Chapter Text
Mac had gotten her ears pierced when she was seven years old, on a Saturday, at a strip mall Claire’s when she sat extremely still in that tall chair as the teen employee pulled out the piercing gun. Her dad squeezed her hand, seemingly more scared than she had been, and said, “You’re so brave, Mac.” She squeezed his hand back, or tried to, noting how warm her dad’s palm was, how it enveloped her hand completely, and the callouses at the joints of his fingers from the pen he used at work pressing against them all the time.
There was a burst of pain, and Mac had squeezed her dad’s hand as hard as she could, to prove to him how brave she was, and then he had helped her pick out an extra pair of earrings to take home. They settled on little silver planets, and her dad let her buy a rainbow choker, too. She stretched it out between her hands on the car ride home, watching the interlocking plastic loops expand and contract. Lulled by the rumbling of the car, she fell asleep, and her dad carried her inside, making sure the choker and earrings didn’t fall from her lap.
A year later, her dad got possessed, and Mac along with him.
The most annoying part was she had gotten used to it. She always hated hearing Tragoedia’s voice, had done her best to rebel against him, but now?
Shaking her head to clear the static didn’t help. It only reminded her of the silence she should enjoy.
She hadn’t worn earrings in nearly six months. After the transmitter shattered, there was too much going on to worry about her ears. Whether her dad was okay, for one. For another, who Mac was. She didn’t like to think about that second point for too long.
The earrings in the store window were small, almost delicate: two silver snowflakes set in the center with the tiniest rhinestone.
“Mac?” Alexis Rhodes’s voice cut through the silence. Mac put on the most neutral expression she could muster before turning to face her. She could never explain how relieved she was, hearing a familiar voice. And a warm one, at that.
Alexis clearly wasn’t bound to the same stoicism, her eyes widening with delight when Mac turned, and her suspicions were confirmed. She held her umbrella over her shoulder, her boots slightly damp. Mac kept herself from flinching as Alexis moved closer, droplets splashing her as they slid off the umbrella.
“Sorry,” Alexis gave her an apologetic smile. “What are you doing out here? Did you forget your umbrella?”
“I didn’t think I would be out so late,” she slipped into a smile easily. “The weather was fine this morning.”
A crack of thunder, the honking of several car horns stuck one after another in a line. How had she not noticed before? Even this was better than the silence that plagued her.
She nodded at Alexis’s umbrella. “I didn’t think you were into that kind of thing. Sheep tokens. Cute.”
Alexis blushed, her hands tightening around the handle. “I’m not. It’s Atticus’s – I borrowed it before I left his dorm last week.” She looked away, stammering, “Well, I mean, I hope he doesn’t need to leave the dorm today, haha! I figured I’d return it before the next time it rained, but it looks like I didn’t. Somehow, that makes me feel kind of bad.”
“Ah,” said Mac. She wished Alexis would look at her again. The big eyes and pink cheeks suited the otherwise usually composed duelist. “That does seem more aligned with what Rhodie would like.”
To Mac’s delight, Alexis’s cheeks reddened further. “That nickname is so embarrassing! I can’t believe he conned people into calling him that.”
She looked so perturbed that a laugh escaped Mac. She held her hand over her mouth as quickly as possible to conceal it, but Alexis met her gaze again, at least.
“I guess I don’t feel as bad about stealing his umbrella now that I know he still goes by that ridiculous nickname.” She turned to the window, her eyes widening when she saw the earrings.
“Speaking of ‘things I didn’t think you’d be into,’ were you looking at those earrings? They’re so cute.” She beamed, her eyes shining despite the gray air. “I didn’t know you liked that kind of thing, either.”
Neither did Mac. Truthfully, she didn’t like earrings like those; or, she wasn’t sure if she did. Too cutesy, childish, even. The Mac she was now didn’t. Maybe the Reggie she could have been, before Tragoedia ruined her life, would like them.
“I was just looking at them to pass the time,” she said instead. “Although,” she continued, watching Alexis lean in closer to the window display, “I think they’d suit you.”
