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starker-raving-mads · 3 months

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For You: Part II

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It had been two weeks since Tony Stark's disaster of a funeral.

Peter thought he'd gotten maybe 12 hours of sleep in that time, mind still haunted with the last images of Mr. Stark he'd ever have - but also now haunted with Ms. Potts's words.

He did it for you.

The rest of the sleep he'd gotten was mostly from passing out from sheer exhaustion. The city was in ruins and more than ever, Queens needed their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It was humbling the first time a grandmother started sobbing after seeing him, clutching him to her chest. Kids of all ages came up to him in ferocious hugs and clinging to his arms and legs. Many of them had heard tell of Spider-Man but were too young to have known him, and many more had missed his suited face around the streets, protecting them and keeping peace.

Peter's heart ached knowing that they'd been without him for so long, and through something so awful. The Blip was an instant for him, done and undone with only the vaguest sense of time loss in between. But for them? Half a decade of time, gone, lost in the deep expanse of tragedy. The teenager could hardly begin to understand it.

When he'd told May - who wasn't Blipped, who'd lost him for five long and miserable years, who had gray hair at her roots and frown lines where the laugh lines had been - that he couldn't leave Queens, couldn't leave his people, even for something like college, she grabbed him fiercely around his shoulders and they both cried.

"You're so incredibly strong, baby," she whispered into his hair, voice husky from holding onto her tears. "I'm so fucking proud of you."

So yeah. Queens needed him.

But that wasn't what was on his mind, not now, not with 12 hours of sleep and too much coffee in his system and a overwhelming, polished stone building looming over him. He tapped his fingers restlessly against the worn thigh of his jeans. Taylor & Taylor, the sign said. Attorneys at Law.

He was here for Mr. Starks will reading. Apparently, per the couriered letter to his and May's apartment last week, he was part of the will and was required to be in attendance. Baffled, all he'd even remotely begun to believe Mr. Stark would leave him with was the Spider-Man suit, or maybe a patent for it, to keep his identity safe? He really wasn't sure.

The caffeine in his system was causing his anxiety to ratchet up as he entered the building, greeted the receptionist, and was ushered to a conference room with a long, shiny table. At the other end of the table sat Pepper and Peter flatlined his lips together and gave her a nod, ignoring her well-hidden wince.

She hadn't said anything to him after the barrage at the funeral, Happy having pulled her off of him and led her away, still sobbing. He imagined, for all that she was probably still mad at him, that someone as put together as Pepper Potts felt uneasy with her emotional break, understandable as it was.

He sat down in the furthest seat from her anyway.

2 silent, tense minutes later, Happy entered the room. He gave Peter a quiet clap on the shoulder before going to Pepper's end of the table and sat down next to her, holding a whispered conversation. He could've easily heard them but was trying to mentally tune them out for their own privacy. Not long after more people entered the room - Rhodey, Sam Wilson, Steve Rodgers, and Bucky Barnes all ushered in a line, looking like they'd come together.

It was an odd mix of people, Peter supposed, but then again Mr. Stark always valued the unseen in those he cared about. The hardest one to figure was probably Bucky, whom Tony had given Peter the breakdown on. The man had gone, in his words, feral after learning Bucky was the one to take out Howard and Maria Stark and Peter could hear the stale anger and sadness in those few moments Mr. Stark talked to him about it, explained why he'd come back from Germany beaten, how the rift in the Avengers came to be.

Looking across the table, though, Peter couldn't see the ruthless killer he'd once been. His metal arm had been removed, the shirt sleeve carefully tucked around his shoulder, and he was quiet and contemplative, glancing around the table much like Peter was. In fact, it was less glancing at the other occupants and much more at Peter himself.

Actually, most of the table had looked at Peter more than once and it took him a good, long moment to realize it was because they didn't know who the hell he was. Pepper and Happy were the only two not looking his way, still whispering quietly between themselves. It struck him that despite his mask having been torn away in battle, no one had seen him, no one here but Pepper and Happy knew he was Spider-Man.

