Chapter Text
Martin wakes to the sound of urgent knocking on his front door. He rolls over and looks at his alarm clock blinking 5:22 am. He groans and ignores the knocking for a minute or two, hoping whoever it just goes away. The earliest light of the sunrise peeks through his window filling his room with a warm glow.
The knocking does not stop, and he hears someone calling his name. Martin grouchily makes his way to the front door, wondering who the hell it could be. It’s not like he has neighbors who would be asking for a cup of sugar.
He yanks the door open and is surprised to see Sasha and Jon standing there.
“Wha?” Martin stammers.
“Have you seen Tim?” Sasha asks.
Martin rubs his face, his brain still way too foggy to really understand what the hell is going on “no? Not since we got drinks. Wha- is he still missing?”
Sasha rubs her eyes, “Yeah, I-I’m worried. Sometimes he runs off like this, but he’s always back by sunrise.”
“Sh-should we call the police?”
Sasha snorts, “no- Basira and Daisy should be enough on that front. It’s probably best to leave the cops out if possible.”
Martin now sees how Sasha sways on her feet, and the dark circles under her eyes; she must not have gotten any sleep last night. Martin looks past Sasha to Jon, who looks about as weary as he did the first time they met. His brow creased, and his body tired-looking as well. Martin steps to the side and says, “Here come inside, I’ll put on some tea- tell me how I can help.”
“Thank you” Sasha sighs and walks in. Followed closely by Jon. The two of them take a seat at the island. Martin starts the tea kettle and pulls out milk sugar and honey for the others to use. They settle into an uneasy silence as they wait for the tea to steep.
Jon clears his throat and speaks first, “I saw some feathers out on your front lawn is that why you needed to call animal control?”
“I mean kind of” Martin laughs, “but that’s a problem for a couple hours from now. For when the vet opens up”
“What do you mean?” Jon asks.
“Well uh-” Martin stammers “there was a dog fighting an owl out there yesterday. The owl few off- uh, the dog is in the bathroom.”
“The dog,” Sasha says carefully and slowly stands up. “Was it big and black?”
“Oh uh yeah.” martin laughs nervously. “Do you know him?”
Sasha runs a hand over her face, Martin catches the smallest smile from Jon and Sasha says, “can you show me which bathroom.”
“Uh yeah sure thing!” martin says cheerily. He leads them through the house to the bathroom. He sees on the way the sun is now visible on the horizon. The early morning mist is clinging thickly to the ground, and a new day has started.
Martin also feels a strange nervous energy from the other two, but he tries to ignore it. Tim is the one missing, why are they fixated on this dog? He thinks. No matter he opens up the door and looks in. He does not see the large dog. Instead, he sees.
Tim.
Sleeping on the floor.
Completely naked.
“Timothy stoker” Sasha scolds.
Tim groans and rolls onto his back. Eyes blurry. Martin is gaping for a moment before turning away, feeling his face heat up. He sees Jon who’s face is a shade or two darker, and is also averting his eyes.
“I-I-I think I’ll get him some pants” Martin stammers and rushes off. Jon follows him to the bedroom.
“Martin I-“
“nope!” martin cuts him off “I do not want to talk about what just happened”
Martin paces around the room. There is no way to deny what he saw; no way Tim could have gotten into that bathroom without his knowing. And the dog couldn’t just vanish. Jon watches him with a concerned expression.
“We had to make sure you were one of us” Jon stammers, breaking Martin out of his thoughts.
“yes! I know that I just thought when you said ‘one of us, you meant gay!”
“I mean, we’re all gay too.” Sasha walks in, “that pare of paints go for a walk?”
Martin tenses and grabs a pair of joggers out of his wardrobe. Then gives them to Sasha. Soon enough Tim is clothed, and Martin is bustling in the kitchen. There are four cups of tea out on the counter, and a bowl of pancake batter is sitting next to the stove, along with a short stack of finished cakes.
“oh thang god” Tim groans as he sprawls out on the kitchen island, making grabby hands at the plate of completed pancakes. Martin rolls his eyes and pushes the plate and syrup to the other man.
“tell you what,” Tim says between mouthfuls, “post-shift is like the worst hangover in the world, plus having the flu.”
“you’re such a baby” Sasha laughs.
“well, I’m sorry that not everyone is blessed with free changing powers.”
Martin frowns into the stovetop and takes a shuttering breath, “why aren’t you guys making a bigger deal out of this?!”
“well, you said you didn’t want to talk about it” Sasha shrugs “we know it can be a lot to take in. meeting a bunch of fay at once.”
Martin mutters in agreement. “So magic is real?”
“Yeah heh,” Sasha laughs.
“Bit anticlimactic way to find out” Martin laughs bitterly.
“Well better than finding out by being stabbed by a unicorn” Tim interjects. He then gestures to himself, Sasha and Jon “long story short- I’m a werewolf, sash’ is a changeling, and Jon is a Mer.”
“ah- I think I understand?” Martin puts out another plate of pancakes sitting down with the rest of the group. “E-everyone else in the group too?”
“yeah,” Tim says, “Georgie and Melonie are witches, Daisy is a Selkie, and Basira is part Da Danaan. haven’t been able to figure out what her heritage is besides that, though.”
“a-and Elias?”
The three others share a look. Jon sighs, “a warlock of some sort- we, he- this is his territory.”
“meaning he’s a bit of a magical landlord” Tim explains.
“yes- that’s a good way to put it.” Jon nods. “his magic makes sure none of us are… discovered by either human or magic that we don’t want here. We also don’t have a really close connection to Fairy here, so we need him to give us some connection as well.”
Martin nods kind of understanding. “he’s an asshole though”
Tim and Sasha laugh and agree, Sasha chimes “ever meet a landlord who isn’t?”
Martin smiles and nods. “yeah I guess that’s fair. Jon and Daisy just work for him?”
“We both need a bit more help to… blend in” Jon explains.
Sasha rolls her eyes “yeah if the usual cost isn’t enough”
“what’s the usual cost?”
“he’s a warlock, so he has a boss, and he needs to feed his power” Jon starts “I believe he took payment from you yesterday. As far as we can tell, his patron feeds off of fear and suffering.”
“so sometimes he knocks around in your head and makes your relive your worst memories,” Tim says with a shrug.
“that’s awful!” Martin gasps. The three shrug and look uncomfortable.
“yeah it does suck” Tim agrees “but it’s better than the alternatives”
Sasha frowns, “yeah it’s not like we have the Vox Phantasma running around helping us fay in rural UK.”
“so that’s it?” Martin asks and looks down at his plate “that’s the big mystery”
“I mean one of them yeah” Tim shrugs.
Martin looks up at the group “I think I can deal with that”