Chapter Text
There was somone approaching Sol's house.
She wasn't exactly sure who it was. It wasn't Archie. He tended to be on the stiffer side, only relaxing when he was comfortable. Whoever was approaching had fluid, almost graceful steps, and they kept pausing, presumably to look at something.
Morgan or Roan would've texted before showing up, but even if they didn't - Sol could tell by the time between footfalls that they were shorter than either of them.
And Hayte, well. Sol snorted at the thought. Hayte was borderline robotic in its movements. This person? They kept ruffling their hair, adjusting their shirt, scratching at their skin - all extremely normally.
They stepped up onto the deck, and Sol stood up from the couch, setting Mabell on her stand, waiting for the knock. Maybe he'd get a clue, then.
Knock knock
Sol tilted his head. Too gentle to be Archie, too slow to be Roan. Too... normal to be Hayte. And not rhythmic enough to be Morgan.
"Who the hell," Sol muttered under her breath, swinging open the door.
She stared for a moment, trying to fully comprehend what she was seeing.
They looked almost certainly like Hayte, and Sol might have said it was Hayte at first glance. But their posture was too casual, their hands in their pockets, shifting their weight to one side. Their head was tilted ever so slightly, as if they were listening intently for something. And, worst of all - they were smiling.
"Good morning, Sol," Not-Quite-Hayte said. "How are you?"
Sol felt his jaw drop. "Ew!?" he said, almost without thinking. Hayte-But-Not frowned. Sol made a face.
"What's wrong?" it asked.
Sol sucked in a breath. "Are you okay?" she asked, looking Hayte-Slightly-To-The-Left over. "What's... what's wrong?" It was, to Sol's horror, speaking quietly, normally. Asking her questions about herself. Making expressions? Speaking casually, engaging in small talk? What the fuck was wrong with it?
"Uh," it said (and that was weird, too. Filler words? From Hayte?), "do you mean in general, or specifically right now?"
"God. Ew. What? Why are you..." Sol trailed off, still experiencing the whiplash of the century.
Hayte rubbed its neck, and Sol followed the motion with his eyes. It sighed. "Can... I come in, or do I just have to stand here all day?"
Sol stepped back, too confused and overwhelmed to speak. He gestured for Hayte to sit, and... and it sat. Down. On the couch? Like... like a normal person would.
Sol sat down across from it. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, and waited expectantly. "Well?" she prompted.
"You know," Hayte said, drawing its gaze away from Mabell and back to Sol, "I didn't think you'd be so weirded out by this."
"What?" Sol laughed a little in his nervousness. "How could I not be?"
"Well," it amended, "I knew it'd be weird. Just not so... bad-weird."
Sol stared.
Hayte sighed. "I thought you'd be less freaked out by me being more..." It trailed off.
"Normal?" Sol offered.
Hayte wrinkled its nose. Sol nearly exploded with relief at something, anything familiar. "I take offense at the idea that this is normal. More... people-y, is all."
Sol swallowed hard. "So... is this like when you brought the snail? Did..." Sol frowned. "Did you do this... to yourself?"
"Oh, Creation. Gods, no." Hayte scowled. "Why on earth would I willingly inflict this on myself?"
Sol smiled slightly. It was good to know that her Hayte was still there, even if it was buried underneath this... people-y mask. "So, what happened, then?"
Hayte waved a hand. "Run-in with an asshole, that's all."
Sol frowned, thinking that it seemed awfully dismissive of this, but he let it continue.
"I don't know if this is going to wear off on it's own." Hayte gestured to itself. "He didn't specify."
Sol felt her stomach twist. "So you're just... stuck like this?" Her brow furrowed together, feeling as though the world had shifted slightly to the right.
Hayte shrugged. "I'm sure there's something I could do to make it stop. Wizards, probably," it said under its breath. It frowned, then rubbed its face. Hayte leaned back on the couch, then propped its leg up. Sol tried not to cringe. It tilted its head. "Are you okay, Sol?"
"It's just... unsettling," Sol said, his mouth dry. "It's like having a stranger in my house."
Hayte smiled sadly. Sol looked away from its intense gaze. (Honestly, though, she was just glad for an anchor to attach herself to, something that felt like Hayte.) "Is it that bad?" Hayte asked.