No wonder they're staring at me, he thought. Why would a teenage boy be at Tony Stark's will reading -

What little blood his body could spare rushed to his cheeks and the back of his neck and he stared resolutely down at the table. Despite many, many fantasies, he and Mr. Stark didn't have that kind of relationship. But oh how Peter had wished they had - how his heart and soul belonged to Tony Stark even if it was never given in return.

His long unrequited yearnings were interrupted by the lawyers finally coming in. It was two of them and what looked to be a junior associate, hands loaded with files. "We apologize for the delay," the more sleek looking 50-something woman said. "We had been confirming the last of the details."

"It's all right," Pepper said, brusque and business-like despite the emotion the teen could read in every line of her face. "Let's get started."

The lawyers sat themselves at the long table, at the head near Peter and across from Pepper. "This is the final reading of the last Will and Testament of Anthony Edward Stark," the male lawyer said, reading from his portfolio. He glanced up. "Much of this actually comes in the form of videos that Mr. Stark created himself," he said, and Peter could tell he wasn't the only one who'd barely withheld a pained gasp. "We have some to read and at the end, we'll set the video to play and he asked that only those called for his Will be allowed to remain to view it."

That figured, Peter thought. If there were a handful of powerful people in this room, superheroes and not, it made sense Mr. Stark wanted everything as on the downlow as possible.

"Firstly, to Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes," he said as a junior associate quietly and quickly handed Rhodey a file folder. "He leaves all patents and holdings and architecture belonging to the tool 'War Machine' to you. Specifically with the addendum - try not to give this one away to the government, Platypus." The lawyer looked uncomfortable but Rhodey chuckled, smile full of love and pain both.

"Next, to Captain Sam Wilson," the junior slid a similar folder in front of Sam. "He leaves all patents and holdings and architecture belonging to the drone 'Redwing' to you." The man cleared his throat. "Per Mr. Stark's instructions - 5 years is a long time to fiddle with something without ever knowing if the owner is coming back. If what we're about to do works, enjoy the little sucker."

Sam's lip quiver slightly before he tightened his jaw, nodding once. Peter wasn't the only one seemingly effected by the genius's generosity, not by a long shot.

"To Captain Steve Rodgers, he leaves all intellectual property rights to the design of his vibranium shield." The lawyer cleared his throat. "And the entirety of his liquor collection. Per instructions, 'So you have something to test that alcohol tolerance with, boy scout." Steve let out a low chuckle, nodding in thanks to the associate who handed him his folder.

"Finally," the female lawyer said, standing up as her colleagues exited the room. "We have the rest of his Will on video. We have not, and will not view this video, but have specifics mentioned within documented. These are vague," she clarified when Pepper looked like she was about to ask, "and only enough to allow the contents within the video to be legally sanctified." She gestured to a remote at Pepper's end of the table. "Simply press play and the recording will begin."

The room was quiet for a moment after the last lawyer left and Pepper cleared her throat before gesturing to Happy to hit play. An instant later, on the large screen at the end of the room, Tony Stark appeared.

His face was lined with the extra years Peter didn't get to have with him, hair graying and so fucking handsome it hurt. The frown lines around his mouth were more distinct than ever and there was a sort of settled sadness to his eyes that Peter had never seen before. He didn't move with the restless fidgeting that Peter himself often exhibited, the sign of a mind that wouldn't cease moving. If the teen had to guess, it was because of too much having happened. He knew that after the Blip, Tony had spent months withering away on a space ship and then years secluding himself at the cabin where his funeral was held. He retreated into himself more and more, letting the rest of the world figure itself out without his interference. If the pain in his face was anything to go by, Peter understood and his heart broke for that version of Tony he'd never gotten to know.

