We Are Bulletproof

"Hooo boy... what have you gotten yourself into, Mik?" Mik asked his reflection in the small bathroom mirror as he dabbed at his face, after having splashed some water into it. He still felt kind of shaky and truthfully, he should have been resting after that weird... heart attack thing, but he couldn't sit there and do nothing while Cori was out lost and alone and scared. The fact that someone tried to kidnap him was crazy. An innocent kid like that with no ties to anyone shady? Why him?

Mik suspected it had something to do with his mother's disappearance. Why else would people start attacking them out of nowhere? Allie, Cori, Mik, they were all assaulted in some way for getting mixed up in this affair. He had no concept of the unifying element behind this—whether it was a person or a particular event—but he knew that they were in quite a lot of danger.

Which was why they needed to find Cori and stick together, and hopefully by virtue of numbers, they would overcome this. Whatever this was.

Sighing, he slowly made his way out to sit on the bed and wait for Lieve. He had already checked himself out; the nurse at the station protested but ultimately they had to let him go. Mik did arrive with his own clothes... but since he'd fallen into the mud at the shelter and then was whisked away in them to the hospital in an ambulance, they were pretty grimy and nasty. Aunt Shel had promised to bring him a change of clothes but an emergency came up at the shelter, and Mik told her not to bother until much later.

Suddenly, his phone went off on the bed beside him. An unknown number? Mik replied anyway; it wasn't uncommon for people trying to get the shelter to hit up his personal number. It was listed under the shelter website as an emergency contact as well. Then his eyes lit up—Rip! He was still texting with Rip, probably with a goofy ass smile on his face, when somebody walked in. Mik didn't lift his head yet to see who it was; he juuuuust had to fire off one more text...

Lieve Averesch Trash Bat

None of this was sitting right with Lieve. He had a Bad Feeling^TM about the entire ordeal and he was pretty sure it stemmed from Mik's new crush. All the connections were tied to him. Every time Mik said Rip, Lieve couldn't help it. His lip curled a little. All he could imagine was some old guy using Mik, abused by some boyfriend? How did Mik know this was true? Did he even see the boyfriend? It could all be made up for pity points! Oh, feel sorry for me, take care of me! A thirty year old man!

But he couldn't keep razzing on Mik. It would only drive a wedge between them and they were friends. He just... he didn't like it. Even more, he didn't like that it was involving Cori, who was his best friend and really did need taking care of.

Mik said he had something of Cori's though, and that should be enough to track him. That was enough to push him into action immediately. He wouldn't be home when the cops arrived to take his statement but eh. The cops couldn't take care of this. Not if magic and magic baddies were involved.

Clutching a paper bag of clothes to his chest, Lieve hurried up to the hospital entrance. The storm that had come in with unnatural force was finally started to abate but the sky was still grey and Lieve didn't trust them not to open up over him.

Inside, he headed for the room Mik told him he was waiting in and he wasn't all that surprised to see him on his phone. What he didn't expect was the goofy ass smile. Lieve marched over, plopping the paper bag onto the bed before setting a hand on his hip and looking at Mik with a raised eyebrow.

"How can you be smiling at a time like this?" He reached for the phone with his other hand. "Where's Cori's mitten?"

"Exqueeze me," Mik tutted as he looked up after sending his text, to see Lieve being disapproving. "I was having a private conversation, miss thing." Without much fight, he let Lieve take the phone because he had nothing to hide. And also that was a fast hand coming at him and he was weak from his ordeal.

Sighing, he got off the bed and opened the paper bag. Ah, clothes! Normal ones! "Mitten is on the bedside table. That's his right? Ooh but Rip said Cori got away! Scroll up, you'll see."

Meanwhile he let the flimsy papery gown slide off and started putting on the clothes that Lieve so nicely brought for him. "Huh... you DO have normal clothes! Go figure!" Jeans, white tee. Pretty classic actually! "Is it still raining? We should get a cab out to Greenwood since that's where Cori was last right?"

"He got away?"

Cori? He was kidnapped and he got away? Lieve did scroll up and he saw what Mik was talking about... but... he sighed with exasperation before he dropped the phone onto the bed like a hot potato. He didn't want to know. He didn't want to read the two of them flirting with each other. Gaaaaag.

Picking up the mitten, he nodded. It was definitely Cori's. He could feel his energy in it. Cori always had a warm energy about him. A bit like the sunshine dappled through broad leaves. If things weren't so serious, maybe he would be smiling too but he was worried sick.

"I like how he didn't say how Cori got away," Lieve said as he held the mitten in both hands. "And no, the rain stopped but it's still ultra cloudy so... and yeah, no, I got a cab already, it's out there waiting for us."

But something was wrong. While Cori's trace energy was on the mitten and should have been easy to track... It was like somebody had cloaked him in some kind of anti-tracking spell.

"I can't find him. Somebody's blocking his energy trace."

"As long as Cori got away, that's all that matters!" Now Lieve was just nitpicking because he didn't like the guy. For whatever reason. Probably good reasons, to be fair; Lieve wasn't the quick-to-judge type, since lots of people were quick to judge him. Mik had an aversion towards people like that for precisely this reason, knowing how much heat Lieve took for looking and acting different. But he was a genuinely good guy, and someone who cared about his friends—like Cori and Mik.

So he didn't take offense at the fact that Lieve disapproved of his budding relationship with Rip. But once Lieve met him, Mik was sure that he would change his mind. He would see what a sweet soul Rip had—but hopefully not also fall for him because c'mon, this was Mik's time! It was his chance at having a boyfriend and experiencing all that lovey dovey junk that couples always talked about!

"Wait what?" He zipped up the jeans quickly and walked over to look at the mitten. All he saw was a mitten... because he was human. "You can't—what? Is that a thing? Someone's stopping us from finding him? Who?" Mik touched the mitten... but all he felt was a mitten. Of course. "Well then let's get out there and start looking! He can't have gotten far if he's on foot right? Come on."

Taking Lieve by the hand, he hustled on out of the room, hastily grabbing and stuffing his phone into his pocket. "Can you think of anywhere Cori would go if he was in trouble? We should stop by the shelter too, I know he likes to hide there sometimes. I'll try calling Aunt Shel, let her know Cori might stop by and to keep him there until we get there."

"Yeah... but..."

Cori getting away did matter--he wasn't going to contest that. But where was he and why was he being hidden? That sounded suspicious. Didn't it sound suspicious to Mik? That somebody kidnapped Cori and then let him go... but hid his energy trace? It didn't make sense. But it was certainly all kinds of suspish.

"I don't know... There's just... nothing. Like he vanished off the face of the earth."

But he couldn't be anywhere else. And all they had to go on was Mik's weirdo crush and his word. He said that Cori got away, but didn't say how. And that he had been held in Greenwood, and so had to be close to that area. Ahhhhh. Lieve pulled at his own hair. This was... maddening! But the only real clue they had was Greenwood.

"We'll check around Greenwood first. But... the safest place... I mean, the first place he would probably go is to me. You know, home." He said all this as they briskly walked through the hospital halls and out to the lobby. Luckily, the cab was still waiting for them. Lieve was half afraid he'd run off on them but they didn't waste much time. Sliding into the back, Lieve directed the driver to Greenwood.

"I don't like magic Lieve," Mik muttered as he got into the back of the cab with Lieve and curled an arm around his for solidarity and comfort. "I do not like all of this nonsense and I want Cori back without some weirdo masking him from being found by the mitten." Even what he said didn't make sense! That was how messed up magic was! Everybody was going nuts over the stuff but Mik wasn't having any of it from now on.

Life was simpler without magic!

But now he was worried too, and he started to wonder if something happened to Cori again. After he ran off. Like did he get caught? Rip would have told him about it... But Rip was out, he said, at the phone store. So Rip probably didn't know anything and Mik didn't want him to go back to his apartment in case his crazy ex Keith was there. It sounded like maybe Keith didn't go home? Maybe he was still around, and he got his dirty filthy hands on Cori again?

Rip was safer at the shelter with Aunt Shel. And they could find Cori by themselves and rescue him from that asshole Keith. God, he hated that guy—and he didn't even know what he looked like! "Do you think we should split up if we can't find him the first time around? Cover more real estate? I mean if Cori got away he'd know to go home and stay there, that's what we always tell him to do if he gets in trouble. Let's check back home too, after we check the shelter. He seriously can't get far, I mean... this town is dinky tiny!"

"It can be a wonderful thing when it's in the right hands."

Lieve personally loved magic but that was because his was natural magic. He didn't use evil spells or really have any dark magic at all within him. Dryads were a natural subset of fairies, just like sylphs and ifrits. They were spiritually tied to an element, pure and simple. Natural magic. Even that could be perverted and twisted in the wrong hands, of course. But Lieve wasn't one of those people. He really just used his magic to make a living.

"Should we go home first then?" Lieve asked. "He was supposed to head back home. I asked him to when he was worried that he had a curse on him..." That now seemed the least of their problems but... That was also on the problem list.

"Do you want to check the shelter while I check back home?"

"Good......... idea.........."

Mik said distractedly, typing away with one hand on his phone. What? He had a lot going on right now between different parties, okay? Rip was talking about stars, Lieve was trying to convince him that magic wasn't a huge heaping shovel full of steaming hot mess, Aunt Shel was freaking out about him checking out of the hospital and... Rip was talking about stars and it seemed important. What? What?! He could be worried about Cori and still do other things!

"Okay. What? Yes. You go home, I'll go to the shelter. We'll cover more ground that way. If anything happens, let me know immediately! And I'll do the same."

That sounded like a plan! Mik leaned forward to ask the driver to drop him off at the shelter; it was on the way, and Lieve's place wasn't much further from there. Going to Greenwood was a long shot anyway since Cori would be long gone from there by now. He sighed, long and deep and wearily, as he sank back against the seat.

"Try the mitten again. Keep trying, maybe you'll see something eventually."

Lieve eyed Mik with flat, unamused eyes. Obviously, he was more consumed by whatever his crush was talking about over text. Suppressing the urge to sigh, Lieve grabbed a hairband from around his wrist and began tying his long hair up to get it out of the way. It was something to do with his hands--and he was a nervous wreck on the inside. If they touched Cori... if they hurt him, if that sicko abusive person hit him or worse... It took a lot to make Lieve mad. And he was mad that somebody would kidnap Cori.

"Sure... I'll let you know," he said, although with the way Mik kept typing and checking his phone, he got the feeling Cori came in second to this Rip weirdo. "I just hope that's where he went. Home. He knows he's safe with me. I just have to get there..."

Why would he go back to the shelter--the scene of the crime? Surely... surely he would finally come home to Lieve after he practically begged him to come home when he found out he was cursed.

"Unfortunately, while his energy trace is on this mitten, when I try to follow its thread, it's blocked by really powerful magic. What if it's a trap? They kidnapped him, did something to him, then let him go... That's what it sounds like, doesn't it?"

"You're literally the first person he goes to for anything Lieve. Of course Cori would go home to you! Or try to." But on the off-chance that something happened along the way, the shelter was closer and Cori also knew that Aunt Shel would protect him to the best of her ability. That made him worry about his aunt, though. And Rip, if he went to the shelter like Mik told him to...

He thought about what Lieve said, about it being a trap. Then he scrolled up along his conversation with Rip, reading and re-reading what he said about Cori. "I don't know... It sounds like Cori maybe escaped to me. Well Rip said he helped Cori escape, right here..."

But if Lieve didn't trust Rip then naturally he would be suspicious. MIk didn't understand what he meant by 'they're not looking for him,' though. Why not? If they went to so much trouble to kidnap him... Why wouldn't they be after Cori? That cast another little seed of doubt, one which he tried to brush off. He could ask Rip about it. He should—Cori was his friend too, and he had a duty to find Cori and protect him. Even if it was from Rip, which he highly doubted but... all the same...

"Also they wouldn't know that you can track Cori would they? Like you specifically, unless they've been stalking you guys or something and know what you are. But... A lot of this doesn't add up for me," he admitted finally, shaking his head.

"That's what I'm thinking, too."

He was just worried that something would block him from coming home. Or that under some misguided attempt to save Lieve, that Cori might choose not to go home. But without a phone, how were any of them supposed to get a hold of Cori to make sure he went home or to the shelter. Where else would he go? Those were the best bets...

"Exactly!" Lieve finally exploded as Mik agreed with him. "This is all--it's not making sense to me! I'm not trying to shit all over your crush here. Age difference aside, it's all this other stuff that's really bothering me. Date a fifty year old if you really must. But if the guy is involved in the kidnapping of my best friend--!"

He wrapped his arms around himself and shook his head.

"We'll get to the bottom of this. We have to..." He looked up. They were already coming up onto the shelter. Lieve sat up straighter, anxious. "Hey, check the shelter really quick and let me know if he's around, will you? Before I go home."

"I'll just... I'll ask. No point speculating, right? We don't know what went down there, it's easier to ask Rip." They had nothing to lose at this point anyway, with Cori already disappeared on them. Mik fired off a quick text, feeling nervous as hell. What if Rip's response cast more doubt upon his intentions? What if Lieve was right about him?

But the goldfish. The kitten. That sweet, soft kiss they shared at the shelter and the way Rip looked at him just moments beforehand, with his soft touch to Mik's face. How could anyone exude genuine feeling like that, then turn around and screw the same person over? Did Mik have such bad judgment that he couldn't see what Rip was really up to? He really doubted it; he knew himself and he knew that if Rip was the least bit suspicious, he would have never allowed him to get that close.

Meanwhile, the cab pulled up to the shelter gate and Mik nodded. "Yeah, good idea! Sit tight, I'll be right back!" He sprinted up the path to the shelter and burst on through, calling his aunt's name. She emerged looking harried and immediately grabbed him in a tight hug. Then shouted at him for scaring the life out of her by running out of the hospital before he was due to be discharged.

"Aunt Shel, quick. Did Cori show up here?" Mik hugged her back and held on to her—mostly to stop her from hitting him.

"Cori? No, I haven't seen him. Why—Mik! Mikkos you come back here!"

Mik was out again, sprinting back down the path. "No Cori. Go home. Quick, see if he's there. I'm gonna take a look around inside and then get back out and go around to Greenwood. Maybe someone around there saw him. He was dressed pretty weird, we have a good chance of him being noticed."

"What else am I going to do?" Lieve asked as he watched Mik rush out of the cab and run for the shelter. Meanwhile, he sat and waited, agitated. Come on, Mik. Don't take forever. He kept looking and waiting for any sign of him coming back. Hopefully with Cori, although he wasn't holding his breath. Cori usually ran to Lieve when he was in trouble... why would he come back here? And... Lieve checked his own phone. But there was nothing from Cori. Of course not.

Then Mik came back, breathlessly giving him the update that there was no Cori.

"Okay," Lieve said, the tight ball in his chest growing. "Keep looking. Tell me if you see or hear ANYTHING!"

And then he was directing the cab back to his own place, that ball of tightness growing as he held his phone and waited and waited and waited. It felt like two hundred years before the cab stopped in front of his place. Biting his lower lip with anticipation, Lieve paid the cab fare and slid out of the vehicle, slamming the door behind him as he ran up the path to his home and leaping up the front steps.

As soon as he was inside, he called out to Cori, immediately moving through every room in the house.

Cori huddled in the corner of his closet, curled up into the tiniest ball he could make of himself. It was dark in there and it was hot and cramped; he kept hearing noises that he imagined were those weird crazy people coming after him again, that they had found him and were going to take him back to Greenwood. His heart throbbed mercilessly every time he thought about Rip, too, imagining him stuck there while Cori had to make a run for it.

He promised he'd find help for Rip, but here he was. Miserably Cori curled into himself even further. He had run all the way home from Greenwood without stopping. In the moment of panic and fear, he didn't feel tired; he just ran and ran and ran, imagining that cloak over him the way Rip told him to. Even now, it was still there, some invisible barrier covering him and keeping him from being found by bad guys—and by good guys, although he didn't know it.

When he got home, Lieve wasn't there, which made him panic even more. He ran into his room and got into the closet and just sat there for what felt like forever, while he tried to think of what to do next. The problem was: he didn't know what to do. Usually when he got into trouble, he came home and talked to Lieve (or his mom, when she was still here) and Lieve had the solution. Sometimes the solution was to ignore the problem and wait for it to go away but this didn't seem like one of those times...

Cori stiffened. Footsteps—he heard them distinctly. Putting a hand over his mouth to keep himself from making any scared noises, he wedged himself even harder back against the wall, shutting his eyes and desperately imagining his protective invisible cloak was there...

"Lieve!" That was Lieve's voice! Cori struggled to get to his feet and burst out of the closet stumbling on a fallen coat. He fell, got up, and ran outside where he threw himself into Lieve's arms. "Lieve! You're back! You're back!"

He still didn't feel him anywhere nearby and that worried him. Were they lied to? Did Cori ever really escape or was he still stuck in the grasp of some evil ex-boyfriend? Was the ex even a thing? Or was it just Rip? Maybe he was one of those people who switched personalities. Lieve still shouted for Cori in every room he peered into, not seeing anything, not hearing anything, not sensing anything.

And then... His name. He heard it and some kind of scuffle. With his heart in his throat, he started for Cori's room but he was met in the hallway by Cori himself, throwing himself at Lieve and hanging on tight. Lieve hung on tight, too. It was still strange that he couldn't feel his signature but he was there and he was solid and very much in his arms.

"Cori! I was worried sick!" He held Cori back at arm's length to look him over. And yes, he did look ridiculous, dressed in layers and with the one mitten. But he was alive and well! Lieve didn't see any signs of abuse on him, no bruises, no wounds. He pulled Cori into a hug again.

"What happened? I tried to trace you but I couldn't find you! Your signature--it's just... it disappeared! What did they do to you?"

Cori... had been through some stuff. He knew he was probably a mess, hair in his face and eyes, sweating up a storm in his long coat and with the mitten still attached to one hand. The sunglasses he wore earlier had come off in the mad dash from Greenwood to home. "Lieve! I-I don't know! I went to the shelter to get out of the rain cause you told me to come home and I was coming home and..."

He stopped to take a breath, hugging Lieve as tightly as Lieve held him. "And Mik left me in the back room so I took a nap, and then some blond guy walked in and did something weird. I couldn't move Lieve! He had some kind of invisible magic rope around me! He took me to Greenwood and he was saying all this crazy stuff about my dad being happy he had me..."

