Chapter Text
Nathaniel was lonely.
Maybe not in the traditional sense - he wasn’t alone by any means, he had his room mate, he had friends, he even (kind of) had his parents - but there was one thing missing. A hole in his heart that he was honestly kind of desperate to fill, but had been unlucky in doing so.
Love.
Nathaniel had been surrounded by it all his life - the admittedly questionable love between his parents, the childish love between his classmates in primary school, the messy love of his secondary school classmates (which he had admittedly partaken in.) And while Nathaniel couldn’t exactly say he had never experienced that same kind of love, it hadn’t lasted long. Hell, he hadn’t even had a proper partner since the girlfriend he had for a couple of months when he was fourteen. And now he’s twenty, and hasn’t had any luck in his attempts to find a new one.
He knows it isn’t a race, he knows that the right partner will find him at the right time or whatever, but also it just sucks to be one of the only people in his circle of friends who doesn’t have a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend at that. And besides, there’s only so many times he can be dragged along to underground bars and clubs by Rose and Alix only to not actually manage to talk to anybody before it gets to a point.
“I just don’t get it,” he’d groan, throwing himself down on his couch after yet another plot fell through. “What am I doing wrong? Am I cursed by a demon or something?”
“Nah, I think you just don’t know what you’re doing,” Alix would respond cheerfully - or something similar, anyway - plonking herself down on the armchair opposite, at which point Nathaniel would throw a pillow at her. “But seriously, there’s nothing wrong with you. You just-”
“If you say haven’t meant the wrong person, I’m putting a hex on you.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Yeah, I know.”
In short: Things weren’t going great.
Admittedly though, it wasn’t like Nathaniel had much time on his hands though. Between college classes, his side job at the tattoo parlour, working at the café and the various other things he’d managed to fill up his schedule with, he was usually too exhausted to do much but chill out and/or sleep when he got home. Not exactly an ideal boyfriend by any means, but it wasn’t exactly something he could help. It was just how his life was at the moment. He didn’t exactly like it, but… it was what it was. And Nathaniel just had to abide by it.
~~☆~~
“Nath?”
Nathaniel groans, lifting his head from his pillow. The first thing his groggy mind is assaulted by is the shrill sound of one of the many constant annoyances in his life, his alarm - followed by the harsh glare of the winter morning sun in his eyes.
His head hurts. It’s like if someone put it between a vice, slowly cranking it tighter and tighter against the sides of his skull. “What year is it?” he croaks. His throat feels like it’s full of sandpaper.
He hears a small chuckle behind him. “Same as ever,” Luka’s amused voice states. “Are you feeling okay? Alix said you went pretty hard last night on the drink.”
Right. The previous night.
To celebrate her birthday, Alix had invited a whole group of her friends out to an underground rave she had discovered while looking for somewhere new to test out her roller blades with, and naturally, being Alix’s closest and best friend, he came along - even if he would much sooner rather be doing something that wouldn’t destroy his eardrums.
And it was fun, Nathaniel had to admit. The chaos, the noise, the lights - and the drinks. Somehow he ended up stuck in a shot competition with Kim and Max, somehow managing to last longer than them despite his truly terrible alcohol tolerance. In hindsight it was a Very Bad Decision, but hey; it seemed fun at the moment. And from there he doesn’t remember much, apart from nearly falling over as Ivan tried to herd him and a few other blurry people out of the place.
“Kill me,” Nathaniel groans, letting his head fall limply onto the pillow again. Big mistake - the sudden movement causes a wave of nausea and pain coursing through him, and he bites his lip hard to anchor himself. “I’m dying already. End my suffering.”
“I’ll make you soup,” Luka says, sounding equally sympathetic and amused. There’s something about his voice - the slight hiss in his words, his general casual tone - that makes Nathaniel feel less like he wants to take a running leap into the nearest main road, and that can only ever be a good thing. “And painkillers.”
Nathaniel mumbles something incoherent in reply, suddenly becoming aware of something digging into the sides of his nose. His glasses. He must have forgotten to take them off when he collapsed on top of his bed.
