Why was he sleeping on the couch? Gris was immediately disoriented, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes. His head hurt and he recognized the hallmarks of a hangover. He groped for his phone, but it took him longer than he liked to find it in the rubble that had been the top of his coffee table.

If he was this hungover, Nox must be in the other room. No, Nox wouldn’t let him get this trashed, not when he had to work. Nox was the responsible one. Who, then? Robbie?

Rubble from the coffee table. Something clicked on the phone, something on his hand, and he pulled the phone from the floor and silenced it, hitting snooze on accident. He squinted, staring at the gleaming golden band on his ring finger.

Suddenly he wasn’t tired anymore. No, he was still tired, but he was awake. Lysstor. The events of the night before, they hadn’t been a dream. He was up and on his feet, shoving his glasses on his face as he ran to his room.

It was empty. His bed was made. If the ring on his finger hadn’t been enough, his made up bed was sure sign of outside influence in his rooms. He knew Lysstor was gone, but he still searched him out, terrified to find him, but longing to see him again.

He ran into his work room next, stunned and shocked, not at the absense of Lysstor, but at the presence of the greenery, still thriving in the six foot circle of earth, the lush verdant foliage ending obediently at the end of the metal tray. He stepped closer to it and it responded to him, reaching for him when he stepped close enough. It didn’t even cross his mind to be afraid as he stepped inside the circle. The plants reacted to him, reaching for him, soft and springy under his bare feet, vines caressing him as he moved.

How long would they live? Did he need to take them outside? There was no way he was getting the metal out of the room without turning it sideways, and that would destroy his little secret garden. There were no windows in this room, either, no sunlight for the plants to nourish themselves. He’d have to find Lysstor and ask him, he couldn’t bear it if this beautiful garden were to die. Reluctantly he left his beautiful, miniature garden to search the rest of his apartment.

After a thorough search of the five rooms that consisted of the entirety of his apartment, he was sure Lysstor was gone, and his heart sank even as he sighed in relief. He sat down on his bed, tired and sluggish, staring at the ring on his hand, remembering the events of the night before.

Lysstor here, oh god, they’d channelled high magic, high wild magic. He remember the high it gave him, the feeling of life. How stupid he was! So many things could’ve gone wrong, he wasn’t strong enough to keep them from happening, but Lysstor, Goddess, Lysstor was so strong, so powerful.

It didn’t make any sense, why Lysstor messed around with someone like him. And… Goddess, they’d kissed. Not even once, but three times, and he knew it was part of the magic, but it was as if the wild magic had recognized his desire and tied it into the spell. And Lysstor, he’d gone with it, as if it were nothing for a straight man to kiss a gay man.

He was hard instantly, remembering the feel of Lysstor’s mouth on his, the touch of his fingers against his face, or on his fingers. Lysstor’s kisses weren’t tentative, he wasn’t uncomfortable. Lysstor kissed him like he knew what he liked, and he wanted it from him. Goddess, it wasn’t fair.

Without thinking about it, he touched himself, then was stroking his shaft in long, slow strokes, remembering the need in Lysstor’s kisses, the feel of Lysstor’s tongue in his mouth, taking what he wanted, the playful smile and the suggestive innuendo when he had offered seman instead of blood. His hand sped up, and even though he was ashamed of himself for jerking off to a straight man, and especially for jerking off to Lysstor, he came hard, ruining his shirt with the suddenness of his orgasm.

He lay on his bed for another few minutes, thinking of Lysstor before the self-hatred creeped in. He tore his shirt off and threw it into the laundry basket, full of hate and guilt, then forced himself into the shower. He nearly took the ring off as he stepped into the shower, then remembered what Lysstor had told him, never to take it off.

It seemed so simple now, just a golden ring, no adornments or anything, just a solid gold band around his finger. It was hard to believe that he had worked high wild magic into this ring with Lysstor only a few hours prior, it felt normal, plain.

He shook his head. It didn’t matter, it was probably his fault for having such weak magic, but he wouldn’t take it off. Lysstor had given it to him, and he would keep it, even if he didn’t deserve it. Even if he harbored feelings for the elf. Today was a new day, and Lysstor had left before he woke, sneaking out of his apartment in shame, more than likely.