Again he had to pause to take a breath. Cori paused for a moment; he buried his face into the crook of Lieve's neck. "Then another guy with black hair came in and... I don't know what happened after that. I think I passed out. When I came back to, there was this guy called Rip there and he helped me get rid of the curse! Oh! Lieve! I'm not cursed anymore! I mean I kinda am, I'm not making plants die but... but now they grow like crazy! Anyway Rip helped me escape and he told me to imagine this cloak around me, covering me, and... yeah. I ran home as fast as I could. Where were you? Where did you go?"

Huh? His dad? As long as Lieve knew Cori, he didn't have a dad. His dad wanted him? That wasn't falling in line with Rip's account of things, he made it sound like this abusive boyfriend person had kidnapped Cori in order to gain Rip's attention. But now Cori was saying it had something to do with his father. Lieve frowned, really disliking where all of this was going.

And who was this other guy? Black hair... Was it the one that gave Mik a heart attack? How many people were involved in this thug ring? He was so in a gang or some kind of organized crime unit! And they... were connected to Cori, somehow... His father....?

"How did he help you get rid of the curse?" Lieve asked, because he suspected now that Rip gave him the curse. He must be some terrible witch! And organized witch crime groups were some of the most dangerous out there. Just look what happened to Cori!

"What do you mean? You make plants grow like crazy? Like a dryad? Like me? And what do you mean he told you to imagine a..." Lieve took a step back and really looked at Cori. He couldn't see it, of course. But he could feel the magic around Cori. "...you cloaked yourself..."

Cori wasn't coming to terms with any of what he'd just said. He sort of vomited a pile of words at Lieve's feet in the hopes that Lieve would be able to figure it all out, because... yeah, he was stumped. But oh man, it was so good to be back home with Lieve again! Cori's heart was a lot lighter knowing that Lieve was here now. Having that familiar face with him was more reassuring than anything in the world.

"He said to imagine there's ink on my hands, and to just push it off! So I did, and I tested it out on a plant because Rip touched me after and he wasn't dead. And the plant I touched, it just... wouldn't stop growing! It filled a whole room Lieve!" Cori was still pretty shellshocked about that... Now he didn't know if he could ever see plants the same way again!

"Oh—yeah. Rip told me to run away and to imagine that cloak around me. He was really nice to me, Lieve. But he's stuck back there! He's being held hostage by those weird guys! We have to help him get out!"

Lieve didn't mean to ignore Cori's questions about where he'd been but... at the moment there were far more important things to talk about. Besides, he'd only been out looking for Cori. And here he was. His heart soared because he did come home. Ah, he couldn't be more relieved. He gave Cori another tight hug, because he couldn't believe how close he had come to losing him and how that made him feel. Like the whole world swooped out from under him.

Gross. Rip touched him? Lieve frowned. He wanted more details on that but Cori still seemed in shock as he continued onward, words running over one another, some of them making sense, some of them sounding like the ramblings of a crazy person.

But it was sounding to Lieve an awful lot like Rip had something to do with the curse on Cori. And Lieve was even more suspicious because...

"He's not being held hostage by anyone, Cori," Lieve said gently. "He's been talking to Mik."

That fucking creep. Lieve, who hardly ever got angry, was downright pissed at this guy!

"Ohh what? He's been talking to Mik? Then maybe he got out too! There was this barrier over the door and I broke it... Maybe Rip got out after me! He said he didn't have a phone though, so I guess I can't call him to make sure he's okay. I lost my phone too..."

Cori sighed. He just wanted to stay in Lieve's arms forever and feel safe and protected and home. Ever since his mom disappeared, Lieve was the one he turned to increasingly for reassurance. Lieve was kind enough to invite him into his home, to look after him, to worry about him when nobody else did. Mik briefly offered to let him stay with him and his Aunt Shelby, but... truthfully, Cori much preferred being with Lieve. He was good friends with Mik but he was best friends with Lieve.

"I'm never leaving the house again, Lieve... Also I'm not touching any plants!"

"What?! He was talking to him on the phone!" Lieve wanted to tear out his hair. What was happening here?! But then he remembered the texts he'd scrolled through and when Mik asked where he was, he'd said the phone store. Maybe Lieve was jumping to conclusions--maybe he didn't have the full story. But there was a lot of fishy shit happening right now!

Ooooh! He had to meet this guy himself eventually. To make his own call about him. But so far? It was not looking good from where Lieve was standing!

"Oh, don't say that, love," Lieve said, stroking Cori's back as he embraced him again. "Poor thing. You went through a lot today... You don't have to go anywhere for a while, all right? But don't become a shut-in. And for now, it might be safer if you stayed away from... plants..."

Lieve's home was sort of maybe a little covered in them, though. He eyed the hallway they were currently standing in. There weren't any in the hall--no light, no windows.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up and we'll find something to eat. You're looking a little pale."

"No!" Cori put hands to his face, shocked. "But he said he didn't have a phone! Maybe he found mine! Or he bought one to-to call the cops on our kidnappers!" Well that had to be the case because why on Earth would Rip lie to him? If he had a phone, there was no need to run around in secrecy helping Cori escape using magic. Which he still doubted he had.

"I'm not going to become a shut-in but... it's not looking all that safe out there lately, Lieve," he sighed as he leaned into the hug, and then followed Lieve down the hall. Luckily, no plants anywhere near him. Good! He couldn't bear to see another plant explode in growth on him, he might just freak out and chop off his own hands! But also—there wasn't a scary tall guy around to make the plant stop growing...

"Lieve..." Cori looked down at his hand, the one without the mitten encasing it. "Do you think I have magic? Because you know, mom doesn't. And... I never knew my dad and she never said anything about him." She only said that he was a soldier and had died in the war. Cori always thought that his dad was a brave man who died serving his country—a hero. It had been him and his mom all his life, and he didn't exactly miss what he never had, but he did wonder often—especially when he was a kid, and other kids teased him for not having a dad. Like it was his fault!

"Maybe he's a plant guy like you..."

Lieve half smiled at Cori's shock. "He did. He bought one at the store, I think."

There was no point in making Cori freak out about it. Lieve didn't want to scare Cori more than he was already scared off by everything that just happened to him. It was probably going to be like pulling teeth just to get him outside. But that didn't need to happen right now. Cori needed time. Time to relax and calm down. And Lieve had all kinds of magical feel-good powders to add to bathwater to make Cori do just that.

Flipping on the light switch in the bathroom, he saw that he had a couple of plants in the window. He let go of Cori to pick them up and remove them from the bathroom. The explosion of growth sounded like a good thing--it was just too much power. They could address that later, though. For now, there was no point in making Cori paranoid that he was going to brush up against a plant. What a turn of events... Cori used to be his number one right hand man when it came to caring for the nursery.

"Oh, you definitely have magic," Lieve said once he came back. He sat on the edge of the tub and turned on the water, putting his hand underneath it to monitor the temperature. "I'm not sure if it's like mine, though. Dryads have a sort of... well, to be honest, the same sort of feeling you get when you sit under a tree or touch a flower. Lots of different kinds of energies. Yours is... it's always been warm and light."

As the water filled the tub, he went to the rack on the wall and began choosing various bottles and jars of powders.

"I can't feel it now, but that's because you're cloaked. And you're the one who did that, you said it yourself."

Ahh! That made sense! Cori was reassured. Rip definitely didn't seem like he wanted to be one of the gang back there, plus Cori got the feeling that he was stuck there because they had something over him. Why else would Rip refuse to leave with him when they both had a chance? In the back of his mind he still fretted over Rip, however; he hoped that Rip was on his way to safety now.

For the moment, a bath sounded heavenly. Cori squeezed right up against the wall when Lieve carried the small pots out; he looked at the tiny pretty leaves like they were buzzsaws coming at him, with horror in his eyes. Imagine a house buried under a whole mass of those! Exploding out the windows! Erupting out of the top of the chimney! Chilling.

"How come I've never had magic until now? And why was it so bad? I don't want magic if it kills stuff." He eyed the place where the plant pots used to sit. "Or if it explodes stuff. But the cloak thing seems useful... I did put it on. I don't know how though! Rip told me to imagine it and I did, but I didn't feel anything." Since the bath water was nearly ready and Lieve was adding colorful scented salts and powders, Cori began to undress. He took off the coat, hung it up on the hook behind the door. Took off the mitten, removed his long-sleeved shirt and pants, folded them up and set them onto the lid of the toilet.

"Should I take it off now?" He meant the cloak, but his hand was currently on the waistband of his underwear.

"That... I can't say..." Lieve didn't even know what Cori was. A witch, perhaps. Some came into their magic during puberty. Cori was past that but he could be a late bloomer. He didn't seem to be a dryad despite his magic with the plant. That was probably just because he'd touched a plant. Lieve wondered what would have happened if he touched something else. He must have touched things getting home. The doorknob, for example.

"But cloaking yourself like that... sounds like fairy magic, so you're probably a fairy. Not like me, but a kind of fairy. There's so many, though..."

And he'd imagined the cloak and it was there. That was powerful magic. No potions, no ingredients, no incantations, no hand gestures. A powerful fairy. Lieve looked up, about to say he must be royalty, whatever he was, when he found himself staring at a mostly unclothed Cori, with nothing but his underwear on, getting ready to remove them.

"Oh!" Why did it make his face burn? He wasn't a blushing virgin or anything! And he knew Cori wasn't saying it to flirt with him! ...Was he? No! Of course not! "Well, you're not going to bathe with them on, are you...?"

He kept his gaze UP though. Cori wasn't shy. Lieve wasn't... shy, as such, either. But still. They were young and he didn't know about Cori but his hormones were wild and liked to spring up on him at inappropriate times.

"Me? A fairy?!" Wow! That was inconceivable. Fairies were... The only example he had of a fairy in real life was Lieve, so he imagined that they must all be quite tall and slim and graceful. Stately. Knowledgeable, definitely. Handsome? Pretty. Overall good-looking and unique, but in a way that was self-assured and didn't come off as trying too hard to stand out. Basically—very beautiful people with magic fingers.

While he laughed disbelievingly, Lieve's face seemed to have gotten redder. Was it because he'd been bent over the tub, shaking powers and salts into the water? Maybe he stood up too fast? Cori blinked at him. He seemed flustered, but why would he be over an innocent question about an invisible cloak?!

"Would... it... be bad to take a bath with the cloak on?" He asked, mystified, as he dropped the boxers. Undressing before Lieve didn't seem scandalous to him; they used to get baths together when they were little and came over to each other's houses for sleepovers. Recently, of course, they didn't routinely get naked together but he still didn't think anything lewd of it.

What?

"The... ahem... the cloak?"

Oh. He meant the cloak. Lieve still didn't look down once Cori's underwear were ditched. No big deal. Just... standing around in the bathroom with a naked Cori. Sure, they used to bathe naked all the time... when they were kids. Before they hit puberty. Afterward, it just... didn't seem right. And now... Now they just... didn't.

"The water won't hurt the cloak," he said with amusement, despite the awkwardness of the moment. He moved aside so that Cori could get into the bath he'd prepared for him. The water should be perfect for recovery, he'd put his best into the water and it was a soothing temperature.

"I think you should keep it on for now, otherwise you might end up tracked by the wrong people."

When they were kids, they did everything together. In a small town like Hazleton there wasn't much outside influence, like TV or social media or even video games aside from the old arcade. They did the usual things—climb all the trees, swim in all the lakes and swimming holes, go to all the bonfires, hang out at the ridge to stargaze. At the time Cori didn't treasure those moments because he was a kid. It was only after he grew older and he and Lieve stopped hanging out so much that he began to miss those simpler times.

After puberty hit, Lieve started going out with other people. Guys. And Cori just kind of silently supported him from the sidelines, without knowing quite how to express that weird... funny little ache inside every time he heard about one of Lieve's new boyfriends. It wasn't envy or anything; he was genuinely happy for Lieve if they were nice guys and usually, they were. He didn't think it was a big deal so he didn't say anything to anyone. After a while, he learned to ignore it.

They didn't drift apart as such but admittedly their lives had begun to part ways. Then, after Cori's mom disappeared, they came back together because Cori moved in with Lieve and looking for his mom gave them both a common purpose. Cori started leaning on Lieve again, just like he used to when he was smaller. And now he really needed Lieve more than ever, with his magical powers manifesting.

He got into the tub and sighed as soon as his legs hit the water. It was just the right temperature—Lieve knew he liked it a little on the hotter side. Not scalding! But warmer than lukewarm. Cori sank into the bath and uttered a happy sound as the water embraced him. Felt like a mother's hug. "If they can't track me... you can't either though, right?" He reached out over the side of the tub and latched onto Lieve's hand, looking up at him worriedly. "That means we can't go far from each other!"

Oh, puberty. What it did to a person. Lieve explored his sexuality, kissing girls and finding he wasn't that fond of them. His crushes turned out to be on boys. Some of them really wanted nothing to do with Lieve. Some rebuffed him. But Lieve was Lieve. He'd had... his share of boyfriends over time. Lots of flings. He just wanted to enjoy his youth.

However... just like it had gone down with Gil, Lieve didn't seem to keep a boyfriend for long. Most of the time, separation was amicable but Lieve had a handful of assholes exes, too. He'd been burned a few times. He had a few moments where he swore guys off forever, only to find himself looking at a new guy's ass.

And then there was Cori. They were best friends. BFFs. Biffles. They did kind of orbit different groups in high school  but... then Cori's mom... And here they were, close like they never had those handful of years of hanging out with other people.

After Cori's mom disappeared, it was like Cori needed Lieve more and more. Like right now, when he took his hand, like he was afraid that if he lost sight of Lieve, something was going to happen to one of them. Lieve gave Cori's hand a gentle squeeze.

"I was just going to sit on the toilet, here." To be honest, he was shaken up by Cori's disappearance, too. Especially after what happened to Cori's mother. And all the shit surrounding it only made him more on edge. He just didn't want to scare Cori with all of the details or his thoughts on the matter. He was trying to relax him, not send him to the edge.

"But yeah, I can't track you, either, so if you do go anywhere, you better tell me or you'll give me a heart attack!"

Cori laughed, "I was gonna say you could get in the bath too, but you're too tall to fit, aren't you?" Well, two people jammed into a tub was romantic in theory, not so much in actual practice. If Lieve wasn't so tall, maybe... Then again he was a birch tree dryad, and birch trees were all tall and slim and pretty, with their white-banded trunks and shimmery leaves.

"I won't go anywhere without you. And if you have to go out, I'll just stay home and wait for you."

For a long moment he held Lieve's hand as he soaked in the tub, letting the soothing powders and salts do their work. There was a very pleasant scent rising off the top of the water too, something fresh and clean like the air after a heavy rain, or the scent of someone who had been soaking in the sun. It was a scent mixed just for him, by Lieve, to calm him down and he appreciated that.

"I guess I must've scared that old lady at the Sunrise huh?" He laughed again, this time with more amusement as he recalled stalking her and running up to her, yelling about a curse. Whoops!

"Oh, I can fit," he said with a laugh. "But it wouldn't be a pleasant experience for either of us!"

It would be all knees poking out of the water and awkward body parts meeting each other. Not the good kind, either. More like elbows in ears, that kind of awkward. But the joke was just what he needed. That and maybe the scents he'd chosen help relax him too. The face burning had faded and they were just Cori and Lieve again.

"It won't be that way forever," he promised. With Cori hiding away at home, waiting for him. They'd get to the bottom of what happened to him and what Rip was doing and then Cori would be safe again. Perching on the side of the tub, Lieve couldn't help grinning at the vision of Cori running up to that poor woman while he was on the phone with Lieve. He didn't get a good look at her because the way Cori held the phone but he definitely heard her and she didn't seem too happy!

"Well, you did basically accuse her of being a witch! Now the poor old lady's probably going home to check and make sure she doesn't have any warts."

"What if she was a witch? I could've been right!"

Chances were low that he was, though. There was a grandmother somewhere very confused about a young man dressed in a long coat and mittens and sunglasses on a cloudy day running up to her with a phone in his hand, babbling about curses and begging her to lift them off of him. Cori laughed again, the motion of his body shaking causing the water to ripple and splash against the side of the tub. It was funny! He scared some old lady all because he didn't know that he was a fairy!

It was really nice to soak in the tub with Lieve sitting nearby, holding his hand. After the horrible day that he'd had, scared of his cursed hands, getting kidnapped, fleeing and suddenly discovering that he had magic all along, he needed a moment to stop and sit with his best friend and... relax. Let his head loll against the side of the tub, closer to where Lieve sat.

He smiled dozily up at Lieve, feeling happy, dopey. Lieve had such a nice smile. Such bright, white, even teeth—perfectly perfect without braces even! Meanwhile Cori spent two terrible years in his teens, labeled braceface by everyone he knew—except Lieve. Lieve never made fun of him no matter what stupid thing he did. Lieve was always there to be supportive and kind and cared about him even when he killed plants or exploded them.

"Thanks Lievie... Without you, I don't know where I'd be right now."

"Even so, you can't go around calling old women witches!" Lieve laughed. "They take offense to that!"

Poor old lady. That probably really ruined her day! That or she went home and had a funny tale to tell her husband that day. Or her grandkids, maybe. Or her cats. Who was he to judge? He was the crazy plant hippie. There were worse things to be known for. He could handle being crazy plant hippie guy.

Lieve smiled, too, at Cori's smile. He wondered if he used too much relaxation herbs; Cori almost looked drunk.

"Probably at a certain animal shelter," he said, because those were the two options when they went looking for him. Shelter with Mik or home with Lieve. His smile softened as he ran a fingertip over the bridge of Cori's nose down to the tip. He used to practice makeup on Cori, too. Lines of color, like warpaint. Cori had much more delicate bone structure, though. He didn't really need makeup to stand out.

"I'm glad you came home."

At least, Cori thought, he didn't call her a batty old witch. He wanted to because he was indignant over being cursed and he truly thought that old lady was the one casting spells randomly. Then again, if he had insulted her and if she did turn out to be a witch, she might have actually cursed him! Cori had no desire to live the rest of his life as a... frog or something equally unpleasant!

He wrinkled his nose ever so slightly when Lieve touched it but he didn't mind it. He never minded being touched by Lieve, whether it was holding hands when he felt ill or a gentle nudge to get him out of the way in the nursery when he took up too much space, or... this. A touch without a motive. Simple contact without explanation. Cori didn't know if it was the bath relaxing him or if he was crashing from the terrible excitement of his day, but he felt a giddy rush of emotion that surged from his heart into his head when Lieve uttered the word home.

Cori came home. This was the first and only place he thought to come back to when he was finally freed from Greenwood. The shelter was probably closer but he ran home as fast as his legs would take him. Swirling the water with his free hand, he smiled down at the ripples he was creating along the water's surface. The bath water was a calm green color, from the powders.