It’s a few minutes before the pounding in his head subsides enough for him to slowly get out of his bed, gripping the edge of his nightstand for dear life as his eyes adjust to the light of his bedroom. Then, feeling much like he was slowly picking himself off the ground after being flattened into roadkill by a twenty-ton lorry, he shambles out of his room and begins to painfully make his way towards the bathroom, trying his best not to breathe in the smell of onions and whatever soup stock Luka was using as he pushes open the door.
The shower shocks his skin awake as he enters, giving him some slight clarity as he scrubs at his skin, the constant pressure of the water on his head soothing his aching skull. He stays in there for a while, enjoying the sensation, until Luka calls for him. So out he gets.
The soup Luka prepared is simple, just some vegetables simmered in some kind of stock that he doesn’t recognise the taste of, but it’s comforting nonetheless and settles his stomach.
“Here,” Luka says as the last spoonful of carrot disappears, pushing a glass of water and a few painkiller tablets his way. “Take these. They’ll help.”
Nathaniel nods wordlessly, picking up the tablets and swallowing them dry, quickly chasing them up with a large gulp of water.
Luka blinks at him, looking mildly surprised. “That’s certainly a… unique way to take tablets.”
“What? It works,” Nathaniel argues, shrugging. Already, he’s feeling considerably less dead on his feet than he did ten minutes before.
Luka simply shrugs, picking up his bowl and placing it in the sink. “Oh, by the way - the shop recently got a new shipment of potion ingredients and as far as I know nobody has unpacked them yet, so-”
Nathaniel curses. Loudly.
Damn it. He’d forgotten he still had work today.
“I’m gonna die,” he groans, burying his head in his hands. “This hangover combined with that job is gonna kill me. Can’t you just cover my shift? Please?”
Luka chuckles, shaking his head. “Sorry, I have things to do myself today. The best you can do is just take some water and painkillers with you. And you’re a Spellcaster, right? Can’t you just-”
“I wish,” Nathaniel mumbles. A dull flare of shame and frustration stirs within him as he continues to speak. “I don’t have enough magical power to do that. Not without catalysts, and I hate using them. The most I can do is summon small items out of thin air, and even that makes me exhausted.”
There’s something almost embarrassing admitting this aspect of himself. Most people tend to believe that Spellcasters like himself are more similar to their Mage ancestors than they actually are, with the same level of magical ability. Hell, Nathaniel thought that was true when he was young as well, and that his parents simply weren’t using their full powers because they didn’t want to harm him or whatever. Then one day it just simply clicked that the reason why he never saw them use any large amounts of power was because they were unable to.
Dilution of magic, that’s what they had called it. Over the generations the level of magic that a Holder could use slowly dwindled, until at some point the official name for their kind changed from Mages to Witches and then eventually Spellcasters, who tended to be born with very minor or limited abilities. Some could be genuinely useful, like the ability to read minds or make minor but permanent changes to their appearances. Others were… less useful, like being able to turn any part of your body into an animal-like appendage or to speak to animals. Nathaniel often likes to think he falls neatly between the venn diagram of “good” and “bad” powers - even if he can only summon items that are the same size or smaller than a standard book, it’s useful nonetheless. And his saving grace whenever he forgets to bring something to his classes.
“Oh,” Luka blinks, looking mildly surprised. Then he simply shrugs again and turns on the tap, beginning to wash up. Nathaniel watches him idly.
“We have a dishwasher, y’know,” he points out. “You don’t need to do that by hand.”
“I like doing it by hand,” Luka says simply. “You just go and relax. Probably best to do that before your shift, don’t you think?”
Nathaniel heaves a sigh, getting down from his chair. “Fine. Unless you want to watch another shitty romance movie?”
He can practically feel Luka lighting up at the suggestion. It’s a kind of tradition the two of them have developed in the few months they’ve been living together - every now and then, they’ll both chill out in the main room and put on a truly terrible film that one of them had recently discovered. Sometimes they take the form of dusty DVDs found in the back of Mylene’s thrift store, sometimes they take the form of Netflix originals buried deep in the search bars. Nathaniel can’t even remember how it started. It just sort of did.