"Yes!" Sol said, startling himself with the amount of force he put into the word. "Sorry," he mumbled, gripping his knees and taking a deep breath.
"You don't..." Hayte trailed off, then stared at its hands. "You don't like it... me better this way?"
Sol looked up sharply, mouth slightly agape. He swallowed, collecting himself. "Of course not," he said, standing up and crossing over to sit on the couch next to Hayte. He tucked his leg underneath his body, facing Hayte. Hayte blinked at him, and Sol reached and grabbed its hand.
Hayte stared down at their hands for a moment, then slowly moved it fingers to interlock with Sol's. Sol stared at their hands, too, feeling the familiar flutter she got in her stomach on the rare occasions she touched Hayte. The feeling was tainted though, by Sol's stomach twisting with worry for Hayte, and by the... strangeness she felt with Hayte now.
Sol closed his eyes wearily, and he let out a slow breath. He squeezed Hayte's hand, and then stood up, pulling Hayte with him.
Hayte stood, startled.
"Come on, Hayte," Sol said, setting her jaw. "I know where we can find a Wizard."
-
"I'm sorry," the Wizard said, adjusting the glasses on the Wizard's nose and skimming a page in a book. "What is exactly you want the Wizard to do?"
Hayte sat on a stool, shifting uncomfortably. The Wizard's tower smelled faintly of lavender and thyme, and there was an orange haze that Hayte kept trying to blink out of its eyes. "I don't usually act like this. It's extremely out of character, in fact. I want to go back to normal."
"And when you say 'like this,'" the Wizard said, giving Hayte an appraising look, "what is it that you mean?"
Hayte gestured helplessly to itself. "Like a... a person!"
The Wizard frowned. "Are you not typically a person?"
Hayte shook its head.
"So you need a potion to transform you back into an animal of some kind? Do you know what species you were before your transformation?"
Hayte tugged on its hair, and then shook its head again. "Not an animal, not exactly. I was..." It looked back at Sol, who was standing by the cabinets and peering at the Wizard's various potions. There was at least one for every color, and there was a whole group of orange potions together at the main desk. There was also an assortment of books, with one of them open to a potion label Strength, although the bottom half of the page had been torn out, and there were notes scribbled in a language Sol couldn't read on the top half. There were pleasant sounding pops and crackles coming from the back room of the Wizard's tower, behind a locked door.
The Wizard sniffed, and Sol glanced back to see both of them staring at her. "Oh," she said, flushing slightly. "What's up?"
The Wizard's smile tightened ever so slightly, and Sol cringed inwardly. "We were discussing... Hayte's... former state. What species were they?"
"It," Hayte said absentmindedly. The Wizard glanced at it.
"Was it, then."
"Oh!" Sol thought for a moment. "I guess I'm not sure, exactly. It was... kind of just some kind of creature. It looked human a lot of the time, but also... it wasn't." Sol frowned, and then took in Hayte again, as if seeing it for the first time. "Weird. I hadn't noticed just how nonhuman it looked before until now." He squinted at Hayte. "It was a lot more..." Sol raised his hands helplessly. "Incomprehensible, to be honest."
The Wizard dropped the book. Sol and Hayte stared.
"Apologies. Incomprehensible, you say?" The Wizard said lightly, but Sol could see the Wizard's hand shaking slightly as Wiz leaned down to pick up the book.
"Yeah," Sol said cautiously. He glanced at Hayte, wondering if it thought that this was a suspicious reaction at all. Hayte was kicking its feet gently and staring up at a spiderweb in the corner. It rocked back and forth gently, and Sol relaxed slightly, forgetting his worries about the Wizard for the moment. It's still only Hayte.
The Wizard turned to the desk, flipping through the pages of the book slowly. "What level of incomprehensibility do you mean?"
Sol frowned at the question, getting the vague sense that the Wizard knew more than then the Wizard was letting on. "I don't know. I could see it just fine, understand its shape just fine. It just blurred around the edges, seemed to change shapes or sizes when I wasn't focused on it. If I tried to understand it, it gave me a headache." She thought for a moment longer. "It showed up differently in pictures."
Hayte looked back from the spiderweb. "Did I?"