"You were the first person I thought of when I got out," he confessed. "I didn't even think about the shelter... I just wanted to get back home and see you."

"And I wasn't here." Lieve lightly brushed Cori's hair back from his face, springy and lively. When he was younger, Lieve wanted his hair, which was funny because so many people wanted Lieve's hair. Eventually, he embraced his own hair, his own face. But that was the thing about other people; they were different. But he had to admit, he missed those days when he used to do Cori's hair and makeup; it was an excuse to be close to him and tell him to close his eyes here, and move his head there. He was still his muse. His sketchpad would betray that easily.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I was out looking for you, if that helps. Mik called me in a panic, saying you were kidnapped and he was in the hospital. I even called the... cops."

He paused, then cocked his head curiously. "Did they come by before I got here, Cori?"

"It's okay. Don't apologize, you didn't know I'd be here." Were their positions reversed, Cori might have gone out looking for Lieve, too. Worry and panic would have sent him running all over town yelling Lieve's name, he was sure, because the thought of losing another person close to him was enough to terrify him to the core. He could never lose Lieve. Never, ever—and his hand in Lieve's tightened.

The fact that Lieve did actually go out looking for him in a panic said that Lieve cared about him just as much as he cared about Lieve. Cori missed the old days, too. He never had to fight for Lieve's attention, then or now, so it wasn't that he felt like he was losing his best friend. It was just that he felt something shift in the dynamic of their friendship, and he didn't understand it. Something was different in the way they looked at each other, touched each other, spoke to one another. He tried to think it through some nights, laying in bed staring at the ceiling, but he thought he was just too dumb (or too close to the situation) to see what it was.

Cori blinked. "I think so. I heard somebody knocking on the door while I was hiding in the closet..." Obviously he didn't go out to see who it was. The cops probably thought it was a prank call or something; they left without entering. Cori had the decency to feel slightly ashamed. Whoops! Cowering in the closet terrified, he didn't think that it could be the cops. He thought it was the kidnappers again!

"Are we in trouble with the cops? Should we call them back and tell them I'm okay?"

Lieve laughed.

"No, we're not in trouble."

He did call the cops and nobody answered the door... but it wasn't like they'd left anything on the door to indicate they'd been by. Or if they did, Lieve was too panicked to see it. He did sort of leap the steps and run into the house like it was on fire and he had to save everything.

"I probably wouldn't have answered if I were you, either."

After Cori's ordeal? He probably would have remained silent, too. They could have been the kidnappers right on his tail for all he knew. How was he supposed to know Lieve called the cops? For naught, anyway. There was nothing they could have done against some person that used magic. Unless they were also magic wielding cops. Who knew in this town?

"I didn't get a chance to put in a report, so I don't think we have to call them back."

He relaxed. So no cops would be banging down the door, either. They were all good. Everything was back to normal. Well. Sort of...? Cori awakened to some kind of magic that he thought was a curse. It killed plants but then grew them after that creep helped him. (Was he still a creep if he helped Cori?)

"Do you think that Rip guy is your dad?" he asked, thinking on it. "He was an old guy, right? And he knew how your magic worked?"

Whew! Thank goodness for that, because Cori didn't want to be on any kind of FBI shit list for not going to the door and answering it for the cops. They could have been anybody! Besides the only person authorized to enter was Lieve, and Lieve had his own keys to the house—and didn't need to be banging down the door. Cori thought he did the right thing and Lieve agreed, so he stopped feeling bad.

Buuut...

Rip being his dad?

Rip? His dad?

Cori thought about it while he laid there soaking in the tub. "He did try to protect me," he said slowly as he turned over the events at Greenwood in his mind. "He was really, really nice to me and he knew a bunch about how to get rid of the curse and how to break the thing over the door, and cloaking... And—" Cori sat up with a splash, wide-eyed.

"And he had hair like mine! And eyes like mine! Lieve!" He grasped Lieve's hand with both his own—one dry, the other one definitely wet. "He could've been my dad! He was way old! And—yeah!" Then he sank back as the enormity of what he had just said hit him. "My dad... But... mom said he died in some war overseas. Mom wouldn't lie to me, would she?"

Whoa. He did? He had hair and eyes like Cori? This was a new turn of events. Lieve didn't have a very good mental picture of this guy. Mik said he was handsome, like a thousand times over. But he also said he was an older guy so Lieve just sort of dumped him into ugly old man territory. Not that he thought Mik had bad taste (okay... maybe he did think that) but all he could see when he imagined an older dude named Rip was a creeptastic oily old man grooming young guys with stories of how sad his life was.

Now he was imagining an older Cori. And maybe he sort of got it, Mik's obsession with him. After all, Lieve found Cori attractive and he would probably still be attractive as he aged. Lieve mostly just threw the dad thing out there because of the magic. The guy knew how Cori's magic worked and his appearance also coincided with Cori's magic awakening. It felt too connected to be an actual coincidence. And now this...

"I... I don't know." Cori's mother was such a nice woman. She had a radiant energy about her but also a deep sadness in her eyes. And she loved Cori with all her heart. Whatever made her disappear could not have been of her own volition. And now that guy who could be Cori's dad appeared...

"Maybe she would have lied if it was to protect you."

"You know how there's stories of kids whose dads walk out on them? Maybe it's like that. Maybe he didn't want to stick around so mom... made up that story so I wouldn't feel bad."

There were so many stories like that! Kids whose moms or dads couldn't handle the pressure of being a parent and left. Cori knew his mom must have loved his dad because—well, the way she smiled when she talked about him said that. And if it was a story she made up, she could have said he died or told him the truth, to bias him against his runaway father.

Instead, she told him a heroic story, so that Cori's impression of him would be good.

"Do you think we could try to find him again, Lieve?" Cori sat back up, now relaxed—but too relaxed. There was a lot going on and he didn't want to be all mush-brained while they talked about important stuff. "Maybe we can ask him if he's my dad..."

"That's what I'm thinking."

Cori's mother was way too kind to tell him the truth if it was nasty. It would be better to tell him something that made his father into a hero in his eyes, to keep him from wondering what he'd done wrong or maybe... just maybe... to stop him from seeking him out. If she said he died, then Cori wouldn't go looking for him. But... now...

Parents were kind of an odd subject for Lieve. As a dryad, he didn't have parents that he knew. His seedling had been raised by another dryad and from there, he mostly took care of himself. He used illusions to conjure up a parent when one was needed. But for the most part, he had raised himself. But Cori, he knew, was not like him. He wasn't a dryad. He was something else. Something much more powerful.

"Actually..." Lieve debated whether he should tell Cori or not. He still had so many misgivings when it came to this Rip fellow. But if he really was Cori's father... didn't Cori have the right to know? "I already know how to find him. Mik's... ahem... Mik's in contact with him."

"Whaaaat? Mik knows him too?!"

Well shoot! What were the chances of that! He never mentioned Mik though. Or did he?? Cori was extremely flustered back at the apartment so whatever Rip may have said about Mik probably flew right over his head.

"Let's ask Mik to find him then! If he's my dad, then maybe he came back for me! Maybe he heard mom went missing!"

Cori couldn't help it... He was already starting to get excited about the idea of having a dad. A nice dad like Rip, someone he already liked because he knew Rip tried to help him and take care of him. Starry eyed, he clung to Lieve's hand.

"Wait how does Mik know Rip? How do you know Mik knows??"

"Yeah..."

He didn't know whether to tell him Mik was mad crushing on the guy or not. It was an awkward situation, if Rip really turned out to be Cori's father, since Mik was Cori's other BFF. How weird was all this? Did Rip know about Mik being friends with Cori? Did he put him into his line of sight for this purpose? Did he use charms against Mik?! AHHH.

"They met at the winter festival. Mik and Rip." He made a slight face as he went on. "And I guess they hit it off because Mik's falling head over heels for him..."

Oh, it was so weird, even for Lieve.

Oh the winter festival! How nice! Rip must have met Mik at the shelter's booth! Cori was going to help man it, since Mik had asked him to, only he got a little side-tracked. By being kidnapped. But if they met there, then it made sense that they would know one another. And what if Rip was going to adopt a cat or a dog? They could finally have a pet of their own! How excit—

Wait.

What?

"Eww!' Cori flailed in the bath a little as it all caught up to him. He swallowed some of the water—luckily it tasted almost like it smelled, a little green, clean, refreshing. Sputtering, he sat up straight and stared at Lieve. "They cant! Mik can't! He's too young to be my other dad! And what about mom?! WHAT ABOUT MOM?!"

Was...

Rip GAY? Was THAT why he left? Because he tried to marry a woman and had a son and everything, then realized he was gay so he up and left?! Being gay was fine because Cori was kind of a little bit gay too—hence the reason he had... lots of gay friends like Lieve and Mik—but he didn't want his dad to date one of his best friends! It'd be like if Rip was trying to date Lieve! No! NO!

"NO!" He shouted, shaking his head. "Mik can't be my dad! I'll never call him dad!"

Yeah he was over-reacting. But he. Wanted his dad to be his dad, not to be his BFF's boyfriend! Rip was way old! Mik was way young! That kind of thing didn't feel right! And... yes okay he was jealous and hurt, because how come Mik got to meet his dad first? How come his dad didn't come right away to find him and let him know that he was alive?

RIGHT?! At least they agreed on that one--eww! Lieve felt somewhat vindicated, especially since Cori had actually met Rip so his opinion on the matter held more water than Lieve's did. But... it turned out that it might not have been a good thing to admit to that part of their relationship(?)--if it even was one. Because now poor Cori was jumping off the deep end.

Lieve grasped onto Cori's shoulders to try and calm him down. The water and the herbal mixture could only do so much. And Cori was getting himself real stressed out over this. Ah, Lieve regretted it now. He should have kept it to himself. But Cori would find out eventually, especially if the subject came up around Mik, who couldn't stop talking about Rip this and Rip that.

"Hey, hey, love. Calm down, all right? I'm sure there's... reasons for him leaving." If he even was his father. But if he was, yeah. There was the gay thing. Rip was supposedly in a relationship with another man, an abusive man. And now he might be sweet on Mik, so there was that... So yeah... Complications abound!

"And honestly, Mik's feelings could be one-sided, you never know. Right? We'll get to the bottom of all this, I promise. Just... calm down. Okay?"

Guuuuhhhh it was too weird to think about Rip and Mik! Rip! And Mik! RIP and MIK! Dating! Holding hands! Getting lovey-dovey the way he saw Lieve sometimes get with his boyfriends! (Again--that tiny twinge of something not-so-nice in the chest, every time he was exposed to that.) The mental images were horrifying, admittedly.

Individually, Cori liked them. Rip had been gentle and sweet and kind to him. Fatherly, even. Mik was his best friend (next to Lieve though--Lieve was number one in Cori's eyes for sure). Mik was the person he went to when Lieve was busy; they hung out and played with the animals and Mik was always on his side. He counted on Mik to be there when Lieve wasn't or couldn't be.

But together! NO!

Cori did calm down once Lieve told him to calm down, reminded of the fact that he was kind of naked and kind of swimming in a tub full of warm water that was supposed to soothe his frazzled nerves. He fell back, breathing hard from his sudden outburst. "Let's go find Mik right now! And see if he knows where Rip is so we can talk to him again!'

First things first--finding his dad. And then--dealing with his dad. And Mik.

Eww.

"Right now?" Lieve hadn't actually planned on going anywhere. It was getting dark out, the storm looked like it was coming back, and he really just wanted to get Cori fed and rested. (Was he his best friend or his mother?) But Cori was the type of person who wouldn't let go of something once he'd decided to hang onto it. Unless Lieve slipped him a sleeping potion, Cori was going to lie awake all night, tossing and turning and wondering about Rip.

"Okay," Lieve said with a sigh. "But at least eat first before we go."

He still thought Cori looked a little on the pale side. Maybe it was the ordeal or it could be the magic. Although from the sounds of things, Cori barely had to flick a wrist and magic just... happened. Impressive, especially for somebody new to magic. Lieve generally had to incant his spells.

Moving back up and away from the tub, Lieve went down the hall to grab one of the big soft bath towels from the linen closet. "Here," he said, holding it out for Cori. "If you get dressed, I'll whip up some stir fry. How's that sound?"

Impulsive, impetuous, spontaneous and definitely easily riled up, that was Cori in a nutshell. He was very excitable; anything that happened seemed to happen with more... with just more emotion for him than for other people. Even very extroverted friends thought that Cori could be a bit much sometimes; they ragged him about drinking too many energy drinks or having too much sugar all the time, neither of which was true. Cori was simply... sunny. Optimistic. Incurably optimistic, as a matter of fact.

"Okaaay," he sighed good-naturedly, knowing that Lieve was right. Lieve was always right! Now that food was brought up, he did feel a little rumbly in the tummy. Then he recalled that he hadn't eaten since that morning, shortly after finding out that his fingers were cursed fingers. In all the flurry of action and things happening, food had been the last thing on his mind!

Cori accepted the towel with a big grateful smile. What would he do without Lieve?! "Sounds good!" He wrapped the towel around his shoulders, then leaned in and pecked Lieve on the cheek. "Thanks Lieve. You're such a good friend..." Was what he said, but. Well. Not that Lieve wasn't a good friend! He was a great friend! The best friend! It was just... the word friend...

Cori eased back and busied himself with drying off. He was tired and emotional, that was all. His dad came into the picture today—he was in shock! All the feelings ran into one another so... yeah. That was what that was. Probably.

"You are very welcome, love," Lieve said with a pleased smile and a twirl of the hair. It wasn't just the smile. The cute little peck to his cheek put him in a good mood; he turned back toward Cori with a sassy smile as he went to the bathroom door. But Cori's expression had changed from great big grin to something more pensive.

"Are you okay?" he asked, leaning against the bathroom door.

Cori looked smaller than ever, wrapped up in his big towel and that expression on his face. Did it worry him? Meeting his father again? Rip might not even be him. It was just a hunch and Lieve wasn't going to pretend he knew all the answers. (Part of him kinda wanted to be wrong on this, but part of him wanted to be right--for Cori's sake...? It depended on whether this Rip guy was as nice as Cori and Mik claimed he was.

"Is it... Rip?"

"Hm? What?" Cori let the tub drain out, lifting the plug with his big toe. The green-tinted, scented water swirled all around him. "I'm... yeah. Kind of." He was worried about Rip, too, and the possibility of him being Cori's father. Their resemblance was too much to be a mere coincidence. And the way that he instinctively knew to trust Rip, that said a lot about their connection, too.

But... it was like having this kidnapping scare... something inside of him finally turned over. Like a switch flicked, turning on all the lights in his brain, and he was seeing something within himself that he had never noticed before. It had always been there, but he only just now recognized it for what it was. Cori looked over at Lieve, standing by the door, worried about him because he had gotten suddenly quiet. Lieve was so good at reading his moods. Lieve knew more about Cori than anyone else on Earth, with the exception of his mom.

Slowly, Cori shook his head. He smiled again, slightly more subdued than his usual dopey smiles for Lieve. "I'm okay! Hungry!" The water finally drained out and he was able to wipe off his feet and step out. No wet footprints out of the tub! Cori was conscious of etiquette—his mom taught him quite well in that regard. "I'll be right out after I find some clothes! I can help chop veggies!" He paused. "Unless... they'll grow too if I touch them...?"

"Don't worry too much. It'll all work out. If he is your father, then we'll know. And if he's not... this is always home."

He gave Cori a playful thumbs up sign to let him know it was all good and then realized he was standing in the doorway, blocking Cori's exit.

"Sorry! I'll get out of your way. And you touched me, remember?" They held hands, skin to skin. Nothing happened to Lieve and he was a plant fairy. Created out of a seedling, he was only a step up from a plant itself, a guardian of trees. And nothing happened to Lieve--that was the important takeaway from that. He walked backwards out into the hall, jerking his thumb toward the kitchen.

"I'll start that stir fry so take your time~"

Then he spun around and headed into the kitchen. Again, plants, plants, plants everywhere. He hoped they wouldn't make Cori too nervous. He thought about removing them all but there were so many in the kitchen; Lieve used them for dinner--herbs, vegetables, fruits, you name a plant and he probably had it somewhere in the house. And he could make just about any kind grow anywhere if he wanted to.

The powders, too, were ground up from plants. And they still worked to calm Cori and release some of his stress. Of course, there was a difference between a dried and ground up herb and a living plant, though...

Lieve pulled out everything he'd need for a quick stir fry. He'd chosen this for a meal because it was quick, easy, and tasty. And they always had ingredients on hand. Choosing vegetables, he set them on the counter with a chopping knife. They would only know if it would do anything if Cori had a chance to try.

This was always home... Cori's smile brightened at that. Yes. Yes! This was always home! This house but also... Lieve. The moments they shared together, preparing meals or working out in the garden or at the shop, these were all irreplaceable. The memories, like the seeds that Lieve planted in the soil, took root and sprouted. Today, they blossomed and bore fruit—and it was only too bad that there was so much else going on in their lives.

He executed a quick change back in his room, picking out clothes at random and slipping into them heedless of pattern or color. Cori usually left that to Lieve since he was so good at fashion and makeup and all that. The only times Cori paid much attention was when Lieve practiced 'looks' on him, and even then there was very little work involved. He only had to sit there and try not to wince when Lieve's hands came too close to his eyes.

Back out in the hallway, he padded towards the kitchen and nearly had a heart-attack when he almost stepped on a stray leaf. One of the bathroom plants that Lieve carried out earlier dropped it; he didn't want to collapse the roof in plant leaves so he gave it a very wide berth, eventually edging into the kitchen looking shellshocked. Lieve had already gotten the ingredients out, so Cori went to his usual station and tentatively picked up the knife.

He stared at a bell pepper. Lieve was right—they touched and Lieve didn't... explode and grow into a hundred foot tall human. But Lieve was also a magical being, whereas a pepper was not. Cori stabbed it with the knife first... as though if he committed an act of murder on it, maybe it wouldn't multiply. If it was dead. Then, gingerly, he touched it.

And it ballooned. Into a giant pepper. But it stopped when it was approximately the size of a basketball, while Cori yelped and stabbed the knife into it (in self-defence?) and ran over to Lieve.

Lieve smiled encouragingly as Cori picked up the knife to begin cutting the veggies. All seemed well... if stabbing the bell pepper was doing well. But then... Cori touched the bell pepper and right before their eyes, it ballooned to triple its size. Even Lieve stared, half worried it would just keep going. He started forward to intervene but thankfully, the pepper stopped growing... when it was big enough to be mistaken as a pumpkin instead of a bell pepper.

