Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

August 18th, 2023

Kit was trying very hard to seem like this was any other day. He was usually good at hiding his feelings from his dad. Although Johnny Rook was an experienced conman, and the person Kit spent the most time with, his father didn’t scrutinize Kit’s actual feelings much.

Of course, he was totally paranoid about Kit’s actions, but that was different.

Regardless, he was doing his best to seem like he usually did when hot people came up to his father’s stall at the Market. His dad rolled his eyes most of the time, telling Kit it would be many years before Kit would be allowed to pursue anything with anyone (which Kit had ignored years ago—he’d had his first kiss three years back with a cute girl his age that helped out at her family’s stall before they moved). Still, as long as Kit didn’t bring attention to himself, he was allowed to get closer and sneak a peek.

It had been a slow day, with only regulars that had known Kit since he was nine coming by, and he’d pushed some crates closer to his dad without a reprimand, practicing card tricks and occasionally scrolling through his off-brand, cracked phone. 

And then his dad had huffed a little, briefly meeting Kit’s eyes. “What do you think of them?”

Kit was trained to watch people just like his dad. While he was supposed to keep his head down, Kit knew how to pick locks, pick pockets, and pick hearts. So he looked up, curious, only to pause.

The blond man, Kit didn’t recognize. 

But the boy.

They were at a different booth. The obviously part-faerie man was talking to the owner, but the black-haired boy Kit recognized all too well, with those bee-themed headphones, was looking around. His shoulders were tense, but his head moved slowly, taking everything in. 

He turned around fully, and his eyes landed on Kit, who was only half-hidden by the blue overhang of the Rook stall. For a moment, their eyes met, and the other boy’s eyes widened fractionally before flitting to try and look at the rest of Kit.

“He’s cute,” Kit muttered to his dad, who for all his failings was at least not a bigot. “And now he’s looking at me,”

“Don’t go falling,” his dad said, moving to cover Kit a little. “Back up,”

Kit pushed his crates back quietly before sitting again.

“Do you recognize him?”

“Never seen him before,” Kit lied. “Or the blond guy either—neither of them seem comfortable, the blond is almost definitely half-faerie, and he’s either carrying a lot of money or something else he doesn’t want to lose. His hand is gripping something in his pocket. He’s shifting a lot, probably asking a question. I’d bet they’re lost. The boy… Well, he’s tall,”

“Don’t start, Kit,” Johnny Rook rolled his eyes. “Don’t throw yourself at the nearest person who you think looks nice and is maybe your age. That’d be a stupid way to get killed or kidnapped,”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Kit tapped on his knee softly, before putting up his hood. He hoped the other boy would get the hint, but Kit didn’t necessarily blame him if he didn’t. It wasn’t like he knew Kit’s reasons for hiding.

Thankfully, something the blond man and the stall owner said captured his attention, and the boy turned away.

“New admirer, little Rook?” an older nymph, Betula, sneered as she passed behind the booths, through the seller’s lane between the stall lines and the brick walls of the alleyways. She must have seen the boy looking at Kit. “It’s been a while since some young, hapless thing became infatuated with you,”

Kit sneered back. Betula was a total creep that had once suggested Kit become a concubine for a random faerie lord passing through the Market. Johnny Rook had kept Kit at home for 4 months without letting him step a foot outside. He’d missed his middle school’s only field trip to the zoo. 

And anyway, it was usually the older not-hapless ones that became obsessed with Kit. Luckily, a significant part of the Market viewed Kit as a sort of protected, communal child and regardless, his father’s reputation gave him a certain level of security.

Wren, one of the few teenagers in the Market that had been around for some years, liked to tell Kit about whenever an acquaintance of hers spotted him for the first time and showed interest in him. Kit didn’t know if that inflated his ego or made him more paranoid.

“Scram, Betula,” Johnny Rook glared at her as well, and the tree nymph cackled as she swiftly made her way down the lane, agile despite her age. 

Regrettably, she had put his father on edge, and it wasn’t five minutes and a few more glances from the boy when he crossed his arms and told Kit to make himself scarce.

“Stay in Hypatia’s tent,” he ordered, sparing him hardly a glance. “Come back at 2:30 to pack up,”

Wonderful. It was barely 10 at night, and now Kit had to spend almost five hours doing absolutely fuck all and listening to Hypatia go on and on about who-knows-what. 

He didn’t bother making his displeasure known, standing up and patting off dust from his jeans. With his hood still up and the practiced, quiet walk he’d mastered by the time he was 10, he made his way into the Market. 

As he crossed the corner to a new alleyway, one lined with large tents and glittering blue lanterns, he glanced up again. 

Across the long block of stalls, he locked eyes again with the other boy.

Tiberius Blackthorn stared back, walking next to the blond man in Kit’s direction, and even after Kit was out of sight, the silver of his eyes was burned into his vision.

~~~~~~~

Kit did not go to Hypatia’s tent. 

He hid for a few minutes in a small nook filled with ladders and a random spear, blending in as well as he could in the shadows—black-on-black clothes helped with that plenty—until Tiberius and his companion walked by. Kit pressed himself against the wall, noting that Tiberius’ head swiveled back and forth, scanning, likely looking for him. 

After they were out of sight for a minute, Kit left his hiding place, following them until he was at a safe enough distance to watch without being spotted. 

They had gone deep into the Market, in an area Kit had rarely visited in all his years using the otherworldly space as a second home. It was a series of small streets and alleys, with door after door that were small rooms. As Kit understood it, the rooms could be rented, for hours or decades, although who the rent went to, he wasn’t sure. Many clandestine meetings, often with organized crime, occasionally with just estranged family members, took place there. 

The blond man led them through a door with a flowery garland nailed to the front and knocked. Kit watched from behind an abandoned collection of furniture (abandoned things always found their way to the Market) as a full-blooded faerie woman, clearly from the Gentry, albeit modestly dressed, opened the door. Seelie, obviously, with pale blond hair the same shade as the man. A relative, from the way they embraced briefly. 

She nodded to Tiberius politely, and he gave a small wave. Kit edged closer. He’d always had exceptionally good hearing, so he tried his best to catch their exchange. 

“You may not enter, child, for the door is enchanted against it—it only allows those in the contract, and I did not know your brother would bring you,”

Tiberius shrugged. “I can wait out here,”

She seemed hesitant to agree. “Miach, I’m not sure…”

“Mark, I’ll be fine. I won’t go anywhere,”

The blond man, Miach, Mark, whatever, seemed nervous. “I don’t know, Ty… I brought you thinking you would stay by me the entire time, as I didn’t know about the enchantment. I told Julian you would only look around while we found Aunt Nene, not that I would leave you on your own,”

“It’s okay. You only rented the room for a little bit, so I won’t have to wait long, either,”

Mark—Kit decided to go with what Tiberius called him, since they were apparently brothers—hesitated, but after a moment, agreed. Aunt Nene bid Tiberius to keep careful watch, and the two fey entered the room, closing the door gently. 

Kit watched as Tiberius tapped his foot, counting off seconds for a half-minute, before decidedly turning from the door and starting to walk down the rest of the alley, looking around. He’d slid off his headphones when they had first knocked on Nene’s door, and in the quiet, almost ghostly back alleys of the Market, he didn’t seem to need them back on. 

Kit was 100% sure that Tiberius was definitely not supposed to be going off on his own, if the previous conversation had been any indicator. He began to trail after the other boy slowly. 

Only about two minutes passed before Tiberius paused, going completely still. Kit quickly moved to take cover behind a large box, next to a door with a light flickering over it. 

Tiberius turned around and looked down the street. Kit crouched low, sacrificing his visual on the other boy to remain better hidden.

He could hear slow and steady steps coming closer, but they seemed to be leaning ever so slightly towards the side of the alley that would be Tiberius’ right, whereas Kit was on his left.

Maybe he would get away with it.

He left himself hope for a short second, before the universe reminded Kit why he was decidedly not an optimist. 

The door he was next to burst open and Kit, cursing himself internally, nearly jumped out of his skin, knocking his head against the box he’d been hiding behind. 

A decidedly turtle-looking faerie gave him a confused one-over before fast-walking away, slamming the door in their wake. 

Kit briefly wondered if he was athletic enough to make a run for it. 

He didn’t even have time to tell himself no, because as soon as he had stood, a blur of motion appeared in front of him, and he was pushed against the brick wall, the air in his lungs escaping him as he was knocked back. 

He had hardly even processed that before he felt a cold sliver of metal at his throat, and he stopped moving. 

There was a long, quiet moment as Kit stared into Tiberius’ face. Time almost seemed to stop.

Despite Kit’s numerous…. Physical encounters over the past year, he’d never quite just looked at a person’s face up close. He hadn’t realized it would be possible to see the ripples of color in their iris, or count their eyelashes, not that he had the opportunity with a knife at his throat.

Still.

Still.

“...Oh,” Tiberius said, sounding curious. “I had wondered where you went,”

His eyes didn’t meet Kit’s.

Kit tried to take a shallow breath, but he found that although the knife was uncomfortable, the true hindrance to his ability to breathe was the fact that Tiberius Blackthorn was incredibly, undeniably, astonishingly beautiful. 

Kit was so screwed. 

And also a total dumbass—who got a knife to the throat and instead focused on the length of the attacker’s eyelashes??

They were long though, and thick and dark, and Kit felt a ridiculous urge to take a picture—

Right. Knife. 

He let a single more indulgent second pass by, before clearing his throat.

“Can you maybe not cut my throat open?” he said. Even if the cut was shallow and small, his dad would notice it, and Kit wasn’t eager to come up with a believable lie for that sort of injury. 

Tiberius blinked, before stepping back. The knife had a serrated blade with a simple black handle, and he closed it with a short flick of his wrist. “Oh, sorry,”

Kit traced across his throat, checking his fingers, relieved to find not even a speck of blood. 

He pushed his hood down, suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed, and shook out his hair. “I like your knife,”

Tiberius ignored his measly attempt at redirection. “You were following me,”

“Well… yeah,” Kit pushed off the wall.

A tilt of Tiberius’ head told him that wasn’t an acceptable answer. 

“It’s not every day I see a classmate at the Market,” Kit shifted. “It’s not exactly a place for high school students,”

“True,” Tiberius cocked his head. “So why are you here? I saw you at a stall earlier, but you acted like you didn’t know me,”

They didn’t really know each other. Having nearly identical schedules for a year and a half of high school (maybe more, but the past week had been the first of Junior year and Kit hadn’t been allowed to go, so he didn’t know how they might match that time around) meant very little. He was 99% sure this was the first time he’d ever spoken to the other boy. 

Of course, Kit was aware of the two gorgeous Blackthorn twins that had changed out from homeschooling midway through the 9th grade, because everyone was. And also because they had a habit of staring at him a lot whenever he gave teachers and students random excuses about his absences, or did anything suspicious in general.

See, Kit lived a quiet high school life. He didn’t talk to many people, he turned in all his work on time (as often as he could, considering his dad occasionally didn’t let him go to school), he was silent in class unless called on, and he rarely ever participated. In group projects, he gravitated towards either the smallest groups or the ones with the least invasive students, and he didn’t care how much work anyone else did as long as he was able to turn in his work without fuss.

He wasn’t in clubs or sports, although he was in honors and concurrent enrollment classes (and was buttering his dad up to let him take the free college night classes offered by the district), and his behavioral record was spotless (because he never got caught, or because he talked his way out of trouble).

Still, he wasn’t a mean classmate. Most of his teachers liked him, because Kit always spent a significant part at the beginning of the year gently putting himself in their good graces, and his classmates…

Well, Kit didn’t have the best regard for his personality, but he knew other people liked how he looked. It was surprisingly easy to be the “mysterious, hot boy” everyone liked when all he had to do was sit quietly in the back and smile occasionally. 

He wasn’t much of a fixture in anyone’s life, except the people at the Market, and even though plenty of people were curious about him, it was shallow, fleeting.

But the Blackthorn twins.

They had always put Kit a little on edge. Their eyes were sharp, and they watched everyone like a hawk, particularly Tiberius. They sat together in every class they shared, worked together on nearly every assignment, and had absolutely captivated everyone when they first transferred in.

They were rich, and had been previously homeschooled. Both were extremely smart, and a couple of altercations over the past year and a half had proved them to also be very strong. And they were both beautiful, of course, because life showered them with blessings, like they were Sleeping Beauty receiving gifts from the faeries. 

Both of them tended to watch Kit’s every move for some fucking reason, and he knew Tiberius had once asked around about where Kit went during his off periods last year. Kit had always been aware of their presence the second he entered a room, and similarly, they always spotted him when he was nearby. They had never exchanged words, but it hardly seemed to matter.

Livia was overall more popular with people, because she tended to start conversations and was in Theater, always a bit bubbly. On the other hand, Tiberius had a reputation for being a know-it-all who didn’t seem interested in other people, which Kit thought was ridiculous. Tiberius was smart as fuck and Kit always tuned in whenever he participated in class, because he always had something interesting to say. He was often stoic, but Kit knew he was observant and always looking around at people, and also, whenever Livia made him smile, his whole face changed. 

Kit maybe paid a little too much attention to him. 

But in the end, he and Tiberius did not really know each other.

He didn’t feel like that would be a good reason to the other boy though.

“I’m not supposed to mix regular life with the Market,” he settled on. It was true for most humans involved in the fey world—you didn’t mix them, because it would get so much more complicated. “I wasn’t about to go and wave you over,”

Tiberius considered him. “That does make sense, but then you followed me,”

Kit kinda wanted to kick himself. 

“I was curious. And bored,”

“Mhmm,” Tiberius took another step back, maybe noticing that he was still quite close. “You haven’t been to school,”

Kit sighed. He didn’t bother talking his dad out of it, but he was still mad about missing the first entire week of Junior year. His dad hadn’t really explained it, but he’d been especially jumpy and had told Kit he was just ‘ looking for someone’. What that had to do with Kit’s school, he wouldn’t tell. “I know. I should be back Monday,”

“Good,”

Kit slowly edged towards the direction they’d come from, hoping to get Tiberius closer to the door his brother had disappeared into. Tiberius lifted his brows but followed. 

Kit wondered if Hypatia knew he was supposed to be at her tent. 

Tiberius was watching him very curiously, eyes going up and down his form. If Kit didn’t know any better, he would think the other boy was checking him out. But Kit knows Tiberius was just trying to figure him out.

“This explains a lot,” Tiberius said after a moment.

“Does it?” Kit sincerely hoped it didn’t. “Also, don’t go around telling people about this. It won’t be a problem just for us, but basically everyone,”

“Of course not. I don’t want to be hunted down by bitter faeries or obsessive high school girls,”

Kit’s step faltered as he looked over at Tiberius, who looked neutral as far as expressions went. He couldn’t quite help the laugh that escaped him. 

Tiberius’ expression went from neutral to surprised as Kit shook his head and grinned.

“That's a great way to sum it up, actually,” Kit continued on walking, regaining his rhythm, and after a while, Tiberius caught up.

They had barely made it to the door Tiberius and Mark had knocked at when a voice called out into the alley.

“ Younger Rook, come out immediately,”

“Shit,” Kit sighed. “Hypatia,”

Tiberius gave him a startled look, clearly recognizing the name.

From the shadowy entrance of the alleyway, a tall faerie woman slowly sauntered forward. 

Hypatia Vex was a powerful faerie in the Market, running several operations of it, although she wasn’t quite yet the owner. She had brown skin, bronze hair, and gold eyes with star-shaped pupils. When Kit was younger, he’d been intimidated by her. 

She crossed her arms and cocked her hip. “I’ve been informed that I was suppose to have you show up at my tent a half hour ago, little Rook, but to no one’s surprise, I’ve seen neither hair nor hide of you,”

Kit gave her a casual finger wave. “I’m sure we can keep this between us? My dad won’t get suspicious if you tell him I was with you,”

She couldn’t lie any more than other fullblood fey, but she could spin a tale.

She rolled her eyes. “Fiendish boy. Bring me that tea with the bubbles and your father will be none the wiser,”

“Fiendish boy, that’s a new one,” Kit said, making his way to her. “I have hardly done anything to deserve it,”

“Would you prefer the bane of my existence or chronic annoyance?” 

“No, fiendish makes me sound more intriguing,”

“You exasperate me, child,”

“I live to please,”

“Silence,” 

Kit snorted. Hypatia was so easy to aggravate. But she was also very fond of boba tea, which he’d introduced her to when he’d managed to sneak out and buy some about six months ago. Kit couldn’t believe Wren actually thought Hypatia was alluring, not really.

Kit wasn’t sure if Hypatia liked him exactly, and she definitely didn’t like his father, but over the years she’d become someone his dad could trust to watch over Kit for brief moments. Kit never learned exactly how they came to the agreement, since he was sure Hypatia didn’t accept typical payments, but it was apparently solid enough that she was willing to leave her work to locate him. 

She glanced at Tiberius and raised a brow. “Oh, my, is that a Blackthorn?”

Kit shrugged. “A who? I just followed him because he was cute,”

He turned and winked at Tiberius to sell it, who turned a little pink, although he also seemed on the alert at Hypatia knowing his last name.

Internally thought?

Why the fuck did Hypatia recognize Tiberius on sight? Why did she know his last name?

“Teenagers,” Hypatia shook her head. “No control. You don’t want to aggravate them, little Rook. Word says they’re involved with the Unseelie Court,”

Kit blinked, not bothering to cover his surprise. “Oh, damn,”

What.

The Market was mostly made up of wild fey, but both the Seelie and Unseelie courts had a presence there too. Kit had been instructed to never get too close to either side, but even more so to avoid the Unseelie. 

How had Kit gone to school with people that had a reputation among faeries even as powerful as Hypatia and not known it? How was he allowed to go to his school at all? Did his father not know?

Well, Kit sure as Hell wasn’t about to tell him…

“Truly,” Hypatia hummed. “Let us go now. And to the Child of Thorns, do not bother with this one. He is of the Market, and has no human value nor manners,”

“Jeez, Hypatia, way to tell me how you really feel,” Kit crossed his arms. “Aren’t we supposed to go to your tent now?”

Tiberius opened his mouth, although Kit didn’t have the slightest idea of what he would say. But before he had the chance, Hypatia had grasped Kit by the shoulder, apparently in agreement with Kit’s remark, and started marching him away.

Kit didn’t bother fighting it, and didn’t look back.

Chapter Text

August 18th, 2023

Livvy used to tease Ty about always leaving out the boy whenever Julian asked about school. He was in basically all of Ty’s classes both in the 9th and 10th grade, and he and Livvy had spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure him out. 

He was just…

Well, as Dru would put it, he was sketchy.

Ty knew all about looking out for sketchy people, based on observable body language. He even entertained himself by making a PowerPoint about it. He had trouble with tone and facial expressions, but cataloging behaviors and habits wasn’t just useful for Ty, but also useful for detectives like Sherlock Holmes, which Ty loved. 

And when he’d noticed the boy for the first time, it had been like a checklist, ticked off one by one.

The boy was Kit Rook, and he had confounded Ty and Livvy ever since they started public school.

Well, almost. Ty had spent the first several weeks suffering through the schedule change and the weirdness of so many people, and how loud and smelly and gross high school was. Julian would never have sent them to public school if he had a choice, but CPS was looking at them a little too closely, confused by the homeschooling situation not following any program they were aware of, and they needed their record to be clear if Julian was going to take custody of them when he turned 18, (which, now that Julian was just over 18, he was working on), and Ty and Livvy (and Dru and Tavvy) had said they would bear it.

Livvy had been nervous but excited to go. Ty had been…

Well, he was curious, and he didn’t want to make things difficult. It wasn’t like he had totally hated the idea, but he’d certainly been apprehensive. He’d had a panic attack on the first day and had gone home early, and Julian had spent hours apologizing. He would have let Ty stay home permanently if it wasn’t for CPS. 

But eventually, Ty did acclimate. Not perfectly—he still had bad days, which had resulted in the school psychologist getting involved and eventually an autism diagnosis after appointments with an out-of-school one, but things worked out. He had some accessibilities in class and the school in general, like being allowed to wear his headphones all the time, and lights were often dimmed in his classrooms.

And after he finally gained a routine he could live with, he was able to really start observing people around him, and that’s when Kit Rook caught his attention. 

He had been in the back of almost all of Ty’s classes: 10th Grade Honors Math (they were in the advanced program, and therefore a year ahead in math), Honors English, Honors Physics, Honors Geography, Tech Theater (Livvy was in the actual acting class, and she’d begged him to do Tech so he would be around for her rehearsals), and 1st year French. Ty also took Photography—he thought it would help him with his index of the insects around his house and taking good pictures of evidence.

Ty didn’t know what Kit’s seventh class had been in Freshman year, no matter how much he or Livvy (who he shared 4 classes with in the 9th grade—French, English, Geography, and Physics) asked around.

Ty even tried asking Kit upfront—but he was always the first person out the door and the last person in it too, so he never got close enough. Ty and Livvy sat together in all the classes they shared, and the boy made a point of always being alone. Even in group projects he either managed to work alone, or seemed to purposefully choose the most useless people in class—because the teammates would waste time together, and he’d do all the work alone and get the credit.

Ty thought it was a fine way to get half their classmates to fail their courses, because they all gladly teamed up with Kit, even with his habit of leaving his teammates in the dust. Everyone seemed to like Kit, somehow. The teachers always shrugged when he was late, and he always had at least one person in each class he could ask for notes for the days he was absent.

And yet he was so quiet. He participated in class only when he was forced to, and that was rare too. They had obligatory presentations in French—and Kit had missed all of them, then strolled into class the next day, whispered with the teacher for a few minutes, and sat back down without ever having to even explain what his presentation was about. 

He was interesting, Ty thought. He’d captured Ty’s attention in a way no other classmate had, and had seemed to take up more space in his mind than most people ever did. Everyone liked him and no one knew anything about him. He was smart, clearly, but he missed school fairly often. He seemed to know everyone, but didn’t seem to have any friends, either. He rarely spoke but whenever he did, students and teachers alike seemed to hold their breath.

Livvy’s theory was that it was because he was hot.

Ty had to admit Livvy’s theory was not completely ridiculous, even if it was shallow. Kit received about 4 Holiday Telegrams per period the day before Winter Break, and had an average of 6 when Valentine’s Day rolled around. Ty complained to Livvy they might as well not have come to school either day, because everyone was clearly too obsessed with Kit Rook to get anything done. 

She just giggled and admitted she’d sent an anonymous Holiday telegram to see what would happen. 

Regardless, Kit was interesting not just because of his weird charm and the way Ty could see the boy was clever, but because, according to Ty’s mental checklist, Kit was someone who had many, many secrets. 

10th grade hadn’t enlightened him at all, either. He and Kit had nearly identical schedules again (1st - Honors Chemistry, 2nd - 11th Grade Honors Math, 3rd - Honors U.S. History (with Livvy), 4th - 2nd Grade French (with Livvy), he had 5th - Photography without either one of them, 6th - Honors English (with Livvy, but not with Kit), and 7th -  Intro To Design, which Ty hadn’t selected and he can’t imagine Kit did either, as he’s pretty sure they were both bored out of their minds the entire time. Ty can do realistic drawings and diagrams fairly well but magazine collages were dull). 

(He had signed up for Tech Theater to appease Livvy again, but it was full).

So he and Livvy had resolved that 11th grade was going to be their year of success. Ty had been ready and determined to pair himself up with Kit Rook however possible, but then the entire first week of Junior year had gone by without seeing the boy. 

It had been disappointing, but they knew he hadn’t moved schools—one of the few teachers that still called roll instead of just telling them to sign in on Google Classroom had said Kit’s name (which meant they definitely had French 3 together). Still, no Kit, no progress. 

And now he found him at the Fey Market, hiding under a black hood and watching him from a stall, then following him through the alleys.

Ty was glad he’d asked to accompany Mark to the Market—he’d been curious about it for years but only Julian and Emma had ever gone, and now Mark. Julian had hesitantly agreed, and now Ty actually had an interaction with Kit.

He told Livvy as soon as he got back. 

Well, he told her after Mark and he promised not to tell Julian about Ty being briefly alone. Usually, Mark was honest to Julian, because despite the fact that Julian was younger than Mark, everyone knew Jules was the one in charge. It wasn’t that Mark didn’t try, it was that he hadn’t had any experience with it. Or so said Emma, but Ty eventually understood. It wasn’t Mark’s fault that he hadn’t grown up exactly like they had.

Which meant that not only did he agree to Ty’s request to join him in his rendezvous to talk to his faerie aunt at the Market, but he also briefly left Ty alone. Mark was a very attentive brother, and a protective one too, but he also tended to allow for a far wider margin of kind of letting Ty do whatever he wanted.

Granted, Ty ultimately wasn’t in actual danger, but neither of them wanted to be in trouble with Julian. So a little secret was kept. Ty wasn’t good at keeping secrets from Julian, really, but in general he thought he was quite good at it. Detectives had to be good at secrecy, of course, so they wouldn’t reveal important things too soon. 

But Ty and Livvy didn’t tend to keep secrets from each other. Surprises, maybe, but not secrets. 

“Livvy,” Ty said, appearing at her door. Their rooms were across from each other, but while Ty’s was usually closed, her’s was usually opened. It was just before midnight, but much like Ty, Livvy liked to stay up late.

She looked up from her bed—she had one of her programming books out, and her laptop open. She’d been making a mini-game of sorts lately. The protagonist character was a black cat, last she’d shown him. Julian had helped her with concept art. “You’re back! How did the Market go? I still can’t believe Julian let you go,”

“It was interesting—I’m not used to seeing so many faeries in one place. Although,” he frowned. “Some of the stalls were cruel. I might try to go again. And see if I can release some of the animals,”

“I’m sorry,” she said. It wasn’t her fault, but Livvy was a very empathetic person. She said Ty was too, and he certainly felt bad when other people did, at least. And animals. Ty loved animals. “That’s super upsetting. I know Julian would tell us not to since it’s risky, but hey, if you wanna sneak over there sometime and liberate them, I’m all for it,”

“Thanks,” Ty drifted into her room and took a seat at her desk. He’d left a Rubik’s cube with different textures Julian had added next to her monitor, and he picked it up, undoing the correct pattern so he could solve it again. “Also, I saw Kit Rook there,”

“Who?” Livvy gaped.

“Kit Rook,”

“What do you mean, you saw him there?”

“Well,  he actually saw me first, and then he was following Mark and I around. I didn’t notice though, when he began to follow us. I mean, we saw each other, and then he kinda disappeared for a bit, which was weird. It was only when Mark went inside to talk to his aunt and I was walking by myself—yes, I know you think that’s a bad idea—that I realized someone was there. And then this faerie kind of burst out of a door he was hiding by and I found him there. I held my knife up to his throat, like Julian taught us—”

“That must have scared the life out of him,”

“He was remarkably relaxed, actually. Regardless, once I realized who it was, I tried figuring out why he was following me, but he just said he was curious. He said not to tell anyone, which is obvious, and then he laughed at something I said, which surprised me, and then Hypatia Vex—”

“Hypatia Vex like Hypatia that Julian makes weird deals with Hypatia Vex?”

“I don’t think there’s anyone else called that. And yes. Anyway, she showed up to get Kit. She called him younger Rook,”

“That’s interesting,” Livvy said. “I feel like Emma’s mentioned a Rook-something-something at the Market before…”

“I saw Kit at the stall with a man, but the stall didn’t have a name. They didn’t look alike either, but Hypatia said Kit’s father sent Kit to her, but he hadn’t gone. She also called him a fiendish boy, which was kind of funny. She seemed annoyed, but I think Kit seemed fine with Hypatia. With the entire Market, really. Maybe I’m wrong, but he seemed very familiar with it,”

“I can’t believe,” Livvy moaned. “That I missed all of this just to watch The Great British Bake-Off with Julian. I mean, it was enjoyable and I love him, but still. You ran into Kit Rook at the Market,”

“Yes,” Ty said, twisting the green, fuzzy blocks to completion. “I hadn’t realized before that he’s shorter than me,”

“He’s taller than me,” Livvy pouted theatrically—Ty could tell when she was actually upset very easily. The only one of the Blackthorn siblings that ever hid it properly was maybe Julian, and even then, Julian did his best to be clear with Ty. “Well, this explains a lot, I think. I mean, he’s just so shifty, you know? If he’s comfortable with the Market, considering everything that goes on there, then it kinda makes sense,”

“I think it could possibly explain why he misses class,” Ty ventured. “If it’s that he has to do things related to the Market, or his dad works there,”

“Maybe,” Livvy hummed. “Do you know what this means?”

“What?”

“There is someone our age at our school who knows about the fey,” Livvy grinned. “Which makes him friend material,”

Ty considered this statement as he finished solving the cube, which he set back down. He was curious about Kit, to be sure. He wanted to ask him questions and study his habits.

There had been a moment, when he’d pressed his knife to Kit’s throat and almost met his eyes, that Ty almost felt like the other boy was familiar. Not in terms of memory, but there was… something there, something similar to Ty. The entire situation had been surprising, and the boy was different than Ty… and yet he’d been so easy to stand near.

And, now that he had heard him laugh and sass a very powerful faerie, well…

Ty hadn’t made a friend in a long time, but he was willing to try. 

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I think he might be,”

August 21st, 2023

The weekend was a total bore. Johnny Rook took Kit to shoplift some school supplies, not knowing that Kit had sneaked away at the Market and therefore not lecturing him for several hours with pointless threats mixed in, and that was essentially all that happened. He was waiting for the new school week nervously.

Kit wasn’t sure yet if he wanted to avoid Tiberius and his sister, exactly. 

He couldn’t afford his dad finding out that someone at Kit’s school knew about the fey, lest he try to “homeschool” Kit or switch schools. And although his dad wasn’t exactly the vengeful type, if the Blackthorn name carried any actual weight, it was possible that his dad would actively antagonize the family or take more intense measures against them.

At the same time…

Kit kind of wanted to see what it was like, to talk to someone who knew about the Market but wasn’t a part of it. 

When Monday came, he still hadn’t decided his plan of action.

He got his schedule from the office, who only gave him a concerned look over his absences, and made his way to class. IB Bio wasn’t his idea of a fun time, but there wasn’t an Honors class, and last year’s advisors hadn’t really given him much of a choice.

Kit and every other student waited for the bell to ring, and he made his way down to the classroom. He knew the school halls like the back of his hand, but the real concern in taking different paths was traffic. It would take him some time to figure out which halls would be emptiest, because every year was a little different.

He usually paced himself so that he would be the last in the door, but the awkwardness of the first day meant he couldn’t quite do that.

The students in the classroom all looked up at him as he entered, and Kit told himself to stand up straight and smile. Still, the second he walked in, he felt two pairs of eyes bearing into him with an intensity the other kids didn’t have.

The Blackthorn twins watched him from the back of the classroom at a mostly empty table—the class was small, not even twenty people—and even as the teacher fussed over Kit and tried to give him a quick rundown of what he would need, most of Kit’s attention was on them.

She let him pick a seat. Usually, this meant he picked somewhere at the very back, as isolated as possible, or the table with the least amount of people. But he knew that wasn’t going to fly this time, if not just for the pointed way Tiberius had just pulled out the seat next to him.

His fate was sealed. 

Kit kept a friendly expression on his face even as he took a seat. Some of the people who “knew” him were obviously confused, watching as he sat next to Tiberius Blackthorn.

Kit had a reputation, of course, but so did the Blackthorn twins. They were rich, for one, with old money. They were homeschooled most of their lives. Livia was friendly with almost everyone, and Tiberius wasn’t. They were both strong, and agile, and geniuses in their own right. Tiberius never invited anyone into their inner circle, and while Livia mingled, she never pulled people in either. 

Also, Tiberius apparently had the confidence to hold a knife to Kit’s throat in an alley.

The rest of the lesson was spent with Kit reading through the syllabus (he used to think that was only for college) and pointedly ignoring the way that Livia and Tiberius whispered amongst themselves.

When class ended, Tiberius finally spoke to him directly.

“Let me see your schedule,”

Kit considered making a run for it. Was it even worth it? 

Well, it wouldn’t work anyway—Livia was in Track and Field. 

He handed it over, despite his trepidations.

Livia peered over Tiberius’ shoulders, and their eyes, hers blue-green and his that stark, silvery gray, scanned his schedule.

“We have French together for second,” Tiberius said. “All three of us. And IB Bio, of course. You and Livvy don’t share any other classes, but you both have fourth off while I’m in Photography. You and I have Psychology for third, College Algebra for fifth, Humanities for sixth, and Tech Theater for seventh,”

“Your schedules are almost identical,” Livia observed. “That’s lucky. I have most of the same classes but in a different order, so that I could take Intro To Statistics and Performance Theatre at the right times,”

“Mhmm,” Tiberius handed the paper back to Kit, who took it, feeling numb. “We have to go now, or we’ll be late. See you at lunch, Livvy,”

She squeezed Tiberius’ hands swiftly, gave Kit a wink, and turned on her heel to go to class.

“Come on,” Tiberius began to walk, putting his headphones on.

~~~~~~~

Much like Kit, Tiberius avoided sitting near many people, particularly when he didn’t have class with Livia. Which meant that there was plenty of space for Kit, and he seemed determined to keep Kit near him. So Kit sat with him and Livia in French, and then with Ty in Psychology as Livia headed to her own class.

Kit didn’t even try to argue. Something in his gut told him that it was a lost cause.

Plus… maybe if he just managed to keep this from his father, it wouldn’t be such a terrible idea.

Except for the bit where the Blackthorns apparently deal with the Unseelie Court.

Shit, Kit hadn’t thought about that. 

Why would a normal family deal with the Unseelie Court? Why did their name carry weight when Hypatia said it? Kit couldn’t think of any human families that had that sort of power or sway in the Market, and he’d never heard of the Blackthorns before….

He managed to slip away and stay by himself during fourth. He suspected Livia was probably expecting him somewhere, despite never explicitly stating it. But he needed the time to himself, to really settle into the knowledge that he was going to have to deal with the Blackthorn twins until they got bored of him, and also hopefully not get himself murdered.

Kit couldn’t remember the last time he’d had actual connections with people in school, and this didn’t exactly feel like a normal one.

On the other hand, though, he couldn’t help but be intrigued. He should really work on his self-preservation.

Kit headed to College Algebra very slowly, but it didn’t matter. Tiberius was waiting by the door, scrolling on this phone. When he saw Kit, he pushed himself off the wall.

“You didn’t meet Livvy for fourth,”

“Technically, we never agreed to meet,” Kit pointed out. A girl’s head shot up nearby as she heard him speak. Kit ignored it. “And I don’t know what class she has for third, so I didn’t know where I would find her anyway, or a place to meet,”

“We can only go to the West Commons or the library for off periods,”

“Personally I go to neither,”

“That’s against the rules,”

Kit raised a brow. He didn’t think he’d given off the vibe of someone who followed most rules, although he wasn’t a serial troublemaker either. Honestly, Tiberius didn’t seem like a stickler for the rules either, with the way he’d ignored his brother’s instructions at the Market and walked off on his own. “So?”

Tiberius considered him. “Rules exist for a reason,”

“Sure, sometimes,” Kit agreed. “Some rules are important, even I can see that. But some are plain stupid. We’re only allowed in those two places so they can keep an eye on us, but the hall monitors are only in the West Commons half the time, so it gets crazy in there, and the librarian doesn’t actually watch anyone at the library unless they get loud. I’ve seen people set off fires at the Commons and get freaky in the library. So if I have an off period, I go to neither, because they’re honestly both more a hazardous than like, wandering the halls or sneaking off campus,”

Tiberius opened his mouth to reply, but the teacher appeared at the doorway. “Gentlemen, class is starting in thirty seconds. Get inside,”

Then he peered closely at Kit. “Oh, you’re the boy that’s been out, Kit Rook, right? Funny enough, I put your seat next to Tiberius’ in the back. I’ll give you last weeks math packet as well as this one’s, so try and catch up,”

Kit managed to smile. “Thank you, sir. Are they for credit or for practice?”

“Credit,”

“I’ll get it in by Friday,”

“Splendid. Now go take a seat,”

When they were both seated and the lesson had started, Tiberius leaned a little closer to him and whispered, with clear confusion, “What does get freaky mean?”

Kit was so damn glad he had control over his expression because he wanted very badly to laugh. Not at Tiberius, really. He was being honest, as far as Kit could tell. But man, some questions were not for the back of the College Algebra classroom.

With a straight face, he wrote on the corner of his notebook, then angled it towards the other boy. 

Get freaky means they ‘get sexual’ I guess. Inappropriate, touchy, gross.

It was even harder not to laugh when he peaked at Tiberius’ expression and saw the grossed-out look on his face.

~~~~~~~

Livia appeared at their classroom when it was time for lunch. They all had the late C lunch, implemented because the A and B lunch schedule wasn’t cutting it with the number of students the school had.

“You didn’t meet me for fourth,” she accused, pointing a manicured finger at Kit. It was a very good manicure, he thought. 

“Apparently,” Tiberius said, still sounding very disturbed. “Kit avoids the West Commons because people set fires in there, and the library because people get… sexual there. Also we didn’t technically tell him to meet you,”

“People do what in the library?” she spluttered, aghast.

Kit shrugged. “I’ve seen people slide under tables for very school-inappropriate reasons. One too many accidental shows kinda makes you avoid a place,”

Both twins shuddered. 

“I usually go in the library, but I spend my time coding by the librarian’s desk,” Livia said. “So I haven’t seen that. I mean, I’ve seen some things, but not that,”

“Just don’t head towards the back,” Kit said. “As I am prone to doing, and then regretting,”

Kit wasn’t sure if it was planned, exactly, but he found himself flanked on either side by the Blackthorns, herded towards the East Commons

They even stood by him as he grabbed lunch—he qualified for free meals, due to the fact that his dad “worked a minimum wage job”, according to the school documents—but they both had packed lunches in their backpacks.

Usually, Kit ate his lunch as he walked, throwing the tray in whatever trashcan was nearby then going out into the courtyard, which was always almost empty because most people hung out at the cafeterias or the field. It seemed that the twins usually ate quickly then headed off to the library, but with Kit’s little revelation, they seemed a little hesitant.

“So,” Kit asked, watching as Livia unpacked a fruit salad and an egg croissant sandwich. Tiberius had some fruit as well, peeled, but in separate containers rather than mixed, and a much simpler ham and cheese sandwich, as well as a bag of chips he shared with Livia. “Can we go to the courtyard if you guys are going to question me? I’d rather no one overhear—it’s loud in here but you can eavesdrop like nobody’s business,”

“Oh, we know,” Livia snickered. “Ty and I have been listening to that table’s drama the entire past week,”

She gestured towards a table that was loudly arguing. After a moment, Kit realized they were fighting about whether a girl’s boyfriend had microcheated by being emotionally vulnerable with a boy. God, their generation was losing their minds. 

“It’s very entertaining,” Tiberius agreed. “Until they get too loud. Then we leave,”

“Hmm,” Kit munched on his overcooked pizza. “I didn’t expect you guys to like gossip,”

“We love it,” Livia bumped shoulders with Tiberius who bumped her back softly. “I mean, we’ve been eavesdropping on Emma’s—she’s a family friend who lives with us—break-up and make-up calls with her on-and-off again boyfriend for literal years. Although she hasn’t had one in a few months. Ty says she must have finally ended it with him but I’m not sure,”

“She hasn’t gone out on a date in a long time,” he pointed out. “And she doesn’t seem bothered by it, either,”

“One time they had a break for six months,” Livia countered. “You never know with them,”

He only shrugged, then turned back to Kit. “So you go to the courtyard?”

“Among other things,”

“We’ll go, then. After we’re done eating,”

“Alright,” Kit sighed. He wished that the frozen strawberries they set out weren’t so gross—he liked strawberries, but schools managed to make them absolutely awful.

It took less than ten minutes for the twins to finish eating—Kit ate his pizza and nothing else, so he’d been waiting. When everything was cleared, he was once again flanked, and yet told to lead the way, as they moved outside. A campus monitor in the hall gave them a funny look, but left them alone. The courtyard was perfectly available during lunch (although there were no monitors there, because their school made no sense) but the only other people there were two girls on the other side, watching something on a phone with earbuds on. 

Kit sat on the large, concrete top of a tree plot. He wasn’t sure whose idea it was, to put a bunch of bushes and a few trees in the middle of a closed-in courtyard, but he liked it. 

“I like it here,” Livia looked around. “I don’t think we’ve ever been to the courtyard, other than for science class. I hadn’t realized it was open to students,”

“It’s not during off periods, but no one ever looks anyway,” Kit replied. 

Tiberius took out his phone, tapping away at the screen. “I told Livvy about seeing you. We wanted to ask you some questions,”

“That seems a little unfair,”

“How so?”

“I mean, you’re the one that showed up randomly at the Market. That is, you and your brother. And you held a knife to my throat. If anything, you’re the one that should be getting questioned,”

Kit wasn’t sure what reaction he’d expected, but a surprised smile wasn’t it. Tiberius’ smile lit up his eyes brilliantly, changing his entire face. Kit had already been struck by how beautiful the boy was, while having a knife to Kit’s throat, but wow.

His breathing felt a bit shallow.

“He does have a point,” Livia pointed out, a little amused. “I mean, from his point of view, you’re the one that wasn’t where he was supposed to be. Even if following you around is totally weird,”

“Says the people who have been watching me go from class to class all day and making sure I sit with them. It’s been an intense day back,”

“I… sorry,” she seemed genuinely sheepish. “We got excited. We don’t really know anyone our age that knows about the fey. I mean, we know a ton of people who do, because of our family circles—”

Tiberius gave her a look at that, and Kit noted it down. Hypatia could have exaggerated the Blackthorn family’s situation, but apparently it had layers.

“But like, that’s different. And they’re all older than us anyway, not someone from school. We thought it would be fun to talk to someone who knows about it all that isn’t like, kind of in charge of us,”

“I see,” Kit said, intrigued but keeping his voice flat. “I thought the Blackthorns were notable because of their wealth, not their ties to the fey world, but it’s good to know it goes deeper than that,”

She rolled her eyes. They were very pretty, he thought. “Whatever. All humans have to hide their relationships to the fey, and we’re decent at it. So are you, it seems,”

“Yes, which is why I insist you guys tell me what your deal is first,”

Tiberius sighed, making his way to sit a couple of feet from where Kit was, and Livia followed. “I was with my older brother, Mark. He’s half-faerie, and he was meeting family. I wanted to see the Market and convinced him to let me go with him. We’ve never gone to it before, so it took us a little while to find the place. Our older brother Julian, and Emma, our family friend, have both been to the Market, but Mark and I never had before,”

“Our entire family has fey blood,” Livia said. “It’s not that we’re all magically gifted with the ability to see glamours by chance. But it’s super diluted. Mark and our older sister Helen are both half-fey though—their mom was a faerie. Us and our other siblings are… close to human, but our parents both came from families with fey ancestry,”

“Ahh,” Kit said, wondering how many people this must include if she’d described it as family circles. Of course, he knew that humans and the fey mixed often, but rarely did it have an effect on large human families. At least, that’s what Kit had always understood… He was starting to think there was a whole layer of human-fey relationships he somehow wasn’t aware of. “My dad says we just have the ability to see through glamorous,, but I figure we’ve got faerie blood around there somewhere if I inherited it. But we’re basically as human as it gets. He works in the Markets. I’ve been going to them my entire life, really,”

“What does your dad do?” Tiberius asked.

Kit shook his head. “Uh, that’s not really something I can just tell you, you know. It’s the Market. He’s got a bit of a reputation, I guess but still,”

“So no go?” Livia sat next to Tiberius, crossing her arms.

“Nope. He’d skin me alive if he was randomly known by teenagers in normal high school. You guys already know to keep this all a secret anyway, so that’s covered, but I’m not about to make this even riskier,”

If they did figure it out, hopefully they would know better than to mess up anything. Sure, his dad would be furious with Kit for being discovered, but he’d be far more focused on keeping the Blackthorn twins quiet. 

“It’ll be fun, Livvy,” Tiberius said. “Like a mystery,”

She sighed fondly. “If you say so,”

He seemed satisfied with the answer.

“Sooo,” Kit ventured. “Does that mean you’re leaving me alone?”

He didn’t know what answer he wanted.

“Absolutely not,” Tiberius said, startling Kit. “We’ve been trying to figure you out for over a year,”

“You’re stuck with us,” Livia nodded. “Get ready for the Blackthorn Treatment,”

“What… does that entail, exactly?” Kit asked, hesitant.

“Once a person of interest is acquired,” she told him. “Us Blackthorns simply do not let go,”

Oh boy.

Chapter Text

August 22nd, 2023 - September 9th, 2023

For the next few weeks, Ty and Livvy made a new school routine that focused on Kit. They still hadn’t managed to get his phone number, but based on trial and error, they figured out when and where he tended to arrive at school.

They always went to IB Bio and French together as a group. Livvy went off by herself to Intro To Statistics for third while they went to Psychology, and then Ty would walk Kit, usually with Kit grumbling, to Livvy’s classroom, where she would collect him and go to the courtyard for fourth.
As far as Ty could tell (and well, as Livvy had told him), she and Kit only talked about gossip, snarked at each other, or they just did their own thing. She usually coded her game while he either read (he’s always reading something, comics or novels or manga, books on finance and budgeting, multiple psychology textbooks, or books about heists, both real and fiction) or did work. He was studious, despite his blatant distaste of how school worked.

He was, to Ty’s relief, totally unbothered by Ty’s quirks. He didn’t react negatively when Ty put on his headphones, didn’t mind that some days he was nearly silent and other days quite talkative. He was aware of Ty’s stimming toys, too, the ones he always had in his pocket, a rotating array Julian had either made himself or bought him, ever since he was a kid, long before he was ever diagnosed. He was, at one point, intrigued by the expanding and collapsing ball of pipe cleaners, saying he liked the design.

One day (1:06 pm, Humanities, Ty had glanced at the clock idly right before it happened and the time was burned into his mind whether he really cared about it or not), a girl that sat in front of them turned around suddenly, startling both of them—they’d been looking at the online Thesaurus, looking for more ways to say additionally. 

“Hey, Kit,” she said, like they were familiar with each other. “How come you’re friends with—uh. Sorry, what was your name again? I know it starts with a T,”

Ty looked at her. Her name was Amanda De La Cruz. They had 3 classes together last year, and two this year. Ty never liked her much. 

“His name is Tiberius,” Kit said, when Ty didn’t answer. “It’s not very hard to remember,”

“Oh, right. Sorry. How come you’re friends though? He usually hangs out just with his sister, doesn’t he?”

Something about the way she said it felt wrong. Ty had trouble sometimes, with tones and facial expressions and physical cues. But he wasn’t naïve, either. He knew people were often judgmental.

He was about to open his mouth, say something like ‘We have some things in common’ or ‘We’re not really friends (yet)’.

Kit beat him to it.

“I met them out of school,” he said, voice smooth and pleasant. Ty rarely met people whose voices he liked, outside of family. Kit’s was very nice, though. “At a music event. We happened to hit it off, and when I realized we had a lot of classes together, I asked to hang out more,”

That was absolutely not what had happened. Ty almost felt like recoiling—he didn’t like lying. At the same time, he was painting the situation to look like Kit wanted to spend time with Ty (and Livvy), on purpose, for some reason. And it pleased Ty, to have people think Kit wanted to be with them.

“Oh,” Amanda blinked. “You asked to hang out with them?”

“Yeah, they’re fun,”

“I mean, Livia’s alright—way too much of a math geek, but she’s friendly. But Ti—Uh, Tiber—us? Tiberius, I think. Well,” she turned to him. “You’re not very talkative, unless you’re answering something. Sometimes I forget you’re in class, until you’ve spent like twenty minutes arguing with a teacher. I’m surprised you would want to spend time with Kit, with how popular he is,”

Ty tried not to let her comment get to him, but it did. “I’m not really loud or quiet. I just participate when it’s expected of me to, and stay quiet when I should. I’ve noticed you’re the opposite. You never seem to speak when it’s related to the lesson, but you spend all your work time on your phone, or whispering with the people next to you. I think we have different opinions on appropriate participation, and also what qualifies as a waste of time,”

If Livvy was there, she would laugh and tell Amanda she deserved it.

Kit, to his surprise, did just that.

The laugh that bubbled out of Kit rang pleasantly through Ty’s bones—and everyone that heard it turned, immediately at attention. 

Kit’s eyes were crinkling at the corners as he grinned. “He’s right, you know. You’re just basing it off his differences to how you think it’s right to act, but he’s doing exactly what he should. You’re the one that’s wrong. Also, you should probably stop implying things without the full story. I chose to hang out with Tiberius and his sister. Personally, I don’t forget people, especially not if they’re actually interesting. You should get back to work now, instead of trying to make him uncomfortable. You’ve barely got half a paragraph written,”

Almost immediately, the wide-eyed looks aimed at Kit were instead turned into glares at Amanda, who paled, muttered something unpleasant under her breath, and turned back to her computer (but tapped away on her phone instead). Ty knew none of them cared about how he felt—they only cared that Kit hadn’t liked Amanda one bit, and were directing their ire at her because of it. 

Kit glanced at Ty, briefly meeting his eyes and then looking away before Ty had a chance to, starting to work on his essay again.

~~~~~~~

On their way to Tech Theater, Kit apologized. 

“What for?” Ty was genuinely confused. What about that entire interaction was Kit possibly thinking he was at fault for?

“I mean, she only bothered you in the first place because she was paying attention to me,” Kit said, hunching his shoulders. He looked the way Julian did whenever Emma mentioned Cameron Ashdown—uncomfortable, Livvy had said. Ty was still working that out. “And also, I didn’t want to talk over you. I mean, you definitely spoke up for yourself, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t want to overstep either,”

Ty was used to observing Kit and thinking he was very confident, but he was starting to see that Kit questioned anything outside of controlled conversations a lot. Ty could relate to that.

“You didn’t talk over me,” Ty said. “I didn’t mind what you did, mostly. But why did you lie, outside of not being able to talk about the Market? Livvy and I did bother you first and… well, Livvy says we convinced you fairly to spend time with us, but we did monopolize your school day, very much so on purpose,”

“Because she was being bitchy to you on purpose,” Kit brow furrowed in a way Ty hadn’t seen it do before, and his fingers tapped at his backpack strap. “Like, she was working it up to be some sort of ‘oh, Kit’s stuck with this boy either out of pity or because he can’t get rid of him’ and I just didn’t like it. Sure, you and Livia are kinda… intense about all of this, but there’s nothing wrong with either of you. So I made it sound like I chose you, so then she’s put in an awkward position,”

“Oh,”

Ty mused over that for a while, even after they got to Tech Theater and were told to look over the dimensions of their miniature set piece again—the teacher thought they were being too ambitious—and Kit had clearly moved on from the topic. 

“People like you a lot,” he said, and Kit paused his near-violent erasing of a dimensions sketch. “In general. And you’ve made it that way on purpose,”

“Only a bit,” Kit said. “Most people are shallow. They like me because they think I’m attractive—which, I’m told I’m pretty, but some people totally overreact. I mean… compared to you… I’m ordinary. Anyway, they don’t really like me, they just like whatever they imagine I’m like,”

Ty filed away that interesting comparison to share with Livvy. “Still, you do put effort in maintaining an all-around likable image. I’ve noticed it for a long time. But you just jeopardize it,”

“Nah, that’s not jeopardizing it. If anything, I was being opportunistic. I don’t like Amanda already, mostly because she has terrible vibes, but now, she knows it so she’ll stop bothering me, and everyone who was there also thinks she was the one that was being rude, which she definitely was. Even more so, they’re on my side about it. So I might’ve lost out Amanda for embarrassing her, but the rest of the class is going to like me, and by extension you, more,” Kit said, looking down at his paper before ripping it off the page. Ty winced a little at the sound, it gave him unpleasant shivers, and Kit noticed. “Sorry, I like the drama of ripping the paper out, but I’ll try not to do it again. Anyway, it’s definitely no loss to me,”

Ty deliberated over Kit’s answer for a moment.

“Did you consider the opportunity before, or after you told her all that?”

Kit stopped working again, but didn’t look up at Ty.

“After,” he admitted. 

“So you did it just because you felt like it, then justified it later?”

“...I mean, my justification is both solid and true,”

“But you did it before thinking that through,”

“...yeah,”

Ty grinned and went back to work, and after a moment, Kit did too.

~~~~~~~

“So, wait, run that by me again ? Kit said compared to you, he was ordinary?” Livvy’s voice sounded tense. “What, exactly, did he mean by that ?”

“Well, the full thing he said was ‘I’m told I’m pretty, but some people completely overreact. I mean, compared to you, I’m ordinary.’” Ty recounted. 

Livvy’s jaw dropped a little. “ Oh, that changes that statement a lot. I thought he was calling himself normal and you weird,”

“No, I don’t think he was,”

“He definitely wasn’t,” Livvy laughed. “He just thinks you’re pretty—pretty enough to make him, the official pretty boy at our school, feel like he’s average,”

Ty felt his face get warm. He wished he wasn’t so pale—Livvy always pointed out how easy it was to tell he was blushing. Sometimes he didn’t even realize it, too. “I thought that was maybe what he meant but… but I don’t think he really meant it. He’s a good liar, and he’s trying to be nice, anyway,”

“I don’t know, Ty, I think he was being honest,” Livvy skipped joyfully through the parking lot, waving at Julian in the car. “Accept the compliment. And the favor for dealing with Amanda. He’s kind of sweet, under all the guarded language,”

“And the potentially criminal father,”

“The sins of the father should not be laid upon his children,” Livvy purposefully misquoted. “I think it’ll all be fine,”

Ty hoped she was right. 

August 22nd, 2023 - September 9th, 2023

Kit wasn’t used to being expected by someone in the mornings. He always arrived at school in time to make his way to class, usually unbothered, timing things so that he would be last in and first out. 

But now, he would walk into the student entrance only to find the twins nearby, Livia sitting crossed leg on a waiting bench and Tiberius leaning against the wall, headphones on. Their eyes would flick up whenever someone entered, and when Kit finally arrived, they’d perk up as soon as they spotted him.

So he would steel himself, although he wasn’t sure what he worried about exactly, and make his way to them. 

That particular morning, maybe due to the fact that Kit hadn’t even bothered combing his hair (he’d stayed up way too late and had barely slept), both of them raised their eyebrows when they took him in.

They didn’t, on a surface level, look like twins. Tiberius was taller than average, with more elfin features than even some faeries Kit knew, silver eyes, straight-ish black hair (Livia once mentioned it got wavy when he grew it out, but as it was, Tiberius kept it relatively short) and pale. Livia was of average height, tan, with more gentle features, green-blue eyes and long, wavy brown hair with bangs. Still, when it came down to things like how they crinkled their eyes, or even the way they unpacked their food, there was something undeniably similar about them.

He imagined most people thought Livia was more independent, but honestly, he would say the twins were even on that front. While it was obvious that Tiberius stuck to his sister when he could, Livia always scanned every room for him the second she entered, and was always checking on him, almost subconsciously, gravitating towards him the same way he gravitated towards her. Kit was convinced neither of them would do well without the other.

They were complete people on their own, but the way they took such obvious comfort in each other’s presence was indisputable. 

September 10th, 2023

“How has school been going lately?” Emma asked as she passed around paper plates with pizza slices on them. They didn’t get delivery often, but Julian was on good terms with a pizza place nearby run by some fae folk.

Ty got his plate first, like always. 

“Good,” he didn’t even have to struggle to think of a positive answer that wouldn’t worry them, because for once, school really was good. “It’s been fun,”

Julian immediately looked up from his phone, where he was texting Helen. “Fun? That’s great to hear, Ty. How come?”

Livvy and Ty shared a look. She shrugged, and after a moment, Ty decided to be truthful.

“Well,” he started. “Don’t get angry. I mean, I don’t think this will make you angry? It’s not bad. Not very bad. But still. There’s stuff going on,”

Julian’s eyebrows slowly raised and Emma silently handed out the rest of the food, clearly listening. 

“Go on,” Julian said. “I’ll wait until you finish before giving my decree,”

“Okay, so,” Ty glanced at Mark, who didn’t know about Ty and Kit meeting. “When I went to the Market with Mark, I saw a classmate,”

Mark paused, his veggie pizza halfway into his mouth. “Huh?”

“I didn’t say anything. We made eye contact when he was in a stall while Mark asked someone for directions. There was an older man next to him, and we looked at each other for a moment. I guess we were both surprised. Then he kinda hid a little and put his hood up, and started to walk away. Mark and I ended up walking the same he went, but when we crossed into a new alley he wasn’t there. And then I realized someone else was there and found him. He’d been following us but he didn’t seem like, scary or anything. He said he was just curious because he’d never seen a classmate at the Market before. We talked a little bit and he said we probably shouldn’t mention this to anyone. He laughed at something I said, and Livvy says it was because it sounded kind of like a joke, and then Hypatia Vex—”

Julian didn’t say anything but his eyes had gotten increasingly bigger as he listened. 

“—showed up. They’re apparently familiar with each other? He seemed casual with her. Also he asked her to keep quiet about it in exchange for boba tea and she agreed which was kind of funny. Apparently his dad, probably the man at the stall, had sent him to her tent but instead he followed us. Hypatia recognized me and said the Blackthorns should be avoided because we deal with the Unseelie Court—I guess that’s what it looks like to other people since Kieran and Mark are dating? And he definitely knows my name but he acted like he didn’t know it. And then she said ‘and to the Child of Thorns, do not bother with this one. He is of the Market, and has no human value nor manners’, and then they left,”

Ty took a drink of water, then considered how to go about the next bit.

“So, the thing is—Livvy and I have kind of been curious about this classmate since we started public school. We’ve always had a lot of classes together, nearly identical schedules, and he’s always been… different. Really quiet, misses class a lot. We’ve wanted to talk to him for over a year. He missed the first week of school, and then we ran into each other at the Market on Friday night, and he said he’d be back that Monday, so Livvy and I prepared to kind of… ambush him a little,”

“In every class we have with him, he’s now sitting with us,” Livvy added helpfully. “And now he eats lunch with us, and we have our off-periods together too. We were probably really pushy and he called it intense, but he’s actually been nice. I mean, sarcastic and quiet, but nice. And he’s helped Ty out a few times when people were rude to him and is overall pretty cool. Emotionally unavailable, but cool,”

Ty would have to ask her what emotionally unavailable meant. 

“So it’s been more fun,” Ty pressed on. “I mean, he’s funny, smart and helpful. Everyone loves him but he’s really calm usually and listens to us when we talk. He’s nervous about the Market and doesn’t talk about it too much but otherwise he’s okay with talking about anything,”

“He seems kinda lonely, now that we’re getting to know him,” Livvy sipped her soda. “Like, he always seemed fine on his own, never depressed or anything, just kinda shifty, but I think he also has more fun now. He seems more real when he talks to us. So basically we made a new friend and other than the bit where it’s because of the Market it’s honestly been really nice,”

“He’s also in the classes I don’t have with Livvy, except Photography, so those classes are way more fun too. Turns out he’s got commentary on basically everything if you ask him,” Ty smiled a little as he thought about it. Their Humanities assignments were just taking notes on art pieces and concepts through every chapter, and when Kit had let Ty read his notes, Ty had actually laughed and taken pictures. He got an A for being clearly very thorough as he read everything and for the volume of commentary, but Kit was seriously opinionated about it all, and wrote it like he was a comedian on a stage. No wonder the Humanities teacher seemed to love him, even though Kit never spoke in class.

After a long pause, Julian cleared his throat. “Okay. So. I’ll agree with Livvy. Other than the Market bit, this sounds like a really great thing for you both. That being said, the Market involvement could potentially be very problematic,”

Livvy and Ty nodded. That’s what they expected from him.

“What’s this boy’s name?” Julian asked. 

“Kit Rook,” they replied in unison. 

Julian tilted his head, thinking, but Emma gaped.

“I know him,” she said. “I know exactly who you’re talking about. Pale, blond wavy hair, blue eyes? Kinda pretty, kinda skinny, probably a bit shorter than Ty?”

“That’s him,” Livvy said, surprised. “You’ve seen him?”

“You know I used to go to the Market to talk to one of the info brokers there,” Emma said. “Johnny Rook. He’s got a boy that’s usually around, and I know his name is Kit. He’s always been very quiet and wary of me, but almost friendly with the rest of the Market. I had no idea he even went to normal school,”

“You became friends with Johnny Rook’s son,” Julian sighed, long and tired. “Personally I haven’t seen Kit Rook the few times I’ve gone with Emma, but I’d heard Johnny Rook is very protective over him,”

“Kit did say he didn’t want to tell us about his dad because even if we know to keep secrets, it’d make it more risky,” Livvy said. 

“At least he doesn’t seem to want you in danger, if he tried to make it seem like he didn’t know Ty to Hypatia and doesn’t want to get his dad involved,” Julian said. “Still guys, this really isn’t the safest friendship to pursue…”

Ty bit his lip. “We know, but we really like him,”

Julian considered Ty and Livvy for a long moment, then exchanged looks with Emma, and then Mark, who still looked completely taken aback by the entire thing. 

After a moment, he said, “Tell you what. Figure out a way for us to meet so I can really get a read on him, and we’ll see. You guys are smart, so I don’t think you’re being gullible or naive. That being said, this boy’s father is a conman with a terrible reputation. Kit is only a kid so we’ll give this a chance, but if I think it’s dangerous, I’m asking you guys to distance yourself,”

It was probably the best agreement they would come to. Ty understood Julian’s worries, but he still really, really hoped it would work out.

“Alright,” Ty agreed. 

“There’s a bit of a problem though,” Livvy drummed her fingers on the table. “As far as we can tell, he’s only ever at school, at home, or at the Market. There’s no way to really hang out with him in a place that would be good for meeting,”

Julian hummed. “He has an off period, right?”

“Don’t ambush him at school,”

“I… won’t. But if he shares it with one or both of you—”

“With Livvy for 4th,” Ty said. “Right before lunch,”

“Alright. I’ll excuse Ty for 4th and come by the school at the end of your 3rd hour. Bring him with you, we’ll talk, and I’ll have you back at school in time for your 5th period. It might bleed into your lunch, but we can just go to a restaurant,”

Julian was always willing to go the extra mile to make sure his family was safe. 

“Okay,” Livvy agreed this time. “We might need some time to break it to him, but we’ll let you know when it’ll work,”

“Be ready before the end of the week,” Julian warned. “We can’t let this drag out,”

Ty didn’t think it would go over so well with Kit, but in the past three weeks, Ty had more fun than the entire time he’d been at public school. He would just have to do his best to convince him.

“I hope it works out,” Emma took the empty pizza boxes off the table and sat down next to Julian, bopping him in the shoulder. “I mean, he really looks like he could use a friend. It can’t be fun, being Johnny Rook’s son,”

No, it didn’t seem like it was.

Chapter Text

September 11th, 2023

Kit was immediately on guard when on Monday morning, the Blackthorns seemed nervous. At first he thought it was a general anxiousness, but with the way they kept looking at him then glancing at each other, he knew it was undoubtedly about him.

He had a bad feeling about it. 

Still, it wasn’t until they were in the courtyard during lunch, having finished their food inside, that they addressed it.

“So,” Livia cleared her throat. “Kit,”

“Is this when you tell me why you’ve both been acting nervous today?” Kit asked. 

She groaned. “We’re obvious, I know. Sorry, we didn’t mean to put you off or anything, but we’re worried about this thing a lot,”

“Uhuh,” Kit wasn’t feeling any better.

Tiberius was fiddling with a fidget cube in his hands. It seemed like he had handed the speaking baton to Livia for this. 

“Our family was asking us about school,” Livia started, and Kit immediately knew what had happened. 

“You told them about me,” he said flatly. 

“How did you—”

“You guys have had basically the same school life for the last year and a half. As far as I can tell, I’m the only inclusion into your pair. If they asked you how school was and you thought to report anything new, then I would be it,” Kit didn’t even have to think of it. What was he to the twins, if not an outlier? A third point on a previously fixed line of two?

Tiberius glanced up at him, but kept quiet. 

“Right,” Livia steeled herself to continue. “That’s true. Ty told him—he made Julian wait and hear everything out, and well. We know you wanted no one to know about you at the Market, but Julian and Emma have been going occasionally for a long time, especially Emma. And Julian is very concerned about safety. And… we don’t like to lie to Julian or keep stuff from him. I mean, sometimes we do, but not about big things like this. I don’t know how to explain it but we just… can’t. So we told him about how Ty met you at the Market,”

Kit closed his eyes. Shit. 

“And he asked for your name, and it turns out Emma knows your dad,”

It wasn’t the first time the twins had mentioned an Emma, but it was such a common name that Kit hadn’t lingered on it. But suddenly he recalled a girl he’d seen a few times, exchanging money with his father as he shared information. One time she’d given him a friendly wink, noticing Kit in the shadows, and Johnny had made Kit leave to Hypatia’s immediately. 

“Let me guess,” he said. “Tall, blonde, looks like she could kill a man,”

“Um, yes. That’s her exactly. And they both know who Johnny Rook is, and according to them, uh, he’s kind of got a bad reputation and is known for being protective over his son, who isn’t really supposed to talk to outsiders,”

Kit passed a hand over his face and took a few deep breaths. 

The thing was, he understood why the Blackthorn twins weren’t secretive exactly. He’d gathered already that the entire family was very close-knit from the way that Tiberius and Livia talked about them, and regardless, their entire family knew about the fey, and the Market. There was no reason to be secretive about it with each other. If Kit wasn’t Johnny Rook’s son, he probably would recommend people tell their relatives and friends about running into Johnny Rook’s son, so they could watch out for trouble.

As it was, he was Johnny Rook’s son, which put everyone who wasn’t supposed to know that or know him in danger. 

He didn’t want to be mad at Tiberius and Livia. He genuinely liked them. They were funny and whip smart and treated Kit like a person, even if they liked to question him about his thoughts a little too much. They included him easily, and visually lit up whenever they saw him, even Tiberius. Kit hadn’t enjoyed himself this much at school maybe ever in his life. 

Sometimes Tiberius looked at Kit like Kit was actually worth listening to. Sometimes, when Kit let himself notice that look, it felt worth more than whatever secret his dad was keeping about why Kit couldn’t be part of the normal world. 

And Kit, despite knowing it was dangerous and stupid, did not want to give that up.

“So then what?” he said eventually. 

Finally, Tiberius spoke.

“Julian wants to meet you,”

“...That's not happening,”

“Listen,” Livia insisted. “Please. We really want to stay friends, and he says that he thinks you might not be dangerous, because you’ve tried to keep your father out of everything. And he’s happy that we’ve made a friend. Ty and I… we’ve never really connected with people. Even other people our family knows, that know about the fey world… it’s just never clicked. They think we’re ridiculous, they bully Ty for being autistic or ridicule our interests, and it’s just never worked. And well, we were curious of you obviously, it’s not like we hid that, but we still weren’t expecting to get along with you so well. It’s been fun. Like, so much fun. And we know your dad is… not really safe. But we also want to keep being friends. And while we wouldn’t ignore you or anything and Julian isn’t going to tell us to just stop talking, he will tell us to distance ourselves if you don’t meet him, and we don’t want to argue with him. So please, please meet him. Ty and I believe you aren’t bad or dangerous, and he just has to meet you and see it for himself. He can help us. He’s not looking to make your dad aware of this, or anyone else. He just wants us to be safe. And Emma wants you to be able to stay friends with us too!”

Kit sat silently for a long time before slowly getting up. It was almost the end of lunch.

“I’m not saying yes,” he settled on, feeling too overwhelmed to think it all through right then. He needed to know more about their plan, too. “How would I even meet him? I’m not allowed… anywhere, really,”

“You and I have 4th off together. Julian says he’s willing to excuse Ty for 4th, pick all three of us up at the end of 3rd, we’ll talk over 4th and lunch, and then he’ll bring us back for 5th,”

That wasn’t a terrible idea. Still, Kit was tired. 

“I’ll…” he shook his head, looking at neither twin. “I don’t know,”

He started to walk away.

“Where are you going?” Tiberius finally spoke, and Kit paused.

“Home,” he said. “I’ll… see you later,”

Neither of them called him to stay. 

