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When Reggie meets Tony they hesitate, their heart shudders in their chest and they know that one day they will walk away from him and he will not follow and they will not turn around, it will be the worst pain they will ever experience.
They hesitate and then they smile at him and in that shabby little gas station they confess that they can see all of him, they can see who he really is.
There’s a skittering behind them and something sharp curls around their ankles but they do not flinch.
Tony’s facade of shoulders drop from the defensive rise they had been in and Reggie’s smile widens.
So from there time progresses and Reggie falls in love.
They only realize it when Tony takes them deep into the forest and emotion swells up in their chest as they watch him become who he is.
They watch as the forest swallows him whole and they grin near maniacally at the absolute bliss on his expression.
So yes Reggie falls in love and it is only seven years, ten months, three weeks and six days after they meet Tony that it becomes a problem.
At this point they have loved him for five years, eleven months, one week, and two days without saying a word, but Queenie bumps into them on the sidewalk and instead of cowering away under Tony’s terrible, horrible, frightening gaze she merely shudders.
Tony thinks she sees, she does not, not yet, she sees that thin human facade, the one that Reggie can’t see anymore no matter how much they concentrate.
Reggie sees farther than Tony does but they do not speak, instead they brace themselves for the inevitable consequences of this misconception.
When Tony finds out that Queenie doesn’t see, when he realizes that she merely perceives danger, he roars and he flees, he flees back to the woods and the earth shakes with each step he takes.
Reggie shudders against the raw power that permeates the air and they grit their teeth and push through the pain.
When they find him the forest is screaming, heartbreak and rage echoing around him.
It is at this moment that they realize that immortals have a much different concept of romantic love than mortals. For Tony romantic love is infatuation, sharp and brief and fleeting for him, in fact any type of love is much the same, something that burns and stings leaving behind gaping wounds that are quickly patched in the face of eternity.
“Tony,” they whisper, voice hushed, steps quiet.
He turns, the forest shifting with him.
For mortals, for Reggie, romantic love is all consuming, slow and innocuous until the day it rises to bury you under its weight. Reggie has long drowned, they have no want to rise from their watery grave.
Tony is gorgeous. Tony is the forest, the forest is Tony and Reggie reaches outward, outward, always reaching, never succeeding.
They blink. Queenie hurtles into view, hair streaming behind her and dress tangled around her knees and she reaches and she Tony reaches back. The forest hisses and shakes and mortal and creature dance to an old tune. Reggie watches on.
Reggie watches on in shallow jealousy and really they cannot bring themselves to envy Queenie more. They know how this story, how this song ends and they want, yes, but they do not envy.
So, when the time comes Reggie will run, they will cling to Queenie’s hand as long as she allows and eventually they will lead a life far from this one and they will die uncontent.
For now, Reggie watches.