you're my haunted house [magdan AU]

4. just keep it together, somehow.

a/n: hey friends, chapter 4 is finally here! i wanted to say thank you to everyone who has waited patiently for me to upload! these past couple of months have been very stressful, being in school half the day and feeling tired and unmotivated as hell. however, after editing all of the previous chapters (albeit somewhat slowly) i am glad to say that i'm officially back into writing! it's good to finally be in the groove of things! i know this chapter isn't that  long, but don't worry, there will be another one to follow within these next couple of days (or sooner, it depends on my mood) because you deserve it! 

that's all for now! enjoy the chapter! <3

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"Uh, what?"

I stood in front of him, confused to death at his words. What in the world was he talking about? Why in the world did he take off his shirt? My mind ran circles around my head for what felt like days, gasping for air, trying to come up with a logical reasoning for the situation, and then...

"Dude, take off your shirt. They got you pretty bad, I'm gonna go get some ice." He said, attempting to walk over to the cabinet in the corner of the room. He didn't get far.

Bang! Just like that, he came crashing down onto the wooden floor.

"Ow, ow fuck!" He yelped in pain, crawling on the floor. I swiftly made my way over to him.

"That silly idiot, had he completely forgotten that he had been injured aswell?" I thought to myself.

If anything, they had gotten him "pretty bad" I had barely been affected at all, at least to my understanding.

Despite that, I couldn't help but crack a smile at his clumsiness. It was pretty funny seeing him fall down in such a comical way. I put my hand out for him to grab onto, and carefully pulled him up onto the bed, making him lie down. I took a seat in the rolling chair next to the bed.

"Are you okay?" I asked him with a sigh.

"Agh, I'm alright, sorry for scaring you. I kinda forgot that I wasn't exactly in the right shape to move around freely." He said, chuckling awkwardly, turning his head down.

"It's okay, it happens." I replied calmly, playing with my hands atop my lap.

"Hey, do you think you could grab that ice though? Since I kinda failed to do that." He said to me, returning back to his casual state.

"Alright, I'll do that."

I got up and grabbed an ice pack from the mini fridge in the back of the room, and breezily walked back to my seat, scooting my chair closer to his bed.

"Do you want me to, um, ice you down?" I said, cringing at my word choice.

"Oh, sure." He said, seeming almost sleepy, as he watched me drag the ice pack across his chest.

His pale skin was lit with bruises, some greenish, some of them red, and others purple. Put together, it almost looked like an abstract piece of art you'd find at a gallery. But it was no piece of art; it was the result of pure, teenage violence that I was used to seeing, no matter where I was in the world. Although I had saved him this time from being shredded to pieces by those wolves, there was zero guarantee that I could save him next time. My heart ached at the thought of that, leaving me with an uncomfortable feeling in my chest.

"Ahh, that feels good." He said, and I nearly jumped out of my seat. Sometimes his choice of words really didn't match the situations we were in, leaving me with more blush on my face than I felt genuinely comfortable with.

"You can stop now, by the way. I feel way better after that. Now, it's your turn." He said, looking expectantly at me.

"Uh, are you sure? There's probably not any bruises or anything, I think." I lied, not wanting to inconvenience him.

"Yep! Leave it to me! Now, take off your shirt!" He said.

I guessed there was no avoiding the exposure of my back, after all.

---

It turned out that there was a huge bruise on my back, according to Dan. I had a fairly high pain tolerance, so it hadn't really affected me all that much. We soon put our shirts back on, and stood by the entrance to the nurse's office. Miraculously, lunch hadn't ended yet, despite us taking our sweet time in the nurses office. I didn't feel like going to lunch, especially after the whole ordeal at the lockers. The possibility of seeing that punk, vomit-haired, mess of a guy and his cronies again was enough to make me decide on that. I guess Dan also thought that, since he didn't seem to want to leave the nurse's office either.

"Sooo, you are actually new here, right?" Dan asked me, leaning on the edge of the door.

"Yeah, me and my sister moved here just yesterday, actually." I replied vaguely, hoping that he wouldn't start asking why we moved, or what brought us here, or anything about the past. I wasn't ready to talk about it at all.

"Wait, you've got a sister? What's her name? Maybe I know her?" He inquired, his eyes glimmering from the fluorescent lighting above us.

"Yeah, I've got a little sister. Her name's Emily, and she also goes here. She's a freshman, though."

"Ah, alright, hey, sorry for asking so many questions. It's just so interesting to meet people who have siblings, as an only child and all." He sheepishly replied, as if it was something embarrassing to admit.

"Don't apologize, you're fine." I replied back, just barely biting back a laugh.

"Hey, don't laugh at me! I'm self conscious, okay..." He said lightheartedly, patting my shoulder.

We jumped slightly at the bell, signaling that lunch was over. I felt my heart sink a little, knowing that the boring day had to continue on. Just as I was about to open the door, though, Dan stopped me.

"Dude, no way we're going back to class. You, my friend, are coming with me." He said with a grin, putting his hands on my shoulders.

"W-what? Where?" I asked him, but he didn't reply at first. He simply herded me outside of the nurses office, taking his hands off of my shoulders, and into my hands, before bolting down the hall to the door that lead outside.

"You'll see! It's a really cool place! I know you'll love it!" He told me, with absolute confidence in his voice.

"Are you sure that we should skip class? It's only the first day, after all?" I said in a futile attempt to change his mind.

"Yep! The real question is, Mag, do you wanna come with?" He asked, standing in front of the door now, looking at chill as the late September weather.

He had given me a nickname, my face flushed, fuzzy feelings embellishing me.

He was still holding my hand.

"It's only the first day of school anyway" I told myself.

I couldn't possibly turn down his offer.

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a/n: OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I FINALLY DID SOMETHING WITH MY LIFE AND FINISHED THIS GOD FORSAKEN CHAPTER. THANK LORD AHHHHHUWEB!! okay okay, i hope y'all enjoyed that, it's not the most eventful chapter ever, but it's a start, yeah? i wonder where dan's gonna take him hahah,, LEMME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS, HAVE A GOOD DAY YOU DESERVE IT!! CYA NEXT TIME!!

-xoxo, cleo <3