~~~~~~~

Kit took public transport to the few places he was allowed to go to (school, when his father was okay with it, and a bodega a block away from the house, and that was it), and so he sneaked out of the school (which was pretty easy) and went to the bus. Kit rarely ever left school early or skipped class by his own volition—school was always preferable to being stuck at home playing Assassin’s Creed all the way through again.

Still, if he was feeling sick, he was supposed to sneak out instead of talking to the nurse, because his dad didn’t want the school to call home. His dad didn’t care if Kit skipped, really, and it was Kit’s phone on the school system (again, so they couldn’t contact his dad), and he could just ignore any reports of absence.

If his dad was home, Kit would just tell him he’d gotten a really bad headache—they were both prone to headaches, but Kit in particular went through periods when he had migraines constantly for weeks. 

When Kit got home, no one was there. His dad would text him if he had clients, but never cared much about telling Kit if he would be home or not outside of that. 

He spent a lot of time in the basement on an old crappy couch playing video games, but he did technically have his own room upstairs, so that’s where he went. He never willingly went to the basement if he could help it. 

He made it to his room, kicked off his ratty shoes, tossed his backpack into a corner, and collapsed on his bed.

Kit didn’t want to deal with any of this.

Not for the first time, he wished his dad had never gotten involved with the fey. Kit genuinely loved the Fey Market, for all its terrors and dangers. The reason Kit’s life was defined by loneliness and fear wasn’t because of the Market. It wasn’t abundant, but plenty of the people at the Market did business without some nebulous danger hounding them. Whatever Kit’s dad had done, it ultimately only served to make Kit isolated. No passing conversations with Market newcomers or even an arms-length familiarity with Wren from years of seeing each other there came anywhere close to changing that.

He thought of the Blackthorn twins, Livia in particular as she begged him to think about their offer. Part of him was loath to disappoint them. The rest was terrified of paying the price if his dad realized Kit was making lasting connections, as he called them, with people who knew about him.

Kit found some earbuds he’d shoplifted a few months ago and plugged them into his phone. It was Monday and he’d done all his pressing work over the weekend, so he had nothing to do now.

He found something to listen to and settled in to fall asleep. He dreamed of nothing. 

Ty and Livvy hardly talked the rest of the day. The conversation with Kit had actually not gone as bad as their worst case scenario, but by no means did it go well either.

When Julian picked them up, he could tell right away that they were upset. In an attempt to cheer them up, he let them pick what they would have for dinner, but neither of them cared much.

“Did he say no?” he asked as they made their way home.

“Not exactly,” Livvy said, her head resting on the window. “I mean, he was definitely upset, and he just… left. Entirely. He said he was going home. But he didn’t say no. Actually, he said he couldn’t say yes, and then that he didn’t know,”

Julian mused for a minute. “I think you should be optimistic. From what you say, he does seem to like you guys, and if he didn’t turn you down outright, there’s still hope,”

Ty slid his headphones on and searched for a song to drown it all out.

Kit didn’t remember falling asleep, but he never did when he listened to music. Both the earbuds had fallen away, and he was tangled in the wire. His dad once told him he was going to choke in his sleep if he did that, but over the years and several pairs of earbuds, it had never actually been a problem. Occasionally he woke with the wire wrapped around his neck, but never tightly.

Plus, listening to music when he was tired was honestly the most effective way to fall asleep.

He felt a little strange, and a little empty. He still didn’t want to think about anything. 

There was a dull throb in his head, and he couldn’t help but huff. Of course he woke up with a headache. It wasn’t a surprise exactly, but it was annoying. 

Kit forced himself to roll out of bed and made his way downstairs. 

He found his dad in the kitchen, putting away a large bag of paper plates. 

Johnny Rook glanced up as Kit walked in. “You look like shit,”

“Thanks,” Kit opened a nearby cabinet. They kept most of their medicine in the kitchen instead of the bathroom. He located a bottle of acetaminophen and popped out a few pills. “Headache,”

“Same. Hand me some,”

Kit took more pills and handed them to his dad before finding a cup to fill with water. He knew how to dry-swallow pills, but hated it. His dad on the other hand knocked the pills back without pause. 

“I have a presentation in French tomorrow,” Kit lied after he drank water and swallowed the pills.

“Skipping, then?”

“Mhmm,” It was Johnny Rook’s idea for him to never present in class, in case he was asked for personal details. It was one rule Kit didn’t mind—sometimes, all the eyes on him felt a little creepy.

“Alright. There’s a few TV dinners in the freezer still. I’ll pick up more before the end of the week. Have you finished reading The Big Con?”

“I’ve read it five times,”

“Alright, and what about the locks I gave you? Figured them all out?”

“Four of them I’ve got down to 12 seconds. Two of them are still 45 seconds, but I’m getting there,”

His dad nodded, approving. “We’ll go out and have you practice some pocketing in a week or two,”

Those were the only outings Kit and his dad had: Either taking him to a random store and letting Kit practice shoplifting, or letting Kit out in a crowd for a half hour to see how many pockets he could pick. On the bright side, Kit got to keep basically everything he stole. His dad respected it as Kit’s winnings, unless whatever he stole could be resold for profit. 

But what kid wanted that to be their family bonding time? Kit would rather just sit down on the couch and watch Netflix with his father. 

Not that Kit minded stealing or lock picking or whatever. He was good at it, and he always tried his best to take from people that wouldn’t miss whatever he took. And it was satisfying to know that most people thought those were kinda badass skills.

But still. He felt like a little criminal soldier boy, let out only to accomplish a task and then shut away again, waiting until the next time he was assigned something. 

And…

Kit had questions. Questions like how come you never mentioned that Emma has connections to the Unseelie Court? Shouldn’t I have known that? Is that why you always told me to stay quiet around her? And Why didn’t I know about the Blackthorns in the first place, if you knew her? 

But he couldn’t ask, because the second he did, Kit would be locked up in the basement while his father erased the twins and their family from existence.

He found one of the frozen, pre-made dinners, steak and broccoli, and microwaved it. His dad had already done so and was now eating on the couch, and after a moment, Kit sat on the floor by the couch with his food, leaning back against it.

“Are you coming down with something?” his dad asked, frowning at him. “You’re fidgety,”

“Maybe. A couple of people have been sick, but it’s not like I get close to any of them,” Kit replied. “I was tired after I came home, took a nap, and woke up with a headache, so who knows,”

If anything, he was plagued by indecision. 

“Hmm. Go to sleep early then,”

“Will do,” Kit said, tired. They ate in silence. 

Vaguely, he thought that this was probably the opposite of whatever dinnertime was like at the twins’ house. 

 September 12th, 2023 - September 14th, 2023

Kit did not come to school the following day. Livvy and Ty didn’t talk about it. They had sort of expected that.

Then he missed the following day as well, and they got worried. Kit had told Livvy in passing that he never missed school unless something at home was going on, he got sick, or he had a presentation. He preferred it to being bored at his house. 

Ty hoped they hadn’t caused such a huge upset that Kit didn’t want to come to school, or even worse, that he’d revealed everything to his father and wasn’t allowed to come back. 

It went from being Monday afternoon, when they’d last spoken to Kit, to Thursday night, without the other boy showing up at school. They had until Friday morning to convince Kit, and he wasn’t there.

Ty went to sleep feeling miserable.

~~~~~~~

Kit didn’t know how he’d gotten sick, except maybe from stress, but when he woke up on Tuesday, he was congested and his head was throbbing. His dad mentioned how it worked with him skipping because of the made-up French presentation. Then he warmed up a can of chicken noodle soup from somewhere in their cupboard for Kit, and had left the house for work. He didn’t usually take in-house clients when Kit was sick, although a few times in the past Kit had been forced to hunker down in the cold basement, stifling every sneeze and cough. 

But he still worked, either in the Market or doing god-knows-what in god-knows-where. 

Kit had nothing to do except scroll on his phone and drink several weak cups of tea. Being at home bored out of his mind was already bad, but all of that on top of being sick, and his conversation with the Blackthorns? It was the worst.

It gave him the opportunity to think though.

The thing was… Kit’s father was an informant. He was relentless when he wanted to learn something, and he’d gained a reputation for always finding something in the end. Kit might’ve been lying to his father and getting away with it for most of his life, but if Johnny Rook became even just a little bit suspicious, it would take no time at all to discover the Blackthorn twins were his classmates.

And then who knows what would happen?

At the same time, this was the first taste of something like a normal life Kit had since he was maybe eight, and he didn’t want to give it up. It was stupid and irrational, but he was almost willing to make the decision based on just how much fun he’d been having in school, sharing funny videos, working together on projects, snarking up and down and gossiping with the Blackthorns. Livia was great, and Tiberius pulled Kit into his orbit like a moon around a planet.

It was stupid. He slept on it. 

~~~~~~~

When he woke up feeling even worse on Wednesday, his dad tutted. He’d bought more canned soup and a few bottles of Gatorade, then left Kit to his own devices again, telling him he had business in a nearby park with a few gnomes. 

Kit wondered if Livia and Tiberius would take his absences as a no. 

Kit didn’t exactly want to grow up to be like his dad—nevermind the fact that he would never subject a kid to this sort of lifestyle and therefore never planned to have kids because it really sucked for everyone involved. Of course, when he was a bit older he figured he would work alongside his dad, and maybe go solo a few years later, but ever since he was a kid, he used to think about just… leaving it all behind.

Not exactly. Kit never thought he would be a very law abiding, good Samaritan, and he knew he would never fully leave the world of the Markets, sprawled as they were across the globe, but…

Sometimes he thought about college, and weekly paychecks, and normal doctor’s visits. He thought about having a pet, owning a studio apartment with a good view, and going to restaurants every once in a while. Meeting people, having friends, having relationships. 

He wasn’t sure if it was possible.

He wasn’t sure if his fucked up childhood would ever allow Kit to live anything close to a normal life.

But the desire for it in the back of his mind made it so much harder to turn down the Blackthorns entirely. They were definitely set to go to college, and they had enough experience going out and doing things to be able to say things like favorite restaurant and best strip mall and the best time to go to the pier carnival is at night in March.

Kit had never even seen a Ferris wheel in person, which was just ridiculous.

In a way, he felt like his friendship with the Blackthorns would be a ticket to something approximating a life he would be okay with. To still be involved with the fey, but to have a life outside them regardless, a life he could depend on, that wasn’t in danger at all times. 

Shit. What was he going to do?

~~~~~~

On Thursday morning, he felt a bit better, but his dad suggested staying home one more day, since he still wasn’t fully recovered. Kit drugged himself up with acetaminophen and ibuprofen, drinking tea, Gatorade, and a can of soup he found way back in their cupboards. He had to make a choice by tonight. 

At one point as he trailed downwards, his blanket around his shoulders, he realized his dad had actually stayed home, but hadn’t checked up on Kit since that morning. 

Kit moved past his father tiredly, locating some napkins to use as tissues.

“I have a client I can’t put off tomorrow,” his dad said, not looking up from his phone. “If you’re here, you’ll have to stay in the basement,”

Kit hummed noncommittally and went back upstairs.

As he sat in his bed, massaging his aching legs, he considered how Livia had once said Julian, their older brother, hardly slept when anyone was sick, and instead would stay by their bedside night and day taking care of them. It had sounded extreme to Kit at the time, but he didn’t think he would have minded a little more compassionate company himself. 

As he laid back down, he stopped to think of an old song he remembered someone must have sung him a long time ago. Maybe his father, maybe someone at the Market.

Kit had muttered it to himself when he was young and sick. His father had once overheard him and looked sick himself, telling Kit to not sing it, but even now he often did. The melody was a comfort, and he’d always felt a little better after recalling its words.

He looked up at the pale white ceiling and as softly as he could, he sang. 

“Tell him to buy me an acre of land. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Between the salt water and the sea sand. Then he shall be a true love of mine,”

Again and again he sang the words, until he drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

September 15th, 2023

When Kit walked into their IB Bio class on Friday, Livvy clutched Ty’s wrist in surprise. 

“Oh,” she said softly, looking at him, and Ty felt his throat dry up a little.

Kit looked more tired and paler than usual, and he had a thermos with him. When he took his seat next to Ty, after accepting some packets he’d missed from the teacher, he set his head down on the table with a quiet thud. 

After a moment, he shifted his head sideways. His blond curls fell over his face, letting one eye peek through, bright blue and shining. His golden eyelashes were long enough to make it seem like his eyes were partially closed, even though they were perfectly open. 

“4th period, right?” he said. His voice sounded a little scratchy. “Okay. I’ll meet your brother,”

Although Kit’s demeanor and appearance worried Ty, he couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face. Livvy excitedly shook Ty’s wrist, which was still in her grasp. 

~~~~~~~

It became obvious that Kit was recovering from being sick, but he also told them as such as they made their way outside of the school to wait for Julian’s car.

“We thought you were avoiding us,” Livvy told him as Ty scanned the road and the turn-in to the school parking lot. He spotted the Blackthorn's car after a moment and began to lead them towards the pull-up curb.

“Well,” Kit said without inflection. “I was, but it was only supposed to be a day. I mean, it did take me more than a day to decide, but I was only planning on missing school on Tuesday. But that night I came down with something. I feel better today, but Wednesday and Thursday were pretty shitty,”

“You could probably nap during Tech Theater,” Ty said, giving Julian a little wave as he pulled up. 

“Maybe,” Kit said, looking up at Ty briefly. While he was talking with Livvy easily, he seemed more hesitant around Ty. Something unpleasant churned in his stomach. 

“Hi, Jules!” Livvy greeted their brother cheerfully as she opened the door to the passenger seat. Ty opened the backdoor and gestured for Kit to get in, like he sometimes saw Julian do for Emma, or Aline to Helen whenever they visited. After a second, Kit slid inside, and Ty followed. 

“Hey, Livvy, Ty,” Jules smiled at them before turning to look at Kit, who hesitantly waved. “And Kit, right? I’m Julian. We’re going to a restaurant. Any requests?”

Kit opened and then closed his mouth. He looked away, then back. “I don’t know any restaurants,”

“Alright. Do you have a favorite food?”

“...Maybe chocolate?”

Livvy and Ty both looked at him. They hadn’t asked Kit his favorites, mostly because Ty hadn’t realized until now that it was something you asked people. He just knew all his siblings’ favorite things. It hadn’t occurred to him that he didn’t know Kit’s.

Julian hummed. “I know a good diner nearby. Have you had a chocolate milkshake before?”

“...I’ve had chocolate boba, but not a milkshake,”

“Well, they have burgers and fries too,”

“...Sounds good,”

Julian nodded, checked that everyone had their seatbelts on, and looked back towards the road, pulling out of the parking lot. 

“Which diner?” Ty asked. 

“Moonlight Diner,” Julian said. “The one with the actually comfortable booths,”

Ty nodded approvingly. They had a ‘thin’ option for their burgers, which was good for him because he didn’t like heavy ones, and they seasoned their fries really well. 

Kit was looking out the window as Julian drove, paying particular attention to street signs. Ty wondered if he was trying to memorize their path. 

Livvy told Julian about something for her game as he drove, and Ty just watched Kit. 

He almost wanted to take his wrist and check his pulse, although he knew the urge was ridiculous. But Kit looked exhausted and jittery and Ty didn’t know what to do about it. 

They pulled up at the diner, and Ty hopped out of the car and circled to open Kit’s door, who blinked up at him before stepping out. Julian and Livvy shared a look before heading inside, and then they did as well. 

The Blackthorns had visited the diner several times, and although they weren’t here with the rest of their family, they still took the large, circular booth in one of the corners of the restaurant. It was mostly empty, thanks to the time of day, and someone came to ask for their drinks almost immediately. 

Ty and Livvy ordered soda, but Kit frowned.

“I didn’t bring money to pay for this,” he told Ty quietly.

Ty was taken aback. He didn’t think they’d ever implied that Kit would pay for it, but they also hadn’t specified it would be on them. 

“It’s on us,” he told Kit. “I mean, Julian says if you invite someone to eat you either agree to split it, or the person who offers the invitation pays. So we’re paying,”

Well, Julian was paying. Ty and Livvy did get an allowance, but Jules would never make them pay for their own food on an outing. 

Kit glanced at Julian and ordered a water. Julian raised a brow, then ordered a coffee and a chocolate milkshake. 

The waitress told them she’d be back with all of that in a moment. 

“So,” Julian started. “Like I said, I’m Julian Blackthorn, Ty and Livvy’s older brother. I’m not technically in custody of them, but to simplify things, just know I’m their caretaker,”

“You’re not in custody?” Kit asked. “I assumed you were,”

“We’re working on it. I’m 18, almost 19,”

“....You’re 18? I thought you were at least 21 or 22 from the way the twins talk about you,”

“Nope,” Jules leaned to rest his back on the booth. “18,”

Kit took in the new information quietly. “Alright then,”

“And your introduction?” Jules prompted. 

Kit looked almost blank now, face non-expressive. “Kit Rook. Usually. Sometimes something else, depending on who my dad is talking to. You know my dad’s Johnny Rook already, an info broker and dealer at the Fey Market. We’re human as far as we can figure. He’s not… the safest parental figure,”

“You don’t try to cover that up,”

“Why would I? Ignorance is… sometimes bliss, but overall dangerous. I wasn’t going to get close to Tiberius and Livia without giving them at least a warning. I couldn’t get into details, but still. It’d be stupid to imply my father is anything but trouble, and you know who he is, so you would know if I was lying,”

Julian hummed. The waitress came by with their drinks, and he pushed the milkshake towards Kit, who first took a sip of water before eyeing the tall glass of drinkable ice cream but not yet trying it. 

“Livvy and Ty say you guys are friends,” Julian continued on. Ty had never noticed it before, because he usually wasn’t around when Julian had Meetings with people, but he seemed to make open statements the other person could continue expanding on, rather than many questions.

Kit leaned away a little, closer to Ty. “...Do you want to ask me that, or are you saying it?”

Of course Kit noticed right away. Kit noticed everything about people so quickly. He’d once spent all of their math class whispering to Ty how he’d been observing the drama between two best friends and a girl in their class. The girl was supposedly stuck between their affections, but then Kit pointed out how the actual subversion was that one of the friends was into the other, citing broken sentences and body language. A week later, the reality of that situation broke out into the student body, and Kit grinned, telling Ty ‘see? I knew it . 

Julian hummed. “Alright. Would you say you guys are friends?”

Kit glanced at Ty and Livvy. “Yes,”

Ty felt ridiculously relieved.

“Okay. What do you want to do about this situation?”

“...I think that’s more up to you, honestly,” Kit said. “Regardless, my father will never hear about this. I’m not trying to get a target painted on their backs, and I’m also not looking to change schools or be locked in my house for the rest of time. I’m more than happy to keep all of this secret from him, for my sake and theirs. That being said, it means they really shouldn’t come to the Market. My dad already saw Tiberius and Mark, and if he gets an inkling Tiberius or Livia are there to see me, he’ll be suspicious enough to look into it,”

“Do you think your dad is a danger to Livvy and Ty? They’re your age,”

“I wish I could say no,” Kit said, voice quiet. “But I can’t,”

Julian frowned, crossing his arms. “You don’t advocate for him at all. Are you okay?”

Kit shrugged. “He keeps me safe,”

“Do you know why he’s so protective of you?”

“No,” Kit said, and even Ty was sure of the sincerity in his tone. “All he says is that I’m his biggest secret, god knows what that means. I’m not the only kid of someone involved in the Market, but I’m the only one treated like a fugitive. I always assumed it’s because my dad pissed off someone who would be willing to use me against him. I don’t know anything for sure,”

Before Julian could ask another question, the waitress came by to ask for an order. Livvy, Ty, and Julian ordered their usual without glancing at the menu. Kit tried to skim the menu, then looked at Ty.

“Recommendations?” he asked.

Ty paused. He remembered that Kit had once mentioned he rarely ate bacon but that he really liked it, and he was pretty sure Kit liked fries. “Go with the American Classic Burger, add bacon, and go with Fun Fries as the side,”

Kit nodded, and the waitress wrote it down.

“I don’t remember the last time I ate in at a restaurant,” Kit said. “Sometimes I order drinks to this place close to the Market that I can pick up at and pay with cash, but we don’t even really order out or anything,”

“What do you usually eat?” Livvy asked. She was chewing on her straw.

“Microwavable dinners, usually,” Kit said. “We get them frozen from the store and just stock up on a lot of them,”

“Do you know how to cook?” Julian asked, and something in his tone was weird. His eyes seemed different now as he looked at Kit, and he sounded less like an interrogator on TV, and more like when he checked if Ty had slept enough. 

“No, although I want to learn,” Kit admitted. “We never cook, unless toast counts,”

“It does not,” Ty said. “That’s… heating,”

“Okay, then we don’t cook at all,”

“Ahh,” Julian frowned. “Are you alright? You look a little pale,”

“I’ve been sick,” Kit said, squaring his shoulders. “Started a little on Monday night. I remembered Tiberius and Livia said they had to make this meeting happen by the end of the week, and my dad had… a thing at home. So I came to school,”

“You don’t look fully recovered,”

“I’m fine,”

None of them believed that. Kit’s tone was easy and even enough Ty would have believed him over a phone call, but he couldn’t exactly hide the bags under his eyes or the way his eyes were a little too shiny. 

Julian didn’t push it. “Okay. Why do you call them Tiberius and Livia? I’m sure you’ve heard them call each other Ty and Livvy,”

“They never said I could call them that,” Kit shrugged. “And they never corrected me or anyone else,”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” Livvy said. “For the record, you can just say Ty and Livvy. We don’t mind,”

Kit only hummed. Both he and Julian did that a lot. Ty wondered if it was some sort of conversational tactic. He’d reconvene with Livvy about it later. 

“That’s your father covered,” Julian said. “Ty and Livvy really seem to like you and want to be friends despite the danger. Why do you want to be friends with them?”

“This feels like I’m asking for your blessing because I’m getting married to your kid,” Kit said after a moment, and Livvy snorted, while Ty ducked his head and smiled. “Are you going to ask me for a dowry next? I’ve got like, a bottle of acetaminophen and five psychology books to my name. And this really large spider in my living room that won’t go away but we haven’t managed to catch or kill yet. No goats though, or gold,”

“Take a picture of it,” Ty said, giggling. “I can identify it,”

“My phone camera sucks, and I’m not getting close enough to get it in HD. It’s huge. Like, I don’t think it was supposed to live long enough to get that big. I can see its eyes,” Kit shuddered. “I keep worrying it’s going to show up in my room and eat me alive. I’ll be defenseless,”

“So you can handle being threatened with a knife, but a spider gives you anxiety?” Livvy laughed. 

“Hey, I didn’t think Tiberius was gonna cut my throat in a random alley,” Kit crossed his arms, eyes shimmering. “This spawn of Satan, on the other hand? I can feel it’s ruthlessness. It’s waiting for me to let down my guard, and then it’ll go for the jugular. In my obituary, it’s going to say Death By Spider, Found In A Web Cocoon, Decapitated Via Fangs,”

“There’s not a single spider that can do that,” Ty insisted, still giggling. Kit was funny. And over time, he’d gone out of his way to exaggerate his jokes, making sure Ty could always tell when he was being comedic. Some jokes did fall flat, but overall Ty thought Kit was very fun. “It’s probably harmless,”

“I would sooner bet it could kill me just by wiggling it’s creepy legs at me,”

Ty knocked lightly against Kit’s shoulder, the same way he and Livvy did, and Kit gently knocked back. 

When Ty looked back up at Julian, he realized suddenly that Livvy had revealed part of the story that Ty had… circumvented.

“What’s this about a knife threat?” Julian inquired, although he had a small smile on his face. 

They were all immediately silent.

“Ty,” Julian prompted specifically. “Elaborate?”

“Um,” Ty looked at Livvy for help, but she was fake whistling. “Well. When I noticed Kit was following me at the Market and I found him, I pinned him to a wall and held a knife to his throat?”

“He was very effective,” Kit offered. “Uh, fast at looking out for his own safety,”

“Right,” Julian drawled. “On one hand, it’s true that self-defense of the sort is necessary. On the other hand, let’s not be too quick to pull out a knife either,”

“Like Emma?”

“Exactly. Don’t be Emma. Well, about this. She’s a great fighter, but she’s…”

“Blade-happy,” Livvy suggested. “Sword-ecstatic. Knife-enthusiastic. Dagger-cheery,”

“All of the above,”

“At some point you’re going to have to explain to me why you all seem to be confident knife wielders,” Kit groaned. “Like, I could believe Tiberius just learned to handle it for safety and curiosity—he’s got a thing for that, practical skills and also kinda sketchy skills—but Livia didn’t seem startled, and now you’re telling me Emma’s out here with swords?”

Ty had to admit he definitely had a ‘thing’ for practical skills, but knives were pretty standard fare in their family circles. In fact, until Ty went to public school, he’d never met anyone who didn’t know how to use a knife and an array of weapons. 

Julian took a sip of water and gave Kit a long look.

“Have Ty and Livvy mentioned anything about our family?”

Kit shrugged. “You’re like, super distant descendants of faeries, except for… Mark and Helen, right? They’re half-fey. And something about family circles, whatever that means. I know it basically gives you the Sight,”

Julian nodded. “Right. So, as I’m sure you know, the fey from the nobility often couple with humans because pureblood faeries tend to be close to infertile. At some point, several noble families had children that were almost entirely human. They had very little magic, the ability to lie, and they had relatively mortal life spans. The courts, both Unseelie and Seelie, decided to send those children to the mortal realm. They were technically nobles, so they were sent with riches, education, and training, and names that were sort of like callbacks to their origins,”

Kit had a very peculiar look on his face. It was sort of blank, but with his head tilted, staring at Julian very intently. He took a moment to ask, “If your blood is so displaced from noble faeries, why are you a part of the fey world at all?”

“Technically speaking, we’re all oath-bound to come to our ancestors’ aid. We’re all knights, investigators, occasionally marriage partners, anything. We’re at their beck and call. And if the old family we originate from has faded away from the court, we’re vaguely sworn to the throne,” Julian sighed. “That being said, most of us—we’re sometimes called Shadowhunters by the fey as a joke, since we fight for them but normal humans don’t even know they exist, so it’s like we ‘hunt shadows’—don’t really have direct ties to the current courts. The Blackthorns and our family friends are a bit of an exception,” 

“This explains so much,” Kit said, still looking a little blank, but nodding along.

“I’m surprised you didn’t know this already,”

Kit frowned. “I’m starting to think my dad was purposefully keeping it from me, but I can’t begin to guess how. If you’re comfortable with going to the Market, I’m assuming other… Shadowhunters— would be, too. The fact that I haven’t heard of you from anyone before is definitely weird, especially since I knew Emma. I even knew her last name, but not that she has anything to do with these diluted fey lines,”

Julian frowned deeply himself but didn’t answer. 

Ty had wondered about that. Kit was extremely observant, although almost always about people’s behaviors rather than things that Ty would consider environmental clues. It seems incredibly unlikely that Kit wouldn’t have learned about Shadowhunters, or even an implication of Shadowhunter-like families despite having spent basically his entire life in the Fey Markets. 

“My dad does try to avoid me being connected directly to any fey,” Kit followed up after a moment. “It’s not weird that he didn’t let me get close to you or any other Shadowhunters. That’s pretty consistent, really. Anyway, are you really just basically human but with the Sight? Because that’s just like me, and I sincerely doubt I have any noble blood at all. I’m not even 100% sure I have faerie blood,”

“We’re a little different than humans,” Julian admitted, relaxing his shoulders. “A bit stronger, a bit faster, all of our senses are a bit sharper, but not enough to make us seem superhuman. Better endurance. Very few people are born with magic, but it’s easier for us to learn, and obviously we can see through glamours just fine. A friend of ours likes to joke that we’re also more attractive, but he’s, well, a bit vain, so take it with a grain of salt. At most we have unique eye colors or unusual birthmarks,”

Ty was very curious about how much their fey blood affected their appearance. The idea was that their noble heritage made it harder to lose characteristics from the fey completely, but the only Shadowhunter off the top of his head that truly looked different was maybe Jace Herondale, since he had golden eyes. Mark and Helen looked different of course, but they were also directly related to a noble faerie, so they didn’t exactly count.

“Not to continue to interrogate you when you’re trying to interrogate me,” Kit said, and Ty wondered if that counted as turning the tables. “But when you say you’ve got direct ties… I’ve got reason to believe you don’t just mean your sibling’s parentage. Hypatia says you deal directly with the Unseelie Court, and that’s never good news,”

Julian sighed long and hard. “Hypatia is a useful ally but has a tendency to dramatize the Blackthorns. I’m not sure what her deal is with us but I’ve been looking into it. Still, you’re transparent about the danger your father poses, so I’ll return the honesty. Mark lived in fey for several years as part of the Wild Hunt, forming attachments there. One person he became very close to was Kieran Kingson, one of the princes of Unseelie. And as you might know, Kieran recently became the Unseelie King so… technically we’re the Unseelie King’s in-laws. I mean, they’re not married, but that’s essentially the relationship between us and the king,”

Kit squinted at Julian very hard, which was kind of cute—it reminded Ty a little of when Church looked like he was glaring. 

“You don’t sound like you’re lying,” he started. “But forgive me for being… put-off by the answer,”

“Valid,” Livvy laughed. “We’re kinda still in shock. Admittedly, Diana’s relationship is honestly stranger,”
“Do tell,” Kit made a little rolling gesture with his wrist. 

“Ah, she’s our tutor, we’ve mentioned her. And basically, we needed some help and due to Mark and Kieran, we got the Wild Hunt’s leader, Gwyn, to help, and he met her and fell hard . Like damn . Eventually she reciprocated so now we’re also pretty cozy with the Wild Hunt, which isn’t tied to any specific court exactly, but uh, it’s a unique connection to be sure,”

“I can tell when you’re lying, and you’re not lying now, but you’ve got to understand that I’m going to think you dreamed this up in the midst of a fever until I see it with my own eyes,” Kit sounded almost exhausted. “Any other terrifying revelations?”

“In terms of the fey… I mean, I’ve met the Seelie Queen,” Julian offered.

“That’s… frightening,”

"She tires me out more than anything. We’ve also got a friend, Cristina Rosales. The Rosales family has had ties to the fey in more recent generations and is overall well-liked in the courts, and she lives with us now, so that’s a whole thing, but I think Mark, Helen, Kieran, Gwyn with Diana, and Cristina in general cover our more significant attachments,”

And then Julian pauses and considers Kit. “And you’re friendly with people in the Market, aren’t you?”

“Not particularly. I know them all, but I’m not close to them either. Hypatia, sure, I’m pretty casual with her, and most others. There’s even a few people close to my age that I’ve known for several years and we act like friends, although we aren’t. Everyone knows who’s kid I am, and most of them won’t mess with me. Except the occasional creep—the fey don’t have a great understanding of things like minors don’t want attraction from adults,”

“Gross,” Livvy made what she called a blegh face. 

“Yeah,” he sighed.

“You’re good at redirection,” Julian observed.

Ty didn’t agree, exactly, but he had to admit that Kit hadn’t actually ever replied to Julian’s earlier question about wanting to be friends. He’d talked about a dowry, and then somehow, Livvy and Julian had ended up explaining details about the Blackthorns instead.

Most of Kit’s attempts at changing the topic at school were kind of silly, but maybe Ty wasn’t taking the full picture in consideration. He supposed that Kit could just not be trying very hard then, or that his exact tactics weren’t particularly effective on Ty, but worked well on others. 

“I wouldn’t say so,” Kit shrugged. “I’m curious, of course. It’s already weird that I’m talking to people about the Market outside of the Market, but Hypatia’s reaction to Tiberius’ family name also kinda set off alarms. I can’t help but wonder, and this is as good an opportunity as ever to learn more. That’s what you’re doing, too, by asking me about my connections at the Market and my father. It’s not just about clocking me in relation to Tiberius and Livia, it’s about using me as a source of information into a space you’ve interacted with, but not nearly as much as I have. If you’re going to ask me questions, then I’m going to ask them back. It’s always better to know what you’re dealing with, as long as the information itself isn’t dangerous to have,”

Ty suddenly wished he’d been recording the entire conversation since they sat down. There was something so specific about the way Julian and Kit went back and forth. He couldn’t put a name to it, but it didn’t sound like normal conversations did. If he’d recorded it, he could go over it and check for patterns, inconsistencies, or have Livvy explain anything she caught that he couldn’t. 

Kit didn’t talk to Ty like that. In fact, he was remarkably straightforward with Ty or explained things in case he hadn’t been clear. Whatever he and Julian were doing also wasn’t how Julian talked to Ty, either. 

“God, you’re young to be this shrewd,” Julian took a drink of water. “I suppose fair’s fair,”

“I suspect you were probably even more astute at my age than I am,” Kit shot back.

“Maybe,”

“You two are weird,” Livvy piped in. “You talk… different, with each other,”

And now Julian and Kit made direct eye-contact, raising their brows at each other. What did that even mean? Ty met Livvy’s eyes, but she looked almost as confused as he felt. Great, it wasn’t even an allistic-person-thing he just wasn’t privy to, but something she didn’t get either. 

“It’s a habit,” Kit explained away. “It’s… sort of how people at the Market talk to each other,”

“That’s a decent way to put it,” Julian agreed. “Alright, let’s back off each other a bit. I think we’re both a little too used to gambling conversations. Taking a step back, tell me what I wanted to know earlier: I know why the twins like you. Why do you like them? Why be friends with them and risk your father’s disapproval?”

Kit made a sort of weirded out noise. “It’s hard to put into words? There’s… a few reasons. I’ll be honest, one of them is simply the fact that while I don’t want to get into the details of my dad, it’s fun being able to talk to other people my age who know about the fey outside of the Market. I’ve never been able to do that before. But… that by itself wouldn’t have convinced me to risk anything,”

He glanced idly at Ty before settling his gaze on the table.

“You probably already know this, but Livia and Tiberius—they’re great. I knew they were geniuses and kinda badass, I knew they were interesting, but also? They’re fun. They’re good. I’ve always liked to listen to Tiberius talk in class, and now I get to actually talk to him, and feel like a real person while I do it. It’s… I mean, they’d be hard to not think highly of, and harder still to not want to be friends with them,”

There was a brief pause before Kit, a bit more slowly, added, “This might sound ridiculous, but basically, if I had to imagine what kind of people I would have wanted to be friends with, it’s like they hit the bullseye. If I hadn’t liked them as much as I do, I wouldn’t be here. But they’re brilliant, for so many reasons and in so many ways. I’ve heard people say they’re different, and yeah, they are, but that’s part of why I want to be friends. I’m different too, and with them, it’s comfortable,”

Kit groaned a little before finishing off. “I really don’t know how to explain it better than that,”

Livvy was smiling, and Ty was too. It was hard not too. Kit might’ve not been particularly emotional in his reasoning, but he was being straightforward. 

Plus, knowing that Kit had a history of paying attention to what Ty said even before Ty and Livvy’s friendship scheme was kind of satisfying. At least he hadn’t been the only one paying extra attention to someone he hadn’t talked to at any point. 

Julian also looked pleased. “That’s good to hear. Livvy and Ty have always been a pretty unique duo, and although us siblings were always fond of them, we’ve found it difficult for people outside of our direct family and closest friends to think similarly,”

“That’s because other people are basic assholes,” Kit said, sounding more confident.

Julian snorted. “I’d have to agree, because I’ve definitely argued with idiots about this,”

“So are you two like our biggest fans or what?” Livvy grinned.

“I think Kit needs time before he can challenge Mark and Emma for second place, but as for me? Of course I’m your biggest fan,” Julian replied, all smiles.

Livvy and Ty looked at each other, smiling and rolling their eyes. Julian doted on all his siblings, but it was still sweet. Ty considered himself lucky. He’d learned a long time ago that plenty of people had terrible families, but he’d been lucky to have the best one he could have asked for. 

“Does that mean I’ve passed the vibe check?” Kit asked, and luckily that was a slang term Ty did know the meaning of, even if he’d nearly given up on school altogether the first time he’d heard it used. 

Julian huffed a laugh. “Yeah, sure, let’s put it that way. You seem sincere, and you don’t want them hurt. Plus, the twins have spoken pretty highly of you. I want you to be as careful as possible when it comes to your father, but it seems you’ve already got that down. As long as he doesn’t learn about this and thinks about investigating, you’ve got my full approval,”

Kit blinked twice and then he smiled, but different. It was… softer? Shy? Ty glanced at Livvy to see her reaction, and noticed her mouth was slightly parted and her eyes a little wide as she looked at Kit. It was surprise, and made Ty feel more normal about how he was also surprised.

There was something about the smile that felt… cuter, almost. But prettier, too? Kit had a nice smile, whenever he made jokes or was right about something, but this was somehow even better.

He wondered how he could get the other boy to make that expression more often. 

“That’s good to hear. And no worries, I want them to be safe as well. My father won’t hear a word,”

“I’m glad we got that worked out. I really didn’t want to tell Ty and Livvy that it wasn’t going to work,” 

Livvy cheered quietly, grasping one of Ty’s hands under the table to shake it. Ty wondered if it would be weird to do that to Kit as well, but he was happy, so he took his free hand and grasped one of Kit’s.

Kit looked down at their hands and then up at Ty, still with that wonderful smile on his face. He winked at him, which made Ty giggle. Kit was weird.

The conversation after that turned mostly to school questions, with Ty and Livvy doing most of the talking. Although Livvy let go of Ty’s hand after a few minutes, he found himself still holding one of Kit’s, and the other boy didn’t pull away. Ty was relieved he didn’t, because he didn’t want to deal with trying to figure out why he let go.

Up until their food was served, in which case, he couldn’t really blame Kit. They needed both their hands to eat their burgers.

Kit had also finally tried the chocolate milkshake Julian had ordered for him, and although he didn’t say anything, Ty assumed he liked it, considering his smile and continued sips.

He also seemed to enjoy the food, eating quietly but quickly as Julian raised an eyebrow at Livvy’s explanation of some teacher drama she’d overheard. Ty found himself handing over some of his fries because Kit had already finished all of his, and Ty wasn’t that hungry, really. Kit also seemed to be a fan of that development, because he ate them immediately.

Overall it was an enjoyable lunch, and now that Kit had passed whatever Julian was trying to check him for, Ty relaxed into his seat. Livvy and Julian were eating slower due to their more active conversation as Ty dropped out as he finished eating, and Kit only had to finish his milkshake.

He took out his phone after a few minutes, opening up the Notes app, typing away.

Can you give me your phone number now? Or does your dad check your phone?

He patted Kit’s shoulder and lifted the screen from his lap discreetly. He wasn't sure why, but he almost didn’t want Livvy to catch wind of him getting Kit’s phone number. Sure, Ty actually got Kit’s company more than she did, and they had their original meeting at the Market to themselves, but Ty still wanted a feeling of something unique that was just theirs. For now, he’d settle for a phone number, but he figured they had plenty of time to establish more things that were their own.

Kit glanced at the screen, then looked up at Ty. He didn’t meet Ty’s eyes, he rarely ever tried to make direct eye contact, which Ty appreciated. Sometimes he did want to meet Kit’s eyes because they were such a vibrant color, but it also made him a bit more nervous. 

Kit smiled a little, then looked away to take out his phone. He had a long password that he could type in very quickly, Ty had noticed that before, which he approved of. Maybe it was so that his dad couldn’t guess it?

A few seconds later, he was showing Ty the screen, where his phone was displaying its number, and Ty smiled as he typed it into his contacts.

He sent a simple first message: Hello. Are you sure it won’t be a problem?

His reply took a bit longer, probably just because he was adding Ty to his contacts. He’s never checked my phone before. Shouldn’t be a problem as long as I don’t make it obvious I’m texting.

That was good, at least. Ty had been kind of disturbed the first time he’d heard classmates talking about their parents looking through their phones and rooms. Julian was careful, but he wasn’t intrusive. 

They didn’t text much the rest of the lunch—they couldn’t exactly hide that it was what they were doing from Livvy and Julian if they went ahead and didn’t talk aloud the rest of the time. 

But they also didn’t participate too much either, although Julian and Kit did give each other some weird looks Ty couldn’t read. 

It was strange to not be able to read them. Sure, Ty had moments when either his brother or Kit confused him on regular days, but usually they were understandable. Kit confused him more, that was to be expected, but he was also quite good at noticing when Ty was confused and he would explain himself. Usually, at least. Sometimes he seemed to be vague on purpose, but in a way that Livvy had revealed that she didn’t understand either, so it was less a Ty Thing and more of a Kit Thing. 

Still, mostly Ty was just relieved. Julian had seen that Kit really was someone that should stay with Livvy and Ty, and Kit had gone through with the meeting to stay friends with them. It was a good day.

Kit smiled at him again, and Ty smiled back. 

It was a really good day.

Chapter Text

September 29th, 2023

Two weeks after finally getting the Julian Blackthorn Stamp Of Approval™, Kit was starting to realize he was a bit out of his depth.

Two weeks should have been enough to get used to the new dynamic—Johnny Rook always said Kit was adaptable and quick-witted—Kit never had trouble switching it up for others before.

But nope, it was still bizarre. Somehow, knowing Julian and the rest of the Blackthorns were aware of Kit made the whole situation seem so real it felt unreal.

Kit wasn’t used to real.

Tiberius and Livia took to it like ducks to water though. They were even friendlier, even more excited, pulling Kit every which way while Kit tried to find his balance. 

He’d decided to just believe what Julian had said, about the twins never really clicking with other people their age, because he couldn’t fathom another reason for their constant good mood. It’s not like Kit did anything to warrant it.

Most days were spent building a new skill set, one calibrated to the twins specifically. He could hardly act like he did with the other Market teenagers like Wren—Tiberius didn’t find posturing or bravado neither impressive nor particularly amusing, and Livia had limits to snark and rakishness. 

Kit just needed more time to polish it. He’d get it eventually.

And it was coming together, he thought. There was a new Kit slowly emerging, one that wasn’t yet comfortable, but at least he had plenty of practice all day long.

Soon, it would come as easy as breathing. As easy as being Johnny Rook’s Market child…

That was comfortable, that Market personality. It fit like a glove, and slid on easily. 

Maybe too easily.