“If you’ve found one, then sure.”
“Meet you on the couch in a few minutes then!” Nathaniel grins, vanishing back into his room to grab his laptop.
~~☆~~
As per usual, his shift is - well, boring.
Nathaniel drums his fingers on the wooden desk, glancing up at the ornate clock for what feels like the hundredth time. 2:28, it cheerfully tells him.
He stifles a groan, fixing his gaze on the mishmash of magical books in what is universally referred to as the library corner instead. It’s a painfully slow day. It’s not exactly uncommon to have days like this - realistically, the Magical Miracles Emporium was just one in many little hideaway general stores in Paris, and while it pulls in enough money to keep itself stable it’s not rolling in notoriety by any means. It just sort of exists.
But hey, it’s where Nathaniel earns a good deal of his living, so he can’t exactly complain. And there’s the added bonus of the owner, manager and your colleagues all being your friends from High School.
The bell above the door chimes softly as its pushed open, jerking Nathaniel out of his reverie as he quickly glances over to see who it is.
“Alix!”
Alix winces. “Eugh, do you have to be so loud?” she asks jokingly, and Nathaniel has to stifle a laugh. She looks about as miserable as Nathaniel feels, with her dark pink hair somehow being even messier than usual and the pair of sunglasses slapped over her eyes despite the weather outside being cloudy. “Having to work while hungover? Damn dude, that sucks.”
Nathaniel shrugs. “I’m managing,” he replies truthfully. While his head still hurts, it’s mostly receded to a dull ache at the base of his skull, the kind he gets after accidentally hitting the back of his head on a shelf. “How are you?”
“Terrible!” Alix states cheerfully, wandering over to the box containing various trinkets that the shop keeps stocked, even though most of them are far from magical. “I remember nothing from last night, apart from it being a whole lot of fun. You?”
“I remember being dragged into a shot contest with Kim and Max and being carried out by Ivan.” Nathaniel watches her pick up a small, ornate pocket watch, turning it over in her hands. “That’s about it. Next thing I know, Luka’s in my room and my alarm is trying to pierce my skull.”
“Shot contest? You?” Alix snorts, walking over to the counter and pushing the pocket watch towards him. “Are you sure you weren’t tipsy already? Cause that’s not the Nathaniel I know.”
Nathaniel rolls his eyes, a smirk tugging at his lips as he rings up the trinket. “That’ll be two euros. And yeah, you’re probably right. Like I said, I barely remember anything.”
“That just means the night out was successful though, right?” Alix says cheerfully, pulling out a couple of coins from her pocket and sliding them across. “Not gonna be something I do for a while though, I think. It was too crazy even for me.”
“Probably for the best.”
Alix grins, pushing open the door. She’s just about to step outside when her eyes widen, clearly focusing on something down the street.
Nathaniel is about to open his mouth to ask what she’s looking at when she suddenly yells, “Hey! Marinette! Over here!” before grimacing, quickly retreating back into the dim light of the store. “Okay, yelling was a terrible idea-”
“I have some painkillers - just standard ones - if you want them,” Nathaniel says helpfully.
“You savior,” Alix groans, quickly darting back over to the counter. “I must have forgotten where I put mine, cause they weren’t in the kitchen cabinet as usual so I’ve just been walking around with this crazy headache all day-”
The bell chimes again as Marinette enters, cutting off the rest of Alix’s words. “Hi Alix, Nath!” she says cheerfully, carefully pulling the door closed behind her as she enters. “How did the party go last night? I’m really sorry I couldn’t come, I was just so stuck in orders and then I fell asleep, you know how it is.”
“It was a rager,” Alix responds with more swagger than she’d had a few minutes before. “Granted, I don’t remember anything, but it had to be pretty good.”
The two of them set into a steady conversation, and try as he might Nathaniel simply isn’t really sure how to join in. So he just silently slips into the store room, remembering Luka’s words about there being a shipment that still needed to be unpacked.
He’s just unpacking the final box when he tunes back into his friends’ conversation - just in time to hear Alix’s next words.
