New York City, New York | Thursday | May 5

[decoder_rings]

He'd had a nightmare last night. It wasn't uncommon, he'd been having them a lot since becoming cured of the vampirism but that didn't make them suck any less. The only good thing was that he hadn't woken up with a scream which meant Abigail hadn't come running and he hadn't had to explain visions of blood, bone and flesh that he could see in his

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[rocksthescarf]

Chuck had spent his morning getting settled in at the Winchester's and, as promised, was taking things easy. After he had got the majority of his stuff in what was now to be his room (or, well, watching other people take his stuff to his room) he sat back on the bed and sort of marveled at the fact that he was living with his ex-principal and a toddler for the summer.

After a while that got sort of boring, but Chuck still stayed in bed because, whether she knew it or not, Zoe was going into mother mode even on the phone with him the other day and he didn't want to give her reason to threaten him back into bed. So he got to looking at his phone and he noticed an old text that he had scoffed at when he first got it, but never deleted.

The old Chuck Bass would have ignored it forever, but the new Chuck Bass was willing to try to forgive, so he dialed Hannibal's number and waited for an answer.

[decoder_rings]

When Hannibal's phone started buzzing, he'd considered ignoring it but eventually figured that wouldn't do any good. Retrieving it from the nightstand, his eyes widened at the name displayed there.

Phone to his ear, Hannibal slowly said, "Um, hello? Chuck Bass?"

[rocksthescarf]

Hannibal's voice sounded so unlike the last time Chuck heard it that a lot of the nervousness he felt about calling went away.

"Um, yeah, it's me," he said after a moment. "Hi."

[decoder_rings]

Well, now Hannibal had no freaking idea what to say. Chuck was one of the people that he'd hurt and hadn't been able to contact since all of that. He felt lame.

"You're -- " He frowned. "You sound all right. I got, um, your friend's email about you getting shot. You okay?"

[rocksthescarf]

"I'm fine. Going to be using a cane for a while to get around, but I'm alive." Which was all he could ask for, really. "I just moved back to Fandom today."

[decoder_rings]

"You're back on the island?"

Surprised, it took Hannibal a moment or two before his next question came to mind.

"Oh god, are you gonna be teaching?"

Those poor kids.

[rocksthescarf]

"No, god, no," Chuck said, making a face at the thought. "I just--this cane thing might be a more permanent accessory if I don't take it easy and Zoe brought up the idea of recovering here rather than New York so I moved in with her."

[decoder_rings]

"You're living with the hot principal?" Hannibal had to stop packing and consider that. He almost smiled. Almost. "That mean you get sponge baths?"

It was almost too easy to fall back into old habits.

[rocksthescarf]

Chuck smiled a little. "I'm pretty sure I'd get shot again if I asked. I'm trying to avoid that."

[decoder_rings]

"Yeah, probably wise," he said and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry I didn't visit. I wasn't sure because -- "

Well, you know, the vampire thing.

" -- but I wanted to be there."

[rocksthescarf]

"It's fine. I'd rather not have people seeing me like that," Chuck said, shaking his head. "I was hopped up on morphine most of the time anyway, which was fun but didn't make for good conversation."

[decoder_rings]

"Yeah, I bet."

Not that he'd been hopped up on morphine but he knew how being out of it felt. Whatever he'd been on when they'd turned him back into a human had left him feeling out of it for days.

"I'm glad you're all right," he said slowly. "Both from getting shot and...from what I did."

[rocksthescarf]

Chuck was silent for a few moments, knowing that this part of the conversation was coming. "It's fine. I mean, it's not fine that it happened but...I mean, you weren't yourself."

[decoder_rings]

"Yeah, not by a long shot," he said, frowning. "Doesn't make it okay, what I did, because it was still my body and I have all those goddamn memories."

Hence the reason why he was up so early and packing for a long trip. "I didn't do anything...permanent, did I?"

[rocksthescarf]

"Nothing too bad. Just a scar on my shoulder," Chuck said lightly. "It looks worse than the one from Dean and the pickaxe but I'm sure it'll look better than the one the bullet is gonna leave."

[decoder_rings]

It made him wince anyway and he rubbed his forehead, letting the guilt seep on in again.

"Chicks dig scars, right?" he tried weakly.