Private Finished A Day Away From School

Hal genuinely looked curious when Caspian had said she wanted to ask something, fully expecting to answer the question but his expression dropped to confusion when she'd hesitated and ducked her head. It was a little late, but Hal realized the blush on her cheeks only then, but he couldn't be sure what it had meant.

A thoughtful expression passed him before he decided to take a seat in the space next to Caspian. He took a curious look at the light of her gloves, noting its blue tinge for a moment before he turned his attention back to the girl. "Hey, you can ask me anything, you know.?" he told her, still a little oblivious of the meaning of the question, "What's up?"

Hal gave her a slight smile, his eyes catching a glance of her gloves. He still hasn't really figured out how it worked -- how the color of the glow corresponded to what feeling or anything -- but judging by the mixing of light, she was probably a little confused or flustered at the time. Hal wouldn't have said anything, simply offering a shrug of his shoulders as she made the comment about the gloves.

The punch was light, but Hal humored her, swinging to the side he'd been nudged, accompanied by a soft laugh as he waited for her to speak up again. The question was... a little unexpected? No one really cared to ask that around him.

On the other hand, thinking about the answer to the question made his smile falter. If by special person, she meant someone he liked, the answer could have been yes. But if it had been more on the question something more specific... "Not really," he replied to her, a little distracted from the thought. His gaze simply followed Caspian's, turning to follow the black bird as it hopped along the branch it had perched on.

Hal threw a curious glance at her, weighing the implication of the question. it wasn't that he was concerned but he was... very curious as to why. "It's not really a stupid question--at least I'd think so. But I don't really know. No one asks me that."

A blush crept up to the boy's cheeks, hearing her response. He was caught off guard; he'd have probably choked on nothing from the shock of it but he managed to keep himself together to listen to Caspian as she continued. His expression seemed to darken for a moment, wanting to tell her that's only been the surface of all of it. She hasn't seen him at his worst.

Hal's gaze seemed distracted, idly following around the raven as it curiously pecked at the floating stones, thoughts too far away to pay attention to Caspian until she broke the momentary silence again. The flush on his face came back anew as she repeated her comment, but along with it was a rather empty feeling at the pit of his stomach.

"It's... complicated," he said, dejected. He wanted to tell her he could have stood up to anyone; especially in her case but that was only now that he was gaining control over his other power. Any other time before, he could have simply cowered away.

"Maybe people have thought of that," he began, mind drifting again to a memory. "But I'm probably easy to give up on after a while. There's always just... someone else better."

Hal couldn't give her a response. The deal just reminded him of a promise he couldn't keep and it almost felt like the thought itself twisted his stomach around. He tried to shake the thought away--they had cleared things up after all. It was already fine and things were okay between them again. Apologies were done and over and they'd made amends. Worrying about it wouldn't help him anymore.

He sighed; shoulders dropping in defeat almost in complete unison with Caspian's soft sigh. "Well, better be ready for what's coming then so you don't have much regrets," he said rather vaguely before she had looked up to him. He wouldn't quite have noticed either way as his gaze was still at the pebbles, almost like he was trying to do the same thing as Caspian did.

The gesture startled Hal, almost freezing at his spot before he would even realize what had just conspired until Caspian had already moved away. Dumbfounded he stared back at her retreating form while his hand somehow found its way to his cheek. His face flushed once it had finally sunk in, matching the red of the girl's face, by then she was already a few feet ahead of him.

Hal struggled to get words out after the initial shock; hoping she was still within earshot, he thought to shoot back before she was gone. "I-I'll see you around! Take care!" he called out. And then he was left with silence; Hal sunk back into his seat, trying to figure out what just happened that he failed to realize he had missed the sense that something was about to happen when he wasn't paying attention.