My Gaydar Is Going Off The Charts
“Oh. Yo, Max. What’s up?”
Max blinked.
Brooke, Kate, Rachel and Chloe were all sitting in a circle on the floor, next to the fire. They’d shifted some armchairs out of their way to do this, and they were sitting around what looked like a ritual circle.
“Max,” Brooke said, gesturing her over. “Come on. I saved you that peppermint toad.”
Despite the confusion stirring in her gut - replacing the burning weight of the hourglass resting against her chest - Max smiled.
She stepped over, and sat down next to Brooke, closing the circle in the process. In front of all of them was a chalk circle - they had moved the carpet out of the way to draw it. There were candles placed all around it, and a smiley face drawn in the center.
Max stared.
Brooke - gingerly - offered her a peppermint toad. She took it and popped it into her mouth.
“...What ish thish?” she said through a mouthful of peppermint.
“Kate wanted to do a blood ritual to make us all ‘besties for life’ after I explained the concept of blood rituals to her,” Brooke recited, voice long-suffering. “I have literally no idea what might happen after I do the incantation - Kate wrote a haiku for it. I explained that haikus have magical power and can be used as incantations. So, want to tempt Death?”
Max smiled. “That would actually be great.”
“Alright. Everyone, get out your wands, point them at your palms,” Brooke said, taking out her own. It glinted in the light - a rosy light brown colour. Hazel wood, Brooke had once mentioned in passing, even though talking about what type of wand you had was kind of a faux pas among purebloods. It was shorter than a foot - unlike Chloe’s wand, which was just as tall and springy as she was. The thing Max found most noteworthy about Brooke’s wand, though, was the flexibility - or rather, the lack thereof. Her wand was stiff as a board. Stiffer, even.
Max pulled out her own wand. It was a much lighter shade then Brooke’s - and, surprisingly enough, a bit longer too. Generally, Max thought her own wand looked quite standard, but Brooke argued that actually having a shade of wood so light was rather unique. The only lighter shade she’d ever seen was in a few birch wands, and a single wand that had been made from ivory, of all things - wands like that were usually status symbols, not really the most fitting and useful wand that person could own. Just the flashiest.
Everyone else pulled out their wands, and pointed them at their palms.
“Alright, now, the spell to cut something is diffindo. Don’t put too much emotion behind it - just a little should be enough to break the skin, and we don’t want to lose any hands, even if the nurse could re-attach them.”
Max gently pressed her wand to her palm - and murmured,
“Diffindo.”
A little slash grew on her hand. It tingled, for a moment - and then the dull heat of pain began to spread across her hand.
A single droplet of blood spilled from it.
She did the same for the other palm.
“Now, everyone link hands,” Brooke said, holding a hand out. Max took a moment to wonder if she had inadvertently ruined Brooke’s plan to hold Kate’s hand by sitting between them.
Brooke’s hand was as spindly as ever. She was careful not to squeeze too hard - it felt like Brooke’s hand might shatter if she did.
The pain in her hand went just that little bit thornier when her wound met the warmth of Brooke’s blood. She couldn’t help but notice just how cold the rest of Brooke’s hand was.
Kate grabbed her other hand, and the same little thorns of heat spread to the tips of her fingers on that side, too.
“Now…”
Brooke stared at the center of the circle of chalk.
“Friendship eternal,
We owe thee so much, for this
Loneliness vanished.”
For a moment - a small, short, very fragile moment - it seemed like the flames of the candles flared brightly, and the chalk seemed to float slightly.
And then the moment passed. As all moments do. And it was just a circle of friends, bleeding on each other.
“...Well, I don’t know healing spells,” Brooke said, letting go of Rachel and Max’s hands. “Do any of you?”
There was a chorus of ‘no’s.
“Not even you, Rachel?”
Rachel raised an eyebrow. “I can’t know everything. I’m already such a genius, there’s simply not enough space even in this massive brain f-”
“Yes, you’re hilarious, but really.”
“I’m dead serious,” Rachel said, with a perfect deadpan.
Brooke sighed. “Fine. Chloe?”
Chloe shrugged. “Nope.”
“You’re all useless.”
“Max and I have got a first aid kit!” Kate said, standing up rapidly. “It’s got some gauze! I’ll go get that - we can heal up the non-magic way!”
Brooke nodded. “Wonderful. Thank you, Kate.”
Kate smiled at her. Max couldn’t help but notice how it made Brooke’s cheeks go a little pink.
The moment Kate was gone, a heavy silence fell over them.
A pause.
“...I’m gonna go help her look,” Max offered, shuffling to her feet.
She walked around all of them - and glanced to the side as she reached the stairs.
Chloe was staring at her.
Max paused.
The former blonde, for a moment, looked like a rat who'd been caught in the cabinet - but then, she gave Max an easy grin.
Max smiled back.
She started up the stairs.
When she entered her dorm room, she found Kate sitting at the foot of her bed, trunk wide open and a few books set aside.
“Hey Max!” Kate said, reaching into her trunk. “Hope you don’t mind that I’m going through your trunk - you brought the first aid kit, right?”
“Yep. It’s… uh… at the bottom, though. I packed it first…” Max hit herself in the forehead. “God, I’m dumb.”
“No! No, you aren’t!” Kate said without hesitation, standing up and walking over to her so she could put a hand on her shoulder. “All my friends are smarties. Especially you, Max.”
Max snorted. “I… thanks, Kate.”
Kate smiled at her - and went back to rifling through her trunk.
“...Uh… oh! It’s right here!”
Kate stood up, and took a transparent case with an obvious red cross printed on it.