Then again, Kit could hardly be blamed for this.

~~~~~~~

It was a “regular” day. It had all the same steps to it as usual, except Kit was still finding his rhythm while the twins seemed to glide without pause.

Kit and Tiberius were simply on the way to Tech Theater when they were accosted by one of Kit’s old classmates, and while it certainly wasn’t part of the plan, life liked throwing Kit curveballs, so he wasn’t really surprised.

He sort of wished he could be surprised over the reason for stopping him though. 

“C’mon Kit, one date. That’s all I’m asking for,” the boy, Jonah, pleaded again. 

He and Kit had gone to the same middle school (the last time Kit had moved was at the very beginning of the 6th grade. He’d gone to at least five elementaries though… but they’d moved way more than five times? Kit couldn’t keep parts of his childhood straight). 

Kit had never talked much to Jonah—he never talked much to anyone. Still, they did know each other, if he was going by a normal person’s criteria. 

Kit had no particular fondness for him.

Tiberius was mostly fiddling with his backpack straps and darting his eyes between Kit, Jonah, and a clock on the wall. Jonah had only called for Kit when he’d found them in the halls, but Tiberius had stayed and had now witnessed what amounted to a truly awkward conversation. 

“I said no,” Kit repeated tiredly, begging it to end soon. “Three times already,”

Why did people who didn’t take no for an answer always take a romantic interest in Kit? Maybe a faerie had cursed him. He should ask Hypatia.

“Just listen, okay? I really need a date for this, and a hot date. You’re the best looking and tolerable guy in our grade, and I’ve known you for a few years, so it’s less weird than asking someone random!”

Kit couldn’t even remember the last time he’d talked to Jonah, but it certainly hadn’t been since at least Freshman orientation, three years back. He might as well be someone random. 

Also, what kind of manhwa plotline was he trying to pull? Why would he need a random hot stranger to fake date him at an event? That was sketchy as hell, and Kit was willing to bet the circumstances weren’t what Jonah was painting them to be. 

“How about you just listen,” Kit sighed, brushing his hair away from his face. “I said no. I don’t need your reasoning, I’m not doing it. I don’t know what gave you the impression that I’m the person to ask, but I’m really not. There’s gotta be at least one guy at school that would be interested, but I’m not him,”

Before Jonah could reply, the bell rang loudly, and that just raised Kit’s hackles more. They were standing right under the intercom too, so not only were they officially late to class, but both Kit and Tiberius flinched at the loud ringing. Jonah didn’t even seem to register it and bulldozed forward.

“How can I convince you? I’ll pay for the entire dinner, I’ll pick you up and drop you off, and we don’t even need to be like, super into PDA! Just enough to be convincing!”

“No,”

“It’s a really nice karaoke bar, and the food is great—”

“Even more no, I’m sure as hell not doing karaoke,”

“And if you have a good time we can always make it an official date—”

Kit groaned, throwing his head back, hitting it a bit against the wall he’d been leaning against. This was exhausting. “ Jonah. I said no. I’m not a fucking escort for hire, and I’m not interested,”

“But—”

“He said no,” Tiberius interrupted, sounding pained and also kind of annoyed. “He doesn’t want to, so there’s no point in asking him again,”

“Stay out of it, asshole,” Jonah turned his pleading eyes from Kit to glare at Tiberius. “Seriously, I don’t even know why you’re still here? I called for Kit, not your bitchy know-it-all ass,”

Fuck that.

Kit could feel his patience snap.

Jonah didn’t want to listen to chill school Kit, the Kit trying to behave right around Tiberius? He wanted to push his weight around? Fine. Market Kit’s mannerisms were as familiar to him as his own skin. 

“Do not talk to him like that,” he pushed off from the wall. “You’re the only person out of line. Apologize,”

“Like Hell! It’s none of his business and he’s just butting in and making it harder for you to say yes, which you need to do!”

“I don’t need to do shit, Wright,” Kit switched to Jonah’s last name and stepped into Jonah’s space. Jonah took a step back, but Kit pushed forward again. “What needs to happen is that you apologize to Tiberius and then drop the fucking question,”

“I just want him to leave us alone so we can talk!”

“Listen. To. Me. ” Kit bit out. Kit knew he sounded scathing when angry, and he knew even better how to really push his point home. “I’m sure you remember Allen Davis, right?”

The switch in Jonah’s attitude from bitter stubbornness to being taken aback was fast, but not as fast as Kit deciding what he’d do. 

“Well, yeah, I mean, you totally got him expelled in the 7th grade. Well, no one really knew if you actually did and the adults didn’t know but the kids that were there…”

“Yeah, I didn’t get caught, and guess what?” Kit smiled. It wasn’t a nice look. It was the sort of smile his father gave people when they gave him a sliver of information that dug their grave for him. The sort of look Kit had adopted for himself that made Hypatia’s hands twitch with a nervous tick. “I knew everything he was up to back then, and now, I know all your bullshit too. And just like before, when the truth comes out, no one will ever have any proof that it was me. No one will believe you even if you try to tell them, which you won’t if you know what’s good for you,”

Jonah gaped at him, still trying to lean back as Kit moved forward.. “What do you mean—”

“Eighth grade, Angel Flores,” Kit was still smiling when Jonah’s face dropped. “Ninth grade and your little stunt with the wrestling team seniors. Last year, and your creepy little obsession with the student teacher in your math class. I know about it all. I’ve got receipts, too,”

“How do you… how do you know?” Jonah’s eyes were blown wide. He probably knew to some degree what Kit had done over the years. Very few kids did, a miniscule amount, because Kit had been just a little bit worse at hiding his skills back in middle school. He’d say nowadays, there were maybe three people in the entire school that had an inkling of what Kit had done, and well, they weren’t idiots.

Well, Kit had assumed they weren’t idiots because Jonah had been part of those three, and clearly he was a dumbass with no sense of self-preservation. 

“I don’t think that’s any of your business. All you need to know is that I’m serious. Keep talking and lose everything,” He reached out and grasped Jonah’s collar, twisting it in his hand and bringing the other boy closer. It was good that they were around the same height. Jonah’s arms wind-milled a little at the pull. “So here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to apologize to Tiberius, and then you’re going to walk away and leave us the fuck alone, alright? If you even look at us dirty, I will make your life miserable,”

Anyone who remembered what happened to Allen Davis knew Kit wasn’t kidding when he said miserable. 

Jonah was a coward and an idiot, but at least there was an end to his stupidity. When Kit yanked him forward to face Tiberius, he managed to almost look him in the face as he stumbled to apologize. “Uh, Blackthorn. I’m… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. It won’t, um, happen again,”

“Hmm,” Kit didn’t look at Tiberius himself, not quite yet done although he released Jonah with a harsh push back. “It’ll do. Remember, if you bother him, I will know. And now you’re going to walk away and never talk to either of us again, alright?

“Yeah,” Jonah swallowed. “Alright,”

“Great. Leave.”

There was a pause, and Jonah opened his mouth for just a moment before meeting Kit’s eyes.

Thinking better of speaking, he instead grabbed his backpack and nearly ran out of the empty hallway.

It was silent for a moment, and Kit told himself to breathe. There was an uncomfortable itch to his skin as he tried to shake off his annoyance, and the even more uncomfortable realization that he had to talk to Tiberius now. 

“Good riddance,” Kit started, sighing deliberately to seem as if he was relaxing. “I’m sorry about that—it was awkward, and then he made us late and was rude as Hell to you too. I wouldn’t have minded if you went on ahead, you know? I wasn’t going to make you sit through that,”

He still hadn’t quite managed to look at Tiberius as he kept talking. “Also, ugh, he was so out of line when he talked to you. Why do people talk to you like that? It pisses me off,”

It’s not like he had to meet the other boy’s eyes, Kit thought. He just needed to look at him. It felt stunted, but he managed to turn fully to Tiberius.

Oh. Huh.

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but honestly, he shouldn’t be so surprised.

Tiberius was staring at Kit with wide eyes and a slightly parted mouth, looking absolutely startled.

“Uh, what’s up?” Kit tried, like he didn’t know he was a walking “what the fuck ” for the twins even on a good day.

Did being mean to Jonah freak him out? Kit didn’t let himself get pushed around, but he was still usually the guy almost everyone was kind of friendly with, and he was friendly with them back. He supposed he’d never had to really expose his personal brand of dealing with assholes. 

Obviously, that mostly centered around blackmail. Kit’s dad didn’t really know Kit had his own history of gathering intel on people around him past observations he sometimes prompted from Kit. Over the years though, he had taught Kit some things, and Kit had learned plenty on his own.

For most of his life, Kit had always kept mental folders (and sometimes digital ones) on the people around him, especially when they took too eager an interest in him. 

Although no one would be able to find him if they looked, Kit was in every large-scale group chat for the student body, and he knew how to find anyone who participated in those anonymous confession accounts the students had made for the school. 

He’d also realized the entirely too basic password structure for all the student email passwords in the district at the beginning of middle school, and it really wasn’t that hard to get inside their personal emails either. 

That wasn’t all of it, but a decent chunk. Between social media chats, email and drive access, and people’s habit of just telling him shit, Kit knew everything he would need to know about anyone he ran into at school, or the means to gather that information within a day or two. 

Of course, he rarely used the information. It was always more valuable when it was still a secret to everyone else. But the damage he could cause if he wanted to was nothing to scoff at. 

“I have so many questions,” Tiberius shook his head a little, blinking hard. “What just happened?”

Kit hesitated. It wasn’t like this didn’t make sense if you took his dad into account, but he knew it would send most people’s heads spinning. “I can’t say school is a good place to answer them,”

Tiberius glanced up at the clock on the wall again. “We’re five minutes late,”

Ugh. The Tech Theater teacher was a stickler for punctuality. Even for them, being late was a good way to get lectured loudly in front of most of the class, and she liked Kit and Tiberius. 

“Sorry,” Kit had gathered over time that Tiberius was also a fan of timeliness. “We can tell her it’s my fault. I mean, it’s definitely more my fault than yours,”

“It really wasn’t your fault,” Tiberius looked around the abandoned hallway. Even though all of the classes in the performance arts section were huge, there was very little foot traffic during actual class. “Why don’t we ditch?”

“What?”

“You ditch sometimes, don’t you? Not really since we’ve known you except when we told you about Julian, but you did before?”

Kit blinked owlishly at Tiberius. “Uh, yeah. I do. I have. Wait, back up, you want to ditch?”

There was something sheepish in Tiberius’ shrug, and he didn’t even try looking at Kit as he made his suggestion. No surprise there, at least. Kit can’t imagine Tiberius would be that casual about breaking a rule he seemed to religiously follow.

“Well, I have questions, and you don’t want to answer them here, right? And it’d probably take a while over text. If we go into Tech Theater late, we’ll get in trouble, but the teacher won’t care if we never show up for her to scold. So, why don’t we ditch? We can be back before the final bell, and we both have A’s in that class. Your dad won’t know, and Julian…”

Kit raised both brows. “I think the plan might not be so solid if you don’t know how Julian will react,”

“Julian never stays mad at me,” Tiberius defended. “I’m not sure he’s ever even really been mad at me, actually… Not how people talk about their guardians getting angry, at least. This probably won’t matter,”

Kit could feel his ground slipping, and he sighed, real this time. “Then what if he thinks it was my idea? He’ll think I’m a bad influence on you and won’t want us to hang out again, which would suck,”

Tiberius smiled at that. “He’ll believe me when I tell him it was my idea. I don’t really lie to Julian,”

True, the reason that Kit had the Julian Blackthorn Stamp Of Approval™ in the first place was because Tiberius didn’t like keeping big secrets from Julian. 

“Fine,” Kit ignored the sting of defeat and focused instead on the way Tiberius’ gentle smile grew into a wide grin. He looked angelic when he smiled like that. “It’s a good thing we’re in the Performance Art wing. The alarms on the doors got turned off last year since so many people exit through here, and the hall monitors rarely come by. This whole area is the best for sneaking out,”

With that, he turned towards the hallway in front of the Choir and the Band classrooms, making sure no one was walking through. “Duck—the windows here are big and you’re taller than I am,”

Kit peeked back at Tiberius, who looked a bit amused as he did as Kit told him. 

“You know the weirdest things about this school,” he mused.

Kit stifled a laugh. That was true.
After they got past the windows, he straightened and fast-walked to the next set of doors at the end of a long, sort of thin hallway with forgotten trophy cases, glancing through the small windows. “No one is in the parking lot. C’mon, we have to move pretty quickly to the intersection, but after that we’re totally out of sight,”

So he opened the door, gently pushing to not make it creak, and the two of them hurried out, their pace quick as Kit let them around the parking lot, glancing up at the different sets of doors they passed.

“Are you like this at the market too?” Tiberius asked, watching as Kit looked over their surroundings. 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, sneaking around, knowing all the… ins and outs… the small things,”

“Yup,” Kit confirmed. “It’s how I hid from you originally. I knew you were watching me, but I also knew exactly where to hide, and I know how to walk around without being noticed. I treat most of the Market like that. It changes, sure, but it’s also always sort of the same. But I don’t know the renting alleys as well—it’s why you were able to tell I was there,”

“That’s interesting. I think the only place I know like that is our house, and some of the land around it,”

Land? Not yard? Park? What was the twins’ house like, anyway? They were definitely rich, but Kit hadn’t put too much thought into what their house must actually look like. Kit figured he’d be able to ask some other time. He knew he was the one that was about to get questioned. 

Even though Kit was by no means slow and was also the one leading them, it was a struggle to keep pace with Tiberius. Kit wondered if the Blackthorns ran marathons in their free time. 

“It’s always safer to know everything in and out,” Kit admitted. “I’ve got the school, the Market, and well, my house but it’s not very big in the first place. I don’t ditch to walk around this area very often, usually I just go home, but I know the location of the fast food restaurants, and the K-Mart, and a few other small convenience stores at least,”

“So that’s where you go?”

“Yeah. Particularly the K-Mart,”

Kit could hear Tiberius' slight apprehension as he asked, “Do you buy stuff?”

“No,” Kit admitted. “I just take it,”

“You shoplift,”

“Mhmm,”

Tiberius frowned a little. “Have you ever gotten caught?”

“Nope,” Kit was relieved that it was true. He really never had gotten caught. “I can tone it down if you’d like, and there’s nothing I really need right now anyway. But it’s my best chance to get stuff without my dad finding out about it. Sometimes it’s just for school supplies,”

Tiberius tilted his head, considering Kit. It reminded Kit a little of when cats seemed confused in videos and put their head at a 45 degree angle. “Okay, if you’re sure then I don’t mind it. Let's go to the K-Mart then. I need some things,”

Sometimes Kit wished life had a replay button so he could hear people say things twice. Far too often around the twins, he felt like he hadn’t quite understood them even when he caught all the words. 

Tiberius really was too relaxed about Kit’s unlawful activities. 

They finally reached the crosswalk, and waited for the pedestrian light to change.

“Can I ask you questions about what happened now?” Tiberius asked. 

“Sure,” Kit steeled himself. “I can’t promise that my answers will be satisfying,”

“Alright. First, why did Jonah do all of that in the first place?”

“Oh god, we’re talking about that?” Kit would rather jump straight into the blackmail threats. “Hell if I know. I mean, I kinda knew he used to like me, and I’ve seen him looking at me around school before. But we haven’t talked in like, three years at least . Still, what he did was super weird. I don’t have the brand of homosexual audacity that he does, so I don’t know. Sure, I’m bi as fuck, but I’m not a dumbass, you know?”

Kit kind of was a dumbass actually, but at least not about approaching strangers to ask them for a fake date at a karaoke bar. 

“Uh, sort of?”

The light changed for them to walk.

Kit really had no idea if Tiberius even liked people like that. For all he knew, the guy was asexual or aromantic or both. 

“Wait, you’re bi?”

Kit nearly tripped on the sidewalk as they finished crossing, and he spent a very confused second regaining his balance and composure. 

“I thought you knew that?”

“I did not. Oh, I’m not bothered, to be clear. I learned last year that you should be very clear about that or people will assume the worst. Kind of understandable,” Tiberius scrambled a bit to explain. “I just hadn’t realized, and you said it like I already knew?”

Huh.

And here Kit was, thinking he was a walking and talking bisexual flag. Wren said he was whenever they talked at the Market, at least. 

“Okay, I always thought I was pretty obvious about it, so I hadn't thought that you wouldn’t know. I mean, I figured you at least thought I was gay, since I did call you cute at the Market when Hypatia showed up,” Kit forced himself to speak as casually as he could even though he kind of felt like dying. Tiberius didn't seem to think Kit was about to keel over in pain, so Kit figured he was doing a decent enough job at being Oh So Normal. “But yeah, I’m bi? I’m relatively sure Livia knows, but I’m sorry for assuming you knew,”

“I thought the cute thing was just an excuse,” Tiberius admitted, looking a little pink. Kit was relieved he looked chill in comparison, because Tiberius was too pale to hide any blush, and fuck, it was cute.

“In terms of Hypatia, yeah, I was just giving her a shallow reason to follow what she thought I thought was a random boy my age. I didn’t want her to know we were classmates, so I just went with what would make her less suspicious—most of the Market thinks I’m a flirt. But I wasn’t technically lying? You are—um, attractive,”

Okay, a slight stumble at the end, but Kit got through it. He was totally capable of having this conversation like a normal person. He totally wasn't almost hoping two cars would crash nearby so he could avoid his reality by the distraction it would cause.

Why was it so hard to lie to Tiberius? Kit had an easier time lying to his dad.

“I am?”

WHY did he have to be so genuinely surprised??? Kit couldn’t even fault him. 

“Yes,” Kit settled on. “And I’m not the only one that thinks that, trust me,”

“I didn’t know,” Tiberius pondered for a moment. “Family and family friends say things like you’re growing up handsome, but I thought it was just something people said without it really being true, to be nice,”

Kit huffed a little. “It’s true,”

“...Thank you, I think?”

Well, that was just funny-cute rather than Kills Kit Inside Cute, so he let himself laugh. “It’s just a fact,”

There! Perfect way to emotionally distance himself from the reality of the situation. He was just informing Tiberius of a fact. Good. 

“So, back to the original question,” Tiberius was still looking a bit pink, but had put his focus back on track. “Jonah asked you out because of… audacity?”

“I mean, what he did was totally absurd, and he seemed confident I would say yes eventually. He was altogether way too sure of himself. Sometimes people dare their friends to ask me out, but they’re usually nervous. He was just pushy. So yeah, I’d say it all boils down to him having something going on that made him think that was an acceptable thing to do when it clearly wasn’t,”

“Okay. I mean, I don’t see how he couldn’t realize after you said no so many times?” Tiberius looked doubtful. “I know I don’t always understand social cues and interactions, and I can’t always help what I do and don’t catch, but… I could tell it wasn’t him being confused like I sometimes am,”

“I’m guessing he’s not used to being told no, which is it’s own problem,”

Now Tiberius looked very uncomfortable, eyes flicking around. “That was gross. He really wasn’t listening to you at all until you… threatened him. He just kept talking about the date and physical affection and his reasons like you hadn’t turned him down. It was bad,”

“I’m used to it, but yeah, it’s not great,” Kit sighed. “I don’t get it so often at school anymore, but at the Market, newcomers that don’t know my dad show interest in me pretty often. Even worse, it’s usually adults—well, the sort of blurry adulthood that comes with being an immortal faerie, that is. It gets to be very gross. Occasionally it’s humans or half-fey or full-blood fey around my age, and they’re usually better about being rejected, but sometimes they’re not. It never stops being uncomfortable, even when I can tell it’s about to happen,”

“That’s terrible,” Tiberius grimaced. “That’s—I feel bad when I ask people to stop and they ignore me, but yours—that’s so much worse and more intrusive,”

“Anyone that ignores a no or a stop is an asshole. Don’t worry about comparing it, because they need to learn boundaries regardless,”

Really, Kit was used to it. And he had ways of dealing with it. It was fine.

“You’re good at it. If I ask you to stop tapping something, you just stop. Or if you noticed I didn’t like something, like a noise, you apologize. People usually get annoyed and argue,”

“I don’t do anything special. It’s easy to mind the things you like. Respecting boundaries shouldn’t be a struggle. It’s other people’s problem if they won’t try. Sometimes I won’t know if something bothers you, but you can tell me and I’ll listen. I’ve never been upset by you telling me things like that,”

Tiberius fell behind in the next step, and Kit paused his walk to look back at him. “You alright?”

But the other boy was smiling. 

“Yes,” Tiberius was smiling even while he spoke. “I’m just happy we’re friends,”

Kit was once again grateful that he didn’t blush as easily as Tiberius did. “Oh. Me too,”

There was another pause before Tiberius moved to catch up with Kit again, and they continued at a relaxed pace before Tiberius asked the next question.

“So Jonah had been bothering you for a while, but you didn’t seem to really get angry until he was rude to me. Why not? You could have stopped him earlier,”

That was a surprisingly easy question to answer. 

“I don’t like it when people are mean to you. I especially don’t like it when they try to win me over while being mean to you. But… Well, it’s like the gross flirting at the market. I can deal with people being jerks to me. It’s nothing, really. But… I don’t understand how someone could be mean to you. It just bothers me way more than when they’re annoying me. I could have handled him a lot longer and maybe even taken care of it differently without getting too angry, but the second he bothered you I felt like I had let it go on too long,”

Tiberius was still smiling. “You are kind of sassy and snarky very often, although you rarely do it to me and you’re never mean when you do. But I also think you’re really nice, actually. You sometimes seem like you’re more concerned with being sarcastic, but with Livvy and I, you always do something nice in the end,”

Kit wasn’t sure why he wanted to deny the statement. It wasn’t like being kind was somehow a bad thing, and yeah, he especially didn’t want to bother the twins, but still. Part of him prickled. It wasn’t like Kit was a good person either. 

Kindness didn’t equal innocence. 

Still… his neck felt warm. Kit wondered why he always felt so jittery when Tiberius complimented him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been particularly mean,” Kit chose his words carefully, actually thinking about it. He never had been a bully. “I can be difficult, petty, and rude. Sometimes because it’s necessary, sometimes because I’m reacting to someone else doing it first. But I never really saw the appeal in just being an asshole in general, and especially not to you. You’re fun, smart, and crazy talented. Our Market meeting was a little aggressive, and you and Livia were pretty intense in the beginning, but other than that, you’re good company? And it upsets me when people mistreat you. That’s when I get mean, I guess,”

“Hm. You also don’t complain much, despite people annoying you. Even when we kind of bothered you, actually,” Tiberius laughed a little after a moment, giving Kit a half-glance. “Well, out loud you don’t complain much. You do on your assignments all the time, when you disagree with something,”

“Sometimes it gets me extra credit for having an opinion,” Kit laughed softly.

Tiberius continued. He seemed, now that they were far from the school, to be in an excellent mood. “I think you’re good company too. You don’t make me feel bad, and school is a lot more fun now. And I’ve always been able to defend myself physically, and when people are very clearly wrong, it’s easier to defend myself verbally too. But I don’t always get it. Or I know they’re insulting me, but I don’t understand the insult itself. Sometimes I’m just confused . I know I’m different, but I don’t know why they care so much. It makes it hard to talk back. But you don’t struggle with that. You know exactly what to say, and you’re quick and convincing. I falter, but you just say what needs to be said, and I appreciate it a lot. It’s made school feel… safer,”

Before, Kit had wanted to replay what Tiberius had said. Now he kind of wanted to pause life and take a moment to gather himself.

As it was, he didn’t have a remote control for life, so he told his brain to not freak out and his skin to not blush, because he knew he was always going to be a little dumb around Tiberius, but he didn’t need to be that dumb.

He settled on an almost not mortifying reply. “You’re… you’re brilliant, Ty. You know so much about so many things, and you share that information readily, in a way anyone can understand. That’s a valuable skill—and it’s just one of the many awesome things about you. So it’s okay if you struggle with this, because you already do a ton of other cool things. If you need help with words or feelings, you’ve got me and Livia and the rest of your family to help. You’re able to do a bunch of things that I can only dream of, so if I’m able to help you with my skills, then I’m happy to do so,”

Kit wasn’t sure if that was actually non-mortifying. He was pretty sure it was, considering he felt vaguely dizzy. Thinking it in his head was very different from saying it outloud. Kit wasn’t used to so much honesty, but… but Tiberius deserved to hear it. He was sure the other Blackthorns told him often, but school was different. 

He hadn’t meant to fluster Tiberius though—he just wanted to reassure him—but for the second time that day, he’d cause the other boy to flush pink. It was even more visible than the last.

This time, Tiberius lifted his hands a little to his face, like he wanted to hide the blush, or pat it away. It didn’t work, but Kit didn’t say anything. 

They crossed another street. He was a little worried about how long Tiberius was going to let Kit’s last response go without a reply. 

He didn’t check, but he was fairly sure a few minutes passed just by how much ground they covered. They made it to the final crosswalk, which was on a wide and busy road. Kit knew they’d have to wait at least three minutes for the light to change. 

Finally, as Kit idly counted the number of people across the street, Tiberius spoke.

“That’s the first time you’ve called me Ty,”

Kit paused his counting.

You’re brilliant, Ty.

“Oh, I did,” he felt like he’d been caught doing something wrong. “I didn’t realize,”

“It’s been a while since we said you could call us Ty and Livvy, but you still don’t,” Tiberius didn’t look at him, instead watching the cars. He was still pink. “Livvy said maybe you didn’t like nicknames. I wasn’t sure. But… you really can just call us Ty and Livvy, we don’t mind,”

“I don’t dislike nicknames,” Kit almost laughed. He rather liked nicknames, considering he went by one and didn’t like his actual name very much. “It just felt like a family thing. I thought that calling you that would be overstepping, or acting too familiar,”

“It’s not. And I prefer Ty. Tiberius is fine if people don’t know me, but our family and friends call me Ty. It feels more accurate. Since we’re friends, I would rather you call me that too,”

Well, now Kit had to. 

“Alright, I’ll call you Ty more often,” Kit tried not to focus on how… cute it sounded. “Should I change it with Livia too?”

“She doesn’t mind Livia like how I mind Tiberius, but Livvy’s more normal for her to,”

“I can do that,”

He could do just about anything to make people like him more when he needed it, and he could certainly switch the name he used when talking to his friends to make them feel more comfortable. 

He had felt that shortening the twins’ names would be too intimate, like he’d been friends with them for years instead of a month, but… well, when in Rome, he supposed.

Kit still kind of feel like he was overstepping though. He’d have to practice calling Tiberius Ty in his head as well. 

Ty really was a cute sounding nickname in comparison. 

“You think I’m brilliant?” Ty asked, doing that half-glance from earlier, but more… shy.

Kit huffed a little. “Yes. I’m pretty sure I call you smart all the time. I’ve always thought that, even before we became friends, and now that I know you better, I also know you’re brilliant. You’re a genius,”

Tiberius—Ty, c’mon Kit, you can do this—hummed, kind of like Julian and Kit were prone to doing. Kit wondered if he’d picked it up from them. “So you consider it a fact about me?”

“Yes,”

“Like being attractive?”

Kit should just throw himself into the oncoming traffic while he still had the chance. Life was too difficult around people that inspired honesty and praise. Kit couldn’t handle it. 

“I would say so, yeah,”

Ty raised a brow, also like Julian did, still only half-looking at Kit. There was a brief pause before he asked his next question, but he switched topics entirely.

“I have another question about what happened. Can you explain what was happening during the threatening situation? As in, whoever Allen Davis is, and those… references about things Jonah apparently knew? And what you said, about knowing everything about everyone, but no one would ever know?”

Damn, Kit was glad Ty already knew his dad was a criminal because otherwise he’d be concerned about getting reported to the police. 

Not that Ty seemed like he would do that even if he didn’t know about Kit’s dad. For some reason, he seemed to enjoy that Kit was sketchy as fuck.

They were finally able to cross the street, so Kit let himself think over his reply while they walked. 

When they were finally in the parking lot of the K-Mart and getting close to entering, he tackled the answer.

“You might already know this about my dad from Julian and Emma, but although he can do some learned spells and sells both real and scam magic services—minor ones—he’s best known for being an informant and a blackmailer,”

Ty nodded, not alarmed by the information. Kit figured that Julian and Emma had given the twins a rundown on Johnny Rook.

“He’s taught me some things, but most of what I’ve learned has just been from watching him and then learning the rest on my own,” Kit didn’t mention that he also snooped through his dad’s devices. Johnny Rook wasn’t really a master of digital security. It was good that most of the people in the Market didn’t deal in technology. It would be funny if it weren’t dangerous. 

“I observe and find information at the Market for him sometimes too, but I rarely do it on my own there. It’s too risky. School is safe though, and good practice, so that’s what I do. I guess you could call it my training grounds. I try to have something on everyone, but researching someone is usually saved for problematic people. It also helps in keeping out of trouble actually, since occasionally things can get out of my control. Having information on others gives me the upper-hand. It can be to charm them—I’m not always blackmailing or threatening people. Actually, I rarely ever do. It’s how I get all my teachers to like me and forgive me if I ever mess up. I know what makes them tick, good and bad,”

Ty’s face was blatantly curious as he listened. “I had wondered about that before. How everyone seems to like you even though no one knows everything about you, and teachers never seem to question you or seem concerned, even when you’re absent for a while,”

“That’s me trying to keep out of trouble, stay in people’s good graces,” Kit groaned. “It’s not fun though. I’m an introvert. Couldn’t tell you if it’s from nature or nurture though. Basically, if people like me, I’m less likely to get in trouble, even if I’m caught doing anything weird. I learn about the student body and the staff in general, but also look into things on an individual level. That being said, it doesn't always work. Sometimes people like me way too much, like Jonah, and that can be a problem. Very rarely, someone dislikes me, but that’s honestly less annoying that being liked too much,”

“I get why that would be a problem,” Ty agreed. “Did you do that with Livvy and I?”

Ty’s voice sounded innocent enough, like it was casual curiosity. Like he almost wouldn’t care about the answer. 

Tiberius was different—maybe none of this bothered him. Still, Kit couldn’t help but want to flinch. 

They were finally inside the store, the cool air-conditioning washing over them as they entered. Ty grabbed a basket nearby. 

“No,” he said, and it was true. He hadn’t done any personalized research on the Blackthorn twins, like finding them online or looking into their past. He’d just… watched. And listened. 

Ty gave him a surprised sort of look even as he led them towards the directories.

“Really,” Kit couldn’t blame the other boy for being a bit suspicious of that answer. “I just paid more attention than usual, I guess, and I always pay attention. When you first started school, everyone was gossiping about you two. I just had to listen and apply common sense to anything that sounded too far-fetched. And it was easy to double-check things. Were you rich? I just had to look at your clothes, your devices, or listen when you answered questions about your personal lives. Were you geniuses? I just had to watch you in class. Were you strong? Livia was always winning trophies for Track and Field and other sports, and I knew about your fights, too—which, I’ve been in the crowd of like, three of your fights. You punch hard ,”

“I’m supposed to—I don’t like fighting or combat training, but I am good at it,” Ty shook his head a little. “But why didn’t you research us? You’ve said that you noticed us watching you,”

Kit hoped he never had to do physical work in front of Ty. He didn’t need the embarrassment. 

He also really hoped he had a decent answer, because the reason he’d never looked into the Blackthorn twins despite being so fucking aware of them all the time was… mostly because they felt real. 

Everyone at school felt almost fake to Kit, despite him knowing so much about them. They didn’t feel like people. Maybe it was because they were so separated from his world. Their lives felt like a show, fake, plastic, engineered.

The Blackthorns had made Kit nervous, sure, but they also seemed aware . They observed the space around them almost like Kit did, and when their sharp eyes landed on him, he’d been reminded of himself. 

He’d thought, they’re too real, I can’t do it to them. They aren’t random, vague, like characters. They’re too present .

And then he had thought, I always research to avoid trouble. If I look into them, the only thing I’ll find is trouble . 

In a way, he’d been both very right and very wrong. 

They were amazing, kind, friendly, and fun. And they were also physically trained, aware of the fey, and had relations to the Unseelie Court. He’d found trouble for sure, considering he’d be hiding all of this from his father for the rest of his life. 

But it was fun. 

Still, how did you explain that to someone? Any other reason would sound a bit pathetic or improbable, but the truth was so goddamn weird .

Eventually, Ty looked away from the signs and the aisles to instead look back at Kit, who had slowed down. “Kit? What’s the answer?”

Kit wished he didn’t have to say it, but he was terrible at denying Tiberius. What was up with that? He usually never had trouble telling people no. 

“It’s hard to put into words,” Kit started. “But… when I’m outside of the Market, I have this weird habit. I feel like other people aren’t quite… real? It’s stupid, but their lives are so displaced from the Market, the fey, magic and magical creatures, and it’s strange to me. They seem like characters almost. I know they’re just regular people, but it doesn’t feel that way. They’re so unaware, so oblivious. Like they’re in a bubble. So it doesn’t bother me at all to research them,”

Kit wondered how people would react if they knew he thought about them that way.

He continued. “From the beginning, I was sort of… hyper aware of you and Livia—Livvy. You looked… right , I guess? I had no clue that you knew about the fey, I don’t really suspect that of anyone, but you looked present in a way that made it feel, for the first time, intrusive to look into you. I was super curious, because you watched me the way I watched everyone else. But since it reminded me of me , I felt uncomfortable. I also thought it probably meant you were trouble, but the kind I should avoid rather than look into. Like me and my dad,”

Ty had paused looking at the aisles and instead turned around to stare at Kit with the same shocked look he always gave him. It was all wide eyes and slightly parted lips, like he’d never seen Kit before. 

Kit waited nervously for his response, looking around a little. He tried to distract himself from his growing mortification at his honest reply by wondering if he should maybe shoplift some hot chocolate powder to hide from his dad.

Finally, finally, Ty spoke. “I don’t do it for the same reason that you do, but… I think I might understand what you mean?”

That would be a miracle.

Actually, the miracle was that Ty wasn’t calling him a sociopath. Not that Ty would do that anyway, but still. 

“Uh, how so? Because I sound crazy to myself,”

Kit was decently sure he was at least a little bit crazy. He’d spent too much time watching the weirdest shit go down at the Market for him to be totally, 100% sane.

“Well, I think it’s mostly just because people really do work differently than me. I’m autistic—I think you might have already known that. How I think is different from most people. And even if they can explain their mental or emotional process, and it can even sort of make sense… it really doesn’t make complete sense. People thinking differently than me isn’t shocking or anything, but I still can’t live how they do. My way makes sense in my head, usually. And imagining reality differently than the way I see it is difficult, so it kind of feels like they’re not… alive right ? I know I’m wrong when I think that. And well, with my family, they still feel closer to me, especially Livvy and Julian, because I’m familiar and accustomed to their logic. I can see their version of being alive and it’s natural. But most people don’t even feel like they’re inhabiting the same world as me,”

Kit hadn’t considered that when he’d tried to explain himself, but it made sense. He didn’t know what it was like to be Ty, but Ty still felt very present and real to Kit. And Ty was different from plenty of people, and it could be like almost living in two different worlds when everything from your perception to how you interact with it is different.

Objectively, Kit and Ty lived in the same world as everyone else. They lived in the same world as each other. But they viewed it from different lenses—both of them knowing about the fey world, Kit growing up as a criminal’s child in the Market, Ty being autistic in a family permanently involved in fey politics.

Technically, their classmates lived in the same world that Kit and Ty did—they just didn’t know that.

Still, he wasn’t sure what to say to it. 

Then Ty followed up with, “You make sense,”

Kit raised his brows, taken aback. “Do I?”

That made Ty laugh. “Not exactly. You behave in a way I can’t. The way you talk to Julian is bizarre. But you still feel real? It’s hard to put into words. You still feel like part of my world—all the different parts of it that other people can’t understand. Even when we were at the Market, and I finally spoke to you, I didn’t know anything about you, but it felt kind of familiar. Like being around Livvy, almost. I might not know why you do things the way you do, or even how you do them, but instead of you feeling less real, it just feels like you’re alive as I am, just different, in a good way,”

Kit knew that Tiberius didn’t typically like things being different, so even though the statement was said almost factually, it still kind of felt like praise.

And there was also a ridiculous amount of relief.

“That’s good,” he settled on. “That even though we both kind of view people like this, we still seem alive to each other,”

“It would be a little odd if we didn’t,” Ty turned back to the aisle, his hands fluttering at his sides. It didn’t strike Kit as anxious—rather, Ty sounded pleased. “It’s not the same, but it’s similar,”

They continued walking around, Ty leading them towards the kitchen section. Strange, but alright.

Eventually, they found themselves standing in front of several different types of cooking and baking tools. Tiberius had started looking curious, but had started to frown after a few minutes passed. 

“Why are we looking at kitchen utensils?” Kit asked lightly. 

“I melted one of ours while doing a test with Dru. It was her idea, and she needed it for something? I think she wanted to make sure it withstood heat, and she knows I like testing things, and fire. It melted and also burned a bit, and Julian could smell it and found us. We didn’t make too much of a mess, but he wasn’t very happy. The fumes could be dangerous, but… he also said it was the only folding spatula we had? I thought maybe I should buy another one, but I don’t know what makes it a folding spatula. I thought it might be more obvious once I saw them all, but now I’m less sure,”

Kit pursed his lips in an effort to not laugh. 

Ty was starting to look a little embarrassed now.

The laughter couldn’t be helped then.

Ty groaned, like he’d almost known Kit’s laugh was coming. Kit wondered if the other Blackthorns had also laughed when they’d undoubtedly heard Ty and his little sister’s idea. 

He felt a bit bad, but really, who tested a spatula’s heat resistance by presumably setting it on fire, or whatever they must have done?

And c’mon, Tiberius’ confusion about a “folding spatula” was genuine, but it was also kind of cute and funny. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Kit fanned his face a little, trying to stop his giggling when a worker peeked into the aisle to give him a look. “It’s just an interesting story,”

Ty smacked his arm softly. “I know you’re laughing at me,”

“Not meanly, I promise! Look, I’ll help,” Kit regarded the selection in front of them. “I’m no cook, but I think he meant folding in baking, probably. I’ve watched enough baking videos on YouTube to guess that. What did it look like?”

Ty still looked kind of pouty, but he gestured at a row of silicone spatulas. “Okay, so it kind of looked like these, but… they don’t look like spatulas? It’s just what Julian called it, and I don’t get how it’s a folding one either. I do not cook, or bake, or watch videos about it,”

“They’re not foldable. They’re kinda like a mixer tool, but the way you handle them makes it look like you’re folding the ingredients into each other. They’re also called silicone spatulas, although yeah, they don’t look like what most people think spatulas are. Not having it just means it might be a little harder to mix things in a certain way when Julian is baking,”

Ty made a little ‘o’ face. “Alright. So it is kind of a bad name, that’s not my fault,”

“Yeah, although I don’t know what we would call them instead,” Kit looked them over. “There’s a few different brands. Since you’re making it up to him, you’ll probably want to get a nice one. Give me a moment,”

He honestly didn’t think the one they got mattered that much. Julian seemed like he would be touched just by Ty trying to make it up to him. 

But for the sake of effort, he spent a couple of minutes looking at a few reviews on his phone. 

Ty wasn’t looking at the spatulas anymore and was instead looking at Kit, as he was still prone to doing whenever Kit seemed distracted (Kit always noticed). 

He settled on one of the spatulas that seemed to be the most well-liked. Apparently it was “easy to wash” and “didn’t cause strain on the wrist”. Baking folk were opinionated

“The internet says this is the best, out of the selection here,” he stepped closer and pointed to one at the very top. His fingers didn’t quite reach it. 

If he were at home, he’d just grab a chair or climb the counter to reach whatever was too high up for him. 

Seeing as he was in public, he wasn’t about to go the spider-monkey route. 

As it was, Ty just stepped up behind Kit and reached over him to grab it, momentarily placing one hand on Kit’s shoulder. 

Kit’s breath caught in his throat, startled by the closeness and contact. Ty ran warmer than Kit did, and now Kit’s back and shoulder felt hot. 

And his face. 

Ty pulled down the spatula and held it in front of them for a moment, still pressed against Kit. “This one, right?”

Kit swallowed hard. “Yup, that one. Is it okay?”

“You know more about this than I do, so I’ll go with it,” Ty said, stepping away from Kit and tossing the spatula in his basket. 

Kit still felt warm, but he would just have to power through his stupid reaction. “Did you need anything else?”

“Notebooks, maybe,” Ty looked up at the directory signs again. Kit usually just walked around until he found stuff. Ty was smarter than Kit for sure. “Do you want anything?”

Kit had thought about it, but other than food, there was nothing he needed. He felt a bit awkward grabbing what he usually craved for, sugary snacks, or even fruits and vegetables.

It would become even more obvious that Kit was usually hungry, that whatever food he got at home wasn’t quite enough.

TV dinners might keep him alive, but Kit knew it wasn’t ideal. Sometimes he just wanted a damn apple.

He shrugged. “I’m good,”

Ty tilted his head at him and looked at him for a moment before nodding and walking towards their next goal.

Kit followed behind, looking around. He wasn’t usually worried about running into dangerous people nearby the school, but part of him couldn’t shake the habit. He always felt the need to have everyone around him accounted for and their “danger level” assessed. 

Sometimes, Kit thought he was almost as paranoid as his father. 

“Kit,” Ty started as he guided them towards the stationary and notebooks. “You said you’re only ever at home, the Market, or school and the places nearby, like here. What do you do when you’re home?”

That was depressing to think about.

“Nothing much. Schoolwork, reading, playing video games, watching stuff. Learning whatever my dad wants me to learn,”

He didn’t mention he’d spent a considerable amount of time hiding in his own basement from whatever people and creatures entered his house for his father’s services. 

“What do you learn? At home, we do physical training, and tutoring about the fey and history, old stories. Livvy says we have an antiquated curriculum,”

That sounded like one topic Kit would suck at (physical training) and one he’d ace (the fey). 

“Nothing good,” Kit settled on. He caught up to Tiberius properly, lowering his voice a little. No reason for random people to overhear him. “Just, stuff of his trade. Pickpocketing, lock picking, shoplifting, other methods of thievery. Acting, bartering, observation. Sleight of hand. Some faerie-related stuff, but most of that I catch at the Market. No magic, though,”

Like usual, Ty just looked curious rather than bothered by Kit’s lifestyle. 

“Sleight of hand? Could you show me that?” he turned his bright eyes to Kit, only making brief eye contact and instead leveling his gaze near Kit’s cheek.

“An example, or teaching? I’m not sure I can teach it. I’m good at learning and imitating—not so much explaining,”

Ty chuckled a bit. He had a soft, yet almost raspy type of voice. Rich, cultured. 

Well, except when he giggled with Livvy, which was mostly just cute and high. 

“You’ve been great at explaining things to Livvy and I,” he said, reaching out with the hand not holding the basket. He tugged at Kit’s shirt collar, centering it.

Kit, by some divine intervention, did not jump out of his skin. Ty was surprisingly casual about touching Kit. 

“I don’t need you to teach me,” Ty continued. “I just want to see you do it,”

Cool, Kit could do that. Part of him liked showing off to Ty. 

“I’ll show you after we finish paying,”

Ty smiled, small but sweet.

Chapter Text

September 29th, 2023

Ty had never gone shopping without a family member before. 

He’d also never gone to the K-Mart near the school before. There were stores closer to home that Julian preferred. 

When he’d asked Kit about ditching, he’d sort of expected that he’d become nervous the second they left school grounds. 

(If there was one positive thing about school, is that he had the same schedule every day, and if it was going to change for testing or assemblies or any event, there were usually warnings several days beforehand. Ty rarely got surprises).

(Except fire drills, which were the worst. Between the bright flashing lights, the shrill alarm, and the fact that the entire student body flooded into the halls in stampede-like crowds that were then forced to go outside regardless of the weather… it was, as Livvy had put it to a teacher, Ty’s personal Hell). 

Still… leaving the school with Kit leading the way had been astoundingly easy. New things always seemed easier with Kit in general, like going to the courtyard, talking in class, or finding Kit in the mornings instead of sitting in a secluded area with Livvy until the bell rang. 

Not all of the changes were simple all the time, and Ty found himself floundering at certain things that were affected by changing his schedule to center around time with Kit, but… it was better. It was better like how greeting guests was always easier when Julian took the lead with him, or how it was easier to try a new food if Livvy was also having it for the first time. 

Kit made it like that too. Being late to class had bothered Ty, and everything about Jonah had been unsettling, but then Kit handled it. Sure, Ty had suggested ditching and made a case for it, but he hadn’t been confident until Kit had agreed.

Ty had never even walked around the area near the school before, but Kit moved forward and all Ty had to do was… follow. 

Then, when Ty was able to ask questions, Kit answered. He didn’t tell Ty no, or later  or stop bothering me, or it doesn’t matter. He just told Ty what he wanted to know.

And he’d complimented him. A lot, actually. Ty was used to that from his family, but it was entirely different when it came from others. In fact, he often didn’t like it when teachers complimented him on his work, because he was never quite sure if he believed them.

When Kit did it, it just made him happy. Not jittery or unsure or hesitant.

It did make him a bit awkward. Ty was aware that blushing tended to embarrass people in books and shows, and while he didn’t really understand why he was also embarrassed, it wasn’t terrible at least. Kit didn’t seem to be bothered.

Kit didn’t blush, as far as Ty could tell. Even when he was complimented, he tended to openly disagree with the compliment if it was from Ty or Livvy, or say a casual “thanks” if it came from a classmate or teacher. 

Ty wondered what it would take for Kit to turn pink. Ty himself seemed to mostly just need Kit to look at him and say something nice. 

He could ask Livvy for help… but Ty also wanted to figure it out on his own. 

Observation, experiments, scientific trial and error, those were things Ty understood. They were his skills. Using them to make Kit blush shouldn’t be too hard. 

Like this whole shopping thing wasn’t hard. Even though he was the one picking the aisles and where they went now, it was Kit’s company that put him at ease. 

Ty had considered this pattern for a while, and had come to what felt like a conclusion:

From the meeting at the Market to the present day, Kit had continually helped Ty, for no reason other than he seemed to want to, and he did it without ever seeming annoyed. Ty was sure that was part of the reason why things went smoother with Kit. If anything got hard, Ty could trust that Kit would help.

And he didn’t help Ty while acting like Ty was a child incapable of taking care of himself. He didn’t dumb Ty down or make him feel stupid, he just did what he could like it wasn’t a big deal. 

There were things about Kit that absolutely confused Ty though. Not really troublesome, just interesting, but weird. 

Like the way Kit walked. He made no noise, even on just-cleaned linoleum tiles. Ty was working on figuring that one out. 

The criminal background was also interesting. Ty didn’t have any sleight of hand skills, so he was confused by Kit’s apparent confidence in anything relating to it, but it was intriguing. 

Kit wasn’t how Ty had imagined criminals would be, mean and rough, cruel and devious, or even desperate and uncontrollable. He spoke of the Market and his father like that, but never seemed to encapsulate it himself. 

Well, except when he’d threatened Jonah. That was also confusing and an incredibly compelling character trait to study, really. Ty knew he was going to stay up all night rewinding the moment Kit changed from bothered to angry. Everything about him changed, his expression, his movements, his voice. It had been instantaneous and smooth, and yet Ty couldn’t help but think that Kit’s behavior had been nearly… feral, like an animal going from a calm warning to an outright attack. 

It was fascinating. 

But now, Kit was walking calmly, just a pace or two behind Ty as he shopped, barely glancing at the things Ty grabbed—a new notebook, black with gold edges, sticky notes for Livvy because she ran out quickly and then would try to steal his. 

Kit took out his phone while Ty peered at the price of strawberries. 

“We should leave in maybe fifteen minutes if we want to be back on time for the bell,” he said, brushing a strand of hair from his face. Kit’s hair was pale gold and wavy, usually loosely swept to the side. Some strands tended to fall in front of his face when he moved around. Ty liked seeing him push it back into place, a practiced gesture, but he’d wondered if maybe Kit would like a hair clip to stop it from happening. 

“Alright. I just want to get one more thing,” he put the strawberries back, deciding he’d just ask Julian to buy more for Mark. These ones didn’t seem as nice as their usual ones, so Ty didn’t feel like paying for them.

There was one thing left that he was willing to pay for.

Ever since the talk with Julian, Ty had tried to ask Kit more about his favorite things. Colors, animals, flowers, things that Ty had very steadfast opinions on. But even though Kit usually thought for a moment, he always shrugged and said he didn’t know. 

He didn’t get how Kit couldn’t have a favorite animal, or even a mental list of good ones. Rather, from the way Kit talked about insects, which Ty liked, it seemed like Kit wasn’t actually very good with most creatures. And he was definitely scared of spiders.

When Ty met people that didn’t seem to like animals, he thought they were spectacularly boring. But Kit was kind of funny about it. Instead of disliking animals, they seemed to make him nervous. He’d admitted he had a lack of hands-on experience with any outside of faerie beasts. Ty was confident that introducing Kit to Church would be very funny to watch. 

Basically, Kit didn’t have a lot of favorites.

But Ty knew he liked chocolate. Not only from observation, but because Kit had said it, when Julian asked. 

So maybe Ty couldn’t share facts about Kit’s favorite animal or help him organize his notes with his favorite colors, but at the very least he could get him something chocolate-y.

Kit stayed on his phone now even as he followed behind Ty, glancing up occasionally. Ty wondered if he was looking for something. He looked over his shoulder to watch Kit for a few moments. 

Every time his eyes moved away from his phone to look at something, Ty glanced in that direction to try and figure it out. 

After a while, Ty realized Kit wasn’t looking at something until a second or two after his eyes moved. 

His eyes would start on his phone before flicking upwards. It was only ever when they were walking past the metal shelving of the aisles, before they could actually see inside them. 

A couple of steps later when the long halls were fully visible, his eyes would flicker to whoever was standing there.

When no one was in the next aisle, his eyes stayed on his phone. Every time he looked up, just moments later, someone would become visible. Even if they weren’t being loud, and had by no means been in their field of vision when Kit first looked up. 

Ty almost opened his mouth to ask Kit how. And why. 

How was Kit able to tell people were there before they could hear or see them? Ty was good at noticing when people were nearby, and any noise that sounded even a bit out of place tended to catch his attention. He could spot weird shadows or flickering movements in his peripheral vision faster than the rest of the Blackthorns. 

But they were still in his peripherals, or he could kind of feel their gaze on him, like many of the other “Shadowhunters” could do.

Kit was somehow spotting people preemptively, while they were completely out of sight and not even looking at them. 

He kept watching Kit over his shoulder like this for several more moments before Kit’s eyes moved to meet Ty’s gaze. Ty blinked, startled.

Kit had very bright eyes. They were a pale sky blue, but there was something about the color that was very intense. Maybe it was the way Kit’s eyes were always a bit lidded, like how when Livvy or Dru took pictures of their makeup looks. He had thick eyelashes, the same pale gold as his hair. The blue looked saturated in comparison. 

Ty had known this about Kit in a vague way for years, when they were just classmates. It was hard to miss how bright his eyes were, not like any blue he’d seen on someone before. But it was their meeting in the Fey Market, when Ty had held a knife to Kit’s throat, that really made it apparent. 

Even with Kit, Ty rarely made direct eye contact. It was in part because Ty still didn’t like it much, but also because he got caught up in trying to define the shape of his eyes and it distracted him.

“What?” Kit asked, and Ty looked away, looking forward. 

If Ty asked now, Kit might tell him. But Ty kind of wanted to see what would happen if he just continued to observe.

He turned towards the bakery section, and Kit followed.

“What were you looking at?” Ty asked instead. “On your phone?”

“A website,” Kit flashed the screen at Ty. Kit always kept his phone’s brightness on the absolute lowest setting, like Ty did. Livvy complained about it whenever they tried showing her anything. 

Ty peered at the screen. There was a long, multiple-paragraph length of text on it, with a lot of italics and bold. “What is it?”

“Tumblr,” Kit shrugged, pocketing his phone. “It’s a blogging website? People post about basically anything they want,”

Ty wasn’t sure what he’d expected Kit to do on his phone, but it certainly wasn’t that. “Do you blog?”

Kit laughed, looking around at the tables stacked high with different boxes of cookies, cakes, pies, and pastries. “No, I don’t. I have an account to look at other people’s things. Like a huge amount of the user base, the majority really, post about books, shows, movies, and games. I watch and read a lot of stuff to stay entertained at home. A book series I like is getting a show, and the teaser dropped a while ago, so I was looking at people’s reactions,”

Ty tracked how often Kit’s gaze stopped at any particular item, even as he thought about Kit’s response. 

It did make sense, Kit did read a lot. Livvy had said that even during their off-period, Kit was often making his way through whatever book he’d nicked from the library. 

For the sake of conversation, Ty asked, “Did you like it?”

Kit hummed, pausing briefly in front of a pumpkin pie and tilting his head at it. Ty mentally noted that down. “I’m excited for it, I think…”

He glanced at Ty. “You know how you like Sherlock Holmes?”

“Yes,” Ty couldn’t help but grin. 

“I guess these books are my Sherlock Holmes?” Kit moved away from the pumpkin pie and then stopped by a tray of cinnamon rolls, which he squinted at. 

Interesting reaction, also noted down, but—

“Really? Are they… your favorite?” Ty asked.

“Hm. I guess? I’ve read a lot of stuff that I really like, so it’s hard to pick favorites, but I’ve been reading these books since I was like… 11, and I still reread them,” Kit looked away from the cinnamon rolls. His eyes passed over the apple tarts without pause but then slowed at a table full of cookies. “They’re more like… comfort books, maybe,”

Alright, that made sense. The Sherlock Holmes novels were both Ty’s favorite and his comfort books. 

“Which books are they?”

“Ever heard of Percy Jackson?”

Ty had never read them himself, but he’d definitely heard about them. “Yes. I think Dru likes them? She mostly reads horror stories and thrillers but I think she has the Percy Jackson box set in her room,”

“Oh, that’s cool. I wonder if she’d read all the others,” Kit was smiling now. “I’ve read most of the books by that author—there’s the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, the Heroes of Olympus, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, and more recently the Trials of Apollo, although I haven’t finished that series because it’s emotionally damaging. Oh and I haven’t read The Sun and The Star yet either since I really should finish ToA first, and then there's the new Chalice of the Gods book…”

Has Kit ever really talked about the things he liked to read before? Ty didn’t think he had—it was kind of fascinating. 

“But yeah, the original series is definitely the one I know like the back of my hand,” Kit continued. “And it’s getting a show on Disney+, but we don’t have any streaming services. I’ll have to figure out how to watch it. Even if I’m hesitant, there’s no way I’m not going to watch it. The author was actually involved this time, so it’ll turn out better than the movies. And the cast seems promising, and it’s supposed to get several seasons if everything goes well, so it’s actually possible that we’ll get a full, true-to-the-book adaptation of the entire thing, which would be amazing if it goes well—”

And then Kit paused and looked at Ty. “Oh, sorry, I’m rambling. I guess I had more thoughts about it than I thought. I’m not used to talking about anything that I read,”

Ty had the very sudden weird feeling of looking into a mirror. He and Kit were vastly different in a lot of ways, but their similarities were striking to him every time they found one. 

“I don’t usually get to talk much about Sherlock Holmes,” Ty said slowly. “So I also tend to… well, the term is info-dump, but I prefer ramble? I don’t mind if you do it as well, about your interests. It’s another thing we have in common,”

Kit stared at Ty for a long moment. “...I guess so. Um, since we can text now, you can message me about Sherlock Holmes sometimes if you’d like. I’m not super familiar with the novels, but I know the basics,”

Ty’s hands were searching for a fidget toy in his pockets—he’d taken a fidget slider to school that day—in an effort to not grab Kit excitedly. It didn’t really feel like enough, but he tried to focus on that. “That would be fun, and I like explaining it, so I don’t mind if you don’t know everything. I know basically nothing about Percy Jackson except that it has Greek mythology in it, so I don’t mind if you explain things either,”

That was good. Ty could be totally calm about this. It wasn’t like Kit hadn’t just given him one of the nicest things someone could do for him—the space and attention to talk about a special interest. 

“Great, it’ll be fun. Maybe we’ll get each other to read the books we like,” Kit nodded.

Cool. That was cool. Ty wouldn’t go absolutely crazy if he found out Kit read any of the Sherlock Holmes novels. He’d have time to mentally prepare for it, right?

“Anyway, what are you looking for here?” Kit looked around the bakery again. 

Ty sort of felt like just buying everything Kit seemed interested in now, but that wouldn’t be a smart idea. “Um. What’s the best type of pastry?”

“Cookies,” Kit said immediately, before his jaw clicked shut and he looked away a little. “If I had to pick, I guess,”

Huh.

Ty had thought Kit didn’t have many favorites, but perhaps he was asking about the wrong things. He’d asked about things that interested him or even affected him in his day-to-day life, like animals, flowers, and colors. Maybe Kit had never really figured out his favorites for those things.

But he did have an opinion on books, and clearly an opinion on pastries, too. Maybe Ty just had to ask the right questions about the right topics.

He was going to need a list. 

“Cookies,” Ty repeated. “They’re good. Julian makes cookies sometimes. I like butterscotch ones,”

The best way to get someone to share their opinion on something was to give yours first. 

“I’m not sure I’ve ever had butterscotch cookies. My favorite would probably be chocolate chip,” Kit admitted. “I remember having snickerdoodles once as a kid and I liked those too,”

So, the way to get Kit to talk was asking about what he read, and sugary things. Ty was making excellent progress. 

Ty turned to an array of different chocolate cookies, grabbing the box that seemed to have the softest and chewiest. He really didn’t like hard or crumbly cookies, and he wasn’t going to take any criticism on that. Kit’s preferences were important, but certain textures couldn’t be tolerated, even if Ty wasn’t the one that was receiving the cookies. 

So he grabbed one box of chocolate cookies and another of snickerdoodles and put them in the basket. “Alright, finished,”

Kit stared at him, a sort of non-expression on his face. “What?”

“I got what I needed,” Ty led the way to the self check-out. He’d never used one before, but it seemed preferable to talking to the cashiers. “Do you know how to use a self check-out machine?”

“I don’t usually pay for things,” Kit replied. His legs had to move much faster to keep up with Ty. “But yes, I’ve done it once or twice. Why’d you buy cookies?”

Ty shrugged, squinting at the instructions on the screen when they reached a free check-out station. “Oh, good, I can pay in cash,”

“Tiberi—I mean, Ty, why’d you buy cookies?”

“To eat,” Ty replied, grinning now. It was weirdly exciting to get Kit to call him Ty . He liked the sound of it, the way his head tingled at it.

Kit didn’t ask again after that and instead just watched Ty as he scanned all the items and fed the machine a few bills, putting the items in bags after Ty handed them to him. 

It reminded Ty a little of watching Emma and Julian whenever he tagged along to the shopping—Julian paying and making small talk with the cashier while Emma bagged the items at high speed, like it was a challenge. 

It probably was a challenge. Emma treated everything like something to be conquered. 

After paying and taking the bags from Kit, they were quick to head out, Ty pleased with his purchases as he tried pocketing the change.

“Wait up,” Kit said, holding out his hand. “You wanted to see some sleight of hand, right?”

Oh, yes, true. He handed the coins to Kit without pause as they stepped outside of the store, moving away from the entrance. 

“We’ll keep it simple,” Kit looked over the palms in his hands and held them up for Ty to see. Ty had handed him two quarters, a dime, and a nickel. Now, he could only see the quarters and the nickel. “Okay, three coins, all in one hand. Except, not really,”

His hands twitched, keeping several inches of space between them. The fingers themselves didn’t move, but when he flicked them ever so slightly upwards, one of the quarters was in his previously empty hand.

Ty blinked. “Do that again,”

“Sure,” Kit grinned. The same thing—a minor flick of the wrist, absolutely no contact with the second hand or a flashing of the coin, and now one hand had two quarters while the one one only had a nickel.

He rolled the nickel across his knuckles, still keeping his hands far apart, and suddenly all the coins were in the hand that had started out empty. 

“And now, I’ll take one quarter,” Kit narrated as he moved his hands. “And toss it in the air. Will I catch it?”

He tossed the coin up, but it never came down—instead, the quarter appeared back into the hand holding the coins, but at the bottom instead of falling in at the top.

How?

“Pretty simple,” Kit showed Ty his hands, palms up, showing the three coins. He closed them and opened them back up to show they were empty.

“And look here, the one that was missing,” he reached out, hand empty and outstretched, patting Ty’s shoulder carefully. When he pulled back, the missing dime was in his pinched fingers.

“Thanks for lending me the props,” Kit said, flicking the dime up in the air, catching it, and then showing a quarter in his hand instead. “I’ll give them back now,”

He threw the quarter up this time, caught it, and then showed Ty his empty hands. “Check your pockets,”

Ty dug his pocket into his hoodie to find the four coins back inside.

Ty wished he were filming. “How did you do that? I know it’s all a trick, but—I never even saw your hands touch properly,”

“You know what they say about magicians,” Kit chuckled. “They never reveal their secrets,”

Maybe that was why Kit was a bit cagey about certain topics, like his dad. Never revealing secrets seemed relevant to his life. 

“But that was just… human magic, right? As in, no magic at all, since humans can learn spells and enchantments,” Ty knew Johnny Rook could do some spells.

“Just human, yeah, simple sleight of hand. It’s all in the illusion,” Kit started walking again. He walked in short, fast strides. “I don’t think my dad plans on teaching me any actual magic for a long time. I figure I’ll have to learn eventually,”

Ty tried his best to match his pace to Kit’s as they started walking back. Ty had realized as they left the school that he definitely walked faster than Kit, even though Kit looked like he was ready to break into a sprint most of the time. 

“Thanks for showing me. You should show me tricks every once in a while. Once a week, maybe,” 

Kit didn’t seem bothered. “Sure, I can do that. Although I can’t say the same for ditching,”

Well, that made sense.

“It’s kind of fun,” Ty admitted. “Like adding extra time to the day, almost. I don’t think I’d want to do it by myself though,”

“Let's not make it too much of a habit, or Julian will definitely think it’s my fault,” Kit warned, smiling faintly. “But yeah, it does feel like extra time, especially since my routine has always been pretty rigid outside of Market nights,”

He was glancing at the bag with the cookies every few moments now. Ty wondered if it meant that Kit was relaxed, because Ty could observe and catalog his movements so easily, or if he wasn’t at all aware of his movements. 

He did seem to be quite honest the second sugar got involved, like his enjoyment of the chocolate milkshake when they ate with Julian.

“How do you know when you’ll go to the Market?” 

“My dad usually tells me in the morning, or sends a text. I get everything we need packed up—or at least everything I’m allowed to know about—and we head out, usually around sunset. If he tells me in person, I sometimes don’t go to school at all, but when he tells me by text I’m usually already here,”

Kit really was excellent at answering questions. When he actually answered (which, the only times he didn’t were with Ty’s prodding ‘favorite things’ questions over the past few weeks, or when they originally asked him about his father), he always seemed to give Ty well-rounded information and details. 

Ty thought Kit wouldn’t be as bad at teaching as he seemed to think he was. 

~~~~~~~

“So,” Kit finally asked, when they were counting down the last few minutes of the school day in the courtyard (it was impressive how widely the courtyard was ignored). “Were you just craving cookies?”

Ty took the two boxes out of the bag and set them beside him. “Take however many you want,”

Kit blinked slowly. “Hm?”

“Cookies. Take as many as you want. You can have the entire box if you’d like,”

“You’re… giving me the cookies?”

“Yes,”

Kit frowned now, and Ty wondered if he’d done something wrong. “Why?”

…Why?

“Because you like them,” Ty answered. “I can’t always be a friend that understands all the emotions someone is feeling, but I know people are happy with things they like. You like sweet things, right? Such as chocolate. You don’t seem to have many favorite things, which actually matter a lot to me, but now I know you do have an opinion on this,”

“Is that why you keep asking me about my favorite things?” Kit asked. He was doing that flat expression again, the one with no hint to follow as to how he was actually feeling.

“Well, yes. I want to be a good friend,”

Ty didn’t like thinking about his childhood very much, the days they still interacted with a few of the other families in the LA area. Livvy was always very firm that they were the ones in the wrong, that they didn’t treat Ty correctly, but he couldn’t help but wonder if there was maybe more he could have done to put himself in their good graces. 

“Oh,” Kit looked at the cookies, and pulled the chocolate chip box closer to him. After a moment, he took one out and took a bite, and then grabbed a different cookie and offered it to Ty. 

Ty took it and hesitantly took a bite. 

After he swallowed, Kit spoke again. “I think you’re already a good friend, just by being yourself. But thanks—I’ll try to do the same,”

And then he looked at the boxes and said, “Wait, can I really take however many I want?”

Ty relaxed at that. Kit really did have a sweet tooth. “Mhmm,”

Now Kit’s grin was blinding, and Ty knew he’d made the right choice. 

Chapter Text

September 30th, 2023

In the end, after Ty explained the situation to Julian, he did not get in trouble for ditching. Julian warned him to not make a habit of it, much like Kit had, and then everything was fine.

Well, Livvy had been miffed about it, but had still demanded Ty come to her room and give her an even more detailed recount of the entire thing. She was extremely vocal about her new distaste for Jonah, was incredibly intrigued by Kit’s switch in behavior during that altercation, and had mostly just gaped at him in startled silence when he described the various compliments paid to him. 

“That’s so unfair!” she had exclaimed, all dramatics. “Most of the time he just compliments my performance in Track and Field or says I’m smart. Every once in a while I’ll show him part of my game project and he’ll say it’s really cool, but he doesn’t get that deep!”

Ty had just shrugged, laughing. “Maybe I’m his favorite,”

“But we’re a package deal! And favoritism with twins is just messed up!”

“I don’t actually think I’m his favorite. Although we do spend more time together, due to our schedules,”

Livvy groaned, flopping back on her bed and kicking her feet onto Ty’s lap. “I’ll have to convince him to take me somewhere during our off-period together. It’s not ditching if we don’t have class,”

Hm. That was true. Maybe Ty was the one who should be jealous, considering Kit and Livvy could leave campus during their 4th period and no one would care. Kit wouldn’t even be able to argue about them potentially getting in trouble.

Well, at least Ty was still the only one with Kit’s number. That gave him an advantage for sure.

October 1st, 2023

Holmes : Are you at your dad’s stall?

             Yeah, basically the same place where you saw me.

Holmes : What do you do there?

              People watch, pick pockets. Sometimes I’m sent to investigate something, or I organize the money and the inventory. If he’s sure it’s safe, I go and complete information exchanges or deals on his behalf, but that’s pretty rare. 

Holmes : Is it fun?

               It’s better than being home. My dad gets worried about me being a target, but I’ve never really felt unsafe here. I’m better-liked than he is, at least. 

              And everyone is on the same page — It’s not like I have to act like humans aren’t real, like how at school I act like the fey don’t exist. Everyone’s on the same page

Holmes : That’s like being home for me, then. Is the Market home?

              It’s more like the Market is not not home.

              What are you doing?

Holmes : Looking over Dru’s October schedule. She makes us watch movies every weekend of October (we just watched Nightmare on Elm Street. Didn’t like it much). Livvy’s looking forward to the Scream marathon closer to Halloween.

Holmes : Also, texting you of course. 

             I’ve watched the original Scream. I liked it, I’d like to see the rest sometime.

            Oh — Sorry Ty, I’ve got to do something. I’ll text you when I’m free again.

Holmes : Alright. I’ll ask Dru if the other Scream movies are any good.

Kit slid his phone into his pocket, hiding a smile at Ty’s reply and glancing at his father and then back again at the flash of green hair that disappeared into the crowd. Wren wasn’t exactly subtle when she called for him, but Johnny Rook was used to this. He didn’t like Wren much, but he didn’t consider her an active threat—no, Wren was like most of the Market, a passive danger that Kit had to be careful of, even as he learned all the ins-and-outs and came to familiarize himself with everyone.

“I’m going to walk around,” Kit said, jumping off the mountain of crates he’d been sitting atop of since they’d set up the stall. There was a lot more merchandise than usual being kept behind the booths, probably in preparation for Halloween. Normal humans thought it was just a fun time of year now, but there was some truth behind the legends of magic creatures crossing over as the separation between worlds thinned. 

Johnny Rook paused counting a stack of bills to take a look around the Market. Kit always wondered where all that money went—considering he wore most of his clothes until they were threadbare and they rarely bought food, Johnny Rook wasn’t keeping the majority of what he made.

Or he just didn’t want to spend the money on Kit.  

“Watch the crowd. You know how it gets this time of year,” his father paused and looked at Kit more closely for a moment. Kit wondered what he was looking for. “And remember, just because you know them—”

“—doesn’t mean they’re my friend,” Kit finished. “I know. The same way they all know I’m never someone to befriend either. I won’t be away too long,”

His dad just nods, still with a weird look on his face, but Kit takes it at permission.

Sometimes he’s allowed to walk the Market with no specific ulterior motive, but Kit was sure that his dad still expects something whenever Kit gets back. An observation, an overheard conversation, some stolen money and trinkets… Kit knew Johnny Rook always expected something of value to come out of Kit’s casual ventures.

At least Kit found it easy to deliver what his father usually wanted.

It only took a few minutes of walking through the throngs of people that he’d spotted several newcomers—this time of the year was one of the few where multiple fresh faces weren’t unusual. They were met not with suspicion, but with the sharp grins of conmen that knew they were going to bleed their unsuspecting wallets dry.

It was easy for anyone new to the Market around this time of the year to get lost in its superficial charm. It had been lit up, orange and gold lanterns at every stall and a criss-cross of red ivy and purple berries strung over the alleys. Voices crooned gently, calling the occasional unknowing and bewitched human deeper into the Market. 

The half-fey that grew up with their human parents, or changelings that had lived for years in the mortal realm, all of them were scooped up by greedy hands and sparkling flashes of magic. 

Despite the dangers, Kit loved the Market during October and November. The magic seemed almost fantastical—a hard thing to accomplish in front of someone like him, who couldn’t remember a life before the Markets. 

Sure, Kit also had to be more careful, but really, he was more like the other sellers and Market natives than the innocent buyers, the soon-to-be victims. They had no idea they were being robbed when he passed them, when he smiled and egged them to follow him towards his father’s stall. 

In this case, he instead flashed a smile towards a small group that began to follow behind him, taking them towards Wren’s area. She used to just lay down a woven rug and have her merchandise next to her, twinkling on a prettier piece of silk, but she’d upgraded to her own small booth. 

He never let them get close enough to grab him, instead keeping just out of sight, ducking into the seller’s pathways, hiding in shadows, smiling at them when he appeared in front of them once more. Kit had no magic, but he did have charm, physical appeal, and the fact that compared to the faeries, whose glamours weakened as the mortal world and Faerie grew closer and looked more horrifying, regardless if they were beautiful or not under their spells, Kit looked familiar—he looked human. 

He thought maybe the thinning glamours was part of the reason he enjoyed the classic “spooky season” more. The closer it got to Halloween, the closer everyone else got to seeing the world the way that Kit did.

When he reached Wren’s stall, he hid nearby, watching as the gaggle of college-aged students he’d tempted into following him looked around, a little lost. It seemed to be a few half-fey and one or two humans, likely friends or family members.

Wren called for them, and they came. She was human according to her parents, but she knew one of her grandparents had been a faerie. Still, there was nothing about her that looked off. Even her green hair was simply a good dye job. She had the Sight, and it had led to finding books left behind by her grandmother, full to the brim with spells. At least, that was the story she told Kit. 

She sold charms, mostly set up as jewelry. Necklaces, rings, bracelets, hair accessories. There were also pins and keychains, for customers who skewed more “blend-in” and “student”. 

The charms could be a variety of things. Protection, wealth, luck in love, even things like good recall. All of Wren’s charms were real—she did really overcharge though, but insisted it wasn’t really scamming when the charms did work. She bought most of her items at thrift shops, and sold them like they were handmade rather than just enchanted. 

It took only some effort to get the people he’d guided to her to eagerly buy items, mostly about good memory, luck in studying, and luck with money. No surprise there. 

When they’d walked away, ecstatic over their new trinkets and not yet thinking about how much they had paid for them, Kit left the shadows and plopped down next to Wren in the extra chair she’d left out. She’d been expecting him. 

“Thanks for the pigeons,” she grinned when she saw him, tilting her head at the quickly-disappearing group. “Did you even have to talk to them to get them to come this way?”

“You know I didn’t,” Kit stretched his arms over his head, cracking his back. His pockets were heavy with stolen profit already. “I looked safe, and they followed,”

“They’re so innocent, huh? Something seeming safe in a dangerous place is always also dangerous,” she took a sip of her drink, offering him some right afterward, which he took. Dr. Pepper. 

He and Wren weren’t really friends, although they sure acted like it. Every moment they spent together was with the knowledge that Kit wasn’t allowed friends, that Wren needed to turn a profit, and that they benefited from exchanging information. That they laughed together, that they had inside jokes, it was sort of irrelevant. If they disappeared from each other’s lives, it would only be considered a natural consequence of their lifestyles.

He did like Wren despite that. Just because they could never trust each other fully didn’t mean there wasn’t some trust and familiarity. He didn’t really believe that she would ever hurt him, and he had no plans to hurt her. 

But… considering he knew her weaknesses, that he’d studied her, picked her apart, figured out what she was susceptible to, what would hurt her, what would charm her…

He didn’t really think that was friendship. Not like how he was with the twins, even if he wanted to charm them too. He found what upset them to avoid doing it. He found what upset Wren in case he ever had to use it. 

“You know how they are,” Kit sighed. “Even though they know scams are hidden, they still always expect the dangerous stuff to be glaringly obvious. As if they’re so smart to tell what’s dangerous here,”

“Mhmm,” Wren put out new merchandise into the spots that had just been emptied. “It is kind of fun to watch—though I do feel bad sometimes,”

Kit did too. He sometimes tried to lead the really innocent ones back towards safer waters. If he was caught doing that though, he’d definitely get in trouble with the harsher side of the Market.

(Well, maybe. They wouldn’t really be happy with him, but they wouldn’t do anything about it. Kit was one of the few children that anyone from the Markets had the experience of seeing grow up, and as a consequence, they tended to be more lenient towards him). 

“Oh well,” he sighed. “It’s how it works here. They should research before coming in,”

He fiddled with a trinket marked Level 1 - Flirting Charm. She was selling it for 35 dollars. “No one can be this desperate,”

“You’d be surprised,” she grinned. “Not everyone can have a maxed out charisma stat like you,”

“Why are you speaking to me in game vocabulary?”

“Aren’t you the one that’s played like, a million and one video games?”

“Yes, but last I checked, you’ve only ever played Minecraft,”

“Whatever, Rook,” she took the flirting charm and placed it back in its place. “It’s useful for confidence, word play, and making you seem just a bit more attractive,”

“How does a spell like that even exist?” he asked. He usually asked Wren about the spells she could do, since he wasn’t allowed to learn any. 

“Honestly, I’ve always chalked it up to some scholar faerie getting tired that they had no game,” she rummaged in the box next to her, pulling out a sealed Pringles can, opening it and handing him some. “It’s nice to see you around—your dad had you here like a week and a half straight back at the beginning of August, but you haven’t been back for a month and a half,”

“I don’t know what was up with that—well, both having me here for so many days, and then not bringing me for so long. I missed the first week of school,”

Wren made a face. “God, I hate school. I can’t believe we have this year and the next left. I don’t know why you like it,”

“Better than being on house arrest,” Kit munched on the Pringles. He liked salty snacks fine, but he would always prefer sweeter ones.
“If you say so. Have you seen Hypatia Vex tonight? She always dresses even better this time of year,” Wren fanned herself then tucked her hair behind her ears, revealing a series of piercings while Kit rolled his eyes. 

“I can’t believe you still think she’s hot,” Kit fake-gagged. “What do you see in her?”

“What don’t you see in her? She’s tall, powerful, and hot as fuck. Also, she’s got a London accent, which is just the icing on the cake,”

Kit had read one too many posts about people in England complaining about the way Americans couldn’t tell apart their accents and that there were too many to generalize under “British” or “London” to actually take Wren’s appreciation of it seriously, since he suspected Wren had no clue what she was talking about.

(He also didn’t know what he was talking about).