“It’s like - I love him loads. Nath’s my best friend, we’ve been buddies since pre-school. And with that comes the sadness over the fact he just can’t get the whole romance thing right, y’know? I’m not exactly the best person to talk about that kinda thing, but you get what I mean.”
“I do,” Marinette agrees. “He just seems so… out of place when we all get together, you know? Me and Adrien, Kim and Max, Juleka and Rose, Alya and Nino, Mylene and Ivan - if you’re not there, he doesn’t really have anyone to really hang out with on his own.”
Nathaniel’s cheeks burn with humiliation and an odd kind of anger - somehow, hearing his best friends talk about him with such sympathy makes him feel strangely naked, and he doesn’t like the sensation one bit. He turns his attention back to the boxes in front of him, doing his best to tune out their conversation again.
By the time he exits the store room, the shop is empty. He breathes a sigh of relief. He’s impulsive - for better or for worse, and usually for worse - at the best of times, and with the cocktail of negative feelings simmering inside him he knows for a fact that he would not be able to stop himself from confronting the pair on their words.
But still, it hurts like hell. Even though they very obviously weren’t being mean about the matter of his unfortunate love life, there’s still a large part of him that feels upset about it.
And somehow, these thoughts lead him to be impulsive anyway, though thankfully not verbally. Instead he darts around the shop, picking up a few key items he knows he’ll need if he intends on doing what he’s planning.
Summoning a Familiar.
Naturally, Nathaniel is quite, well… familiar with the matter of the beings, little magical spirits summoned into this world that act as helpers for their new master. And though it’s stupid, Nathaniel wonders if their assistance will extend to them helping him find ways to flirt with people without screwing everything up in the first thirty seconds. He can hope, anyway.
He barely pays any attention to what he’s doing, throwing a few notes down on the counter to cover the items he took as he hurries out the door, the journey back to his apartment a blur. Thankfully, Luka is still out wherever he went off to when he pushes open the door, so there’s nobody to interrupt him.
The ritual itself isn’t particularly complex, simply requiring the necessary summoning runes to be chalked into the ground with the centerpieces arranged in a specific way around them. Nathaniel’s hands are shaking slightly with adrenaline as he does so, causing him to hiss in pain as the pad of his finger is sliced open by a particularly sharp edge on a chunk of raw crystal. Mentally reminding himself to disinfect and bandage it afterwards, he sits back on his heels and begins the ritual.
He knows something’s wrong almost instantly. The ritual is one he’d done multiple times before, and the sensation of ice that washes over him is a far cry from the warm feeling he’s used to. But he can’t stop now, even as the runes begin to glow a bright, eerie green.
A stabbing pain erupts through his ring finger, and he cries out in pain as the green light continues to grow. To his horror, he watches as the pink flesh of his finger turns completely black, with a band of that same bright green colour wrapping around its base. But it’s what happens next that sends him reeling backwards.
A hand - or more accurately, a claw, black as the night - emerges from the centre of the runes as something that definitely isn’t a familiar drags itself up, followed by a head of shaggy black and white hair with small, bright green horns poking through. Nathaniel can’t even bring himself to scream as the being enters his realm, his literal home.
A demon. He’d summoned a goddamn demon. Of all the things that could have gone wrong, it had to be the most drastic.
The demon itself hasn’t noticed him, giving him time to give it a good look. Its skin seems to be the same colour as him - on its head, neck and chest anyway. Its arms fade into a black gradient at its elbows, ending in long, claw-like fingers, and its exposed feet are curiously birdlike, with three dark talons as opposed to - well, feet. To make things even stranger, the being has fur too - soft looking black fur covers its chest and traces a pattern down its bare torso, vanishing into its waistband, and a long furry black tail pokes out from a clearly self-made hole in the back of its trousers. But what really makes Nathaniel stare is the long, bright green leash wrapped around the demon’s body, attached to a matching collar around its neck.
He’s still staring when the demon turns around - and locks eyes with him. Its eyes are the same bright green colour that the runes glowed, and it looks just as confused and nervous as Nathaniel feels.
“Uh,” it blurts out. “...Hi there?"