“Me?!” Alexis straightened up so quickly her umbrella dropped a deluge of collected rainwater on her arm. She squeaked in discomfort before waving her free hand in front of her, laughing. Her cheeks had regained that pink tinge Mac liked so much.
Mac bit back a smile. She had never liked the color pink before.
“They’re really pretty,” said Alexis, softly touching the lobe of her ear beneath her hair. “But I don’t have my ears pierced.”
“Shame,” said Mac. “You’d look pretty in them.”
“So would you!” Alexis responded a little too quickly. “I mean, I think you should get them, if you like them. You do have pierced ears, right?” She peered at Mac, squinting like she was trying to see through her hair.
Mac shrugged. “I do. I haven’t worn earrings since the whole, you know, possession thing.”
“Ah, right,” Alexis said. She stood frozen in place.
Another car honked, a long honk. As if in response, the sky opened up, rain pouring down in ear-shattering roars.
“The rain’s really not letting up, huh,” Alexis said, tension broken by the shift in the weather. She gave Mac a small smile, holding her umbrella up slightly. “I’d offer to walk with you, but I don’t know if this umbrella will hold up against,” she glanced at the wall of water beating down from the awning, “that.”
“Thanks for the offer anyway.” Mac leaned back against the wall of the storefront. “Good luck getting back, though.”
“Yeah,” Alexis said, frowning at the rain. “I think it just got worse than it was? How is that even possible?” She took a tentative step forward.
Then, she stopped, closing her umbrella instead.
“What are you doing?” Mac found herself leaning forward, hand partially outstretched toward Alexis.
“Why don’t we walk around the shop a bit first?” Alexis suggested. “We can wait for the rain to die down a little. Plus, I can look for something for Atticus, to make up for stealing his umbrella.”
She turned back to Mac, the barest hint of apprehension written in the curve of her brow.
“Okay,” Mac agreed. Alexis’s sudden smile glowed, so brightly that Mac had to glance behind her to check that the rainclouds had not parted.
They crossed the threshold of the store, greeting the associate in turn when she greeted them.
The earrings winked at them, or at Mac, from the window display. Mac clenched her fist at her side, remembering how her dad held her hand at that Claire’s years ago. She couldn’t remember what had happened to the planet earrings, whether she had thrown them out, or lost them. She never had the chance to swap them out for the starter earrings she got.
“Oh, look!” Alexis exclaimed from the bracelet display. “They have a planet charm line for bracelets. See this gold one? It reminds me of your Splendid Venus, Mac. Oh, it’s on sale, too. But I’m not sure if it’s really my style.”
“Tell you what,” Mac said, to avoid saying, those earrings remind me of your Ice Queen. “I’ll buy the earrings if you buy the bracelet.”
Alexis pondered it for a second, her eyes fixed with longing on the bracelet. “Hmm, that wouldn’t leave enough to get Atticus a gift, though.”
“You don’t have to get him anything,” Mac said. “Siblings steal stuff from each other all the time, right? Besides, knowing him, there are plenty of people throwing themselves at a chance to share an umbrella with him if he wanted to go out today.”
Alexis grinned, a grin that reminded Mac of her face when her opponent activated her set traps. “Alright, then. Deal.”
“I’m excited to see you wear your new earrings,” Alexis said, as Mac held up the earrings to her ear in one of the store mirrors.
Maybe they suited her after all.
“Alexis,” Mac said, when she was done.
“What is it?”
“Thank you.”
“Huh? What are you thanking me for?” Alexis asked, her brow crinkling in confusion.
For not leaving me with the silence today. “I needed new earrings today. Thanks for helping me out.”
Alexis laughed. “I’m happy to be of help. It was good to hang out with you, Mac.”
The shopkeeper rung them up, and they walked out the door together, retreating under the awning with their new trinkets. The rain had lightened up, a steady downpour rather than a deluge.
“Should we try to head back to the academy?” Alexis asked, wiggling her umbrella.
Mac agreed. They walked back under the same umbrella without really speaking, letting the rain wash around them like a curtain. The silence wasn’t so bad when she was next to Alexis, Mac decided.