That being said, he didn’t give a damn about Hypatia’s accent. She found him annoying but helped him, he found her a little troublesome but ultimately liked her alright. That was where his appreciation started and stopped. 

“You know she’s like, centuries older than you?”

“Does it look like I care? I’m not looking for a human relationship, I’m looking for a hot faerie sugar mommy,”

“...You do you,”

And she said Kit was the shameless one. She’d once played If You Seek Amy every time they saw each other over five months, saying it was his theme song. 

It wasn’t that unusual to have large age gaps in human-faerie relationships. A human could be 35 years old and end up in a relationship with a faerie that was 350 years old. Kit supposed he didn’t really care about that—but he’d been getting attention for years now from older faeries, and it was undeniably gross and unsettling when he wasn’t even eighteen. 

Wren could keep her “celebrity crush” on Hypatia, at least. If there was ever a faerie who was safe for her to appreciate from afar, it would be Hypatia.

~~~~~~~

They chatted for a long while, catching each other up on anything interesting that had happened. 

Of course, he did not bring up the Blackthorns in any capacity, instead sharing stories about whatever stupid things he’d seen happen at school, and she offered her own school stories with remarks about the Market from the past few weeks that he’d missed. 

“Do you think you’re going to be coming every so often again, or is your dad going to keep switching back and forth between School Rapunzel or Market Rapunzel?”

That made him think of a frankly atrocious version of Mother Knows Best, but changed to Father Knows Best. It was honestly depressing. 

“Who knows,” he said. His father had definitely been jumpier since August, not quite relaxing at home, or at the Market. He kept giving Kit his usual tasks—picking locks, reading over old break-in cases and heists, testing his memory and his sleight of hand—but he seemed… wrong. Nervous. 

Kit didn’t have enough information on his father’s past to begin to guess what was wrong. He could read him fairly well in the Market, seeing his subtle reactions the way he’d been taught to watch everyone. Any decision Kit made or any action he took, he could guess with usually 100% accuracy how his father would react. But there was a huge swath of information that Kit would never know about Johnny Rook, and it impeded him trying to figure out what was bothering him. Just because he knew that Johnny Rook wasn’t calm didn’t mean he knew why.

It kind of sucked, being locked out from information. Kit could only assume it was like the Blackthorns knowing Kit was Johnny Rook’s son—whatever information was being kept from Kit was more dangerous by knowing it. 

He stayed with Wren for at least another hour—Kit felt like that should qualify as not being away too long —fluttering his eyelashes at whoever passed by that felt safe or close to their age. At some point, someone asked for his number, and Kit just smiled, saying relationships with customers were unprofessional. Wren laughed, enjoying the extra attention her inventory got just by having Kit nearby with a slanted smile and exposed collarbone. The people who knew the Market—the ones who knew Kit and Wren—just watched with wicked amusement as every customer paid too much money, bought too many things, and left looking dizzy from the attention Kit had bestowed them and Wren’s promises about whatever they’d bought. 

When he decided to leave, she sighed, mourning her loss of extra income, and sent him back with 80 dollars—it wasn’t a fair cut at all, considering she’d racked up nearly 700 dollars during the hour Kit had spent with her, but Kit didn’t expect it to be fair.

What he got out of visiting Wren was entertainment and someone his age to talk to, and another teenager’s voice on whatever happened at the Market. Walking away with more serious information, a look at the Market from a different area than his dad’s stall, and some extra money… Those were just useful things on top of what was, for all means and purposes, a social call. 

On the way back, he watched to see what stalls were getting the most attention from the new people—it was mostly things like jewelry and food. At least the stalls Kit knew to sell cursed jewelry weren’t overflowing with clientele, but the drugged food stalls were keeping even with the safe ones. 

He made his way into the seller’s path of the alley his father was in, hopping over crates and cases, occasionally giving a wave to the friendlier fey. He snatched his hand away from a small hobgoblin tending to a lantern, eager to bite Kit’s fingers when they passed too close to his face. When he heard a scream somewhere around a block away, he didn’t look—the banshees in the Market couldn’t lie, exactly, but they could absolutely exaggerate their death omens. 

Oh well. The Market was ever-changing, but it also never really changed. Kit knew it was as horrendous as it was beautiful, but that was just how it was.

He did fit in, when he looked at it like that. The human boy with smiles and flattery, eager to steal your valuables and lead you towards whatever stall he thought would be the most profitable for him. 

When he got back to his father’s stall, Johnny Rook was talking to a tall, willowy faerie with milk-like skin, 

It didn’t take long for them to reach an agreement—something about a runaway servant, and Johnny Rook’s likelihood to find information about them—before the faerie was on her way. 

“I’m back,” Kit slipped behind his father, who jumped and whirled to look at him, eyes wide. 

Kit paused his movement to sit down, staring at his father, whose eyes flickered over Kit’s face quickly, a frown replacing his surprised expression.

He couldn’t remember if he’d ever snuck up on Johnny Rook before. Surely he had, but… not in recent memory. His dad could usually tell when Kit was nearby. 

“Ah, Kit… you startled me. How about making some noise next time?”

Kit frowned. Johnny Rook was usually telling Kit how to not make noise. 

“That would go against the principle of being able to sneak around,” is all he said, finally sitting in his spot from the beginning of the evening. “Marm Deirdre has a lot of people at her stall. I’m pretty sure she’s enchanted all her decorative items. The kelpies are acting all docile and sweet right now—I’m sure they’re trying to get a returning crowd before the usual drowning and dining,”

His dad was still looking at him funny, even when Kit took some of the stolen cash and tossed it over the case his father used for money.

“Do I have something on my face?” Kit asked, when the squinting was too much. 

“No—nothing. Your eyes just caught the light of the lanterns weirdly,” Johnny Rook turned around, back to smiling out towards the crowds, his back to Kit. “You can tell me more when we get home,”

Kit didn’t think the lights should be hitting his eyes so much, considering he was sitting on top of several crates in the shadows behind the booths and stalls, but the Halloween lanterns did have a spooky vibe to them, washing everything with a strange hue. 

He took out his phone once more, opening his conversation with Ty again.

~~~~~~~

When they were back home, just before three in the morning (Kit’s going to be so sleep-deprived at school), he tried asking Johnny Rook about his jumpiness.

“Has anything happened recently?” he asked, carrying in the box of things that people had traded for information instead of paying in cash. 

“What do you mean?”

“Since you didn’t take me to the Market for a while,” Kit didn’t think his father needed to know that Kit could tell how anxious his dad was. It wouldn’t help Kit to have Johnny Rook know that Kit could read his father’s emotions. Instead, something as simple as the weird scheduling for Kit’s Market nights would be easier to bring up and ask questions about. “I was wondering if something unsafe happened and you didn’t want me to be there because of it,”

Johnny Rook didn’t falter as he moved and organized things, locking the front door firmly, using his phone to illuminate the floor around them instead of turning the lights on (this was established between them, to not make their late night arrivals too obvious to any neighbors). When he turned to Kit, his eye contact was steady, and he smiled. 

“Nothing happened,” he claimed, moving past Kit and patting him on the shoulder. “You were upset by missing the first week, weren’t you? Figured I should let you focus on school for a bit,”

And then he went into his office room and shut the door.

Kit stood in the dark living room.

He thought about some things he’d read—getting every answer wrong in a True or False quiz… always answering the opposite when asked to guess if a card was red or black…

You can only answer everything wrong if you know the right answer already. Similarly, you can only ever be perfectly right if you know what is perfectly wrong.

You can know and can act every bit of body language to claim ease and confidence only after learning the signs of nervousness. 

Someone is only ever perfect when they’re lying. 

And Johnny Rook had always been a liar.

Kit kicked off his shoes. He didn’t need the light of his phone to move around in the darkness—it was easy to see, and he knew the layout of his house well anyway. So he made his way upstairs without any hesitation, going into his room and closing the door behind him.

He kept the lights off as he changed into sleeping clothes for once and flopped onto his bed, opening his phone. His and Ty’s conversation shone up at him. He’d spent the rest of the night texting him, only stopping when it was time to pack up the stall.

Still awake?, he sent.

A few seconds later.

Holmes : Yes.

             Planning on sleeping soon?

Holmes : …No.

Kit’s fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment. He went to his Chrome tab, typing in what’s the first Sherlock Holmes book?

After getting his answer, he opened the chat back up.

             Tell me about A Study In Scarlet.

Holmes: !!!

Kit smiled at the speech bubble that appeared and waited patiently. He wouldn’t be getting any answers from his father, but he didn’t have to dwell on that all night long.

If he wasn’t going to get any sleep anyway, he’d rather it be because he was up all night talking with Ty. 

October 2nd, 2023

Ty figured he should be glad he and Kit were already terrible at sleeping normal hours, so Livvy couldn’t connect the dots and figure out they were texting all of last night.

That being said, they couldn’t totally hide how exhausted they were.

“So neither of you slept,” Livvy noted dryly as she took in Kit’s appearance. His hair was ruffly and messy, and he looked a little pale, and his eyes slightly rimmed red. Ty found it a little insane, how Kit could still attract stares while looking so sleep-deprived. How even his exhaustion didn’t seem to deprive from his appearance, not really.

Ty wanted to reach out and fix his hair. 

Instead, Ty shrugged, hiding a yawn with his hand. “I guess not,”

“When did you go to sleep?” she poked Kit on the forehead, and Kit let his head bop backwards, blinking at her with sleepy eyes and blinking slowly.

“When did I do what?”

“When did you go to sleep ?”

Kit snorted, his head nodding. “Was I supposed to do that?”

“You two are insomniac peas in a pod,” 

“Mhmm,” Kit just hummed. He had one of the breads from the free breakfast carts the school offered, with a single bite taken out of it, like he’d forgotten.

Ty reached out and grabbed Kit’s wrist, bringing the hand holding the bread up to Kit’s mouth. “Finish eating,”

Kit stared at the food with bleary eyes before taking another bite. “Did you eat?”

“Yes,”

He glanced at Livvy briefly then looked at Ty, not making eye contact. “...When did you go to sleep, Sherlock?”

Ty grinned, playing along with the question and copying Kit’s earlier answer. “Was I supposed to do that?”

He was fairly sure neither of them had slept at all, considering their last message from their A Study in Scarlet conversation was only about a half-hour apart from Ty’s slightly sardonic good morning, the sun is awful text. 

“You two are impossible,” Livvy sighed. “Our Biology teacher lets kids use an electric kettle for instant coffee if they’re early in the mornings. Lets go—and Kit, your bedhead is atrocious,”

“I bet someone will compliment me regardless,” Kit huffed, but they both followed behind Livvy.

“I’m not taking that bet,” Ty knew people would always compliment Kit no matter what—and well, he had to admit that despite the fact that Kit looked messy and tired, he didn’t really look bad . He didn’t think Kit could look bad. It was an interesting sort of super power. 

“Me neither,” Livvy called. 

Ty rubbed his eyes, amused to see Kit doing the same. He bumped shoulders with him, and Kit stumbled a little bit before groaning and bumping him back. Livvy was looking at them over her shoulder, rolling her eyes and saying something like two half-awake cats . 

When they appeared in the Biology teacher’s classroom, still a while before the bell would ring, she looked surprised but understanding, shooing them towards the microwave and the instant coffee maker.

There was an upside to all the weird and terrible things about high school (like how it started at 7:30 in the morning, so most students woke up at 6am): Several teachers often agreed that it was kind of terrible, and occasionally there were cool ones who let you make coffee in their classroom, or sold a variety of snacks for a dollar. 

(Although Ty was sure that was also to make some extra pocket money). 

Kit didn’t seem interested in the coffee until Livvy waved the sugar in front of him, to which he reacted with interest. 

“Don’t really like coffee,” he muttered. “We don’t keep sugar at home,”

“Well, if you want really good coffee you have to ask Julian, but at least she’s got cream and sugar here,” 

Ty was using the electric kettle to warm up water while Livvy explained how she was going to make Kit’s coffee, Kit nodding along and peering at the creamer descriptions. 

His hair really was a mess. 

Ty didn’t like coffee much either unless Julian made it, but he tried his best to replicate the proportions, sitting up on the tall counters and passing Livvy and Kit their cups (of course, the cups were plastic, because enough things already broke in science classrooms without adding glasses and mugs on top of that).

Livvy made hers strong with only a bit of sugar (Ty’s had a medium amount of both cream and sugar), and then it became a game of trial and error as Livvy added a scoop of sugar and a little cup of creamer into Kit’s cup, had him try it, and then added more every time Kit made a face at the bitter taste.

“I think this doesn’t qualify as coffee,” Livvy muttered at the 7th cup of creamer and 5th scoop of sugar. “Here, have some liquid diabetes,”

Kit sipped at it hesitantly, paused, and sipped again. 

“Did we crack the code? Seven creams and five sugars?” Livvy laughed, putting everything back in its place. 

“Could always have more,” Kit admitted. “But I can drink it like this,”

“You would thrive at a Starbucks,”

“Would I? I’ve never been,”

“...I’m going to get you Starbucks one of these days. Julian won’t say no if I beg,”

Ty looked at the light brown coffee in Kit’s mug. It was no surprise that Kit liked his coffee light and sweet. “Sweet tooth,”

“Sue me,”

Kit’s hair fell over his face, and Ty’s fingers twitched with the need to fix it.

…Kit probably wouldn’t stop him, right?

He set his coffee aside and reached out with one hand to sweep Kit’s hair away from his face. Kit froze, looking up at Ty (sitting on the counter left him a good head and a half taller than Kit and Livvy). 

Ty continued to fix it, bringing up his other hand to smooth the hair down and away from his face. 

Kit’s hair was soft. 

Ty had once been allowed to touch a bunny at a pet store, much softer than the rabbits that lived near the institute. It had been the softest thing he’d ever touched in his life.

It had been a few years—but he thought Kit’s hair might rival that experience.

“You have soft hair,” he managed to pull his hands away after fixing it, although the need to run his fingers through Kit’s hair was now worse than the original urge to tidy it. He flexed his hands a little, grabbing his coffee to distract himself. “It’s neater now,”

Kit blinked up at him, mouth slightly parted. “Oh. Uh, thanks. Is it soft? We buy really cheap products,”

“Mhmm,” Ty thought comparing a person’s hair to a bunny’s fur was a compliment, but he wasn’t sure someone else would.

(But really, it was high praise. Bunnies were soft).

“Huh, genetics must have won that battle,” was all Kit said on the subject, taking another sip of his coffee. 

…Hm. Genetics… a battle…

Kit really was strange…

Ty told himself to put it off until he was back home with time to spare. He looked at Livvy, who was staring at the space between Kit and Ty with her brows raised high up, sipping coffee.

“What?” he asked her. 

“Just… a thought,” she smiled, looking a bit strange. “I have to think about it for a while,”

They all drank their coffee quietly, sticking close, a little triangle. Ty considered for the first time that a triangle was a safer formation than a simple, 2-point line. 

He yawned again, wincing as the bell rang. 

“C’mon, Sherlock,” Kit urged, going to sit down at their table. “Time for school,”

“Sometimes,” Ty said as he slid off the counter and took his seat in between Kit and Livvy. “School seems to matter very little. Or not at all,”

“To a great mind, nothing is little,” Kit laid his head down on the desk, leaving Ty to stare at him. 

He couldn’t stop his giddy smile then. He didn’t know when Kit must have gone and looked up quotes from A Study In Scarlet, because he’d answered without pause the entire night after asking for Ty to tell him about it, but clearly he had.

Livvy didn’t react to the reference, which solidified Ty’s thinking from a couple of nights ago.

He really did have the advantage when it came to Kit. 

Chapter Text

October 6th, 2023

Watson: I feel like I should have asked this already. 

Watson : But what’s with your little sister giving you a movie schedule every October?

Ty looked at the text message, pausing his work on his Humanities essay. It was late on a Friday night and it wasn’t due for another week, but while Ty loved studying the different art and history, he sort of hated the philosophy unit. The only way to get it done was for him to finish it early, or his absolute apathy and disinterest on the topic would lead to him never turning in the work. 

Still, he could take a break, right? He had time, and it wasn’t even late—Dru’s movie marathon started at 8, and it was barely 7. 

           October is Dru’s month. We usually do whatever she wants. She’s really into horror, especially scary movies, but books and music and anything creepy works.

           Julian even makes Halloween-themed desserts, and after Emma and Julian turned 15, they took us Trick or Treating.

Watson: That’s sweet of you guys, to indulge her.

Watson: What’s Trick or Treating like? I’ve never done it.

           It’s mostly walking around to whichever house seems the most decorated and ringing doorbells. We always bring several bags so that we can keep filling them up throughout the night—people feel bad when it’s later at night and your bag is empty

Watson : Ooh, slight scam vibes, but it sounds fun.

Watson : Do you dress up?

           Yes, but not as much as Dru. She gets fake blood and weapons and spends a lot of time learning special-effects make-up.

          Livvy likes to match. We’re not identical so we can’t do stereotypical “creepy twin” costumes, but she usually wants something of the sort.

Watson: Have you ever dressed up as Sherlock?

Ty huffed a laugh. He’d definitely tried to dress up as Sherlock their first year Trick or Treating—up until he realized he would only be recognized in a deerstalker hat, which wasn’t actually a part of the books other than a possible vague reference to a cloth hat with ear-flaps. 

He couldn’t do his favorite character that disservice, so he’d just worn what Livvy decided (it had been an angel and devil set, although the running joke of the night was that they wore near-identical outfits and make-up, switching the devil and angel additions back and forth the entire night).
He explained as such to Kit, who then asked for all of his costumes over the years, even the ones from when they just stayed home and didn’t Trick or Treat at all, dressing up just because.

Time passed like that—it felt a little like the tables had turned, with Kit asking the questions and Ty answering them, but Ty found that he didn’t mind it. 

It was interesting, really, to have anyone outside of his own family inquire about what Ty had done, what he liked, or how he felt about something. Being on the receiving end was startling, but it reminded him of how he sometimes felt with Kit—like he was a prism, a dice, something he could turn over in his hands and hold up to the light, run his fingers over the edges and study any etchings or irregularities.

He supposed if the other person was kind—if they really wanted to figure him out just for the sake of doing so—then he didn’t mind being appraised in turn. 

He kept an eye on the time and started heading down, still texting Kit and vaguely promising himself to continue his essay later.

When he got to the kitchen, Dru had several bowls out on the counter, each of them filled to the point of overflowing with popcorn. Julian was sitting at the table, carefully watching as she filled the last bowl, standing up when she placed a few things in the sink to begin washing them. 

“Oh, Ty,” Dru smiled up at him. She wasn’t wearing any make-up now, but her pajamas were in her usual aesthetic, a black shirt with a Ghost Face mask on it, and gray pants with a cartoon bloody knife pattern. “Here’s your bowl—I was generous with the salt,”

Ty smiled at her, taking the bowl with one hand and continuing to text with the other. Dru and Tavvy were the only ones that were younger than him (since Livvy was the same age, but technically just a little bit older, having been born first), and he found that it was nice to be the older brother, although he wasn’t quite sure why Dru always seemed eager to talk to him. He didn’t think he was anywhere near as mindful or cool as Julian or Mark. “Kit’s been asking about the movie schedule. He’d like to watch the Scream movies, but he’s only watched the first one, and he knows the actresses that play sisters in the sixth,”

She immediately perked up at that. “He likes scary movies?”

“I think he just watches anything,” Ty admitted. “Sometimes including scary movies. He doesn’t like The Shining, but he does like The Blair Witch Project,”

“...I’ll admit I have mixed feelings on The Shining, but not so mixed as to outright say I don’t like it,” Dru looked pained to make a critical comment on a horror movie—as Ty understood it, The Shining was one of the most iconic horror movies ever. He’d never liked it much. 

“What’s Kit like anyway?” she asked, ruffling through cabinets to grab whatever junk food Julian had allowed (most of it was chocolate, Emma’s favorite form of energy). “You and Livvy are always giggling over stuff he’s done, and I know Julian met him and that he’s from the Market, but that’s about it,”

So much information appeared in Ty’s mind that it sort of turned into blank static, and he opened his mouth without actually having a response ready.

The thing was… Kit was so layered and multi-faceted that trying to summarize him seemed nigh-impossible. 

“It’s,” Ty started, and stopped, and started again. Julian was giving him a curious look over his shoulder, washing a bowl Dru had melted butter in. “It’s hard? To describe him. Uh, he’s… sketchy? Because of the Market?”

“...I mean… makes sense?”

“Wait, but also, he’s nice. But he can be scary if he wants to be. Well, scary to others. But most of the time he’s very patient. He’s smart. And opinionated, but people can’t tell because he doesn’t speak in class most of the time. He’s… tired? He seems quick compared to everyone else, but he’s not very fast compared to Livvy and I. He’s very confident, and good at lying, but he’s also usually honest?” 

Dru’s eyebrows just rose while her mouth slanted, and Ty knew he was doing a terrible job of explaining what Kit was like as a person. 

Julian set the wet dishes on the drying rack and turned to face them, leaning back with his elbows resting on the counters, offering his own description. “He’s cautious, generally kind of wary of people. And of kindness,”

Ty thought of the way Kit had been surprised when they said they would pay for his lunch when Julian and Kit met, or the way he’d startled when Ty had bought him cookies. Kit reacted to kindness how cats reacted to strangers—backed up, startled and wide-eyed. 

“Yes, but that’s in part because he’s not used to real people,” Ty explained, then realized that his explanation didn’t make any sense. But he didn’t really want to get into his and Kit’s conversation, about the world not quite seeming real to them all the time, and people seeming almost fake because of it.

Dru opened her mouth (probably to ask Ty what he was on about), but Ty beat her to it, trying to share something more interesting. “He can pick locks. And pockets. And he’s good at getting information, and acting. And sneaking around,”

“He can pick locks?” Now Dru seemed invested. “That’s really cool—have you seen him do it?”

“Not yet, but I have seen him do sleight of hand. He can make things disappear and reappear, or switch where they are completely. He says it doesn’t involve any magic, but it’s weird. I’ve been watching videos that explain tricks, but all of their reveals never match up with what Kit’s actually doing,” Ty elaborated. “I’m going to ask him to keep doing it, so I can try and figure it out,”

“Okay, he actually sounds fun,” Dru smiled, and looked oddly like Mark did whenever he was about to do something he knew would drive Julian insane. “Sleight of hand and lock picking sounds awesome. And at least he’s more media-savvy than… basically everyone in this house. I’m like, the sole exception,”

That was fair. 

“Don’t get up to anything with the lock picking, please,” Julian requested. “I better not get called to the principal's office because you guys got caught breaking into someone’s locker,”

“We’re not allowed lockers,” Ty pointed out. “Too many kids left weapons in them over Spring Break last year, so now they’re banned,”

“...What?”

“Had we not mentioned that?”

Dru wasn’t startled like Julian, who looked a little queasy. Ty knew that Julian wasn’t bothered by weapons (that would be rather against the point), but that he was constantly stressed about the potential for any of his siblings being hurt by another person’s actions. 

“Oh, they’re restricting locker use at my middle school now,” Dru nodded. “They had a police team come in with dogs and drugs were found in a few lockers,”

“Ugh,” Julian groaned, tossing his head back. “And CPS thought our homeschooling was suspicious?”

“We do have a lot of weapons and some faerie poisons,” Ty reminded him.

“Sure, but they didn’t know about that. They do, however, probably know about stuff like what happens at your school. How did I not hear about this? The only contact information they have is mine and Diana’s, do they not update parents and guardians?”

Ty and Dru’s synchronized scoff just made Julian slump more. 

“Tell parents about the dangers? Are you crazy? Schools will sooner cancel class breaks and ban talking during lunch before they actually contact families,” Dru rolled her eyes. “I don’t think they even call home for fights anymore, unless they’re premeditated,”

Ty frowned, thinking about some of his physical altercations over the past few years. “I think the only reason they even call home for me is because I’m autistic—so it’s considered a bigger deal if someone gets into a fight with me.”

“I hate public school,” Julian pushed off the counter, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was ten minutes past eight.

“You don’t even have to go,” Dru pouted. “Can you call everyone down? Except Tavvy, if he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t like horror movies much,”

“I don’t think he wants to join—maybe when we watch something more light-hearted, like Hocus Pocus,”

“Mmkay,”

Julian went upstairs, still looking a little done with the entire public school system. Not that Ty could blame him—Kit really was the best thing to come out of Livvy and Ty switching from homeschooling. 

“Say, Kit’s not allowed to do much, right?” Dru started to carry all the bowls to the living room, and Ty tucked his phone into his pocket to help her—Kit had texted that he was going to shower and eat dinner—trying not to drop anything. 

“No,”

“And he misses school a lot, right?”

“He has before, yeah, but not so much recently—the school can’t call his dad, because they only have Kit’s contact information,”

“So what’s stopping Kit from saying he’s going to school and then just… doing something else?”

Ty set the bowls down, frowning. “What would he do? Sometimes he ditches and goes shoplifting and hides whatever he takes from his dad, but he can’t go too far or he risks not getting back in time,”

“Well…” Dru moved back and forth between the kitchen and living room, bringing over more snacks, and then opened a closet to pull out a few blankets (Ty figured she did this purely for the “aesthetic” of a movie night—it wasn’t cold enough to need them). “I think we’re all kinda curious about him since you and Livvy—actually, since none of us except Emma has ever really made friends. Emma’s a huge reason we’re close with the NYC gang because she stayed in contact with Clary, and she’s also why we know Jem and Tessa. And we all love Cristina now, and have met Perfect Diego and Jaime, but Cristina became friends with Emma first. It’d be nice to meet Kit. And since he’s curious about the Scream movies… Well, I’m working on getting Julian to excuse our absences on Halloween since it’ll be a Tuesday…”

“Oh.” Ty nodded, following her reasoning, already feeling a jittery sort of excitement at the idea. “He tells his dad he’s going to school like normal, and his dad won’t suspect anything is different. And instead, he comes over on Halloween—and we get Julian to excuse us from school—and he meets everyone and gets to watch movies—”

“—maybe he has to go to school first, but Julian or Emma or Mark can pick him up while we set up here. And he has to go home early, so his dad doesn’t wonder why he’s out later than he usually would be on a school night—”

“—he’ll get to celebrate something that he’s never experienced before, and he’ll like it because there’s a lot of sweet things involved—”

“—and he can show me tricks, or talk about shows and movies he likes, because I’ll know them—”

“—he can have breakfast and lunch here! And if we’re smart about it, we can send him off with a decent dinner. Julian will agree because—”

“—he likes feeding people!”

Ty and Dru grinned at each other, and Ty wondered for a moment why he and Livvy did not include Dru in their schemes more often. Clearly he’d been overlooking a valuable player in creating chaos or opportunistic situations. He would have to remedy that.

“That’s a great idea, Dru,” he came closer, patting her head like Julian did, and she beamed up at him. 

“You’re the genius, but I am pretty clever,” she laughed, plopping herself onto the couch with the TV remote in her hand. “We should try to convince Julian as soon as possible, and then you and Livy have to convince Kit too,”

That would be interesting, but Ty didn’t think it would go as badly as when they brought up meeting Julian—meeting their brother at all and being known by the Blackthorns was a hurdle they’d already surpassed. 

He really hoped that Kit would agree. Maybe they could even prepare a simple costume for him, and surely Kit would want some of the treats Julian prepared every year, right?

It was too bad that Kit wouldn’t be able to join them Trick or Treating, but Ty could bring whatever he got the next day to school and let Kit pick out what he wanted.

Hm, maybe they should lead with that…

After all, could Kit really say no to sugar?

October 9th, 2023

“Kit,” Livvy cleared her throat once they stepped out into the courtyard, sharing a nervous glance with Ty. 

It felt a bit like déjà vu. 

But Kit didn’t have the same feeling of unease like last time.

“So,” Kit sat up on the concrete that encased the tree plots in the middle of the courtyard. The twins sat directly on the ground, looking up at him. Kit thought it must look like a funny scene—like students listening to a philosopher, or a court waiting for a king’s decree. “Once again, is this the bit where you explain why the two of you are so shifty today?”

“It’s nothing bad!” she defended, while Ty just looked at Kit very intensely. “Ty, you bring it up this time—I had to do all the talking last time, and you and Dru came up with it anyway,”

“Oh,” Ty blinked, his face relaxing for a moment before he squinted at Kit, but more focused. “Halloween,”

“...Yes?”

“It’s on a Tuesday this year,” Ty continued. “And Julian is going to call in for us so that we can stay home,”

At that, Kit deflated a little. The twins had near-perfect attendance most of the time, and Kit hadn’t yet thought about what he would do on the days they weren’t there. And if they weren’t there while everyone else was dressed up and having fun…

Kit was used to depressing holiday seasons at school, but he thought this would be the most disappointing one, since he actually did have friends this time around, but they would be too busy with family.

Maybe he’d just skip…

“And Dru and I were thinking maybe you could come over?”

Kit blinked, brain screeching to a halt. “What?”

“Come over, on Halloween. The school can’t contact your dad if you never show up, since his information is actually yours, right? So you head out to school, and one of the older people in the house picks you up once you get here, and drives you over to spend the day with us,” Ty continued to explain, words coming out in a quick rush. Kit wondered if he’d been nervous about bringing it up to him. “And of course, you’ll be back here to make it home at your regular time, so your dad would never know,”

“We can watch the Scream movies! Or at least most of them, we did the math and even if we skip the first one, we still might not be able to finish the 6th,” Livvy piped in. 

“We’ll have a lot of snacks. Like, cookies and chips, chocolate and other candy. Pumpkin pie,”

“Are you trying to bribe me?” Kit laughed a little, fingers tapping on his knees. He wasn’t sure at what point Ty realized Kit was a sugar fiend, but he’d been consistently offering him small candies and treats ever since they ditched and he bought Kit cookies. 

“A little,” Ty admitted, a small smile on his face. “Is it working?”

“Hmm, maybe,” Kit shifted so he could cross his legs and tilt his head up at the bright blue sky.

It was almost surprising to realize that he wasn’t immediately saying no.

There was no swirling anxiety this time, no overwhelming dread or emptiness at the idea of breaking his father’s rules, not like when they wanted him to meet Julian.

Kit had always stretched the limits of what his father had set up for him (for example, leaving the school grounds, or making deals with Hypatia so she wouldn’t report his every move to Johnny Rook, or getting close enough with other teenagers at the Market enough that he was well past having a first kiss), but he’d never veered so wildly off-course before.

…Except he had, really, the moment he had been caught by Ty at the Market. The second he’d let the twins pull him into their orbit. The day he’d decided he would meet Julian.

He supposed that he’s getting used to ignoring the limits. 

So, he wasn’t having a meltdown at the idea anymore, but from a practical standpoint…

From a practical standpoint, the twins had all the boxes checked. 

There was no reason for his dad to suspect anything different, because Kit went to school regardless of how lonely the holidays felt (a barrage of Christmas and Valentine’s Day telegrams didn’t change that, but it did give him candy, and Halloween was basically just candies and sometimes a movie). His dad wouldn’t have a reason to suspect anything different. 

And if they brought him back to the school (there was no way he was letting them drop him off at his house), he’d get back home at a normal time like usual. Whether Kit went to the Market Halloween night or not was always a toss-up, but him going to school wasn’t really weird even if his dad told him he’d be tagging along. 

So…

What reason was there to say no?

It felt almost like a too-easy decision, but it didn’t feel dangerous. 

“Yes,” he said, finally bringing his gaze back down to the twins, who were staring at him with matching expressions of suspense.

He couldn’t help a small laugh as they both relaxed, knocking their shoulders against each other as they grinned up at him. 

“Promise?” Livvy prompted. Both she and Ty were still sitting on the ground, leaning in towards him, while Kit looked back at them from above, sitting atop the concrete plot. 

“Promises aren’t safe,” Kit teased just for the sake of it, and she rolled her eyes.

“But we’ll try?” Ty asked instead, his silver eyes piercing. Kit has the distinct feeling that it wasn’t fair that he was higher up than Ty in that moment—he’d been amused by the earlier feeling of a king and his courtiers, but he was hardly royalty, and especially not when Tiberius Blackthorn was involved. 

Perhaps they should switch spots. 

“We’ll try,” Kit affirmed. “We’ll have to plan out the finer details though, like exact timing,”

“I’ve already looked that up,” Ty took his phone out. “I’ll write it out in a bit, but based on when you usually get to school and how long it takes for us to drive back and forth when we get picked up after school ends, I have some estimates,”

“Oh, and,” Ty added. “Do you have allergies?”

Kit blinked. He supposed they were planning on feeding him—it felt a little bit uncomfortable to not argue about it, but he tried to ignore it. The twins fiercely wanted to do things for Kit, although he couldn’t begin to guess why, and arguing with them didn’t actually feel much better than agreeing. “Not to my knowledge, but I’ve never been to a doctor either,”

“Shadowhunters rarely get treated by human doctor’s, but we still have… health care?” Livvy frowned. “Uh, a few of us that become kind of like monks and they study a bunch of things, including both faerie and human biology. Oh and very rarely a Shadowhunter will become a doctor and then they just fake a bunch of our test results so that nothing about us being not-quite-human ever comes up,”

“Have you considered that you guys sound like a cult sometimes?”

“Have you considered that you’ve spent your childhood in what’s essentially the black market?”

“Yes, actually,”

“Hmph,”

“No allergies,” Ty noted down, lips quirked at Kit and Livvy’s back and forth. “Any food you don’t like?”

“Uh…” Kit searched his mind for any possible ideas. “Um… not off the top of my head? As long as it’s not organs or cannibalistic… or enchanted or drugged… To be honest, I don’t like most of the food that I do eat, it’s just that I don’t really have a choice because we don’t buy anything other than canned or frozen things most of the time? I don’t like it, but I can eat it,”

“I can’t believe that organs and cannibalism are easier answers than like, I don’t like spinach or something, but also, it’s kind of funny that it makes sense why you’re saying that, too,”

“Oh, I don’t like spinach,” Kit nodded. “It’s bitter. I guess if it’s bitter I probably won’t like it? But again, I can eat it. And I’ve been offered body parts or monster parts or just generally weird organs at the Market too many times,”

“...it feels a bit obvious to write cannibalism down,” Ty admitted. “But okay, you don’t like bitter things. Makes sense,”

“I think you find me liking sweet things a little too amusing,”

Ty flashed a smile at him. “Maybe. You get eager, like a cat with a treat,”

“I do not,” Kit insisted, but he had a feeling it was true. 

“If I shake a bag of M&Ms at you, will you run over?” Livvy wondered. “Oh, my god, I just realized! It’s Pumpkin Spice Latte season! I’m making Julian stop at Starbucks on of these days, we’ll get you one in the morning,”

Kit didn’t argue—he’d always been curious as to why it was such a famous Fall drink. 

“Anything you do want to eat?” Ty continued his questioning.

“I don’t know?” Kit didn’t even know what his favorite food— proper food—was. He just liked sweet things and most fruit, but he’d only discovered that over years of shoplifting small amounts of food he could hide from his dad. “What do you guys like to eat?”

“I like anything Julian makes,” Livvy considered her twin brother. “Ty’s more picky about taste and texture and things that in general just stress him out to eat, but Julian’s super mindful about all of that, so it’s basically the same for him too, since Julian will take the time to make things different for us if we don’t like something,”

“You don’t get punished for being picky eaters?” Kit was genuinely curious. He’d never really been punished for that either as far as he could remember, but Kit was fairly sure it was because he must have learned as a young kid that he could either eat what they had or not eat at all. It wasn’t Johnny Rook really trying to punish him or anything—it’s just that they were never going to buy more than the basics for survival. 

But he’d heard or read about people being forced to eat things that made them physically nauseous by their parents because they were being “picky”. Normal parents sometimes seemed worse than Johnny Rook.

“No, not really. Our dad sometimes did—um, don’t get me wrong, he loved us, but he didn’t really get Ty, you know? But Julian took over all the cooking when he was 12, and although there have been blunders over the years, especially when he was barely learning how to cook, he’s always found it easier to just work within what we like than to argue with us,”

Kit had two very distinct impressions when it came to Julian Blackthorn. 

One was that he loved his family very much and they all loved him fiercely in return. 

The other was that he was kind of scary, but Kit thought he might be alone in that opinion—the twins had mentioned that watching Kit and Julian talk at the restaurant had been strange for them, but Kit suspected that was because Julian was good at hiding the sort of freaky vibes he had. If Kit hadn’t spent his whole life being taught exactly how to read people and separate how they looked with what they were really thinking, he probably wouldn’t have been so cagey with him when he tried asking Kit questions. 

Regardless, he was relieved that Ty and Livvy had someone around that loved them so much. They really didn’t click with their classmates or people in general most of the time, so the fact that they had a loving family was nice. 

As for their father… The twins didn’t talk much about their parents, but considering Julian took over household chores when he was 12… then the twins might’ve been around 10 when their parents left the picture. 

He couldn’t help the slight bitterness at thinking their dad might have not been the best with Ty, but he didn’t get the feeling that there was any resentment from either of the twins. 

“I guess I’ll just work with what you guys like?”

Ty nodded. “Okay. We’ll have a lot of sweets, like we already said, so you’ll get to try whatever you like,”

That was tempting. 

“I’m glad you agreed,” Livvy leaned back, resting her weight on her hands. “When we were little, we used to sometimes meet up with one of the other families in the LA area, and they have a daughter close to our age. She’s kind of a bitch though,”

Kit’s eyebrows went up at that. Livvy cursed more than Ty, but she wasn’t the type to throw around insults either.

She didn’t pause, but there was something in the look that she gave Kit that made him feel he’d have to ask her more about that person later. “We got pushed to talk to her, but we weren’t friends, and she hated whenever her parents dragged her to our place. So we’ve basically never had an actual friend over—family friends, yes, and they’re great, but not our own friends. This is like, kinda stupid exciting,”

“I’ve never been to a friend’s house,” Kit honestly couldn’t remember if he’d ever even stepped into a house or an apartment that wasn’t Johnny Rook’s own over all their years of moving around, and they’d lived at their current house for years. “Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been to anyone’s home in any capacity,”

“Well, this is going to be awesome. Our house is great,”

Kit suddenly realized he was going to see their house. “Oh shit. I’m going to be in your home,”

“Yeah!”

“We can show you our rooms,” Ty said, and Kit’s stomach did something weird at the thought of stepping into Ty’s bedroom. “And we’re on the beach,”

“Your house is on the beach? I’ve never been to the beach,”

“Holy shit, your life is weird,” Livvy shook her head. “If we’re marathoning, then we might not have time to walk around but… maybe some other time,”

…maybe some other time. Maybe some other time.

This might not be the only time he goes to their house.

He remembered how’d he felt, the days he’d been sick and agonizing over meeting Julian or not. About how the twins almost felt like the chance for something like a normal life, a life that had the fey but also had… normal things, nice things, the things he thought about that felt so far away.

It was like a door opening. 

“Maybe,” he said, and their eyes shone as they smiled up at him, and Kit smiled back. 

Chapter Text

October 16th, 2023

When Kit made his way downstairs that morning, sleepy from another late-night texting conversation with Ty, he found his dad in the living room, looking through a thick stack of papers. 

Kit watched him as he found his shoes, trying not to disturb him. Johnny Rook had his own room of course, and he did his most sensitive work in there or outside of the house, but even if he chose to do it in the living room, Kit wasn’t tempted to disrupt him. 

Still, he’d left one of his notebooks on the coffee table, so he stepped closer to pick it up, and Johnny Rook twitched a little, looking up at Kit.

“Your hair is a mess,” his dad said after a moment of just looking at each other. 

Johnny Rook had kept his hair cut very short, something like a buzzcut, for several years. Kit couldn’t really remember what his dad looked like when Kit was young—his face seemed sort of fuzzy, and his hair color wasn’t quite right. Kit’s memories of his childhood were often like that. Sometimes he wondered if he had a bad fall and hurt his head. 

Maybe that was where the headaches came from.

Really, Kit didn’t look much like his father at all. They were both slender and tall-ish (Kit’s definition of tall was strongly affected by the fey, and also Ty), and that’s where their physical similarities ended. His hair was graying, and something like dirty blond where it hadn’t faded completely, and his eyes were a murky sort of color that Kit couldn’t quite describe, neither brown nor blue nor green. Maybe hazel, but desaturated and strange. 

Johnny Rook often wore black clothes and sunglasses at the Market. Kit, with what little freedom he had for clothes, had always gravitated towards greens and blues and grays (and yes, black too, but not as much as Ty, and definitely not as much as his father). 

“It’ll settle down,” Kit replied. He’d combed it, but the waves and curls had a mind of their own. And by the time Kit would catch another glimpse of his appearance on his phone screen or a school bathroom mirror, the waves usually fell in a way that was flattering, if somewhat messy. 

Unless Ty decided to fix it first, something that had happened a few times the last few days, particularly with a strand that tended to fall over Kit’s eyes rather than falling into line like the rest. Kit wondered if it annoyed Ty to see it out of place—but he never stopped the other boy from fixing it. It kind of tingled and made his shiver, and sometimes he had to stop himself from flinching at the contact, but not because it was bad. It was just that… Kit couldn’t think of a time anyone had touched his hair. 

Johnny Rook raised a brow and went back to sorting papers, and Kit stepped into the kitchen, looking to see if there was anything worth eating or if he’d settle on the free breakfast offered at the school.

“ ...should cut his hair…” 

Kit blinked, turning his head a bit towards the living room at the whispered comment. “I heard that. Not cutting it,”

Silence, and then,

“You heard me?”

“Yeah?”

“...I barely made any sound,”

Kit opened the cabinets, finding them all empty except for pain medication, a few canned vegetables, and what looked like moldy bread. He tossed it into the trash. 

“I have good hearing,” Kit answered back, pocketing some pain pills. His head didn’t hurt badly, but there was discomfort at the back of it. “And you told me to always pay attention to my surroundings,”

He walked back into the living room, and now his father was frowning. 

“I suppose so,” Johnny Rook looked up at him again, his face all weird. Kit didn’t even know what to make of it. “Have you noticed anything different lately? At the Market, or anywhere else,”

That question again? What was Johnny Rook expecting? What answer did he want?

Kit didn’t even think of mentioning the twins. But he couldn’t think of any changes outside of that, other than his dad’s behavior. 

“Nothing, really. My head hurts a bit more whenever I wake up, but that’s just a me thing,” 

“Right,” his dad looked away, staring instead at the window. “Right. Tell me if anything changes,”

“I will,” Kit lied. 

Then he grabbed his backpack and headed out, saying a quiet “I’ll see you later,”

And there was no response, not even a whisper. Kit heard nothing, and he closed the door and turned away, looking at the sun rising high in the sky and painting the sky pink and yellow. 

He walked away from his father’s apathy and started his way to school. 

~~~~~~~

The twins smiled when they saw him, Livvy critically eyeing his hair before nodding, and Ty covering a yawn with his hand. 

They hadn’t stayed up all night long—but they hadn’t gone to sleep early either.

“I brought you something,” Livvy rummaged through her tote bag. She’d tied her long hair up into a ponytail, her bangs framing her face. “Not a PSL sadly, but try this,”

She pulled out a medium-sized parcel wrapped in thin sheet paper, like the ones Kit saw at the bakery section of the supermarket, used to grab individual donuts. 

She handed it to Kit. It was warm, and smelled like bread.

“Unwrap it,” she urged. “It’s what we had for breakfast—Julian let us take an extra and wrapped it up,”

Huh?

“C’mon,” she nudged him. “Why are you blue screening right now?”

“You… want me to eat this?”

“Well, yeah,” Livvy shrugged, ponytail swinging. “Ty and I were telling Julian about the food conversation we had, so he said we should bring you things to eat sometime,”

Kit wanted to speak, but then his stomach grumbled loud enough for both the twins to hear, and they raised their eyebrows at him—even the shape of their eyebrows were different, but every movement was matched, a replica.

“Thanks,” Kit murmured, not sure what else to say, before unwrapping it.

It was a toasted… bagel? It didn’t look like a regular bagel…made into a sandwich with a layer of cheese, a thin fried egg, and several strips of bacon acting as the filling. 

“It’s a brioche bun, not a regular bagel,” Ty supplied. “And the cheese is cheddar,”

When was the last time Kit had anything other than one of the miniature and hard-as-tack bagels from the school breakfast cart?

When was the last time he ate something other than the school breakfast? He didn’t usually eat much on the weekends. 

His stomach grumbled again and he took a bite.

Fuck.

Livvy grinned at his expression, and Kit didn’t even give a damn that he was being so easy to read—when was the last time Kit had homemade food?

Had he ever, really? Anything made by someone else at home?

“Oh my god,” he swallowed. “I fucking love bacon,”

“I know,” Ty nodded. “What do you think?”

“This is delicious—but it looks so simple?”

“Our current theory is that Julian was blessed with culinary magic. We have no evidence, other than how good all his food tastes, even if it’s really simple,” Livvy took out napkins from her tote bag (did girls just carry napkins around? What was up with that?), handing Kit a few to hold.

Kit took them into one hand, using the other to keep eating. Because he was in front of Ty and Livvy, he did not resort to eating like an animal in an effort to get it all into his mouth—but it was a close thing. 

He still ate fast enough to give himself the hiccups though, and Ty actually laughed when Kit had to stop eating.

“Ow, fuck—hic—this is terrible timing—hic —”

“Here,” Ty handed him his water bottle with a giggle (Kit usually forgot his at home), and Kit didn’t have time to think about the casual intimacy of the gesture, a little too desperate to stop the hiccups.

It took a few more minutes and the bell rang so they started heading to class, but eventually Kit was back to normal.

“Don’t choke,” Livvy warned when Kit handed back Ty’s water bottle and began to eat again. The bagel was almost entirely finished, and Kit mourned the loss.

He could feel it in his stomach, warm and tasty and actual food, and he felt a little more awake, a little more present. 

“I won’t,” Kit sniped back, finishing the bagel in two more bites, chewing with satisfaction. “See?”

He smiled at them, close-lipped, eyes crinkled. He was often smiling—at school, at the Market—but not like this, messy and warm and honest.

The twins shared a wide-eyed look, and Kit wondered if it was weird to see him smile like that. 

“Blackthorns, Rook, come in—” the Biology teacher, a kind and jittery woman, stopped when she saw Kit’s face.

“Yes?” Kit asked, turning to her. 

“It’s… nice to see you happy in the morning, Kit,” was all she said, moving to let them come inside.

Maybe Kit needed to practice his smiles more, if this one was so obviously different from the others. 

“Should we bring you breakfast more often?” Livvy asked. She looked a bit pink. 

Kit didn’t even get the chance to say thanks, but you don’t need to, because Ty was already nodding even though the question hadn’t been directed at him. 

“We should—he won’t ask for it himself,”

“True. It’s settled then—although it might not be every morning, sorry. Some breakfasts are harder to transport,”

“Remember, we’re giving you breakfast on Halloween too, so don’t worry that day,”

“Everyone’s been informed about that—Dru is very excited to meet you, and Emma is too, since she technically knew you first but you haven’t ever talked,”

Kit really needed to stop being taken by surprise every time the twins did something nice, but it was difficult—he didn’t have any experience with it. It was a little frustrating that although they didn’t have experience with friends either, they still seemed much more at ease doing stuff for him. 

Maybe it was because they had such a close-knit family, and ‘family friends’, people they weren’t related to that weren’t exactly friends like Kit and the twins were, but that were still kind, still good. 

They went inside and sat, and Kit didn’t pay attention to the lesson the entire period—he was still thinking about the bagel. 

~~~~~~~

When they got to French, they were quickly made aware that there would be a round of presentations soon. 

“Why do you always skip presentations?” Livvy asked when they were allowed to work in small groups on the grammar and vocab activities they were given. There were only about 15 kids in the class, spread out in groups of three or four across the classroom. Luckily, the three of them were at a corner table, a little distanced from everyone else. 

Overall, Kit liked French—except Kit hated passé composé and imparfait—really, he hated having to conjugate things in general, but memorizing the past-tense conjugations was a uniquely painful  experience.

But he was amazing at reading French and understanding when it was spoken, and his pronunciation was always on-point, although his verbal skills suffered a bit due to his hatred of the grammar, even when he had all the vocabulary down. When they were given instructions in French, or told to read passages, Kit was the first to understand and the one that translated most things. 

Ty was pretty good at everything but the pronunciation. He could memorize the grammar rules quickly and recognized patterns with ease, and Livvy was well-rounded, suffering a bit with the writing but participating the most in class while Ty and Kit only ever did when prompted for responses. 

“Everyone has to watch me when I do,” Kit explained, looking at all the spell-change verbs and writing them down in his notebook. “My dad thought they would make it too easy to pay attention to me or for others to observe me. He’s not really wrong—I also just didn’t like doing them in middle school. The way people watch me is sometimes a little creepy,”

“So you haven’t presented in what, three years?”

“Since like the seventh grade? I just act really sweet or tell the teachers I have stage fright, and they always end up leaving me alone, even when other kids are still forced to do it. Very rarely they’ll ask me to come do it during lunch, a one-on-one presentation, but usually they just leave me alone,”

“You’ll have to convince them for me sometime,” Ty muttered, already half-way done with the grammar worksheet and instead glaring at the vocabulary page. It was kind of cute. “I know what they all mean, and I know how to use them—how to say them is the worst,”

Kit had realized in the past few weeks that while Ty was an excellent student, he kind of hated something in every single class. In French, it was the presentations and verbal participation. In Humanities, it was the teacher’s essay prompts. In Psychology, it was the few debates they had because someone was always an asshole, in Algebra it was simply that he found math spectacularly boring. In Tech Theater, he didn’t like the limitations set by the teacher, and Kit didn’t yet know what Ty didn’t like about his Photography class, but he was sure there was something. 

It was sort of funny. Ty had always seemed like an effortlessly brilliant student due to how quickly he memorized things and how he had background knowledge in most things. It had made Kit think that the only thing about school Ty didn’t like was the other students, the atmosphere. But if prompted, the other boy could probably give an itemized list about all the things he disliked. 

At least most of his teachers dimmed the lights, or turned them off entirely when Ty had class with them. In French, they just used the natural lighting from the windows instead of the glaring LED lights in the ceiling, so it always felt a bit comfier and cozier, if a little dark. Kit didn’t mind it being dark though, it was still easy to see.

“I can help with the pronunciation,” Kit offered. “Although if it gets desperate, I can try my hand at guilt-tripping them to let you go free as well,”

“I’d like to see you present,” Livvy told Kit. “You’ve probably seen Ty and I present at some point, haven’t you?”

Kit had. He found it extremely compelling, to watch Livvy charm the entire room with her bright attitude, to study the way Ty answered any question with quick-fire replies, knowing anything anyone could think of asking, the way their slides were always visually appealing but informationally concise. 

They usually faltered at one thing or the other when they presented solo (that didn’t stop Kit from being completely invested), but as a duo, they were amazing. 

“I have,” Kit erased a mistake he’d made, looking at acheter and the verbs like it with distaste. 

“What did you think?”

“You guys are always the best presenters, even when it’s a solo-assignment, although you do the best together,”

She grinned at that, pleased. “Do you think you’d join us for a presentation, if it was a group one?”

Kit usually made the slides and found the information for presentation group projects and then disappeared, letting his teammates take care of the rest. He hadn’t really worked together with anyone in any group project. 

“Maybe,” he said, not quite sure if he was lying or not. 

“You should,” Ty said. “Unless it feels too creepy. But if it doesn’t, then you can take over my speaking parts,”

“You’d still need to speak, Ty,”

“...Have you looked at the word for bird? It’s spelled o-i-s-e-a-u.”

“Ah, you mean wazoo,”

“I hate it,”

“Valid,” Kit’s grin was wide, and he exchanged an amused look with Livvy. Disgruntled Ty was for some reason extremely satisfying to watch. 

Ty caught them smiling and sighed, pushing his completed worksheet for them to look at. Kit stopped his copying of the textbook and instead started filling in the answers, muttering the words under his breath so that Ty, who was still looking at the vocabulary with scorn, could hear the correct pronunciation. 

“I think we’d be a killer team if we did work together,” Livvy leaned closer, comparing her answers to Ty’s. “Probably at anything, really. I think we’d cover most bases,”

“What base do I cover?” Kit asked.

“Prettiest,” she suggested, and Kit snorted, shaking his head. “Also the most compelling speaker, probably. And if we had to do anything sketchy, you’d probably know how to go about it,”

“What are we planning, a heist?”

“I’m not against the idea, as long as we don’t get caught,”

“I don’t get caught,” Kit pointed out. Of course, Ty finding him in the renting alleys of the Market did not count. 

“Then we’re good,”

Ty listened to them talk for a while, occasionally nodding along when Kit went back to the vocab words, both of the twins trying to copy the sounds, but it was only when they started cleaning up that he peered at Kit closely.

“What?” Kit asked. 

Ty shook his head. “Your eyes caught the light from the windows weirdly,”

It reminded Kit a bit of what his father had said, of his eyes at the Market. It wasn’t really related, but strange to hear again so soon. Maybe Kit’s eyes just looked strange in low-light settings.

Kit could only shrug, and they headed out as the bell rang. 

Kit’s eyes were weird.

Ty didn’t say that negatively—they were very pretty, and Livvy was always going on about how Kit’s eyelashes were thick and curved, complaining that Kit and Ty had such naturally pretty eyelashes, although Ty’s were long and black. 

But in the shadows, they didn’t dim. When the lights were turned off in a classroom, Kit’s eyecolor was still stark. No one else seemed to have noticed it, not even Livvy, but it was… 

It was weird. 

And so Ty opened up a notebook, and started a list.

Strange Things About Kit:

• His eyes kind of glow in the dark (not too bright though).

• He walks without making any noise (without magic, as far as I know)

• He can sense people before they’ve cause any sensory output (that I can sense)

• His sleight of hand doesn’t match up with any videos that explain it (could just be really good at it)

He stared at the list. He might be missing other details, things he hadn’t yet noticed, but those were the glaring things, the ones that existed at the back of his mind.

Of course, Kit was strange in general, but those quirks were mostly within the realm of the “non-magical” world, things that Ty could allot to personality or lifestyle. 

He wondered if any details would come up in their texting history when a knock at the door startled him.

Everyone in the house knocked on Ty’s door softly, or they just texted him to come down because there was always the chance that he was wearing his headphones and wouldn’t hear them. Ty kind of hated the sound of knocking, and whenever parents woke up their kids by making a racket outside the door in movies, Ty usually ended up despising them, even if they weren’t antagonistic characters. It just seemed like a spectacularly annoying way to wake someone up.

“What?” he called, still looking at the paper.

“Can I come in?”

Dru.

“Sure,” 

The door opened softly, and Dru padded inside. She’d already showered and changed for the night, her short hair back in her usual tiny braids. 

“Julian says dinner is ready,” she hesitated. “Could you help me with my homework later? It’s for the Health program I’m in, about 18th century medicine. I have to write an essay on the Four Humors falling out in favor of Germ Theory. Or are you busy?”

She nodded at the paper in front of Ty.

Ty had never helped Dru with her homework until she started going to public school like he and Livvy—Julian was very smart and never struggled in his classes at home, but he didn’t exactly know how to write a “5 paragraph argumentative essay using CER to convince your target audience (the teacher) about what the most important symbolism—that is, only the symbolism the teacher chose was relevant in class—in this (incredibly dull) contemporary novel is”. 

Granted, Ty only knew that because of the latter end of the 9th grade, when he and Livvy had started attending school. It was all very annoying. 

“I can help,” Ty looked at his paper, and an idea struck him. “Close the door for a moment,”

She did, frowning, and then walking closer to his desk. Ty wasn’t entirely sure if this was the right call, but he was also miffed by the idea of not looking into it.

“Dru, when Kit comes, I need you to do something,” 

She shrugged, and Ty took that as compliance. 

“Just… pay attention to anything not quite human about him? Kind of like what we’re like as ‘Shadowhunters’, but even if it’s not like us, it just needs to be a bit strange,”

She raised her brows high, crossing her arms. “I thought Kit was human? Like, more than us at least,”

“That’s what he thinks, and what we think too. But he does some things that are a little strange. Livvy hasn’t really noticed them as far as I know, and I haven’t brought it up. I don’t know if I’m just reading into it too much, or if she really doesn’t see it, but since you don’t know Kit, I think it might be useful to have a… fresh pair of eyes to look at it,”

Her frown went away, and instead she nodded, leaning forward. “I can do that! It’s a good idea, too, since I’m not around him all the time, I won’t be complacent about habits that might’ve become normal to anyone who is used to him,”

“Exactly,” Ty was glad she was on board, and relieved she understood. “Here’s what I’ve got so far. It’s short, but I’m only just starting with the things I remember off the top of my head,”

He lifted the list for her to see, and her eyes scanned the words quickly. “Okay, well the lights are going to be off while we watch the movie, so we’ll definitely be able to check his eyes. As for the walking… you mean, he’s basically slyfooting?”

“It’s what it feels like,” Ty nodded. “It’s way quieter than anything we do, or anything humans usually do too. But he doesn’t seem to know any magic either,”

“Weird. Maybe he’s enchanted?”

“Is that a spell? You know more about magic than I do,”

“I can check,” Dru nodded confidently. She did look at the Blackthorn family spell books more than anyone else, although Ty was fairly sure it was because she wanted to use them for staging horror movie scenes. “Should we ask Mark? If Kit’s not human, Mark’s probably the most likely to actually know,”

“I think I’d rather see if Mark reacts to anything,” Ty mulled it over. “He’s very straightforward, so if we tell him, he might startle Kit by asking him about it. I think after Kit leaves, we can ask him if anything weird happened,”

“Alright. Even if we don’t bring up Kit to him, he might be able to tell us general details about half-fey or part-fey people that we might not already know, the way their biology might affect them. We can play it off as simple curiosity, and compare any details with things Kit does that are more subtle, but can maybe be explained by non-human uhh, genetics, rather than simple quirks,” Dru suggested, standing straight again.

Ty really should include Dru in his ideas more often. She was smart, but she also had… almost a similar nature to Kit, a little sneaky. 

“Great idea,” Ty smiled at her, and Dru grinned at him, eyes crinkled. 

“It’s exciting to get involved with your observations and experiments,” she took out her phone as it pinged. “Oh, right, dinner. Julian’s complaining about the food getting cold,”

Ty put his notebook in one of the drawers of his neck, standing up. “Livvy doesn’t know about this yet, but we can tell her after Halloween. I still want to confirm whether I’m right or not before spreading the idea,”

“Alrighty, I’m good at keeping secrets,” Dru gave him a thumbs up as they both headed out. 

“It’s not really a secret,”

“Okay, I’m good at keeping new hypotheses on the downlow,”

“Sure,” Ty laughed, and Dru giggled with him. When they got to the kitchen, their family looked up at them with raised brows, and Livvy impatiently patted the chairs on either side of her.

“Food’s getting cold,” Julian sighed, dramatic and long. “My little siblings don’t want to eat my food… Maybe I don’t need to cook anymore…”

That caused a bit of a ruckus as they all jumped to deny his joke. Ty and Dru moved quickly to their seats, insisting they loved the food, and it all finished with them laughing, Emma and Julian knocking shoulders.

Chapter Text

October 20th, 2023

Ty’s phone notes were quickly being monopolized by Kit. Or, lists about Kit, really.

It started with the digital version of Strange Things About Kit, but it was soon followed by a list of Food Kit Likes, which had to become separate from Kit’s Favorite Sweets (which he was slowly introducing Kit through, by bringing some from home). 

There was a short list of Things Kit Doesn’t Like, not because Kit didn’t like things, but because he didn’t complain often so sometimes it was difficult to decide what Kit actually didn’t like (so far, romantic advances from strangers was the biggest thing on the list).

Maybe Ty should add a list for Books/Stories/Media Kit Feels Very Strongly About, although before this moment, Percy Jackson would have been the only item on the list.

Because…

When Kit walked into school that morning, not even the promise of a breakfast burrito in Livvy’s hands could dissuade him from jumping immediately into a musical debrief. 

“Hadestown,” he started, looking at them both, his gaze serious, like when Julian told them to never answer the door for strangers. 

“Uh, okay?” Livvy rolled the burrito in front of Kit, prompting for elaboration. “What about it? Also, this is for you. Breakfast burrito, with potatoes, egg, bacon, and cheese. Julian always seasons the potatoes really well, and it’s still warm,”

Kit’s eyes were fixated on it for a moment, following the movement like when Church followed their hands when they held a treat. He shook his head, tearing his eyes away. “Um, thank you. But Hadestown. It’s one of the musical options for the first semester. The teacher is going to poll Tech Theater and the Performance Theater classes to decide which one to do, I saw the announcement go up on Google Classroom last night,”

Ty had also seen the notification last night. He hadn’t clicked on it, instead wondering (perhaps hypocritically) what his theater teacher was doing up at midnight. 

He didn’t care a lot about whichever musical they picked, but he had a feeling that was about to change. 

“Sooo…?” Livvy raised her brows high. It reminded Ty of Helen. 

“Vote for Hadestown. Make everyone vote for Hadestown,” Kit pointed at Livvy. “I’m not in your Performance class, but please, just name-drop me as much as you want, it’s bound to do something. But it has to be Hadestown, no matter what anyone says about the other options,”

Ty didn’t think he’d heard Kit talk so intensely about anything in their classes. He exchanged a look with Livvy, and he knew they were both in slight disbelief. 

“Sure,” Livvy nodded. “I can do that. Uh, is there any particular reason… or…?”

“Out of the list, it’s the best,” Kit nodded to himself, as if agreeing with his own statement. “Also I listened to it on repeat for about a month last year and I’m sort of obsessed with it,”

It was fascinating to watch Kit talk about the things he liked. Ty didn’t think he was half as charming or captivating when he rambled about Sherlock Holmes or insects, even if Kit was very involved whenever Ty started sending him photos of insects outside the Blackthorn house, explaining their anatomy and anything about them that he found interesting. 

(Ty thought Kit might be getting used to the moth videos, because he’s stopped reacting with um, what’s that… and instead replied oh, kinda cute!)  

When Ty and Livvy had originally watched Kit (for nearly two years), he’d seemed perfect and engaging in the way a master painter’s most beautiful portrait did.

