Hit The Switch (Seb)

[OSRIC YOUNG]

Osric had never been a bad student, not really, but it was the sitting still and being quiet he had trouble with. His ‘an unspoken opinion is like lying’ mind set had gotten him in trouble more than once for talking too much during elementary school. He’d learned after a while that no, you were not supposed to interrupt the teacher to tell him or her what you thought every other sentence, and no, you didn’t have to raise your hand every time the teacher asked a question. After he grudgingly understood these outlines of School, they finally stopped considering him for the “Special School” down the road.

Still, he did talk, a lot. He was an intellectual person, very much so; he was good at writing and maths and picked up on skills very quickly. He wasn’t bad at anything. It was just the talking got on teachers’ nerves. It was after the thousandth parent-teacher meeting about “Osric’s worryingly short attention span” that they pumped him full of Ritalin and Dexedrine and everything else that made him want to sleep more than talk. But he’d proved them wrong, he had, and so he was allowed to keep his mind.

He just remembered not to talk as much in class afterwards.

Teachers tended to like him in the long run, but the beginning of the year, they had never understood. They got bad first impressions of him, thought he was stupid and disabled and a rebel. He wasn’t any of these, but it was apparently just the natural thought of all teachers during the first few weeks. This included Professor Martin, Osric’s chemistry teacher during his first year of university.

Prof. Martin had practically hated Osric at first, Osric as sure, and Osric hadn’t liked him all together very much either at first (except his clothes), since Martin hadn’t liked him. Bit of a circle, it was. But it only took a few classes for Martin to get fed up, sit Osric down and give him a short but firm talking to that he was to be calm and that was all during class, and after Osric immediately complied, they both started to not-not-like each other any longer. They weren’t extremely close, but they had a strong teacher-student relationship.

Osric hadn’t seen Prof. Martin since before he had dropped out, so he was very surprised when he saw the man sitting drinking something warm when Osric ran into a quaint little café to get out of a sudden bout of most likely short lived but just as wet downpour. Ah, New York and its wonderfully unpredictable upside down weather.

Osric tried to make himself look somewhat more presentable for half a second, but he realized wearing extremely skinny jeans, a low cut v-neck and having long, wet hair didn’t really help, so he just smiled and walked over to his ex Chem teacher and said brightly, “Hello Sir! I can’t believe I’m seeing you here!” He was a bit loud; perhaps he’d forgotten the Be Calm lecture temporarily.

[SEBASTIAN TIMOTHY MARTIN]

Homecoming.

Leaving had been the right thing, but his homecoming, to both his north and south homes, were slight disasters. He really hadn't planned on what to do when he returned to Georgia, his hometown just south of Atlanta. And in truth, he hadn't done much else except pine for New York City and... well no one in particular.

Sebastian shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he took another sip of his coffee. He didn't have any more family. If he did, he didn't know them. Who knows, his father might still be out there somewhere, but Seb didn't care too much to go look for him. He suspected he might have a vision one day about him, considering how he'd had visions of everyone else in his life that weren't too joyful. He might have family on his father's side, but his mother had been the last in her family, so he hardly knew them. So going home wasn't all that an important occasion. He saw a few people he knew from his childhood, but they hardly recognized him. Sebastian had thought that going home might clear his head, but it really only made things worse. He spent some time in Atlanta, but with the crime rate being through the roof and his already messed up state of mind, he spent half the time chasing after death days, his conscience forever catching up with him.

After two months, he came home. He'd had a fellow professor at NYU look after his dog, Data, for him. Coming home to his little apartment, one that he hadn't used in a good long while was... disenchanting. He missed the green.

It was pathetic of him to feel this way, he knew, but everywhere he went he felt so lackluster, like he was missing something while everyone else was complete.

He'd been lucky that he left just before summer began, so he hardly had to take off work. He probably missed some valuable summer hours, but his sanity (what little left there was) was more important at that time. He felt a little better, but not much.

