Sympathy for the Devil {Liam Stewart | The Darkest Minds}

13. Will-O-The-Wisp

Maggie stays on the roof a lot longer than usual that day, she doesn't burn like a normal person so she rolls up her sleeves and basks in the light. The top of the roof over where the main food hall sits, is mostly flat, and since none of them have made any moves to leave just yet, she's safe to take a nap in the light.

"Can I-?" The sun is hanging almost directly above Mags when a voice wakes her up; it's Chubbs, he's holding the book from last night, a notebook, and he's got a pen tucked behind his ear. He's gesturing to the space beside Mags, but the girl herself smiles affectionately at him, patting her stomach as an invitation to lay down. He does so, murmuring softly about the book even though he knows she's almost definitely going to fall back to sleep.

"Maggie?" When Chubbs wakes her again, he's sitting by the edge of the roof. Mags cracked open her eyes just a bit to look at him, the sun was still up high, she hadn't been asleep for long. "What's going on with you and Liam and Ruby?" His voice was surprisingly neutral, leaning back on his hands, head tilted just a little.

"We're having fun." It's an easy response to give, Mags linking her fingers behind her head, smiling warmly as she hears faint laughter drift up from where she knows Betty is parked. Chubbs laughs at that, and when Mags looks at him, she sees him watching who she assumes to be Liam and Ruby. Mags yawns, stretches, and moves to join him, going to lean her head on his shoulder until she spots the scene and stops. Liam is scraping the letters off of Betty, and Ruby is wearing Zu's red dress. It was the dress that Zu had taken from a boutique a few months ago when they had stopped by a relatively large town about a year ago, Zu was excited because she knew she could grow into it, or she could find someone she liked who could wear it. Mags was too stocky for the dress to be flattering, Liam was too tall, and Chubbs looked good in it but refused to put it on again; but Ruby was breathtaking.

"You guys have known her a day." Chubbs said through his teeth, not bitter, just concerned. Mags didn't answer, she watched the way Liam was smiling, and saw the way Ruby would sway to show off her dress, a little bit bashful. "Oh jeez," Chubbs groaned with a half laugh, and when Mags looked up at him, he was looking back at her, "doesn't matter what I say, you'll still moon over her, won't you?" Mags could feel herself turned red as she ducked her head.

"Magsie," Chubbs only used that nickname when he was being very affectionate or when she was doing something stupid, or both, "I know you guys, I know..." He pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes scrunching up; Chubbs knows too much, has seen too much, but that's besides the point. "I saw how you guys looked at each other when we first met, and I- I'm seeing it again with Ruby, and I don't-" Sighing deeply, he cuts himself off and rests his head on Mags' shoulder. "I don't want you getting hurt." He admitted.

That shocks Mags into silence for a long time. Together they watch Liam and Ruby flirting. After a while, the two of them freeze, eyes on something just past a car parked by another room door. Liam's gaze flicks up to where Chubbs and Mags are sitting, his eyes are nervous, but Ruby doesn't break eye contact with whatever is hidden from Mags' sight. After a moment, she sees two people enter a car and drive off, Liam and Ruby visibly relaxing.

After a beat, Liam's bewildered expression turns to a grin, and when he turns to Ruby he sees that she's smiling too.

"Mags, can you give us a hand?" Liam calls up to her, and Mags is instantly on her feet, nodding and grinning at the pair, arm out invitingly. Liam raised his hand, curling his fingers, as if gesturing for her to join them, and she felt herself floating down towards them. Taking a final look back, Mags sees Chubbs shake his head, though he just looks a little forlorn.

"So what do you need from me?" Mags asked, standing between Ruby and Liam, looking back and forth between them. Liam gestured to where he was scraping paint from the side of Betty, and Ruby shrugged a little, reaching her hand out for a scraping tool, which Liam provided. "You look so lovely, Ruby." Mags offered as she too took a makeshift paint scraper, turning to face Betty.

"I was just saying that I feel like I should be asking her to prom or something." Liam chuckled, and Mags could see Ruby starting to blush.

"How dare you!" Mags gasped, mock offended, though she was smiling when Liam looked up, a little distressed. "I was going to ask her!" After a beat, Ruby actually burst out laughing, a sound that filled Mags with delight. "We'd be much cuter." Mags told Liam, taking a step back to align herself more closely with Ruby, who was trying to hide her laughter behind her hand. Liam held his hand over his heart in mock surrender.

"You're so right, I don't think I could compete." He half laughed, expression much more fond that one would have thought the situation allowed. Ruby's laughter died down as she looked between the pair, cheeks still faintly pink.

"I think there's a solution," she mused, in her best faux-serious voice, "I think I might just have to have two dates to prom." She announced, and Mags snorted with laughter, grinning so wide she could feel the strain in her cheeks.

"You know what? I think I like that idea." Mags responded, and Liam shook his head, cheeks pink. Mags knew that look, it was the look he had whenever he was restraining himself from telling Mags (or Mags and Ruby, in this case) that she was cute. It was one of her favourite looks he could pull off.

Approaching him, Mags reached up and danced her fingers across the back of his neck where his blush was rising; Liam looked to her, taking her hand in his and giving her a gentle spin, before the two, hand in hand, looked over to Ruby, who was leaning against the side of Betty with her arms crossed, head resting gently against the window with a look of almost fond adoration on her face as she looked back at the two of them.

Mags, suddenly a bit self conscious, bent down and picked up her paint scraper, stepping back to scrape the words off of the side of the van. It took a moment for Liam and Ruby to follow suit, both watching how she was a little flustered at the sudden attention, perhaps coming to terms with her earlier boldness, even though outwardly it may not have seemed like a lot. It was sweet. She was sweet.

The three of them went back to work, chatting about their plans for the day, and the next supply run they were going to go on, and despite Chubbs earlier concern, Mags felt content.