Despite himself, he laughed as Cori stabbed it, like that would somehow tell it to stop.

"It stopped, it stopped," Lieve said, but he still put his arms around Cori when he came running for him in sheer shock over his fears coming to life.

"Look, see? It stopped." Whatever made those other plants grow like Cori said, this time it wasn't so bad. Cori managed to stop it... somehow. Stroking the back of Cori's head, he added, "How did you make it stop? That was you, wasn't it?"

Because it wasn't Lieve. He intended to interject but he didn't have to, in the end. And now they had a bell pepper big enough to make ten stir fries if they wanted to.

YIKES!

That was too much pepper for one pepper! Cori hugged Lieve around the middle, fretfully looking over his shoulder at the giant monstrosity that used to be an orange bell pepper. It gently toppled over onto its side, but didn't fall to the ground as the handle of the knife sticking out of it stopped it from rolling off the counter. Cori had never seen a pepper that big! There were giant pumpkins, sure, at the harvest festival—grown by the Duffy farm—but those were all-natural. (Or so he thought.)

This. There was nothing natural about this!

Cori turned and buried his face into Lieve's shoulder, not wanting to keep looking at the monster he had just created. "I dunno." His voice was muffled; he held on to Lieve tighter, as though he wished to merge into one being with him. "I told it to stop. In my head." He supposed that it... listened? Honestly he didn't know how things worked around here no more! He didn't tell it to start growing! Why would it listen to him when he told it to stop?

Although—back at the apartment when that other plant kept growing, he didn't tell it to stop either. His inner monologue sort of was just one long terrified scream... Maybe his panic or fear set the thing off. Or maybe he was finally getting his long-time wish of having a magical green thumb like Lieve! Who knew! Who on God's green earth knew how magic worked?! Or why!

"We can't eat that much pepper, Lieve..."

"Well then, you have the power to stop it!"

Which was good news. Cori could grow things but he could also stop them from growing. (And kill them but that was a different problem.) Kinda strange he could do both. Normally, it was one or the other. Cori's powers weren't anything that Lieve had experience with. Maybe in his life before but now? He had no clue what to make of all this.

"But if you don't want to, I'll cut the veggies. No big deal."

He eyed the giant bell pepper. Honestly most people would have been pleased to have that power but Cori was definitely afraid of it.

"We won't eat that one, though."

He doubted there was anything wrong with it as such but better to soothe Cori's worries than insist they eat it. There were plenty of other peppers and veggies to add to the stir fry. Giving Cori a gentle squeeze and a rub on the back, he finally let go of him.

"Now let me get this done so we can get over to the shelter, yeah? Shouldn't take long."

"Okay. Sorry Lieve." Cori released Lieve from his death grip, only because he didn't want to accidentally do something to his best friend too! He went to a corner of the kitchen and sank down to sit on the floor with both legs sticking out in front of him, and both hands firmly trapped under his legs. If he couldn't touch anything, he couldn't make it grow big!

"I guess if I last till summer, we could grow giant watermelons!" He said with would-be cheerfulness, though inwardly he wasn't giving himself that much time. Somebody would come for him, surely. The cops or the government. Cori had a stark vision of being locked in a holding cell, and studied and experimented on. (He may have watched a movie about that, and he might have gotten spooked by it.)

Also Lieve didn't really need him to grow things since Lieve grew things very well already! He didn't make bell peppers expand to the size of a pumpkin! Cori stared at the pepper hard. He wondered... if it would shrink, if he told it to. A lot of what Rip told him to do back at the apartment involved visualization. Imagine a cloak around him; imagine he was looking at the barrier, to find the weak point. Imagine taking the goop off his hands.

He kept staring at it and imagining that it was a small, normal bell pepper, while poor Lieve had the burden of doing everything to make their meal. But unless they wanted onions the size of Cori's head, he didn't know what he could do to help! So he stared at the pepper and he imagined it being normal, envisioning the way it used to be, telling it to shrink. And—it shrank! It went back to normal size!

Cori edged right back up against the wall. "Lieve? Lieve I did a thing..."

"Eyy," he said with a smile and a wave of a hand. "Don't worry about it."

There was nothing to apologize for. It wasn't like Cori was growing vegetables to unbelievable sizes on purpose. It was just all that power--it was probably hard to control, especially to somebody that had just awakened to his own power. Lieve always sort of knew about his own powers and so controlling them had never been an issue. But he had probably lived several lives before this one. That was how a dryad lived; without ever really dying, immortalized by a single seed that kept them moving into the next life and the next.

And with that, came innate knowledge about certain things.

Cori, however, whatever he was, didn't have that same innate knowledge. He was fumbling with this insane amount of power literally at his fingertips. Of course he was going to have some mishaps! And for that, Lieve really didn't think he needed to apologize.

"And you'll last until way beyond summer," he said sternly, looking over at Cori as he prepared the pan and cut a good pile and variety of veggies, working deftly. He was tossing the contents of the pan like an expert chef (he was... kinda) when Cori spoke again, this time in a small voice, looking nervous. Lieve held onto the pan and turned to look where Cori was looking.

Seeing that the once giant pepper was now a normal pepper, Lieve blinked in surprise and then laughed. Lowering the heat, he set the pan down and dropped down in front of Cori.

"See! I knew you could do it! You just need practice, that's all!"

Cori swallowed. "We—we'd better eat fast and get outta here... in case it decides to explode later!" Reassured though he was by Lieve's smile—and it was a very nice smile to go with the rest of Lieve's very nice face—he didn't trust himself or his abilities. If he thought about something the wrong way, it was liable to blow up! Cori smiled back nervously though, not wanting to be a downer. Lieve was right—he needed practice!

Good thing they had a whole garden out back for him to practice on!

"But I think I kinda know how stuff works now!" He said more brightly, getting to his feet. "So if I'm careful not to touch too many things... and even if I do, I can sorta put them back to the way they were!"

Cori stuck his hands into his pockets. He sniffed the air appreciatively. "That smells really good though! Is it ready? Can we eat?" His stomach rumbled pointedly; he looked down at it, then up at Lieve, and laughed. It was a liiittle bit of a delirious-sounding laugh, but it was a laugh nonetheless. Cori didn't know if this was all a bad dream or if he was hallucinating, or if this was real life getting a whole lot weirder... But he had Lieve, and Lieve would take care of him the way he always had.

"Shit!"

Lieve scrambled up and went for the pan to turn off the heat. Luckily, it wasn't burning. It was cooked to just the right temperature. He had to admit, his mouth was watering for stir fry, too. Grinning, he turned back to Cori. Best to not feed the beast when it came to Cori's fears. Better to move on. Feed him, meet this guy, find out if he was his father...

"Let's eat~!"

Lieve made them each a bowl and handed one over to Cori. Hopefully a little nourishment would wipe away that awkward laugh and the nervousness that Cori was exuding ever since Lieve got back. The bath had worked for a while, but now it was definitely wearing off.

Once they were finished eating, Lieve knew there was no more stalling. They had to go. Cori was antsy and it seemed like he was only going to get worse the more he dwelled on all these mysteries. After a hasty clean up job, Lieve grabbed their coats, giving Cori his before he slipped his on. He flipped his hair over his shoulder and took in a deep breath, then reached out and took Cori's hand.

"Time to get some answers."

"Okay judgy!" Mik scowled at his phone, at the text messages he was exchanging with Lieve. Oh darling judgmental Lieve! Mik couldn't blame him, though; they were both pretty on edge from that whole Cori thing. But now Cori had been found safe (if not entirely sound because who could be after getting kidnapped?!). They were coming over for some reason to meet Rip, but Mik was betting that Lieve only said that to hide his true intentions: to come see this man in his 30s for himself, that Mik was dating.

Honestly! He didn't even know Rip and he'd never seen him! How could he judge based on age alone? Besides, 30 wasn't THAT old. Rip looked damned good for a middle-aged man. (Because to 19 year-old Mik, 30 was pretty middle-aged...) Well anyway if he wasn't flipping his lid, nobody else should be either. Rip wasn't like those creepy older guys preying on young hot men!

He was a huge sweetheart. Mik looked over at him sitting on the bench with his little kitty Star, playing with her and cuddling with her. They checked out the fish earlier when Rip first arrived--though not before Mik had pulled him to a corner and kissed him--and now they had come back to the fluffy kittens. Aunt Shelby, thankfully, was with some people looking to adopt a pair of dogs so she wasn't here to glare. Or to watch Mik wander back to the bench, sit beside Rip and gently nuzzle his cheek against him.

"Cori's coming here to see you!" He slipped an arm around Rip's waist and drew even closer, leaning in for another soft, quick kiss to Rip's cheek. "And our friend Lieve. Everybody's so grateful to you for helping Cori escape, Rip!" Mik grinned at him. Geez. Rip was so handsome... His other hand lifted and slipped over Rip's jaw so that he could nudge his head this way--away from kitty, towards Mikky. "You big handsome heroic man, you," he laughed softly, angling his lips for a deeper kiss.

Kittens were definitely his new favorite thing. Unironically, because he didn't know how to like things any other way. Kittens were soft, cuddly, adorable, and they made Rip smile. Star was such a little scamp. She waved her paws at him and rolled onto her back like she could fight better that way and Rip laughed because she looked like the least dangerous creature in the world.

He smiled when Mik joined him and closed his eyes briefly and made a soft, contented sound when he was nuzzled. Maybe he wasn't so unlike a stray cat, he thought. But it wasn't a bad thing to be when somebody decided to take him in.

Still, his eyes were on Star as she clambered up his thigh and rolled over onto his lap. Her walking skills weren't at their best yet.

"Oh, he's okay," Rip said with relief. He did worry for him but it didn't seem like anybody cared to go after him. And by anybody, he meant Pax. His new... master. He wondered how long he could stay away doing this new "mission" of his before Pax finally yanked on his chain and dragged him back. A part of him wanted to find out, to stretch his independence. Another part of him feared what might happen.

So Cori and their friend Lieve were coming. Rip dangled a finger at Star and she pawed at it. He didn't feel like a hero or anything. But... he did what he could. People were missing Cori; he was the kind of person people missed. Rip still remembered touching his hand. And Cori holding on. And hugging him.

"Oh..." His gaze was turned away from the distraction of the kitten. Mik was grinning. "Is that what I am?" he asked, just as lips met his. He melted into the kiss, lifting a hand to Mik's cheek, stroking a line down his jaw, fingertips landing at his collarbone. The kisses blended seamlessly into one another until he could scarcely breathe. When they parted ways, his nose brushed Mik's and his eyes half opened.

"Maybe I should make it a habit--" he started to say but the bell sound of the door was back and somebody entered the shelter. Rip blinked and looked askance at Mik, before peering over his shoulder, then standing when he recognized Cori.

"You made it!" he said happily. "I knew you would."

Well, knew was a strong term for it. But he'd hoped!

"Mmhmm," Mik hummed into the kiss. Rip was a hero. A handsome heroic hunk of a man and nobody was going to convince him otherwise, not even certain judgy long-haired well-meaning friends! In the back of his mind he wondered what Lieve alluded to earlier but most of him was contentedly enjoying the way one kiss lead into another. Mik lost count; he just wanted to bask in the tender moment, of sharing affection with the man his heart decided to skip a beat for.

His own eyes were still closed as Rip nuzzled him like a cuddly little kitten, and his heart swelled with warmth. Ahhhh Rip... Lieve might have teased him about watching rom coms but damnit, this was a total rom com moment! Mik didn't care what anybody said, gay and queer people deserved happy endings too, and he was going to have his! His hand stroked up to Rip's jaw to try and pull him back in again—less talking, more making out!—but somebody entered the shelter and his dastardly plans were foiled.

By Cori. And Lieve.

Mik didn't stand up; he did sort of stare at the incredulous looks on both of his friends' faces. What? So they walked in on him and Rip kissing! They looked like Aunt Shelby looked when she walked in on them, as a matter of fact. "What?" Mik shrugged. "What?" He asked again as Cori kind of horror pointed wordlessly, as if he had no voice left to express his disgust. Finally Mik did get to his feet, frowning, with one hand at Rip's elbow.

"DAD NO!" Cori shouted, as he turned into Lieve in apparent distress and buried his face into Lieve's shoulder.

"Excuse me?" Mik thought that was... out of line. "This man is not your daddy. If he's going to be anyone's daddy, he's going to be mine."

The kitten wriggled against his chest as Rip held her close. Although he had been excited upon seeing Cori, alive and well, he was somewhat confused by the expressions on both Cori's face and on his companion's face. What? He looked over at Mik in askance, as if he would have the answer for him. He didn't; Mik seemed about as confused by their strange reactions as he was. All right, then. It wasn't just him, then.

"He's your dad?" Rip asked. Dad, no? The friend--Lieve--looked at him with even more incredulity.

"Me? No, you are..." But by the way Lieve trailed off, Rip was starting to think he realized how silly that must have sounded. Lieve put an arm around Cori and rubbed his back but he was looking at Rip when he said, "He's too young. I mean, he's old...er. But not old enough to be your dad."

For some reason, Lieve sounded somewhat... disappointed by this? Rip lightly pet Star to make sure she knew everything was okay but he lifted his head as he looked over at Mik again. "Daddy?"

"Nobody is anybody's dad," Mik felt the need to assert, because seriously, none of them knew what a dad looked like. Between the four of them, they probably had one real dad—and that was assuming Rip's dad was in his life at some point. Mik knew that Cori never knew his dad, and neither did he; both of their fathers were notably absent throughout their lives. That was sort of their common ground; they understood each other's loss and pain in that regard.

As for Lieve... Well, that was a different story altogether!

Cori still kept clinging to Lieve (aww) but he too studied Rip at some length and also appeared disappointed. "He's not my dad? But we look so much alike..."

Now it was Mik's turn to look at the two of them closely. He frowned. Oh yeah... there was kind of a weird resemblance between them. But Rip wasn't nearly old enough to have a twenty year-old son! He would've had to be... 10? When he had Cori? That was totally not a thing.

At best Rip could be Cori's brother!

"Okay everybody settle down. Rip is not your dad, Cori. Maybe long-lost brother, definitely not father, so cut that out." He curled an arm around Rip's waist, since poor Rip had no more idea about this than Mik did. Poor man, everyone kept coming around to judge him and confuse him! "And you." Mik looked pointedly at Lieve. "You can see that Rip is normal. Hm? Don't think I don't know why you came, you sneaky person." To check out his new man!

All right. Mik's words made sense; Rip couldn't even imagine any of the people standing there being a dad to anybody else. He had no memory of any dad growing up, but! He did actually know Jack's father. Not really in anything more than passing, but... Keith certainly liked him. As much as... Keith liked anybody, anyway.

"You do look alike," said Lieve, looking Rip over. Rip tried not to look at himself but he felt the weight of judgment on him the whole time Lieve looked at him. And he did look, from head to toe. He seemed somewhat confused, perhaps disappointed still...? Rip continued to stroke little Star's fur, not sure what to say to that. Did he and Cori look similar? Possible. Probable, given that Jack as his brother.

"Hm, brother... is very close," Rip finally said, in response to Mik's comment about the long lost brother part.

Mik didn't seem that happy with Lieve and in turn, Lieve didn't seem very happy with Mik. Were they all really friends? Cori seemed scared of them right now, the way he was hiding away against Lieve. Gently, Rip said to Cori, "I am a golem of your brother, so don't be sad."

"What's a golem?" Mik and Cori asked at the same time, before Cori seemed to wither like spinach in hot water. His disappointment was palpable and... there was something Mik wasn't quite getting here. From both Cori and Rip. Obviously Rip knew something they didn't—that comment about brother being 'close' was rather cryptic. And Lieve and Cori... They were a whole different level of confusing.

"Hey Lieve. Honey. Baby doll." Mik tried to smile in the least suspicious way possible. "Can I talk to you... like over there? By the cupboards? Cori sweetie, you and Rip play with the kittens, okay? Look, it's that new litter I was telling you about! Rip's gonna tell you all their names. And Lieve and I will um. Prep some milk. For the kittens."

Cori seemed reluctant but Mik saw his eyes light up when he peered into the pen full of kittens. After a moment Cori detached from Lieve and wandered over; Mik was relieved to see him smile at Rip as he reached out to pat Star on the head. "I'm glad you made it out okay Rip," Cori said softly. "I was afraid you'd be stuck there."

Mik eyed Lieve meaningfully before walking over to the cupboards and grabbing a little carton of milk for the kittens' afternoon feeding. First things first—getting to the bottom of this 'dad' business!

Lieve would have crossed his damn arms if he wasn't busy holding onto Cori. Instead, he tilted his head and stared Mik down, one hand on his hip. Was he serious right now? Asking what a golem was? Of course he was. Mik was a human. Cori thought he was a human all this time. They didn't know the term. Not the way Lieve did, anyway. But seriously? A golem?! Things were even worse than he thought!

And that smile and that tone and those endearing terms for him weren't doing Mik any favors because Lieve knew he was about to get chewed out. Well, good--because Lieve was going to do some chewing, too!

"Oh yes," Lieve said dryly. "Let's prep some milk for the kittens."

He dropped his hand from Cori's back as Cori disengaged from him to go play with kittens. Suspiciously, he watched that Rip character interact with Cori for a moment, but he seemed mostly harmless. All he was doing was telling Cori that the kitten was called Star and then asking if he wanted to see the others.

Lieve followed Mik, but he kept half an eye out for Cori. He wasn't sure what he expected but it wasn't quite this. But he did cross his arms when it was just himself and Mik.

"A golem, Mik? Really?"

Look.

Okay.

Mik didn't ask for things to be weird or for Rip to be in his 30s or for Cori to get kidnapped! He didn't go to church, kneel down in one of the pews and beg god to make his life as weird as possible. So Lieve could cross his arms and give him the disapproving mom eyes all he wanted, Mik wasn't buckling!

Now, if this had been Aunt Shel, he might have been a little cowed.

As it was, he flicked his gaze over at Lieve once he had come over. "I don't even know what a golem is!" Mik plopped the milk into a bowl with a pointed flourish of some kind. Kind of hard to be actually indignant when half of his eye was on Rip and Cori too, and how cute they were playing with the kittens. "It's not like I went on Grindr and advertised for golems only, age 30 and over, preferably with some weird magical friends. I don't even know what's going on! Why did you guys think Rip was Cori's dad, of all things? What does being a golem have to do with it? What—"

Wait a minute.