“Awesome!” Kate chirped. “Let’s go back to the besties!”
“...You do know you can’t have more than one bestie, right?”
Kate waved her off with a grin. “Nonsense. You’re all my besties! But… just between us, Max…”
She gave Max a wide, sincere smile. “You’re my best bestie.”
A very full, fluffy warmth spread through her stomach. “Thanks, Kate. You’re…”
“Chloe’s your best bestie,” Kate said easily, sounding completely sure of - and okay with - this fact.
“I’m sorry, Kate,” Max muttered, kinda feeling like a jackass.
“It’s alright! There’s no need for you to apologize. You and Chloe have been friends for like - forever. She’s got a big head start! I just wanted you to know that I really care about you, Max. And so does Brooke - even if she’s a little less open about saying it.”
Max smiled - because that was something she could reciprocate. “Thanks, Kate. I really care about you guys, too.”
Kate smiled at her.
There was a moment of easy, full silence.
“...Well, we better get this gauze back. Those cuts won’t bandage themselves, after all!” Kate chirped, walking past her.
Max followed her, barely pushing down the big, goofy smile tugging at her lips.
A minute or two later, Kate was wrapping gauze around her hand.
Max glanced down - and couldn’t help but notice that Kate’s arms were a little more tan than usual.
“Did you get a tan?”
She saw Brooke glance up sharply in her peripherals.
“Hm? Oh, yeah. I just spent a lotta time outside,” Kate said, tongue between her teeth as she gingerly, but efficiently, spun the gauze around her palm.
She moved to her other hand. Apparently very little gauze was needed for just a plain cut.
“I can’t believe I didn’t notice,” Max said, offering a smile. “Looking good, sis.”
Kate offered her a wink and a smile before focusing on her wound again.
“...Alright, that should be good. It doesn’t feel too tight, right? Thin gauze like this is wound too tight a lot.”
Max shook her head, inspecting her hands. “It feels fine. You did great, Kate.”
Kate gave her one last smile - and moved on to Brooke.
Max couldn’t help but let her eyes trail over to them. Brooke, very quickly, turned a light shade of pink with Kate delicately holding her wrist.
After a moment, she murmured something under her breath that Max couldn’t hear. It made Kate smile, though, and glance up to murmur something back.
Max actually saw Brooke’s breath hitch when Kate made eye contact.
“Man, they’re obvious.”
Max startled, a little, and glanced to her left - where Chloe had scooched up next to her.
“Oh. Chloe. You startled me.”
Chloe shrugged - and gestured to Brooke and Kate.
“They’re super gay for each other, right? Or am I just seeing things.”
Max blinked. “I… don’t know what’s going on with Kate. She cares about Brooke, and it seems like a really close bond for just a friendship, but there’s… nothing obviously romantic.”
“Mm. Hard disagree. My gaydar is going off the charts with this one.”
Max snorted. “Why don’t you direct that one at yourself, miss blue-haired emo now?”
Chloe snorted right back. “Oh, I don’t have to test for myself. I’m gay as shit.”
Max blinked.
“...You are?”
Chloe’s eyebrows rose. “You didn’t know? Gurl, my crush on Rachel is like, half as obvious as Brooke’s on Kate. Which means it’s pretty damn obvious.”
“I just…”
Max’s hand gripped at the bottom of her uniform.
“Never had you pegged as a lesbian, I guess…”
“Well - re-peg me then, Mad Max. What about you?”
Max jumped, a hand darting to her chest. “M-me?”
“Yeah. Like, are you gay? I’ve never seen you show any interest in guys…”
“Wh- no! I’m… not gay.”
Chloe glanced at her, eyebrows raising again. “...Oooookay…? No need to be defensive about it, geez. Just curious.”
“I just… I was startled,” Max muttered, looking down at her feet.
“Right. Well, uh - I wanted to check in on you. I noticed Hoida pulled you away in the middle of supper.”
“Oh. Right,” Max murmured, eyes still firmly at her feet. “She - uh - just had to talk to me about some homework I hadn’t finished.”
Chloe nodded, and gave her a soft, sincere look. “Cool. Just making sure. ...Are you alright, Max?”
Max blinked. “What?”
“Like, are you okay? You didn’t talk to me much during the Summer, and you seemed kinda distracted on the train.” Chloe tried for a grin. “Need me to kick someone’s ass?”
Max snorted.
Suddenly, the weight of the time turner seemed to burn against her chest again.
“No thanks, Chloe. No need for that. I just… have a lot of stuff on my mind.”
Chloe raised an eyebrow.
And then, suddenly, shifted, so she was sitting criss-cross applesauce. Max still couldn’t help but think of it as ‘criss-cross applesauce,’ after Kindergarten had scarred her forever.
“Well? Spill, gurl. It’s clearly weighing’ heavily on ya. I can help you out!”
Max smiled. It was even genuine.
“Thanks, Chloe, but… this one is something I’ve gotta deal with on my own.”
Chloe blinked.
And deflated, a little.
After a long moment, she reached over - and put a hand on Max’s shoulder.
Her stomach twisted oddly.
“Well - just know that you can talk to me, okay?” Chloe offered her a fist bump. “My first mate for life.”
Max snorted, trying very hard to not think about the odd feeling in her stomach. She bumped Chloe’s fist. “Pirates forever.”
“Done!” Kate chirped, pulling away from Rachel. “Get over here, Chlo! Let’s get you fixed up!”
Chloe offered her one last smile, and shuffled over to get wrapped up.
Max’s hand came to rest on her chest, feeling tighter than usual. It had nothing to do with the time turner this time.