After getting settled in again in his old place, he'd headed straight for his favorite coffee shop and ordered himself black coffee. He didn't need anything sugarcoated today. His coffee mirrored his moods, and he felt decidedly bleak, despite the fact that he was home. New York City must have predicted his mood, because it kindly gave him a sudden downpour. He had seen it coming.

He sighed, stirring his coffee uselessly, since there was nothing to mix within. Just something to do with his hands. He had just rubbed his forehead and rested his face in his hands when he heard a familiar but forgotten voice say very, very loudly, "Hello Sir! I can’t believe I’m seeing you here!”

Sebastian's head jerked up as he heard the voice, his eyes widening as he recognized the face standing before him. He rubbed the back of his neck, quickly picking up his coffee and taking a long, scalding sip, then setting it back down. "O-Osric... Nice to see you again..." He smiled a little, rubbing the handle of his mug absently as he looked back down to the table. "Well, this is my favorite place," he said in response to Osric's comment. He didn't really want to talk to anyone at that moment, but he could at least make small talk. "How's life been treating you?"

[OSRIC YOUNG]

Once he was next to the professor, Osric could smell the sharp scent of coffee mixed with the rainwater-smell that always drifted through buildings, even if there was no draft, when it poured. Prof. Martin looked quite surprised and a bit started as he jerked with surprise at hearing Osric's rather loud voice. Osric felt a bit bad for startling him, but Prof. Martin had always been somewhat nervous anyway.

It took a second for full recognition to show on the professor's face, and Osric watched him take a sip of coffee before he stuttered, "O-Osric... Nice to see you again..."

"Oh, nice to see you too Sir," Osric replied the nicety with complete honesty. It wasn't as if he really ever thought of his old teachers or anything, but it was always nice to see someone he hadn't seen in a while. Well, usually, but Martin had been one of the good teachers.

"Well, this is my favorite place," Prof. Martin said in reference to Osric's previous exclamation of surprise. "How's life been treating you?" Osric looked at Martin curiously; he looked tired - he'd always looked tired - beat. Osric had always thought that the guy should relax a bit more, but he'd never said so, obviously, it'd had been disrespectful. Still, he had always felt somewhat bad about how anxious Martin almost always appeared.

"Life's been well, Sir," Osric said cheerfully. "Well, I dropped out of college. Sorry," he apologized, not wanting Martin to think he'd wasted time on teaching him or anything. "But life's been very well anyways. What about you?"

[SEBASTIAN TIMOTHY MARTIN]

Sebastian traced the rim of his mug, the steam rising from the drink making his fingers soft. "Oh..." he mumbled when Osric said that he'd quit school. "A shame... You were so bright, just a bit scatterbrained." He sighed. He looked up to him, smiling softly. "Why don't you sit down? You're soaking wet!" Seb laughed lightly, blinking and rubbing his tired eyes.

"Me...? I guess... I've been alright," he lied. "Well, I've probably been better." That was an understatement. One lie after another. Soon he'd be as much a liar as...

"Do you want some coffee? That's probably why you came in here, isn't it...?" he said, forgetting Osric was probably busy and just stopped to say hi. Of course, no one really ever wants to sit with him... "Or... Er..." His eyes scanned Osric's dripping and shivering form. "Maybe you're just wet. Haha..."

Sebastian's head plopped in his hand, shaking it and rubbing his temple. "I'm sorry, I'm... I'm rambling. Just... ignore me or something..." With shaking fingers he sipped his coffee, tears hiding behind his eyes.

[OSRIC YOUNG]

"Oh..." Martin mumbled when Osric said that he'd quit school, and Osric watched as he traced the edge of his mug with his finger. Osric had always thought he had nice fingers. Martin had also always done some things that supposed-to-adults really didn't do very much, like trace mugs with fingers, but that was one of the reasons Osric had liked Martin; while Osric did think him a serious man, he'd never seemed to take the have-to-s of being an adult too seriously, not usually.