Sol nodded, and then pulled out her phone. She flipped through a couple of albums, and then found a photo of Hayte, one of the few she had. She showed the Wizard, who seemed to relax slightly, and then she turned to show Hayte, who was trying to see over her shoulder.
Hayte smiled softly. "I didn't know you took a picture of me then." It was a photo of Hayte holding a snail, carefully feeding it a bit of pumpkin guts from when Sol had made a jack-o-lantern. It was staring intently down at the snail, leaning on the table, a plastic skeleton in the background. It was wearing a skeleton onesie.
Sol smiled back. "Yeah. You looked cute."
Hayte startled a little, and then looked back up at Sol. It held his gaze for a moment, and Sol flushed under the intensity of the gaze. "What?" he asked, laughing nervously.
"No, I just..." Hayte slumped back on the stool. "I guess I don't think of myself as cute, that's all."
Sol covered her mouth to hide her smile. "Well then, how would you describe yourself?"
Hayte thought for a moment. "Can I be ferocious and terrifying?" It grinned, and Sol felt his lungs deflate again. Hayte's grin faded, and it quickly said, "I was just joking."
"I know," Sol said. She brushed her hair out of her eyes. "It was funny." And strange, and wrong, and entirely un-Hayte-like.
Hayte stared at its lap.
The Wizard took a couple of notes on Hayte's situation, then took Hayte's weight so that the Wizard would know how much potion to make.
"The Wizard will have your potion ready in a couple of hours," the Wizard said, all smiles again. The Wizard ushered them out of the Wizard's tower, and then waved. "I will notify you when your potion is ready. Go kill some time together."
Sol blew a stray strand of hair out of his face, frustrated. He had hoped this would be a quick process, and that he wouldn't have to manage his emotional roller coaster with Inverted-Hayte for much longer.
She turned to Hayte, who was hovering awkwardly near the door, hands in its pockets. Sol scowled. Her patience for being freaked out by Hayte was wearing thin, which made her feel guilty, but also made her tired, and when she was tired, she got annoyed, and when she was annoyed, she could be rude. And being rude to Hayte would make her feel guilty.
"Sol?"
Sol was pulled out of his thoughts. "Hm?"
"Do you want me to go home until the Wizard's done?" Hayte asked. "I know this has been... a lot. For you. Stressful. And it's weird, and..." Hayte looked at the ground.
Sol rubbed his head, and then sighed and smiled. "No, no. Come on, Hayte." He reached out for Hayte's hand, and Hayte took it, smiling slightly again. Sol looked straight ahead so that he wouldn't have to see it. "Let's go get ice cream."
-
Sol laughed slightly at Hayte, who was frowning at the bowl of ice cream. It looked up. "What? What!"
Sol laughed harder, waving at Hayte to be quiet while she collected herself. "Nothing," she said, when she could look at Hayte without laughing. "You just make a funny face whenever you take a bite of that."
Hayte smiled awkwardly. "Is it that weird?" it asked, taking another bite and grimacing.
Sol put his hand over his mouth and suppressed another round of giggles. "You don't have to eat more if you don't like it," he said. "Is it the sprinkles? Do you want some without them?"
"No," Hayte said, taking another bite. It made another face. Sol quickly took a bite, too, to hide her smile. There was a weight in her stomach that felt a little lighter while they ate ice cream, probably because the expression Hayte was making was entirely meaningless to Sol, signalling one of Hayte's incomprehensible emotions. It reminded her of the way it scrunched its nose when it was mad.
"Do you just not like the ice cream?" Sol asked.
"No, it's good."
Sol smiled. "Then what's wrong?"
"Why do you think something's wrong?" Hayte blinked at him.
Sol shook her head, and then laughed lightly. "You just look like you don't wanna eat that anymore."
Hayte took another bite, made another face, and then swallowed. "It's very cold."
Sol smiled. "It's ice cream, so yes. Have you never had ice cream before?"
Hayte shook its head. It ate another couple of bites, and then pushed its bowl aside. It looked out the window of the tiny ice cream parlor as Sol finished his ice cream.
A woman approached them, and Sol looked up, anxiety spiking. The woman smiled. "You two are such a sweet looking young couple," she said.
Hayte's head swiveled around from the window to take in the woman. Sol's heart dropped, and then she laughed nervously. "Oh, we're just friends," she said, feeling her face warm up, again.