"Testing, testing," the Tony on the screen joked, letting a put upon smirk flit across his face. "Just joking, we all know my technology wouldn't fail me like that." The wink was devastating to Peter's psychology and it was already clear that this whole video would be his downfall.

"But seriously," the older man continued, more collected now. "If you're seeing this video, we either failed and died trying or I died after having succeeded." He shrugged. "The chances of everyone coming out alive were," he wiggled one hand in a so-so fashion, "basically zero. At least if it's only me, then hopefully no one else got hurt." He winced. "Sorry, Pep, but if it's me or half the universe - I'm so sorry, honey," he was so sincere it hurt Peter's teeth. He could hear the hitch in Ms. Potts's breathing from here. "If it's me or half the universe, you know which one I'm gonna pick." He looked genuinely regretful, as if he didn't realize that he was worth more than just one man. As if he didn't realize he was the center of more than one person's whole world.

Much as Pepper might hate him, she and Peter had that much in common.

"Soo," Tony continued, dragging out the note. "Now is the time to give you guys my last Will I guess. Honeybear, Sam, and Capcicle, you should've all gotten your patents and whatnots," he gestured to nothing again. "The lawyers insisted on that bit. But the real important stuff is in this video, right now." He cleared his throat.

"First, Bucky," the super soldier's head snapped to attention, looking like he didn't know why he was being called on even though being in this room was enough to know something was coming his way, words or otherwise. "Man, I went ballistic on you when we first met," Tony frowned. "It took me a long time, and a smart guy to tell me that sometimes people aren't the culmination of their actions, especially when they weren't in control of themselves."

Those were the words Peter had said to Mr. Stark during one of their lab binges - but about Mr. Stark himself, when he was too in his head about his past as a weapon salesman. He nearly started crying thinking that the man had heard him so profoundly that he'd applied to knowledge to others. Fuck, this hurt.

"So," Tony cleared his throat. "You don't need my forgiveness because you did nothing wrong. But I'm giving it to you anyway because if you're anything like me - and I have a suspicion you might just be - then you need to hear it. I forgive you, Bucky. And, not only that - in case that wasn't enough," he said, voice taking on its cocky tone that, again, Peter could tell was put upon, "I have a secondary prize for you. I figure you probably don't like that arm the Russians gave you, so I made you a new one. Arc reactor powered, and it shouldn't be as painful. Plus, I integrated some of the nanites from my suit to help with the whole sensation thing. I, uh," he cleared his throat, ducking his head before looking back up. "I kind of just thought about what Dad would want for his oldest friends and figured I could at least do that, especially since you really have had just the most shit time the last 70 years. So. I hope you take it, and I hope it works, and just like live the rest of your life the way you want, okay?"

The gaze that Bucky had on the screen was like someone frozen, unable to express anything or feel anything. Like a statue too overwhelmed by movement to do anything but sit there. Next to him, Steve wrapped an arm around him, hand sliding up to grip the back of Bucky's neck. It seemed to wake the man up and he took a deep breath, nodding to whatever the super soldier had whispered into his ear.

"Next," Tony continued. "Happy. I'd make you chief security officer but we both know you'd pull your hair out." Both men chuckled. "Instead, I bequeath my classic car collection. You already have funds sitting in your bank account so don't worry about not being able to take care of them, buddy."

"Thanks, boss," Happy said and it was sweet and sorrowful.

"Pep," the genius took a second to smile sadly into the camera. "I'm so sorry, Pepper, that I couldn't give you what you deserved. But we all know that you are, and have always been, bigger and better than me." Silent tears gathered in the corners of the CEO's eyes and she dabbed at them, elegant and perfect and everything Peter knew he wasn't. "I leave you the lake house and that brownstone you love in Manhattan, all the money in the prenup account, and 20% of my shares at SI. You've always been an amazing CEO and mother, and I know you'll be even better without my shenanigans haunting you every waking moment."

At that, everyone at the table chuckled. Grief, dark humor, and Tony Stark went together like nothing else. