Part of your world

An Open Book

Carlos wasn't exactly surprised at the number of questions that had come flying their way when his friends realised that he and EJ had managed to bring an entire human being home from their outing to the beach, to be fair, Carlos didn't exactly understand how it had happened himself.

That wasn't to say he regretted it, the kid from the beach clearly needed help, and Carlos was fairly confident that he wasn't a threat considering the fact that whatever events had lead to him laying on the beach had left him practically unable to stand, EJ seemed to agree with that sentiment as he was looking at the teen with the concern someone might hold for a puppy who had fallen off a step rather than the concern of someone worried about being robbed.

No one seemed prepared to ask the questions outright in front of the new arrival but at least half the party had thrown both Carlos and EJ looks as if to say 'what the hell is going on?'

Apparently having decided that Ashlyn was the best person to handle the situation, EJ had pulled his cousin aside to explain the situation in hushed tones while the rest of their friends perched around the living room watching the blonde teen stood by the window with various levels of suspicion, most of them probably wondering why he hadn't said anything yet.

EJ seemed to have finally finished telling Ash what had happened as the two of them pulled away from the corner they were huddled in to rejoin the group, Ashlyn moving to sit beside the blonde, gently patting the window seat beside her as he was still stood, though Carlos wasn't sure if that was because he was uncomfortable or because he was covered in sand.

He seemed hesitant to sit beside the redhead, but after a reassuring smile from Ash, he settled into the seat beside her.

"Hi, I'm Ashlyn" she said, holding out her hand, the blonde smiled and shook it, which Carlos could guess was a good sign, he had insisted that he wasn't hurt, and so far he hadn't done anything to indicate that he was, Carlos could only hope that it stayed that way, because a hospital would only come with a lot of questions that no one would be able to answer.

Ashlyn was still talking, "do you know how to sign?" she asked.

Seb frowned slightly before running through the vowels a,e,i,o,u in ASL.

"Just the letters?"

Seb nodded and Carlos breathed out a silent sigh of relief, it wasn't the most ideal form of communication to have the blonde spell out words letter by letter but it was at least some form of communication.

Ash nodded with a smile, her thought process clearly similar to Carlos's, "can you tell me your name?" she asked gently.

The teen nodded again, bringing his hands up to run through some letters.

S, e, b.

"Seb?"

The blonde, Seb, nodded a grin landing on his face and Carlos felt his stomach lurch. There was something familiar about the expression, he was sure of it, he knew he had seen Seb somewhere before, his face, his smile, it was far too familiar for just a regular case of deja vu but Carlos just couldn't place it and it was beginning to bother him.

Ashlyn didn't seem to notice Carlos's internal monologue, nor did she seem bothered by the way everyone in the room was staring at Seb hard enough to burn a hole in his head, she just continued with her gentle smile.

"Nice to meet you Seb, can I ask your pronouns? Is he/him ok?" Carlos suddenly felt like kicking himself for not asking that earlier, becoming increasingly relieved that EJ had asked for Ashlyns help considering in a matter of minutes she was doing a far better job of communicating with Seb than Carlos and EJ had managed in the whole journey from the beach back to the house.