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There's a thing that Teagan does when it gets close to closing time, and that is sitting on top of a building just across from a bar, sharpening their machete and watching everyone who comes out.
They sent Johnny a Google Map pin. Hopefully he remembers this part of Hunting.
It doesn't take all that terribly long for Johnny to arrive, but when he does, he does so the boring mundane way, scrambling up the fire escape, whuffing and chuffing until he gets to the top. "Hooooooooo. Fuck. Note to self- take the easy way next time. Hoo. Hi!"
Most blades wouldn't put up with this level of sharpening, but Baby is a literal magical sword. They roll themselves up to their feet, turning to extend an arm out in greeting. "What, are you getting lazy, Johnny?" Their broken mirror eyes glitter even in the dark, casting subtle rainbows across their face.
"Not- lazy," he protests, moving in to tuck against Teagan's side and squeeze. "But lotta perfectly good muscle I don't have these days, and the stuff I do have ain't for power lifting. Came anyhow, didn't I?"
They kiss him on the corner of the mouth in a way that's as close as Teagan usually gets to public displays of affection, and also reserved for the handful of people who cross from "sometimes visited by a stray cat" to "partners." Baby gets hung up on their hip again, and they glance down to the street. "You did," they agree. "And I'm glad you did." They've got years of missing him and hoping he'd just show up in order to make up for.
"I am, too. Most of me. Specifically the parts neither located in my biceps or shoulders," he drolls, moving to take a peek down at the street with Teagan. "I'm nowhere near as good at this as you are. I always feel like I've missed something, even when I'm sure I've seen everything."
"You just need more exercise, noodle-limbs," the Mirrorskin rebuts, and they settle down on the lip of the roof, tugging on one hand so he sits with them. "It's just practice, Johnny." Everyone else calls him Jack these days, but Teagan has known him too long for that. Johnny is the man who posed them a riddle they solved too easily for his liking, who got up to a hunt and then mischief in an anarchist bar, and who --
"Glitch told me an interesting story last night," they offer with a puckish smile. "Of how he learned you weren't straight. Hadn't heard that one before."
"Who needs exercise?! I'll just... leaf on up. It's fine." Johnny grumbles, but there's no malcontent there as they settle together.
"Oho? Well, that's interesting. Never had one of my conquests brag about -me- before." Granted, he doesn't brag much either, and he's almost surely only using the term because he's confident Glitch would go red to hear it. And not complain. "It took three years for that story to make it to you? Huh. I assumed you knew."
Laughter, then. "He was attempting to turn me on, I think." Implied in the sentence was that the effort succeeded. Teagan lazily leans their head against his shoulder, watching the street below. "I mean I knew you weren't straight. I wasn't aware of the particulars of how the two of you closed that particular loop. And he hadn't thought through the 'Johnny can't be straight, Teagan isn't a woman' train of thought."
A little shrug. "Maybe he told me and I forgot. In any case, I got to hear it again. He loved it enough to tell the story again years after the fact."
"Well," Johnny croons, ego sufficiently stroked. "Good to know I was a satisfactory portion of your interactions." He tips his head onto theirs, laughing at the semantics. "To be fair, I don't think I bothered thinking about the word "straight" enough to realize that it's a hell of a lot more constrained than just "doesn't do other guys." It's stupid obvious in hindsight. So I can't judge, I was just as bad."
There's a couple coming out of the bar together, stumbling a little. Teagan is distracted from the conversation until it's apparent their grabassery is mutual and that, while drunk, they're both coherent. Then they nod as if satisfied and turn their head to nuzzle at his jaw. "And how," the Mirrorskin laughs, a subtle thread of delight at just having him here again lighting through their words. "He adored you and had no idea how to express it. It's very sweet to watch the difference between him then not knowing how to deal with his feelings for you and him now, overtly flirting with Arthur. I could grab a box of popcorn every time I see the two of them together." A little shake of their head. "It is really obvious in retrospect, that's very true. Most things are."