Wait a goddamn minute. Mik's hand stilled, still squeezing the carton of milk out into the bowl. Rip and Jack. That Jack character. Fairy. Golem. Rip said that Jack was a fairy and he was a golem, and at the time Mik thought he was being clever but... Lieve wasn't even there. No way Lieve was in on the analogy. So that Jack guy...? "Who the hell is Jack then?" Mik muttered to himself, then shook his head. "No. Go back. Golem. What is a golem?"

Oh, he didn't know but he was going to find out. And when he learned what a golem was, he was so not going to like it. And he would hopefully stop being all moon-eyed over this Rip guy. And okay, Rip looked nothing like the middle-aged Harley Davidson riding thug that Lieve had been envisioning--nothing like it--but he was still problematic. Looks weren't a thing right now because a golem was just a shape that the creator made.

Lieve shrugged and he started to answer the question as to why they thought perhaps Rip might be Cori's father but Mik veered away from the topic and back to the golem business. It was going to go there anyway so Lieve accepted it and didn't bother trying to steer it back.

Silence for a moment while Lieve raised a brow and watched Mik go still. Jack? Who the hell was Jack? Lieve shrugged again. Like he knew the answer to that question. What did it even have to do with what they were talking about?

"A golem," said Lieve with a flick of his hair over his shoulder, "is a magical construct crafted by a powerful magic user."

Lieve turned his gaze to the pair playing with kittens, critical of every move, every tone he heard in Rip's voice as he talked strays and kittens and how glad he was to see Cori again. There wasn't even a single hint that he wasn't just another human, except for his magic signature. Lieve sensed signatures as energy and Rip's energy was strong but there was a definite dual nature to it that most people didn't have. That was the soul--he had a soul, not all golems did--and the mana of his creator. One pulsed with a gentle warmth like a heartbeat. The other was threaded in a violent streak of possession and need.

"In his case, a very talented magic user in golemology. Usually golems are kind of... stiff and emotionless." There was nothing stiff or emotionless about Rip. He moved like a dancer. He spoke like a singer. He could sort of see the charm but... He let out a soft scoff.

"But you're in luck, he might not be in his 30s. For all you know, he could be 5 years old."

Mik took in a deep breath but he didn't know what to do with it. Hold it in? Let it out in a shriek? Lieve was speaking English but the words, they didn't make no sense strung together in that order! Slowly he set the emptied carton down and then brought both of his hands up with the palms meeting, as if he was saying a prayer.

He brought his clasped hands up to his mouth, just barely touching the sides of his fingers with his lips. Mik's gaze was up, staring at the cupboard door just above Lieve's head. "You just made up a whole word, because golemology does not exist in any dictionary I know," he said slowly as he grappled with what was being said to him.

So Rip. Was like a cheap knock-off. Of somebody. (That Jack guy, he assumed.) That was not a thing Mik ever thought he would have to wrap his head around. He'd dated some hot guys, some nice guys, some creeps, some boring ones. He had never, ever had to ask someone what his boyfriend was, only to be told that they were essentially not alive, and only held together by magic like a marionette on invisible strings.

Mik took in another deep breath. "So you're telling me he's basically the street corner realistic knock-off Gucci bag of... of people? Oh good. Great. Now I'm the pedophile, this is a bonus definition of the word lucky that I wasn't aware of!" He swept the carton off into the garbage moodily. "Well. So what? I want to bang a golem who's eight years old but looks thirty, that's my choice. And for an eight year-old he looks real good! So."

Yeah... This wasn't something pure stubbornness could get him through, was it? Mik looked over at the other two; they were fast friends again, it seemed. Cori was laughing as he juggled two scrambling kittens and fell over with them clasped to his chest, but fell onto Rip in a heap. Cute. Innocent.

"Of course it doesn't. It's a magic term," Lieve said. "Do you think prystal is in any dictionary you've seen? There's different disciplines of magic. Golemology is obviously the study and creation of golems."

He never thought he would have to explain this. Lieve had done his best to pretend he was human but the people closest to him--like Mik and Cori--knew what he was. It naturally came up after a while, when they realized he didn't have parents, as such, and that his life was quite different than theirs up to a point. Up to the point where Lieve was able to attend school and pretend to be just a regular kid like them.

"Well, he's got a soul so he has memories," Lieve said with a shrug, as if this was common knowledge. "So it's not like he has the mind of a child. Still, I wouldn't date a golem... there's no telling what he could be forced to do to you, no matter how much he likes you."

"Golemology." He spoke the word with a measure of disgust. Obviously it was the study and creation of golems, because what other term would one ascribe to the fucking study and creation of golems? If Mik ever thought having a judgmental sass-mouthed dryad as a best friend was weird—and he did, he thought that every day—this truly had no rival in the realm of weird ass fucking shit.

Oh and Rip had a soul and memories. His own? Surely his own if he'd lived some number of years, even if he was five or eight or ten. Mik felt like it said something nasty about him that he was willing to overlook the age gap because Rip looked older than he actually was. Wasn't that literally the thing pedophiles said when they got caught in sting operations? He looks older than his actual age, I'm not the one who's at fault! I was deceived!

"And who, exactly, would force him to do bad things to me against his will?" Now it was Mik's hands on his hips, with a defiant toss of the head. It lacked a little something compared to Lieve's dramatic hair flip; Mik didn't have long hair. But he had the attitude. "He said that creepy abusive ex of his, Keith, was out of the picture." Then, after a slight pause, "Wait a minute, do you think that guy made Rip? Rip said something about this guy called Jack being a fairy and him being a golem when Allie kept confusing him for that Jack guy. Is Rip a copy of Jack, do you think?"

"Uh, his creator?" Lieve said, again as if this should have been obvious. Who else would force a golem to do something nasty to somebody? Nobody, because who else could? Creepy abusive ex... Lieve raised a brow again. Really, Mik? He was asking who and then he said it right then and there, answering his own question. After all, did golems date? Probably not.

"Yeah, it's probably him. And he's--"

Lieve shook his head in disbelief.

"Wait, hold up." He put a hand up. "You're telling me... that this Rip golem here told you everything and you just... what did you think he was telling you?! And I don't know if he's a copy of Jack or not, because just him saying it doesn't mean shit if he was told to tell you all that. That's the problem with golems, Mik. They take orders from their creator and if their creator says kill Mik or tell Mik lies, then that's exactly what he's going to do."

"How could I know he was telling the truth if I didn't know the thing he was telling me was a factual truth? I can't know things I don't know just because somebody says it while I didn't know... Ooh! You know what I mean!" Mik threw his hands up rather dramatically, startling Cori who asked if they were okay. He plastered that smile back on and nodded emphatically, and Cori went back to playing with kittens with Rip.

"I thought he was making an analogy! Allie kept mixing him up with this Jack guy and he kept insisting he wasn't Jack, and nobody believed him because who among us is an expert in golemology?! So when he said Jack was a fairy and he was a golem, I thought it was his way of highlighting how different they were, not that he was—" Mik paused for a breath. "—telling the truth! But that doesn't matter because now you're saying his creator could've told him to lie so that leaves us exactly nowhere!"

God he needed a drink!

Mik grabbed the milk and downed it. What? Kitten milk wasn't that bad; he knew it was sterile, full of nutrients. He would have preferred a shot of tequila but they didn't feed kittens tequila, thanks. "Anyway. Rip saved Cori from those kidnappers, so in my books he's okay. I mean look at him! He's like a stray! He has nowhere to go, he didn't even have a phone before today! You're telling me he's going to turn around and strangle me to death?"

Yeah, yeah. He knew what Mik meant. As much as Lieve was being a sassy bitch, Mik couldn't have known. But he could have certainly asked questions! But he thought it was an analogy... Lieve shook his head slowly. Mik knew about fairies, though! Just because he didn't know about golems didn't mean he couldn't have tried to piece things together--or asked Rip what he meant.

And this guy was trying to give him romantic advice? Pffft!

"Well, that part might be true. He told you he was a golem and Jack was a fairy? So yeah, he's probably a copy of that Jack person, which means he's a golem of a fairy. Interesting."

And then Mik drank... cat milk. Lieve made a slight face. Okay, that was gross. But... Lieve looked at the pair. Mik did have a point; Rip saved Cori. Which brought them back to the real reason Lieve was here.

"I don't know what he's going to do, I'm just saying be careful. But, listen... We came over here because well, I thought Rip was a lot older and that he might be Cori's father. Cori told me that Rip taught him how to use his magic. How to break a ward, how to cloak himself. He knows how to use Cori's magic, so I thought maybe they were related. And he just said... he's a golem of Cori's brother..."

He needed something grounding; kitten milk was grounding. Mik knew kitten milk. He didn't know golemology. So he drank it and he felt better about it because this was at least something within his control! Everything else? Nah. No control over any of this right now. Before he pounded back any more kitten milk, though, he reached over to close the cabinet. Mik didn't actually want to fill up on that stuff; one was good enough.

"Oh! So Rip helped Cori use his powers! Well—that means he's—ohhhh hold up. Back the truck up! That Jack guy is Cori's brother?! The resemblance is freaky, isn't it? Rip does look like a way handsome, older, sexier version of Cori, sort of. I mean—" He held up a hand to forestall the inevitable indignation, any time someone said something against Cori. "Cori is Cori, and Rip is Rip. I'm just saying they do have a lot of physical traits in common!"

But to hear Cori's mother talk, Cori was her only child. Her one and only baby angel. (Baby angel? Damnit now he was reading too much into everything! Every word to do with the supernatural, he was going to think was real!) Did that mean Cori's real dad cheated on her? Or had other children?

"I think maybe we both need to have a little talk with our respective... boyfriends." Mik cast a Look over at Lieve, one brow raised, daring him to refute the hard facts: he was way over-protective of Cori, for someone supposedly 'relaxed' and 'chill' about all the things. Pffft. If Cori didn't mean so much to him, why did he hurry on over to see Rip, and why did he keep giving Rip the stink-eye like Rip was going to turn on Cori and tear his head off?

Whomever Rip was modeled after was older than Cori, that was for sure. And there was a pretty large age gap from the looks of it, if that was what this Jack brother person looked like right now. That being the case, then, it would make sense that Cori's vanished or dead father might have other children before he even met Cori's mother.

"They aren't our boyfriends," Lieve said, not falling for it. Mik couldn't date a golem. And Cori was... Cori.

But he did agree that they all had to talk so he turned away from Mik and went over to the pair, who were having a gay old time with the kittens. Rip looked up when Lieve approached and he seemed to try to smile but Lieve's resting bitch face must have called it off because he quickly looked back down at the kitten that was batting at his hand instead.

"You," Lieve said, pointing to Rip. "Rip or whatever you call yourself. What do you know about Jack?"

Rip looked up and boy, did a little black cloud seem to appear over him at the mention of Jack.

"I'm not Jack," he said in a stubborn tone.

"Not if you keep acting like that," Mik muttered as he followed Lieve back to the others, arms still on his hips. Indignation flared when Lieve very rudely pointed to his man and spoke to him like he was... less than human. Which, yes, technically was true but golem Rip had a soul in him, Lieve said, and souls made people human! Or—you know. Something to that extent.

"Excuse me!" Mik intervened since Rip looked visibly intimidated by Lieve's bold march over. He knelt by Rip and physically shielded him from Lieve's glare by hugging him, while Cori got to his feet and glued himself to Lieve's side, holding on to a fluffy gray kitten. "Just because he's a golem doesn't mean he doesn't deserve respect!"

Poor baby Rip. Mik kissed his temple softly. "We know you're not Jack, baby. You're my Rip. And you're a golem but... remember what I told you? Some people like golems over fairies?" He smiled at Rip encouragingly. "But if you could tell us about Jack, we can maybe reconnect Cori with his brother? Cori's all alone now and needs family around him, you know? His mom's gone, he doesn't have a boyfriend..." Mik looked up again pointedly at Lieve. Just for being mean to Rip, that was what he got!

He wasn't Jack. And the way that Lieve looked at him made Rip feel... creepy-crawly inside. Like he looked down on him. Nothing new, but... He remembered what Pax said, about how they weren't inferior. How he wasn't inferior. It lit a little spark in his heart and that was what drew the stubborn out of him, even in the face of a fairy that looked down on him, like most every other fairy that met him.

Instead of looking at Lieve, Rip looked at Mik and his smile and his reassurance that some people preferred golems over fairies. Maybe only Mik but... it still counted for something. Maybe Pax, too. Maybe Cori. Maybe not.

"Oh..." So that's why they wanted to know about Jack. Rip wasn't enough to be his brother. It made sense... he wasn't actually his brother, just a part of him felt like it was. (And that part was hurt but didn't want to show it.) But Rip looked up at Cori as Mik said that Cori was all alone. But... Lieve wasn't his boyfriend? And his mom...

"She's... she's not gone," Rip said with a slight furrow of the brow. "She's with the King."

Some stuff was being said that Cori didn't get, like golems, but he understood that a man named Jack was his brother. That was kind of weird; he would have liked to know what Lieve and Mik were talking about so... passionately over by the corner earlier. There had been tons of hands on hips, lots of indignant looks and even a hair toss from Lieve! Neither of them looked exactly happy but they didn't fight... at least...

Well they fought in the way they always fought, with a lot of words and glaring and head tosses. But that was Lieve and Mik, that was the thing they did even though they were good friends (and nobody else believed it to look at them interact).

"I have a brother?" He asked faintly, since the conversation was progressing at incredible speeds for his slow brain to process. Cori hugged the kitten to his chest much in the same way Rip was hugging Star to his chest. "But... Rip... Rip's my brother, isn't he? Why can't Rip be my brother?"

Whoever this Jack person was, Cori was sure he was plenty nice but he thought Rip was his brother and he already took that fact to be true. Plus, Cori didn't know Jack. He knew Rip. Rip helped him get away from those creeps and Rip sacrificed his own chance at escape to do it. If that wasn't enough to make him part of Cori's little family—including Lieve and Mik and Aunt Shel—then what was?

Oh-oh but his mom! Cori leaned towards Rip with wide eyes. "What? What King? Where is she Rip? You know where she is! Is she okay? Why'd she leave without saying anything?"

Ah. His gaze softened as Cori asked why Rip couldn't be his brother. Ah, his heart. It swelled with affection and he smiled at Cori. Although when he glanced at Lieve, the smile vanished and he looked back down at Star. Lieve looked... protective, even in the way he put an arm around Cori and held him close, like he thought Cori might break if he wasn't held just so.

But he looked back up when Cori leaned forward, eagerly asking about his mother. Rip gently set Star down with her siblings and stood up, careful not to step on any little kittens.

"She didn't. She was stolen. Kidnapped. The King wanted her back... so when he found her, he took her back... but she hid you. And Keith found you... I'm sorry. I didn't know his plans. He doesn't tell me everything because he says I talk too much."

"Well I, for one, don't see any reason why my Rip and this random Jack idiot can't both be your brother, Cori honey," Mik said in a distinctly flippant way, holding Rip the way Cori felt Lieve holding on to him. Protectively. He looked like he would fight anybody who tried to hurt Rip! Or give them a very strongly worded tongue-lashing...

Cori barely got over that idea—two brothers?!—when Rip dropped another bombshell and he just kind of stood there staring at Rip. "M-my mom... was kidnapped... by a King? Why does he want her?" Who was this King? Why did he want to kidnap Cori's mom? She never did anything to offend anybody—everyone on the block loved her! And she was so nice and kind and loving, and she never hung out with creepy Kings who would kidnap people!

"The dream!" Cori said suddenly, turning to Lieve. "My dream about mom getting put in a tower by a tall man! That means it was real, right? We have to find her and save her before that weird guy does something to her!"

A golem couldn't be Cori's brother. Lieve didn't trust him. He didn't trust him when he was just some middle-aged gangster. Now he really didn't trust him. Golems... Lieve didn't care for them. They were... Not natural wasn't the term for it; there was still something natural about even the stiffest and most robotic of them. They were technically organic, made of magical living clay. That was natural in the magic realm.

But they were basically robots, even if they had a soul. They still had a directive. And what was Rip's directive, exactly? To infiltrate them? To kidnap Cori's mother? Why else did he know so much about it, unless he was involved in it? He was there when Cori was kidnapped. Maybe he did set him free but maybe he had set Cori up the whole time. The ward, maybe Cori didn't break it. Maybe he wasn't as powerful as Lieve was thinking, maybe it was Rip's creator pulling strings the whole time.

The golem looked like he was going to speak but Cori burst out again, turning to Lieve with wide eyes, talking about his strange dream. Lieve blinked. What? The tower and the tall man? There were problems if Cori was having dreams that were leading him to what happened to his mother. Dreams were a mystical thing to begin with but...

"It does sound like a message, at the very least..." Lieve admitted. "Maybe..."

"He loves her," the golem said suddenly. "The King. I think... he loves you, too. He was... not happy with how Keith treated you. He didn't want anybody to hunt you down. But he still..." The golem trailed off and Lieve narrowed his eyes.

"He still what? Spit it out, golem."

The way the golem looked at him when he called him that. Ooh. If looks could kill; which was strange, given how cowed he acted before. He really didn't like that, did he? Being called golem. Or was it something else? Lieve eyed him, still not liking him much.

"He still corrupted him."

Lieve's entire expression changed at that. And then he was moving forward, grasping the golem by the collar. The golem immediately looked downward, worried.

"Don't step on the kittens..."

"You... fucker."

"He—" Not having the necessary piece of information that the King was his father, Cori assumed that the type of love Rip spoke of was romantic, and that made it seem extremely creepy for someone to be in love with his mom and to be in love with him, too! Cori's face contorted into a mask of disgust. He physically recoiled at the thought of somebody feeling that way for him, and also for his mom. Ew! Eww! EWW!

"Excuse me! His name is Rip, not Golem!" Mik interrupted heatedly and angrily, stepping forward. "Why are you acting like such a jerk?! Rip didn't—"

Everybody kind of stopped when Rip spoke up again. Cori didn't know what it fully meant to be corrupted—he didn't feel corrupted—but it sounded ominous and bad. Really, reeally bad. Bad enough to make Lieve resort to violence, which Cori didn't like. It scared him seeing Lieve acting like that and grabbing people by the collars, when Lieve was usually so laid back and peaceful and calm and beautifully stately.

"Lieve! Don't!" Cori ran up to grab his arm fretfully. "Lieve don't hurt my brother!"

Mik strode forward too, his own face grim. "Let go. Of him," he ground out, grabbing Lieve's wrist. "You're acting like an asshole, Lieve, and you're scaring Cori. Stop it."

Rip, Golem, whatever.