Gris sighed, hating himself. He doubted Lysstor’d ever speak to him again, though he hoped he’d at least tell him how to keep the secret garden alive. He dressed for work and left his apartment, nearly forgetting half of his stuff in the process. As it was, he had forgotten his lunch and locked his keys in his car when he got to work.

He undressed, already wearing his swim trunks beneath his clothing, then walked out to the pool area after locking his possessions in the locker. The pool was empty, which was strange this late in the day, but he appreciated the peace for a moment as he climbed into the lifeguard chair. He’d be lifeguarding for two hours, then after a short break he’d teach kids classes until lunch, then private lessons afterwards.

As wood betony was his essence, water was, too. He felt more at home in water than he did on land some days, and enjoyed his job more than he thought he’d ever enjoy working. Unfortunately, working for the municipal gym didn’t pay a lot, being a public servant never did, but he enjoyed it, and though neither his job nor his magic let him live a life of luxury, he enjoyed what he had.

Nox strolled in about an hour into his shift to give him his first break, but the pool only had a group of preschool kids splashing in the one end, mothers watching them closely while chatting about this and that.

“Hey, Gris,” Nox addressed him, smiling warmly from the bottom of the ladder.

He tried to smile, but found it hard. “Hey, Nox.”

“What’s wrong?”

Gris sighed. “Where to begin. I’ll catch up on the major stuff over lunch, but do you think you could break into my car and get my keys? Oh, and also, can we order in? I kinda forgot my lunch, too.”

Gris frowned. “Rough night?”

“You could say that.”

A look of disapproval came over his normally cheerful face. He lowered his voice and leaned closer. “Robert?”

Gris snorted, rolling his eyes. “He’s not the source of all evil that you think he is,” Gris chided. “And, no, this has nothing to do with him. Seriously, I’ll tell you over lunch. I have to pee like mad!”

He climbed down the ladder and speed walked to the locker room, feeling Nox’s disapproving glare the entire way. Nox still stood by his chair when he returned a few moments later, watching him carefully, his face sour.

“You could take a real break, you’re entitled to one, you know,” Nox reminded him.

“Nah, I’m good, I just had to pee. We’ll talk over lunch.”

Nox frowned again, then handed something to him once he was secure in his seat again. “Braid this for me, like before?”

Gris took the small plastic sandwich baggie from Nox, looking at its contents. “Did I give you this?”

Nox laughed, more of a harump than a laugh, though. “No, man. You know, the rest of us do still know how to get our own components, every now and again. This is special, Brienne sent it from a small slippery elm she found growing in the middle of a cracked boulder. She said the top was completely dead, a lightning strike, but the heartwood was still good. She’s going to sell some of it, but she sent me a good deal of it, and some other parts, too, including ashes from the leaves. A real lucky find, right?” He smiled fondly, perhaps thinking of his sister, or in his pleasure from the gift.

“No way, a Lichtenburg?” Gris said, inspecting the ropy fibers more closely. “No shit. How’d she find it? Goddess, your sister’s so lucky.”

“She is, but we’ve always know that. She’s totally the reason you’re as into components as you are,” Nox noted. “She just seems to know where to look. It’s not fair.”

“You’re still butt-hurt over the four leaf clover thing, aren’t you?” Gris teased, knowing it would get to Nox.

“I swear to the Goddess, I will find one before I die. I have to, right? Just one?” Nox said, sounding disheartened.

“How many has Brienne found now? She still keeping count?” Gris asked, opening the baggie. He ran his fingers over the course fibers, and he could almost feel…

Nox replied, jolting his attention back to him. “Four hundred and sixty six. She texts me pictures of each one she finds, too. She doesn’t even pick them anymore, just sends me a pic with the number to rub it in. I just wanna find one, is that too much for a man to ask for?”

Gris laughed. “You’ll find one, someday. I just know it.”

“It doesn’t count if you find one and give it to me, you know,” Nox reminded him. “I’ve gotta find it on my own.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Anyway, don’t you have some aerobics class to teach or something?”

Nox laughed, then sighed. “I miss the days when my classes were surprised when I came in to teach, as opposed to being part of the class. Nothing inspires people like a large black man, right?”

Gris frowned. “You are who you are, Nox. Besides, people love your classes. You make it fun, keep people involved and motivated. Don’t sell yourself short.”

Nox snorted. “Yeah, some of us aren’t blessed with high metabolisms, short stack.”

“Don’t be hating us shorties,” Gris said, smiling. “Anyway, you know I swim all my calories off, just like Michael Phelps!”

“Michael Phelps? More like Ariel,” Nox teased

“Hey! Mer-man, dad!” Gris quipped back as Nox walked away. “Mer-man!” Nox held up his hand in a salute without looking back, and Gris smiled to himself.

The preschool mothers looked over at him, scowling, then returned to their own chatter. A few moments later they left with their noisy children, and the afternoon grandmas came in, early for their class with Meredith, as usual. They would spend the next half hour floating around or swimming lazily before the seniors class started.

Gris remembered the baggie in his hands, the opened it again, ready to braid it for Nox. He’d set it with a slight ward, a protection spell of sorts, cast into the fibers as he wove them. He enjoyed idle casting, something to do with his hands while he sat, mostly inactive, in the lifeguard chair. Again, when his fingers touched the fibers, he felt something, it hadn’t just been a fluke.

He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on the single strand between his finger and thumb, and he could see it, in his mind’s eye, where it came from in the tree. He could feel it as part of the whole, and as a single fiber, and he felt how strong it could be. The fiber seemed to wriggle in his fingers and he opened his eyes quickly, but it was just a single slippery elm fiber, nothing more.

He looked up but the grannies in the pool continued to float and socialize with another, rather loudly, completely ignoring his presence. He teased out three threads of the fiber, then lined them up and twisted them together into a string, setting it out over the bare skin of his leg. He took out three more, closing his eyes, visualising the fibers again. They hummed in his brain, he could feel the magic in them, charged with lightning as they were, and it was spectacular. This spell would be strong.

Once he had strings made from the twisted fibers, he took them and tied them together, then set to work braiding. About seven or eight folds in, he decided it wasn’t enough. He wanted to add in more, so he made three more strings, closing his eyes while he rolled each one, envisioning how strong the fiber was.

He tied the three more to the first three, then worked the strings together into a flat strand. Meredith came in and her class began, and his part of the pool was empty except for one old husband swimming laps while his wife participated in water aerobics. Gris braided, humming slightly as he did, tying his song, and his magic with it, into the braid. The end of the braid came more quickly than he anticipated, surprising him, but not because it wasn’t long enough.

The braid was perfect. He hadn’t had to unbraid parts of it and start over, like he normally did when he did more than three strands. It was firmly knit, strong and smooth with no bulges or missed folds. Gris smiled like an idiot, and if he were alone, he probably would have done a little victory dance. As it was, he was incredibly proud of himself, and decided to do another, since he still had more fibers in the bag.

He had just tied the strings together to begin the next flat braid when Meredith came to relieve him from his chair duties. Her graying hair was tied up into a tight, water-logged bun on the back of her head, and her face was still a little pink from her class.

“Hey Gris, doing your arts and crafts up there?” she called up to him, slightly startling him.

He snorted. “No!” he objected, then realized it was exactly what he was doing. “Fine, I guess I am. So what! Don’t judge me!”

She chuckled. “Oh, sweetie, you know I don’t judge, but if you’re making friendship bracelets, don’t forget mine!”

He smiled. “Oh, I won’t. What colors do you want? You want three or six strands? I could try a nine strand for you, but I’m not very good at those. What about…purple and white and blue? That’d be nice,” he said, tucking the finished braid and the just started one into the baggie.

She watched him as he climbed down, dressed in her black and red gym issued swimsuit. “You almost sound serious.”

“Meredith, if you wanted one, I’d make it for you. I’m not very good at too many things, so I really try to monopolize on the stuff I do well,” he said with a self depreciating chuckle. “You know, I really hold my own at the arts and crafts show. Nothing says ‘treat yo’self’ like a nicely braided friendship bracelet.”

“Oh, stop it,” she said, slapping him in the arm gently as he disengaged from the ladder. She took his place, climbing up nimbly for her age. “Don’t be so down on yourself.” He shrugged, turning to go. “Oh, and by the way, I want a red and black one, you know, to match my uniform. Don’t forget, Jack!”

“Are you ever gonna call me Gris?” he asked her, turning back around.