"Oh," the woman said, looking slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry. You just behaved so..." She shook her head, and then laughed. "Well, you know what they say about assuming things. You two have fun, then." She waved slightly, and then left the parlor, ice cream in hand.
Sol groaned inwardly, and then turned back to Hayte, who was already staring intently at him. He smiled weakly.
Hayte tilted its head. "Do we behave like a couple?"
Sol froze, and then shifted his empty bowl around on the table. "N-no, not usually."
"Not usually," Hayte repeated. "But we are now?"
Sol shook her head. "It's - we're friends, and friends and couples look similar sometimes. That's all."
Hayte hummed lightly. Sol sighed, wanting to crawl into a hole and die. He shook himself slightly, and then leaned back and stretched.
"Do you want that?"
Sol froze again, trying to figure out what exactly Hayte was asking. And if it was asking what he thought it was asking. And worse, if it was only asking that because someone had cursed it.
Hayte took in Sol's panicked face and then rephrased its question. "To be coupled with someone, theoretically. Anyone, I mean. Are you hoping for that sort of..." Hayte struggled with words for a moment. "Partnership?" it said after a moment.
Sol relaxed slightly, still feeling her heart pound in her ears. "I-" She stared at Hayte for a moment, trying to process the question, come up with an answer, andcomprehend that it was Hayte asking her this, and not someone she would expect this question from.
He opened his mouth to answer, when the door opened with a loud jingling sound, and a group of teenagers came in, laughing and talking loudly. Sol cringed at the noise, and then perked up as a letter came zipping over their heads. It settled in between Hayte and Sol, and then opened itself so that Sol could read it.
She grabbed it out of the air, reading the brief message.
Sol, Hayte -
I believe I may have created the potion you are seeking. Please return at once.
- The Wizard
-
"I suggest you drink it all at once, and quickly," the Wizard said, presenting Hayte with a blue potion that turned purple when the light just right. "It will not taste pleasant."
Hayte took it. "Thank you for doing this," it said.
The Wizard nodded, and then took a step back.
Hayte popped out the cork and took a whiff of the potion. "Eugh," it said, making a face. "Well. Here goes nothing." It lifted the vial to its lips, and then paused. It looked at Sol.
"What?" Sol asked. "Is something wrong?" His anxiety spiked again, and he thought again about how he couldn't wait to go home when this was all over. The stress was making him nauseous.
Hayte hesitated, looking into Sol's eyes. It opened it's mouth to say something, and Sol's eyes widened.
"No," she said.
Hayte blinked. "No?"
"Whatever you have to say, it can wait until you've had your potion."
"But..." Hayte glanced at the potion.
Sol shook his head firmly. "After the potion. Drink up."
Hayte hesitated for a moment longer, then its shoulders sagged, and it nodded. It chugged the potion as quickly as is could, making a gagging noise when it was done. The Wizard took the vial, checking to be sure Hayte had gotten it all.
Sol watched Hayte anxiously, looking for a sign anything had changed. He glanced at the Wizard, who shrugged.
"I don't really..." Hayte started, but then it stopped. It shifted slightly, its posture becoming rigid and straight, its eyes finding Sol's and staring, its mouth sliding back into the resting position Sol was used to.
"Hayte?" she asked, feeling a warmth blossom in her chest.
"Sol," it said back, loud as fuck.
Sol grinned, and then threw his arms around Hayte's neck, hugging it tightly. Hayte didn't react for a moment, and then it stiffly raised its arms and wrapped them around Sol's back. Sol laughed slightly. "I missed you."
He took a step back after another long moment, realizing he hadn't checked to make sure Hayte was okay with being hugged. He let his arms drop, but Hayte grabbed his hand. Sol glanced at their hands, and then back at Hayte, feeling her chest flutter slightly.
Hayte stared at Sol. Sol grinned at it.
Hayte leaned forward, and Sol startled, unsure of what Hayte was doing it. She held still, getting nervous, panicked, but excited at how close Hayte's face was getting to hers. She closed her eyes briefly, wonder if it was about to -
Bonk
Hayte butted its forehead into Sol's. Sol's eyes snapped open to look at Hayte.
"Thank you, Sol," it said.
Sol smiled. "You're welcome, Hayte. Let's go home."