But then he’d smiled at them—genuine, honest, warm—and they’d realized, no, that Kit they’d watched had been a beautiful painting, but not one with real movement or life. He’d been an exquisitely carved statue of marble that seemed alive and kind around the eyes and in the curve of his smile, but if they had reached out to touch him, he would have been cold, pure stone. 

This Kit, that rambled about books and got invested in musicals, was far warmer to the touch, far richer in color, than anything they had known before.

Ty wished, rather desperately, that Kit would think of him similarly, but…it was hard to imagine someone comparing Ty to a masterpiece, nevermind something all the more lovely by being alive. 

He pulled himself back into the conversation, fingers twitching to touch Kit again and feel the warmth of his skin underneath his finger tips.

“—so you want me to rig the votes?”

“Absolutely. I want this to be the most underhanded democratic process since…” Kit paused, tilting his head. “Uh, since America discovered gerrymandering,”

“That was a fill in the blank with a million possible answers,” Livvy snorted.

“Gerrymandering was the first thing that popped into my head,” Kit shook his head, blond curls bouncing with movement. “Ah, point being, it needs to be Hadestown. Are you auditioning?”

“Probably, regardless of whatever musical ends up being picked,” Livvy tried shaking the burrito in front of Kit again, and Kit’s eyes followed it, but he didn’t grab it. 

Kit didn’t really grab at food, even when they brought it for him.

Ty took the burrito from Livvy’s hand and then unwrapped the top of it. He could have sworn Kit’s eyes dilated.

…Did they…?

He decided he should test that later. 

“Eat, Kit,” Ty pressed the burrito softly against Kit’s mouth, and Kit’s eyes went a little cross-eyed as it got closer. Ty tried not to laugh.

“Alright, thanks,” Kit finally took the wrap and began to eat, eyes widening. Ty felt like he was seeing the physical version of seeing someone’s eyes light up. 

Ty needed to learn how to cook. Julian would probably love to teach him. 

After swallowing his first bite, Kit pointed at them again with his free hand. “It’s delicious. But don’t forget about Hadestown,”

“We won’t,” Livvy promised.

~~~~~~~

When it was finally time for Tech Theater, Kit’s leg bounced while waiting for everyone to finish filing in, and Ty ends up copying the movement. He wondered if they looked anxious. 

He started fiddling with one of Livvy’s hair ties, which had somehow found its way to his wrist, and then he looked for a proper stim toy in his bag in case he snapped the band. There was a small gear chain fidget, and he switched to that instead.

That caught Kit’s eye, and he watched as Ty used it, still bouncing his leg. 

“Is there a reason you’re so serious about this?” Ty asked, rubbing the chain and pushing them around the gears. 

“Honestly, it’s just that I rarely see things I actually like get brought up,” Kit watched Ty’s hands intently. “Well, maybe they get brought up in certain groups or clubs, but I’m not allowed to get close to anyone, and it’s not like people at the Market talk about pop culture or modern media. So since I actually like this thing, and since we're going to spend time in class making props and sets for whatever gets chosen… I got excited,”

Ty knew he’d be excited if they were doing a Sherlock Holmes play (which did exist). 

He wanted to ask more—what was the musical about, other than possibly Greek mythology? What did Kit like about it? Did he have a favorite song or singer?—but then the teacher walked in and class began.

Really, it would be more accurate to say that the teacher walked in, and Kit’s stage was set. 

A smile began to form on Kit’s face as the teacher started her presentation. His eyes flickered over to every student, catching their eyes. Their gazes were pinned on Kit immediately, and Ty watched them watch Kit, trying to follow along the web Kit was slowly weaving.

Was this something people did? Normal humans, albeit charismatic? Or was there something unusual to the way Kit commanded a room with minimal movement? Could people regularly change from keeping attention off of them to attracting it with a flicker of their eyelashes?

Ty couldn’t hope to come to the decision himself, but that was fine—having the question at all was progress. 

When the teacher asked if anyone knew the musicals on the list, Kit’s hand went up immediately. A few others also raised their hands, but they were quickly dropped. Maybe it was the energy Kit used, the pull of his attention, or maybe it was just that Kit was adored by all but he never spoke—it took almost nothing for everyone’s eyes to be on him. 

No wonder Kit thought presentations were creepy. Just by sitting next to him, Ty was suddenly also in everyone’s line of sight, and there was something deeply discomforting about having so many eyes pinned on him. 

“Oh, Rook,” the teacher looked pleasantly surprised. “In the last class, Livia Blackthorn mentioned that you really liked Hadestown. Do you know a lot of musicals?”

Kit smiled—something between the old marble smile and the new warm one—and everyone seemed to lean forward, at attention. 

Ty leaned back, to take it all in better. 

The stage was set, and Kit was front and center the moment his lips parted.

~~~~~~~

When class ended, they were told the teacher would look over the different classes’ anonymous votes, but Ty knew there would be no question about it. Really, was there any room for doubt? The decision was made the second Kit saw the listings the previous night. 

Ty had listened to the explanation—he thought he might’ve been the only that was actually hearing Kit talk about Hadestown, the way it would appeal to a wide audience, how the messages were relevant, how deep the symbolism ran and how the music and visuals really set it apart and something about the “almost fantastical vocal range”—but he figured everyone else had stopped listening to the actual words coming out of Kit’s mouth and were just entranced by hearing him speak at all. 

Granted, Kit had a very nice voice. Sometimes Ty found himself mouthing out words after Kit had said them, wanting to replicate the sound (and not just in French). He avoided repeating phrases around his classmates because they insisted it was rude, but Kit would probably let him if Ty asked. 

Kit waited with Ty, who was in turn waiting for Livvy.

“I hope you like it,” Kit was shifting his weight back and forth, leaning forward and then back. Once again, Ty matched his own movement to his. He wondered if Kit realized that he had habits that kind of looked like stimming. 

“Introduce me to it,” Ty suggested.

“You sure? I don’t want to bother you about it,”

“It won’t bother me,” Ty insisted. “I’m asking,”

Kit smiled up at him, all warmth. His hair was a mess again, and this time, Ty did reach out to fix it.

Kit let him, pausing his movement. 

“You fix my hair more often now,”

“It’s messy,” Ty grinned down at Kit, who let his head fall down lower as Ty ran his fingers through the strands of hair. “And like I said before, it’s really soft,”

He really didn’t want to let go, but after setting the hair back in place and adding a self-indulgent extra pass of his fingers, he let his hands drop to his sides. 

“I still find that surprising,” Kit lifted his head back up. “Is it nice to touch?”

Ty nodded, a little embarrassed. Was that weird? 

“I don’t mind you fixing it,” Kit followed up. His hair was a little neater, but Ty was sure that the stubborn strand always falling forward wouldn’t stay put for longer than a few minutes. “If Livvy gets cast in the musical, will you stay after school as part of the tech crew?”

“Probably. That’s what we’ve always discussed whenever she talked about auditioning in Junior and Senior year,”

Kit nodded, squinting his eyes. “I doubt my dad would let me… but it’d be nice to stay for that too,”

Ty didn’t know if there was a way to convince Johnny Rook to let Kit stay after school—it didn’t seem like Kit had ever succeeded at convincing him of any extracurricular activities (Ty had a feeling Johnny Rook hadn’t been told about field trip opportunities, and that Kit was only able to go to them because he never asked in the first place. He could probably make up whatever signature he wanted, considering the school couldn’t contact his father). 

Still, the idea of it—the possibility of spending even more time in Kit’s company, of being able to go grab food nearby and come back to work together, to watch Livvy rehearse as they built props nearby…

Ty’s mind latched onto it immediately.

“Can you… try asking?” he didn’t want to push. He couldn’t quite grasp what kind of guardian Johnny Rook was, but he didn’t want Kit to deal with the fallout of his father being angry regardless. “I know it might not work, but it’d be nice if you could,”

“...I might try. He’s been kind of strange lately, maybe it’ll work,” Kit waved a hand out to the crowd of students by the exit, and Ty spotted Livvy, who was making her way to them. “We’ll see if Hadestown does get picked, and then I’ll ask,”

“Alright,”

“By the way, I think the moth you showed me last week—the uh, autographa one?—was in my house last night? But I wasn’t sure, because you said they hide very effectively so I might be wrong?”

Ty blinked at the change in topics. “Oh. Well, it’s not impossible? I’d have to see a picture though,”

He hadn’t thought Kit would remember Ty’s rambling about the moths—sure, Kit seemed to like moths more than any of the other insects Ty had sent him, but Ty didn’t really think anyone but Julian, Livvy, Mark, and Emma really tried to remember what he said about most animals, and even then, they weren’t fond of bugs.

“I’ll try taking a picture if it’s still there. It’s not as creepy as a spider,”

“Spiders aren’t creepy,”

“You’re braver than I am,”

Ty laughed, bumping shoulders with Kit, who bumped him back as Livvy reached them. 

“What’s got you two giggling?” she raised a brow. She had somehow acquired a lollipop since they’d seen her at lunch.

“Moths,” Kit answered. “And bravery or lack thereof,”

“You two make no sense,”

Ty and Kit grinned at each other.

~~~~~~~

That night, Ty got more than one picture of the insects around Kit’s house, from a moth (yes, a autographa californica moth, Ty was incredibly pleased by Kit’s correct identification) to a couple of bees outside, and a beetle (a Darkling beetle, which for some reason resulted in Kit sending several skull emojis and then just “a character goes by that in a book I read”). 

Ty tried to not make it too obvious that he was texting Kit—Livvy still didn’t know they had exchanged numbers—but when they all dispersed after dinner and Ty paused near the windows of the living room, wondering if he should step outside to find any new insects to tell Kit about, Emma plopped down on the couch nearby. 

“Ty-Ty,” she called, and Ty looked away from the window. Emma had always liked that nickname.

“Hmm?”

“Were you texting someone at dinner?”

Ty didn’t answer, wondering what gave it away and hoping that Livvy didn’t notice, but the silence must have been enough for Emma, who smiled.

“Was it Kit?”

He nodded, suddenly feeling awkward. 

“You looked happy. Julian was talking with Dru about school, but he might’ve noticed too. You like talking to Kit a lot, huh?”

Again, Ty didn’t answer, even though the answer was a resounding yes, yes I do.

“You’re pink,” Emma laughed.

Maybe instead of getting Kit to blush, Ty should ask him how to stop blushing. It really wasn’t doing him any favors, and a detective should be better at hiding their emotions, right?

Ty groaned at Emma’s giggle, instead turning and leaning his back against the window he’d been looking out of. The glass was cool even through the fabric. “I know it’s obvious when I blush,”

“It’s just cuz you’re pale. If you ever want a tanning partner, let me know,” Emma laughed at Ty’s less-than-ecstatic face. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to drag you out into the sun against your will. Cristina’s coming back soon, so I’ll have a buddy in a bit. What were you two talking about?”

“Insects,”

“Insects?”

“He lets me send him different animals—a lot of bugs, lately—and tell him about them. He was sending me different bugs around his house and either trying to identify them or asking me to,” 

Emma tilted her head a bit at that, squinting her eyes at him. A relaxed sort of smile grew on her face. “This is the same Kit that made jokes about being freaked out by spiders?”

“He’s still freaked out by spiders, but yes,”

“And he doesn’t go out much or interact with bugs either, right?

“Right,”

“I see,” Emma nodded, smiling still. “You told him you like animals, right?”

“Yes? Why?”

“He seems like a sweet friend,”

“Emma?” Julian yawned, coming out of the kitchen and looking over at Emma and Ty in the half-lit living room. “I told you that you could wait upstairs,”

Ty wondered if they had work to do that night, or if they were just going to hang out, like they always had since as far back as Ty could remember, a matched pair. If they were full-blood faeries rather than ‘Shadowhunters’, Emma and Julian would probably be sworn knight brothers—siblings?—parabatai —well, the point being, they would have probably worked side-by-side on the battlefield even more than they already did whenever they were recruited by the courts to get any work done.

“I was just catching up with Ty,” Emma grinned up at Julian as he came to stand by her, and he pulled her up easily. They were wearing matching Los Angeles sweaters—actually, he was pretty sure they’d traded. Julian didn’t usually wear oversized pink sweaters, and Emma didn’t buy most of her things in green. “Asking about Kit. I did call dibs on giving him a ride on Halloween,”

“You knew him before literally everyone else,”

“Barely, and he always hid from me!”

Julian just laughed, looking over at Ty. “Maybe give Kit a head’s up that Emma’s really excited to meet him,”

“Will do,” Ty watched them, their arms linked as they smiled. Emma wasn’t a Blackthorn by blood or name, so her features were completely different from theirs, but there was something about Julian and her that seemed so similar. They tilted inwards, nearly knocking their heads together as they looked back at Ty, all smiles. They were always leaning like that, towards each other, like a mirror image trying to reach itself. “Have you been assigned anything by the courts?”

“No, but we’ve got some stuff that Jem and Tessa want us to look into,” Emma gave Ty one of her nuh uh looks when he perked up. “It’s barely anything, I promise. We’ll call you and Livvy if we need help with research, but right now it’s just cross-referencing a few different ancient faerie texts with some newer documents, and maybe heading out to fact-check. Nothing crazy,”

Ty liked cross-referencing texts. He didn’t need it to be crazy, just interesting. “What are the old texts about?”

The two of them exchanged a glance. Ty wondered if they minded how close their faces were. 

Julian shook his head. “We promised not to tell anyone until there were decent results or we needed to expand the search, so for now it’s on the downlow. Who knows, it might be nothing,”

“So it’s just for Jem and Tessa?”

“Mhmm. We’re trying to not let the courts know,”

“Ahh,” Ty nodded. The Blackthorns (and the Lightwoods, and the Fairchilds, and the Herondales, and the Carstairs) were always hiding things from the courts because, well, the courts sort of sucked. Nowadays they were on surprisingly decent terms with the Unseelie Court (hm, was Kieran coming over for Halloween?) but considering all the strings Julian was always pulling to keep them out of the Seelie Queen’s clutches, their lives wouldn’t ever be quite peaceful.

A few months ago, he’d overheard Cristina insisting to Kieran (before Cristina took a brief vacation back to Mexico City and Kieran went back to work) about how the Queen had a weird obsession with Julian. He’d told Livvy and Dru about it, and they’d all been thoroughly disgusted. 

“...well, I’m the best at research, so involve me if you get any good leads,”

Julian rolled his eyes, but reached out slowly to touch Ty’s cheek, brushing away an eyelash that must have fallen without him noticing. “I’ll see if we can, Ty. We’re going to head to bed now. Don’t stay up too late,”

There wasn’t any true insistence. All the Blackthorns were night owls, and Ty was the worst after Julian himself. 

Emma winked, mostly because she could and Julian couldn’t (Ty knew this because she’d proclaimed it loudly over the years). “Since I’m apparently too excited, tell Kit I won’t do anything crazy when Halloween comes around. I’m just happy to hear that you have a friend. G’night, Ty,”

He agreed and wished them good night, watching as they left the living room for the foyer where the stairs were located. 

Then he pulled out his phone, looking at the last text message from Kit.

Watson: Are there fireflies in LA? I’ve always wanted to see the ones you typically see on TV, the really bright ones.

Ty felt almost guilty as he typed out the answer. There aren't a lot of fireflies in California. Most of them don’t glow at all, only a little, or only in the larval stage. 

Watson: Oh, that sucks. At least we have really cool moths. I didn’t know moths could be pretty before you showed me some.

              A lot of insects are “pretty”. You still don't really like most bugs though, right?

Watson : Yeahhh, not really. I think if I saw a praying mantis right now I’d jump out of my skin. 

            What about bees?

Watson : I don’t mind them as much? Bees follow me around a lot. And butterflies, and dragonflies. They make me a bit nervous because they remind me of the trapped insects at the Market but they don’t creep me out as much as spiders. They just follow me around when I walk. And again, praying mantises are creepy.

Ty stared at that message for a long moment, something prickling in the back of his mind. 

Kit didn’t have much experience with nature of any kind outside of the magic plants and creatures at the market, which he was supposed to stay away from.

Ty could only assume that Kit came across flying insects around school and when he made his way to and from the few places he’d ever walked to. 

For Kit himself to notice insects that tended to crowd around him…

For insects to crowd around him in the first place…

Horses loved Mark, and birds loved Helen. 

Ty made his way upstairs, for once in his life not entirely focused on a conversation abouts bees as he sent some pictures to Kit of his favorites.

Light was visible from under Dru’s door.

He knocked. 

“Dru, can I come in?”

There was a dull thud and something that sounded like a shriek. A long second passed before Dru opened the door wide, and Ty peered over her shoulder to look at her bed, which was in disarray, and the large book on the floor.

“Sorry,” Dru took a deep breath. “I was listening to a scary podcast while reading and the knocking startled me,”

She moved aside to let him in, looking him over and pushing her hair free, messy and probably tangled. The door closed behind him and he looked at the book on the floor.

“More spells?”

“Glamor and illusion based ones,” she said, picking up the heavy book gently and placing it back on her bed. “What’s up?”

“I know most of the time you read about active magic, like spells and curses, but you know about passive magic too, right?” Ty took a seat at Dru’s desk (which was covered in special effects makeup kits) while she climbed back into bed.

“Well, it’s kinda impossible to define passive magic, but yeah, I’ve learned a bit about it,” Dru shrugged. “It’s more of a term for something that hasn’t been definitely decided, and sometimes it makes sense, and sometimes it doesn’t,”

“Is there a clear difference between passive magic and biological ability?”

“That’s a tough one. Right now, the general consensus is that faeries, and all fey creatures, are magic that imitates biology, so I’d say most magical things that the fey can do with little to no effort are just… inherent? And whether that qualifies as passive magic is… well, we don’t know how to define passive magic either, so… it’s a working spectrum on a case-by-case basis,”

“Where does slyfooting land on that spectrum?”

“Uh, I’d say it’s an expected innate ability from magic? Again, it imitates biology, so… technically some faeries can’t, and most have to actively learn how to do it, but the ability is always there. Sort of like learning how to snap or wink, except humans probably figure those out more than faeries decide to develop slyfooting,”

Ty nodded, following along. Faerie “science” was nearly impossible to sparse, which was one of the reasons he could never really get into it. He supposed it would be fun to make a breakthrough in a field that otherwise existed mostly as thought experiments, but…. Regular science and biology won out that fight. 

“Then, what about an affinity for nature?”

“...Did Kit do something weird?” Dru squinted at him. “This is definitely about Kit, right?”

“Not—weird? Maybe not on purpose at all. And maybe it’s not even anything, I could be forcing facts to fit a theory rather than making a theory that fits the facts…” Ty wondered if anyone would recognize that for the Sherlock reference that it was. “That’s why I’m asking about passive magic and biology. But… so, he basically never goes outside, and he’s kind of freaked out by most animals because of it. But he just mentioned being followed around by flying insects, and the fact that it’s happened enough for him to notice despite his limited freedom to even be outside… it’s a bit odd,”

Dru considered that for a moment. “Okay, looking at this with the mentality that it isn’t just coincidence, then… An affinity for some form of nature is common amongst all faeries—even the ones with an affinity for death technically count, since faerie nature includes creatures of the dead. There are definitely spells that enhance this, and even enchantments you can place on some else, whether it’s a blessing or a curse,”

Ty brought his legs up onto the chair, wrapping his arms around them as he listened. 

Dru continued on. “That being said, affinity is a very broad term—most faeries just feel comfortable in nature and amongst plants. It’s why they don’t spill over the Markets into human towns by the dozen. There’s not enough nature throughout cities for them to feel comfortable. Oh and obviously, the lack of magic isn’t good for them, and neither is iron,”

Ty sometimes wondered what the whole iron thing was about. Similarly to faerie “biology”, the explanation of iron versus magic was mostly just thought experiments. He supposed for the fey, the fact that it was so painful was basically all they needed to know to avoid it. 

“To receive active fondness from nature, like Helen and Mark… that requires cultivation of that relationship, like Mark and Helen have done with animals they like. It doesn’t require casting a spell or even learning it, but it’s something sort of… again, innate, but that has to be strengthened. As for Kieran, I’m sure it’s partially that, and partially that he’s royalty—all members of the royal families and even throughout the higher ranked nobility have a strong relationship to the fabric of Faerie, and that includes all the nature,”

“If it’s the fabric of faerie, how does it bleed into the real world? Plants like Kieran here too,”

“Maybe innate magic—biological magic?—is just strong like that?” Dru shrugged helplessly. “It’s not as strong as in Faerie—like, what Kieran can do here, the cheering plants up thing, is basically incomparable to what he can do in Faerie, especially now that he has the Unseelie crown. What he does in Faerie is... he's the land's god, basically,”

They sat in silence for a while.

“We’re looking at this from it not being a coincidence,” Ty mumbled. “If it’s not just a coincidence, what does that mean for Kit if nature likes him? Can someone cultivate a relationship with nature if they’ve avoided it their whole life?”

Dru stared at Ty. “I… don’t know if it can be done unwillingly. Subconsciously, it’s possible for a faerie to cultivate that relationship if they’ve been around that specific realm of nature their entire lives and it’s very important to them, so it was only natural for it to develop, but… but if he doesn’t try to do it, and he hasn’t been exposed to nature…”

“Then it can only be done if the bond is stronger than usual, for reasons outside of his control?”

“Sure but… how would that even happen? That would require him to be on the same level as Kieran, or for someone to have casted a spell as strong as a crown of Faerie ,” Dru shook her head. “That’s… that’s not something that happens casually,”

Ty didn’t have an answer. “I guess we should figure out if it’s actually a coincidence after all,”

“It honestly sounds more likely that it is just a coincidence,” Dru rubbed at her eyes. “Because if it isn’t a coincidence… well, then the real answer would be even more unlikely,”

That reminded Ty of a quote that he knew all too well. “When you have eliminated all which is impossible then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,”

“Is that a Sherlock quote?”

“Mhmm,”

“...I guess we’ll see what’s impossible—that is, what cannot be written off as simple coincidence anymore—when Kit comes around,”

“Right,” Ty uncurled his arms and legs, getting up from the chair. “Thanks for the help, Dru,”

She smiled. “Glad to help! Even if it’s a little bit daunting, it’s definitely interesting,”

Ty smiled back, pleased once more to have someone to talk to about this. “I’ll go now,”

And then, just to sound like Julian, he added, “Don’t stay up too late,”

She rolled her eyes, and Ty laughed as he left the room, wishing her a good night.

He pulled out his phone as he closed the door to his own room. Kit had apparently liked some of the bee pictures he’d sent before talking to Dru—he’d sent back versions with doodles accessories, like a queen bee that now had a messily drawn crown and other jewelry. 

Sometimes, the fact that this was the same Kit that so easily threatened blackmail and had horror stories from throughout his years as a child in the Market astounded Ty. 

Well, either way, Ty liked all the different parts of Kit, so whether he was dealing with a criminal streak or silly drawings, he didn’t mind. And whether Kit was human or not would never affect the simple truth that Ty wanted to stay with him. 

Chapter Text

October 23th, 2023

When Kit saw the Google Classroom announcement that Hadestown had been picked, the first thing he felt like doing was texting Ty.

Sure, the announcement had gone up at 9pm and he’d only seen it at 11pm after he finally looked away from the WebToon he’d been reading since he’d gotten home, but…

Ty was a night owl too.

So he climbed out of bed, kicking his raggedy blankets off himself, his phone in one hand, typing out a message. He hadn’t yet eaten that night, more preoccupied with the relationship drama in the WebToon, but he’d heard his father arrive at some point in the last hour. He hadn’t been called down to eat—eating together was more of a coincidence than a habit. 

               Hadestown got picked! 

Sherlock: :)
Sherlock: I’d like to see the voting breakdown — I wonder if anyone voted for anything else, but I doubt it would be more than a few outliers. 

Kit wondered if it was bad that he felt a little smug about that. 

               Maybe. I’m glad that we’ll be working on it in class and probably listening to the soundtrack.

               Does Livvy know yet?

Sherlock : No, she’s asleep.

              Imagine sleeping before midnight.

Sherlock: I don’t know how she does it. 

Sherlock : Going to sleep soon?

             Eating, actually. Trying to see if we have anything fun to eat.

Sherlock: I can bring you something in the morning if there’s nothing.
Sherlock: I’ve been watching Julian cook lately, I think I’ll ask him to teach me some things this weekend.

                I’d like to learn, but we don’t really have any ingredients. Show me what you make?

Sherlock: Of course

Sherlock : Have you eaten since lunch? It’s late.

Sherlock : Don’t skip meals

              …In my defense I started a really good WebToon

Sherlock: Did you think about being hungry and then decide to forget in favor of what you’re reading?

               Yup. Did you?

Sherlock : Not tonight, but it happens a lot on weekends.

Kit chatted with Ty back and forth, eventually finding themselves on a topic about Sherlock Holmes and his different philosophies and methodology.

Kit could only somewhat relate to it—he had to have good observation skills, because his life at the Market and at school required it, but he wasn’t really casually knowledgeable about a variety of topics, not like Ty was. Ty was an encyclopedia for most things related to nature, from weather patterns to animals or ecosystems, and he had an amazing memory for anything historical. Really, if Ty had read it, it was unusual for him to forget the information, instead just requiring the smallest prod to recall it.

At most, Kit had always been fond of stories and mythology, but that was probably because of all the books he’d read while being bored out of his mind at home, and Percy Jackson had been a significant one, so he’d spent time researching it properly or scouring YouTube for videos in relation to basically any mythology or folklore.

Although sometimes it strayed too close to what were clearly stories about the fey and Kit felt like he’d returned to square one.

Sherlock : Did you find food?

Kit realized after a moment that he’d just been standing still in his dark kitchen, texting Ty instead of feeding himself.

That was no surprise, really.

                No, I was into the conversation

                Give me a moment

Habit made him exit out of the texting interface and place his phone face-down, and he instead turned to the kitchen, looking for food.

He was glad to find Hot Pockets in the freezer—they weren’t healthy, but at least there was some variety. Most of their TV dinners were things like frozen broccoli, steak, and potatoes, which wasn’t really bad in regards to a balanced meal, but eating something that looked healthy but didn’t feel it was somehow more offensive than eating something that could never act like it was good for him.

Kit supposed he didn’t like the performance of eating healthy when in reality, he rarely ate at all. 

He heard the door to his father’s room open, but didn’t mind it. It wouldn’t be the first time Johnny Rook had found Kit eating at a godforsaken hour.

He didn’t call out, more interested in finding a paper plate to put the Hot Pockets on, but he didn’t need to.

When he turned to glance at the entrance of the kitchen and saw his dad appear, Johnny Rook jumped nearly a foot in the air when they made eye contact.

Kit startled back as his dad grasped his own chest, letting out a loud curse and then breathing hard, with one hand searching for the light switch, flicking it on.

They stared at each other, Kit wearing an oversized raggedy shirt and in his boxers with a Hot Pocket in one hand, and his dad still in work clothes, phone in hand and taking short, fast breaths.

“Kit,” Johnny Rook sighed after a long moment, eyes flicking away from Kit’s own. “You scared the Hell out of me,”

“You didn’t know I was in here?” Kit asked, genuinely surprised. He could always tell where his dad was in the house. Sure, most of the time he blocked it out, but it was still an awareness that was always under the surface. 

“No, I didn’t even hear you come down the stairs. How long have you been down here?”

“Like… a half-hour? A bit longer?” Kit placed the rest of the paper plates back in the cupboard. “I opened the freezer and looked around a bit too…”

To be honest, Kit couldn’t remember if he’d heard himself make any noise that he could point to specifically. But what reason was there for things to be loud anyway?

Johnny Rook watched Kit close the cupboard with strange eyes. “...You’re too quiet,”

“Just how I was raised to be,” Kit raised a brow.

“...It doesn’t hurt to make some noise inside the house,”

Kit shrugged. “I’m not trying to be silent. Did someone enchant you with bad hearing or something?”

Johnny Rook only frowned. Kit wondered what was wrong. He wasn’t sure where his dad fell on the scale of “acts like a dad”, but at the very least they’d always had an easy back and forth, up until the last few months. The jumpiness, the squinting, it was all… very unusual.

Not for the first time, he wished he had Ty’s skill of pattern recognition, or at least the ability to connect events in a way that might lead to an answer.

“Why were you in the dark?”

“Because… I didn’t need to turn on the light?”

“Can you see all the time without turning on the light?”

Kit wondered if his dad was losing his sense of hearing and sight, in a vague sort of way, not really believing it to be a possibility but not having any actual explanation for a frankly bizarre conversation. “We usually do stuff in the dark,”

“With a small light source, Kit,” Johnny Rook met his eyes for a moment again before looking away. “I didn’t see you in here, until you turned. I could see your eyes,”

“They must have been reflecting the oven’s clock or something,” Kit shrugged, glancing at the oven’s small screen with glowing red numbers. Kit thought that the only reason they even had an oven was because they could use it for things like frozen pizza.

“Hm,” Johnny Rook shook his head. “Alright. I was just getting some medicine,”

After that, they didn’t talk, not even wishing each other good night as Johnny Rook took a few pills for pain and Kit finally made his food. Kit grabbed his phone with one hand and his plate with the other as he turned off the lights, his dad back in his room, and went up the stairs.

Oddly enough, when he reached his room and closed the door, he couldn’t remember if the stairs had creaked under his feet like they always did whenever Johnny Rook came upstairs.

Whatever. Kit was lighter than his father, and physically sneakier too. It wasn’t worth getting worked up about. 

He ignored the weird feeling in his stomach, and burrowed under his thin blanket. For some reason, the temperature in the house felt like it had suddenly dropped lower.

Kit hated being cold.

He took out his phone and sent off another message to Ty.

October 24th, 2023

The twins had brought Kit the most elaborate breakfast so far—he felt almost guilty at accepting it, and couldn’t really believe they’d gone through the trouble.

When he walked into the school and made his way to them, he was handed a Tupperware container with an omelette and a side of small sausages, and he stared at it blankly for a long moment. Ty had also handed him utensils, looking rather pleased with himself when Kit’s mouth gaped in surprise.

“Julian’s getting used to making an extra to-go breakfast,” Livvy explained, leading them towards their classroom to sit so Kit could eat properly. “We don’t usually take anything that can’t be easily wrapped, but he prepared in advance for this. Tell us how you like it! He’s been pretty smug about all the glowing reviews,”

“Uhuh,” Kit thought that if he didn’t have so much experience with taking agile steps, he would have tripped by now with how little attention he was paying. At one point, Ty gently grabbed his elbow and pulled him closer, because Kit nearly walked into the division pole of a double-door entrance. Kit managed to ignore his shiver at the warmth of the touch. “And Julian is single?”

“Yup. Never dated anyone,”

“...How is he still single?”

“He’s never been close to anyone but Emma and our family. In more recent years, we’ve also been friends with a few different Shadowhunter families and newer friends, but still, he’s very family-oriented,”

“Someone needs to marry him immediately or else I will,”

“Don’t marry Julian,” Ty frowned. “That would be weird,”

“How much older is he? Like two years maybe? That’s fine, I can deal with that,”

Livvy snorted. “Is the unattainable Kit Rook really going to fold because someone can make him breakfast?”

“One hundred percent yes,” Kit smirked back at her. “I’d do anything for this type of food all the time,”

“You can charm everyone during Halloween. If enough Blackthorn siblings like you, you’re basically added to the family circle, married or not,” Livvy suggested.

“Don’t—” Ty moved Kit again, this time so he wouldn’t knock his hip on a table as they entered their still-empty IB Bio classroom because apparently Kit was uncoordinated in the face of a delicious breakfast. “I mean, we’ll bring you food regardless. Well, everyone is going to like you but—anyway, don’t flirt with Julian, that would be weird,”

He seemed a bit put-off, so Kit knocked shoulders with him softly, laughing to try and dissipate whatever feeling was making Ty furrow his brows. Ty always looked good, even if he wasn’t pleased, but Kit didn’t really want to be the reason Ty frowned in any context. 

“I won’t, I won’t. I just really like his food. I’ve never eaten anything homemade like this,” Kit appeased Ty. “Once again, compliments to the chef,”

Ty squinted at Kit. “Julian’s going to start teaching me. I wonder if you’ll be able to tell the difference,”

“I am more than willing to try,” Kit felt a bit strange still accepting food from the Blackthorns. They enjoyed watching him eat (for some reason? It was a bit weird) and never made it feel like charity, but Kit felt almost guilty—like he should be able to feed himself perfectly fine, even though they didn’t have any good food at home. 

When they all took a seat, Kit pointedly ignored the rather taken-aback look their teacher gave the container in Kit’s hands as he opened it. Although different teachers had different food policies in their classrooms, a lot of students took the free school-provided food in the morning to class and ate there, so it’d be a little strange to tell Kit off for eating. 

Kit decidedly did not make a commotion after taking the first bite, since he’d already gone on about marrying Julian but…

Seriously, it was delicious, how was Julian single?

Kit refused to believe it was possible. Someone definitely had him locked down. 

“There’s one more thing,” Ty said, reading into his backpack. Kit thought that if Ty didn’t have to carry so many things around, a side-satchel or messenger bag would fit his vibe pretty well.

He took out something neatly wrapped and placed it on the table in front of Kit. The smell of cinnamon became immediately noticeable.

“What is it?”

“A few cinnamon rolls. Julian and Emma stayed up late yesterday making them for Emma’s other best friend Cristina. She’s coming back from her vacation in Mexico—she’s from there, but she’s basically been living with us for almost two years now,” Ty tapped the wrapper. “It’s what made the most sense, as a celebratory food for Hadestown getting picked,”

Kit couldn’t help his satisfied grin then. “Thanks, Ty,”

Ty blinked at him before turning away sharply with an affirmative hum. His ears were pink.

Cute.

Kit really needed to stop thinking that way about everything Ty did.

But he was right.

“Speaking of Hadestown,” Livvy peered over Ty’s shoulder to look at Kit. Ty sat between them, with Kit at the corner of the table. They’d never changed their arrangement from the day that Kit had shown up for the first time that year and Ty had pulled out the chair to his left. “The Performance Class got an announcement for what we’d need to perform to audition. We get precedence by a bit over the main student body. I looked it over this morning, and since you and I,” Livvy wagged her finger between her and Kit. “Have an off-period together and you know Hadestown really well, you’re going to be helping me audition.

Kit had no complaints over that, to be honest.

“Alright, I’m down,” Kit took the still-wrapped cinnamon rolls and put it in his backpack. “I’ll save this for now, so I can eat it at home as a treat,”

Livvy grinned, pleased with their plan, and Ty just nodded, resting his hand on his cheek, watching passively as Kit ate.

It was a brilliant start to the day. 

~~~~~~~

They’d fallen into a routine over the last couple of months. Ty and Kit would walk Livvy to her CE Intro to Stats class and then walk together to their CE Psychology, and then Kit would walk Ty to his Photography class before finding Livvy outside the library.

After lunch, Kit and Ty walked Livvy to her Psych class and then went to Humanities, and at the end of the day, Livvy would find them near the Performance Arts classroom. 

Kit liked walking from place to place and class to class with the twins, but he had to admit he had a favorite commute moment—walking Ty to his Photography class felt different from the others.

The thing about Ty was that, well, sometimes he had… “off-days”, for lack of a better term. They didn’t actually mean he was in a bad mood—usually it meant he was either over- or under-stimulated—and he spoke less and kept a greater distance between himself and others. He wore his headphones more, and physically struggled to speak when called upon.

Kit didn’t mind those days—he’d watched Ty long enough to know they happened, and anyway, who was he to judge? 

Again, those days weren’t exactly about being in a bad mood—Kit hadn’t really seen Ty too upset that year, and no fights had broken out from people who didn’t know they were fucking with someone significantly more skilled than them—but there was something not unlike a change in mood when Ty walked into his classroom and Kit did not follow.

His headphones were immediately on, and he picked the emptiest table, keeping his distance from everyone else. Kit didn’t think Ty disliked the class itself (well, keeping in mind that Ty always disliked something about his classes, but didn’t usually hate them completely), but Ty hadn’t connected with any classmates even on a friendly acquaintance level. Whether he wanted to or not was a toss-up and Kit hadn’t yet asked, afraid of having a wrong assumption, but to anyone watching, Ty looked decidedly displeased.

Kit didn’t like seeing Ty upset—like before, Ty could pull off a negative expression without it hindering his natural beauty, but Kit vastly preferred a happy Ty, or at least a content one—so that wasn’t what he liked about walking Ty to class.

The first thing he liked was just the…god, saying domesticity felt a little extra, a little too intimate, but really, it felt kind of domestic to walk someone somewhere. Other than walking unknowing customers towards certain stalls at the Market, Kit had never walked anyone anywhere in any capacity, nevermind one that felt like “dropping them off”. 

But… yeah. Kit liked it. It felt alien, but alien the way all “normal friendship/relationship things” felt alien to him. 

The other thing Kit liked was…

One day, Kit had stayed by the door a little bit longer, taking in the look of the classroom and Ty’s place in it. A particularly loud girl walked past him, giggling when they made eye contact and excitedly running past him (Kit wondered what the point of that was. Did they really think he was going to be charmed by middle-school-crush behavior?). It had been attention-grabbing enough to make Ty’s eyes move towards, and when he’d spotted Kit still standing by the entrance, he’d blinked in gentle surprise and then smiled at him, eyes crinkling.

Kit had waved, smiling back before leaving, his heart beating a little too quickly.

Most of the time, on a day-to-day basis, Ty’s smiles were subdued and gentle. He grinned at the jokes and banter he, Livvy, and Kit shared, and those were fast flashes of joy.

But he had one type of smile that looked… god, like a sunrise over water, not that Kit had ever seen that in person. But he’d seen videos and art of it, and when Ty smiled, slow and wide and pleased with a gentle blush and his eyes visibly lighting up… 

Sunrise over water. Meteor showers. Clouds turned pink during early dawn. Things Kit had never really had the opportunity to see, but were the closest he could imagine to doing Ty’s smile justice.

After that, Kit stayed a little longer every time he dropped Ty off, just to see the impassive look on Ty’s face turn into sunshine and waves when he spotted Kit still there. And then Kit would smile back and wave and leave, replaying it in his head. 

So that day, like always, Kit stuck around a little longer, letting people pass him and file into the classroom. The bell ran, signaling the start of the period, and Ty’s eyes flicked towards the door—he always seemed a little unsure when he did it—finding Kit.

Kit grinned and waved, and Ty smiled, bright and beautiful, lifting his hand from the table in the barest imitation of a wave back.

Kit tried to ignore the shiver up his spine as he finally turned away and walked towards the library. He’d always known Tiberius Blackthorn was beautiful—even a knife to the throat hadn’t overshadowed it.

He was well aware of it.

It was just that sometimes, Kit couldn’t quite breathe right when he was faced with it. 

~~~~~~~

Kit met Livvy at the library, but they headed to the courtyard, since she wanted to start practicing right away.

Kit took his usual spot, sitting on the elevated concrete plot surrounding a few trees, swinging his legs and trying not to be too excited.

“The teacher posted some things she thought would help us prepare—like, the aesthetic, the different types of music,” Livvy shrugged off her backpack and pulled out a folder, hauling both up next to Kit, although she stayed standing on the actual ground. “But Ty said you have strong opinions on basically all of that. To be honest, I just want to know what’s going to get me a good casting,”

“Do you know the characters?”

“Not properly,” Livvy admitted. “I printed out a sheet of their names—so I know it’s about Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades, and Persephone. And Hermes, for some reason?”

“Pretty sure that’s because he’s a psychopomp,” Kit said.

Livvy frowned. “...I really should know what that is, we’ve studied Greek mythology at home,”

“It’s a Greek deity that guides souls to the Underworld,” Kit shrugged. “But he’s also the god of orators I think? He’s the god of a million things,”

“Nerd,”

“Says you, Miss Computer Science,”

Livvy rolled her eyes. “Okay, well, what do you think I should aim for?”

“Do you want a female role?”

“We’re not fucking around with the gender this time around—which is a bit of a shame, to be honest, those are always more interesting to watch. So yes,”

“Then, from the main cast there’s Eurydice, the female lead, and Persephone—she’s like the second female lead? If not them, there’s the three Fates—they’re pretty important and have like, properly defined roles and songs, so they don’t count as part of the general chorus? In my head that is, but they totally play the part of the chorus in like, Ancient Greek Theater. That being said, the actual chorus is great,” 

“I’d like a leading role,” Livvy looked over the papers. “Is that too high an aim?”

Kit was pretty sure that Livvy could do basically everything she set her mind to. “No, you can do it. Eurydice or Persephone or the Fates?”

“Which one do you recommend?”

“You’d be a great Fate but I also want to fight them, so there’s that,”

Livvy gave him a look, prompting for more information.

“They have this sort of… uh, always speaking in the back of your mind thing going on, so like, even though I know Orpheus is going to look back… it still kind of feels like their fault for egging him on. Like sure, Hades is an antagonist, but it feels like a lot of the bad things happen because of the Fates,” Kit shrugged. “They still have killer parts though,”

“Then, what are Persephone and Eurydice’s vibes?”

“Persephone is… basically an addict trying to do right but sort of being held back? She’s kind, a bit of a partier, considerate, but also hella drunk. She’s got this awesome sort of growl to her voice in the original Broadway cast soundtrack,” Kit hummed. He loved Persephone’s character, and her songs. Plus, her voice in We Raise Our Cups always made him emotional.

“And Eurydice?”

“Relatable,” Kit blurted out before clicking his jaw shut. Livvy looked at him blankly. She didn’t know what Kit meant when he said that. “Um, I mean, she’s probably the most… real… person? She’s kind of jaded and untrusting, but she really wants to trust. She’s got a lot of heart wrenching lines and moments. Uh, she’s a classic ‘cold facade, warm heart’ or ‘has gone through a lot, wants to rest’ sort of character,”

Kit did not mention that she spoke of the hunger and the cold like he thought of it. He did not bring up how he felt about All I’ve Ever Known speaking of isolation and distrust of others even in communities, and how limited everything Eurydice had ever known was. He did not talk about how when the Fates sang to Eurydice about how her life had always functioned in When The Chips Are Down, singing “Take if you can, give if you must, ain't nobody but yourself to trust,”, Kit thought of his fake friendship with Wren and other people at the Market.

“I’m kinda leaning towards Eurydice then,” Livvy looked over a paper, lifting it up to Kit’s view. It was the lyrics to Wedding Song. “Apparently if we’re auditioning for Eurydice, we have to sing this with whoever they pair us with after the first round of auditions. It also says to listen to the soundtrack, and audition first with a non-Hadestown song that we think fits the character,”

“Huh, I don’t know anything about the audition process,” Kit peered at the different papers. “I wonder if we have anyone who can play Orpheus in school—or Hades, for that matter. Orpheus sings really fucking high, and Hades sings really fucking low. It’s honestly startling, how far they go in opposite directions,”

“How high is Orpheus?”

“High tenor with a falsetto up to G#5,”

“One, how did you know that off the top of your head, and two, there is no way we have anyone that can sing that high right now,”

“Yeah… they’ll have to stick with the best tenor to audition for the role and work from there,” Kit wasn’t expecting whoever played Orpheus to sing as high as the role required on stage. “Not that singing Eurydice is easy, it’s just not quite as impossible,”

“Hmm,” Livvy nodded. “Hey, you know all the songs, don’t you? The words?”

“Yup,”

Livvy’s grin was a little too expectant. “You should help me! You can do Orpheus—it helps to have a partner present for duet-style songs when you’re practicing,”

Kit’s nose wrinkled. “I don’t sing,”

That was a lie.

“Ah, c’mon! It’ll be fun,”

“No way,”

“Please?”

“At most, I’ll read the words out loud while following the pacing,” Kit had no desire to embarrass himself with his surely lackluster singing skills. He’d never sung properly in front of another person, and like hell he was going to stumble over a song with Livvy watching him. 

She pouted dramatically. “Hmph, fine, but I’ll convince you otherwise,”

“No, you won’t,” Kit didn’t really doubt himself. There was no reason for him to fold to her request. “Ask Ty to help,”

“Ty doesn’t sing—well, he repeats songs he’s heard sometimes as a way to stim, so it’s kind of like singing? But he doesn’t sing, as in, doing it on purpose for the sake of singing,”

“And neither do I,”

“Kiiiiit,” 

“Livvyyyy,”

His friendship with Livvy was sort of like what sibling relationships were described like in stories—mostly they sat in complete silence working independently, they gossiped, or they bantered back and forth, Kit keeping a careful watch on her mood to not upset her by pushing it too far. 

Of course, he’d never be close to Livvy the way Ty was, and he didn’t expect to be. The casualness of their friendship was good enough for him. 

“You’ll see, Rook,” Livvy stuck her tongue at him. “I’ll convince you,”

~~~~~~~

At lunch, there was more Hadestown talk, mostly because Livvy then begged both Kit and Ty to help her when they went out into the courtyard.

Similarly to Kit, Ty agreed only to read out the lines but not to sing them, and Livvy claimed they were agents against happiness and first-lead roles. 

When they went outside, Kit was relieved that the sunlight wasn’t boiling hot, and Livvy raised her hands a little, enjoying the breeze. There was a small smattering of clouds in the sky, and one was blocking out the sun just enough so that while light still came through, it wasn’t painful. 

“Perfect weather,” she sighed. “I don’t think it’s been over 76 degrees during lunch for the past month,”

“The weather has been mild during the day, but last night it was strangely cold,” Ty noted. “I wonder what was up with that,”

Kit shrugged, having noted it but not thinking much of it. “I thought it was just my house. Don’t know what’s up with that either,”

“Less about weather patterns and more about Hadestown!”

“Interestingly enough, Hadestown actually talks quite a bit about the weather,”

“I—why?”

“One half of the main cast are Hades and Persephone, it’s bound to talk about the weather,”

“Ah, fair,”

“Have you talked to your dad at all about staying after school to help out with Tech?” Ty turned to Kit after setting his stuff aside, taking a paper Livvy handed to him from her folder. 

“Not yet. He’s been strange lately and I honestly can’t tell if that’s going to help or not in getting him to agree. I'll try to get an answer before Halloween,”

The twins shared an excited look at that, and Kit hoped he wouldn’t disappoint them. 

“The first confirmed round of auditions is at the end of the week, because our teacher is clearly insane,” Livvy explained. “She wants to prioritize actually learning the musical rather than taking forever on the casting. She said the second round will only happen if we don’t have enough people or if she’s not sure,”

That might mean Kit wouldn’t have a lot of time to talk his father into letting him stay. Kit didn’t really want to rush the process, but between Johnny Rook’s weird attitude and the twin’s exuberance at the possibility… he might have to jump into it quickly.

Like most things in his life the past few months, Kit was willing to break a lot of rules—his own and his father’s—just to make the twins happy. 

Chapter Text

October 30th, 2023

The Market was weird that night.

Kit wasn’t surprised—it was the night before Halloween, so it was only natural that everything would get stranger and freakier. 

To be honest, Kit didn’t even mind the way everything seemed to warp, but rather reveled watching the crowds, the movement, the enchantment. He never wanted to be in their shoes but he had to admit, for all his efforts through October to lead the most innocent customers towards safer waters, there came a point when he sort of enjoyed seeing people reap what they sowed.

After all, who approached a faerie assassin expecting their life to be safe? Who approached a curse specialist and thought their contract wouldn’t have a conditional hex? Who asked for a glamour, an enchantment, a spell, and thought they weren’t being deceived?

Who went to Johnny Rook, someone who dealt in information, and thought that they weren’t being turned into facts, observations, receipts, and most importantly, money?

Kit wasn’t like the fey, no, but he’d been among them for too long—even when they were awful, he sometimes liked seeing them win. 

That didn’t mean he was tempted to be on the receiving side, and luckily, he never would be. He knew too much about them, and they knew just enough about him. And like always, being cruel was just one part of the fey. They were also sentimental, and Kit had long ago endeared himself to plenty of them. 

Still, this night he was keeping an eye on the crowd and an eye on his father. Things felt more charged than usual, and although he stayed in the shadows, he could feel people’s eyes landing on him way too often, jumping straight past Johnny Rook and searching the shadows until they found him. He didn’t like the feel of it—in the Market, Kit was only ever seen when he wanted to be, and only touched when he allowed it. 

He turned his eyes away from the glittering magic in the air and the multicolored fire someone had conjured as entertainment, settling them back on his phone. His father had probably caught more than one person looking at Kit, so he’d likely be sent away soon.

He opted to message Ty to kill time, a safe alternative he was becoming way too fond of. Really, could he be blamed? Ty was quickly becoming a fixture in every part of Kit’s life, from the school days spent at his side to the Market nights filled with texts.

So there won’t be a second round of auditions?

Sherlock : No, and a lot of people auditioned, so they even have enough people for understudies. All the good candidates (according to Livvy) showed up too. They’ll only hold more auditions if they somehow end up needing more people if others drop out. 

Sherlock : She thinks it’s because people in our classes talked about you liking it, so everyone went to audition after the gossip spread. I think she’s right, I saw a lot of our classmates there.

I won’t argue, that’s a lucky side-effect. 

Results will be posted on Nov. 1st then?

Sherlock : Yeah, she says she’s nervous but I watched her, she did a really good job. 

I’m sure she’ll get it, she’s a great singer and she’s not tired out by the choreography. When it’s confirmed, I’ll ask my dad about staying after school with the tech crew. 

Sherlock : Alright :) Remember, we’ll give you a full breakfast tomorrow morning

Sherlock : Julian says to not be afraid of Emma when she picks you up. She’s promised to behave.

Sherlock : Just in case she does get intense, you can mention swords, chocolate, vintage clothes, and… someone named Jace, if you need her to get distracted on a positive topic.

Sherlock : And if you want to hear her insult someone a lot, mention Zara Dearborn, but your ears might hurt by the end of that. 

Kit kept his expression neutral, doing his best not to react to the text messages. Despite his blank expression, he did appreciate Ty trying to prepare him for tomorrow. 

The last few nights had been a game of Kit trying to keep his excitement carefully under wraps, not letting his dad catch wind of it. 

Whilst Kit spent his time at home acting like nothing was happening, the twins gave his continuous updates at school and Ty continued it afterwards through texts. From the food to the people who would be there (just their siblings and a couple of friends? Cristina, apparently) to how the place would be decorated (apparently Dru had a Halloween aesthetic outfit for him planned, which Kit felt a fair amount of trepidation about). Every update created fuzziness under his skin, the anticipation steadily building. 

He’d heard plenty about everyone’s different personalities. Ty in particular seemed very invested in telling Kit about any and all rowdiness or general weirdness, perhaps because he himself didn’t like being in new social interactions without a heads up. Kit might’ve not had the same reasons for it, but he felt relieved that Ty might understand what it was like to be Kit in this situation anyway.

Sometimes, when Kit compared himself and Ty, all he saw was their differences, from their opposite appearances and home lives to the way they talked and their life experiences.

Other times, he couldn’t help but look at all the similarities—the comfort they found in stories, their total lack of personal close friends, their bizarre sleeping schedules, the jittery energy under their skin, the way the rest of the world never felt quite real.

Kit had imagined having friends before, but he’d never really expected it to feel like this.

Well, even then, the way Kit felt about his friendship with Ty was different from how Kit felt about his friendship with Livvy. Livvy was fun, and damn impressive too, but when they were alone, Kit still felt himself imitating what he thought a casual school friend must be like, whereas with Ty, he mostly just stumbled around and told himself that he had to try to be honest, because he had no clue what else to do. 

Something about the other boy unbalanced Kit. Even more startlingly, they’d fallen into their own unique, comfortable routine despite the lack of framework to work off of. The kind, well-behaved school Kit he’d been so focused on creating had sort of failed him, and something else had taken its place, without a name yet.

Every once in a while, Kit freaked out about it a little. But other times, when he came home and the house was empty, and Kit knew he wouldn’t be going to the Market, he flopped onto his bed and smiled into his pillow, inexplicably pleased by whatever new thing had happened, enjoying the way that even the unexpected felt special and safe.

Particularly with the touching—what was with that? Ty had become progressively more tactile in the past few weeks, from fixing his hair to sometimes reaching out to touch it without any objective from what Kit could tell. Or if Kit was very distracted by whatever food he’d been given to the point he’d lose his hard-earned agility and deftness, Ty would grasp his elbow gently and pull him away from whatever Kit was undoubtedly going to walk into. He’d grab Kit’s wrists and prompt him to eat, tug at his shirt if the collar hung unevenly, and sometimes they bumped shoulders just because it made them both smile.

Kit didn’t think he’d ever had anyone touch him so much in his life, and he’d kissed more than one person at the Market. But kissing was just kissing, especially when Kit was involved. Even if a hand rested on his hip or the nape of his neck, Kit had always found a way to either dislodge it or keep it immobile, not letting any more movement occur.

When people touched Kit, even by accident in the halls… it felt weird , like he could feel it all the way down to his bones, the place they brushed against tingling for a while afterwards, no matter how brief the contact was. 

It felt like that with Ty too, but Kit tried his best to avoid jerking away. He didn’t want Ty to think he was bothered (because really, Kit wasn’t , it was something else), and he was inexplicably pleased by the touch, often replaying it when he went home. 

Kit wondered if that was strange. He didn’t think anyone else at school would get that caught up in it, but… it’s not like he and Ty were anything like anyone else. 

Another text notification popped up, reminding Kit he’d yet to reply to the last one.

Sherlock : Dru wants to know how you feel about mascara because your eyelashes are blond. 

Kit stared at the text.

First, thanks for the heads up about Emma, safety measures will be deployed if I fear for my safety :P

Second… is Dru planning on putting makeup on me?

Sherlock : Dru keeps asking us questions about you, and Livvy mentioned you’re pretty, so she wanted to see a picture. I mostly have pictures of our assignments because you’re passive-aggressive in them and it’s funny, but Livvy had a picture of the three of us out in the courtyard and showed that to Dru.

Sherlock : Emma had mentioned you were pretty when we first told Julian about being friends with you but Dru had been doing homework in her room and hadn’t come down yet so she hadn’t heard it. 

Sherlock : And now that she knows what you look like she’s revamping the entire planned outfit for you. She says the “revamping” is quite literal. I suspect you will have to wear fangs.

Kit stared for a moment at the messages. 

Technically they only said Livvy and Emma mentioned that he was pretty, but…

You told Dru about me, right? You didn’t describe me?

Sherlock : I tried describing your personality more.

Sherlock : I think describing you doesn’t really… explain what you look like?

What do you mean?

Sherlock : I can say you have wavy blond hair that’s kinda pale or really blue eyes, but that’s not capturing it correctly. Normal descriptions almost don’t work.

Sherlock : For example, after Livvy showed Dru the picture, Dru said “Saying he’s pretty does not do him justice”, and then went on to list adjectives she thought were more accurate.

Do any of the adjectives make more sense?

Kit’s curiosity was tinged with almost morbid anticipation.

The thing was, for all of Livvy’s teasing about Kit being the Pretty One, and Kit’s own self-confidence in his appearance, he… didn’t think he was all that special. He trusted that other people thought he was hot, and it’s not like he disagreed, but he was used to himself, and it made him look normal in his own eyes. 

So, sure, Kit heard himself described as attractive all the time, and there were times he totally used it to his advantage, but it was all sort of a bit whatever .

Except…

Kit had a problem, when it came to Ty. Not only did he struggle lying to him, always wanting to give the most honest answer, but he sort of wanted to hear every observation, or conclusion, or anything really as long as it came from Ty, even if it was about Kit. Especially if it was about Kit.

Sherlock : Well, less adjectives and more phrases.

Sherlock : I do think “Michelangelo’s David is crying on the floor” is interesting imagery, I wonder how offended our Humanities teacher would be.

Sherlock : ...I don’t understand any of this, but, “Howl Pendragon(?) is jealous” and “Gojo’s(??) eyes have new competition”. “Yuri Plisetsky(???), Mikaela Hyakuya(????), and Ash Lynx(?????) were put in a blender and out came this guy.”

Sherlock : I don’t know any of these people but I’m assuming they’re from shows. Livvy also doesn’t know them (Dru’s the only one that watches shows and movies regularly) but Dru is pulling pictures up now and Livvy’s agreeing very enthusiastically. 

Sherlock : I have decided I’m not meant for this conversation and will now escape to my room before I am forced to watch anything. 

Kit was really impressed with himself, because he just barely managed to not start laughing. Dru sounded more interesting every time the twins shared something about her, and he thought that other than Ty and Livvy themselves, she was the Blackthorn he would talk to the most. 

Although he thought she might be being a little excessive with some of those name drops—he hadn’t even watched Jujutsu Kaisen, but he had definitely seen Gojo’s eyes online and he didn’t think he was quite at that level of “eyes so bright and pretty they’re disturbing”. At least, hopefully he wasn’t.

Thank you for braving the weirdness

For the record, I don’t mind makeup. I’ve worn it once or twice at the Market when a few other teenagers around my age were carrying it and suggested trying it.

I’m not technically allowed to wear it — my dad doesn’t have anything against it in general but he thinks it’ll make people look at me more. 

Sherlock : I’ve worn eyeliner before (also for Halloween) but I’ve never had an interest in makeup. 

Sherlock : Oh also, Dru requests you wear black jeans, but she’s going to ask you to change into a shirt she bought two weeks ago. She got it for me technically but since Livvy and I have costumes, it should be fine for you to wear it.

Ty in eyeliner…

Kit tried to imagine it, but the mental image of Ty’s silver-gray eyes with thick black lashes ringed with sharp eyeliner…

His breathing was a little short. Ty really was unfairly beautiful. He didn’t know how anyone focused on him when Ty was right there. 

Will do!

What’s your costume? You said it wouldn’t be Sherlock-themed.

Sherlock : Livvy told me to keep it a secret

:(

Sherlock : :)

Kit wanted to keep talking, but he felt another pair of eyes on him—and this time, it wasn’t a random passerby. 

“Kit,” Johnny Rook called, and Kit looked away from his phone, settling his gaze on his dad.

He’d dressed up a little, with more gold jewelry than usual, and a better fitting shirt. His hair looked a weird, in-between color like usual, but Kit figured that wasn’t enough to dissuade certain Market-goers. 

“Hm?” Kit swung his legs lazily from his seat. 

“Head to Hypatia’s—I don’t like the feel of the Market tonight,”

Kit had expected it, so he didn’t mind, not really. Hypatia probably wouldn’t care about Kit texting, and he sincerely doubted she’d say anything to his dad about it. 

“Alright,” Kit pulled his hood up like usual, jumping off the crates. The Market might be lit brightly with hundreds of lamps and lanterns, but there would always be darkness in the alleys, and Kit would always find his way in the shadows. “When will we pack up?”

“Three,” 

Kit carefully did not react, but the answer made him bristle. He woke up at around six in the morning most weekdays, and was rarely ever asleep before one in the morning. He’d been hoping to sleep a bit more than usual in preparation for meeting the Blackthorns, but of course, it was the night before Halloween. He supposed they should stay until the witching hour.

He had hoped for maybe the first time in his life that they’d go home early.

“I’ll be back by then,” Kit knew it wasn’t worth arguing. Maybe, since he didn’t plan on actually going to class, he could wake up a half-hour later than usual, and not bother with making sure his school work was orderly. It’s not like his father had ever checked Kit’s homework, or shown any interest in Kit’s academic life other than making sure Kit never made any friends or caught anyone’s eyes. 

“Be careful,”

“Sure,”

Kit wished the words be careful made him warm instead of annoyed. When he was younger, he actually liked his dad’s warnings. They meant Johnny Rook thought about him even when he was out of view, that he did care. But Kit grew up—now he knew it just meant “stay out of sight” or “don’t get caught”.

Kit trusted that if he was injured, his dad would worry. And sure, if Kit let it show that something upset him, his dad might ask what was wrong. But it meant Kit really had to be the one to start the interaction by letting himself be upset in a way his dad could pinpoint—his dad didn’t have a general interest in Kit’s emotional state and rarely ever asked without prompting. 

Well, just like all the foolish customers that night, Johnny Rook reaped what he sowed. Who taught a kid to lie, cheat, steal, and act, then expected that kid to be honest with them, or open?

He headed off with a final nod to his dad, choosing to go into the side alleys of the Market just to make life easier and less crowded.

He wanted to text Ty.

He wanted it to be tomorrow morning.

He wanted to be back home, not in the Market.

But no one else could know that, so instead, he nodded politely at the other booth owners as he passed them by. 

“Candy, little Rook?” A tall, waifish naiad smiled at Kit as he walked behind her, taking the seller’s path behind the booths. The glow of the lanterns hit her blue hair in such a way that lines of light distorted over it, like caustics in water. 

“Hey, Talia,” Kit smiled, crinkling his eyes. She cooed, always having seen Kit as a ‘cute human’, and offered him a little bag. “Nothing too strange?”

“For the Market’s stray kitten? Never,” her smile was too wide, her teeth too sharp, but she was beautiful and horrible the way all the fey were—of course, the duplicity of their nature always became more apparent this time of year. “You seem not unlike us this year,”

Kit looked at the candy in the bag. He’d had them before. They were like dew drops with different flavors, sweet fruit juices that sparkled under the light, honeyed water with glittering petals. When you held them in your hand, they kept their perfect shape, never spilling, but once they were in your mouth, the magic around them dissolved, letting you drink the liquid inside. 

He put the bag in his pocket, looking back at Talia. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, we’re all so pretty this time of year, aren’t we? You as well, though I dare say the Spring and Summer seasons have always done more for you,” she reached out, her hands pausing close to his face not quite touching him. No one touched him unless he wanted it. “But tonight… your face, your eyes…”

Then she frowned. “Indeed, have your teeth always been so sharp?”

Kit blinked, running his tongue under his canines. They felt perfectly normal to him. “They’re like always,”

“Are they?” she squinted, then shook her head, her hair foaming around her at the movement. “I must not have noticed. Regardless, the lantern lights and the night’s air do you all the same favors as they do to us, and the shadows shall treat you the same as always. Enjoy your night, kitten,”

Kit smiled at her again, not quite sure if he liked her observation or not. There was nothing about his appearance that particularly made him resemble the fey—even though he figured he and his dad had to have a fey ancestor at some point, it was nothing recent enough or powerful enough to make them different than most humans, or give them any sort of unique traits like the twins and other “Shadowhunters”. 