“Hmm,” she said thoughtfully, her face turned to the ceiling. “Maybe…no, probably not. I like Jack, Gris is a weird name. Makes you sound like, I dunno, gristle or something. I don’t like it. Jack’s a nice name, the name your mama gave you.”

Gris play-frowned. “Whatever Meri,” he replied, knowing she hated her name being shortened.

“See, it’s that right there, Jack. I’m never calling you anything else for as long as you live!”

He strode from the pool area, shivering a little when he hit the cooler, less humid air in the locker room. He threw his sweatshirt on, then ran out to the vending machines, searching for something that struck his fancy, shoving Nox’s braids into the pocket of his hoodie. A few minutes later he came back with M&Ms and a bag of pretzels, shoving a little of both in his mouth at the same time as he walked around the main recreation area, stretching his legs out.

A woman on a reclined bicycle glared hard at him, and he made a point of showing off the M&Ms as he popped them into his mouth one at a time. She stared daggers at him, then turned bitterly back to the muted TV on the wall above the group of stationary equipment.

He taught his classes to eager children, who enjoyed playing and splashing more than actual swimming, which served him just fine. Playing with the kids made him feel young, and was pretty fun. He was just finishing up a game of water tag with the stragglers from his fourth youth class of the day when he felt Nox’s magic nearby.

That caught him by surprise and he looked up, but Nox wasn’t in the room, though he was close. His distraction got him tagged by one of the eight year olds, and he dove under the water and chased them down, pretending to be a shark. They giggled and fled his approach, but he still caught one, and the boy squealed in laughter.

He said his goodbyes, ready for his lunch break and some food, and the children cried and hung on him until their guardians scolded them into compliance. Nox relaxed in a folding lounge chair by the doors to the locker room, but Gris knew he was there, he felt him without looking.

Feeling someone’s magic like that, not in a circle or when they were actively casting, that had never happened to him before, and it had him slightly unnerved.

“You’re just like the rest of them,” Nox noted, watching the kids splashing around the pool.

Gris smiled, turning back to the kids. “Yeah, that’s probably why I like teaching the kids classes. I know Meredith and Chelsea don’t really like teaching the younger ones, but I really enjoy it.”

Nox shrugged, throwing his feet to the floor. “I ordered us food already, sammiches.”

Gris’s smile widened further. “Thanks, man,  you’re like the best. I mean it, too, it’s not just fake platitudes. Let me just get some dry clothes, hold on for just a minute,” he said, stepping into the frigid air of the locker room. He trotted over to his locker and dried off quickly, then slipped off his speedos and pulled on a pair of sweatpants without underwear. It wasn’t like he was gonna be dressed for long, anyway.

Nox was already in the employee break room, waiting for him to arrive, the footlong sandwiches on the table. “Turkey club?” Gris asked excitedly, taking a seat across from Nox. “Let it be a turkey club!”

“It’s a turkey club,” Nox said, unwrapping his own sandwich from the waxy paper it was rolled in.

“Man, you’re the best,” Gris said, unrolling his sandwich.

“You eat the same thing from the Sub Shop every time, it’s not like I read your mind,” Nox noted, taking a bite of his chicken salad.

“Hey, I know what I like, what can I say?” he defended between bites. Goddess, he was hungry.

“So,” Nox said after a moment of silence, noisily busting into a baggie of barbeque chips, “you were gonna tell me about last night?”

Gris sighed, puckering his lips to the side. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, it’s kinda crazy, like I still can’t believe it actually happened.” He stopped, unsure where to start, unsure if it had all been a crazy dream, but his secret garden, it was still there, and the ring. He knew he hadn’t imagined it, but still, it seemed insane now.

Nox didn’t push him, he just waited, eating slowly, watching him carefully.

Gris took another bite of his sandwich, chewing slowly, savoring it, before he started. “So, ah…Lysstor came to my house last night.”

Nox’s eyebrow raised up curiously, not recognizing the name. “Lysstor?”

“The Fey from the farmer’s market, the one that kinda passed out and I helped?” Nox shrugged, shaking his head. “Hmm…He’s new, started showing up like a month ago or something, I got some really nice fresh larkspur from him last time for Molly.”

Nox narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, trying to remember. “I don’t know that I’ve run into him.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot, you haven’t been in a while. Sorry. But, yeah, I told you about it, didn’t I?”