"A shame... You were so bright, just a bit scatterbrained. Why don't you sit down? You're soaking wet!" Martin laughed, which was nice to hear, and he rubbed his eyes and Osric graciously accepting, vocalizing a simply thank you and thought, Yeah, scatterbrained. Perhaps that was a good way to describe him.

"Me...? I guess... I've been alright," Martin said, and even though he was sitting so close to the professor, his quiet voice was still faint and Osric had to strain a little to hear. "Well, I've probably been better. Do you want some coffee? That's probably why you came in here, isn't it...? Or... Er... Maybe you're just wet." Martin laughed again, this time somehow even less convincing than the first and even more miserable. Osric started to worry when Martin rubbed his forehead and said, "I'm sorry, I'm... I'm rambling. Just... ignore me or something..." His hand shook as he took another sip from his drink, Osric could see.

Martin had always had an incredible lack of confidence for a teacher, Osric had thought. He felt bad for thinking it, because it was pretty rude, but it was true; teachers usually thought they had the upper hand on students, and they did, but Martin had almost always acted like he thought the students had the upper hand on him. Honestly, by the middle of the year Osric could tell some of his classmates were taking advantage of that; he'd actually seen on kid practically try to bully Prof. Martin into revoking their previous assignments for that week, and Osric had gotten so mad he'd actually broke him be-quiet rule in the class to tell the kid to shut up before apologizing to Martin profusely. But they had still had homework that week, so Osric had considered it a win.

"Hey, no, totally, Professor, you're not rambling, really," Osric said quickly, trying to convince Martin somehow that he definitely was not wasting air by speaking, because he sort of seemed like that was the way he was thinking at the moment, more so than Osric remembered seeing him act like before.

Trying to distract Martin from his own obvious misery, which Osric felt sort of guilty about even though he knew it wasn't his fault, he said, "I did just came to get outta the rain. Though, Sir, I don't think it's really a shame I dropped out at all, really. I mean, maybe a little, but I'm having fun, now." He smiled, and while he really wanted to directly tell Martin to Cheer up, You're amazing, he was pretty sure that wasn't exactly allowed except as a joke between teachers and students, even if he wasn't actually one of Martin's students anymore. But if Martin kept looking so miserable and sad, Osric might just break that rule, because he truly had problems with people acting so morose in his presence.

[SEBASTIAN TIMOTHY MARTIN]

Sebastian could tell Osric was trying to make him feel better, but really it just made him feel worse. He couldn't bear to tell him how he was feeling. It was too private. It wasn't the sort of thing you told people in small talk, especially not one of your ex-students.

So how could he let Osric know how he was feeling? Why couldn't he just hide it and forget? "Thanks, Osric..." he muttered in response to his kind words. Seb doesn't ramble, haha. He must be joking, but it's not funny to him right now. Nothing seems funny anymore.

"What are you doing with your life, then, if you're not in school?" he asked, to just hit the switch in his brain that made him think off. Because thinking was seriously getting in the way of life at the moment.

Seb suddenly wished he'd have a vision or something. Someone to save might be good for him, but the visions had been surprisingly quiet. It made him sad. He had never wanted his visions, but now they seemed a comfort, some sort of normalcy. Why couldn't he turn THAT switch on and be done with it?

[OSRIC YOUNG]

"What are you doing with your life, then, if you're not in school?" Martin asked, looking almost pained to be speaking. Osric worried maybe he should leave, but now, he was worried, should he leave, that Martin go crazy and explode or something. It was completely irrational and probably inappropriate for him to be worrying about the professor so much, but he couldn't help it; he worried about people in place of himself and could never not.

"Well, Sir, I work at this music store, and also I still do music sometimes, but not that much, since, ya know, stuff happened," he skimmed over details, because he was pretty sure Martin didn't really know much about his short lived career in music anyway, so no need to go there. "Oh, and I move boxes for people. You need me to move anything I can do it for you, for free" he said, a bit proud. He liked helping out. Moving things for people was helping out, and he even got paid for it (something that made him feel a little guilty if he knew the person and they were actually paying).