Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Why do you do that?” Cameron asked, turning toward the other teen.
Jamie raised an eyebrow and stared, asking for clarification. “Use those spells I mean, the ones that hurt you.”
The witch shrugged, “All spells have a cost; that one’s just paid for in a different way. It doesn’t really matter.”
“But it does!” Cam yelled and Jamie flinched. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to yell, I just don’t like seeing you in pain.”

The other teen looked shocked for a second and slowly said, “You don’t need to worry about it. It doesn’t even hurt that bad. I don’t really care.”

Cameron shook his head staring at the witch, “But I do. You know that right?” Jamie stared back, blank faced. “Sasha, Aff, and I care about you.”

Cam leaned forward meeting Jamie at, what he assumed due to their glasses, eye level. “We care about you.” He scooted closer to the witch and they froze. “Let us worry sometimes, okay?”

Jamie stood up, shaking his head, “Stop it.”
Cameron stared at them confused. “Stop what exactly?” His nervous habits seemed to have rubbed off on the other teen as he watched them run their hands through their hair frantically, pacing around the room.

“You can’t just do that! Stop it. Just because- you can’t- why?” Jamie’s sentences clipped together; none of them making any sense to Cam.

The witch grabbed their bag and started to walk towards the door. “Jamie wait!” Cameron pleaded. “What do you mean? I wasn’t trying to- '' the teen turned to look at him, their dejected eyes just visible over the rims of their glasses. “Fuck off” they whispered and left the room leaving Cameron confused and their hat forgotten on the floor.

Cam sighed and rubbed his neck. That didn’t go well. He’d never seen them that worked up before and he still had no clue why they were in the first place. Jamie was usually so calm. Even when they got mad it was in that cold manner rather than loud and upfront. To see them so upset was jarring.

He had no clue what to do, but if anyone would it’d be his girlfriend.
He pulled out his phone and texted Sasha, “I think I messed up with Jamie”
“Wdym? With Aff right now”
“They should probably hear this too tbh. I don’t know what happened I just told them we cared about them and they freaked out”
“Freaked out?”
“Like full on pacing, and stammering, they sounded like they were about to cry”
“Woah”
“They even forgot their hat”
“Holy shit, we’re coming over”

Five minutes later and Cameron was joined in his bedroom with his partners. Aff draped over his and Sasha’s laps and staring sadly at Jamie’s hat laying there on the floor.

“So what exactly did you say again?” Sasha asked turning to her boyfriend.

Cam sighed and turned to face her, “Just that they should take better care of themself. And they just laughed it off and said that it doesn’t matter.”

Aff picked their head up, “But it does! I don’t want them hurting themself!” Sasha ran her fingers through their partner’s hair calming them down. “I don’t want them getting hurt.”

“Exactly, but when I explained that they froze and got upset. What did I do wrong?” Cameron asked his partners.
Sasha sighed, “Jamie is difficult. You know that just as well as I do, if not better. They don’t like when people get too close.”
“But I want to get close.” Cam turned to Aff and Sasha, “I know you two feel it too. We need them as much as we need each other.”

“I’d love that, but would Jamie even consider it?” Aff asked staring at Cam.

“We could try.” he smiled.

They decided to let Jamie cool down before talking to them; spending the rest of the day cuddling and watching movies on Cameron’s computer. It was simple and calming, but everyone's mind kept wandering to the idea of having Jamie there too.

Chapter Text

To say Jamie was having a bad day was an understatement. In the past few hours they had pissed off one of their best customers, left their favorite hat at their friend’s house, and freaked out at said friend.

It wasn’t Cam’s fault, but he should know better. He can’t just say things like that. It’s not fair to either of them.

“Fuck,” the teen exhaled. They were supposed to be better than this. Stone faced, bitchy comments. Why were they getting so worked up over this? It’s not like any of them would ever even consider- Jamie’s breath hitched.

“Stop it. We are not thinking about that again,” they told themself. “I can’t do that again.”

The teen sighed and sat down in their hideout, leaning against one of the cave walls. They desperately needed to get high. Searching through their bag, they pulled out what was left of today’s sales. They didn’t want to be too out of it, but a small voice in their head urged them to do that exact thing. They should really find a better way to deal with this.

Jamie’s phone lit up, stopping their thought process in its tracks.. It was from Aff, surprisingly enough. Though they supposed Cameron probably told his partners what happened.

Thinking about it, the guy was probably freaking out. He had no clue why Jamie reacted like that because of course not. Out of all the guys in the world, he lands with the most oblivious one. Sasha and Aff with their freaky sense of intuition balanced him quite well. They made a wonderful group and Jamie was happy for them.

It was inevitable really, to go through all of that in such a short time and not connect with one of the others. Hell, Jamie made out with one of them that same day and Aff was three for three.

They were happy for their friends. Seeing Cameron happy again was worth all the effort it took to get him there. And if it made them happy that Sasha was feeling better, well no one had to know.

Sasha and Cam were lucky to have Aff to even each other out. They were the most truthful person Jamie knew and they were pleased that they had two partners to help them out of trouble.

The witch’s phone lit up again, reminding Jamie of the message.

“Hey dude you ok?” The witch sighed and messed with their hair. Cameron would likely be reading whatever they sent Aff, and maybe even Sasha too. All telling the truth would do is fuck everything up. Lying was the only sane option. “I’m fine”

If fine meant considering getting high as a kite that is.