Nox shook his head. “Don’t remember you doing it, truth be told. What happened?”

Gris smiled, remembering fondly, though it had only happened a few weeks before. “I can’t believe I didn’t tell you! He’s new at the farmer’s market, right? This was probably the…second time I saw him there, selling components, but pretending they’re herbs, like a farmer’s market apothecary. So, he’s got some really nice stuff there, like really high quality, and it’s pretty pricey, but it’s good stuff, so you know I’m gonna try to figure out how to afford the good stuff. He sells some Fey stuff, too, but that’s because he’s Fey, not quite like Annabel but still Fey, like more Fey than Annabel, probably, that makes sense. I can’t afford any of his stuff, but man, I’d love to get my hands on some of the Fey components, think of the stuff we could do with it in the coven.”

“So you met Lysstor,” Nox redirected skillfully, bringing him back to the original story.

“Yeah, so I’m, like, checking out all his really sweet components and he goes all pale, I mean, more pale than he already is, and sways and shit, so, I dunno, I didn’t think, I just ran back behind his table and caught him. He passed out cold, his skin was super clammy. He had tansy and marshmallow root, so I made him a little calming spell and set it, then just kinda hung out. He woke up pretty quick, but he wasn’t feeling well, so I ran his store for him for a bit while he took some time.”

“Of course you did,” Nox said with a chuckle. “You probably got into it, too, didn’t you?”

Gris smiled, blushing. “It was fun,” he said with a shrug. “He’s got a lot of really nice stuff, you know? I fantasized about what all we could do with some of the more expensive stuff he had, and I also thought that maybe he’d trade something for some of Godwin’s blood, but I was too nervous to ask.”

“Is he beautiful?” Nox asked, finishing off his sandwich.

“Huh?” Gris replied nervously, blushing hard. “I mean, ah, well…”

Nox snorted. “Nevermind. You said he came to your place?”

“It wasn’t quite like that. I met up with him a few more times, mostly hanging out at the farmer’s market, but we met up once, well, actually more like we ran into each other at the grocery store. Total coincidence.”

“So…not friends,” Nox deduced.

“I mean, I wanna be friends, or maybe we are, or something I dunno…”

“So…why’d he come to your place last night?”

Gris nodded. “I have no idea. I mean, I still don’t know. He called me out of the blue, oh, snap, he said he knows Godwin. He got my number from his roommate, who got it from Godwin. What a small world. I mean, what are the chances, right? His roommates, they’re gay, too, he said so, and he didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Seth and Anri, I think he said their names were.”

“He called you…” Nox lead. Gris felt slightly bad that Nox was so good at redirecting, a skill honed over years of friendship.

“He called me out of the blue, at like, one am or something. He was drunk, walking around my neighborhood, yelling for me. It feels like a dream, Nox. Like, it couldn’t have actually happened, you know?”

“Obviously it did.”

Gris snorted. “Yeah, it did. I ran out to find him, and he’s got sake, already drunk, and he’s going on about how I’m going to drink it with him. I just wanted to get him out of the street before the cops came, so I brought him home.”

Nox nodded, cleaning up the last of his barbeque chips, then took a drink of juice from a bottle from the vending machine. “A drunk Fey?”

“Oh, snap, he’s not just any Fey, get this, Nox. He’s an elf,” Gris said excitedly. “Like, a for-real elf. I know it was wrong, but he swept me up in his pace, and I couldn’t help myself, he’s like a force of nature. I mean, it felt really good, but I knew I shouldn’t have done it.”

Nox narrowed his eyes at him skeptically. “What’d you do with him, Gris?”

Gris squirmed, picking at stray parts of his sandwich on the wax paper. “I, ah…mighta…um…”

“Did you sleep with him?!” Nox accused under his breath. “Did you…”

“Shit, no!” Gris said, instantly offended at his friend’s insinuation. “You know me better than that! I wouldn’t ever take advantage of a straight guy.”

“He’s straight?” Nox asked. “Then why was he paying you a visit at one am, drunk?”

Gris sighed. “I don’t know, Nox. I still don’t. It was crazy, and amazing and frustrating all at the same time.”

“What’d you do last night, Gris?” Nox asked again. Gris fidgeted, avoiding looking Nox in the eyes, but he peeked and Nox caught him. “What’d you do with Lysstor last night?”

