Karsyn switched her phone off as soon as she'd finished reading the article, throwing the object at the nearest wall. The phone bounced off the wall and landed face down on the ground, but Karsyn didn't care as she sank down on the floor, her head in her hands.

Somewhere down the hall she heard someone knocking on the front door. "Go away!" She shouted, leaning back against the wall and wiping her puffy eyes.

"Karsyn!" The person continued knocking, "Karsyn let me in!"

"I said go away!"

Ten feet away her phone started buzzing with an incoming phone call, the familiar ring tone she'd set for Sebastian only filling the room. Karsyn crawled towards the phone and picked it up. Distantly she realised she'd cracked the screen, but it was only a second before she lifted it to her ear, her thumb brushing the answer button.

"What do you want, idiot?"

"I'm at the door."

"Then I'm not home."

"You just told me to go away."

"That's... a recording."

"How stupid do you think I am, Karsyn?"

"You don't want me to answer that."

Sebastian sighed, "Boo just open the door. I need to talk to you, okay?"

"I dunno, Stan. I wouldn't want to cause more drama than I'm worth, right?"

"Shit. So you read the article, huh? Karsyn those quotes were taken way out of context."

"Then tell me what context I should have taken them in, Sebastian. Because it sure as hell didn't seem like you were joking."

"Boo just open the door, okay? I promise that I'll explain myself then. Just open the door."

Karsyn paused, debating her options. She could leave him out there, but Sebastian knew where she hid the spare key. If she didn't let him in he'd probably just do it himself.

With an overly dramatic sigh Karsyn dragged herself off the floor and opened the door. She tried to keep her glare as poisonous as possible, which turned out to be extremely hard when she saw how wrecked he looked.

"Seb have you... been crying?"

"Yeah." Seb smiled and laughed a little, "I actually just left Holly's house. It, uh- It turns out she's been recording all our conversations and putting them online. That leaked phone call that they wrote about was with her."

"Well that's shit," Karsyn sighed, leaning against the door frame.

"Yeah it is."

Karsyn nibbled on the corner of her lip, debating the few options she had. "When was the last time you slept?"

"30 hours ago." Sebastian told her, "I found out late last night. I didn't want to disturb you so I tried sleeping in the car outside McDonalds. Far out I need a coffee."

"You need a bed." Karsyn told him, opening the door enough for him to get through. "I'll set you up in the spare room."

"Thank you."

≛ ≛ ≛

A phone call with Elizabeth seemed to be Karsyn's best option from that point. A conversation that spanned the length of more than an hour.

"What should I do, Lizzie? He's asleep in my house."

"So did he say he was sorry?"

Karsyn sighed and leaned against the doorframe, watching as Seb snored softly. "Not exactly."

"Then what did he say?"

"That the bitch Millie-"

"Holly."

"-whatever. She was recording their conversations and selling them to magazines. I told you she was sus from the start. She's a freaking reporter for Christ's sake."

"So he went straight to you?"

"Yeah." Karsyn told her as she walked back out to the living room. "God what I'd give to get my hands around that bitch's throat. Seriously what kind of psycho records phone calls?"

"The kind that really wants media attention." Elizabeth sighed, "So are you going to send her an angry email? Maybe expose her ass to the media?"

"I wouldn't do that to Seb." Karsyn sat down on the couch, "He'll want to handle the situation. I'll just talk to him when he's awake."

"What do you want to talk to me about?"

Karsyn looked up as Seb stepped out of the hallway, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Sorry, Lizzie, Seb's up. I'll call you later."

"You'd better." Elizabeth warned her, "I expect a full sleepover and details."

"Bye Lizbet." Karsyn laughed as she hung up and put her phone away. "Welcome to the land of the living, dork."

"Good to be back." Sebastian smiled and sat down across from her, his voice still thick from having just woken up. "You said you wanted to talk about something?"

"A few things, actually." Karsyn sighed, placing a pillow over her lap as she turned to face Seb. "I wanted to check that you were okay first. I know how much you liked her."

"I'm... fine, I guess." Sebastian sighed, running his fingers through his bed hair. "I mean I'm angry and I'm sad. But the worst part is I don't think I'm surprised."

Karsyn took his hand in her own, running her thumb over his rough, calloused knuckles. Sebastian watched his hands with with a numb expression. "A part of me knew that it wasn't going to be perfect. I just thought that maybe if I wanted it bad enough then somehow it would work."

Karsyn smiled softly and moved so she was laying down, her head rested on her best friends lap as she stated up at him. His eyes were a cobalt blue, flecked by metallic grey that reminded her of a thunderstorm.

"We'll be okay, Seb."

Sebastian laughed softly, "I don't know what I'd do without you. Not texting you every ten minutes was driving me insane."

Karsyn laughed. "Let's make a deal." She said, suddenly sitting up and tugging out her hair pin. "Give me your hand."

"What are you doing?"

"Just do it, dork."

Seb reluctantly put out his palm, and Karsyn pricked his index finger, then her own. Two twin beads of blood pooled on the tips of their fingers, glittering in the pale light. "With this pact, I swear to you that you will always be my best friend, my parter in crime, my Winter Soldier. Under this oath I connect us by blood, as blood brothers until the day we die."

"You're an idiot." He laughed.

She poked her tongue out, "Just take the oath, loser."

Seb smiled and looked down at their fingers. "With this promise I swear that you will always be my number one priority, and that I will never question your addiction to cookies and cream ice cream, or let someone come between us. And despite the fact that I could get some kind of STI from sharing blood with you I accept this pact, joining us as blood brothers."

Karsyn smiled and pressed her finger to his, curling the rest of her fingers between his. "We're bonded now, Stan. This tie is unbreakable."

"Stronger than marriage." Seb grinned, giving her hand a light squeeze.

Karsyn untied their hands, reaching for the tv remote. "Now what do you want to watch? Disney?"

"Anything but Bambi - I'm done with crying today."

"Emperor's New Groove it is."