How could he stand there and talk about how some bastard King came after Cori's mother and then after Cori himself--and corrupted him?! He said it all so fucking calmly and not many things riled up Lieve. This was definitely on the list.

And nobody else seemed to care! Cori was telling him not to hurt his brother and Mik was so far up this guy's ass that he didn't seem to care that this thing was involved in shady shit involving their very close friend! How could he choose this thing over Cori?!

Lieve only let go of the golem because he was indeed scaring Cori. But he didn't like it, he didn't like him. Maybe he was attacking the messenger, but he was still a golem and he was tethered to somebody that corrupted Cori and kidnapped his mother! A woman so close to Lieve that she might as well have been family to him, too.

"Are you two crazy? This thing is connected to everything happening to Cori! And you're defending him?"

And what did the golem care about?

"Please, don't step on the kittens, please." He was too busy grabbing kittens off the ground to even care that Lieve had been in his face a second ago. Lieve glared at him. Like he even cared about the kittens. That was probably all a show, too!

Lieve was losing his goddamn mind and Mik was not going to stand by and let him assault an innocent man! So far Rip hadn't done anything to Cori except help him escape, teach him how to use his abilities and now, give them vital information behind Cori's mother's disappearance. And for all of his honesty and bravery, he was being called nasty names and getting roughed up. That was not right!

"Yes," Mik said angrily, "we're defending him because he's done nothing wrong! He's only trying to help and you're leaping down his throat! Also watch the goddamn kittens!" He stooped to help Rip pick them up and deposit them back into their pen while Cori held on to Lieve's arm like he was afraid Lieve was about to lunge again. Shit, he might, too. Apparently Lieve wasn't as cool, calm and collected as he would have people believe!

"Are you okay Rip?" Mik smoothed down his collar, which had been crinkled when Lieve grabbed him. He touched Rip's jaw tenderly. "He didn't hurt you, did he? I'm so sorry, you didn't deserve that." He shot a nasty look at Lieve. Everyone was worried about Cori, of course! But that didn't mean they needed to act like... like... hotheads! What if his outburst stopped Rip from wanting to help them? What then?!

"I think you need to go cool off, Lieve. Take Cori with you to the back room. Rip and I will join you later, after we finish with these kittens. We're going to talk like civilized adults, damnit."

"I'm okay," Rip assured Mik.

Nothing happened except that the other man grabbed onto his collar. Despite how willowy the man appeared, he was just as tall as Rip and when he had been face to face with him, he definitely saw the anger in his eyes, standing eye to eye with him. But no, he hadn't harmed him in any way. He smiled at Mik to reassure him and he could hear Lieve making a sound of disgust and throwing his hands up.

Rip didn't care much for this Lieve. While he understood that he was worried, the way he kept looking at him like he was nothing but dog shit under his heel was really rankling at him. It wasn't just about Cori; he was pretty sure Lieve didn't like him because of what he was.

Holding several kittens against his chest, he looked over at Lieve, who still seemed greatly unhappy with Rip.

"I didn't corrupt him," he told Lieve. "I wouldn't, even if I could. But I think he's--"

Lieve didn't bother listening to the rest of what he had to say, which bummed Rip out because he thought Lieve would like the rest of it. But no, he was taking hold of Cori's hand--not roughly--despite his temper lashing out, he was still gentle with Cori, as if handling delicate glass. He didn't say anything as he left, either.

"I'm sorry," Rip said lowly when Lieve left. "I didn't mean to make him so angry."

Really and seriously, Rip did not deserve this. Mik watched Lieve taking Cori's hand and leaving with mixed feelings on the matter. On the one hand, he realized that Rip was involved with the guys who took Cori's mom and kidnapped him. He knew that. But the fact that Rip was here now—and so was Cori, most importantly—and that he was giving them important information said a lot. Lieve would see that if he wasn't so... so... racist? Prejudiced? Towards golems?

Mik hugged Rip gently along with the kittens he had clutched to his chest. Big group hug. "You don't apologize for a thing, do you hear me Rip? You never have to apologize for being what you are or for trying to help us. I'm sure you did your best. You're doing your best, and that's all any of us could ask from you."

He pulled back, gazing at Rip with a soft smile. "Lieve's just being a big old drama queen about this. He'll cool off after a while, Cori's good at getting him to settle down. Ooh he makes me so mad sometimes! I could've punched him when he grabbed you!" Mik wheeled off with a burst of anger, throwing up his own hands. He loved Lieve, he did! He really actually did! But this was very uncharacteristic of him!

"What were you going to say earlier?" Lieve walked out on them—correction: flounced out—without hearing what Rip had to say but Mik caught it.

Was he, though? Doing his best? Rip couldn't help but feel like he was lacking somehow. As if he had done something utterly wrong, even though he did help Cori escape. He could have been killed for doing that but he hadn't been. If anything, Pax seemed unperturbed by it. But... Rip did still have a mission put forth. To find Brayden Smith.

"He doesn't like me," Rip said, of Lieve. Which was just as well because Rip was finding that he didn't much like Lieve, either. The way he kept talking to him and looking down on him... He didn't seem to even want to believe that Rip really didn't want anything bad to happen to Cori. That was why he didn't like Rip, right? He thought he was going to harm him?

The thought of Mik punching his friend over him, though. Rip shook his head. No, no. He didn't want it to escalate to that point. Carefully, he placed the kittens he held into their pen so they would be safe from angry feet. There. They were safe now. Out of harm's way.

"Oh!" Right, he tried to explain it to Lieve but he didn't care to hear him. "I think Cori's managed to... remove it. The corruption. Or he pushed it really far back... Keith did say he thought it was stupid of the King to mate with a celestial... Lots of magic doesn't work right on them, especially dark magic like the King's. But the only way to tell is to find a fixer."

"He's just... protective of Cori, that's all. Any time anybody threatens Cori he turns into a big mama bear." Truthfully, Mik couldn't blame him for it. He wanted to protect Cori too but he didn't want to do that by glaring at people and grabbing them and yelling at them. Sure, Mik didn't know as much as Lieve did about golems and fairies and whatever, but he knew people. He knew Rip. It just didn't seem like Rip was the type to hurt Cori, especially because Cori took to him so easily. Plus, Rip had some... kind of soul of Cori's brother and surely that soul would try to protect Cori too!

Drawing Rip back to the bench, he pulled him down to sit and leaned into him. Mik lightly rubbed Rip's back in large, slow circles. "Celestial? Like... an angel or something?" Mik's lips quirked. Cori was a little cherub or something? The thought was amusing—if also intensely confusing and shocking. For a human, it was... It just boggled the mind to be thrust into a world of supernatural creatures!

"How do we find a fixer then? To make sure Cori's okay?" Oh boy—was Lieve going to snap at this fixer person too? Mik wanted to ask what a fixer was but he was still getting over golems and golemology and celestials! He wondered if Cori knew any of this, or if he was just as clueless as Mik. Probably the latter; both of them honestly thought they were human until this whole business. Mik sighed and let his head drop onto Rip's shoulder.

"So that King person. He's Cori's dad huh? And that Jack person you're... modelled after, he's the King's son too?" It sounded messy. Like some kind of Jerry Springer type shit on steroids. Mik slipped a hand into Rip's, letting his thumb absently brush the back of Rip's hand. "Doesn't that make them princes? Cori and Jack? And you?"

"Hm... yeah? I think that's what humans call them."

Celestials were so full of magic that they weren't normally suited for the world, not for very long. They were easily found out by those seeking to find them; it was a miracle that Cori's mother had hidden herself and her son away for so long. But... without her protection, it seemed like it was easy for Keith to eventually find poor Cori.

"I... I... don't know," he confessed. Rip didn't know any fixers himself. He knew of them. But the one that they had come in contact with was killed by Prince Rhys himself. Now he was gone... Rip didn't know where else to look for one. "Maybe... um... maybe Lieve knows one."

But the thought of asking him about it made him blanch. That guy really didn't like him, even if it was just his overprotective instincts protecting Cori. Not sure what to do since Mik was being very handsy with him, Rip slid a hand over his thigh and gave it a squeeze. Reassuring people wasn't in his old job description, he wasn't even sure what would soothe somebody like Mik.

"Yes." The King was Cori's father and that made Cori a Prince. He nodded. "He is a prince. And his brother is also a prince. But I... am not."

"Maybe. We'll ask Lieve later, after he's calmed the hell down." Cori would do his part, Mik was sure. Especially if he was a celestial, or angel, or something. Half angel, half... whatever that King was. It sounded conflicting, really, like there was a dark side and a light side in him. Why wasn't Cori a scumbag then, like his King daddy? Why was he just sweet and innocent? All his life, Mik had never seen him hurting a single living creature—plant, animal or person. Where did that darkness reside?

Mik smiled at the hand on his thigh. Rip was doing his part too, giving them context for whatever was happening. And, you know, being all cute, trying to reassure him even though he was the one being assaulted and yelled at and looked down on! Rip was an angel too!

"Hey! Listen here, you." Mik sat up, indignant on Rip's behalf. He held up the index of his free hand to make a point, with a defiant flick of the head. "If you look like the prince and if you have a piece of a prince's soul in you, then that makes you a prince by default! Don't even try to tell me otherwise. Maybe you weren't born from daddy getting it on with an angel or whatever, but over here that still makes you a prince."

"It's okay," he said with a shy smile. "I don't want to be a prince."

He just wanted to be... a person. Not a golem, even if Pax said they were superior in ways that Rip didn't fully understand. How were they superior? All his life, he had been told that he was nothing but a tool and indeed, that was how he was treated by not only his creator but those around him, too. Prince Rhys, his entourage (except for Raphael), Keith's cohorts, those that worked with them in the past as well. A lot of them looked at him with a mixture of disgust and pity, which Rip didn't understand but distinctly had grown to dislike over time.

But, the part about the prince's soul... Pax seemed to think that was special, too. Not many golems had souls. He couldn't think of any that had the soul of a prince. That did make him a kind of special. But... he had to wonder. How... did Keith get his hands on a shard of the Prince's soul in the first place?

"I don't want to be him or to take his place," he said, mostly to himself, but partly to Mik, too. "I just want... to be free. But it scares me, too. I don't know what to do with myself when I don't have orders."

Rip looked like a prince to Mik! He could have passed for one even if he didn't have the soul of one inside of him! Of course, Rip's biggest fan would think that but—but why the hell not! Who was to say that Rip wasn't a prince? Maybe Lieve didn't think much of golems but they were alive, they breathed and ate and had feelings just like the rest of them, who didn't even have princely souls inside!

"You do whatever you want when you don't have orders! You can play with kittens or go have a coffee or take a walk or... you know." Mik's shoulder nudged his lightly. "Give me a kiss." That wasn't an order, but a strongly worded... suggestion? Honestly Mik didn't know much about Rip's situation but he could tell that Rip was conflicted and he was vulnerable and confused like the rest of them. Talking about being free... His creator controlled him, Lieve said earlier. Keith controlled him, that abusive ex-boyfriend of his. Except Rip said that Keith was gone but if Keith told him to lie—as Lieve also said—then Rip had no choice.

Mik lowered his gaze to their clasped hands, fitting so well together. Lieve wasn't wrong when he said that Mik didn't know what he was getting into with Rip, but at the same time it wasn't like he could turn away from Rip now. The way Lieve felt about Cori, Mik felt the same towards Rip. He wanted to protect him, to keep him safe, to make him happy. He wanted to be with him and unlike Lieve, he wasn't afraid to put his heart on the line even if it meant screwing something up. Better to try than to sit on his feelings!

"Do you want to stay with us? With—me? If you could be free, would you stay, Rip?"

Rip already did those things and he could do those things, at least for the time being. While he was on mission, he didn't have to explain himself, because he wasn't closely guarded by Keith and he didn't have anybody watching over him, at least... not at the moment. But... but... Pax... could look through his eyes any time he wanted to. The way Keith did, too.

With that in the back of his mind, he was a little nervous as he leaned in and kissed Mik. They tried this once before and they were interrupted, he recalled with far too much clarity, and so the kiss was soft and gentle... and brief.

"I don't know what I want..." he said truthfully. He knew Mik liked him an awful lot and that he wanted him to stay but... Lieve didn't and Aunt Shelby didn't. And Rip was so tired of feeling unwanted. On top of that, he was... deeply conflicted, emotionally. He liked Mik. But he liked Cori, too, despite having a somewhat... familial connection to him... And he liked Allie, too. They were all nice. They were all attractive. And he didn't know how to feel about that.

But most complicated of all, despite how everybody else hated him, Rip missed Keith. He felt strangely empty without his connection, without feeling it. He scared him half the time but Keith was still his creator and he couldn't help but... love him. And there was something else, some other tug in his heart, the one that he saw in dreams. The one that led to him saying the wrong name while Keith was fucking him. The name that really... really... pissed him off.

"Sometimes, I think the things I do want aren't really things I want but... things Jack wants." He looked up at Mik. "Like wanting a drink really bad because some topics are hard to talk about."

"Cause you have his soul inside you? And that guy lived a whole life, right? While you just... kind of took a part of it half-way?" Best guesses from Mik, because he didn't know anything! Even what he said now sounded nutty but... whatever. Rip wouldn't laugh at him if he got some or part or all of it wrong!

"You just need to live your own life some more, I think. You haven't experienced enough to... to have preferences of your own, I'm willing to bet. And that Keith guy, he probably kept you super isolated..."

Probably to keep him as close to original Jack as possible, while preventing the real Rip from developing. Mik kissed him on the cheek softly. "You'll get there eventually, baby. It'll take some time to adjust to living life as a free man but... you know, you're probably already super different from that Jack guy already! And you just don't know it yet. I bet if we put you side-by-side with him, nobody would say that you acted alike at all, even if you looked the same. Because you're with us, with me and Aunt Shel and Allie and Cori and Lieve. And that other guy isn't, so these experiences you have, they're yours. They're making you... you! Jack won't ever have Star, either, or the fish. That's all you."

"Sort of...? I have some of his memories. I've never met him in person so I don't know how much like him I really am. Not enough like him, though..."

Not enough to satisfy Keith, even though Pax basically said he was super special for a golem. But he wasn't, really. He was just a stand in for somebody else and he knew that. Sometimes it hurt more than other times. But he wasn't a stand in for anybody with Mik. He wasn't in second place. Yet. He couldn't help feeling that if he ever met the real Jack, he would see that Rip paled in comparison.

"Isolated...?" He didn't have to think that much about it. "Yes... he did... isolate me. I stayed home most of the time and waited for the others."

Mik did have a way of painting things in a much more positive light, though. Jack didn't have these experiences, which was true. He didn't have Mik in his life at all. And he didn't have Star or the fish or even the day at the festival. Jack didn't have any of that. Rip smiled.

"So I'm already different," he declared. Not to mention all the other experiences he had before this that weren't Jack's! Like helping Raphael collect things for his room. ...too bad the room was probably never going to be the same again.

Meh, Jack. Whoever that was, he was never going to be Rip; he was never going to have the same kind of first impression that Rip made on Mik. He wasn't ever going to have that moment with Mik when their eyes met and something sparked inside. Rip was Rip. Jack was Jack. Rip was a golem and Jack was a fairy and they were different people and different things, just like Rip said. That made Rip unique.

"See? He wanted you to be like Jack! To keep Jack's memories and stuff inside you, but I mean that's basically psychotic because you're adorable, and so not like anybody else! You're you, Rip. You're different and special. All these new memories and experiences are shaping you now, as a real... golem-person."

It was totally obvious to Mik, even if Rip might not have seen it that way initially. Every human being was different because they experienced different things—even twins! And Rip and Jack were basically soul twinsies, but really, they were not the same. At all. Mik liked Rip; he didn't feel anything for Jack, even if he looked like Rip in some way. He felt close to Rip but he hadn't the foggiest impression of what Jack acted like, and he didn't even know if he would like Jack!

"Jack will never have what you have. He won't ever come close to being you, Rip." Mik snuggled against him, hugging him tight. "Which is a shame because I think everybody would be much better off if they were more like you, sweetie." He nuzzled Rip. "Cutie pie. My adorable little baby golem~" Okay that was... kind of sappy and over-done and probably grossly lovey-dovey. Mik laughed; he felt happy even if he sounded silly.

Rip nodded slowly, trying to understand. Keith made him in the vision of somebody else because he wanted that person. He wasn't so dumb as to not understand that. Of course, he would never be him, even with his memories or his personality because he... wasn't him. He would never and could never be him. And the real Jack was out there, still. Rip wondered if Keith really went back to the fairy realm. It seemed like he preferred it here, though. Wherever the heck Jack was going.

And he still wondered if the things he liked were things Jack liked, too. If he saw a kitten, did his heart feel like it was melting a little? Was he a little ticklish behind the ears? Did stress make him think of alcohol? Was listening to his lover's heartbeat at night his lullaby? When he watched television did he lean against a friend or let a friend lean on him? Did he feel at his best when he was touching or being touched? Was he lonely? Did he hate being alone?

Rip closed his eyes.

If people were more like him... He didn't know if he wanted them to be him. If he was him, he wanted to be the only him there was. But he thought Mik was just saying it to make him feel better so he only smiled. Because... at least he wanted him to feel better. It said a lot more than... most.

"Hush, you," he said, putting a finger to Mik's lips when he opened his eyes. "I am not a baby. I promise you that." His smile was mischievous for a moment. But he was not. He was not a baby and he could show Mik so. Gently, he guided Mik's hand to the crux between his legs, whispering into his ear, "I'm a man."

It was... cute that Mik called him adorable and cute and sweet but... Rip wasn't sure those words really described him. Maybe that was what Mik wanted him to be but Rip was Rip. Mik said it himself. And maybe Rip was not so innocent and not so cute.

Forcing someone to be the exact copy of someone else—just because he couldn't have the real person—was so... wrong. It was wrong on every level that it was possible to be wrong and creepy and sad and pathetic and just psychotic. Keith was unhinged, for sure. He didn't care if he hurt Rip, who had feelings and thoughts and was a real, independent person. He didn't care that the life he brought into the world wasn't here solely to please his whims and wishes. He was selfish, despicable. Disgusting.

Mik didn't really have words for somebody like that. He grew up in a world of love. Yes, his dad walked out on him and his mom and he had lost his mom at a young age too, but that didn't mean he went around lashing out at everyone. He was shown love and he showed love in return. That was the only way to make the world a better place, with love and by caring for others. Even, yes, Lieve when he was acting weird! At least Lieve came from a place of love, too!