“You as well,” 

He did not thank her for the candy, because even if Talia liked him, it wasn’t worth the trouble of an unbalance of favors, and then he went on his way.

He avoided being stopped for more than a brief hello and trinket with the other faeries. Plenty of the fey had nicknames for him  (“little/younger Rook” was common, as was “little crook”, but “kitten” wasn’t unpopular for the ones that liked him most. He supposed his stalking of the alleys and his youth and humanity made him seem a bit like a stray kitten to them) that they muttered to him as he passed behind their stalls, their familiar fondness for him at odds with the dangerous glint in their eyes. 

As he neared Hypatia’s tent, he turned back onto the main alleys, briefly trying to spot Wren at her usual spot. She winked at him when they made eye contact, mouthing visit later! Kit shrugged, noncommittal, and turned away.

Hypatia’s tent was large, made of large swaths of red and purple silks, covered in lanterns that never stopped burning, smelling strongly of incense. She loved the “fantasy aesthetic” humans had created and often leaned into it, although she’d once mentioned that her shop back in London was rather different and far more pragmatic.

Kit lifted one of the silks, brushing past long tassels of beads and coins, stepping into the sudden quietness of the tent.

She had clients—two of them, probably a couple, and they looked up as he entered. Hypatia didn’t seem surprised to see him, instead nodding to the back of the tent. Kit nodded back, making his way carefully across the rugs, avoiding the knickknacks that covered every surface and spilled out into the floor. Hypatia’s tent was big from the outside, but in true faerie fashion, it was nearly three times the size on the inside, with additional smaller rooms behind the one in which she met with others. 

The room Kit always settled in was comfortable, with a sofa and cushions, and a shelf full of human and faerie board games. There was a magic teapot with water that never ran out and never became cold, and Kit searched for something familiar, ultimately picking over the masala chai over the peppermint purely for seasonal aesthetic. Most of the little tea bags he had at home had been pocketed during his visits to Hypatia—Kit had never actually bought tea, and neither had his dad, so when Kit was sick, he sampled from the bags he’d stolen over the years.

He glanced at his phone as the tea steeped.

Sorry, I had to go to Hypatia’s.

I’m going to be at the Market until sometime past three in the morning, so I might be very sleepy tomorrow.

Sherlock : Is there any way for you to nap?

Hypatia might let me, but it’s not the safest choice.

Sherlock : It’s okay, you can nap here if you need to. We already knew that between eating/talking/playing, it would be hard to watch all the Scream movies, and we were thinking we might not marathon after all, so napping won’t throw off the schedule. Dru has been warming up to the idea of just hanging out with “Halloween adjacent activities”, which Julian has been looking over and approving.

Kit wasn’t sure if he was capable of fully falling asleep anywhere that wasn’t his own bed, but he appreciated the offer.

I’ll stay awake! We both know I barely sleep anyway. When are you heading to bed?

Sherlock : The plan was to stay awake however long you were going to be up.

Something in Kit was inexplicably pleased by that.

Sherlock : Regardless of when you head home tonight, the plan hasn’t changed.

Ah, Kit was screwed. Ty was just… sort of the best. His smile felt stupid on his face, but there was no one to watch him in the room, so he let himself grin. He poured the tea, added probably a problematic amount of sugar according to Livvy’s taste, and settled into the couch, phone in hand.

~~~~~~~

Hypatia didn’t come to the back room for nearly two whole hours, which Kit spent rather peacefully talking with Ty. 

At some point, well on his third or fourth cup of tea, the conversation between them had shifted from their Halloween plans and had become a game of sending Wikipedia articles back and forth on whatever topic interested them. Kit had sent a few about different criminals he’d been quizzed about by his dad over the years, and Ty sent several different articles on insects. After a while, Kit realized they were all gold, yellow, or blue—when Kit asked about the colors, Ty just sent Trying to figure out what you are . 

Was it weird that it made him feel warm? 

Hypatia wouldn’t care about any of that though, so even though she saw Kit’s phone in his hands, she still spoke without pause after she entered.

“Younger Rook,” she looked him over, swaddled in blankets and drinking tea freely. “Were it not for the standing invitation, your ease in my shop would not be tolerated,”

Kit shrugged. “That goes without saying. How’s the night gone for you?”

“This season is always bountiful,” she sat at one of the chairs next to the table with the tea. Kit stayed in his comfy nest on the couch. “Although the customers this year stand out, in number and in foolishness,”

“Hm?”

Her dark eyes—with those golden, star-shaped pupils—settled on his face, and she frowned, resting her chin in her palm. “You’re different,”

Kit wondered if it was because he was happy, thanks to Ty’s (digital) company. “Am I?”

“Little kitten, do you ever suppose you’re not unlike my cousins?”

Kit wondered why the fey called each other cousin so often. It didn’t make a lot of sense to him, and from what he understood, there were rather strong distinctions between noble families in Faerie, rather than blurring of the lines. Perhaps it’s because no one quite knew where they came from, so their original parentage, whilst unknown, might as well be shared. It wasn’t a lie, because there was no true answer.

“If there are similarities, it’s probably from being brought up in the Markets,” Kit took a sip of his tea. “I’ve never thought I was much like you,”

“Of course, you’re not like me . I’m much too elegant, and you are uncouth in all ways, and wicked in most,” Hypatia scrunched her nose, then watched him silently for a little longer.

It was strange to be observed by her. When Kit spent time in Hypatia’s tent, it was either by himself while she worked in the front room, or with them talking as she looked over her wares and papers, a back and forth that was filled with him poking and prodding at her and sometimes offering some shoplifted or otherwise sketchily acquired human treat, and her returning with biting insults and judgements, and the occasional empty threat, paired with the agreement that he wouldn’t speak to anyone about what she did as long as she kept certain activities from Kit’s father. 

“Humans and fey both wonder about it plenty,” she spoke after a long moment. “Nature and nurture. Which do you suppose rules you?”

Kit had never enjoyed that particular argument, neither in Biology or Psychology. He gave the same bullshit answer as always. “Probably both in equal measure,”

“Perhaps. We both know how you’ve been nurtured. What is your nature?”

Kit blinked. He supposed he did know exactly how he was raised—it’s not like Johnny Rook had ever hidden what he wanted and expected from Kit. 

And Kit didn’t know how to exist outside of those expectations, not yet. His time with the twins was letting him explore that, but even then, his father’s instructions about Kit could and should have lived in the back of his mind, never quite banished through all of Kit’s new experiences.

Would Kit be like his father if he hadn’t been raised by him? If his bullshit answer was true and nature had a place, then yes.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Does it matter?”

“Of course,” Hypatia smiled, not at all comforting. “Why do you think I watch over you?”

“Because you made a deal with my dad. He needed something from you, and I’m sure you get something out of this too,” Kit sincerely doubted, even if Hypatia was grudgingly fond of him, that she would ever do anything for free.

“Oh, I received a few things. But you know, there is something about your nature that… makes it hard to refuse,” she shook her head. “I know it’s in you, whatever it is, because you were young when we met, not quite what you are now. Not yet shaped by an outsider’s hand so strongly. Sometimes, I think it must be in your eyes,”

Kit wondered why people cared about his eyes so much. “My eyes?”

“There’s something about them, don’t you think? The color reminds me of a girl I knew, a century or two ago, in London,”

She stood then, walking around the table and slowly, like Talia had done earlier, brought her hand to his face. Unlike Talia, she made contact, and Kit breathed carefully as he allowed the touch.

Hypatia’s eyes didn’t look quite right that night, so he didn’t think she had much room to speak. He wondered if she knew that her bronze-colored hair seemed almost solid, like armor rather than strands. He wondered if she knew her nails were too long and her gums too red.

She was one of the most human-looking full-blooded faeries Kit had ever met, but she couldn’t escape the pull of the season anymore than anyone else. 

“They really do look much like hers, but we would know if that was it, wouldn’t we? And I don’t believe your swindler of a father could have anything to do with a family like that,” Hypatia tilted his head back and forth, surprisingly gentle. “But even then, something else is there. Something that has shined more clearly every year, all whilst we know not what you are made of,”

“Cells, last I checked,” Kit pulled his face from her hands, careful with her sharp nails. “Who’s eyes are you talking about?”

“Anna Lightwood’s,” Hypatia smiled, looking strangely tender. “But that was her father’s name, and she got her eyes from her mother. A Herondale,”

Kit couldn’t place her name, but something about it sounded so weird… Unmodern, he supposed. Antique. Natural.

It reminded him of that old money sound of the Blackthorn name.

Blackthorn… Lightwood… Herondale…

Was it just Kit or… were they similar? What was that other name Ty had sent earlier, Dearborn ? It fits with the others. Emma’s on-again-off-again boyfriend the twins mentioned? Ashdown, was it?

Kit hadn’t asked the Blackthorns much about the other families but… there was something so similar in the cadence of Hypatia’s voice, the names heavier than they should be. And they all sounded old, with two parts to them, and something about nature… the fey did love nature…

Johnny Rook had said they didn’t have any fey heritage, but Kit had always figured they did.

“Must be a coincidence,” Kit said, mind racing. 

“It could be,” Hypatia admitted. “But you don’t know what you’re made of,”

“DNA,” Kit tried.

“What is—ah, it doesn’t matter,” Hypatia finally leaned back. “We know you are your father’s creature. Haven’t you ever wondered about your mother?”

Kit couldn’t help the derisive sound that escaped him. It wasn’t like he cared what Hypatia thought of him. “Of course. At some point, I paused to think why anyone would risk having a child with my dad, and decided it was better not linger over someone who was clearly an idiot,”

That had to be one of the biggest lies Kit had ever told.

As a kid, he’d thought about his mother often, wondering why he had no memory of her. His dad had explained it away by describing a fling with a Vegas showgirl, and when Kit had been born, she’d dropped him off and then left as quickly as she could.

He’d believed it for a long time. The explanation was one of the few clear memories Kit had of his childhood. He must have been about six, and although he’d nodded and hadn’t asked again, he’d fought back tears that night, wondering what he or his dad must have done, to be met with such a large void when Kit tried to figure out the half of him that was missing.

It only soured as he got older, because other than their height and slenderness, Kit didn’t look like Johnny Rook in the slightest. The obvious explanation was that he took after his mother, and it made it all the more frustrating to know that if he asked for details, all he’d be met with would be a shut-down look from his father and the reminder that Kit’s mother was defined by her nonexistence and nothing else.

Sometimes he wondered if his dad wouldn’t be so weird about Kit’s childhood and life in general if he looked less like the woman who had left him, with only one huge responsibility as a memento. 

And other times, he thought that maybe his dad had been the problem—there was no doubt in Kit’s mind that a relationship with Johnny Rook would probably be a miserable affair of hiding from human and fey law alike, never at rest, and never with enough to live comfortably. 

If Kit’s mother had known about Johnny Rook’s illegal faerie connections, then she was made both smarter and crueler in her actions. Smart, because she knew she should get the Hell out of the relationship. Cruel, because she’d stayed around long enough to understand the danger and instead of taking Kit with her, she left him behind, letting him grow up in a way that would never be sufficiently safe or stable enough for any child.

“Don’t be so quick to judge,” Hypatia rolled her eyes, and Kit rolled his eyes back. She was probably the most judgmental person Kit had ever met. “I’m sure thinking little of her is what your father intended, to minimize any curiosity. But your father is just as ignorant as you. Truly, regarding how little he seems to know of you, I dare say he’s worse off,”

That was weirdly satisfying. Johnny Rook really did only have himself to blame for the fact that Kit hid so much from him. Even Hypatia would never guess the extent of Kit’s lies. 

Still, he only shrugged. Hypatia often got annoyed by Kit’s non-verbal responses, which were harder to sparse the meaning of when Kit was often sarcastic with her regardless of whether he spoke or not. She sneered a little at his nonchalance, unamused.

“Work calls, wicked child,” she finally moved away from him, giving him space to breathe. “Drink your tea, enjoy your strange apparatus, and remember that if you are both nature and nurture, but you do not know half of your nature, then you will never understand exactly what you are,”

She was almost out of the room when she paused at the threshold, looking over her shoulder. “If you find the answer… Perhaps we’ll both know what your father promised when I agreed to look after you. Perhaps we will know why you do not go untouched by this night’s air,”

Kit didn’t have the chance to ask her what she meant—did she not know why she took care of him?—because the silks fell, and she was hidden from sight.

He breathed deeply, closing his eyes. Hypatia… seemed to imply that whoever his mother had been would explain why she watched him—and why he was not unlike Hypatia’s “cousins”. 

Kit really, really, really did not want to connect the dots.

He briefly wondered, a little desperate, if it was a responsibility he could pass onto someone else. Not his father or anyone else in the Market, because he couldn’t trust them, but someone, somewhere, had to be smarter and more composed and just more free—and less terrified—and less angry —and less confused—and willing to search for an answer—

Kit’s phone shone up at him.

Ty had sent a few more messages while Kit and Hypatia talked.

Ty…

Kit wondered…

He’d have to sit on it, but maybe…

Sherlock : Glasswing butterflies would be an interesting candidate, but they’re not exactly you… You’re definitely a winged insect though.

Ty seemed to be more than happy to figure out what Kit was regardless of the context.

What about animals other than insects?

Sherlock : A cat. Or a bunny.

????

Sherlock : You’re soft.

Kit huffed quietly, amused. He suddenly felt far more tired than he should be. He wished he were with the Blackthorns already, next to Ty. He didn’t even care what Dru wanted him to wear at that point. 

He settled back into the couch. Ty liked mysteries, and Hypatia had just handed Kit one on a platter.

In the spirit of Halloween, Kit supposed he wouldn’t mind getting dissected piece by piece, clue by clue, as long as it was Tiberius Blackthorn holding the scalpel. 

~~~~~~~

When it was finally three in the morning, Kit had to force himself to get up, texting Ty in one hand. The other boy had faithfully talked with Kit for the past several hours, promising he would only stop when Kit was finally home and no longer needed the company.

Kit felt some type of way about that—a little warm, a little fluttery. He tried not to linger on that too much.

Hypatia glanced at him on the way out, smiling but not stopping her conversation with the customers that continued to trickle by. Her gums really were weirdly red, like they’d been stained with blood, which was strange because she had never appeared particularly cannibalistic to Kit, but one could never be sure with the fey. 

The Market was darker and more ominous at that hour, but at least a little less full, so Kit could traverse it with more ease.

He paused to look for Wren again, but her spot was empty.

Kit was about halfway back, passing by the “not bipedal” area of the Market, when one of the faeries in a large aquarium waved at him. A few others giggled below her, creating bubbles in the water. Kit was only somewhat familiar with the merfolk, although they always seemed to like him a little too much. Kit didn’t know why. He didn’t even know how to swim.

Still, he stopped in front of the glass, and she stuck her head out of the water, looking him up and down. 

“Hello, little stray,” she crooned, voice warbly, like she was still underwater. “A pretty kitten like you, all alone. Won’t you join my sisters and I?’

“I’m afraid not,” Kit crooned back, smiling, head slanted. The other merfolk under the surface continued to titter, and Kit could sort of hear the clicking of their sharp teeth through the water and glass. “I don’t desire a watery death,”

“We can make it painless,” she fluttered her eyelashes and swished her tail, still in the water. “The more we like you, the better it goes. And who wouldn’t want a pretty husband?”

It wasn’t the first time a merfolk had suggested marriage to Kit through ritualistic drowning and rebirth (which was why he didn’t make a habit of talking to them). And it was definitely not Kit’s first proposal of marriage or some other similarly bounding contract. 

“The ocean is rather frightening, and I’ve always preferred land. I trust that you’ll find a less fearful and far more appealing human to drag to the depths, one who can admire your beauty in your natural element,” He bowed his head, looking over her companions. “My condolences to your fellows as well, but I shall remain ever Earthbound,”

She huffed, doing a movement that kind of looked like rolling her eyes—although the scleras of her eyes were pitch black, and if she had irises or pupils, Kit couldn’t see them. “A shame, really. You would look dashing with scales, little stray. Be on your way, lest we decide to try our luck,”

Kit nodded as politely as he could, walking away with a relaxed gait. Internally, he was a little disturbed by the idea of all those merfolks crawling out of their aquarium and trying to grab him, but he knew they never would. It would just fuck over anyone involved.

Plus, Kit might not have fangs or unusually sharp teeth, but if he was a cat and they were fish… he’d bite.

He made it to his father’s stall not too long after that.

“There you are,” Johnny Rook looked him over, probably checking for injuries or anything else suspicious. Thankfully, he found none. Kit hadn’t even pickpocketed anyone that night. “Let’s pack up,”

They moved quickly and efficiently, locking what needed to be locked, his dad enchanting what needed to be enchanted, and Kit loading up what they would take back with them into a large crate that he lifted onto a rolling cart.

Despite the hour, the Market was by no means empty, and when Kit looked over his shoulder as they left, he couldn’t help but think that he would have fit right into the crowds or the sellers if his dad wasn’t around to differentiate Kit from everyone else.

~~~~~~~

“Are you going to school tomorrow?” Johnny Rook did not turn on the lights as they unpacked a few things back at home. Kit suddenly realized that his dad’s movements were not as unworried as Kit’s in the darkness, still having to point the light from his phone far more often than Kit had ever bothered.

“Yes,” Kit shivered at the air inside the house, curling into his hoodie as he started heading for the stairs. “We’ll probably watch movies in most of my classes,”

“Hm,” his dad stood in front of his office door. Kit could see he was looking at him, even as the phone light turned off. “Be careful. You know how Halloween goes,”

“Uh huh,”

“And… don’t get up to anything either,”

For a moment, Kit wondered if his dad suspected that Kit had plans, but he didn’t seem angry, and Kit wasn’t about to incriminate himself by elaborating. “Like what? I barely do anything other than assignments,”

“Just… be normal,”

“Aren’t I always normal?” 

Johnny Rook’s expression was perfectly blank, and when he finally smiled, it was empty. “Of course you are, Kit. Go to bed, you look tired,”

Then he shut the door to his room without another word.

Kit stood at the bottom of the stairs, still and quiet.

He wondered for the first time if perhaps his dad’s consistent weirdness the past few weeks wasn’t just because Johnny Rook was a liar.

Maybe… there was something wrong with Kit too. 

He finally went upstairs, trying to escape the cold that was beginning to make his fingers hurt. That was strange—it sometimes got chilly in his house, but never outright cold.

Whatever. He took out his phone, opening up his texts with Ty once more. 

Somehow, the biggest change in his life had become his steadiest anchor. 

Chapter Text

October 31st, 2023

When Kit woke up just a few hours later, he was vaguely surprised to find the house empty. Maybe his dad had never gone to sleep at all, or maybe he’d left just a few minutes before Kit woke. Either way, it made Kit’s life easier. 

He did sleep that extra half hour, only getting up to take a ten minute shower and change into different clothes (black jeans, as requested by Dru). He didn’t bother looking for food. The promise of breakfast at the Blackthorn house made his stomach rumble.

Ty sent a text just as Kit left the house, telling him that Emma had just headed out to the school, and would be there around the same time Kit usually arrived. 

It was only when Kit made it onto school grounds and saw a tall, vaguely familiar blonde girl exiting the car that Julian had previously picked up Kit and the twins that day they had lunch together that the reality of the day properly hit him.

He was going to go to the twins’ house.

He was going to meet their family.

He was going to eat there, and dress up, and be shown around.

Suddenly, Kit’s breathing became a little unsteady, but as he got closer and Emma spotted him, he told himself to remember to smile.

He must have succeeded, because her grin was blinding. 

“Hey! You’re Kit, right?”

“Yeah,” Kit ignored the stares that he got from the other students walking past them towards the student entrance. “Emma, right? I haven’t seen you in the Market in nearly a year,”

“Things have been way less hectic lately. Here, take the passenger seat,” Emma opened the door for him, and Kit told himself he wasn’t getting kidnapped as he slid inside. He fumbled a little with the seatbelt as Emma went into the driver’s seat, still unaccustomed to being in a car, and immediately regretted not taking his backpack off and setting it between his legs. 

“The twins mentioned that things used to be more intense,” he mentioned idly. “Especially before they started attending school,”

Emma looked over her shoulder as they reversed to exit the parking lot. Kit ignored the students that were still trying to look through the dark windows to see him. “Mm, yeah, we had a lot going on. You know how it is—it’s never good to be a favorite among the fey. Sure, some fondness is pretty useful, but…”

“You don’t want to become their plaything,” Kit finished.

Her eyes, a warm brown, flicked to him. “I suppose you’d understand it well, huh?”

“You could say that,”

After all, Kit had spent most of his life endearing himself to the Market, and occasionally being threatened with kidnapping because someone liked him too much.

She looked at him, too intensely. He recalled the twins mentioning how Emma was rather enthusiastic about weapons, and her arms were clearly all muscle, a little threatening even though she was only driving. 

Suddenly, Emma and Julian seemed a much better pair than Kit had thought from his impression of her at the Market and his meeting with Julian. They’d seemed… rather different, but he supposed they both had the potential to seem very friendly, and to at times be anything but welcoming. 

Alright, Kit could deal with that. Ty and Livvy… well, they weren’t simple , Kit had come to understand their complexities, but they definitely hid less of themselves and didn’t typically change at the flick of a switch, unlike their caretakers. 

Unlike Kit. 

Weirdly enough, it made him relax, just a bit. 

Emma smiled after a moment, looking ahead as they made their way down the residential streets nearby the school. “Hey, if anything bad happens and you need some help… Well, I’m not as familiar with the Market as you, but I know the fey and I’m basically a knight, so…”

“You would help?” Kit didn’t know if he believed it, but didn’t let his doubt show. 

“Of course,” Emma switched lanes a little sharply, and Kit gripped his seat belt. Busy streets were way too hectic for his taste. 

There was silence for a brief moment, and Kit wondered if he should be worried about the way that Emma was slowly but surely increasing the speed of the car, going a little too high over the speed limit for his liking.

“What are Ty-Ty and Livvy like?”

Ty-Ty . Kit tried not to laugh. It felt like something you called a baby, not a sixteen year old. “At school?”

“Yeah! They tell us, but it’s still hard to imagine them in a place that we’ve never actually gone to. Well, we’ve gone to their conferences and their disciplinary meetings, but we’ve never attended school like them,”

Kit wondered exactly what the Shadowhunter homeschooling curriculum was like. “Well… they’re smarter than basically everyone else. Ty’s not super sociable, but it’s understandable, most people aren’t really worth befriending deeply. Livvy’s sort of popular? A lot of people like her, but it's a distant admiration. She has class friends , but not friend friends ,”

“Explain to me the difference,”

Okay, that was something Kit could do without overthinking. He was getting very used to explaining things ever since becoming friends with the twins, especially school-related social expectations. It was kind of nice actually, and a role he was getting more and more used to.

“Class friends aren’t actually friends. You act close to them in class, you might have inside jokes and always pick each other for projects, but you won’t ever talk or message outside of class unless it’s related to class. They’re basically just a friendly acquaintance, but you might call them your friend because it’s easier. Usually neither of you really feel the need to get closer. And friend-friends are just actual friends, close to you regardless of schedules or class, who you talk about everything with,”

“Like you and the twins,”

Kit smiled a little. “Yes,”

“Does Ty have class friends?”

“He has I respect this person’s opinion and am willing to work with them if there isn’t another choice acquaintances,” Kit thought back to the classes he’d had last year with Ty but without Livvy, when he wasn’t their friend and only ever orbited around each other. “Like, people he can go to and ask if anything happened on a day he missed, because they’re studious and fairly responsible, or at the very least they don’t mind sharing notes because they’re chill. Ty’s not close to them, but he doesn’t really mind them either,”

“So you really are their first friend,” Emma did a very quick, jerking maneuver with the car that included muttering oops, forgot my blinker under her breath, and Kit briefly wondered if she even had a driving license as he pressed himself into the seat, gripping the handle of his door with one hand. “They like you a lot,”

He was almost tempted to ask for elaboration, but he tensed when a car honked loudly behind them. “Aren’t we going… too fast?”

“Eh,” came the noncommittal response. 

He glanced at the speedometer, and then at a speed limit sign that they flew past. “Is it possible to slow down?”

Emma grinned. “I’m what Julian calls a speed fiend ,”

He suddenly missed the very calm, very lawful drive with Julian and the twins. 

“Don’t worry, I’ve never crashed,”

That didn’t comfort Kit much.

“One time I did have a police officer pull me over, but I was driving with Cristina—she likes to say she isn’t a speeder but she totally is—and Kieran, and Kieran and Cristina have this weird dynamic that makes him always take her side unless Mark is involved but I’ve been sworn to secrecy on the intricacies of all of this—point being, he just enchanted the cop to let us go, and afterwards he and Dru actually worked together to put this weird charm on the car so that it’s not invisible, because that would be way too dangerous in LA traffic, but so that people kind of just leave us alone. They might honk but they’re never gonna do more then be mildly annoyed,”

Kit mentally jotted down Kieran(Unseelie King, Mark’s boyfriend), Mark (Oldest brother?) have a weird dynamic with Cristina—Kieran takes Cristina’s side (not partners?) unless Mark is involved (partners) . 

…Fuck, they’re friends with the Unseelie King…

He knew Cristina and Mark would be in attendance, so he might as well know what he was getting into, and he was 99% sure the goddamn king of Unseelie wouldn't be there. 

“Alright,” was all he said in response to everything else. It was best to just act natural.

“Anyway, Kit, you and Ty text a lot,”

Kit honestly wished he was texting Ty at that moment instead of making small talk.

“We do,”

“I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but he gets smiley when you text. It’s nice to see, he really enjoys talking with you,”

Kit didn’t have to force his smile, and just shrugged.

“Do you text with Livvy?”

“We haven’t exchanged numbers,” Kit admitted, wondering if everyone at the Blackthorn home was going to interrogate him like Julian and Emma seemed inclined to do. “I’m not sure if she knows that Ty and I have,”

“So it’s a secret?”

“For me? Yes. My dad can’t know. For Ty? He likes having secrets, so maybe,” Kit didn’t mention that Ty had seemed rather pleased by being the only one with Kit’s number. He thought it might be some sort of competition with Livvy, but he honestly didn’t mind.

Emma tapped impatiently as they stopped at a red light that she couldn’t zoom past. “For the record… I know we’re going to seem intense, I know I’m intense, but we’re happy to meet you,”

“Are you?” He didn't want to sound too skeptical, but he didn’t really see why anyone would be particularly happy to meet him, unless they had a crush on him at school, which was technically part of Kit’s general school life but it was a pain to deal with regardless. 

“Of course! I’m the only one who’s ever really tried being social, and even then, it’s a small group. We’ve made family friends, and Julian, Mark, Helen, and I have at least had the chance to socialize with people our age over the years, before our lives got complicated, but the kids never really got the luxury, you know? The few people that know about the fey world in the area around their age are… extremely unpleasant, and no progress was really made when they went to public school for a ton of reasons. I don’t have many friends, but I love the ones I have, and I’ve always felt bad that the kids basically had no one but each other. We love them and try to do everything we can for them, but they need more than that. The fact that they made a friend, and a friend who’s character Julian actually trusts? It’s a huge relief, and we’re thankful,”

Most of the time, it felt like Kit was the one trusting the twins with his real life.

But sometimes he got the feeling that he was trusted with something that was much more fragile, much more gentle, something that had to be continuously looked after and well-taken care of: He was trusted by the Blackthorn family with their siblings, to be their first friend, to make them happy, to keep them safe. 

The twins kept his dad’s identity secret, but that was merely a fact. 

Kit, he kept the twins themselves. He wasn’t trusted with a fact, he was trusted with people .

Kit sighed, and Emma’s eyes flickered over to him, sharp. “I’m the one who should be thankful,”

After all, Kit had never been trusted with anything. It might sound like his life was easier for it, but it just meant that he was distrustful , not a good enough or worthy enough person to ever be given anything for safekeeping. 

“Why should you be thankful?” Emma asked, not sounding unsure or surprised enough for Kit to believe she was clueless about Kit’s dynamic with the rest of the world. 

He almost didn’t want to answer.

But he needed to.

He imagined it was Ty asking him the question instead, because Kit always found it hard to lie to him, or not tell him everything. 

“If… this friendship were a transaction, which it’s not , but if it was , I’d be receiving something very precious. The twins get a friend, and I get two friends, but also a whole group of people choosing to trust me with people they really love,” 

“You value trust, then,”

“Usually, I don’t think much of it. Trust is rare in the Market, and typically empty. I don’t want anything to do with it, there’s too many strings attached. But I do want it now, and being given it is… special, I guess,”

They’d started leaving the main city a few minutes ago, and Kit wondered where they were heading to, taking a road with houses that became more and more sparse, few and far in between. 

They were getting closer to the ocean. 

He stared out of the window, waiting for Emma’s reply, but suddenly a little entranced by the way the water glinted in the distance. 

“Kit,”

“...yes?”

“I trusted you because Julian trusted you, and he’s usually right. But… you just earned it two-fold,”

Kit turned away from the view to look at her once more. She was facing forward, a gentle smile on her face. “...I’m glad,”

“You’re a good kid,”

That made him laugh, and she joined him, a gentle giggle. “That’s gotta be the most inaccurate description I’ve ever heard,”

“I’m serious! You’ve got your heart in the right place, I’m glad no shovel talk was required,”

“Would you have threatened to kill me if anything happened to them?”

“Eh, probably not, you’re just a kid and if you haven’t guessed, Julian and I are pretty fond of kids. And the twins have said nothing but good things, and Julian likes you alright, so there was no reason to dislike you as a person—although I don’t like your dad much, he’s full of himself. Still, it’s nice to have personal confirmation,”

There were no more houses alongside the road, and Kit wondered if all Shadowhunters lived far away from regular people.

“Besides,” Emma added casually, “We’re not really the showy, in-your-face shovel talk type. You know what they say, no one plans a murder out loud. Julian has like, mental shovel talks that are less I have a crossbow and I will shoot you and more in case of betrayal, I have an alibi and an empty grave prepared ,”

Kit was very, very glad that he’d already gained the Julian Blackthorn Stamp of Approval™. “And you?”

“I’ll either have a place in his plan or will already have a sword pointed at the enemy,” she admitted. “That being said, we’ve never really had a reason to shovel talk anyone? We’ve just fought different people that threatened our family, which is totally different from break his heart and I’ll break your neck or treat them nicely or no one will find your body . Mark and Helen are older, so they made their romantic decisions themselves. Kieran and Mark had a rough time, but… we mostly stayed out of it? Helen and Aline are solid, and like I said, no one else had friends or romantic partnerships except me, and Julian hated being anywhere near my ex, Cameron, but like, he knew Cameron was a good guy, so it was mostly just a very disapproving glare if Cameron came over but no threats. To be honest, I don’t really agree with the shovel talk thing in general? Julian plans ahead, but I only really react after betrayal or threats, not before. I only antagonized Perfect Diego from the get-go because he’d already mistreated Cristina. I’m more optimistic,”

He supposed he should be thankful for that, considering Emma could totally break his neck if she wanted to. 

He added Perfect (?) Diego and Cristina, previously, perhaps currently, partners? to his mental notes. 

“We’re almost there by the way,”

She took another turn onto a long, empty road, and suddenly they were surrounded by sand and the ocean on one side, closer and closer, and a rocky, almost forest-like environment on the other.

Kit peered out of the window, watching the sun over the water. It was barely seven thirty, and the sun had only risen twenty minutes ago, and now that they were fully away from houses and properly alongside the ocean, he was suddenly very confident in his comparisons.

Ty’s smile really was like a sunrise over water.

It glittered in a way Kit had never seen, he’d never had the chance to get anywhere close to the beach and water, and although he’d obviously seen the sun rise before as he walked to school, he’d never seen it so close to the horizon, with no houses obstructing his view. 

He didn’t say anything, but Emma lowered the window, and he could properly appreciate the colors.

The sky was bathed in pinks and oranges, the clouds were nearly lavender, and the water shone, white where it was brightest, reflecting the colors of the sky besides the crests of the waves. 

“It’s a great view, isn’t it?” Emma didn’t stare like Kit did, her eyes still looking forward at the road. 

“I’ve never been to the ocean,” Kit muttered. “I’ve never even seen it in person, nevermind with a sunrise,” 

“Never?”

“No,”

“But you’ve lived in LA for… how long?”

“Not sure,” Kit didn’t even bother trying to think about it, still enchanted, still staring. “I don’t get out much anyway,”

“...Ah,”

Things became quiet for a while, Kit’s eyes trained on the ocean.

He almost didn’t notice the house.

No, house wasn’t the right word for the building that came into view. 

It was a mansion . 

“Holy shit,” Kit finally turned away from the view to his left, instead looking forward. “Is that it?”

“Yup! Home sweet home. What do you think?”

“Holy shit ,”

First of all, first of all , the entire thing was surrounded by stone walls and had a large set of gates. Second of all , it was huge as fuck , and looked like a weird hybrid of a church and a Spanish-style mansion, if Kit had to put a name to it. Emma turned onto a long, pebbled drive, so they were facing the mansion, winding through hills to the entrance. 

“Holy fuck,”

“...You good?”

The gates opened as they neared them, but Kit could see no modern mechanism or chains. “What the fuck,”

Inside of the gates, there was a large… front yard? No, a courtyard, grassy and well-cared for, and Emma turned again, following the pebbled lane, driving around the mansion itself, while Kit stared, slack-jawed.

Behind the building, there was a fucking parking lot , no, not a regular parking space, but a parking lot with space for at least a dozen cars, and a goddamn stone garden . There were several statues—Kit was fairly sure they were Greek or Roman, but he didn’t have time to really think about it, because suddenly they were parked and he was getting out, adjusting his backpack and following Emma back to the front doors, vaguely hearing her explain that they never used the garage door out of habit.

He felt sort of numb for a moment, until he stood in front of the entryway and stared at the… offerings?

There were pretty ribbons tied into bows around pots of flowers, little silver trays filled with sea glass and random coins, and from the wooden awning around the entrance hung sun-catchers and wind chimes. In the windowsills at either side of the door, there were small animal bones laying next to a tiny glass bottle filled with honey, closed with a cork, and a small bowl of milk with a glass cover set over it, and petals scattered throughout.

“For the fey?” he asked, leaning down to touch one of the flowers. Several bees and butterflies were flitting about, but Kit didn’t mind them like he did other bugs. There were a lot of monarch butterflies that time of year, and Kit was used to being followed by them when he walked around. 

“The smaller, nature-spirit fey,” Emma explained. “We usually have some things set out for them, and since we live far from the city there’s quite a few. Plus we have a lot of faerie friends these days, so it makes sense,”

Kit was weirdly pleased by it. The humans at the Fey Market didn’t really offer anything to anyone, but faerie decorations were all over the place. Hypatia had explained to him once that some of it was just personal preference, but a lot of the decorations were offerings that humans from all over the world had made, the ones that still believed in whatever version of the Fair Folk existed in their culture.

He was so used to them, he supposed it felt calming to see it. “Primrose—a welcome sign,”

Emma looked at him a little strangely. “Do you not have offerings at your house?”

“No faerie is welcome at my house, they’re just there for business,” Kit stood. “I don’t think anyone feels welcomed when they walk through our door,”

Not even himself.

“I’ll never understand Johnny Rook,” Emma shook her head, then rang the large, intricate-looking doorbell. “I’d open the door with my key, but they said to ring the doorbell so they could have a warning before you walked in. Something about being the ones to welcome you in?”

That was kind of amusing, so Kit didn’t mind the long seconds it took before anything happened.

Finally, the door swung open and revealed Ty, with Livvy at his heels and another girl running from behind them, all of them breathing a little hard, with Livvy and the girl talking over each other.

“Hey! I wanted to open the door! I’m the host!”

“Dru, he’s our guest, and our friend!”

“But I came up with the idea!”

“But we’re the reason he said yes!”

Ty came to a hard stop as he met Kit’s eyes, and while Livvy stopped in time, the shorter girl ( Drusilla , Kit’s mind supplied) ran straight into Livvy, pushing her against Ty, and they all stumbled forward, arms pinwheeling, the sisters now arguing about whose fault it was.

Ty stabilized himself first despite having the most force pushed onto him and without looking, reached behind himself, grabbing Livvy and Drusilla’s arms to still them. 

Kit blinked at them. He knew they hadn’t gotten into costume yet, Ty had told him they would after eating breakfast, but he hadn’t realized that meant they’d all probably be wearing home clothes beforehand. 

He vaguely remembered a Twitter screenshot he’d seen on Tumblr once— Oct. 21st, grey sweatpants season has finally arrived in los angeles .

His mind registered that Ty was wearing gray sweatpants, and probably to protect Kit’s sanity, his eyes flitted away from Ty’s eyes and settled around his cheek, refusing to properly look down. He wasn’t about to test what horny internet people were always pointing out under otherwise innocent videos. 

He forced his mouth open. “...Hey,”

“Hey,” Ty greeted back, ignoring as Livvy and Drusilla wriggled in his grasp. “You’re here,”

“I’m here,” Kit confirmed. He didn’t know why Ty was apparently also blue-screening, but it was kind of relatable. 

“ He’s here!? ”

Suddenly, a blond head appeared behind the three, and a guy with heterochromia and kinda pointy ears appeared. Kit recognized him from the night everything started. Mark Blackthorn .

“ Guys, stop crowding around the entrance and let him pass! ”

That was Julian’s voice.

“ Mark! Don’t join them! ” A woman’s voice, Cristina maybe?

Suddenly, crawling between people’s legs and dragging a book with him, a little head popped out, with large, blue-green eyes staring up at Kit.

“Are you Kit?” the little boy asked as he got up and dusted himself off, holding his picture book in one hand.

“Yes,” Kit nodded. “And you’re… Octavian?”

“Tavvy,” the little boy corrected, sticking his hand out expectantly. Not sure what to do, Kit placed his hand in his. “Nice to meet you,”

“Nice to meet you too?” Kit didn’t mean it to sound like a question, but he was fairly sure he’d never talked to someone so much younger than himself. 

Tavvy grasped Kit’s hand, although not too tight, and turned. “We can’t get through if everyone stands here,”

Ty blinked down at Tavvy and moved aside, with his siblings following him. Tavvy tugged Kit forward.

“We haven’t had breakfast yet because we were waiting for you,” Tavvy explained, pulling Kit through what could only be described as a foyer . The floor was a marble mosaic that looked like a forest and river, kind of like that one famous Ophelia painting but with flitting pixies instead of a drowning woman. In the middle of the room, there was a large staircase, which Tavvy ignored, pulling Kit towards a hallway to the side of the room. Julian was standing there, wearing an apron, with a pretty girl standing next to him with darker skin and long black hair. 

The other siblings, Emma included, followed behind Kit and Tavvy. 

“Sorry,” Kit wondered if the boy was hungry and felt a little guilty. He tried waving a greeting at Julian, who seemed simultaneously a little amused and a little exasperated. “You could have started without me,”

“That wouldn’t be nice,” Tavvy said, voice quiet but firm. “But I do want chocolate milk now, so please sit down,”

Kit was glad Tavvy wasn’t facing him, because he could smile without it seeming like he was making fun of him. “Ah, of course,”

The hallway was weirdly long, and there were several landscape paintings hung up on the wall, although Kit didn’t have time to really look at them. They eventually reached a kitchen, and it was the first real sign of life in the house.

“This is our kitchen,” Tavvy explained, gesturing at the large room. “We eat here most of the time, that’s why our table is so big. You’re going to sit next to Ty-Ty,”

“Sure,” Kit let himself be led as he looked around. The walls were painted a pretty yellow, and there was a large window looking out to the ocean. The counters were tiled with more nature scenes, which was a weird choice but alright, and the tabletop was a painted night sky with constellations that Kit didn’t recognize.

The table had mismatched benches and chairs set all around it, and Kit was gently pushed into a corner chair. Then Tavvy made his way around the table as his family filed in, climbing into a large seat to the right of the head of the table. “Jules, is the food ready?”

The silence was finally broken as Emma laughed. “Tavvy, you’ve got excellent manners, greeting our guest so calmly,”

“No arguing, no yelling, no running, and letting him inside. Great job,” Julian agreed, ruffling his little brother’s hair, laughing while all his siblings pouted.

“I wanted to see him first,” Drusilla argued. “But Ty and Livvy wouldn’t let me,”

“Because we were going to let him in! He mostly just knows us,” Livvy plopped down into her seat, separated from Kit by one spot, and Drusilla sat next to Tavvy, across from her sister. Cristina sat across from Kit, and Mark sat next to her. 

Ty sat in between Kit and Livvy, looking Kit over. Kit noted that he and Ty had matching dark circles under their eyes, probably because they’d stayed up talking even after Kit had arrived home and fallen into bed. “Your hair is messy again,”

“It dried while I was walking,” Kit replied, not surprised at all when Ty reached out to fix it, but still feeling that warm, tingly feeling that always accompanied Ty’s touch. “When did you wake up?”

“I wanted to help with breakfast, so I woke at the usual time for a school day,” Ty’s fingers gently raked Kit’s hair into his usual side swept style, then tugged on Kit’s backpack strap. Kit shrugged it off, and Ty grabbed it, placing it closer to himself.

“You both look tired again,” Livvy sighed. “I don’t get how you guys run on barely any sleep,”

Both Ty and Kit shrugged, and she shook her head.

“You helped with breakfast?” Kit asked, peering at the kitchen. “What is breakfast?”

“We made sure to request one of Julian’s famous staples,” Livvy grinned, and Julian laughed from where he was still moving things from the counter to the sink. “Pancakes,”

“ And bacon,” Ty added. “Because you like bacon,”

“And coffee, because you’re always sleep-deprived. We have plenty of sugar, and a fancy machine so we can make it with steamed milk,” Livvy added.

“Julian made the regular pancakes and told me how to make the batch with chocolate chips,”

“We have apple juice too, since you like fruit,”

“Do you like syrup? We have maple syrup,”

“Of course, we made sure that there would be some extra food for you to take home, of breakfast and any snacks we have, and dinner is going to get prepared early so you can take some when it’s time for you to leave,”

“Dru and I found a spell that should seal the container very well so it won’t let any smell escape, so you can microwave the food without your dad noticing,”

The twins looked at Kit eagerly, with matching sparkles in their as they explained every little detail that had gone into the food.

Kit opened his mouth, closed it again, and began to laugh, eyes crinkling as his mouth widened into a smile. He felt warm, and really hoped he didn’t look too ridiculous as he lifted a self-conscious hand to his face. “I—thank you. You didn’t have to do all that, but thank you,”

“We did,” Ty insisted, tugging at Kit’s wrist, bringing his hand away from his face. “You like it,”

“Well, yes —”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to get all bashful now , Kit,” Livvy grinned. 

“I don’t get why you guys are so focused on feeding me,”

They shrugged at him, and Kit didn’t remove Ty’s hand from his wrist. 

“The food is ready,” Julian called, and Kit looked away from the twins, remembering that there were quite a few more people than just them in the room.

All of their eyes were on him, Ty, and Livvy. Emma and Cristina were smiling, while Mark’s head was tilted as he watched them with wide eyes. Tavvy and Drusilla were both staring as well, although Tavvy’s face was mostly blank while Drusilla was squinting at Kit pretty intensely. 

At Julian’s call, Emma and Mark both went to his side to help with passing everything out. Ty and Kit’s plates were the first to be filled with food, and they went around the table. It kind of looked chaotic, with all the hands reaching out and moving around, and the siblings suddenly asking for a million different things to be passed around the table.

Kit wondered if all big families were like that, messy but in a way that accepted it, that was comfortable with so many voices and opinions and bodies all close together, overlapping. It looked like a collage, but worked like a well-oiled machine.

They didn’t wait for everyone to be seated to start eating, with Tavvy digging in the moment he had food, but Kit felt the need to watch as Emma handed Cristina a cup of coffee, as Drusilla passed Livvy the butter from across the table, as Julian went around placing crispy bacon (that smelled heavenly ) on everyone’s plate. Mark handed him a glass with apple juice in it, and Kit thanked him absentmindedly as he watched the group.

So this was what a family breakfast looked like.

…TVs and movies really didn’t capture it at all. Maybe the sass and the wit of those TV-show-breakfasts was there (if anything, Kit would think most families aren’t very witty at all, considering his classmates didn’t even know what the definition of wit was. The Blackthorns just had a naturally interesting dynamic), but instead of looking like mismatched strangers playing house, the Blackthorns actually seemed familiar with each other.

He’d have thought about it more, the sort of casual care they had, the reality of these practiced, comforting actions before him, the way that everyone knew their role and their cues but there was no script and there never had been, but he could feel the twins watching him.

“What?” he turned away from his life’s antithesis, turning back to silver-gray eyes.

“You haven’t eaten yet,”  Livvy told him, taking a very pointed drink of her coffee, which Kit noticed was not a Kit-Friendly color at all. He wondered how she stomached the bitterness. “You’re just watching,”

“I’ve never seen this before,” Kit rebutted, becoming immediately aware of how miserable it sounded. He backtracked, “I mean, it’s new, and I don’t know everyone here. I mean, I know everyone’s names, but I’ve never… met everyone before,”

Ty hummed beside Kit, finally letting go of Kit’s wrist. Honestly, Kit didn’t mind it at all, even if the warmth of Ty’s fingers on his skin was always a little bit of a shock. Plus, he was ambidextrous, so it wasn’t necessarily a hindrance. “Breakfast at your house is different,”

It was a statement, and Kit suspected Ty had come to many (correct) conclusions about Kit’s homelife ever since they started texting. 

“The only meal we ever really have is dinner,” Kit elaborated, ignoring the way that Julian’s eyes flickered towards him. “I mean, eating together is mostly coincidental, it just happens at dinner the most often. We don’t really have established meal times, so breakfast isn’t really a thing on weekends or school breaks,”

“Well, you’re getting the experience now,” Livvy said. “Seriously, start eating,”

“You’re a boa constrictor,” Ty added, perhaps randomly to anyone else. Kit laughed, even though the other Blackthorn siblings didn’t seem to get it. 

“For eating things without chewing?” 

“Among other things,” Ty grinned at him, pleased like he always was when he made Kit laugh, or when Kit remembered an animal fact.

“Well, if you say so it must be true,” Kit finally began to eat, ignoring the eyes on him. 

He was careful not to let his expression change too much, to not be the ridiculous mess he always was when the twins brought him breakfast at school, but it was a difficult thing. 

“Boa constrictor,” Ty repeated again, watching Kit eat with a casual sort of interest, eating his own food almost absentmindedly. Kit shrugged, not opening his mouth. 

When he finally took a drink of the apple juice given to him earlier, he cleared his throat. “Has Julian considered opening a restaurant?”

“My food isn’t restaurant-quality,”

“I’ve been telling him to sell his food for years!”

Julian and Emma made eye-contact, rolling their eyes at each other, mouths quirking into a smile. Julian seemed different with Emma next to him, not authoritative or even particularly in charge, and Emma’s smile was soft , in a way that didn’t quite match how scary she could be.

Kit’s hand stalled for a moment as he watched them. 

Everyone else was laughing along or ignoring the joke in favor of eating, and Kit didn’t let his pause last more than a second, but…

Well, he’d just have to keep an eye on them, out of curiosity. 

After a few minutes passed, Kit felt himself settling into the calm atmosphere. The sweetness of the juice was pleasing, and like usual, Kit ate quicker than he probably should.

He saved the chocolate chip pancakes for last, listening to the chatter around him and the way Livvy and Ty were discussing what they were probably missing from their biology class. 

Kit had expected them to be good, having already eaten the regular pancakes, but fuck , he loved chocolate.

He almost said something along the lines of If this pancake was a person, I’d flirt with it , but then reconsidered. He didn’t want to seem insane in front of the Blackthorns.

That being said, Ty had made the pancakes, and complimenting him was basically the next best thing, right? 

“Ty,” Kit called, hoping not to bring too much attention to himself, although he’d felt everyone’s eyes flickering to him throughout the meal. “I think you might become an excellent chef too,”

Ty turned to Kit, mouth already smiling wide, the way he did when he found Kit watching him from the doorway when Kit dropped him off at his Photography class. That sunrise smile was going to be the death of Kit, really. “You like it?”

“It’s really good,” Kit took another large bite, covering his mouth with his hand so as to not look too silly. After he swallowed, he looked at his now-empty plate. “Is there more?”

“There’s enough for you to take home, if you want, and seconds too,”

“I do want,”

Ty got up before anyone else could offer, taking Kit’s plate with him. Livvy crinkled her eyes at Kit, looking pleased on her twin’s behalf. 

“I told him you were going to like them, but he wasn’t sure,”

“Ty’s good at everything he sets his mind to, so I’m not surprised,” 

Livvy nodded in agreement, as did the rest of the table. Kit was a little relieved that they were on the same page: Ty really was a genius. 

Now that Kit could see Livvy without Ty in between them, he took a moment to ask about the musical. “The results for the auditions will be out tomorrow, right? How are you feeling about it?”

Livvy smiled a little too widely. “On the one hand, I didn’t mess up. On the other hand, a lot of our best students in the theater and choir classes showed up, so I’ve definitely got competition,”

“You’ll get the role,” Kit was fairly confident that she would. “And you know you did well, so there’s no way you won’t be included somehow anyway,”

“True. Watching the bootleg really helped, by the way! I was glad that I knew exactly what Eurydice needed to look like, emotionally speaking. The music and voice helps, but it’s always great to see the facial expression of the actual performers too,”

“Plus, it gives you some idea of the blocking ahead of time,”

“Yup. I’m honestly pretty happy with my performance, I’m just nervous about how good everyone else was,” Livvy winked at him jokingly. “Of course, it helps that I had an expert on my side,”

Kit rolled his eyes. “Not an expert , just…”

“Weirdly passionate about random pop culture?”

“...yeah, I’ll take that,”

“If things go well, remember, you have to help me rehearse,”

“As long as I don’t have to sing, sure,” Kit grinned at her. “Just don’t get sick of me telling you every little detail I’ve memorized,”

“You act like I don’t do that with Ty and Dru already,” Livvy preened dramatically in a way she never did in the classroom, too aware of the judgmental eyes of their classmates. “I’m a master listener,”

“True,” Ty popped back into the conversation, placing Kit’s plate back in front of him.

Livvy craned her neck to continue to talk to Kit as Ty sat back down and refilled Kit’s glass of apple juice. Ty seemed determined to be as good of a host as he could be. “Oh, you’re going to have to teach me to walk like you do,”

“What do you mean?”

“I think when Eurydice is more confident and happy, she’d walk like you do,” Livvy elaborated, stabbing into her pancake with her fork. “Well, Ty pointed it out, actually. She seems like the sort of character that in a less dangerous world would walk with this sort of casual, badass saunter. Like, a bit of a sashay,”

“I do not sashay,”

“You totally know how to,”

Kit looked to Ty for backup, who was eating slowly, a little smile on his face as he listened to them talk. “I do not,”

He did , but still. 

Ty was nice, and he didn’t come to ridiculous conclusions about Kit’s general attitude or behavior, but instead worked with careful and concise observations. 

“You do,”

Ty was clearly being led towards the darkness.

“I—” Kit sighed. He did know how to walk with the sort of casual hip sway that Livvy was talking about. It made it harder to refute. “These allegations are unfounded,”

Ty looked at him blankly for a moment. Kit raised a brow, and Ty mirrored him. For some reason, it looked ridiculously good on him. 

“I’m right,” Ty said, with that sort of confident ease that had made Kit listen to him every time he spoke in the classroom for years. “I’ve seen you do it. The sauntering, at least,”

“When?”

“When Hypatia came to get you, and you left with her,” Ty squinted at Kit, not quite managing to keep a serious face as his mouth quirked. “There was at least some sashay in the saunter,”

Kit groaned while the twins giggled at his expense. 

It occurred to him once more that they had an audience, and glanced around to gauge everyone’s feelings. Emma was smiling into her glass, sipping awkwardly (was that chocolate milk?), and Mark and Cristina were looking at each other but talking in a way that looked almost scripted. Tavvy was uninterested as far as Kit could tell, more concerned with his pancakes. Drusilla was still staring at Kit, but she was smiling a little now. Kit wondered if he’d gained her approval.

Julian was looking at the three of them idly, drinking from his mug of coffee with a sort of twinkle in his eye. He looked… surprised?

Not shocked , or bewildered, or even taken aback. More like… a little dazed, in a good way. Content. 

“Finish eating,” Ty said around his laughter, reaching out to tap Kit’s still hand. “Dru has plans for you after breakfast,”

Ah, right, the makeover.

“I do have plans!” Drusilla perked up. “C’mon pretty boy, I’ve got a whole makeover planned,”

Pretty boy . Honestly, Kit didn’t mind the term, but it was funny to hear a younger person call him that. 

He nodded, and worked on finishing the plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of him, trying not to smile at the way that Ty attentively watched him take every bite, even as he ate his own food. 

It didn’t take long for breakfast to finish, because Drusilla had begun to egg everyone into hurrying up, and sooner than Kit was really ready for, his empty plate and glass were being taken away by the adults as the twins and Drusilla got up, herding him away from the kitchen. 

“Julian and I already talked over packing up food for you, so he’ll make sure that gets done,” Ty said, pulling Kit away, carrying Kit’s backpack in one hand. Mark waved goodbye awkwardly, and Kit found himself waving back for a lack of a better response. 

“I have some clothes I need to give you,” Drusilla said. “The makeup, if you can’t do it yourself, can be done by me, Livvy, or Cristina probably, if I give her a reference photo. It’s nothing too complicated. You can change in Ty’s room,”

Ty’s room . Kit felt jittery at the idea of it. 

“What exactly is my costume?”

“It’s like… if a vampire was also a little fae. Or if a faerie was also a vampire,”

“That’s definitely a thing,” Kit could think of multiple faeries at the Market that were cannibalistic and feasted on blood. “Like, there’s names for different uh… blood-drinking faerie species, but also, a lot of them just do that for the hell of it,”

“...I see your point, but look at this from a pop culture perspective,”

Kit could do that. 

“How do you feel about chokers?”

“Never tried one, but it’ll be fine,”

“Awesome. Earrings?”

“I don’t have piercings,”

“We can always fix that,” Drusilla glanced over her shoulder as she led them up the stairs. Kit tried not to think too hard about the fact that the Blackthorns casually had a dramatically carpeted, split staircase. “If you want them,”

“Honestly, it’s tempting,” Kit had always wondered what he would look like with earrings. “But it would be hard to explain to my dad. I’ll just get someone trustworthy, or, well, not too sketchy, at the Market to pierce them sometime,”

“That’s fine, I have earring cuffs that should work, and clip-ons,”

They skipped the second floor entirely, instead ending up on the third floor, all of them taking a turn towards the left. 

Telling apart who inhabited each room was surprisingly easy. Tavvy’s room came first, with his name scribbled on the door itself with crayon, and a little charm hanging on the doorknob. The twins came next. Livvy’s was identifiable thanks to the Aesthetic™ polaroid pictures of the different family members. 

Across from Livvy’s door was Ty’s. It was pretty obvious, thanks to the straight line of bee stickers at eye-level with varying degrees of realism, ranging from cute cartoon-style bees to real pictures printed as stickers. 

Drusilla’s was last, not including other doors that seemed like they hadn’t been opened in years, and her door was covered in horror movie posters. Kit approved of the Scream 6 poster in his mind. 

“One moment,” Drusilla opened her door and Kit only saw red light and black furniture as she scurried in, closing the door behind herself. 

“Is her room… red?” Kit asked.

“It’s mostly black, actually, but she’s got a red lava lamp,” Livvy started opening her room. “Also, you’re not stepping into my room, it’s a huge mess. Every day I fight my closet, and half the time, I lose,”

Kit couldn’t even begin to imagine that problem.

“My room is tidy,” Ty yawned, hiding it behind his hand.

“You regularly hide animals in your room,”

“In tidy enclosures,” Ty defended. 

“Not when we were little,” Livvy stuck her tongue out playfully before looking at Kit. “One time Ty brought a rattlesnake home and hid it in his closet,”

Kit couldn’t help the concerned look he sent Ty, who was pouting. “A rattlesnake?”

“It was interesting,”

“...they’re venomous,”

“It liked me,”

“...Actually, valid,” Kit nodded. When he thought about it, there was no reason why any animal would dislike Ty. Clearly Ty was the best person for them to be with. “You’re probably a pretty safe caretaker for them,”

Livvy sighed, shaking her head like they were a lost cause and going into her room, closing the door slowly enough to clearly be heard when she said, “Just because we’re on great terms with a skilled faerie healer doesn’t mean we should be tempting fate,”

A moment passed before Kit turned to Ty. He knew that Livvy was the reasonable one that time, but he liked indulging Ty. “Do you have any animals right now?”

“No, I don’t keep them as often anymore,” Ty admitted. “I have a little sealed planetarium with some snails, insects, and other things. Sometimes I raise butterflies and moths and then release them. If I find a hurt animal, I always bring it back here until they’re fully recovered, but I don’t usually bring back regular animals,”

“I’m sensing there’s an exception,”

“...If they chose to follow me or get on me, I’m not stopping them, even if they’re not hurt,”

Before Kit could express his interest, perhaps with a request for pictures the next time Ty took an animal home, Drusilla opened her room again, shutting it with a dramatic flourish as she shook a large bag at them. 

“Okay, so, this might be a bit big on you, but uhh… well, how do you feel about a men’s corseted waistcoat?”

Kit took a quiet moment to reconsider his life decisions.

Maybe sending his apprehension, Drusilla added, “Corsets, for the record, weren’t actually torture devices,”

“I know, they were mostly just meant to be treated as support, and tight-lacing was a rarer trend, mostly among the rich,” Kit replied, rather on auto-pilot as he thought back to the hours spent watching random historical costuming videos on YouTube. 

“ Exactly ,” Drusilla nodded. “Thank you. I have to explain that all the time. It makes more and more sense that you became friends with Ty and Livvy, you’re clearly not an idiot,”

Kit didn’t even know what to say to that. It hadn’t been that long ago since he’d been Drusilla’s age, but he hadn’t interacted with an 8th grader basically since he got to high school. 

“Anyway, there’s like, a few different pieces of jewelry. Keep in mind that this is Halloween and that any clothing item is fair game and nothing is weird,”

She pushed the bag into his hands, nodding at Ty. “Tell me when you’re ready for makeup,”

“Sure,” Ty tugged a little at Kit’s arm to guide him back to his room door as Drusilla scrambled back inside her room, giggling ominously. 

“Should I be worried?” Kit asked as Ty opened the door. “Why does it feel like I should be signing a waiver?”

“Dru has to talk Julian into wearing weird clothes every year, so now she just reminds us every year that weird clothing choices are for everyone,” 

Ty stepped inside his room with ease, but Kit hovered outside for just a moment. 

It was his first time at a friend’s house.

His first time celebrating a holiday with friends.

His first time eating breakfast at a family table.

His first time going into his friend’s room. 

Johnny Rook hardly went into Kit’s room, and Kit rarely ever stepped into his dad’s room. They were individual spaces, an extra layer of privacy in an already solitary house.

Stepping into Ty’s room felt strangely intimate, even though he’d been invited in with ease.

Still, he didn’t want to make it weird, so he followed after Ty with a hesitant step.

Ty flicked a switch, and warm light slowly filled the room. It was not bright and blinding like the school’s fluorescent lights, or dull and flickering like the lights at home. It was comfortable.

“Um,”

Kit startled at the confused noise from Ty, turning to look at him as Ty shut the door softly. 

“This… is my room,” Ty gestured half-heartedly, looking a little awkward. “I hope it’s not too messy,”

It was basically spotless, other than for the way books were placed around different surfaces. The Sherlock Holmes novels were neatly stacked on one bedside table. On the other side of the bed, another night stand had several of Ty’s stimming toys and a notepad. Sitting right in the middle of Ty’s neatly made bed, which had several different types of pillows and an interesting-looking brown tartan blanket, was a well-loved bee plushie. 

There were several bookshelves at each corner of the room. Some books didn’t have their spine facing out, so Kit couldn’t read the titles, while other books were displayed with the front covers facing the bed regardless of where they were placed on the shelf.

On one side there was a large wardrobe and some drawers, and a full-body mirror hung on the wall. On the other side, there was a dark, solid wood desk with folders and notebooks that Kit recognized from school, and an old fashioned lamp beside them. Ty had one of those ergonomic “ADHD chairs” that Kit always saw online. 

There was a long but thin table next to the desk, right beside the window, which had heavy curtains blocking out the sunlight. On the table, Kit could spot several glass containers, terrariums, name plates, and several butterfly enclosures that Kit vaguely recognized, probably from some long-forgotten science unit in elementary school. 

There wasn’t a lot on the walls, just some posters of animals, Sherlock Holmes, and a few family pictures, but it was still a comfortable room. Definitely more comfortable than Kit’s, and it fit Ty perfectly.  

“I like your room,” Kit looked at the door in the corner. Did most people have their own personal bathrooms in their rooms? Kit didn’t think they did, based on the internet, and the Blackthorns were clearly way more wealthy than Kit had already assumed they were. 

Ty took the costume bag in Kit’s hands and went over to the bed, setting the bag on top of it and Kit’s backpack against the nightstand.

Ty took the bag over to the bed, and Kit followed him.

“Livvy says it’s too dark, but I always open up the windows when I’m keeping animals in here,” Ty started to take out clothes and little ziplock bags with individual jewelry items. 

“It’s not dark at all,” Kit looked around. “I can see everything pretty much perfectly,”

“You usually can,” Ty looked over the clothes. “I might have underestimated how much Dru wants to dress you up,”

Kit looked over at the shirt that had been selected for him. “The sleeves sure are a statement,”

“Do you want to skip the dress up?”

Kit considered his options.

1. Dress up like a Gothic Pretty Boy Vampire, corset waistcoat thing and make-up and all.
2. Say no, despite having agreed to it beforehand, and disappoint an Important Blackthorn Family Member, and not even do his first Halloween with friends properly.

Kit liked wearing regular clothes, thank you very much, but…

“At least it’s not particularly revealing,” Kit shrugged off this sweater, holding it a little awkwardly in his hands before tossing it on top of his backpack. “Wren already calls me a sweet little unforgettable thing , might as well live up to it,”

Ty squinted at him. He looked a little pink, but also fairly confused. 

“It stands for S-L-U-T,” Kit explained, holding up the waistcoat corset. Corseted waistcoat? “Wasn’t some of this going to be for you?”

“The shirt, yes, the corset, no. Why does Wren call you that?”

“Because half the Market is interested in me,” Kit picked up a small bag with a choker in it. “Well, no, that’s an exaggeration. One third of the Market is fond of me in a look at the cute human sort of way, one third is wary because of my dad, and one third keeps trying to marry me,”

“ Marry you ?” Ty sounded genuinely alarmed, and Kit wasn’t sure if he could laugh or not. He didn’t want to make it seem like that big a deal. 

“Or like, ritualistically murder me in a romantic sort of way,” Kit thought back to the mermaids from the previous night. “I turn them down, of course. Wren just likes to make fun of me, since I sometimes catch people’s attention on purpose, usually to rob them,”

“That’s not… a fun situation,”

“I’m used to it,”

Ty frowned at Kit, and Kit wondered if maybe he shouldn’t have brought it up at all. He was used to the Market and the way people looked at him when he gave them the chance. He knew that nearly everyone at school was obsessed with him, and that Livvy and Drusilla clearly thought highly of his appearance, messy hair not included. 

It only bothered him some of the time. Compliments were nice. Threat-proposals weren’t. Wren’s never ending jokes about him being a femme fatale were just part of their dynamic, and Kit didn’t actually hate it.

(They’d gotten into a debate about the term homme fatale , but Googling it hadn’t resulted in a satisfying conclusion). 

“Please let me know if you’re ever uncomfortable,” Ty’s voice was still weird. “With comments about how you look,”

Kit almost said I’m never really uncomfortable , but he figured that wasn’t what Ty, showing his concern, wanted to hear.

It wasn’t how he looked that bothered him, or even comments about it. What bothered him was how some people, some fey, looked at him.

“Alright,” Kit said, a weird shiver running down his spine. “I promise,”

The words felt heavy on his tongue, and his ears seemed to ring. Has Kit ever promised anything to anyone before? Really promised, really meant it?

He didn’t think so. 

Ty nodded, handing him the clothes. “You can change in the bathroom if you’d like. Dru and Livvy have my accessories so I’ll just change into the basic costume,”

Kit nodded, taking the clothes and opening the door Ty had gestured to, turning on the light and softly closing the door again.

He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but then again, the Blackthorns were rich. 

It was a full bathroom, with a marbled floor the color of cream, a large vanity and sink area, and a ridiculously large shower-bath area, kept separate from the rest of the bathroom with a tall, clear glass door. He was almost relieved to find that the toilet looked normal rather than futuristic or made of gold. 

The walls were mosaics, much like the floor of the entryway, this time of different pixies with butterfly wings and all sorts of flora and fauna, some of which Kit recognized to be magical. 

He wondered if this was Ty’s room because Ty had liked the mosaic, or if they’d had the mosaic made after Ty had already picked it. 

There was almost nothing on the actual vanity other than a face wash, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and a bottle of moisturizer. There was another bee sticker on the corner of the mirror and several different succulent stickers on the dark, wooden drawers.

He was pretty sure the entire bathroom was twice the size of his own. 

Well, time to get changed. 

The shirt was… interesting to put on, but at least it wasn’t that uncomfortable. The “bishop sleeves” (if his memory served him right) were surprisingly fun, and the collar wasn’t too tight. 

The corset-waistcoat thing…

It was already laced up, and Kit didn’t trust himself to undo the lacing and put it back in, so he worked at loosening it as much as he could and wriggling into it. He felt absolutely ridiculous and it took him several minutes, but eventually he had it on where he thought it was supposed to be, and he tightened it a little so it would be in place, although he figured he’d have to ask Ty for help with actually tightening it correctly.

Kit refused to look in the mirror, instead wondering if he was supposed to tuck the shirt into his pants. He probably was, right? 

…He should have waited to put on the corset.

He struggled a bit longer doing that, and was kind of relieved to move onto the jewelry.

The choker was a simple black strip of velvet, and Kit couldn’t get it to clasp correctly. He gave up after a few minutes. He’d just ask Ty to help with that too.

The earrings were simple teardrop-shaped red jewels. Kit did his best to ignore the fact that they were real gemstones, instead focusing on the fact that they were surprisingly comfortable. He’d read online that clip-ons were painful, but at least these weren’t.

He still didn’t really want to look in the mirror, but he should really make sure he put everything on right.

When Kit finally looked at his reflection, he had to stop himself from bursting out into laughter.

On the one hand, it didn’t look that bad .

On the other hand, Kit suddenly felt like he belonged in some sort of vampire anime. He looked like a dramatic diva. Drusilla had mentioned something fey about the look, but that must be part of the make-up planned for him and other accessories, because all he could see was some sort of rich boy that spent time lounging dramatically on loveseats, whining about unrequited affections and that he could only afford two inner-city mansions and three country estates instead of four each. 

He adjusted the corset a little, tugging at his sleeve cuffs and fixing everything as neatly as he could. Kit wasn’t in the habit of laughing at himself, but every time he looked back up to check the look, he had to stifle giggles. Was he embarrassed? Was he amused? Both, maybe?

“Kit?” Ty’s voice was quieted by the walls. “Are you dressed?”

“Yeah,” Kit grabbed the shirt he’d been originally wearing and the bag the costume had been in, opening the door. “I’m just laughing at myself,”

Ty wasn’t facing him when Kit stepped out, instead sitting at this desk and fidgeting with something. The clothes he’d been in before had been set on his bed. 

“Why?” Ty turned the chair around to face Kit, and then blinked hard. “Huh,”

“Which part of this isn’t funny?” Kit tried, feeling embarrassment crawl up the back of his neck. 

Ty tilted his head, staring at Kit. His base costume wasn’t quite as outlandish as Kit’s and looked both surprisingly studious and also really well-fitted.

He had a dark brown sweater on, embroidered with golden moths along the hems. The collar from a white shirt was visible, with gold collar pins in the shape of crow skulls connected by a thin chain. The hems of the white shirt were also peeking out from below the sweater, creating a messy-but-put-together sort of look.

His black pants were more fitting than Kit’s, looking actually tailored and much newer, and he had on glossy black Doc Martens which each had a single painted orangey-red leaf at the corner of the heel. 

While he hadn’t slicked back his hair with any product, it was clear he’d combed it back, making him look older. 

Haha. 

Kit thought of the hours he’d spent reading Marauder’s fanfiction and watching fanart and cosplay edits of Remus and Sirius (his only experience with the fandom, as he'd never watched the books or movies). Of all the dark academia boys he’d followed on his (very private) Instagram. Of his ever growing fantasy academia TBR book list. 

Haha. 

Goddamn, why does something so simple look so fucking good?

Kit was never going to get over the fact that people thought Kit himself was the attractive person between them. 

Because holy shit. 

“What is your costume?” Kit asked, leaving his folded up shirt on top of his backpack.

“...you’ll see,” Ty was still staring at Kit. “You have a small waist,”

Kit looked down at himself. “Do I?”

“Mhmm,”

“I look a little silly, don’t I?” Kit held the choker nervously in his hands as he approached Ty. “It’s not quite my style,”

“You don’t,” Ty said immediately. He had a blush rising on his cheeks. Or the pinkness from earlier had never left. He supposed that Ty must also feel a bit embarrassed or awkward, having a friend over for the first time and dressing up in front of them. “It’s just different,”

“ Very different,” Kit laughed. “Could you help me with the choker? And finishing lacing up the corset? I can’t do it myself,”

Ty nodded, getting up smoothly. He was already taller than Kit, and the Doc Martens just added more height. Kit was being so normal about it. He should get a prize.

Ty took the choker from him, and Kit turned around. Ty settled the choker around his neck, his fingers brushing against Kit’s skin as he fiddled with the thin chain and clasp.

Kit’s difficulty with breathing had very little to do with the tightness of the choker. 

“You have another beauty mark here,” Ty muttered, tapping one finger against the side of Kit’s neck after he finally got the clasp to catch on the chain. 

“I have them all over the place,” 

“I know you have some on your arms,” Ty tugged a little at Kit, and Kit turned around, looking up at him. Ty was looking even more rosy. Maybe his outfit was too warm. “And around your collar bone,”

“On my back, too, and my hips and legs,” Kit wasn’t sure why he was offering up the information. It wasn’t like Ty had asked. But his face was always a little curious, and Kit always felt the need to satiate that curiosity. 

Ty reached out and gently tapped the beauty mark by Kit’s eye, not saying anything. He wasn’t looking Kit in the eye, instead looking around his features, looking over his lashes, his mouth, the beauty mark. 

Kit let him. He probably would have stayed standing there, craning his neck, not really caring about the time, if it weren’t for the corset.

“The corset needs to be tightened too,” Kit reminded Ty, his voice nearly a whisper, and Ty actually jolted a little, as if he’d forgotten.

Why was he whispering? Why did his voice feel a little weak?

Why was Ty staring so intently?

“Right,” Ty turned Kit back around, and Kit found that he didn’t mind being moved by Ty’s hands. They were warm, warm enough that Kit could feel it through the layers. He suppressed a shiver. 

Ty grasped the lacing, pulling at it gently. After some pulling, Kit could feel him put one hand flat against his back. The other hand tugged at the strings together. “Is it too tight?”

“No, it’s fine,”

Ty pulled a little more before tying the laces and tucking the ends away. “You really do have a small waist,”

His fingers traced the dip of Kit’s waist all the way to Kit’s hip, where the corset ended in a comfortable taper. His hand stayed there, the other one going back up to Kit’s neck, tapping the beauty mark there again. Kit turned his head to look back at Ty, not moving the rest of his body.

Ty’s gray eyes flickered up to Kit’s for just a moment before going back to tracing Kit’s features gently. It was hard to not do the same, even if Kit had to angle his head a little awkwardly. He didn’t want to disturb Ty’s hands.

It was quiet, and neither of them moved. Maybe they would have just stayed like that, if there hadn’t been a knock at the door.

They both startled, waiting for a moment too long before actually moving apart, Ty going to answer the door. 

“I’ve brought over the accessories and make-up,” Drusilla said, looking up at her brother. “Oooh, Ty, you put together a really good base by yourself!”

“Let me see,” Livvy was right behind her younger sister. “Oh, this is totally your style!”

Ty let them into his room, shrugging. 

Kit kind of wanted to hide.

He didn’t get the chance, because Drusilla was already clapping excitedly at his appearance. “I knew it! Your features are both fair and sharp enough to pull this off! The make-up is going to make it feel a little different, but don’t worry, it’ll work out,”

And then she paused. “Wow, you have a really small waist,”

“...So I’m told,”

Livvy took a good look at him before whistling. “ Snatched ,”

Was Kit flattered? Was he embarrassed? He settled for winking at Livvy, who rolled her eyes. 

“Livvy’s going to do your makeup while I give Ty his accessories and some makeup,” Drusilla pushed her sister towards Kit before tugging Ty back to his chair. 

“I’ve been given interesting instructions,” Livvy laughed, sitting down on Ty’s bed and patting the spot beside her. “Apparently, bold lipstick is the order of the day,”

“Please don’t make me regret agreeing to everything,” Kit sighed, sitting down next to Livvy. Ty’s bed was comfy, but he decided not to think about it any more than that. “ Faerie vampire made me expect a lot less black,”

“According to Dru, your eyes are too pretty to not capitalize on by not doing some cool eye makeup,” Livvy elaborated. “What do you think of my look, by the way?”

If Ty was dark academia, Livvy was light academia. She had a pleated light green plaid skirt on, matched with a light beige sweater vest and a long-sleeve white shirt with floppy collars below that. She had on dangling silver butterfly earrings with little green diamonds and a matching bracelet. 

She also had Doc Martens on, but they were light green Mary Janes with buckles and white socks.

“So… you guys are dark and light academia?” Kit couldn’t help but feel like their outfits were missing the Halloween part of dressing up. 

“Kind of!” Livvy looked pleased by Kit’s attempt to guess. She had soft brown eyeshadow on that created a sort of cat eye liner, and a light shimmer over her lids, and light blush and pink lip gloss. It was a very pretty look, and Kit was reminded that both the twins could absolutely model if they wanted to. 

“I haven’t actually finished my make-up yet,” Livvy admitted as she rummaged in the makeup bag. “I’m supposed to have butterfly wings by my eyes and a few flowers here and there. Julian is actually going to help with that! And Ty said he’d give me a bee necklace to wear,”

“...Spring-themed Light Academia?” Kit ventured. 

“Not quite, but getting super close,” Livvy uncapped a black pencil. “Open your mouth—no, like this. Yup. So I’m going to be putting on a tiny bit of black lip liner. Not a lot, because we’re going for more red than black,”

Kit did as he was told as Livvy gently traced his mouth. It felt a little weird to have her doing his make-up, but he preferred it over asking Drusilla or one of the other Blackthorns to do it. 

When she was done with that, she got a dark red lipstick and began to apply it. Kit tried to stay as still as possible.

“When that’s dry, I’ll put on some gloss too,” she brushed his hair away from his face. “I’m not going to bother with any contouring or like, a full face of proper makeup. You’ve got annoyingly perfect features,”

“Sorry?”

Kit knew he didn’t sound even mildly apologetic.

She snorted, taking out another pencil. “I considered liquid liner but this is easier. It is insane to me, by the way, that your eyelashes are like, blond-light-brown, and still thick enough to be seen so clearly. Literally how,”

Kit didn’t respond, because now there was a pencil close to his eyeball and he wasn’t exactly a fan of that.

In the background, he could hear Drusilla telling Ty, “I was able to find a bunch of realistic things to add to the hat, so it should look right. Also, how do you feel about a lip tint or gloss? I’m thinking maroon-ish,”

Oh, right, Ty with makeup. That was a thing that Kit was about to have to deal with.

Kit was relieved that he could admit his friends were attractive. He couldn’t imagine walking around, trying to ignore the fact that Ty was beautiful. 

He followed all of Livvy’s instructions for the next twenty minutes, absentmindedly listening to Drusilla and Ty talking and rustling things around. 

“For the record, I’m making you shiny,”

“...glittery?”

“Yes,”

“Good god, don’t make me a Twilight vampire,”

“I will not , it’s mostly going to be around your eyes and cheekbones and little sparkly freckles,”

Kit hummed, letting Livvy do as she wanted. Occasionally, she paused to check pictures on her phone that Kit could only half-see and switched between a white pencil and some glittery product.

“I’m not sure how I’m supposed to get the faerie vibe,” Livvy admitted. “Other than piling you with gold and silver jewelry,”

Kit thought back to the faeries at the market that were cannibalistic. “I’m guessing we can’t cover me in fake blood,”

“Dru would honestly be okay with it if it weren’t your first Halloween. This is her version of a chill introduction to dressing up,” Livvy took a look at his face, then frowned. “No wonder she said you might need more accessories. Your face is so pretty, I don’t want to put too much makeup on you and hide your features, but it makes it harder to get the right look,”

“Thanks, I think,”

“I do have the other options,” Livvy grabbed another bag. “Okay, these are sort of gothic metal ear cuffs, so I’ll put those on you. They're shaped like pointy ears, see?”

Kit turned his head, letting Livvy maneuver with the earrings he already had on. 

“What now?”

“You know those like… fantasy circlets? I mean, some faerie nobility wear them, I guess. The pretty, winding metal ones,”

“Yup. I know someone at the market that makes them, but they’re super expensive,”

“Well, Dru has a not-faerie-made one,” Livvy took the circlet out from another bag.

It was a simple gold design embedded with a few sparse red jewels, a bigger one dangling in the middle. Kit shrugged. “It’s pretty,”

“Now it’s my turn to mess with your hair,” Livvy laughed, gently brushing it away from Kit’s face. “Your hair refuses to be orderly, huh?”

“Sometimes Ty gets it to behave for a few hours,” Kit hoped the circlet-tiara thing wouldn’t tangle in his hair. 

Livvy messed with it a little longer before nodding to herself. “I think this is the best it’s gonna get. I think if you walked into school like this right now, everyone would faint immediately,”

“I could say the same thing about you and Ty,”

“We do look amazing, don’t we? Ty doesn’t usually wear like, aesthetic clothes, but when he does, it’s always a great outfit,”

Kit nodded in agreement, not trusting himself to speak about it.

“Okay, well, I’ll put on the lip gloss I was talking about and leave it at that, unless you want some press-on nails for the night,”

“No thanks,”

Livvy swiped some lip gloss over his mouth, then tilted his head back and forth. “...I’m realizing I forgot to give you the fake vampire teeth,”

They were silent for a moment.

“That’s gonna fuck with my lip makeup, isn’t it?”

“Probably, yeah,” Livvy handed Kit two vampire tooth caps with a sigh. “Those go over your canines. Good luck?”

Kit took them wordlessly and dragged himself off to the bathroom to try and not fuck up the makeup.