"... with Arthur?" Johnny picks his head up a touch, replaying a few things in his head. "... ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. No wonder he was so inexplicably pissed at Devan. If he's hot for Art, he musta been fuming to see how those two were interacting. Well, there's more obvious in hindsight shit for me. I really am remarkably awful at this stuff." He has to study the couple significantly longer before he realizes what Teagan picked up almost immediately, and settles back down.
"I mean, being able to read people and knowing what's going on with them is part of what I have to be able to do. Plus, Glitch talks to me, like, a lot. It's pretty rare that he doesn't tell me shit, except like when he's too upset to talk about it, like yesterday. But you're right. I don't usually miss out on what's going on between people." Which is important, on account of that whole Darkling curse thing. "... oh, is that why P1 was so pissy last night? And Devan is... who again? I think I know, but remind me."
"Monsieur "hey room full of people I think are fairies, y'all bitches are unsubtle AF, try being more careful". Said that shit with Marjorie in the room. She doesn't need that shit, man, she's got it bad enough just trynna be People." He huffs, but shrugs. "I dunno. It might be fine. I heard Glitch up and sat him down for A Talk. I really need to find out what exactly that consisted of."
Their eyebrows rise. "So we are definitely not getting too entangled with that twerp, but we're watching him, yes? Jesus fucked a pony, that sounds like a mess." Teagan sighs heavily. "I haven't seen Glitch since the three of us were talking this morning." They pull their phone out from their pocket and unlock it. "Hey Player One, heard you had a meeting with Devan," they dictate. "Update me, babe."
The screen reads: hey player one heard you had a meeting with the bin update me bay
Good thing the motley has gotten good at deciphering Teagan's messages, right?
"I think that's about the size of it. We're definitely watching him and his spooky little club, but I dunno what Glitch told him, and depending on how far that conversation went, I'm increasingly convinced we need to get that guy in some kinda oath to protect us from his curiosity, and himself from... himself." Vorpal watches another couple leave, but neither so much as weave a step and he chills. "... though... mm. What counts as too entangled? Having second thoughts about my prior assessment depending on where we're setting that bar. Are we talking like "don't tell him about us" or "don't ask him on a date" or "don't ask out someone who later asks him out on a date" or- where's our benchmark here?"
... cuz y'know. That's not at all a suspicious way to follow up.
They listen, and then Teagan sets their mouth, watching the street. "I'm glad that Glitch went to talk to him. I admit, I want to know what was said there, and not just because I'm a nosy pain in the ass." Leaning against him, Teagan picks their head up from his shoulder and squints. "Prior assessment?" They listen to the rest.
"I mean... uh. I ... " Their voice trails off. "No good has ever come into my life from having humans connected to me or my partners. If it wasn't Amanda fucking Green, it was her literally psychotic ex-girlfriend. Or it was... " their voice trails off. "If he's a human human, and not part of some other supernatural society in a lesser way, like a wolfblood, like, obviously we tell him nothing. And... "
"... if I had my way, we'd never have humans in the extended polycule, Johnny. And definitely not without talking about it extensively first. We're dangerous to them. Amanda had the Mask ripped away, her ex girlfriend was possessed by a Gentry who taunted me with ... things no one knew. Regardless of who, it's... I don't like that. So if, like, Glitch asks out Arthur and Arthur ends up with this Devan dude too... I... would not like that."
"But I don't get to make that decision for the entire family. I only get to have my likes and dislikes and emotions. And I don't fuck humans. Ever."
Vorpal listened to everything Teagan said, and ended up sucking his teeth for a moment. "I getcha. So, like- here's what I know. As far as like. Supernatural societies, I dunno about anything along those lines, but I do know he's got some folks that look into spooky stuff with him. I went on a ride-along one time. It was significantly more legit than I expected, if I'm honest- he tracked down a particular nasty book by finding reports of disappearances nearby, and we interrupted an... admittedly tiny cult attempting to bring some poor bastard back from the dead through live sacrifices. Nothing at all to do with us, but like that's the kinda stuff he looks into on his own time. And he has his own tricks. Far as I can tell, not connected to like. Anything like us, but dude's got some mental juju he can bring to bear and it's pretty fuckin' potent."
