Chapter Text
Henry’s midterm projects are finally complete and he can finally stop stressing so much. He has spent the day working in his room since going out would be, uncomfortable, to say the least. Yesterday was a bad day. He had gone into complete sensory overload in the dining hall at lunch. He and Jude tended to avoid it during popular times like noon but circumstances had lead them to a small table in a loud room. Jude had done their best to distract him from the sounds of talking and chewing but it was all too much for Henry.
They both ended up in Jude’s bed, Henry unable to stop crying. The whole ordeal was embarrassing. He knew that Jude understood but still couldn’t help feeling like a burden. Eventually, Henry felt better but instead of staying in Jude’s room just for their presence, he decided to go to his room for a nap. He curled up in bed, not feeling much of anything aside from a buzzing between his ears.
Today had been better though, quiet and productive. Henry dug his stim necklace out of a drawer in his desk. He was hoping to not need it at school, but he guessed something like this would happen. The necklace was a nylon cord with a blue rubber shark on the end meant for chewing. It made Henry feel safer to have something to chew on.
Henry sat on the floor by his bed, paging through a book titled ‘The Green Witch’. It focused mostly on plant-based magic, which Henry was very interested in. He was reading over a self-confidence ritual that he’d like to perform eventually. Henry grabbed his Grimoire from under his bed along with a pen. He liked to write rituals and spells down step by step so he could go back to them if he’d like.
“A white candle, a yellow candle, a bowl, a bit of lemon balm, salt, a piece of paper, and water. Seems easy enough.” He said to himself, sorting through his jars of dried herbs. He didn’t have lemon balm but Jude probably did. Jude was some sort of witchy mentor to Henry. They seemed to know everything, what herbs meant what, how to read tarot, everything. Henry pulled out his phone to text them.
“Hey bud, do you have any lemon balm? I need a bit for a spell.” Henry typed out the message and set his phone down to continue to write down the steps of the ritual. It wasn’t complicated at all. The most difficult part was figuring out what he wanted to say on the paper. It had to be what he wanted to be more confident in, but Henry couldn’t think of anything specific. He wanted to be more confident in everything.
Eventually, he settled on being more confident in social encounters. Henry wrote a note of this and put all of his things away, feeling magicked out for the day. Really it was the grumbling in his stomach that distracted him. It was nearly 6 pm, but just the thought of going near the dining hall put Henry on edge. His phone buzzed, distracting him from his anxious thoughts. It was a text from Jude.
“Yeah, I’m actually growing some :)” The text read. Henry knew Jude would have some. He sends a text back:
“Neato. Do you wanna order some food?” Ordering in would be nice, but eating with Jude would make it even better.
“Sounds good. Wanna come over?” Jude lived just down the hallway so Henry wasn’t sure why he hadn’t gone over there sooner rather than texting. He got up and made his way down to Jude’s room. They had a single room this term since they’re roommate dropped out after a month. Jude was so lucky. Henry and Jason were fine roommates, but you can’t sleep naked when you have another person 5 feet from you. Henry knocked on the door and it was opened immediately, Jude standing there with a smile.
After a few minutes of deliberation, the two decided on ramen for dinner, something they both really enjoyed. There was a great ramen place down the road that delivered. It was heaven for college students. They ordered their food and put on a show to watch while they waited. Henry wasn’t paying much attention though, Jude had started telling a story about how in 10th-grade chemistry they made the whole building evacuate by spilling chemicals.
“My teacher wouldn’t let me touch anything for the rest of the year, not even the stapler,” Jude said, chuckling a bit. Henry was watching Jude with a sort of awe in his face. Their smile was one of the cutest things he’d ever seen. Jude’s teeth were all crooked but in a cute way, their incisors were like little fangs, bottom front teeth overlapping a bit. Henry always had a thing for funky teeth.
Henry was pulled out of his thoughts when Jude gently grabbed his chin, tilting his face up. Jude looked closely at Henry’s eyes, almost studying them.
“What’s up?” Henry asked, confused and turning very red.”
“I never noticed that you have green eyes.” They said, letting go of Henry’s chin. He wanted their hand back. To cup his checks, run fingers through his hair.
“Yep, my hair covers them a lot so people don’t see,” Henry replies.
“They’re pretty,” Jude says, turning their eyes back toward the laptop screen.
Jude’s phone lights up with a notification saying their food had arrived in the dorm’s lobby. The tension is sliced when Henry offers to go down and grab it. He can’t deal with this. Jude being flirty is one thing, they’re a generally flirty person, but that seemed more intense than everything else that’s happened. Maybe Henry is blowing it out of proportion like he usually does. As the elevator dings at each floor, Henry keeps feeling Jude’s hand on his chin again. He tried to shake it off as he hands the delivery man money and takes the food. Hopefully chilling out and eating will take Henry’s mind off of the last half hours.