Worse Than His Bite

Chapter 11: The darkness of my room

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt." Callum began to slink back into Leo's room, closing the door slowly in front of him.

"No! No, it's fine!" Phineas insisted. "You're not interrupting anything. There was nothing to interrupt. There is nothing. Nothing's going on." He waved his hands frantically. To a passer by he might look like he was trying to signal a plane to come down for landing.

Callum poked his head out from the small opening left of the door. "Looked a little like something. Don't mind me, carry on. Just give me a knock when you're done."

"We're done!" Phineas yelled. "We didn't even start! There was nothing to start."

Callum smiled, though not very genuinely. He didn't leave the safety from behind the door. His hand stayed firmly grasped on its side, pulling it closer to himself rather than pushing it so he could come out. It was a rather awkward moment to walk in on. Not that there an awkward moment to walk in on! There was nothing going on between Phineas and Sebastian. They hardly knew each other and Sebastian had just been kind enough to bring him a meal after he'd skipped dinner. Callum didn't need to look so afraid.

Callum wasn't looking at Phineas. Sometimes he did, but most the time, his eyes flickered upwards and stare then wince and retreat deeper into Leo's room.

Phineas looked up and saw only the underside of Sebastian's chin and the falling raven strands of his hair. "Sebastian." He spoke out loud, but he wasn't sure why. He had always been uncomfortable with Sebastian's eyes. They weren't ugly or unsightly. They were just strange. Unfamiliar in their dark shade in a way he couldn't quite describe. Perhaps it was best to describe it as if part of the night sky had fallen and landed in front of Phineas. He'd stared at the night sky a million times, knew it's darkness and yet seeing it before him made him feel different. Sebastian had strange eyes and they made Phineas feel even stranger. In that moment, however, he wanted to see them. Clearly the strangeness Callum felt under Sebastian's stare was not the same that Phineas felt. And that... was even stranger.

Sebastian did change his gaze to Phineas. His face softened and it was his turn to be unable to meet Phineas' eyes. "I'll-" he cleared his throat.

"Moon's changing tonight." Callum said still from behind the door.

"I know." Said Sebastian.

"You shouldn't be around hi-"

"I know." Sebastian cut him off. He turned back to Phineas. "I'm going out."

"Out?" Asked Phineas. "Out where?"

Sebastian turned away and walked down the stairs, his hand on his throat as if trying to hold it together. They watched him go, listening to the sound of his heavy footfalls till eventually the front door opened and slammed shut.

Phineas heard Callum let out a sigh of relief. "Fucking hell. Not a friendly bastard, is he?"

"He is." Said Phineas. "He's very friendly, just not very social."

"If you say so. You do seem pretty friendly with him. Consider this revenge for walking in on me earlier." Callum let out a loud laugh as Phineas' face flushed red.

"I didn't mean to." Said Phineas. "I don't know why I looked, the door was open and I hadn't seen Leo in a few hours, so I..." he didn't know how to explain himself, there wasn't much to explain. Unintentionally at first then very intentionally after he realised what was going on, Phineas had spied on the private moment of intimacy between Callum and Leo. "You looked beautiful."

They both stood there in silence on the landing, both equally shocked by what Phineas just said.

It was Callum who spoke first. "Haha. So honest." He glanced around the room, drumming his fingers on the door he had slowly came out from but refused to let go of all together. "So... you a friend of Leo's?"