Vorpal watches the crowds move, keeping a hand on Teagan, moving it slowly, just- maintaining contact. "Arthur badly wants to connect with Devan. I dunno if Devan's even into guys, but the scenario you described isn't entirely impossible. But. In the interest of full disclosure." Pause. "Really badly timed full disclosure. I asked someone out today, and she said yes, and I got a text later confirming I'd be okay if she was snuggly with other people- she's ace, I'm pretty sure, though she's never used the term herself- and turns out the other snuggler in question happens to be..." Johnny sighs and swings his hand through the air listlessly. 'There you have it.'
"But he's like... a people. Not a Mage or a werewolf... or anything like that?" Teagan replies, still leaning bonelessly against Johnny. A group of frat boys stumbles out of the bar, and one of them pukes against a wall. "I don't really know what I feel about us being involved with that kinda junior varsity shit, Johnny." They sound kinda tired, then, just weary. "And if he's got 'mental juju' then that's even more reason for us to keep our distance. Clarity of mind is a tightrope for us."
They sit up, then, and turn their head to look at him, reflecting back fragments and fractions of his face to him. "Yeah, that's... badly timed disclosure. I... would have expected that ... to be an active disclosure, not something I'm finding out about in the middle of another conversation." There's a pop and crackle of the milspec radios in their Mantle. "And I."
They stop.
"Why is this new partner the only person in this conversation whose name you haven't used, Johnny?" Their tone goes as still as the liquid mirror skin of their face. "That feels less like disclosure and more like evasion, so please tell me it's not."
"Yeah. A people. Though I meant mental more as the source than the effect. I've seen him shoot like. Downright sith lightning. Which I guess makes it electrokinesis? It's supposed to be psychic, anyhow." He shifts uncomfortably. "I mean. It wasn't a thing before. There wasn't really anything to tell yet. This happened, like. Earlier today, and this is the first time I've seen you since." He's recoiling a little, but it's very much more of a guilty sulk than anything else. "It's been like... two years, Teagan, since I had anybody I needed to be accountable to for more than who I stabbed, where I did it, and how well I covered it up. Nobody woulda cared if I spent the afternoon on someone's couch while they slept leaned against me. So it didn't- occur to me to bring it up on some kinda high priority alert."
"What?" He frowns as Teagan goes rigid, then widens his eyes a touch and shakes his head. "No, it's not evasion, I'm just embarrassed. I asked Jane- that's who it is, Jane, she's another one of the psychics in Devan's Scooby Doo crew but she's in it to keep her people safe, not learn everyone else's secrets- out when I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. She'd already made it clear she didn't want to fuck anybody, which was fine. I found out about Devan later, not too long before I came to see you here, and I hadn't realized how upsetting it'd be to you, and once I did, I shared. It was fucking hard, because I know you're not gonna like, like, anything I just said, but I'm really trying not to hide anything, even if it makes me look like an idiot."
The Mirrorskin slowly drags their hand down their face, staring off across the street. "Jesus Christ, Johnny." And Teagan, for all that they rarely emote, just sort of slumps down and rests their forearms on their knees, staring down into the street, their liquid metallic face unnervingly still. "I literally don't even know what to say to that."
A long, slow breath. "I mean, that's fair. I barely knew how to say it, so. That's fair." He's quiet a long moment after. "I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm trying to- connect. With people, with ones that aren't all, like. On this side of the Strange. Like that's something I gotta do, to keep myself from just... is relapsing a good word for that? Becoming the entitled fuck of a godling I thought I was? Like I get it, I did not pick my ties well, but-" He falls quiet. "I dunno what to say either."
They sort of spread their scarred hands at that and make a helpless little noise in the back of their throat. The Mirrorskin sits there for a long time, watching the drunk frat boy group stumble into an Uber, thumping the hood and yelling on their way in. They just... sit there. Up the block, the stoplights change and change again, making faint clicking noises. A dog barks some distance away. Teagan rubs their face again, the heels of both hands against their mirrored eyepits, and then they drop their hands into their lap again. "What do you want me to say?"
