a few steps down the hall before Camille materializes behind him again like a shadow. He flinches when the corners of his eyes notice her trailing.

  "You've gotta stop doing that!" he groans as he turns around with a shock.

  "How was your day?" she asks with a small smile.

  "Good. It was fine," he says, scratching the front of his throat awkwardly. "...How was yours?"

  "It was good too," she replies.

  Silence overtakes them.

  With a sigh he breaks the tension, "Is this going to be an everyday thing?"

  "Yes," she replies with no hesitation.

  "At least you're honest," Sebastian chuckles wearily. "Then we gotta find something to talk about."

  Camille taps her chin, thinking as they walk back to the dorm.

  "I really like Eirin from Sleeping Days. I found her character to be very compelling, and Ash? He's a very great friend to her. In fact, I think-"

  "I'm sorry, Ash? Are you joking?" Sebastian interrupts her, shocked to hear that belief having left her mouth.

  "What? Ash was a very good mentor for Eirin! How else would she be able to find the Midnight-"

  "I'm sorry, the Ash that I know is a dirty sewer man that crawled out of a pit and forcibly joined Eirin's team."

  Camille holds back a snicker, "Sewer man? That was a fa?ade, Sebastian."

  "Oh... oh no... I see that we desperately need to talk about this." Sebastian wipes his face theatrically. "You see, Ash can go back to the nasty pit that he came from."

  She hides a ugh with her bzer sleeve.

  "He was just a prop used to reinvigorate Eirin at the final stand, nothing more, everything less. Now, Eirin and Liro? That right there is a real team member," Sebastian continues.

  "So you hate Ash, but love Liro? Now that is a falcy!" Camille procims.

  Sebastian stares at her, taken aback for a moment before a grin grows on his face, "Oh? How so?"

  The two walk down the hallway debating heatedly as onlookers gnce by.

  Febrillus 6

  What started as a single morning walk, filling in for Lucas' supposed absence that first day, soon became a routine that stretched into many mornings and afternoons.

  For the past three days, Camille's even started eating lunch with Sebastian and Finn at the back cafeteria tables when she usually ate with Lucas at the baseball team's table.

  They would talk or even argue about everything from the science of clouds to the academy's worst professors, breaking news from Aurelia-Fields, and of course, the most common contender, Sleeping Days.

  Sebastian's not sure when it stopped feeling like a hostage situation that he was forced to be in and more like he was talking to a friend. He watches her while she prattles on about her disdain for Calculus while Finn spys his arms on the table like he'd rather be dead than contribute to the conversation.

  Being an only child, most of the time Sebastian only spoke with his mother and even that was sparse. But now he's found more kinship in a cross-dressing girl than all of his friends combined. This, of course, he would never tell Finn and risk a tantrum filled with pouts and silence.

  But surprisingly, he's become used to turning the corner after csses had ended and seeing her there. And he felt that she very possibly felt comfortable talking with him too.

  "Hey..." A voice snaps Sebastian out of his thoughts.

  He looks up from his tray to see Lucas standing in front of him. The baseball pyer's eyes trail towards Camille who suddenly, as silent as a rock, is training her gaze on her pager.

  "...Hi," Sebastian replies carefully.

  They had never spoken directly to one another so the awkward tension was beyond palpable.

  "Yeah, um, could I talk to you outside for a bit. It'll just be a moment," he says looking to his side and scratching his head.

  Sebastian stands up with a heave and follows as Lucas leads him outside the main cafeteria doors to the secluded hallways. Mr. Sunshine then leans on the wall and crosses his arms with a conflicted expression on his face.

  "What's up?" Sebastian asks, his voice cautious.

  The st time he talked alone with a tall guy it ended with his head forced into a toilet.

  "Sorry to pull you out man, I just wanted to ask... do you know what's been going on with Damien?" he mumbles, picking his face and looking to the side as his cheeks glow red in slight embarrassment.

  Sebastian tilts his head with a sigh. Lately, everything in his life has seemingly been looping back to Camille.

  "What about him?" he replies passively.

  "Well, she- he's... been acting weird tely. He hasn't been eating at our table anymore. And yesterday for the first time ever, he told me that he didn't want to walk with me early in the morning anymore. Well, he wasn't so direct in saying it but it was pretty obvious by his tone what he was implying."

  'Ah... well, good for her,' Sebastian thinks over disinterestedly.

  "I've seen that he's been hanging out more with you tely, so I wanted to ask. Like... just tell me if it's true." He pauses and looks around for a moment before whispering, "Are you guys hooking up?"

  Sebastian stares at him in disbelief.

  "Hooking..." He can barely get the words out of his mouth. "No! I'm not! And neither is Damien. We're just friends."

  Lucas watches Sebastian as if somewhat skeptical but eventually sighs saying, "Okay, well... if you see him, ask him."

  Sebastian watches the baseball pyer walk away, still in utter shock at the question he just received.

  'Camille dispys some agency for once in her life, so she has to be hooking up with another guy? Come on,' he rolls his eyes inwardly before looking back at the cafeteria.

  As if on cue, Camille comes trotting up to him from the left hallway slightly out of breath.