"Hmm?" He rolled his eyes upward dramatically since Rip's finger at his lips told him to shut up now about being a cute little baby golem. Well. Most guys didn't want to be compared to babies. Not that he thought Rip was a babyyyyyikes... Hand at crotch! Mik was no blushing virgin but he was caught off-guard. Usually he was the person coming on to other people, although once or twice somebody surprised him.

Rip surprised him.

"You..." The breath kind of whooshed out of his lungs for a second when Rip whispered into his ear. He gulped like a fish out of water. "You are naughty!" Ohh the things he wanted to do right about now... Mik's hand stroked gently, the one at Rip's crotch. Less like a kitten-stroking motion though, more like a... naughty intent to do something inadvisable. They were right out in the open! But hey, they weren't going to go at it right then and there. This was just. Um. A statement of intent?

He leaned in close, at first simply to be... close. The tips of their noses brushed, playfully. Lips brushed too, still playfully. Slowly a kiss evolved out of that nuzzle, deepening into something sultry and seductive. Mik wasn't a baby either. He squeezed Rip through the fabric of his pants, then let his fingers drift up and hook into the waistband.

The truth was, Rip did not mind being Mik's cutie pie. And being adorable sounded... adorable but it also sounded a lot like how he felt about the kittens. It sent a strange message to Rip; was he just another sad little stray picked up off the street to take care of... or was he a man? Because he felt like maybe Mik was not seeing that part of him.

And it was a part of him. To say otherwise was only denying who Rip was. Maybe he was made a certain way for a certain task but he had a mind of his own, a personality of his own.

He had never been like this with anybody else. Only Keith and Keith's other golems, on the occasion that Keith preferred to watch himself in action rather than... participate. But Rip had never made a conscious choice to be with anybody for himself. It was sort of... exciting to have that freedom, the autonomy to be Rip, Rip the golem-person, Rip with no strings pulling him in any direction except where he wanted to go.

"I can be," he said with that same mischievous little smile. Mik's hand was different than any other hand on him. It was a new hand, a different hand. And it felt... good. He bucked his body up against that hand as heat flooded his lower body. Pleasure given to him was normally torturous, meant to elicit desperation. Not so with Mik. He was quite... generous.

Rip slid a hand around the back of Mik's head to direct him into another series of kisses. Distractedly, he could feel Mik's movement to the waistband of his pants. He thought he knew where this was going and it sent a thrill up his spine.

"Please... touch me. Skin... to skin..." The best feeling in the world. He could not deny it. "And I..." He none too subtly slid a hand over Mik to return the favor. "...will do the same... for you, Mik."

"Oh I bet you can!" With a smile like that, Rip was hiding a big ball of naughty behind that sweet and innocent exterior! And that was sexy, Mik wouldn't deny it. It meant that there were more layers to uncover, more mysteries to solve about this golem called Rip that everybody seemed to write off as being nothing more than a vessel for someone else's soul. That wasn't what Mik saw.

Mik saw someone confused about his identity, because he was held on such a tight leash. He saw somebody with a good heart, a soft heart, capable of caring for even the least and the slightest of lives—the goldfish given away as toys. Rip didn't see them as toys; he saw individual lives and that said more about him than anything Lieve or Keith could ever convey with their scorn. Mik saw a man capable of gentleness, a man who cared and who wanted other people to care about him, too. He saw somebody deserving of love and he... he wanted to love Rip. Even if they never fell in love, he wanted them to love each other.

So it wasn't really hard to kiss him, to touch him and protect him. It wasn't hard to slide his hand under Rip's pants as the kisses heated up, it wasn't hard to want to show him pleasure—especially since he promised pleasure in return. Mik only smiled and nodded in between kisses, humming low in the back of his throat. How could anyone resist Rip when he asked in that tone? When he asked so nicely, and said please, and looked at him with so much affection in his eyes?

Mik's fingers made short work of the button and zipper, and then wasted no time in delving underneath to touch Rip. Warm, hard, velvet heat greeted him; he let out a soft moan that was swallowed up by the next passionate kiss. "Ah... Rip..." He kissed greedily and he explored eagerly, trying to find the most sensitive spots. A thumb massaging over the flared head; did Rip like that? Did he like to be squeezed just so? Or when Mik cupped him and rubbed his palm against him, did that feel good? It was exciting with a new lover, like another game, seeking out every erogenous zone, finding all the ways to make Rip squirm—in all the good ways.

"Oh..."

He... he didn't know if Mik would actually do it or not. But he did. Skin to skin. And it felt so good... His eyes slowly closed as he soaked in the attention. Surely Mik knew now, he was a man. The way his body reacted to his touch... That was all man. His breath caught in the back of his throat and his lower body moved against Mik's touch, just as eager, pressing against the feel of his palm. His entire body jerked against that feeling of a thumb rubbing over his head, heart jumping in his chest.

Still kissing Mik, Rip reached for Mik's pants. Practice made perfect; he didn't fumble with zippers or buttons--he had quick, deft hands.

And he was madly curious. He wanted to know what it felt like, what another person felt like. Mik was so different in every way than what he was used to. His body was different. Different was good. Like Mik, he explored generously, feeling every part of him. His kisses tapered off and he shifted his weight, moving to straddle Mik as he pulled his pants further down.

A soft gasp escaped as he arched his aching body against Mik's. Velvet and hard, their bodies met with a friction that sent electricity all throughout his body from the back of his head to the tips of his fingers and his toes. His lips found a new place against Mik's throat, hands slipping underneath his shirt and over a surprisingly well built body beneath. He had never seen Mik in a state of undress before but he didn't expect the muscles.

This was dangerous but the thrill of it—the possibility of getting caught—added a little spice to the moment that made every shift of Rip's hand, every sultry kiss, feel so much more pleasurable. It wasn't ideal to be getting it on in the back room where they fostered all those kittens, but hey—Mik tended to live in the moment and he was glad that Rip did too.

A hand job would've been more than enough but was it bad that a part of him liked that Rip slid over into his lap? Mik's hands slid out of Rip's pants, only to steady him. They were both sorta... super tall, and he didn't want Rip to fall over backwards! Mik let out a soft gasp as their bodies met. He wasn't generally a screaming out loud during sex type of person, but he wasn't a quiet mouse either. Plus if they made too much noise, somebody was going to come knocking and he didn't want to be caught (even if the prospect of it sent a thrill down his spine!).

"Rip... Ah..." Mmm warm hands up his shirt. He did like that—physical contact was never unwelcome. Mik was a touchy-feely type of person too, with the way he kept hanging on to people, hugged them, took their hands, looped his arms around theirs. But his body was starting to want a little more than he thought they could get away with, and... there were no condoms, no lube! He didn't want anybody to have to limp into the room with Lieve and Cori!

So he slipped his hand around and stroked Rip gently, bringing his body closer as he scooted a little bit off the bench. "We... we can't... have sex here..." Rip was so distracting with those lips at his throat! Mik tilted his head to the side to offer him more access. "Tonight. You're definitely coming home with me tonight so... just a handjob, baby? For now?"

"Okay..."

His hands slid back down, away from Mik's chest. One last little hurrah--the friction of their bodies just one more time... He bit his lower lip and half closed his eyes. That electric feeling made it all worth it. A taste of something more. His heart still beat quickly and he edged himself back to his side of the bench.

Only a hand job. For now. Slipping his hand back down over Mik, he explored again, enjoying the novel experience. How different he felt, how different he looked. When he glanced up, too, Mik's expression seemed... pleased, which encouraged him. Rip's strokes were sure and rhythmic, mimicking the action of fucking. First it started with tentativeness and then his hand was faster, grasping Mik tight enough to feel as he began to swell, reveling in the sensation of him growing harder.

It was a kind of magic in itself, to be able to make a man feel that good, he thought, with a little satisfaction. He wanted very much to taste him, too, but Mik said only a hand job. So he settled for leaning into him, to kiss his jaw and nip a little soft spot between his jaw and his throat.

For now. A hand job. For now. But as soon as Mik got Rip all alone in his bedroom, all bets were off. Hey, he was nineteen and the notion of sex had yet to wear off in terms of novelty! Plus come on, Rip was sex on legs. The way he moved, the way his hand moved, his lips, tongue... This wasn't Rip's first time around the block either, he was pretty sure!

But for now—yes, playing it safe. (If engaging in this kind of thing in his aunt's shelter was 'safe.') Mik nuzzled into Rip one last time before he slid back over, and that magic he worked with his fingers made Mik's toes curl inside his shoes. He reached over again to grasp Rip too, this time with more surety, more confidence in his own touches now that he had gotten the hang of Rip's body to some extent.

It was kind of nice to know that despite being abused by his crazy ex, Rip didn't shy away from sex. That was one way to be intimate with somebody, of course—the quickest way. Was it too quick? Or was it just the right time? Mik wasn't rough with him; he tried to make Rip feel good because part of him wanted to show Rip how much he cared about him, his body, about his needs. It wasn't just about Mik getting off; he wanted them to feel good together! Naively, he thought maybe he could help undo some of that hurt that people like Keith had done to Rip.

He moaned softly into the crook of Rip's neck, nuzzling into him with his body tense and every muscle straining and taut. Ahh... this felt insanely good. Keeping quiet grew increasingly more difficult as the pleasure built up and up and up, and then it all exploded and he shut his eyes tightly against the starbursts blinding him behind his eyelids.

Ah... there it was... Mik's body contorted and his muscles tightened and his eyes closed. And he looked... so beautiful in that moment. Heat spilled over Rip's hand and he gave one last stroke, as if to squeeze every drop out of him. How his body shook in that moment... Rip nuzzled him too, before lifting his head, seeking out another kiss, and a kiss that melted from that kiss into the next kiss.

He wasn't quite there yet with Mik but he felt it, the tightness in his groin and the heat. Another kiss and he lowered his head, nuzzling Mik before he lifted his hand to his lips. He could cheat; he could still taste him. Salt met his tongue. His hips moved up into Mik's touch like a dance and he slid his arm around Mik's neck even as he pressed his face into his shoulder.

"...please... please do that... that thing with your thumb again..."

So close. So close he could feel it. He just needed... that one... tiny... thing before his body shuddered and finally hit its climax.

Oh God, Rip was out of this world sexy. Like, an insane amount of sexy that Mik didn't quite feel prepared for when Rip licked his hand clean, and the act made Mik's body try very hard to rejuvenate itself. But he was still sorta floating on the high of orgasm and everything was soft, muted. Kisses made him smile, one after the other, but he didn't stop stroking Rip even while his own body was boneless and weightless.

"You like that?" He grinned. He did the thing with his hand again and again and again, running his thumb over Rip, over the slit at the very tip of his cock and then stroking down, slick and wet, hot. Rip was hot in his palm and against his fingers, pulsing with need. Mik couldn't stop looking at him, even just the curve of his neck where a few curling strands of dark hair brushed his skin. He kissed the tip of an ear peeking out as he stroked Rip harder, just as Rip did to him earlier. Harder, faster, mimicking the motion and rhythm that his body would have set.

"Come for me baby." Mik nipped at his ear, at the delicate, thin shell. His eyes drifted down to watch his own hand curled around Rip, twisting over the head, back down. That was hot. Really, really hot. Goddamnit, how could anybody even think of abusing Rip when he was this... this... incredible? "Come for me."

"Y-yes..." Yes he did. He very much did like that and it made him feel... good. Electric. Shaky. Like his legs were going to jelly every time he did it, that artful thing with his thumb. His legs didn't even quite know what to do with themselves, wanting to close tight around that hand and wanting to open wide at the same time.

His breath came up in short bursts and his heart felt like it was about to explode. And his cock? His cock... couldn't seem to get enough. It wept for Mik, hot and slick, which only made everything that much more to deal with.

"I... I... c-c-can't..." He didn't even know what he was trying to say. His words were an incoherent mess, and with just that nip at his ear combined with everything else, he couldn't hold back for one second more. He was... he was so accustomed to getting to a certain needy point and then being edged backward that this... was different. Mik was not teasing him. He wasn't torturing him. He was only pleasuring him.

"I'm... I'm coming I'm coming I'm coming..."

The babbling gave way to a long, soft moan into Mik's shoulder. Oh he could feel it, he could feel it, liquid heat traveling through him. And he could feel it as it finally made its escape, the head of his cock feeling ultra sensitive with every pump. He grasped onto Mik as the tension left his body, holding him close, nuzzling his throat, letting out one last breath on a sigh of ecstasy as his eyes fluttered closed.

He shivered after he was spent, as if all the heat had left him by way of his cock. But it felt so good. Even now, just to breathe, just to be. He smiled as he nuzzled Mik, heart beating hard in his chest, butterflies working triple time in his stomach. And this... this was just a hand job.

"You're... very skilled, Mik," he whispered. He didn't know why he didn't expect it; he was a good-looking man and appeared to be quite open with what he wanted. It was just... It was so different than his expectations. But... in a good way. Definitely in a good way.

Rip was cute. He was really cute. His reactions to everything that Mik did were cute and it was like he just could do no wrong. Mik knew this was skating on dangerous territory because he was so invested in anything that had to do with Rip. He almost came to blows with one of his best friends over him—dangerous.

But Rip was in dangerous territory himself. He was vulnerable and hurt, unsure about the direction that his life was headed towards, and he appealed to that huge caring, soft streak in Mik, the one that couldn't bear to leave even one stray animal out in the cold. Rip was like a stray but—not really. He was a man. He said it himself, straight to Mik, that he was a man and that meant their level of interaction was going to be that much more complicated because feelings were going to be involved.

Ah, well. Mik didn't know where this was all headed but he knew deep in his heart that he wanted to love Rip. And Rip wanted to be loved, he was sure. Platonically or not, that didn't matter. It only mattered that Mik help him to gain independence and to become the man that he wanted to be, and not merely some replicate of Jack. And if he didn't have any support from his friends or from his aunt, that was okay too. Mik knew what he was doing was right.

"Do it," he whispered into Rip's ear, holding him close even as he strained and arched into Mik. It made him feel stupidly pleased that he got Rip off. He kept grinning away, feeling even more light-headed than when he came just a few short moments ago. Happiness wasn't hard to come by but this was so different from anything he'd felt before. A real sense of accomplishment from a hand job? Really? Mik had done more with other guys, but felt less elated!

"You're so cute," he murmured into Rip's temple, kissing him affectionately again. He liked the way Rip collapsed into him even more than he liked Rip grasping at him in the throes of passion. Heck, he liked Rip any way he could get him! Mik nuzzled him back; he let Rip rest against him for a long moment, simply enjoying their closeness. Luckily there was a box of tissues nearby and some wipes—kitten station coming in handy!—so he cleaned them both up to the best of his ability and zipped them up. Ahem. In case somebody walked in on them.

Meanwhile, in the back room...

Lieve stalked out of the room with Cori's hand in his, leading him away from the golem and Mik--Mik! Who was supposed to be their friend! And all he could think about was golem dick! That or golem puppy eyes or some shit. Mik always had been a sucker for underdogs and Rip acted just like some kicked puppy. Lieve still wasn't convinced that Rip was sincere; he could easily have been coached into everything he said.

The back room was currently unoccupied and Lieve didn't let go of Cori until he was able to safely deposit him on the couch. Lieve didn't sit himself down, though. Agitation still thrummed through him at the golem's words. Corruption?! They corrupted Cori? He paced a few steps in one direction, then back toward the couch, not even sure himself what he was doing. Slowly, he crouched down by Cori.

He looked up at him from his place before him, into his eyes, at his face.

"Cori... honey... tell me again everything you remember about when they took you away."

Oh no... oh no... Lieve and Mik were fighting and it was Cori's worst nightmare, having to choose between both of his best friends. Of course he was kind of biased in Lieve's favor because he... just was, but Cori liked Rip too, and Mik was his friend since forever ago too. He didn't even want to think about having to side with one or the other, when both were only looking out for his best interests!

On the way out he shot Rip an apologetic look, and also Mik. Cori knew they wouldn't blame him or Lieve. They had to know that Lieve meant well, right? Mik at least would—he and Lieve were good friends too! And Rip, he did his best to give them information even though he'd been trapped there. He sacrificed his own chance at getting away to let Cori run out of that room, Cori couldn't forget that.

In the back room with the big fish tank, Cori sat down on the couch, finally letting go of Lieve's hand so that Lieve could pace back and forth in agitation. First Cori wrapped his arms around himself, and then he wedged his hands between his legs, which were jiggling up and down nervously. His throat felt so dry; Cori coughed softly.

"Lieve—" Oh. Lieve was back and looking at him as though he had answers written on his face. Cori reached out to take his hand again for comfort—his own, Lieve's. Both maybe. They were both kind of frazzled and unsettled. "It was just the big blond guy at first. Keith. He took me to Greenwood. I don't remember how we got there... One second I was here, and then he came in and did something and I couldn't move my arms or legs."

Cori looked nervously at the door as though he expected another big blond guy to burst through. He cleared his throat again. "So... so we just were there and I was on the ground laying there, and Keith was laughing about finding me. I don't even know how he found me or why, or... or anything! And then after a while, another guy came in, also a big guy but he had black hair. And he made Keith free me, so I tried to run but Rip was outside, and Rip... Well he stopped me but I think he didn't have a choice cause those other guys made him. After that, I don't remember. The guy with black hair touched me and I guess I blacked out..."

All right. Keith kidnapped him. But he wasn't the one who corrupted him. Somebody with dark hair. That wasn't Rip and must not be Jack, either, since Cori didn't mention them looking alike. Just... big with dark hair.

But that was it. That man touched him and then Cori blacked out. Was that when it happened? Lieve slowly rose up to sit on the couch next to Cori. Still cloaked as he was, it was hard to tell if anything changed in Cori's energy. The cloak saved him. But did he need it now? He was with Lieve now. And he knew how to cloak himself if he needed it again.

"Could you take your cloak down for me?"

Cori kept looking at the door; he couldn't help it because this was the room that he was kidnapped in! But he didn't say it because he didn't want Lieve to get even more upset than he already was. Cori hated that Lieve was like this—over him. It was all because of him, he was causing trouble and he didn't want to bring even more complications into the lives of people he loved.

"...okay. Just imagine... throwing it off, right?"

He took in a deep breath, squeezed Lieve's hand, and then closed his eyes. The cloak over him was sort of something he forgot about in the heat of the moment but now, he imagined it covering him again. Then he imagined it slipping off and falling away, all the way to the ground.

There. It was gone. Cori opened his eyes and looked anxiously at Lieve. "Is it gone? Did I do it?"

"Um... yes."

Lieve didn't know how his magic worked but apparently it was visually based. And only visually based. Again, Lieve was astonished by just how easily Cori was able to use magic. No incantations, no gestures. Just... the cloak was there and then it wasn't. Lieve could feel him again. His energy signature.