"You? Nothing. You're fine." Johnny responds, visibly perplexed for a moment. "I told you because I felt like I ought to. Not to- prompt a response. I wouldn't know what to say if I told someone that I was terrified that cupcakes were secretly hiding hand grenades and then you told me you'd scheduled bi-weekly baking classes in our Hollow forty-eight seconds later, either.""
He's watching, too, because it's easier than watching Teagan and imagining all the ways he's frustrating, frightening, and disappointing them. He's loose- not in the easy going way, but the slumped half over the rooftop's edge way. "That was a shit way to let you know. But I felt like if I didn't just out with it once I found out what a big deal it was, it'd be even shittier. So..." So he did what he could.
They just kind of stare down at the street for ages and ages. "So now I get to deal with you having put our family one degree of romantic involvement from a bunch of mortals you just referred to as the fucking Scooby Gang." That's the only thing Teagan has to say for a while. "But you've also just told me that being involved with this person is essential for you not backsliding into Wyrd Hell." They make a sort of 'what the fuck am I supposed to do with that?' gesture with both hands.
Their phone makes the exact sound of a Pong ball hitting a paddle, and Teagan pulls the phone out of their pocket, since that's Glitch's text tone. Pushing a button, the phone reads out in a monotone voice.
Ash brought Devan. I told Devan to leave Arty alone. Found out I misunderstood. Said sorry. Didn't tell him anything or give any names. Nothing agreed to. He said sorry too. Looked embarassed. Wants to help. Gave me his number. Haven't called it.
They hit their microphone icon and respond: "Thanks for the update. Talking to Johnny at my second favourite hunting spot." Then hit send.
The phone beeps again in a moment, and reads out "Do you want me to stop by?"
They turn their face towards Vorpal then, silently, waiting.
"What? No, not- this specific person, just-"
Pong.
Johnny stands. "He should come. I'm gonna go." He tips his head back and looks at the sky- what of it he can see just now. "You're right, honestly. It's not fair. Not to leave that on your shoulders, either end of that. Not the end that leaves the whole family that close to something dangerous, and not the end that leaves you guys responsible for how I'm doing. That's kinda fucked. So-" He glances back at Teagan and shrugs, his tone light as he can get it. It's... not likely to convince Teagan, but he's making an effort to pull it all back and take responsiblity. "- don't. Leave it to me. I'll figure them out so you guys won't have to."
He flips his hood up and heads for the edge of the building leading into the alley behind. "I hope nobody needs you guys to save them tonight- but if someone does, I know you will. I'm sorry about dumping everything on you like that. I'll get it figured. You guys just have a good night, alright?"
If Teagan's got a goodbye, he hangs around for it, but after that, he checks the alley- then drops into it, dissolving into a spray of leaves and drifting off into the night.
And that's when Teagan finally snaps. They've been patient and calm - as calm as they can be - through all of this, and finally, the Summer's Mantle just flares, hot as literal hell and smelling like baked asphalt and crackling with those distant radios. "Goddammit, Johnny! Of course we're responsible for how you're doing! That's LITERALLY our job! Not some fucking random Velma-ass human you went on one adventure with and then decided you were gonna take up snogging! US! The ones you swore a fucking lifelong oath to! The closest thing you have to spouses! WE ARE THE ONES RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT! I'M THE ONE WHO MADE YOU START PEELING BACK YOUR POWER! I'm the one who was never afraid of you!" They roll up to their feet then, hands balled at their sides. "I am not a jealous person but you are REALLY WORKING HARD on making me feel threatened, Johnny!"
"That's the whole fucking POINT! You're supposed to TALK TO US. We're supposed to handle it TOGETHER! Not 'Johnny is going to handle it because "surprise, I connected our motley to the Trouble Humans" didn't get rave reviews!'"
They cast about for words to say, and can't find any, so they just let out a wordless roar of wrath, betrayal and frustration which echoes across the alleys and streets before swiping a hand across their broken mirror eyes, turning on their booted heels, and running away across the rooftop.
Three steps into their literally furious dash, they simply disappear.
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