~~~~~~~

When Kit came back out, having to try several times to get the teeth on comfortably without fucking up the make up, the twins had finished accessorizing. 

And oh .

“You two have to be the absolute most aesthetic witches I’ve ever seen,” Kit grinned at their outfits. 

Livvy gave a little twirl, her large witch-hat jingling with bells. It was covered in freshly-cut flowers, butterflies, mushrooms, and random colorful feathers. The actual fabric of the witch hat was a light tan, and the underside of the hem, which had been purposefully flipped up to be visible, was painted to look like a meadow full of flowers. A few brightly colored crystals had been pinned to the hem and swung gently when she moved. 

“You look great,” Kit complimented.

“Thanks!” Livvy shook the bells again, before grabbing her things and heading out. “I’m going to see how Julian and Emma are doing, and if I can get some face makeup done by him soon,”

Kit waved, looking at Ty, who was kneeling forward to let Dru adjust something on his hat. When Ty straightened, he turned to Kit with a smile.

First of all , Ty had been subjected to some makeup, because he had some soft pencil liner and brown eyeshadow with the smallest amount of gold glimmer, and had apparently agreed to putting on some sheer maroon lip oil or something. His makeup was much more subdued than Kit’s and less defined than Livvy’s, but it looked amazing.

Kit was pretty sure that his heart had stopped at seeing Ty multiple times that day. 

Who has time for being existential when this is in front of them?

Second of all, Ty’s costume had also finished coming together. He had dangling Fall leaf earrings on, probably clip-on like Kit’s, and his hat was very clearly Fall-themed, although not anywhere near as large as Livvy’s. The pointed part was black, and while Livvy’s had been decorated with freshly cut flowers, Ty had Fall-colored leaves and dried out blooms, little pumpkins and black and brown feathers, and moths instead of butterflies. His also jingled with bells, although not as many, and there were acorns and dried red berries instead of crystals dangling from the hem. Kit was half-sure he spotted a small skull nestled in the leaves.

The underside was painted to look like a forest covered in orange and red flowers with little lanterns.

“This works for you both so well,” Kit walked up, tapping one of the acorn-berry strings.

“Livvy and Dru came up with it,” Ty shook the hat a little. “For the record, moths are more active during the Spring, but they said moths fit a Fall Aesthetic better,”

“I see their point,” Kit looked at Drusilla, who still hadn’t changed her clothes from breakfast. “You have good taste, Drusilla,”

She startled a little, having been organizing the makeup bag she’d brought with her. She smiled at Kit, looking very pleased. “I do, don’t I? You look pretty great too. I’d have liked to get you different pants, but I didn’t have time,”

“No worries, it still works like this,”

“It really does, you’re one hell of a pretty boy,”

“Thanks, I was born like this,” 

She laughed. She looked a lot like Livvy, even though Dru’s features were more full. “You’re welcome. You can call me Dru, by the way. I have to go get dressed now, I wanted to make sure you guys were all set first. See you in… an hour?”

Ty helped her gather the rest of her things, and soon she was also rushing out, a skip in her step.

Kit and Ty looked at each other.

“So… what now?”

“Everyone’s going to be getting ready for a little longer,” Ty admitted. “Want to meet our cat?”

“You have a cat?”

“His name is Church,” Ty smiled, leading them out of the room. “He’s technically on loan to us from a family friend,”

“How do you loan out a cat?”

Ty shrugged. “Jem tells him where to go, and he goes. He’s been with us for… six years now,”

They were back on the first floor, all the way to the entryway. From a little table nearby, Ty grabbed a box of cat treats, and then opened the door. 

Kit was taken by the view again, the way that past the gates, there was a beautiful ocean shining with a high sun. 

“Church!” Ty called, then shook the box. 

After a few moments in which Kit was mostly staring at the glittering waves in between the bars of the gate’s doors, a large Persian cat came down from somewhere , landing in front of the door.

The cat looked at the treats with apt attention, large yellow eyes following Ty’s movement as Ty leaned down and offered him a few pieces. His pupils were thin slits.

“He’s a blue Persian longhair,” Ty told Kit, using his free hand to pet Church behind his folded ears. “He’s really grumpy, and it’s a struggle to pick him up, but he usually accepts petting. He’s also immortal,”

“He’s immortal ?”

“Something about a ritual? Jem saved him from some questionable faeries. I think about 150 years ago?”

“Is Jem a faerie?”

“No, but he was under an enchantment to slow down all his body processes for a while so that he wouldn’t die. Our family friends in New York helped out with that,”

Kit nodded like he understood. He absolutely did not. 

“Come say hi,” Ty looked up at Kit, smiling again. He smiled at Kit a lot, and Kit found that he wasn’t able to build up immunity to it. 

Kit hesitantly approached them, crouching down. 

“Offer your hand. Curl your fingers in, so he won’t bite you. Hold a treat so he’ll actually come and sniff you,”

Ty pressed a treat into Kit’s hand, and Kit curled his fingers around it. Church looked at them judgingly, like why are you playing games with my food, just give it to me , but leaned forward to sniff at Kit’s hand.

His tail, which had been flicking back and went absolutely still. 

Kit slowly opened his fingers, and Church gently ate the treat from his hand, otherwise frozen.

Then the cat looked up.

His pupils were completely dilated, filling up his eyes almost entirely, blocking out the yellow irises. His ears twitched from airplane mode and forward, twitching side to side like a little radar.

“What did I do?” Kit asked.

Ty watched Church curiously before looking at Kit. “He doesn’t usually meet new people. He might just think you’re interesting,”

Kit squinted at Ty. “Really?”

“...At least a little bit, but he’s also a weird cat,”

Church pushed his head against Kit’s hand, and Kit did his best to pet him, although it really felt like the cat was taking it into his own hands (paws?). He rubbed his forehead firmly into Kit’s palm, and then the sides of his face across Kit’s wrist. 

After doing this very intently, which Ty watched with patient and curious eyes while Kit wondered if maybe he just smelled good to the cat, Church sat back, and turned his face back to Ty. His eyes thinned considerably.

Then he meowed. Kit wasn’t sure if cat’s could frown , but it sure as hell looked like Church was. He smacked Ty’s knee with his paw, meowing long, like a complaint.

Ty just shrugged at the cat and offered him more treats, which Church took but with furtive, large-pupil looks at Kit and thin, accusatory looks at Ty.

“I feel like we’ve offended him somehow,”

“He’s always a little offended,” Ty sounded contemplative. “Let’s look around,”

He got up, offering his hand to Kit. After a moment, Kit took it, and Ty pulled him up effortlessly.

He forgot sometimes that the Blackthorns did physical training. That Ty knew how to fight. That all Shadowhunters did, and everyone in this house had some degree of training, from Tavvy to Julian and Mark. 

Kit’s life was so strange.

But it was almost easy to just hand the reins to Ty. 

“Lead the way, Sherlock,”

“Of course, Watson,”

Chapter Text

October 31st, 2023

They walked around the bottom of the house, showing Kit the living room and proper dining room. Ty briefly opened the door to the library to point at his “favorite couch” before closing the door just as quickly so he “wouldn’t get distracted”. 

They walked through winding hallways, with Ty pointing at all the things he liked best, and Kit nodding along. Church followed along quietly, always hiding when Kit turned to look at him. Kit could still hear the quiet pad walk behind them though.

There was a training room at the end of a long hall, with an impossibly tall ceiling criss-crossed with beams. 

“We sometimes jump off of those,” Ty supplied. Kit got vertigo just thinking about it. 

Ty took Kit around the room, showing him a variety of weapons. Kit could feel his fingers tingling as they passed blades encrusted with jewels or crafted out of precious medals. According to Ty, several of the weapons were antiques, some up to hundreds of years old.

The entire array would be worth several thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Just… sitting there. Handing on walls, organized in different frames, kept in areas of easy access. 

“That’s Livvy’s favorite saber,” Ty nodded at a beautiful sword hung on the wall. 

Kit tried to turn his brain off, crossing his arms behind his back to grasp his own hands, digging his fingers into his skin. “So she fences?”

“Yes,”

“What’s your favorite?”

Ty grinned, and Kit could tell he’d been waiting for him to ask that question. Kit didn’t mind indulging him. 

“We all have some competence with everything. I know how to fence to train with Livvy. But I prefer throwing knives, and the quarterstaff,”

“Show me?”

Ty nodded, opening a drawer into the wall and looking over his options.

Kit thought again of the amount of money in that room alone. Life changing money. Money Kit couldn’t even begin to fathom.

Ty took a short, thin knife, showing it to Kit. It was a similar shape to kunai, which Kit was familiar with, although this was much thinner than Kit was used to seeing. 

“Is it very light?”

“Ours are made to be heavy,” Ty handed it to Kit for a moment to test the weight, and Kit tried to focus on the feeling, but he was rather distracted by everything else in his surroundings.

Ty then looked around the room, locating a target across the wide space. It was much bigger than a classroom. 

“This isn’t the farthest throw I can do, but I’m just showing you how it’s done,” Ty said. “It’s about 50 feet from here,”

“That sounds far,”

Ty just smiled and found a line on the tile where he placed his foot, pulling his arm up, holding the knife deftly. Kit didn’t understand the significance of the changes in Ty’s posture, but it wasn’t really the nuances of it that he was paying attention to. Instead, he was looking at Ty’s expression.

At school, he’d heard people describe Ty’s expression in class as rather flat and unfeeling. Kit had never really agreed. It was attentive, sharp. Focused.

And then the knife was thrown, and Kit couldn’t track that with his eyes properly, he just heard the sound of the knife thudding into a wooden target across the room for a moment.

Kit stared open-mouthed at the perfectly centered knife on the small target before turning back to Ty, who was smiling again, looking a little self-satisfied.

Suddenly, there were no more thoughts about money in Kit’s head. His fingers didn’t tingle with the held-back desire to grab one of the knives and hide it in his sleeve to sell off later. He didn’t give a single fuck that his father (if he didn’t kill Kit for being here in the first place) would have told him to take everything and run.

Instead, all he said was, “Do it again,”

And Ty obliged, with that confident smile never leaving his face.

~~~~~~~

They spend another half hour in the training room, with Ty also briefly showing Kit what a quarterstaff looked like, twisting it around his body. The fluidity of Ty’s movements was burned into Kit’s mind.

They did eventually move on, joined again by Livvy, who was now sporting butterfly wings around her eyes, with twisting ivy and daisies along the bottom of her eyes and cheekbones. 

“I know you don’t really want any paint on your face, Ty,” she said. “So here, just wear one of these stickers,”

Ty let Livvy stick a little orange leaf around each of his eyes. 

“I also refilled and recharged my Polaroid, so be ready for so many pictures,” Livvy grinned. “You can take some with you at the end, Kit,”

Kit let them guide him to the living room, to wait there for the rest of the family to appear. Kit and Ty sat next to each other on a couch while Livvy performed her audition for Hadestown to Kit. Kit told her with full confidence that it was amazing. They discussed their Biology and French homework. Livvy showed Kit pictures of last year’s Halloween while Ty fidgeted with Kit’s hair, which had become messy once more, ignoring both Livvy’s attempts at taming it and the tiara-circlet that was meant to keep it in place.

Church watched them balefully from a nearby chair covered in cat hair. Every time Kit made eye contact with him, his pupils would dilate. Ty acted like he didn’t notice it, but every time it happened, his fingers stalled in Kit’s hair. 

Cristina and Mark came down and shared a loveseat, laughing about something. They were pressed to each other’s side as they looked at something on Cristina’s phone. 

Mark was wearing a loose, glittering purple-blue blouse covered in constellations and glitter, with freckled stars all over his cheeks, and star pins in his hair. Even his pants had been carefully patterned with constellations using rhinestones, although not overwhelmingly so. 

Cristina was wearing a beautiful golden dress cinched with a wide belt and long, see-through sleeves, and sandals with winding laces up her legs. She had long, dangling sun earrings, and her make up was golden. Her long, black hair was blown out dramatically, with a few strands captured by twisted gold bands. 

They were clearly meant to be someone depicting the Sun and someone depicting the Stars. Kit wondered about that. Wouldn’t a more natural pair be Sun and Moon? And why were Cristina and Mark matching anyway? They were clearly friends, but maybe since Mark’s boyfriend ( The fucking Unseelie King, Kit wasn’t going to get over that ) wasn’t there, they chose to dress up together?

Still, it felt weird. Sun and Stars… Unseelie… Moon… 

The two complimented their outfits eagerly, and Kit watched them, smiling when he was supposed to, complimenting them back when it was called for. 

Mark’s arm ended up around Cristina’s shoulder, and no one blinked twice.

Weird.

~~~~~~~

Tavvy came down next, holding a book. For some reason, he was purple. Even his hair was kind of purple. His clothes were otherwise completely normal, just a blue sweater and gray jeans. 

Kit blinked at Tavvy then glanced at Livvy. “What is he?”

“Purple,” Livvy answered honestly. 

“ Why?”

“So, two of our family friends are married, and they have an adopted faerie kid and a Shadowhunter kid. The faerie kid is blue, and Tavvy thinks it’s the coolest thing ever, but it’s probably because he’s never played with anyone else his age. We know another faerie who is light blue, and one who is green. Tavvy loves it for some reason. He usually asks to be painted different shades of green or blue, and this year he’s trying purple. It stresses Julian out a little since, well, it’s a lot. That’s why Tavvy has to wear long pants and shirts, so only his face, neck, and hands get painted. Tavvy also picks out a spray paint for his hair, and that’s his Halloween look. Sometimes he asks Julian to ‘paint magic’ on him, little swirls in a different color,”

That was somehow very cute and very odd. Kit was getting the sense that all the Blackthorns could be described somewhat similarly. 

“Alright,”

Who was Kit to question Tavvy’s costume choices?

~~~~~~~

At some point, the three of them had opened up their Google Classroom apps and begun to exchange gossip they hadn’t had time for during lunch, which had been spent preparing Livvy for the Hadestown auditions. 

“No, see, Sofia has been flirting with Leon, but then every time he tries to ask her out, she just giggles and finds a way around it,” Livvy groaned. “It’s been like two months of this,”

“With Leon? I know for a fact he dated Sofia’s best friend last year,” Kit frowned. “Ew,”

“...Wait, what does Sofia look like?” Ty asked, peering over Kit’s shoulder to look at Livvy’s phone screen. Kit was snug between the twins, both of them leaning into him. 

“She’s got black hair that she always has put up with a hair clip, and glasses,” Livvy tapped on Sofia’s Google Classroom profile photo. “That’s her,”

“Oh,” Ty tilted his head. “I thought she was a lesbian? Or bi?”

Kit and Livvy both paused.

“Not to say she can’t be figuring things out, but she dated like four guys last year,”

“Huh… I saw her kissing a girl in the hall last week?”

“ What!? ” 

“Oh my god, who?”

“When?”

“Why didn’t this come up?”

“I forgot, I was just out on a pass to fill up my water bottle. It was… Heidi, I think. The ginger,”

“ Heidi? Isn’t she dating Mackenzie? I thought they were going strong?”

“I can’t believe I hadn’t heard about this,” Kit shook his head. He needed to do a rumor round-up in the next week and update all his sources. 

Cristina and Mark were acting like they weren’t paying attention, but every time something particularly shocking or confusing came up, they both went still, clearly listening. 

Tavvy genuinely didn’t seem to care.

“By the way, did you two notice Mrs. Brown stopped wearing her wedding ring?” Kit asked.

“No???” Livvy gasped. 

“Yes,” Ty confirmed.

“I have a theory,”

“ Tell me,”

~~~~~~~

When Emma and Julian came down, Cristina gasped. 

They looked, in a word, angelic.

It was clear that they were supposed to be matching, and on the one hand, they weren’t bedazzled like Mark and Kit, or super detailed like the twins. 

On the other hand, they made a statement.

Emma’s hair was down, but she was wearing a headband that had those halo rays saints and gods were sometimes painted with. She was wearing a long, white dress with a golden wreath-style belt, and golden armbands.

Julian was dressed in all-white as well, although his clothes were modern, with white dress pants and a short-sleeve button up. He also had golden armbands and bracelets, but instead of the lightray halo, he had a regular halo.

The most unique thing was the golden and orange flames painted onto their arms, gently reaching up to their jaws. Emma was wearing simple, natural-looking makeup except for golden eyeshadow and sparkly clear lip gloss, which Kit could see had been very faintly put on Julian as well. 

There was a faint shimmer to his mouth too, but it didn’t look like he’d actually applied anything properly…

Either way, they looked amazing. 

“Are you dressed as angels?” he asked. 

“Yup!” Emma did a twirl, revealing a golden sword sneakily strapped onto her back. “We couldn’t come up with anything unique, so we went for a basic idea and made it dramatic,”

Julian didn’t say anything, looking at Emma with a fond look instead. 

“I’m guessing Julian painted the flames?” Livvy guessed. 

“Of course! We all know I’m not an artist,”

Kit’s eyes traced a flame that went up Emma’s arm, briefly hidden by the strap of her dress, but flickered over her collarbone and up her throat.

Then he looked at Julian again.

And then Emma. 

And then Julian. 

At one point, his eyes finally caught Julian’s attention. He raised a brow at Kit, and Kit took a risk, pointedly looking at Julian’s hands and then dragging his gaze towards the flames around Emma’s collarbone and neck.

Julian’s face was blank for a moment, and Kit repeated the action again. 

Julian’s jaw clenched, and his eyes flickered over the people in the room before subtly shaking his head.

Alright. Weird, but alright. 

Julian headed towards the kitchen again, and Emma followed after him. Cristina and Mark followed, their arms linked. Once again, no one blinked.

~~~~~~~

Dru finally came down, and Kit now understood why she had taken so long. 

“Katrina Van Tassel,” Kit said before she’d even reached the landing. “And Jack and Sally Skellington,”

Dru paused on the stairs, whipping her head up at Kit. “ Yes exactly,”

Her dress was near-identical to Katrina Van Tassel’s striped dress from Sleepy Hollow, at least when it came to the cut. But the actual stripe pattern followed Jack Skellington’s look. Her make-up included very black lids and a long, stitched smile. Her accessories, including things pinned directly onto the dress, were a mixture of Nightmare Before Christmas references, classic Halloween motifs, and things that could have passed as a classic Halloween thing, except with the Katrina Van Tassel cut, the jack-o-lanterns, the bloody swords and creepy trees, all of it was giving Sleepy Hollow. There were a few parts of the dress that had different colored patches that stuck out, quite obviously on purpose. 

“That’s so cool,” Kit noted her jack-o-lantern earrings. “You’re the Pumpkin Queen,”

Dru ran down the rest of the stairs, surprisingly agile despite the size of the dress. “You’re the only person in this whole house who actually gets all these references. I have a crown too, but I’ll put it on later,”

“My condolences,” Kit shook his head. “If I don’t see the crown before I leave, the twins can show me a picture,”

She nodded and looked them over. “I feel like I should have given you a more dramatic outfit now, to fit in with how accessorized the rest of us are,”

“I’m perfectly happy with this. Plus, I’m wearing a corset-ish thing. I feel like that’s dramatic enough,”

“True. Now, to the kitchen! Time to carve pumpkins!”

Tavvy hopped off the beanbag he’d been occupying, happily skipping towards the kitchen.

Kit had a feeling he was going to suck at this.

~~~~~~~

“Why is gutting them so hard?”

“That’s just how they are. Remember to set aside the seeds so Julian can cook them,”

“Speaking of Julian, why does his pumpkin look like it could be in an art museum?”

“That’s just how Julian is,”

“...why do I suck at this?”

“...I’m not going to say that’s just how you are,”

“Thanks, Ty,”

~~~~~~~

“...I’m guessing Emma’s will not be displayed?”

“Emma tries her best, and then Julian makes pumpkin pie from whatever manages to survive,”

“I see. I feel better about myself,”

~~~~~~~

“I’m comforted that out of the three of us, only Ty can somewhat do this,”

“I do not need your sass, Rook,”

“Livvy, I’m just saying, our pumpkins look traumatized. Ty’s actually looks like a cat. Objectively, he did better,”

“...still…”

~~~~~~~

“Kit, have some fruit,”

“I just… need to try and fix this pumpkin,”

“Do you want help? Here’s some strawberries,”

“...I do need help…oh, those are good,”

“Let me try,”

~~~~~~~

Kit looked at the pumpkins in front of him. 

Ty had gone for a simple cat face on his pumpkin. His lines were clean and precise, and while the details weren’t abundant, he’d been able to carve slit pupils, a bell collar and whiskers. 

Livvy’s poor pumpkin was originally supposed to look like Frankenstein ( The Monster, Dru had corrected). At some point after Kit called their pumpkins traumatized, she was forced to give up, and had hidden her mistakes by carving out a large witch hat shape instead.

Kit had gone with the classic jack-o-lantern face, with triangular eyes, an open mouth with pointy teeth, and a little triangle for a nose. For some reason this had been near-impossible to achieve, and while Ty was able to fix the shape of the eyes and the general shape of the mouth, he couldn’t fix the teeth that Kit had accidentally chopped off. 

At the other end of the table, Julian had somehow carved a castle with forest scenery into his pumpkin, finished early, and was giving Cristina suggestions while very clearly trying not to laugh at Emma.

Pumpkin carving was obviously not a Kit thing.

~~~~~~~

Eating cookies and candy was definitely a Kit thing. Kit let Ty pile up his plate of snacks as high as possible.

~~~~~~~

“How is the Market this time of year? I’ve always avoided it close to Halloween, and your father never said much,” Emma asked, her fingernails stained orange from the pumpkin murdering.

“Depends. Some years, it’s just prettier. Others, more dangerous. This year, it’s both, and much more obvious,” Kit considered Emma and her sword. “You’d be fine, I think,”

~~~~~~~

At some point, while everyone else was cleaning, Mark and Cristina were setting up the next activity, which was playing Clue in the living room. Tavvy didn’t want to play, so he instead got a coloring book and sat on the floor by the coffee table as everyone else puttered around.

“So,” Kit shifted a little in his seat as Cristina and Mark brought all the chairs closer together. “You guys are… the Sun and the stars?”

“Yup,” Cristina confirmed. 

“Wouldn’t the Sun and the Moon make more sense?”

Cristina and Mark shared a long look.

“We chose what fit us out of Sun, Stars, and Moon,” Cristina said. 

“If Kieran were here, he’d be the Moon,” Mark elaborated. “He wasn’t able to come, but we still wanted to dress up,”

“Right,” Kit watched them, the way their hands kept brushing against each other. Now that he was closer to them, he could see a thin red string with a single moon charm on both their wrists. “Would he enjoy being the Moon for both of you?”

Cristina smiled. “Most definitely,”

That told Kit more than she knew. 

Mark and Kieran…and Cristina, apparently. 

~~~~~~~

“So eight of us are playing, but there’s only six positions,” Dru looked over all of them. “We could do four teams of two, and just use four characters, or we could mix and match the number of people per teams,”

“Why don’t we do the two-people teams but mix it up a little?” Emma grinned. “I usually partner with Julian, but I can go with Cristina this time. Mark and Julian can team up,”

Mark and Cristina shrugged, but Julian gave Emma a surprisingly effective sad dog sort of look. Kit was genuinely impressed by his ability to look as soft as he did then, considering he thought Julian to be a little terrifying.

Despite the dramatic expression, Julian didn’t actually argue, and settled next to his brother ( older brother, it’s kind of weird that Julian had older siblings, not just younger ones ) with ease. Mark beamed.

Cristina and Emma sat together, already laughing about something Emma had whispered in Cristina’s ear. 

That left Ty, Livvy, Dru, and Kit. 

“If we’re switching things around, then Ty and I should be with Dru or Kit instead of each other,” Livvy looked them over. “...I don’t know who would be better at Clue,”

Kit had never played Clue and was rereading the rules over and over again. “ Je ne sais pas, tu peux choisir ce que tu veux,” 

“Why French?” Livvy groaned.

“Sorry, Mrs. White, Mrs. Peacock,  and Miss Scarlett all look like they speak French,” Kit looked at the little character tokens and the murder weapon tokens, then the board itself, which had two sides. “Have you guys considered that since you have a huge house that is also on the beach, you have the ability to fulfill both the mansion murder and the boardwalk murder?”

“I have,” Ty confirmed. “I call Kit,”

“I—says who?” Livvy rolled her eyes. “Kit, pair with me,”

Kit grabbed a lollipop from the bowl of candy that had been set on the coffee table they were playing around, unwrapping it and popping it into his mouth. While the twins had never actually ‘competed’ for Kit’s attention (and that would be really weird ), Kit had experienced people fighting over sitting next to him at school before, or picking him from a partner project. Usually, Kit managed to find some way to stay by himself or find someone less intense. 

This was both similar and very different. 

“I’m thinking of a number between one and twenty,” Kit rolled the lollipop with his tongue. It was a cherry tootsie pop. “Whoever guesses the closest number wins,”

The twins both turned to him with squinted eyes, and Kit managed to not fidget awkwardly. He really just wanted to eat his candy and figure out how the game worked.

“Sixteen,” Livvy guessed.

Kit shook his head. 

Ty tilted his head the way he sometimes did when he was thinking. It was usually pretty endearing, but with Ty in his current get-up, it was actually a little overwhelming. 

Kit was so lucky Ty didn’t wear dark academia with makeup to school every day.

“Seven,” Ty guessed.

Kit blinked. “Yeah, it was seven exactly,”

He wondered if Ty remembered him rambling about the Heroes of Olympus series. Kit could recite all the prophecies by heart, but had gone on a little tangent about The Seven when the prophecy had been brought up, resulting in a conversation about favorite numbers. Kit liked the symbolism and magic behind seven. Ty’s favorite number was also seven, because it was the number of Blackthorn siblings. 

1. Helen, 2. Mark, 3. Julian, 4. & 5. Livvy and Ty, 6. Dru, 7. Tavvy. 

Maybe Ty had an unfair advantage with the question, although that only occurred to Kit after the twins had answered. 

Ty looked at Livvy with a satisfied grin and settled next to Kit on the couch. Livvy rolled her eyes, but turned to Dru with a smile.

“Well, I’ve got the Halloween Queen on my side, so actually, I think we can win this,” Livvy tugged her younger sister into the chair next to her’s, and Dru went, laughing. She didn’t seem bothered that the twins had been competing over Kit instead of her, but maybe it was because Kit was the “new friend”. 

Honestly, he thought Livvy was right—something told him that Dru was much more astute than she let on. It was just a feeling, he didn’t really have evidence, but there was something about her eyes… they reminded him a bit of Ty’s. 

Kit turned to Ty, who had unwrapped a Twix. “I haven’t played before,”

“That’s fine. I can keep track of all the rule-related things,” Ty leaned closer to Kit’s ear, whispering, “Track their expressions and where they angle their pencil after getting their question answered. We can rule out answers based on where we think their pencil is scratching something out, without always having to ask the question ourselves,”

Kit kept his face blank as he nodded, but he couldn’t help but be amused. Of course Ty had his own strategy for playing a game based on clues. 

He’d never sat quite so close to Ty before, but Ty kept them connected, touching at the knees and shoulders. 

Kit could feel eyes on them as they finished setting up all the boards. Every time he glanced up, he made eye-contact with Emma, who was staring at him and Ty intently. 

At one point, he raised his eyebrows to ask what?

She startled and shrugged, mouthing nothing, just thinking. She did not grab anyone else’s attention, and Kit let it go. 

Well, let it go theoretically. Really, he just filed it away to muse over later. 

Kit and Ty took the green character token, and soon after, the game began. 

~~~~~~~

The whole Ty leaning into Kit’s space and whispering something into his ear thing was really taking a toll on Kit’s heart.

~~~~~~~

It turned out that out of the Blackthorns, the easiest to accurately guess when they crossed something up were both Julian and Mark. Julian, because he held his pencil with perfect accuracy that made it too easy to see where (top, middle, bottom) of the sheet he was crossing something off, and Mark because he held the pencil… questionably, and had to twist his hand in a peculiar way to mark things off, and he changed it depending on which part of the page the was trying to write on, so after a couple of rounds of watching him, it became obvious. 

Regardless of which one of them asked the question and which one of them wrote down the answer, Kit and Ty were able to discern exactly what was being crossed off. They did the same when the other teams asked questions, making questions that repeated anything they were unsure about to confirm their suspicions. 

~~~~~~~

Ty had Kit ask the questions, pointing at what person, item, and location he wanted Kit to ask about. Kit wasn’t sure why, since the other teams were required to answer truthfully anyway, so Kit didn’t think being charming made more of a difference. 

He got the feeling Ty just liked it when Kit followed his instructions. Kit found that he didn’t really mind—it was kind of fun to not be the one in charge in such an innocent setting, and he liked the way Ty’s eyes crinkled with satisfaction every time Kit looked over Livvy and Dru’s cards and told Ty the answer he wanted to hear. 

~~~~~~~

Cristina and Emma felt like they should have been a dream team. Cristina followed the rules and kept track of everything, and Emma stared down Kit and Ty when she asked a question. They were both clearly engaged with the game.

But according to Ty, who had the paper sheet in front of him, hidden from other people’s view, they weren’t asking the right questions, and Kit and Ty rarely ever had the information they were looking for. 

~~~~~~~

After a while, Dru started looking at them suspiciously. She was watching the way Ty made notes after every team got an answer about their question, regardless of whether Kit and Ty were asking or not. Kit didn’t think she knew what Ty was writing down, just that Ty was playing the game in an entirely different way than everyone else.

When she looked at Kit questioningly, Kit just winked and whispered a joke about their suspect to Ty.

“ A Study In Scarlet took a different turn, hm?”

Ty giggled quietly, and the rest of the teams frowned at them. 

Now they just had to get to the most likely location…

~~~~~~~

“I accuse Scarlet, with the lead pipe, in the bedroom,”

Kit fidgeted with the green character token that had finally made its way to the bedroom so that Ty could make the accusation. 

Everyone consulted their sheets as Ty took the envelope and slid the cards out, hiding them from view in his hands. Kit leaned closer to see them, and Ty angled them just so. 

“I never doubted you, Sherlock,”

Dru groaned at Kit’s statement. “How did you guys even get it right? My sheet is still half-empty!”

Ty and Kit looked at each other, grinning and shrugging. 

“Deduction,” Ty said, and Kit nodded, acting like he’d done more than just stare down the way everyone wrote. 

Livvy, Emma, and Mark called for the cards to be shown as proof, and sure enough, the cards matched the accusation.

A rematch was called.

At some point, Kit looked up to see Tavvy looking at Ty, smiling. Maybe he’d figured out what they were doing, maybe he hadn’t. Either way, he seemed pleased by the results. And he was still quite purple. 

~~~~~~~

They won the next two rounds before anyone else was even close to making an accusation, and Dru demanded they close up the game and do something different.

~~~~~~~

The adults had gone into the kitchen to work together and make lunch while the rest of them lounged in the living room.

Well, Tavvy had followed Julian into the kitchen and seemed to be trying to read the recipe Julian was referencing aloud, but Livvy, Ty, Dru, and Kit were all in the living room, complaining about school.

Except at some point there was a loud crash in one of the hallways and Livvy and Ty got up, muttering something about “ when Church is grumpy, he takes it out on the decor.”

That left Kit with Dru, and…

Well, it was clear she had an agenda, no matter how casually she tried to make conversation. If Kit wasn’t on the receiving end of her mini-interrogation about all his favorite things, his pastimes, and just anything interesting really, he might’ve been tempted to tell her that she was acting so casual it had become obviously fabricated, but he thought that might be mean. 

And she had potential, really.

She asked about horror movies, and Kit explained his feelings about Scream 6 ( one of the more entertaining horror movies, because you feel like a detective alongside the characters, although still a victim to less than stellar tropes ), and then at some point they got into all the YA books they both read. They made fun of what faerie fantasy books got wrong and right, got a little too caught up in the fact that they both liked a lot of heist-centered books, and then discovered they both liked Percy Jackson.

At some point, she relaxed a little and stopped thinking through her questions and answers as much. It was clear to Kit, who’d learned to look out for tells of the sort, that she’d left behind whatever her original plan had been.

That was, until they theorized about which authors might know that the fey were real (“There is no way Holly Black doesn’t know. Most of the government stuff is made up, but the slyfooting is there!” “ Thank you, I’ve been thinking that for years! The big details are fabricated but all the little things regular people wouldn’t know about are accurate!”) that Dru seemed to hone back into what Kit was saying. 

“Hey, you know a lot about Ty, right? You know how he likes insects?”

A little random, but okay. “Yeah, I know. He likes bees the best, right?”

“Yeah. What about you? Do you like insects?”

“Only some. Flying ones, mostly,” Kit thought to all his walks to school or through the Market, the way anything with wings seemed to chase after him, whether they were faerie insects or not. 

“How come?”

“They’re just always around,” Kit shrugged. “Even when I was little, butterflies regularly landed on me. They tend to fly away whenever I’m entering a building at or around school, or a tent at the Market, but they keep up otherwise,”

“That’s interesting! Ty would love it if that happened to him. He’s pretty friendly with the bees in the area, but he’ll always want more animal friends,”

That made both of them smile fondly. 

After a bit, Dru trained those too-sharp eyes on him again. “So, you’ve never gotten to go out much? Hiking? Swimming?”

Kit thought of the mermaids at the Market the previous night and their offer of a romantic drowning. “No, not that I can remember. Maybe when I was little, but I don’t think so,”

“Why not?”

“It would probably be something that sticks out, if it did happen, but my childhood is a little… fuzzy. We moved around a lot, but I only ever got the sense we were in the middle of cities or suburbs,” Kit shrugged. He didn’t let it show that it bothered him, that fuzziness that kept years of his life weirdly hazy. 

The twins sometimes talked about their childhood, and Kit had slowly come to realize that he didn’t just struggle to recall things, like maybe he’d forgotten a few details (which was…unlike him, but not impossible), but he found an emptiness when he looked back on his younger years. He remembered Johnny Rook, but he didn’t really remember where they had lived and how long, just that his bedroom was always changing, implying they’d moved. 

“Do you know magic?”

Kit’s thoughts came to a halt. “Huh?”

“Magic,” Dru repeated, leaning forward. “I’m the only one that regularly practices or studies it here at home. Helen knows some things, but she’s rarely ever here. Since you’re at the Market, you get to see a lot of magic, don’t you?”

“Well, the air is full of it, yeah,” Kit frowned. “I don’t know how to do magic though. My dad does, but he has to study it pretty hard,”

“I bet you would be good at it,” Dru nodded to herself. “You have that feeling about you,”

“Respectfully, that makes no sense,”

She shrugged, looking up when she heard footsteps in the halls. Kit could tell it was Ty and Livvy coming back, even before they had appeared. 

“Maybe you should give it a try,” she said, and then her siblings entered, and Kit could tell the conversation had ended. 

~~~~~~~

Livvy began to take pictures, taking them in sets of three, constantly adding more film to her camera. Her polaroid had a little mirror on it, and she was able to take selfies like that, making Ty and Kit crowd around her.

“We’ll each get a copy of every photo,” she told Kit, when he had asked why she took so many repeats of the same poses.

He’d have to hide his copies, but he couldn’t help but feel excited by the prospect of having pictures of his friends. He’d never had that luxury before. 

~~~~~~~

The older inhabitants and Tavvy were in the kitchen, decorating cookies. Kit wasn’t sure why, but he, Dru, Ty, and Livvy were taking turns trying to find the creepiest two-sentence horror stories online. After every round, whoever won got an extra candy. 

Dru won almost all of them.

~~~~~~~

Julian had started working on lunch and dinner a while ago with the help of Emma, Cristina, and apparently “Mark as moral support, but he’s not allowed to touch anything.”

Tavvy and Dru were categorizing the decorated cookies from earlier, eating the least pretty ones first and saving the nicest for later (most of those were Julian’s). 

Kit found himself being quizzed on the Market during Halloween by Ty and Livvy. 

Ty spent a considerable amount of the conversation acting like he didn’t know certain things already from his texting history with Kit. Livvy sometimes glanced at him, as if she knew something was off about Ty’s responses, but she didn’t pry.

Kit knew Ty liked having secrets but he did wonder when they’d reveal that Ty had Kit’s phone number. He wasn’t even sure why Ty seemed to want to monopolize that part of Kit, and really, Kit didn’t mind giving Livvy his number at this point.

But he also figured Ty had his reasons, even if he couldn’t begin to guess them. 

He still wanted to exchange some form of communication with Livvy, some way to contact each other outside of their school emails. He was almost tempted to share his Instagram with her, but he didn’t want to answer any questions if she started seeing the “ also liked by ” posts with his username captioned. The reels Kit liked were between him and god. 

As it turned out, Livvy solved that dilemma herself, after they’d wrapped up a conversation about how Kit felt around changelings that grew up around humans versus those of the Fair Folk who rarely ventured out into the human realm. 

(The answer was that while changelings were uncanny, they were also easy to talk to. It was the Fair Folk with little to no human exposure that were often the most cruel, adoring, or even worse, both. They flitted around like they were dancing, almost childlike in their whimsy, but played the worst tricks, with kisses that stole your breath or pranks that left you bleeding out). 

You know, casual conversation topics. 

Eventually, Livvy put down her polaroid and pulled out her phone instead and distracted Ty from asking more questions about all the ways faeries tried to kill humans on Halloween. “Kit, look this way, I wanna mess with these Snapchat filters,”

Kit glanced at her, setting down the glass of apple juice Tavvy had randomly procured for him a half hour ago. He didn’t have a Snapchat, since he’d never had anyone to talk to, and hadn’t ever really messed with photo filters. 

“Do I… pose?”

“Nah, you’re good like that,” she tapped away at her screen. “...you’re kind of pissing me off, actually,”

“What? What did I do?”
“You’re basically breaking the filters, you look better in real life somehow? You already have perfect proportions and your skin is clear, so it just adds badly-placed make up and the face changes it makes are too extreme when you don’t need them in the first place,”

“I doubt there’s a single person in this house who wouldn’t look weird with a filter, everyone’s face cards are already absolutely lethal,” Kit snorted. 

“Lethal… face card?” Ty muttered beside him. “That’s a new one,”

Then he looked at Kit, considered his face for a moment, then nodded. “Mhmm,”

Kit blinked at him, mouth parted a little, but then Livvy clapped her hands. “Let’s make a group chat!”
“Huh?”

“Yeah, on Snapchat! We can send each other photos of everyday things just for fun and keep in touch, you know? And we can send videos quickly too, it’ll be fun. Gimme your Snapchat user,”

“Oh, wait, I don’t even have the app, give me a moment,” Kit scrambled to get his phone from his pocket and download the app. Had Ty just told him he had a lethal face card? Kit didn’t… disagree, exactly, but still, that was… unexpected. 

“I don’t have it either,” Ty took his phone out, looking a little peeved. 

“You guys really don’t talk to any of our classmates, huh,”

“Not allowed to,” Kit shrugged.

“Don’t care to,” Ty shrugged as well, leaning against Kit afterwards, the warmth of his body comforting. “And the bitmojis are creepy,”

“You’re not wrong. Anyway, make them quickly, you can customize everything later,”

Kit stared at the birthday section. “I don’t know what to put here,”

“Hm?” Ty peered over his shoulder. “Your birthday. Do you mean the order? Month, day, year, because America,”

“No, I mean, I don’t know my birthday,”

Kit wasn’t even surprised that the sound in the kitchen paused, having been idly aware that the older household members were probably eavesdropping at least a little. Tavvy and Dru fully stopped eating their cookies and looking over Tavvy’s picture books, and after a moment, Julian and Emma’s heads appeared at the living room entrance. 

“You don’t know your birthday?” Ty asked, sounding almost distressed. “What?”

Kit opened and shut his mouth for a moment, conscious of all the eyes suddenly looking at him, wide and concerned. 

“I mean. I’m pretty sure it’s during the Summer, but my dad won’t tell me,”

“What do you mean, he won’t tell you?” Julian prodded. Mark and Cristina had appeared behind him and Emma. 

“Like, he straight up won’t tell me the day. If I ask him in May, he’ll tell me to not ask unimportant questions. If I ask him during June or July, he just ignores me. And then if I ask him how old I am after Summer break, I’ve always been a year older. So, like, right now I know I’m 16, and if I ask him how old I am in May, he’ll say I’m 16 or he’ll say it doesn't matter, but then in August he’ll say I’m 17. But for all of June and July, he won’t answer me at all,” Kit shrugged. “I think it’s because birthdays might be magically important to the fey sometimes? I don’t know why that means I can’t know, unless he’s worried they’ll kidnap me and torture the information out of me, but regardless, I don’t know,”

“Holy shit, your dad is crazy,” Dru’s jaw had dropped during Kit’s explanation. “He’s never even told you why he won’t tell you?”

“No,” Kit couldn’t help but shrug a little helplessly. “He doesn’t tell my anything,”

Ty’s face had become a little dark, not unlike Julian’s own expression. “Your dad holds back too much information,”

“That’s… concerning. Do you think he knows your birthday?” Emma asked. “He must know, right?”

“I don’t actually know if he does. He says…” Kit paused, his conversation with Hypatia playing in his head, and his own long-held suspicions on his father’s explanation. “I don’t believe him, but he says I was conceived with a random Vegas showgirl, and that she basically just gave me to him when I was born and skipped town. He probably does know my birthday, but I guess it wouldn’t be impossible if he didn’t,”

Another pause as they all took that information in. Kit sort of wished he could disappear.

“Why don’t you believe him?” Ty slowly reached out for Kit’s hand, beginning to rub circles over his knuckles like Livvy sometimes did to him.

“Because Johnny Rook is many things, but a spontaneous one-night-stand haver resulting in a kid is not one of them,” Kit explained. “Unless I was the mistake that changed that, of course,”

“You’re not a mistake,”

“I might be his mistake,”

“I don’t think so,” Ty shook his head. “Your dad is meticulous about too many things for you to be the sole reason as to why he developed this lifestyle. Something about your birth must have been on purpose. He didn’t have to keep you, you know. But he did. There must be a reason why. You are not a mistake,”

“Well, he’s never exactly given me a reason to believe otherwise,”

The bitterness in his tone was undeniable, and for a brief moment, Ty’s soothing circles stopped. Kit winced. “I’m sorry, I’m not mad at you, it’s just… I don’t have any good feelings associated with this,”

Ty resumed the circles with both hands. 

Livvy cleared her throat, looking vaguely mortified. Perhaps she blamed herself for being the catalyst of the conversation, that with it being her idea that they make Snapchat accounts. Of course, it wasn’t at all her fault that Kit’s life was so dysfunctional. “I don’t think anyone could regret you being a part of their life, Kit. Your father is… well, he’s not normal so we can’t hold him to normal expectations. How about for now, you just put a random day? Like July 1st or something,”
She was giving him an out of the conversation, which he appreciated. Julian, Emma, Mark, and Cristina just seemed awkwardly concerned and apprehensive but clearly didn’t know what else to say, and Dru and Tavvy were still staring at him like he’d told them he’d been stabbed through with a sword. 

“Sounds good,” Kit nodded, and after a moment, everyone dispersed to do the things they’d already been doing. 

Ty didn’t let go of his hand right away, staring at where he was grabbing Kit. He had a pensive look on his face, eyes flickering from side to side like he was seeing something no one else could see. Then he nodded to himself, finally looking back up at Kit and freeing his hands. 

“Let's finish making these accounts,” he said, but it sounded more like we’ll talk about this later from his tone, like he was storing the conversation away rather than moving on. 

~~~~~~~

The rest of the day passed by too quickly, with everyone being called to have lunch not too long after Kit, Ty, and Livvy made their group chat (Livvy had been quick to spam it with several uncanny photos of Kit with filters on him, but there where a couple of cute shots thrown in too). The Blackthorns somehow, against all odds, managed to be even more generous, showing him how they packed two or three times more food than Kit had expected both onto his plate and into the Tupperware they were sending him home with from the dinner meal he wouldn’t be around for but that they had already finished cooking. 

If he rationed it out properly, he might actually get a week or two of tasty Julian Blackthorn food at home. It was basically promised culinary heaven. 

Due to all the activities they’d done earlier, lunch was later than they’d intended, and Kit spent the last stretch of the regularly scheduled school hours posing for more pictures, being quizzed on his thoughts about literally anything, and being pulled this and that way by Ty to look at whatever he wanted to show him, like random paintings on the wall or little faerie trinkets.

“We’re going to wait for a few hours to go Trick or Treating, since it still has to get dark out, so we’ll start our movie marathon after you head home, although I’m sorry we couldn’t fit it into your visit alongside all the other activities,” Dru told him when the whole family was once again in the living room in small groups. “Ty says we have to maximize our haul so we can give you a lot of candy later,”

Kit glanced at Ty, amused. He was sitting next to him again, although this time they were both on the floor since Livvy had decided to take over the couch. Ty’s hand, out of sight from most of the family, was fiddling with the back of Kit’s corset, pulling at the strings just enough so that Kit could feel it, but otherwise just switching his focus from Kit to his phone to whatever his siblings were doing.

He met Kit’s gaze, steely grey eyes staring into his before flitting to look at Kit’s hair instead. “You want chocolate, right? And maybe caramel,”

“Yeah. If you guys don’t get enough candy, you don’t have to give me yours,”

Ty just frowned at that, but Dru laughed at Kit. 