“We…channelled high magic together.”

He peeked at Nox’s face again, but it was unreadable. “High magic?”

“Wild, ah, high magic. Yeah…”

“You channelled wild high magic last night, with a ‘for-real elf’?” Nox reiterated, sounding too neutral for it to be good.

Gris shifted more, unable to hide stuff from Nox and wishing he could. “Without a circle at first, too…”

“Sweet baby Jesus, Gris. Next you’re gonna tell me you summoned!” Biting his lip, he intentionally crumpled up his wax paper and walked it to the trash can. “Goddess, Gris! You did! You summoned something, and without a circle? What were you thinking?”

“That Lysstor is very convincing when we’re drinking together…” Gris hedged.

“He’s beautiful, Goddess dammit, you’re attracted to him, aren’t you?”

The door was right there, and Gris wanted to run, but his chips and drink were still on the table. “Ah, how much do I owe you?” he asked, changing the subject.

“No, no, no, you aren’t changing the subject that easy, Gris. Tell me what you did last night. He can’t be just any Fey, not if you summoned him. He’s gotta be someone.”

Gris sighed, then hesitantly returned to his chips, slowly opening the bag and drawing out his actions as he popped three into his mouth. “Let’s back up.”

“Shall we?” Nox snapped. “Get to it, then.”

“Don’t be mad at me, please?” Gris begged. “It all turned out fine. You know I’m not very strong. It was all Lysstor.”

“Tell me what happened, and I’ll decide who to be mad at,” Nox insisted.

“Fine. So, he comes over and we drink for a while and suddenly, I thought he was teasing me, but he tells me he wants milk and honey. I thought he was messing with me, so I brought it, but he told me to summon him. He demanded I do it, he wanted me to do it. He wanted me to summon him…so I did.”

“You need to learn how to say no to a pretty face,” Nox pointed out.

“I know! But…I summoned him, it was crazy, his magic was everywhere, his eyes, I could see the wild magic in his eyes, Nox!”

“Then what? Why’d he have you summon him?”

Gris bit his lip again. “I…he…I don’t know. I think…I think he wanted to cast. It felt really good, all that magic, set my blood on fire it felt so good. I never…anyway, maybe that?”

Nox nodded, then rolled his wax paper up and tossed it into the can, easily making the shot. “So you summoned him and then you did what?”

“He gave me a list of components he wanted, so I went around and found them. The strangest thing, though, Nox, he asked for bloodroot, and I know we don’t work with that, I don’t even think I, I mean I didn’t think I had any, cause I don’t know any spells with it, but he told me to look again, and it was there, in this super fancy kit, both flower heads and the root. The more I think about it, the more I know I didn’t have any, but there it was, right in with the other ‘S’ components.”

Nox raised one eyebrow thoughtfully. “Wild magic?”

Gris nodded. “I think so. I think he asked for it, and all the wild magic just flying around my apartment somehow made it there. The kit was nicer than anything I could’ve afforded. Anyway, while I was looking for the components, he found my casting room. He really liked the new dirt circle we installed, and when I found all the stuff and came back, he was standing in the middle of it, but it was green.”

“Lysstor was green?”

Gris shook his head. “Nah, man, the dirt, it bloomed, like tiny little versions of hundreds of flowers everywhere, it was crazy and amazing. The plants react, too, like leaning towards you when you’re in it. There were vines growing up his bare legs, and it was so beautiful, tiny little dahlias, iddy-biddy geraniums, teeny-weeny hibiscus, teensy-weensy lilies.”

“You’re telling me the dirt circle we installed a few weeks ago was a living terrarium when Lysstor was inside it?”

“Nah, man, I’m telling you that it’s still a living terrarium. When I woke up this morning Lysstor was gone, he made my bed, Nox. He was gone, and the flowers were still there! Oh, and I still had the ring.”

“Ring?” Nox asked, his eyes on the clock. Gris looked over, too, and realized that they only have five minutes left of lunch.

“Shit, time to go back. Seriously, how much do I owe you?”

“Consider us even, for that stuff you got me last week. Tell me about the ring?”

