plantfood | [Veronica, Stacy & Webster

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[Veronica, Stacy & Webster - Opposite Plot]

There is something different.

Mathias isn't quite aware of it, although he feels it on some level, he feels brighter and better and just different. He can't name it, can't place it and, most importantly, he doesn't want to. Whatever is different, it isn't bad.

He's headed down the boardwalk with a bounce in his step and a grin on his face, feeling lighter than he has in some time. Nothing can bother him these days, nothing can so much as touch him and he thinks, if he has time, he'll go visit Webster. Maybe they can talk about Veronica, like Webster always wants to. There are stories to tell now, certainly, and Mathias feels like he's in the mood to do some real talking.

Walking along, heading nowhere in particular, he breathes in deeply, enjoying the scent of the jungle around him. Every time someone passes him, he smiles brightly and waves, calling a loud, cheerful, "Hello!" Some people look startled, although he can't begin to understand why, and others greet him in return, looking just as happy as he feels.

Just ahead, he spots a familiar face and he hurries, almost running. "Hey!" he shouts happily. "Hey, hi! It's so good to see you!"

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She'd woken up early, at dawn, her eyes snapping open and a horrible feeling of dread clinching in her gut. She wasn't alone, she never was, but this particular morning, it felt wrong waking up next to a boy who was seeing someone else.

Oh God, what must Veronica think?

She slipped out from under the sheets silently and crept from the room in her pajamas, changing hastily in the bathroom and making her way quietly into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast.

For an hour, she read quietly, alone in the rec room with the jukebox playing softly in the background. When it was time for some fresh air, she was dressed modestly, a towel and a bottle of sunscreen and a book stowed away in her bag, along with a bottle of water and a piece of fruit for later.

You could never be too prepared.

"Hey!" Mathias shouted again, waving frantically as he got closer to Stacy. It was like she hadn't heard him or something and he ran down the boardwalk until he reached her, then stopped, grinning and panting.

"Hi," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets and rocking back on his heels, mostly just looking pleased to be standing there with her. "Where are you going?"

Blinking, Stacy frowned in confusion, looking at him like she'd never seen him before in her life. She knew the face, of course, but he could've walked right past her, shouting, and she might never have looked. Sounding like that, he might as well have been a stranger.

"Mathias? Hi," she hesitated, wondering if she really wanted her peaceful afternoon interrupted, "I was going to go down to the waterfall. I thought it might be quiet there."

"Can I come with you?" he asks, still looking at her with that open, honest smile. "I'm going to go visit Webster later, too, I think he wants to hear about Veronica, but I want to spend some time with you. If that would be okay. Would that be okay?"

He's talking far more than he would on any other day, but he almost doesn't notice. It feels good, like some sort of wall has finally been taken down.

"Yeah... sure," she answered slowly, completely at odds with what she really wanted.

Was he always this chatty?

"You're sure Veronica wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not," Mathias answers quickly, thinking that's probably true. Veronica knows all about Stacy, after all, he's been completely honest with her and besides, it isn't like he can just stop being friends with Stacy.

Although, Stacy seems to be acting sort of weird today.

"Are you alright? Are you feeling sick? Perhaps we should not go to the waterfall. Maybe I should take you in to the clinic to see a doctor?"

He'd answered without thinking, the words rushed and a little too loud, and he's either lying or he just doesn't want to think too deeply about it.

For now, she decided it was best to just let it go.

"I'm fine," she assured him, arching a brow, "I could ask you the same thing, you know."

Confused, Mathias looks down at himself as if he expects to see something physically wrong. Both his legs are still there -- though, if he's to believe that movie, that one was a close call -- and he isn't bleeding, so he looks up at Stacy again, nodding.

"I'm fine," he says, still looking confused. "Why wouldn't I be? I feel great, actually. Very good. Very..." He isn't sure the word he's looking for, so he just settles for offering Stacy another smile.

"Great?" she offered, her lips twitching. There was something off about him, but she'd let it go, for now. She had a feeling, whatever answer he gave, it wouldn't be much help to her.

"Come on, if you're coming," she said, brushing past him, and she would've been fine with whatever decision he made.

"Don't you want me?" Mathias asks, concerned, as he trails after Stacy. She seems very aloof, very cool, and he isn't sure he likes it. In fact, it sort of hurts his feelings.

"It hurts my feelings," he tells her. "When you're so cold, I mean. I don't like it very much at all."

"Do I want you? What are we even talking about?" she asked, utterly gobsmacked, but not for the usual reasons.

"I'm not trying to hurt your feelings. If you want to come, come. Why do we have to make such a big production out of it?"

"You're not being very nice," Mathias informs her and now he's not sure that he does want to go anywhere with her. "After everything we went through together before we got here, I would think you would be a little nicer. And... you're being strange."

There, he's said it. He actually doesn't feel that good about having said it, though. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

"Yes, you did," she said simply, turning to face him, her arms folded across her chest and a worried look crossing her face.

"Is that why we're friends? I mean, is that why we're nice to each other? Because of what happened on that hill?"

"No," Mathias answers, frowning. "We're friends because... we're friends. We were friends before what happened there."

That's not exactly true either, but he wants it to be true. Right now, he can't accept that they're not friends or that they've become friends simply because of the bad things that have happened to them. He doesn't like that.

"I'm not sure that's true, but it's not... You're kind of the only person I trust around here, but you're acting kind of weird. You don't need to ask if I want you around, I thought it was kind of obvious that I do," she sighed, "I just wanted quiet, for a little while, that's all."

Mathias huffs out a breath of air and frowns, trying to figure out what to do now. He thinks he should probably leave Stacy alone, but he really wants her company at the same time.

"Okay," he says slowly. "Do you want me to leave you alone? To be quiet?"

She considered it, really considered it, not wanting to just blurt out the first thing that came to her, just to make him feel better.

And in the end, she said, "No, I don't." Because she might not have been herself, but she still cared about him, more than anyone still left in her life.

"Okay," Mathias says slowly, offering Stacy a small, reluctant smile. "You're my best friend here," he adds quickly, still sort of worried he's saying too much for some reason. It just all wants to come out anyway. "Not just because of what happened to us before."

"I know," she said quietly, an apology in her smile, and as she looked up at him, she was suddenly struck by how tall he was, maybe because he seemed so young and so lost right then.

"You're letting me sleep in your bed, and I know it's not because you're trying to get in my pants. Unless you're really, really taking your time."

Mathias smiles at that, bright and cheerful once again. "It's because I don't know anyone else here and neither did you. Who else were we going to stay with?"

His eyes grow wide and he looks at Stacy. "We should have a hut built. A real place to stay, not just a bed in a room with Draco, who is very cranky."

She turned to look at him with a curious frown and asked, "Are you sure you're ready for that?" He'd gotten so much better about the jungle, but he still had problems.

She would've had to have been blind not to notice.

"I don't want to stay in the Compound forever," Mathias answers, frowning a little as he thinks about it. "The jungle is still... it's not what it once was for me, that much is certain, but the room in the Compound is too small for all three of us. I think he hates us."

"I think he hates everyone, it's not just us," she laughed, taking a moment to consider, then finally she jerked her head in a decisive nod and said, "Okay. Let's do it. Let's build a hut."

A wide grin spread over Mathias's face at Stacy's words and he nodded. "We have to submit some sort of request, I believe, but I can take care of all of that. Near the beach? I think I would like to live near the beach."

"The beach sounds... good," she decided after a moment of thought, a wider smile stretching her face as she looked up at him. "Maybe we can even have our own beds this time."

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[Veronica, Stacy & Webster - Opposite Plot]

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