  "Where were you?" he questions.

  "Finn... wanted to... spray paint... the bathrooms. We had to split and... run... from the security guards," she wheezes.

  "You're really becoming a delinquent, huh?" Sebastian jokes which she huffs at.

  "Not by choice," she mutters.

  He smirks seeing her speak so freely in a way she hadn't just a week prior. Having her beside him, he thinks about fulfilling Lucas' wish and asking her about why she's started avoiding him. But seeing her look up at him curiously, he decides against it.

  "What?" she smiles.

  "Nothing," Sebastian shoves his hands in his pockets. "Just thinking about Eirin and Ash."

  "Have I changed your mind about the two of them?"

  "...Not yet. I'm just open to it," he scoffs.

  She lightly bumps him in a tap soft enough to be seen as accidental, but knowing her it was her best attempt at a friendly push.

  Febrillus 11

  Eight days into this new normal, Sebastian walks to the school entrance with his book and mp3 pyer. It's usually around this time that Leonard comes to their room to see Camille.

  He hates seeing him there.

  But, walking through the halls, he finds that he would have no such pleasure in avoiding the meathead today.

  "Shortstack," he hears his dreadful nickname erupt from a darkened corner.

  For a moment, the idea of fleeing crosses Sebastian's thoughts. But he quickly pushes it aside, knowing the consequences of not facing Leonard now would be far worse for him ter. He slowly approaches the corner.

  "What's up?" Sebastian asks warily.

  Leonard towers over him as usual making Sebastian doubt once again that he's only a senior at this academy.

  But there's a different air around the red-head today that makes him feel off. He looks meeker, slightly embarrassed, despite the tough front he's putting up right now.

  "Camille is acting differently," he says.

  Sebastian gnces around in exasperation as he checks for any onlookers since Leonard can't whisper for the life of him.

  "Today when I came to your room after csses ended I saw that the door was locked. No matter how loud I knocked, she wouldn't open up and a stationed guard had to come and bark at me. And I'm not an impatient guy, I can wait until we're married. But still, it was sudden. Your advice worked well st time, so do you know why Camille is acting like this?"

  Sebastian grimaces hearing about his past 'advice.'

  "Sorry, man. I have no clue. We don't talk about much other than books, I'm afraid." Sebastian replies.

  Leonard's eyes bore into his and Sebastian can almost feel the spiders crawling up his spine. Despite being a brute, he was surprisingly perceptive. And just from this stifling energy, Sebastian knew that Leonard would be able to tell if he was being truthful or not. The intense stare sts for what feels like an eternity before Leonard steps back with a resigned sigh.

  "Whatever, she'll be back to normal by our wedding day anyway," he sighs, walking down the hall away from Sebastian with a dismissive wave.

  Pcing a hand on his chest, Sebastian lets out a shaky breath, 'Survived him, once again.'

  He moves faster towards the entrance of the school, opening the door to the second-most secluded pce on campus. Waiting out there is Camille, this time in a Hibernal jacket.

  "You're... here," he mutters.

  "And you're te," she teases him like he did to her.

  "Yeah, well, I didn't know someone was out here waiting for me," he smiles as he sits down on the porch.

  "I was held up by Leonard. He said the door to the room was locked. But I guess you were never in there in the first pce, huh?" he questions.

  She fiddles with her pencil with no reply.

  Sebastian's eyes wander to the ground.

  The both of them sit for a moment in silence.

  "Listen, I..."

  Pausing, he stands up to move closer to the other side of the porch where she's sitting.

  "I'm really sorry for telling Leonard your secret. I was annoyed, sure, but I really thought that him knowing about it would make him avoid you. I was wrong and put you in an even worse situation than before. I... I'm really sorry."

  She doesn't say any words of forgiveness, but she hands him her notebook signaling an olive branch.

  Smiling at her, Sebastian thumbs it open and reads the first line underlined and bolded, "Eirin and Ash: A Dissertation."

  "You did..." he ughs. "Extra homework to prove to me that they have a good friendship, huh?"

  "I thought it'd be the only way to convince you. You like written words more than spoken ones after all," she says, fiddling with her colr sheepishly.

  "I do. You're right about that. But I don't know if sewer man and the literal heroine of the dreamworld are on equal par."

  "Read it then tell me if you change your mind!" she grins, and Sebastian is amazed for a moment watching her smile so wide for the first time.

  "Well, I guess I have to give it a try," he ughs.

  Without a reluctant thought, he cleans his earbuds and hands one to her so they can listen to music together as they read. The two sit on the marble stairs in the frosty air watching pages flip.

  Febrillus 17

  Before he knew it two weeks had passed and Vernal was on the horizon. The first flower would soon blossom on the cherry tree's branches that rapped outside the window of his literature css.

  But, Sebastian wasn't at ease today. Something about the w of threes was bugging him and although he was walking passively down the hallway as he normally does, he can't shake the feeling that he's being watched.

  'Is it Camille again? But wouldn't she have said something by now?'

  As his Calculus css comes into view, he picks up his pace. But just as he rounds a corner, a hand snatches his sleeve, yanking him into a nearby supply closet.