Gris sighed. “Fine. So, I got all the components, then we set the circle and we channelled high magic, he pulled this ring off his finger, then we cast on it. I really…god, this is embarrassing. While the spell was cooking…I mean, I really wanted to kiss him, the magic was making it harder to ignore, you know what I mean, and, well, I asked him what to do next. He asked me what the next step was, and I answered before I thought…”

“What’d you tell him,” Nox lead.

Gris danced in his chair, then stood up, too ancy to sit. “That we should…kiss.” He whispered the last part.

“Gris!” Nox chided.

“Wild magic, Nox! I wasn’t thinking straight, and it just kinda leaked out!”

“What’d he say?”

Gris shifted from foot to foot as Nox stood. “Nothing! He just kissed me. Three times. It was part of the spell, as if the wild magic took it from me and made it part of the spell. And not just little boring kiss-your-grandma kisses, he was really…into it…”

“You said he’s straight,” Nox reminded him, moving around the table.

“He is. I mean, I think he is. He left before I woke up this morning, probably from shame, kissing a gay man like he did. I mean, it’s not fair, he’s amazing and-”

“The spell,” Nox redirected him as they left the breakroom.

“Yeah, the spell,” Gris sighed again. “We cast something on this ring, I don’t know what. He told me it was my boon from him, completing the summoning, and not to take it off. I don’t think it works, though, whatever it’s supposed to be doing, maybe because my magic is so small compared to his.”

Nox looked at him skeptically, but kept his mouth shut.

“At least, it doesn’t feel like it’s doing anything…”

“You know better, Gris. After work, I’m coming over. I want to see the circle.” His friend’s disappointment in him made him wilt.

Gris nodded. “Yeah, okay. I kinda can’t believe it still.”

“Did you finish the braid for me?” Nox asked, changing the subject abruptly.

Gris smiled, his pride in his work making him anxious to replace Nox’s disappointment. “Yeah, I think it turned out really great. Your sister finds some really kick-ass components, this one’s gonna be real strong. Actually, I started working a second one, cause it was so nice to work with. Here’s the first,” he said, reaching into his pocket. He teased the braid out of the baggie and handed it to Nox.

Nox took it hesitantly, eyeing the baggie thoughtfully. “How do you still have fibers left? I didn’t have that much, but it looks as full as it was when I gave it to you?”

Gris had shoved the baggie back in his pocket and he pulled it out again. “Really? I wasn’t really paying attention, but I had enough to do at least two six braids.” He shrugged. “You sure there wasn’t more in here than you thought?”

“Maybe…” Nox said thoughtfully. He looked down at the braid in his hand, then brought it closer to his face. “You did this? Today? With the fibers I brought you?”

Gris smiled widely. “Yeah, isn’t it great? I haven’t braided that good ever, I think. I didn’t even have to restart, except to add three more cause I thought three wasn’t enough. Even Meredith is jealous, she asked for a friendship bracelet, too!”

“Gris….how’d you get color into it if you were in the guard station?”

“Hmm? Color? I didn’t color it.”

Nox thrust his hand out, showing the braid to Gris. To his surprise, there were pale white, tan, brown and green threads woven skillfully together into a natural pattern that almost seemed alive. “I, ah…what the hell? I didn’t do that, Nox. Maybe it’s something with the fibers, you know, from the lichtenburg tree. I didn’t do it, I swear. Those fibers, they’re really full of magic, though, I could feel it when I was braiding them together.”

“You could…feel it?” Nox asked carefully.

“Yeah, like, I dunno. They felt like magic. Can’t you feel it now?” Gris asked, frustrated he couldn’t explain it better.

“Yes, I can feel that there is a lot of magic in this braid,” Nox agreed passively. “Gris, you said you’re working on another?”

“Yeah, I’ll finish it later, I’m pretty busy this afternoon.”

Nox nodded. “Okay, yeah. Well, thanks for this, it turned out really well.”

“You don’t look happy,” Gris noted dryly. They were walking back towards the locker rooms.

Nox shook his head. “I’m just thinking. I’ll see you after work, I’m out now, so I’ll meet you at your apartment at nine thirty, okay?”

Gris nodded, feeling unsettled at Nox’s thoughtful nature. “Yeah, sure,” he agreed. Nox waved, then turned and left, and Gris watched him go, a tinge of green-tinted magic trailing behind him.

Spellbound Chapter 2: Lessons in Wild Magic Part 2

Chapter 4 coming soon!