"It's gone," he confirmed. Cori's energy was still like the sun but now instead of sunbeams dappled through tree leaves, it was almost like a concentrated burst of sunlight. The energy was strong; almost overwhelming. But... it was pure.

"You're... not corrupted." He was... in awe. How? Even for royalty, this was strong magical energy, almost like he was made of magical energy himself. Not like a golem, but a naturally born energy. It infused every part of Cori. Whatever they did to Cori, it didn't seem to have worked as planned. (Or maybe it did--Lieve was frustrated by the lack of real knowledge he had about Cori's enemies.)

"You must really be a prince," he said after a speechless moment. "Your energy signature is... so strong. I've never felt anything like it before."

"I did it?" Cori grinned for a moment, glad that he was able to do a thing that he could neither see the results of nor really know for sure if he was successful or not. He took Lieve at his word, though, because Lieve was smart and wise and knowledgeable. But that was never in question of course! Lieve was always somebody that Cori could depend on!

But how come Lieve was so quiet afterwards? He sat there staring at Cori like Cori just grew two heads, and meanwhile Cori kept shrugging his shoulders because it felt like there was still something there. But Lieve said he took off the cloak! So what was that weird tightness over him? It kind of felt like he was wrapped in invisible cling-film.

"I'm not corrupted? So they didn't do anything to me?" He shrugged again. That feeling was stifling, to be honest, and he was starting to become alarmed. Lieve called him a prince but he wasn't, not really. Cori reached up and scratched his cheek absently. "I'm... just me, Lieve. I'm not a prince, I don't even know what that means!" They lived in the States, not in a place like England where they had royal families and junk. At most Cori could be president but... he didn't want that. He only wanted to live a normal life with his best friend by his side.

"Lieve, I think I didn't do it right," he said at last, when the tight feeling could no longer be ignored. "It feels like there's still something on me... But I swear I pulled the cloak off."

"They might have done something but it's... not doing a very good job."

There were a lot of reasons that Cori might not be corrupted yet. Maybe it was a slow moving curse. Or it could be slowed BY Cori's sheer amount of energy. It was a bit like having a virus try to creep into a well guarded, healthy body. Anything that didn't belong was quickly dispatched--with the body none the wiser. But it also could be delayed. A small thing growing inside him, not yet apparent.

So far, though... Nothing.

"The cloak is off," Lieve said with a frown. He gently rubbed a thumb over the same spot Cori had scratched on his cheek. "It could be... glamor," he said. But why it was constraining Cori now if it hadn't before... Maybe it had to do with his surge of newfound energy.

"Do your visualization thing on that spell. On that... feeling. Like it's a physical thing."

"It's what?" Cori said absently, catching Lieve's hand at his cheek and holding on to it. He drew it into his lap just so he could have some point of contact with Lieve. It made him feel a lot better when they were physically touching, because then he could be assured that the hand or the arm or whichever body part he had was solid and real and not going anywhere.

"Glamor... Like fae glamor?" He mused, but closed his eyes again so he could focus on the tightness. he was shrink-wrapped! It felt like that; the glamor was very snug on him. This time it was harder to remove. Cori tried twice without success, although he managed to cause a few rips in it, he thought.

"It's not cooperating!" he growled, still holding tightly on to Lieve. One more try! Cori strained to rip it off, with his entire body tensing. He felt like he was going to burst a kidney or something, with the amount of effort he put into it, and then--suddenly--it split and fell away.

Triumphantly he opened his eyes. "Did it work?! Am I--AAH!" Something fluttering behind him startled him and he jerked away from it, right into Lieve's arms. But the thing followed him--they were his wings, soft and feathery, drifting idly through the air.

"GET IT OFF!"

"Yes. Like fae glamor."

Whatever it was, it was tough; it didn't want to budge, even with Cori's incredible amount of energy. Lieve frowned. His mother must have bestowed it; she must also be incredibly strong. And Lieve never knew. Because... because she must have been that strong. Not even a trace of her magical signature to alert him.

And the answer was quite clear, when Cori shed his glamor.

They weren't even dealing in the fae realm anymore. This was steps above the fae's abilities. Well, shit.

Lieve was in a state of shock himself as Cori startled himself. Automatically, his arms went around him when he buried himself against Lieve. Yes, they were really dealing with matters beyond his knowledge now. There was no getting around that at all.

"Well," he said. And he didn't even know what else to say so he repeated it. And then, "So, your mother was being very literal when she called you her angel, Cor..."

The. Wings. But. No but. They were wings! They were wings sprouting from his back and he felt them and they moved when he thought about them because they were his wings and it was like suddenly growing a new arm or something--

Cori's brain short-circuited around the time Lieve started repeating himself. He laid there against Lieve, stunned, too scared to look behind him at his own iridescent wings. They weren't white, he saw that much from the brief glimpse he had. They had a sheen to them, a sort of rainbowy color--the product of an angel and whatever his father was that made them this way.

"I just want to be Cori!" He grasped onto Lieve, looking up at him in sheer desperation. "Make me Cori again Lieve!"

"You are Cori. Just, there's a lot more of you now."

Like, wings and magic and so much energy. No wonder things grew like crazy under his touch. And somebody tried to corrupt that, to make everything he touched turn to ash and dust. But whoever it was, they weren't stronger than Cori. Whatever Rip told him to help him remove the curse, it really, really worked. Cori hadn't just pushed it aside, he had eradicated it.

And no wonder; a celestial was much higher on the supernatural being scale than some fae. Even a royal fae wasn't a match for a celestial of the lowest order. And Cori... Cori was not the lowest order. Not by a long shot.

"I don't want to scare you, sweetie," Lieve said, gently stroking an arm, as if that would help not scare Cori. "But your kind of power on this earth is... a little bit like being a god."

"There was enough of me before!" Really Cori didn't need there to be more of him out here! He was doing okay with his mom, his grades were kind of middling in school but he got by. He liked hanging out at Lieve's plant shop and playing around while Lieve puttered around making things bloom and grow. He liked that Lieve was the special magical one between them, that he could admire him secretly when he thought Lieve wasn't looking and think about how pretty he was.

Cori couldn't be the special one. He didn't want to be. All his life, he was Cori, not an angel or a half-angel or whatever he was. It was okay to be normal; he wanted to be normal. He thought it was more exciting watching other people use their powers because--hey--somebody had to be there to gasp and be in awe! That person was Cori!

"I'm not. Not a god." He buried his face against Lieve's neck, at the juncture with his shoulder. "I'm your Cori!"

"Of course there was." He didn't mean to imply otherwise; there was always enough of Cori. It was just, really, there was a lot more Cori now. It was a little disconcerting, to be sure, but it wasn't anything to be afraid of.

Normally, he would have rubbed Cori's back as he held onto him this way but now there were wings to contend with. So instead, Lieve gently rubbed his lower back, which was distinctly different and honestly? Gave off very different vibes. After a moment, he stopped, because he felt like maybe he was giving off the wrong signal in the wrong moment.

"Hey, you're still my Cori." Nothing in the world could change that. But it was obviously upsetting to suddenly go from average human to cursed by a witch to... godlike. And that wasn't even touching on the harrowing kidnapping and escape. It was a lot to go through. It was too much to go through in the span of a single day.

"You're the sun," he said quietly into Cori's ear, to soothe his frayed nerves. "You were hidden by clouds but now they've parted and you're shining so bright that everything is eager to please you, even little bell peppers. It's nothing to be afraid of, Cori... It's something to be proud of."

He pulled away and he looked down, taking hold of Cori's hands, turning them over, palm side up.

"These hands can grow and heal. You don't need a fixer, you're stronger than any fixer could be. You fixed yourself and didn't even know it." He smiled at Cori. "It's nothing to be afraid of, all right? You have me and... and Rip as guides. And when we find your mom, she'll be so proud of you."

Lieve's soothing voice did its magic on Cori, settling him enough for him to quiet down and listen. His words--like his nature--were sweet, gentle, calming. Lieve could do no wrong where Cori was concerned, naturally, but today he sort of scared him a little bit. Just a little bit. In the panic of the moment, seeing Lieve riled up also riled him up.

But now it was just them, and Lieve was back to being himself. Cori swallowed hard as he listened, focusing on the words rather than on the way Lieve's breath brushed his ear. Or the hand that went pretty low... on his back... skirting a dangerous place.

He looked down at his hands too when Lieve drew attention to them, but all he saw were his hands. Nothing glowing, nothing special. The wings at his back still freaked him out, though. In the periphery of his vision he saw them waving around, freakishly... big. Big enough to enclose both himself and Lieve if he wanted them to, like fluffy shields against the dangers of the outside world.

"But..." He lifted his hands to cup Lieve's face, arching towards him like an eager sunflower trying to find the brightest ray of sunshine. "You're the sun. You've always been my--the sun and I don't want that to change..." Something pulsed in his chest, something warm and soft and--he looked down. Something glowing? Cori didn't even have enough freak-out in him to yell about it. He just stared at it, and then he stared at the light in Lieve's chest, pulsing gently.

Lieve laughed softly as he slid his hands over Cori's wrists. Funny how Cori thought of him as the sun when Lieve had always identified Cori's energy as the sun. Of course, then it had been the warmth as seen through the cover of trees. That was a natural way to view things for somebody like him, whose entire life involved plant life. Cori was the sun and Lieve was the tree, reaching up high...

But he didn't think Cori liked that view of things. It was a lot to take. Not to mention all the rest of the things he just learned today, like how he had a father... who kidnapped his mother. But his mother was alive, probably. Hopefully. If she was, she could be rescued and who better to do that than her powerful son and all his friends?

It did cross his mind that she probably didn't want Cori involved but... She was his mother. It was only natural that Cori would want to find her, to save her. And for personal reasons, Lieve wanted to keep him out of the front lines of any fight that ensued, too. So whatever they did, they would have to be really smart and careful about it.

But in the moment, he was confused by the way Cori was looking downward, at their chests. Lieve looked down but he didn't see whatever it was that Cori saw.

"What is it?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"

The light was mesmerizing; Cori couldn't take his eyes off of it. And the more he looked, the brighter it got, the more it twinkled prettily in a thousand different shades. It was like holding a crystal up to the light and watching its myriad colors sparkle and shine.

"I don't think so?" He didn't know what he was looking at, so he didn't know if it was good or bad. His own light, Lieve's light, they weren't exactly the same but they were both very pretty. Lieve's shone more in blues and greens and warm, earthy browns. Cori's was every color he could think of, and more besides.

Slowly he reached out, slipping his hand down from Lieve's face to his chest. Tentatively he pressed two fingertips to where the light was, not sure what he was doing or even, really, why he did it. It just felt like a thing he could do. He could touch the light--just so--and under his fingertips it burst into an almost blinding flash.

"Ah! Lieve! Are you okay?!" He withdrew his hand quickly, spooked by the sudden brightness.

Well, good. They could do without more shitty things happening. Lieve let out a sigh, then dropped his hands as Cori began to explore Lieve's chest for whatever reason. Was he thinking he saw boobs? Because Lieve could assure him that he did not have boobs. And Cori would know; he'd seen him practically naked as an adult so many times.

Lieve was about to tell Cori that maybe they should see the others and then get him on home--he had gone through a lot and he needed some time to sleep and process everything that happened to him--when Cori touched his chest, right where his heart was... and something really, really strange happened.

"...a-a-ahhh..." It was a sound of confusion and almost of... ecstasy. Like an unexpected orgasm, in his chest. In his heart. How else could he put it? That was exactly how it felt; like that moment during sex when sensation was so raw and so vulnerable that just a single touch against a certain place could get a person off.

Even as Cori was withdrawing his hand, Lieve was immediately striking his own hand against his chest.

"What... did you just do?" he asked with wide eyes, feeling strangely breathless. Well, it did take the breath right out of his lungs!

"I don't know Lieve! I don't know! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Cori babbled, edging far, far away from Lieve as possible. "There was a light in your chest and I touched it because it was really pretty but then it got brighter and-and please don't explode!" He implored, now reaching the far edge of the couch, leaping off of it and running to the door.

He killed Lieve.

In his mind, he killed Lieve and he was frantic as he called for Mik, who came running in a few moments later with wild eyes. "Mik Mik I killed Lieve!" he babbled again as he clung to Mik, then violently let go of him to run over and curl up in a corner.

"...Um?" Mik stood there looking sort of baffled. "No Lieve's... alive. Cori. Baby. Could you... put those wings away real quick? Just do that for me real quick." Mik went over to check on Lieve, peering into his eyes.

Cori haphazardly imagined putting on the cloak, and hiding his wings. They vanished. He was breathing hard as he asked, fearfully, "Is Lieve okay?"

"Yeah he's good." Mik sounded strained. "He's good. Right Lieve?"

"What?" Anybody would be alarmed to hear they might explode. Lieve didn't see the light but he wasn't... well, he wasn't celestial. Just a dryad. A plain, everyday fairy. He ran his hand over his chest again, feeling oddly warm inside. What happened when a celestial touched somebody's heart?

Mik arrived in a panic, probably brought on by Cori's panic. Lieve blinked as Cori looked into his eyes, wondering if he saw anything different there.

"What?" he asked, suddenly nervous where he hadn't been. He glanced away, seeing that Cori put his wings away. Lieve was going to get to that, he swore. Just... some things got in the way before he could.

"Yeah..." Lieve said, feeling a little dazed as he sat up straighter. "I'm okay. Just peachy."

Realizing his hand was still over his heart, he dropped it.

"We should really get going, Cori." To Mik he said in a quieter tone, "I don't know what he just did but... I think I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

When one of your friends suddenly screams out from down the hall that he just straight up murdered your other friend, that was kind of a sign that things were not going As Planned. Mik's strategy was to get Lieve to calm Cori down, and for Cori to calm Lieve down. Also, he wanted to make out with Rip because--whatever, judge him for being horny all the time at 19 years old, go ahead.

But he didn't expect Cori to end up in the corner, and for Lieve to look strangely flushed. Suspiciously flushed. But also... glowing. Literally glowing. Mik ran a hand over the side of Lieve's head, concern creasing his brow. "Okay let me know if anything weird happens to you, we'll get you to a doctor or something ASAP," he muttered back, then swooped in for a quick, warm hug. Best friends didn't hold grudges!

"Come on Cori. See? Lieve's okay! But I think you guys really need some rest, it's super late." He beckoned to Cori, who eased himself out of the corner and came trotting back, looking like a puppy with its tail between its legs.

"Lieve, I'm sorry!" He seemed hesitant to touch Lieve, but Mik pulled his hand over, pulled Lieve's hand over and connected them. Cori yelped. Jumpy little fella, wasn't he? Nothing happened though--nothing Mik could see. Cori clung to Lieve like a lifeline.

"Okay babies. I'll call you a cab. Let me know when you get home, and Rip and I will come around tomorrow to check on you. I want you guys to go straight home and sleep! Sleep off all this craziness! We'll all sit down and talk about it tomorrow when we've gotten lots of rest."

He felt fine. Just, you know. Weird heart orgasm. No biggie. And the way Mik was looking at him definitely caused some concern. Plus the way he touched the side of his head, like maybe he looked sick. Did he seem sick? He laughed--a touch nervously--but he hugged Mik back.

"I don't think it would be a job for a doctor," he said in some amusement. At least... at least he didn't have a heart attack? Was that why Cori flipped out? He thought he'd killed him. That was something. At least he didn't seem to recognize the sound that came out of him. And Mik wasn't there to hear it either. A secret he would take to his grave, thanks.

When he stood, his legs were a little on the wobbly side, like he'd just had a good fuck and he was trying to be Totally Normal afterward. What even was that?

"It's okay," Lieve said. "Seriously. It's fine."

At least it was, until they were hand in hand. Cori yelped--did it hurt? But Lieve... He cocked his head to the side in utter confusion. Now he saw it; a light that emanated from Cori's chest. And from Mik's chest. And when he looked down, he could see a bright ass light coming from his chest.

"Oh, well... now it's making some sense," he said, while Mik was rushing them off so he could presumably fuck his boyfriend. The golem. Lieve wanted to side eye him but there were so many things going on at once that he could scarcely breathe.

Mik was not trying to rush his best friends out the door, but at the same time they couldn't stay here for the night! Aunt Shel was closing down soon and they'd have to go home eventually! Besides, he swore Lieve had a little bit of a stiffie sitch happening. Kind of hard to tell with his current choice in pants, but. Hmm.

Not being here, though, Mik had no idea what went on. All he knew was that Cori was freaking out but then again, when was Cori not freaking out? Cori was the guy who freaked out if he bent a leaf. But that just meant he was still fresh and innocent, and--ooh boy. Good luck Lieve on that front. Mik personally liked his guys with a couple of notches under their belt.

"Is it?" Mik asked distractedly as he ordered the taxi. "Good?" He looked over them both. Cori was holding Lieve's hand like he could shatter it if he breathed wrong. Mik shook his head. Lieve still looked glowy, but like that kind of after-sex glowy, not glow-in-the-dark glowy. God, he didn't know shit about magic, he was just throwing up guesses.

"Call me if you need anything! I mean it, call me or else!" Mik side-eyed Lieve. "Any time. Don't worry about interrupting anything."

"Yeah... Good, I think."

Lieve didn't really know. All that talk about souls and soul mates and here he was, looking at lights coming out of people's chests. Somehow, he was going to have to help Cori with that or trying to sleep was going to become a definite problem.

After a moment, Rip joined them, stepping in hesitantly, hands behind his back. He looked like a good little soldier. But he seemed... mostly harmless. And oddly enough, with his hand still in Cori's, Lieve could see that Rip did indeed have a light inside his chest, just like all the rest of them. It must have been the soul in him. At present, though, it was a rather weak light in comparison to the rest of them. Some part of Lieve actually felt a little sorry for him, seeing that. His little seedling soul still needed its mate. No amount of Mik's affections for him could change that.

Which made him feel sorry for Mik, too. Maybe it wasn't too late, though. Mik just had a crush. As long as he didn't let himself fall too far, he could get past this with... minimal pain.

"I will, I will. Take care of yourselves." He looked from Mik to Rip and back to Mik. "And you can call if you need anything, too. I think that goes without saying but... just in case."

By the time the cab arrived, there were hugs all around. Goodbyes exchanged. I love yous and take cares. The feeling in his chest hadn't changed in all that time but he felt somewhat more comfortable with it as he packed Cori into the cab and then slid in himself. He sat back after he waved one last time, placing a hand to his forehead and briefly closing his eyes.

"What a day..."