“Trust me, you don’t have to worry about that. Even with as many kids as there are in this house and Emma, who is obsessed with chocolate, it takes us almost all year to eat our Halloween candy most of the time. We really don’t need everything we tend to get,”

“Then please, feel free to drown me in sugar,”

“We will attempt to do so to the best of our ability,”

“I’ll hold you to that,”

~~~~~~~

Eventually, it was time for Kit to leave. 

He ended up in Ty’s room again, having to take off all the different parts of the costume. Unsurprisingly, he’d quickly enlisted Ty’s help to get out of the corset and take the choker off. 

“Kit,” Ty said, picking at the knot of the corset lace that had become too tight after all his fidgeting. “After my family finishes trick or treating, let’s call tonight,”

They were standing in front of Ty’s mirror so that Kit could clearly see his face as he wiped away his makeup and Ty struggled against the knot, so Kit got to see the surprised look on his own face quite well. 

He’d never called anyone but the school and his dad. 

“How come?”

“I’ll miss you when you go home,”

Kit’s face didn’t show any signs of him blushing, but his heart pitter-pattered away.

Missed.

He doubted anyone else had ever expressed missing him before and actually meant it. The Fair Folk saying they missed him at the Market if he for some reason skipped out on a night wasn’t exactly the same feeling as this, they didn’t mean it sweetly. 

Ty saying it was… nice. Different. 

“Oh…” Kit dabbed at his lips with the wipe. “Then, yes. We can call. Well, as long as my dad isn’t home, which he probably won’t be. Actually, if he’s ever not home, we can call,”

The smile Ty rewarded him with, reflected through the mirror, was pretty enough to rival every single painting hung up inside the Louvre. 

Maybe one day Kit would express that sentiment to Ty, if it didn’t feel too honest, too revealing. Ty was just… 

Beautiful wasn’t cutting it anymore. 

When Kit finally found all the right words, he would tell Ty that his smile was unlike anything he’d ever seen. 

They were silent for another moment and Kit finally finished wiping off his makeup just as Ty got the knot to loosen. Ty pulled at the string, loosening the corset bit by bit until the fabric had widened enough that he could pull it over Kit’s head. The long sleeve shirt Kit had on untucked itself as he raised his hands, and when Ty was finally able to toss the corset aside, his hands reached out and finished pulling out the rest of the shirt before Kit was able to.

It was all just a costume, but there was something very… strange? Odd? About taking off any clothing item in front of someone else. 

But Ty felt weirdly safe. At the Market, Kit felt like he was vaguely in danger even when he just stopped for a friendly chat with a vendor he knew well, simply because he knew other faeries with less than good intentions were nearby watching him.

But here he was in front of Ty, who had quite literally shown Kit that he could 100% murder him if he wanted to (after all, Ty was clearly a capable fighter based off of his demonstration in the training room), pulling at Kit’s clothes in a locked room with no one else around, not a single other pair of eyes looking out for him, and Kit did not feel the least bit threatened.

Nervous and awkward? Yes. A little unsure? Yes. 

But, despite the almost inherent intimacy of the moment, he wasn’t actually scared.

He found himself slowly leaning back into Ty’s space until his shoulders met Ty’s chest, putting only a bit of weight on him, staring at the two of them in the full-length mirror. 

Ty was staring too, hands slowly gravitating to the dip of Kit’s waist like they had that morning. 

Everything was silent. Kit had less than thirty minutes to get back to the school. 

“Kit,” Ty mumbled. “Did you have fun today?”

Kit smiled at that. “Probably more fun than I’ve ever had in my life,”

“Did we… mess up at all?”

“No, not even once. And it would have been okay even if you had, I can see how much effort you put into today,”

“Do you think you’ll come over again?”

“I don’t know if it would be practical to do this often, but I’d be willing to try, even without a special occasion, so, yes,”

Ty breathed out a slow sigh, like he was relieved. “Okay. Okay, that’s good. I was… worried,”

“No need. This was great. But now I’m worried: Did I mess up? I don’t… I don’t know how to be around a family,”

Ty chuckled. “You were cute,”

Kit blinked. “Cute?”

“Mhmm,”

“I’m not cute,”

Ty just smiled. His makeup still looked frustratingly perfect. He still looked frustratingly perfect.

“I’m not,” Kit insisted. “Not actually. People sometimes think I am, but that’s different,”

“That’s when you’re acting. I don’t think you were acting today when you were eating, or when we were carving pumpkins, or when we were playing games. Were you?”

Kit opened his mouth to disagree but had to pause. Had he? 

Sure, he’d filtered himself since he didn’t want to sound too rude in front of the Blackthorns, but had he been… acting? He didn’t know most of the Blackthorns, this was his first time meeting them, but he didn’t think he’d been genuinely dishonest in his behavior either. 

“I don’t think that means I was being cute,”

“Well, you didn’t mess up. I think everyone likes you,”

Everyone usually does, but it felt more special hearing it from Ty about his family. 

“...if you say so…”

Ty nodded, satisfied, and finally moved away from Kit. “You need to finish changing and taking off all the accessories. I’ll head downstairs and make sure Emma is ready to drive you back,”

Kit hummed an affirmation, shivering a little, his back suddenly cold without Ty nearby.

~~~~~~~

Emma had sped to get him back to school on time, and Kit had spent the entire drive gripping the door handle and forcing himself to remember to breathe as she asked him questions about his day, still wearing her Halloween outfit. When they got to the school parking lot, she paused before sending Kit out.

“Hey, Kit,” she started. “You had fun, right?”

“I did,”

“Good,” she frowned a little, looking at him closely. “Um, look. I don’t want to overstep and I don’t know what you want from your life or from your dad. But, remember what we talked about this morning, about you ever needing help? Well, genuinely, if you ever need a trusted adult or something like that in your life, feel free to reach out,”

Kit stared at her. “What?”

“I mean it,” she reached over him to open the glove box, pulling out a pen and a small scrap of paper. “I don’t know how safe your phone is. You can probably find an excuse for having Ty’s number, say it was obligatory in your classes to exchange information with someone or something. Still, I won’t insist you add me to your contacts or anything. But seriously, if you ever need help, if you’re ever in danger, you can reach out to me, okay?”

She wrote her number on the slip of paper, which seemed to be half a receipt for a grocery run, handing it to him. 

Kit stared at the paper. Should he refuse it? Was it even safe to accept it? He’d have to memorize the number rather than keeping the paper…

What did it mean to accept this?

Did he even need an out like this? Want one? If he was in danger, what could Emma even do for him?

“Please take it. Just in case,”

Kit slipped it into his school ID’s plastic holder, promising himself to memorize it in the next 24 hours. 

“I might not need it,” Kit said. “I might never reach out,”

“Maybe. But do you believe that you’ll never need help? Do you think your dad will always be able to handle everything?”

His dad had handled everything so far, but realistically, Kit knew it was good to have a back up plan. 

More importantly, Johnny Rook might have back up plans and contingency preparations, but Kit didn’t. And who knew if he had a place in his father’s worst case scenarios?

“I… guess you’re right,” Kit sighed, closing his eyes for just a moment. “Thanks, Emma,”

She finally relaxed a little, smiling at him, although the concern in her eyes didn’t go away. “Thanks for accepting it. And thank you, for making the twins so happy today. Julian was so nervous, you know? But he couldn’t stop himself from whisper-yelling at me every time Ty smiled today. He’s excited to see the twins coming into their own a little more,”

“That’s all them. Ty and Livvy are more capable and brilliant than they realize,”

“Well, yes. But they shine even brighter when you’re around,”

Kit rolled his eyes, embarrassed. “Okay, well, now you’re getting sappy and I really need to get going, so if you don’t mind…”

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead, Rook. I’ll see you around, get home safe!”

Kit got out of the car, rushing through a few more pleasantries before checking the time on his phone. He might be a little later than usual, but it didn’t matter: Johnny Rook had done him the rare kindness of letting him know that he wouldn’t be home until morning the next day, so Kit could afford to walk back slowly. 

Before Ty messaged Kit that he was finally free, after starting the first half of the movie marathon when Emma got back from dropping Kit off (which had lasted four hours) and nearly three more hours of Trick or Treating (Julian and Mark where in charge of carrying every bag they filled up, and Dru supplied everyone with back up bags throughout the night), he took off his costume and makeup and made his way into his younger sister’s room.

“Come in!” Dru called out when he knocked, and Ty let himself in, shutting the door gently behind him. She was back in her pajamas, taking off her makeup so that she could join most of everyone else downstairs to continue the second half of her horror movie marathon. Ty would be surprised if she was awake early enough tomorrow to go to school. 

“We can recap everything later more properly,” Ty started. “But… any thoughts?”

Dru met his gaze through the mirror. “A few. Kit is… I don’t think he’s completely… human. Like you said, we can go over things in more detail, but… Just, he’s… I don’t know. I don’t think he’s human,”

Ty took in the information. He didn’t think Kit was human either, not really, but it was strange to hear it truly confirmed by someone else. “Alright. So I was right, there is something there,”

“Yes,” Dru nodded, fidgeting with the circlet Kit had been wearing earlier, which he’d returned before leaving. “His features, how he walks, how he speaks… Well, maybe the speaking can be explained away by being raised surrounded by the fey but… well, like you said, we’ll talk about it later. I think we should ask Mark, too,”

Ty nodded. “I agree. Now that he’s met Kit, he might have noticed things we wouldn’t have,”

“Right,”

There was nothing else to say, and Kit was probably waiting for Ty to call him, so he moved to leave.

“Oh, and Ty?”

Ty paused opening the door. “Hm?”

“He seems like a good friend. I can tell her cares about you and Livvy, and everyone else likes him too. I’m glad you invited him,”

His hands fluttered, moving to grab the sleeve of his sleeping hoodie as he smiled. “Me too,”

~~~~~~~

Kit picked up on the second ring, and Ty found himself holding his breath. He’d never called anyone who wasn’t family or basically family before. 

He didn’t even like calls.

He just… wanted to continue to hear Kit’s voice.

And this was a conversation that would be difficult to have over text.

“Hey?” Kit mumbled. 

“Hi,” Ty replied, his breath whooshing out of him. “Sorry. I’ve never called a friend before,”

“Me neither,”

Another thing to add to the ever-growing list of things that were the same for Kit and Ty for entirely different reasons. 

“Everyone else but Livvy, Tavvy, and I are watching movies downstairs,” Ty explained, although he wasn’t sure why. “Livvy and I want to try and make it to school tomorrow, and Tavvy’s not interested,”

“Will you be able to go to school if Emma and Julian aren’t awake to drive you?”

“They’ll probably wake up just to drive us and then go back home and sleep some more,”

“I see,” 

It was a little strange, calling with Kit. He sounded really close to the phone and sort of tired, but not sleepy.

He must be in his room. 

He had been in Ty’s room earlier today.

They didn’t say anything for a moment, but the silence wasn’t as awkward as he thought it would be, and so Ty let himself think of what Kit had looked like, getting ready in his room, getting his makeup done while sitting on Ty’s bed.

And the corseted waistcoat…

That was embarrassing. It had been hard to look at Kit properly, and it had been even harder to remember how to talk.

He wasn’t blind, he knew Kit was beautiful, he’d always known that. But the longer Ty knew him, the more beautiful Kit became, and Ty didn’t think it was for any magical reasons. 

He knew humans liked faces more the more that they saw them.

But… that felt too logical for everything Ty had felt. 

His hand had been warm over Kit’s waist, and Kit wasn’t short, but compared to Ty he was slight, and so close, and his lips had been so red and his blue eyes had seemed so bright, and, and, and…

Ty laughed a little. Maybe he should have waited to call Kit until after he’d spent at least an hour staring up at his ceiling and replaying the entire day in his head. 

But mysteries did not solve themselves. 

“What are you laughing at?” Kit asked, voice soft.

“Myself,” Ty answered, looking at the screen shining at him with Watson instead of Kit’s name. Maybe one day they should video call. “I was thinking of something silly. But, Kit, I want to ask you something,”

“Go ahead, Sherlock,”

He couldn’t think of a better way to phrase it, so he went right ahead. 

“Dru and I don’t think you’re human,”

There was a long silence on the other side of the phone, and Ty fidgeted nervously. He hadn’t really planned for what would happen if Kit got mad at Ty for trying to tell him this. Don't people sometimes hate being told the truth about things like this?

Well, not like this, but Livvy liked listening to family drama stories sometimes, and Ty knew people didn’t like to be told their parentage might be different than what they thought. 

Maybe he should have planned this better. 

He had zero expectations for what Kit would possibly say, but there was nothing that could have prepared him for the quiet way Kit finally broke the silence. 

“ Oh no, ”

“...Oh no?”
Kit laughed but it wasn’t quite the same as usual. “Remember Hypatia?”

“Of course,”

“She talked to me a lot about my mom last night. Just… about who she was, about what I am, about what my father has told me. It’s just… I knew she had a point, but I wasn’t sure what to think,”

“Is it bad that I told you?”

Another silence, shorter this time. 

“No,” Kit assured him. “Actually, I was thinking… if there was anyone who could figure out exactly who—and what —I am, it would be you,”

Ty couldn’t help but feel pleased by that, but he was still worried about Kit. After all, Kit’s life was so full of secrecy and every day it became clearer and clearer that Johnny Rook genuinely believed that Kit was in danger.

Considering how little he told Kit about anything related to him, the danger was rooted in Kit. More specifically, it was rooted in everything Kit didn’t know.

And since Kit didn’t know anything about his birth or his mother…

Well, Ty needed more information, but it was a basic process of elimination. 

He wanted to start immediately, prod at Kit for answers, go to the Market as soon as possible and sit with Hypatia even though he knew that was dangerous an stupid and Kit didn’t want any of them to go to the Market in case his dad found them and—

And he could hear Kit’s shallow and rapid breaths over the phone.

“Are you… okay?” Ty asked.

“Not really,” Kit sounded exhausted. “Ty. Ty. Will you help me?”

That brought Ty’s rapid-fire thoughts to a halt. “I—to figure things out?”

“Yeah… but… but maybe I shouldn’t ask that of you, actually. It’s bound to be dangerous, right? Why put yourself in danger for this?” 

A long exhale that stuttered near the end.

“I wish this weren’t so complicated,”

In the past, Ty would have told anyone else that he didn’t care about the danger, it was worth it to unravel the mystery or get what he wanted.

For the first time, faced with the reality that he would be delving into the underbelly of faerie crime and secrets, what was worth it wasn’t just solving the problem…

It was Kit.

“I’m fine with ‘complicated’. I’m fine with danger,” Ty said, keeping his voice steady. “Not just because this is what I like—mysteries, that is. Because this is more than a mystery in a book. This is your life. And your life—and, um, you—you’re important. To me. I’ll help you, Kit. With this. With anything,”

“I don’t want you to feel obligated,”

Julian would do anything for family. Ty wasn’t sure if Kit was family yet, but he would like him to be family eventually, the way Cristina has slowly become family, the way that Emma became family when they were younger.

And Ty admired that in his older brother. It was time he tried it out himself. 

“It’s not an obligation. I want to. I promise,”

“...you promise?” Kit’s voice sounded a little… startled, a little curious. 

“I promise to help you,” Ty repeated, as resolutely as he could.

The words fizzled on his tongue, heavier than they should have been.

Oh.

Kit wasn’t human.

And if Kit wasn’t human, he was at least a little bit fey, and he definitely didn’t know about his own potential magical power.

Maybe Ty should have been more careful before making a promise to someone who was, to the best of his knowledge, capable of magically tying him to his oath.

But when Kit breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Thank you, Ty. You’re important to me too. And, um, if you ever need help, I’ll do anything I can for you, too. I promise,”

Well, Ty couldn’t bring himself to regret it.

And if they had both made oaths tying them to each other…

Well, at least it was to each other. Ty had no complaints there. 

Being tied to Kit was hardly a punishment, after all. 

Chapter Text

November 1st, 2023

Kit had only slept about two hours again. 

In his defense, he had great company—even through his cheap phone, Ty’s voice managed to stay smooth and rich like always. But the conversation topic was emotionally taxing enough that he hadn’t been able to sleep, even with how tired he was from his first non-school social event… ever. Since Ty didn’t seem tempted to stop talking either, they stayed on the phone for a few hours. 

After the initial conversation, they hadn’t spoken much about Ty’s suspicions about Kit’s… well, Kit’s humanity or potential lack thereof.

Thinking about it made him nauseous. He wasn’t sure if Ty could tell Kit hadn’t felt good about the entire thing and that’s why he didn’t push it or if they were just distracted by the novelty of calling a friend, but he was thankful that they didn’t start delving into it too much. Instead, they’d recapped how they felt about the day, discussing funny moments. Ty fielded a lot of Kit’s questions about the Blackthorn house and layout, and asked Kit questions in return, looking for his opinion on almost anything. 

At some point, Ty had asked him, “Do you think you’ll want to come over again?”

And Kit had responded, “If you’ll have me, then yes,”

And maybe it was because it was late and they were both finally running out of steam, but Ty had sleepily mumbled something like “Of course I’ll have you,”. Then he’d paused and laughed again, in the same way he had at the beginning of the call, sounding a little awkward but not changing what he’d said. 

Kit felt some type of way about it. The call ended not too long after, with Ty wishing him a gentle good night. 

Despite how nervous he was about trying to figure out his parentage, the brief two hours of rest he’d gotten had been the deepest and most relaxing sleep he’d had in a while. 

He hoped, a little selfishly, that Ty would be willing to change some of their late-night texts into late-night calls. 

But Kit couldn’t get stuck daydreaming about future phone calls or potential visits to the Blackthorn house: He had a mission. 

He’d told the twins that he would ask his father about staying after school as part of the tech crew for Hadestown before Halloween—but he hadn’t actually gotten around to doing it. Since the roles had been announced, practice and production were going to start next Monday.

He couldn’t really afford to put it off for any longer.

So he made sure to wake up at the same time as always. He hadn’t heard his dad arrive while he was on the phone with Ty, but when he stayed all night at the market, he usually got home some time before Kit left to make the 7:20am warning bell (granted, Kit had been leaving even earlier than that to spend time with the twins. When his dad had asked, Kit just told him it was because he could sneak more breakfast food that way, and it wasn’t like Johnny Rook could easily argue with Kit wanting more food than what they had at home). 

That day was no different, and as Kit made his way downstairs, shaking water from his hair after his quick shower with his backpack already packed, he heard keys rattling in the lock.

“Morning,” his dad grunted, pushing the door open. Kit knew he must have left with several boxes worth of products, and now he only carried one box, so things must have gone well when it came to Johnny Rook’s physical wares. 

As for what he was actually known for—being an info broker who either already knew what you wanted or who could be paid to find out everything you needed within a few days—that probably also went well, considering how many disappearances, human and fey alike, happened this time of year. 

Kit hummed in response, waiting for his dad to get settled and shuck off his shoes as he poured himself some water. When he sat on the couch, Kit broke the silence. 

“There’s going to be a performance at my school,” he said, idly sipping his water. “My theater class got to pick which one,”

“You’re in theater?” Johnny Rook frowned. “I didn’t know that,”

“Technical theater,” Kit supplied, unsurprised. “We make sets and props, learn about lighting and stage tricks, stuff like that,”

“Mhm, useful knowledge,” his dad nodded. “Always good to know how to control a space’s appearance and someone’s perspective like that. Good choice,”

Kit hummed in agreement. “People will be practicing after school for the performance part, and they’re also arranging a tech crew that will be doing basically all the same stuff my class does, but after school to have more time to work. I want to do it too,”

Johnny Rook looked up sharply, face already dark. “Kit—”

“It’s useful, like you just said,” Kit interrupted, coming into the living room properly, still drinking his water. “I would be carrying stuff around, building things, designing props. Isn’t that all good stuff to have practice in, if I ever want to help you with a new storefront? What if we move? What if I have to do this on my own, eventually?”

“I’ll teach you to do it, you don’t need extracurriculars for that,” Rook snapped back. “You know I don’t like you being out—I already don’t like the fact that you go to school at all,”

“Teach me?” Kit rolled his eyes. “With what time? You haven’t actually sat down to teach me anything in over a year or two, you’re literally always busy. Even when you’re home, you’re just doing research, spells, or meeting with clients. The only thing you ever do is make sure I’m still good at the things you already taught me, which duh, because I use those skills at the Market basically all the time. If you’re not going to make time to show me things, then at least let me pick up some skills. I’m already in a tech class, and half of my classmates are signed up to do it. Participating wouldn’t seem weird to anyone there,”

“It’s not just about your classmates, it’s about the time you’d be walking back, it’s about your schedule, it’s about drawing attention to yourself. It’s more time spent outside the safety wards around the house,”

“Did you forget that we have a partnership with Hypatia? If you’re so concerned about my safety, why don’t I just carry a protection charm from her or something?”

“I’ve told you, you can’t,”

“Why not? ”

“Because!” Johnny Rook threw his hands up. “Because that’s the rule! Kit, every rule I have for you has a purpose,”

Kit set his cup down on the table, meeting his dad’s eyes. The temperature in the house suddenly felt chilly, even more so than usual. 

“And everything I’ve ever asked you for has a purpose too,” he said, his voice harsher, sharper, colder than his father’s. “I always listen, don’t I? I don’t break the rules, I don’t even bother questioning them most of the time. The Market might think I’m half-feral but we both know I follow orders. Because this is the life we live, right? And that’s fine, I can deal with that. But if you’re not going to help me, if you’re not going to make it easier, if you’re going to put me in a situation in which I’ll be dependent on you forever because you’re too fucking busy to teach me to survive like you, then I’ll figure it out myself. It’s ridiculous that I could sooner learn something useful to being a conman in school than with you, but guess what? It is. So let me go, because if you don’t, all I am is becoming dead weight to your operation and losing the opportunity to ever handle myself,”

“Kit—”

“Also, if we’re so unsafe, and you’re always out and about doing who knows what, and inviting customers here, who’s to say something won’t happen to you? Who’s to say I won’t be forced to inherit your work?”

Kit basically spit out the last few sentences, startling them both with the aggression in his tone.

The conversation was already a failure.

He’d meant to come at the problem calmly, explaining all the pros and cons and gently coax the reaction he wanted.

Instead, he’d lost himself in yesterday’s realization, from when Emma had offered help—Kit really did need his own back up plans. He didn’t actually think learning about building a stage would be that useful (although he was by no means wrong that learning how to build a realistic front to a business that made it seem legit would be valuable) but… he was right. 

Johnny Rook had been throwing locks and riddles and mazes at him, telling him to pickpocket so and so or shoplift this and that, but nothing new had come up. Kit was a master at everything he’d been taught growing up—and as a kid, he’d constantly been presented with new skills to practice, from learning how to pass a polygraph test so no one could tell if he was lying to how to use his body language to control other people. He knew all of it. 

But he didn’t know everything, because at some point or another, Johnny Rook just stopped bringing new things for Kit to learn. Things that Kit knew would be important—things that he knew his father knew, like magic and rituals and contracts, black market operations, and how to start a new “business venture” at the market. Even things like forgery—Kit’s education with forging documents or hacking stopped when he was good enough to do everything related to school himself and hadn’t progressed.

Johnny Rook had stopped teaching Kit all the things he needed to know to actually protect himself or to ever be independent. 

He hadn’t wanted to think about it too hard—Kit had spent most of his life being rather obedient, in line with how he’d described himself earlier. Sure, he had little flings in the Market, made acquaintances with people there, went strolling through the alleys instead of hiding in Hypatia’s, picked up food at restaurants near the Market, went to shop lift at the stores near school when he ditched—but realistically those were minor infractions that he never tried to abuse too much. His father described the world in one way, and Kit lived as if it were true to the best of his ability.

Now that the twins were a part of his life, that had all changed, but it didn’t alter the past, and for now…

For now, knowing them hadn’t changed his future either: Unless he somehow managed to completely unravel himself from his father’s rules and lifestyle, there was no path but to become something like his father. That was the natural progression, right?

Except Johnny Rook wasn’t teaching him how to do that. He’d taught Kit to be the perfect accomplice—the perfect side kick—the perfect criminal solider—the perfect dependent. 

Because Kit didn’t really know how the real world worked. He didn’t know what it was like to live a normal life, to be a normal part of society. But with how things were going at home? There was a chance he’d never fully know how people like him and his father were supposed to survive either.

It was exhausting to be kept in the dark. It was a wonder he’d lasted this long without lashing out at his father. 

His father, who was staring at him with wide eyes, bloodshot with fatigue and filled with a dread Kit did not recognize. 

Outside, there was a crack of thunder and the sudden noise of rain hitting their windows. 

“What?” Kit snapped. “Are you going to tell me it isn’t possible?”

Johnny Rook opened his mouth for just a moment before closing it again. He seemed… almost speechless, which was somehow more upsetting than him being angry. His father wasn’t supposed to slip up like this either, showing his shock so obviously. 

Granted, Kit wasn’t supposed to show his anger like this either. Perhaps they were both failures at hiding their emotions.

Finally, his dad spoke. 

“It isn’t possible,” he responded. “It isn’t possible. Nothing will happen to me. That’s not—we’re never going to be separated, Kit,”

Kit stared. It was horrifying to hear his dad admit, even as blandly as he did it, that he never planned to let Kit go. 

Was he supposed to be stuck under his father’s thumb forever?

“You’ll die eventually,” Kit pointed out, voice neutral. “I’m not trying to be morbid. But it’s true. Especially in this line of work,”

“I’ll be fine,” Johnny Rook insisted, looking away from Kit. He was a fucking liar, but Kit already knew that. “Nothing will happen to me that will result in you being alone, Kit. That’s the truth, plain and simple,”

“...I don’t believe you. Explain to me why that’s true,”

“I can’t,”

“Then let me stay after school for this,” Kit pushed again. “If you can’t explain anything to me, and you can’t teach me, and you can’t promise my safety for some reason or another, even at home because you bring customers here, as we both know, and if we’re going to be together forever or whatever the plan is, let me have this. Let me learn,”

“I…”

“I’ll go even if you say no,” Kit didn’t know whether saying that would help his case or not, but he was getting desperate. Wasn’t he supposed to be a master negotiator? This was pathetic. He’d never tell anyone about how badly this conversation went. “I never do anything without telling you, you know. I’m trying to get your approval for this because that’s important to me. But I’ll still go. You’re not around enough to stop me,”

“I know… I know you’ve always been a good kid,” Johnny Rook sighed. “Well, as good as a thief prodigy can be…”

“Please,”

His dad looked into his eyes again, searching them for something. Kit wondered what he was looking for, if there was anything to be found at all. 

“Please,” Kit repeated, trying to put as much of his broken sincerity as he could into the word. Please let me do this. Please let me go. Please, please, please just let me have this. 

The rain outside was so goddamn loud against his quiet desperation. 

“Are there… is there any other reason than what you’ve already told me that you want to do this?” Johnny Rook asked. 

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Do you know the performance? The actors? Are you friends with someone there?”

So much for sincerity.

Kit scoffed, offended. “Friends? I might be asking to break one of your rules right now but don’t insult me by insinuating I’ve been that out of line. People always like me, the same way they do in the Market.  But I’m no one and nothing to them. I basically disappear when they’re not talking to me, and you and I have both worked hard to make it that way,”

The fact that his dad seemed almost guilty was somehow more insulting than him not trusting Kit. At least Kit was actually lying to his dad about all of this, so he couldn’t be that internally defensive about being doubted. But having this borderline apologetic behavior, like this wasn’t a carefully crafted existence they’d both fully subscribed to, like this wasn’t how Kit had been raised to live his entire life, like this wasn’t the reason why Kit had no one but his father for sixteen years…

Kit felt like screaming. 

But finally, finally Johnny Rook spoke. He sounded like speaking the words caused him as much pain as pulling out his own teeth. It was defeat, but one that bordered on anger, not acceptance.

“Alright. You’ve made your case. You can participate,”

Kit let out a long, slow breath. He didn’t thank his father, just nodding along instead as the usual limitations were put in place.

“But like always, Kit: No going anywhere else, no telling anyone anything about your home life, no making friends, no making connections. Don’t be so good at something that you’ll attract attention to yourself for it. Stay off the stage as much as possible—never let them talk you into participating in anything other than the tech stuff. And get back home immediately afterwards,”

“Of course,” Kit lied. “I know how things work,”

“I know you do. Thank goodness you listen, at least,”

Kit glanced at the time on his phone. He was going to be late. 

“I’ve got to go,” he mumbled, heading towards his shoes. He could still hear the sudden rain outside, and he braced himself for his walk to school, knowing he was about to be soaked. “After school production work starts next week,”

“...Bye, Kit,”

Kit didn’t bother answering. 

~~~~~~~

By the time Kit had made it to school, all of his clothes down to his socks and underwear were completely wet. The sudden downpour wasn’t just outside of the norm for the season, it was also completely unexpected by Californian standards. Kit didn’t even own an umbrella. 

The few times it did rain, Kit usually just skipped school, but that wasn’t an option. First of all, there was no way in hell he was staying home after that conversation, and second of all, he kind of hoped being around the twins would soothe him a little. 

Realistically, he was way too wired for that to work as well as he wanted it to, but he could pretend. 

His phone already had half a dozen concerned messages from Ty by the time Kit made it to their first period, his hair dripping water into his eyes and his newly-acquired tardy pass already damp. He hadn’t responded to any of the texts, prioritizing getting to school as quickly as possible, and he could tell both Livvy and Ty were surprised to see him walk into the classroom in his current state. 

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he told the teacher, handing her the soggy tardy slip and smiling as best as he could.

“Oh, Kit, don’t worry about it,” she said, looking him over with worried eyes. “A few students who walk to school also got caught in the rain, they’ve been trudging in late all morning. Do you have a change of clothes here?”

Their lockers were banned, so, no, not that Kit ever used his lockers in the past anyway. The only people with spare clothes were the ones who did gym or after school sports and could use the locker rooms. 

Kit just shook his head. “No, but it’s fine, I’ll dry off eventually,”

“Well… alright then… feel free to make yourself a coffee from the back table still. All we’re doing today is studying with some packets, Tiberius has your copy. Our midterm exam is tomorrow, after all. We’re running almost two weeks behind schedule but at least everything will be fresh in your memory by the time it’s finals!” 

She was still giving him that worried look, like he was a drowned kitten on the side of the road. Kit just nodded like he shared her vision of well-timed studying and went to sit down next to the twins. 

Wet denim was the worst to sit in. 

Of course, the moment he sat down, the twins were on him. 

“Are you alright?” Livvy asked, her eyes looking over him. “Oh my god, you’re completely wet. Uh, here, let me give you your breakfast, it’s still warm, that might help?”

She pulled her backpack into her lap and began rummaging through it as Ty took in his face with more patience, meeting Kit’s eyes and actually pausing there for a moment to study them. 

“Did something happen?” he asked, sounding a little doubtful of himself. “You… there’s something wrong, I think,”

Kit didn’t even want to get into it. A selfish part of him wanted the twins to just act like everything was normal and ignore whatever vibe Kit was giving off. Another, even more selfish part of him terribly wanted for the twins to coddle him, asking no questions and instead showering him in their usual affection and attention, to see if maybe that would soothe the ache inside of him. 

God, he was pathetic. 

It was also a little terrifying that Ty could tell that there was anything wrong at all—although Kit supposed that just being rained on so heavily would cause most people concern, it was clear that Ty was implying something else was wrong on top of that. 

How terrible it was to finally be seen when you desperately wanted nothing more for people to look through you. 

Did he want attention or did he want to hide from it?

“I had a bad morning,” Kit allowed himself to say, knowing his voice was all too flat. “But I have permission to stay after school,”

It was a little amusing to watch their faces become concerned at the first half of Kit’s statement and then immediately light up at the second part. It was less funny to see their expressions fall again as they began to connect the dots. 

They looked at each other for a moment, no doubt reading in between the lines that the reason Kit had a bad morning was specifically because he had gotten permission to be part of the tech crew. 

“I wish we could ditch,” Ty mumbled.

“Excuse me?” Livvy gasped, turning to her brother. “Without me? Again?”

“Not without you, all of us,” Ty replied. “But it’s raining too much, so we can’t,”

Kit shook his head, a bit endeared despite the hollowness in his chest. He’d probably argued with his dad less than five times in his entire life—he used to think it was because they got along, but he was starting to think that their lives were simply so empty that there was never anything to argue about. The few arguments they’d had always left him feeling a little empty. 

“I don’t think ditching is possible today,” Kit responded. “It’s not worth it for all of us to be rained on. I’m literally completely soaked through, there’s not a part of me that is still dry, and trust me, you don’t want to deal with that,”

“Well, what seems worth it is finding a way to get you some dry clothes, and maybe also a nap, and the latter goes for both of you,” Livvy pushed a container towards Kit alongside a pair of plastic utensils. “Pancakes again, hope you don’t mind,”

“I love pancakes,” Kit mumbled, opening the container. “Julian’s again?”

Ty nodded, still watching him a little too closely. “I wanted to help but I woke up a little late… did you?” 

“No, I woke up at my usual time, to make sure I talked with my dad,” Kit rubbed his eyes tiredly. 

He wondered if there was a good way for him to take a nap outside of his classes and off-period with Livvy. Maybe he could convince a teacher he was sick, and they’d send him to the nurses office and let him sleep in one of the cots? He hadn’t done that since middle school, but he could probably make it work, right?

Well, if the nurse was even at school that day. They really had to fix the whole “one nurse is employed at two or three schools and cycles the days she’s available” thing…

He could probably just pick the lock and go inside anyway…

Livvy’s voice startled him from his illegal sleeping plans. “Um, Kit. I’m guessing the conversation didn’t go well, even if you got permission, right? And so, we don’t really want to pry and we won’t make you talk about it, but… if you want to share, you can talk to us too, mmkay?”

It felt like an olive branch, in a way. A way to acknowledge things instead of forcing all of them to ignore them while still giving him an out.

“Mmkay,” Kit nodded, grateful, and then promptly stuffed a huge bite of pancake into his mouth. Ty laughed softly at that and reached out to touch his hair like he always did.

“I think we might be able to get you a change of clothes, actually,” Ty looked Kit over. “...I’m going to call Julian,”

Before Kit could say anything to that, Ty stood up, phone in hand, and left the classroom. The teacher didn’t even notice, helping a different table that was working on their DNA vs RNA diagrams. 

“Ooh, that’s a good idea,” Livvy nodded. “You’ll need to walk back home later, right?”

Kit nodded, staring at the doorway. “Is he calling Julian to bring me clothes?”

“Oh, definitely. I should text him to also bring you an umbrella, just in case it’s still raining later. I’d offer to drop you off at your house, but…” Livvy took out her phone as she trailed off and began to text Julian.

“Yeah, that’s probably a bad idea,” Kit didn’t want to imagine what would happen if Johnny Rook saw him being dropped off by classmates, never mind Julian, or even worse, Emma, both of whom Kit knew had been to the Market and knew his dad. “Are you sure this won’t be a bother for Julian? You guys don’t have to go out of your way like this, I’ll be fine walking in the rain,”

Livvy gave him a flat look. “It’s not like he has to call out of work or something, it literally will not mess up his schedule or day whatsoever. And we wouldn’t be really good friends if we didn’t try to help you, right? Ty’s probably happy that he could think of a way to make you comfortable too, just accept the help. Also, if you won’t make yourself a coffee, I’m going to, even if it’s your cursed seven creams and five sugars concoction,"

And then she stood up and walked to the back of the classroom and Kit was left feeling both a little scolded and a little bashful. 

Three minutes later, Ty walked back in, plopping next to Kit again. “Julian’s bringing you a complete change of clothes, he should be here before this class is over”

Kit blinked, looking down at himself. “Uh… how complete are we talking?”

“Shirt, hoodie, pants, socks, underwear, shoes—oh, and he’ll be taking yours back home with him to dry them there so they’re ready at the end of the day. He’ll come a little bit before the final bell and wait in the office for us so we can go down there and let you change into your clothes again before you head home. Oh and he said he got a message from Livvy about an umbrella, so he’s bringing that too just in case,”

The twins had already been going out of their way to feed him every morning, but this felt like a step above and beyond that.

Kit tucked his head, not sure if he could look Ty in the face at that moment. 

Maybe it was because he was still feeling a little raw after his conversation with his dad, but for a brief, horrific moment, Kit thought he might cry. 

He’d thought he’d wanted the twins’ affection just a moment ago, but actually faced with it, all he could really think was that he didn’t know how to receive it. 

What was he supposed to do in this kind of situation? How was he supposed to deal with the way his heart squeezed and his limbs tingled with phantom warmth and his throat choked up?

Why did they make caring for him look so fucking easy?

Why did they have to do that? Why show him what it was like for someone to genuinely think about him, like actually, when he’d gotten confirmation less than an hour ago that he basically had no future except to remain by the side of someone who couldn’t even tell him that they cared with words, never mind actions? 

Why was his life being good in this one singular moment such an effective way for him to realize just how bad his life had been and would probably continue to be?

He wanted to crawl out of his skin and escape the gentle consideration before him. He felt, stupidly, like a cornered animal.

He also wanted, just as stupidly, to have this forever.

Kit bit the inside of his cheek as discreetly as he could, trying to pull himself together. He did not cry. He hadn’t cried in so long that he genuinely didn’t remember what it felt like, or how old he was the last time he’d shed a single tear. He didn’t even cry at sad books or movies. It had been a way to practice never showing his emotions—don’t be too happy, don’t be too sad, and definitely don’t be either of those so strongly that people can tell. Even when you’re smiling, it should be a show that you put on for other people so that they think you’re happy or pleased, not something you’re actually feeling, or else you might lose your power in any given conversation: the power of having your head on straight and seeing everything clearly, unaltered by emotion. 

Kit might’ve let himself go a little in the happiness department—he’d always laughed and smiled a little too easily despite himself. Anger was something that sometimes got the better of him too, like with Jonah or his conversation with his father.

But Kit hadn’t slipped up in the sadness department yet and he refused to start now. 

And that meant no tears, no quivering lips, no shaky breaths.

Instead, he forced himself to look back up at Ty and smile, if a little awkwardly. “I’m not sure Julian’s clothes would fit me,”

Ty didn’t even react to his words at first, once again looking instead at Kit’s face, eyes flitting from feature to feature, resting a little longer than usual on Kit’s own eyes, like he was trying to find some sort of clue. 

It was only when Kit blinked that Ty came back to himself. He responded to Kit’s comment by making a face. 

“He’s bringing my clothes, not his,” Ty grumbled. “I told him to bring extra thick socks, since I think I have a bigger shoe size. Nothing will fit perfectly, but it shouldn’t be so drastic as to be uncomfortable? Although yesterday did reveal that you are thinner than I thought…”

Kit thought back to yesterday, when Ty’s hands had traced his waist, mumbling about how small it was. 

Thinking about that was going to give him emotional whiplash, so he pushed the thought out of his head.

Livvy came back then, gently placing a cup of coffee in front of him. “Here, drink this and try to warm up a little. Ty and I will start filling out the packets so just finish eating and relax a bit, okay?”

Kit took the coffee and nodded, looking at the pancakes in the container once more. He hoped his love for Julian’s pancakes would overcome all the other feelings swirling around in his head. 

~~~~~~~

Kit had very nearly completely dozed off on the table, eyes closed and only barely listening to what was going on around him when the overhead speaker buzzed.

“Tiberius Blackthorn, Kit Rook, please come down to the office. Tiberius Blackthorn, Kit Rook, please come down to the office,”

It was a miracle that Kit didn’t jump out of his skin at the noise, instead just twitching in his seat in surprise before rising, rubbing his eyes. 

Ty stood up beside him, grabbing Kit gently by the arm like he often did in the morning before their class, when Kit was still half-asleep, and pulled him along. He grabbed the hall passes from the teacher’s desk (a 3D model of an animal cell and a 3D model of a plant cell, both marked Hall Pass in with a glittery Sharpie), steering them both out of the classroom. 

A few minutes later they arrived at the front office, Kit entirely letting himself get pulled around. His clothes were all still completely wet, leaving a trail of water behind him, although his hair was mostly dry. 

Julian was waiting for them in the office, and although Kit was sure Ty must have described his state over the phone, he still seemed shocked by how “drowned off the LA pier” Kit looked.

“I’m glad Ty called,” was the first thing he said, looking Kit over and handing him two bags. “Here’s the clothes, nice and dry,”

The office secretary was looking between the three of them, a little startled. “Kit, were you not able to reach your family? There’s nothing wrong with Tiberius and his brother helping, but we were a little surprised…”

After all, even the few times Kit had been sent home before (usually because he started feeling sick in the middle of the day during a class or developed a terrible migraine and a teacher noticed before he managed to leave), he’d never once gotten picked up—even when they called his dad just in case someone could give him a ride home (which never worked because all those calls went to Kit’s own voicemail). It was strange that there would be anyone around to help him. 

Kit shrugged. “Like usual, they’re busy during the school day,”

The secretary seemed a little sad at that, but nodded gratefully at Julian and Ty. “Well, I’m glad the Blackthorns are helping you out, I know quite a lot of students got caught in the rain and not all of them are able to get different clothes. You can use the office bathroom to change,”

Kit nodded to her and thanked Julian, awkwardly making his way to the bathroom in the back and closing the door. As soon as he heard the lock click, he threw off his hoodie and t-shirt, because as weird as he felt about all of this, there was no denying that wearing wet clothes was the absolute worst. 

Taking off his shoes, socks, jeans, and even his boxers inside the school was really, really weird, but putting on someone else’s clothes, even if they were clean, was also incredibly strange. He tried not to think about it too hard as he slid on the pair of black boxers inside the bag. They did fit, if a little loosely, but Kit didn’t linger on the fact that they were Ty’s. Or at least he tried not too.

The black jeans were of infinitely better quality than his own and were also a little too loose and a little too long, so he cuffed them at the bottom. Luckily the bag also had a belt inside, so he was able to slide that on, which helped. The gray shirt followed the same pattern, hanging too loosely, but it was the softest cotton Kit had ever felt. 

Then came the zip-up hoodie, also black like the jeans. It was too big but holy shit, it was so fucking soft on the inside. Softer than the shirt. Kit wanted to live inside the hoodie, and maybe die inside it too. It was softer than his blankets at home, softer than the blankets in Hypatia’s tent, softer than anything Kit knew. 

Would Ty be offended if Kit just… stole his clothes?

Kit laughed at himself a little, trying to imagine how he’d go about doing that as he slid on thick and fluffy socks and then the black running shoes that were in the second bag, tying the laces around his ankles before completing the usual knot to keep them more firmly in place. He tried folding all his wet clothes as neatly as possible, putting his own soaked shoes in one bag and the rest of his clothes in the other before making his way back outside.

When Ty spotted him, he blinked multiple times in rapid succession, mouth parted in a soft “o” shape. Julian didn’t notice his brother’s staring, instead just reaching out to take the bags from Kit. 

“They’re a bit big, but it’s better than being in wet clothes all day long and risking getting sick,” Julian noted. “I’ll get these washed and dried and back to you at the end of the school day, alright?”

Kit nodded. “Alright. Um, thank you. You didn’t have to do this,”

Julian looked at him like he’d said something a little odd. “I guess I didn’t, but why wouldn’t I? You’re an official Blackthorn Family Friend now. It comes with a lot of perks, like getting help at a moment’s notice,”

“That seems a bit excessive for a title I’ve just gained,”

“It’s a Blackthorn family trait to be excessive in our care, except we happen think it’s the correct amount,”

“Is it also a Blackthorn family trait to justify everything through your Blackthorn family values?” Kit questioned, a little judgmentally. Family was feeling rather like a sore subject. Still, he didn’t want to sound too negative, so he added a joke to soften his tone. “You’re just like the Addams Family,”

“Dru just made us watch that movie, so I actually get the reference,” Julian grinned, ignoring Kit’s slightly prickly attitude. “And yes, yes it is,”

Then he turned to Ty, reaching out gently to squeeze his arm, which Ty allowed without moving back. “It was a good idea to call me, I’m glad I could help. When I come back with your clothes, I’ll bring you an umbrella in case it’s still raining. We have a few extra ones from our yearly trips to London, so you can keep it,”

Ty smiled at his brother, but it was a little distracted, and he was still looking at Kit with too-wide eyes. 

Julian nodded to the office lady, said goodbye to Kit and Ty, and then left. The secretary dismissed them to go back to class, and Ty hesitantly took Kit’s arm again, cradling the hall passes in his other hand, although Kit had fully woken up at that point. 

The walk back was quiet but slightly heavier. 

“Are you okay?” Kit asked. “Is it okay that I’m wearing your clothes?”

Ty startled, looking back at Kit. “Um. Yes. Yes, it’s fine. I’m not bothered. It’s not bothering me,”

“...You sure?”

“Yes,” Ty nodded, sounding a little firmer. “I’m not bothered. I’m just surprised,”

“How come?” Kit prodded. He was the one that had arranged this, after all, so what was there for him to be surprised by?

“You look different than I imagined,” Ty replied, turning to face away from him again as they made their way through the halls. 

“Different how?”

It was then that Kit noticed Ty’s ears had begun to turn a little pink. When he leaned forward, he could see the beginning of a pink flush spreading across Ty’s face.

Ty’s blush really did show too easily.

“I… I don’t know. I guess… cute?” Ty laughed self-consciously, just like when they’d been on the phone. “I knew my clothes would be big on you, but it’s more than I imagined. You look kind of small and cozy. Like a little animal. Like a kitten in a pile of blankets,”

“The Kit looks like small animal propaganda has to stop,” Kit shook his head, embarrassed but not willing to show it. “People aren’t going to think I’m intimidating if they hear you comparing me to kittens,”

Ty looked startled at that, and then… guilty? Uncomfortable?

Ah, fuck. Kit really did not have a good grasp on his tone or word choice that day. First with his dad, then with the twins, then with Julian, and now with Ty again. Before the other boy even had a chance to say anything, Kit was already taking his words back.

“I’m joking,” he clarified quickly. “I mean, it’s a bit silly? But I don’t actually mind when you make those comments. I just meant that they’d surprised people because they don’t really align with my reputation, but uh, honestly it’s fine. You don’t have to stop,”

Ty came to a stop in the middle of the hallway, expression still a little downturned as he looked Kit over again. “But do you want me to stop?”

Kit shook his head. He was a fucking disaster. “No, no, I don’t want you to stop, I was just laughing at the, uh, the word for like… opposite vibes? Uh, like… there’s literally a word for this, I’m sorry, this is coming out all wrong,”

“...Contradictory?” Ty offered hesitantly.

“No…” Kit sighed. “Somehow I am only coming up with Japanese slang for it? Anyway, I was amused, not annoyed, but my words are all wrong today and I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m sorry,”

After another moment of hesitation, Ty shrugged. “It’s okay. I can kind of hear the joke now. I don’t have to stop, you just think it’s kinda against what people know you for and think that’s funny, and you can’t pick words right today. That happens to me too, especially when I’m upset, and you’re upset right now,”

“Sorry,” Kit repeated, lifting his hands to rub them over his face. He needed to get himself together. “I don’t mean to be upset,”

“Is that something anyone can control?” Ty asked. “You don’t have to apologize. You had a bad morning, so it’s normal, and you’re not being mean. Give me your arm,”

Kit lifted his arm towards Ty without question, and Ty linked it through his own, so they were standing arm in arm, and then he set off towards their classroom again, gently pulling Kit along. 

“Maybe I just shouldn’t talk today,” Kit mumbled. “I’m getting it all wrong,”

Ty hummed. “That’s alright. Sometimes I have quiet days, or even nonverbal days. You can have a quiet day,”

“But there’s so much to talk about,” Kit was walking slowly, and although Ty was leading them, he was matching Kit’s pace, so their progress through the hallways was absolutely glacial, although they really needed to be back in the classroom within the next couple of minutes before the bell would ring for passing period. “And I know you want to talk about it,”

Ty nodded, making an awkward sort of expression. “Well, yes. But I don’t like that you’re upset and I always want people to wait when I can’t deal with something, so I figure I should just let you wait too. It’s not that I’m not a little impatient to talk about everything, but I can get over that,”

Kit leaned more into Ty’s space, still craving warmth, and risked resting his head on Ty’s shoulder. They probably looked ridiculous, but Ty didn’t shake him off, so he let himself have it. He really needed to work on his self-indulgence. “Mmkay. If you say so,”

“I do say so,” Ty confirmed, although there was a shadow of a laugh in his tone. “Now c’mon, we need to get our things so we won’t be late to French,”

“Fiiiiiineeee,”

~~~~~~~

The office lady had been right: Quite a few kids had been caught in the rain, and the office didn’t have enough clean extra clothes to offer them if they didn’t already have clothes at school or friends and parents who could provide a change. Still, although Kit was no longer leaving a trail of puddles in his wake, he caused more than one person to do a double take whenever he was walking next to Ty for the rest of the day. It was pretty obvious that Kit wasn’t wearing oversized clothes in his size, but oversized clothes in Ty’s size, and while there were many incredulous stares from plenty of their classmates, there was also quite a bit of tittering.

Kit wasn’t exactly oblivious as to why, but he wasn’t sure either of the twins caught it. Whether Ty was aware of the made-up implications of wearing someone else’s clothes was a toss-up, but as far as Kit could tell, he hadn’t thought anything of people’s whispers and stares. 

Livvy probably did know the implications, but whether it was because she was there when the decision was made or it involved her own brother, she hadn’t seemed to actually clock what people were talking about either.

So that was interesting, but not too bothersome. Kit stuck close to Ty all day, and with the clarification towards Livvy that Kit wasn’t upset with them, he did get a pass to be surprisingly quiet. He still felt bad that the twins didn’t have a chance to show proper excitement about him being able to stay after school for the production of the musical, but he was relieved nonetheless that they accepted his sulky and borderline clingy attitude for most of the day. 

Even during his off-period with Livvy, he sat a little closer than usual, bringing his knees up to his chin and nodding along as she talked about a coding mishap in the game she’d been working on for the past several months that Ty apparently still didn’t know the premise of (Kit wasn’t sure why she was keeping them in the dark, but it seemed to excite her). 

At one point, she reached out to ruffle his hair—not how Ty usually touched his hair, adjusting it or just running his fingers through it, but still with a surprising ease and familiarity. 

“You’ll feel better soon,” she said, like it was a promise she was keeping, or like he was sick and she knew the remedy. “I’ll bring you something nice tomorrow,”

Kit laughed, tired. “You always bring me something nice,”

“Well, this is even nicer,” she smiled. “Anyway, I need a second opinion on some visual decisions I have to make soon for the game, so I’m going to show you different color palettes and I just need you to point at which one you like better,”

So Kit did, and they passed their time doing that.

~~~~~~~

Finally, Tech Theater rolled around, and the first thing that Kit did when he and Ty got there was to walk up to the teacher. 

“Can I sign up to be on the tech crew for Hadestown?” Kit asked her.

A few different students paused as they made their way to their seats, staring. One girl said, “Oh my god?” a little too loudly, and another girl smacked her on the shoulder. Kit had never stayed after school for a single event in his entire life, and his classmates had noticed over the years.

“Oh, of course, Kit! I’m so glad you’re joining, since you really love Hadestown. I was thinking of asking you to do it, but I know you’re not usually able to do things outside of regular school hours,” she turned her computer to him, switching tabs to a document with student names on it. “Practice and production officially start half an hour after school ends, although some students have already started coming in this week since I stay late. In the beginning we’ll probably only be here until six or six thirty but as we get closer to the performance date, it’s going to be looking more like seven thirty to allow actors to have complete rehearsals. It’ll be completely dark by then, so make sure you have a safe way home,”

Kit was probably just going to walk, even if it was 7:30pm and pitch black outside. “Alright. We have… just under six weeks, right?”

“Yes, yes, I usually try and start with at least eight or even ten weeks but we’re behind schedule in every possible way,” she sighed. “It’ll be fine, right? Right. It’ll be fine. It has to be fine,”

One day, all of Kit’s teachers wouldn’t be chronically behind. Their district was a disaster. 

“It will be fine,” Kit nodded along, typing in his name and student ID into the sign in sheet, thanking her, and then going to his seat with Ty. Not at all discreetly, Kit pushed his chair even closer to Ty than usual and then dropped his head onto the desk. 

“I forgot to tell you this,” Kit muttered, burying his face in the sleeves of the hoodie. It didn’t have a strong scent—Ty probably preferred scentless products—but still somehow smelled like warmth, however the hell that worked. “But I want to live in this hoodie,”

Ty giggled at that, and Kit could feel his fingers reaching out to brush the hair near Kit’s ears. “It is very comfortable,” 

“Mhmm,” Kit sighed, melting a little when Ty began to properly finger-comb his hair. It felt so nice.

Maybe Kit was a cat. 

“M’gonna steal it,” he mumbled, eyes closed. Maybe he should take a nap. It’d be fine, Kit already finished most of his work for the week on Monday in preparation for missing Tuesday. “S’mine now,”

Ty giggled again, because he was cute like that. “Alright then,”

Kit meant to say something along the lines of “I’m joking”, but Ty’s hand was so gentle and his hoodie was so warm and his voice so soothing and Kit was so tired.

He must have said something else, because Ty answered with another soft laugh, but Kit was already asleep before the laugh had faded. 

~~~~~~~

“Kit,” 

“Mrrhhmb,”

“Kit, wake up,”

“Mhmmb,”

“You sound like a cat. Come on, we have to go meet Julian,”

That did manage to rouse Kit a little, because despite it all, Julian Blackthorn’s name still struck a bit of fear in his heart. Kit just knew the man was capable of murder. He could feel it. It was all over his smile and his fingers. He probably had killed before. 

“M’comin’,” he pushed himself off the desk, yawning and blinking rapidly, bringing the too-long sleeves of the hoodie to his face and rubbing his face. “M’here,”

“Uhuh,” Ty said, amused. “This was like waking up Church when he doesn’t want to be bothered,”

“I don’t think that cat would ever want to be bothered,” Kit grabbed his backpack and let Ty grab him by the arm again, which had clearly become a habit for both of them. 

“Probably not. Good thing you’re much more sweet-mannered than him, he bites when he’s woken up,” Ty tugged him out of the classroom as the bell rang above them.

“I can bite,” Kit snapped his teeth, and Ty snorted. “And I’m not sweet-mannered,”

“You totally are,” Livvy appeared before them, eyebrows raised. “You have this whole leave me alone attitude but you’re pretty gentle and go out of your way to be nice,”

“I do not,”

“You do realize we saw you interact with our younger siblings yesterday, right?” she laughed, falling into step with him and Ty. “That’s like, the easiest way to see if someone is willing to put in some extra work to be nice when someone is a little odd,”

“What am I supposed to do, be mean? To a little boy who just wants to eat breakfast or a slightly younger teen who is celebrating her favorite holiday? I was just being a decent-ish person,”

She rolled her eyes. “I can tell you’re feeling better because you have enough energy to make yourself sound worse than you are. Everyone thought you were really nice, if a bit shy and sarcastic here and there, and Julian has a pretty good vibe check. It’s only failed like. Twice,”

Ty scrunched his nose. “Let’s not go there,”

“Fair,” she also made a displeased sort of face, and Kit wondered what all that was about, but didn’t think it was his place to ask after not really sharing what had gone wrong with his dad earlier. “Speaking of Jules, there he is,”

Julian was walking through the main entrance alongside other parents and guardians who stepped inside to wait for their kids or take care of school-related errands, and more than one mom had stopped in her tracks to stare at him. It probably helped that Julian looked older than he was, but considering he’d only be about a year out of high school if he’d ever attended, Kit did find it a little gross. 

Multiple students also pointed at him, and their interest only grew when Kit, Ty, and Livvy approached him. 

Although they’d seen each other that morning and saw each other every day, Livvy still bounced up to her older brother and gave him a half-hug as she greeted him. They really did look so alike, with the same hair color and eye color. All the Blackthorns, even Ty and Mark, looked alike. 

“Hey, Livvy, Ty,” Julian smiled at his siblings, all warmth, and then looked at Kit, still smiling. “And hi, Kit. Did you comb your hair?”

“They kept messing with it,” Kit nodded at the twins. “Anything you see is their doing,”

“I see,” Julian handed him two bags again with his clothes. “Here, washed and dried. Your clothes are pretty thin, do you have anything that’s a bit better for walking in this sort of weather at home? It’s still drizzling outside, and I brought you an umbrella so it should be fine, but…”

But your clothes suck, Kit filled in, although he was sure Julian would have better word-choice. “It’s just what I have. Ah, we don’t usually buy new clothes, and any new clothes I’ve ever had have been… well, you know how we operate, but that hasn’t happened in a while,”

Kit wasn’t about to say the only new clothes I’ve ever owned have been shoplifted and not exactly from high-quality shops just a few feet from the gossipy main office ladies. 

Honestly, most of the high profile things that Kit had stolen were stolen at the Market. The fanciest things he’d stolen outside the Market were all electronics, like his gaming console five-ish years ago, and the computer he used to do homework, which he stole from a teacher in middle school. Honestly, Kit still wasn’t even sure how their house had Wi-Fi. Maybe the safety wards have secure internet connection attached to them. 

“Ah,” Julian frowned. “Well, hopefully it won’t rain too hard again, although with how unexpected this was, who knows. It was basically a flash flood this morning, and the news showed it being pretty much on top of this area in LA all day long, heaviest around 7am and only lightening up in the past hour. That’s a lot of rain for little to no protection,”

Ty looked a little pensive. “The weather has been pretty mild lately, maybe that has something to do with it? Almost every day has been around 76 degrees with very little variation the past couple of months, with decent cloud coverage too. Although there have been some really out-of-the-norm cold nights,”

“Global warming is crazy,” Livvy shook her head. “Imagine mild to chilly weather in Los Angeles,”

Kit laughed. “Maybe the droughts will permanently end. Anyway, I really need to go get changed so we can all get home like normal,”

The Blackthorn trio nodded and Kit went off to get changed in the office bathroom again with permission from a secretary. 

He was loath to take Ty’s clothes off, as comfortable as they were, but he tried not to linger on how even his worn-down and time-softened clothes felt kind of rough in comparison to Ty’s. 

Changing was a quick process, but when Kit took his shoes out of the bag, he found a small bag of cookies with a sticky note.

It was a messily drawn version of Church and a little note reading feel better :D - Tavvy. Kit couldn’t help the smile that came over his face. He wondered how Julian had described his sorry state to his youngest brother that resulted in him sending Kit extra sweets.

Kit took the cookies and note and put them in his backpack and then neatly folded every piece of Ty’s clothing into the bags before stepping out and going to meet the Blackthorns again.

“Thank you,” he handed the bags back to Julian. “And please tell Tavvy thank you for the cookies,”

Julian smiled, promising that he would and handing Kit a compact umbrella.

Ty took the bag with the clothes from Julian’s hands and ruffled through it. “I thought you said this was yours now,”

Kit blinked as Ty took his hoodie back out of the bag. “Ah—not seriously, I wasn’t going to take it,”

“I know,” Ty grinned, turning Kit around and opening his bag. “But I’m serious about letting you keep it, so it’s yours now,”

“Ty—”

“Just tell your dad you stole it from an unassuming classmate if he asks,” Ty shoved the hoodie in and zipped Kit’s bag back up, spinning him right back around to face him. “I have a lot of hoodies and can buy another one, it’s alright,”

Julian looked a bit surprised, less by the gift and more by the way Ty was basically turning Kit every which way without Kit actually struggling. Granted, if Kit did struggle, he probably wouldn’t win. At most he’d be able to wiggle away, since escaping was one thing he was decent at. 

“Oh, I totally forgot to tell you this,” Livvy interrupted, looking amused as she watched Kit get spun around. “We haven’t gone through all the candy we got yet, we were too tired, but we’ll start bringing you some once we pool out winnings and decide who gets to pick their favorites based off of who draws first blood. Well, we’ll probably separate yours before the tournament but whatever,”

“ Excuse me?”

“Not first blood,” Julian moved to explain, shaking his head. “First contact. We let Tavvy pick his candy out and then compete to see who gets to pick from there. It’s a family tradition but to be honest, most of us end up sharing or just creating alliances or bribing each other. It’s child friendly,”

“You’re all insane,” 

“Ours is very safe in comparison to our New York friends. The only minors involved in theirs are one couple’s kids and those two don’t participate so all the adults really do go for first blood,” Julian shrugged. “It’s fine, we have an infirmary in the house,”

Kit had not been shown the infirmary when he was given a house tour. God, Shadowhunters were fucking crazy. It must come with serving the Courts. 

“I don’t understand your lifestyle,” he shook his head. “Thank you again for the help though,”

“No problem,” Julian began to herd his younger siblings towards the doors. “Get home safe, okay? We should let you go now so you can get home at a normal time,”

Kit nodded and the twins waved at him enthusiastically before leaving through the main entrance.

Kit usually came and went through the student entrance that faced the roads leading into the neighborhood nearby, so he began to make his way that way. 

It was still raining when he stepped outside, although it wasn’t too heavy. 

The umbrella popped open with a button—maybe he would say he stole it from a classmate—and Kit began to walk. 

There were deep puddles and the road was still fairly full of water. Students were laughing as they tried to step where the water was shallowest, and some of them were even dancing in the rain, not carrying about their shoes and pants getting wet as they played. 

One girl was passionately singing Unwritten, and several other students paused next to her and joined in singing, many of them having to pause to laugh.

“ Feel the rain on your skin, no one else can feel it for you! ” they sang-shout at the top of their lungs. 

Kit couldn’t help but smile. His happiness still felt a little bittersweet, but there was no denying that as much damage as the rain had likely done, it was still a rare moment for them, and no one wanted to waste it now that they weren’t drowning in a downpour. 

He winded around the different groups of people, avoiding their games and splashes but listening to all the cheerful chatter. The sun was starting to peek out between the clouds, although the drizzle of rain did not stop. A minute later, his phone buzzed in his pocket. 

He checked the message.

Sherlock: Can you see the rainbow from where you are?

Then there was an attached photo, clearly taken from a car with the window rolled down, capturing a developing rainbow.

Kit turned, searching the sky. Several other students who were walking noticed and also turned, and many of the ones still closer to the building had already pointed at the sky.

A beautiful rainbow had begun developing over the small stretch of blue over the school, and it was slowly taking over the sky. 

The rain didn’t stop, but the clouds shifted to allow more light. It was the clearest rainbow Kit had ever seen. 

He lifted his phone, with its terrible camera quality, and took a picture, sending it back to Ty. 

Yes

He walked back with the rainbow at his back, but that was okay, because Ty sent him photos all the way home.