Sure enough, three seconds later Sasha replied proving their theory true, “No you’re not”.

Yeah, they were all reading these.

Screw it. They popped an edible in their mouth and texted the group chat, “I’m fine, okay? Drop it.” and with that they turned their phone on do not disturb and layed down on some of the pillows they left in the cave. So much for smart decisions.

But hey, when had talking to any of them been a smart decision?

“Ugh,” they sighed. Their friends were happy. Why couldn’t they leave it at that? Why couldn’t Cameron just leave things alone? Why couldn’t they just live with things the way they were?

“This is ridiculous” they ranted “I shouldn’t be acting this way and for what? Some people who wouldn’t ever feel the same way? God, I’m an idiot.” their words caught in their throat and they blinked back tears.

“I’m such an idiot.” Jamie whispered rubbing their face in their hands.

The sound of rocks clattering against shoes alerted them to the presence of Sasha, Cam, and Aff at the entrance of the cave.

“Fuck.”

Chapter Text

“Jamie?” Cameron stared at the figure laying on the cave floor. When the witch lifted their head slightly Cam winced. He messed up really badly if they were this upset.

Jamie was in a crumpled ball, head resting on a pillow. Their usual sharp and perfect eyeliner was now in streaks running down their face along with their eyeshadow and their glasses were fogged up. “Are you okay?”

The witch spoke with their head still on the pillow, ‘I thought I told you guys to drop it.” The edge to their words was lost halfway through the sentence.

“You did but,” Sasha spoke up, stepping forward. “We care about you, believe it or not.” Jamie didn’t reply and turned away to face the hideout’s wall. “I’m not lying Jamie. I don’t lie to you, remember?” a small noise, almost like a whimper, was the only response from the teen.

Sasha sat down on the ground next to Jamie, “Would you at least say something?”

Aff turned to look at Cameron, confused. They opened their mouth to ask what was happening, but Cameron put his finger to his lips and then pointed to Sasha who was now running her fingers through Jamie’s hair.

She pushed them to a sitting position and said, “Now, what’s wrong Jamie?” When they still didn’t answer, she took off their glasses. Their eyes went wide and they bit their lip. Sasha continued to stare straight into their eyes though Jamie’s wandered around the sanctuary.

Cameron had never seen the witch so anxious before. Whatever it was, it was clearly eating them up inside. To see them back away from a stare was almost frightening. Jamie never backed down from a challenge, especially not one as simple as eye contact, even one as cold as Sasha’s, .

Sasha finally stopped staring them down and turned to their partners. She nodded her head and Aff and Cam sat down beside her and Jamie.

“Did I do something wrong?” Cameron asked them. “If I did I’m sorry”

Jamie shook their head, “No it’s not you it’s-” they turned to face Sasha. “Why are you making me do this? You know exactly what’s- fuck” they cut themself off again and covered their face.

The queen shook her head, “I want to hear you say it.”

Jamie sharply sat up straight and stared at her, “Why? Because you want me to fuck everything up? So you can mock me? Why? Tell me what you want from me!”

The tears were streaming down the teen’s face and they choked back a sob.
“I like you okay? I like all of you and it’s absolutely fucking stupid because none of you would ever-” Jamie broke down into tears and curled back up into a ball.

Aff hugged their shaking form and rested their head on top of Jamie’s. ‘Of course we like you. Why wouldn’t we?” they asked, rubbing the back of their hand.

They turned their head slightly to face them. “Why?” they asked sarcastically, tears still falling down their face. “Because who would? No one wants to date the drug dealer, the witch, the freak. All they want is a quick make-out when they’re high and someone to mess around with when they’re not.”

“That’s not why we like you Jamie-” Sasha was cut off by the teen.

“Oh it’s not? Then what do you call last month, or the last party, or whenever you ask me for a favor Sasha? What is that to you?” She opened and closed her mouth and stared down at the floor.

“And God knows I’ve done the same with you Cameron and hell even you Aff!” Jamie stared at each in turn as they averted their eyes to the ground as well.

“I get it okay? It’s fine! But don’t fuck around with me. Just kiss me and go back to your lives.”

Aff reached out and cupped Jamie’s face. “I’m sorry.” they brushed some of the tears off of the witch’s face. “I’m sorry we made you feel like that. And I know you think we don’t care, but we do.”

Sasha and Cam grabbed Jamie’s hands. “We want you Jamie.” Sasha whispered. “You’re so much more than a random kiss.”

Aff stared into Jamie’s eyes. “We want to date you, we all do, if you’d have us.”

Their eyes softened and they nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that. I’d really like that.”

Jamie was tackled by their partners as they engulfed the witch in a hug.

They leaned against the hideout’s wall and sat in a comfortable silence. Jamie and Aff in the middle with their heads together, Cameron on Aff’s shoulder and Sasha resting on Jamie’s lap.

“Jamie?” Aff turned to face them.

“Yeah?”

“I love you butterfly” Jamie snorted and Aff burst out laughing.

“Butterfly?” Cam stared at his giggling partners. Aff laughed harder and fell on top of a red-faced Jamie.

They wrapped around each other and fell asleep limbs intertwined with one another. And if they woke up with sore necks and angry texts from parents an hour or two later, it was definitely worth it.