  "Finn. I will kill yo-" he grumbles but as the light turns on he notices that there's more than just Finn in this supply closet.

  Lucas and Leonard also stand there huddled under the low ceiling. Lucas looks away crossing his arms with an embarrassed look as Leonard gres at Sebastian as if he was aiming to murder him.

  "Um... it seems that the gang's all here," he mutters, pressing his back on the closet door. "So what is this? A secret society?"

  "Ah, so he's got jokes. Let me fix that," Leonard balls his fist.

  Lucas pces an arm in front of Leonard's chest holding him back, "You're dating Damien, aren't you?"

  Sebastian flinches at his words, "Dating?"

  Finn sighs as he begins his expnation, "For the past two weeks, Damien's been acting weird. She's been following you around like a puppy and has been ignoring me even more than she usually does."

  "So, what's your deal, pipsqueak? I can't have my wife fawning over some scrawny guy," Leonard growls.

  Every insecure statement hits him like a bullet.

  "Are... Are you all out of your minds? Why would I, in my right mind, date Damien?" Sebastian pushes back with a scowl. "You've all been pestering him from the moment he set foot in this school. We share a few conversations and now I'm part of this loony harem? Count me out."

  He folds his arms, "We're just friends, if even that."

  Without listening to another rebuttal, he steps out of the closet. Straightening his uniform with a frown, he walks into css.

  'They're all hormonal lunatics trying to induct me into their demented squad,' he grumbles in his mind. 'I don't know how anyone could misconstrue an average friendship so easily.'

  ~

  That night after css, Sebastian walks into an empty room and jumps on top of his covers before letting out an enormous sigh.

  Finn's not here.

  He's probably serving night detention or something. But even without the guys constantly bothering him, it's been an exhausting day, so he opts to do his homework in the morning.

  Sebastian curls up to the side of the bed and takes out his nightlight to read the sequel that Camille had offered him.

  Reading the first line for the hundredth time, he hears the door creak open and passing a gnce to his side, he sees Camille walk in. Although she's moving towards her bed, her eyes perk up when she sees the book in his hands.

  "Ah, are you checking if I'm right?" she questions.

  "Well, you quoted a passage in your dissertation to support a point that is pretty hard to believe so of course I have to check for myself," he replies.

  "Can I hear you read it out loud?" she questions.

  He looks over to her for a second as she approaches his side of the room, "Yeah, sure..."

  But she doesn't crouch at the edge of the bed. Instead she climbs on top of the covers next to him to see the words on the page. Sebastian registers the action, but chalks it up to her not understanding social cues. She probably just wants to read along as well.

  Sebastian starts, "Eirin sinks to her knees on the forest floor. The Sun Staff y shattered in pieces on the floor. This was supposed to save her kingdom, it was supposed to save the entire dreamworld. But without it now, she was nothing."

  "Liro was out on the ke, he needed the space to voice his frustrations. And Mira was most likely sniffling somewhere among the trees. All that was left was her and fragments of her country's broken dreams."

  "But maybe it wasn't her alone left in this clearing of the forest. She feels a hand on her back and turns to see Ash smiling at her. He kneels down and holds her close saying, 'We can't give up yet, Eir. ' She wraps her arms around his back, shaking as she cries. 'We can't give up. Not until we drop dead. So get up, we need another one of your beautifully-crafted pns.'"

  Sebastian scoffs with a smile, "See, that's what I told you! He's just a prop to get her to the final act. Your whole theory that they might be-"

  "Wait, keep reading," Camille says softly.

  Sebastian sighs to himself before finishing off the passage, "They speak alone for a while. The winds obscuring their voices. But afterwards, Eirin gets up, grabs parchment paper from her bag, and she writes. She writes the pn of her life, her capstone, the blueprint that will save all of Elderia."

  As his eyes scan the next line, they widen, "And as she calls Liro and Mira over to hear her pn, the sun's rays pass down on her, the glint of an Eldirian ring on her finger-"

  He stares at the words in disbelief.

  "An Eldirian ring? So, in that hidden scene Ash... proposed? How did I miss that?"

  Camille smiles, "I believe that before the author died, he was going to close the series out as a trilogy with one more book detailing the future lives of the team along with Ash and Eirin's child. Remember how she went on in the second chapter of the first book about how she loves the name Riko?"

  "And when she used the Midnight Stone, Ash's face came up before the staff - argh how could I have been so blind!" he adds on.

  Sebastian's eyes pass by as he violently flips through the pages, "The author's been setting it up since the very beginning. Your theory was right. They are lovers."

  He starts reading the passage out loud again, "'I have a pn, you all! A pn to save the dreamworld..." but he trails off feeling a gaze no longer focused on the book.

  He turns to the side and sees Camille staring at him. He stops reading, not sure what to say, and the two look at each other in silence for a moment.

  Thoughts run through his mind as he tries to think of something sarcastic to break the ice, but Camille breaks it for him.

  Before he realizes she's moved, her lips on his. She kisses him softly once and then again before moving back.

  Burning red, the book slips from Sebastian's fingers and drops on his chest.

  "I... I..." he stammers.

  "Thank you," she says with a warm smile, then she stands up from the bed and walks out the door.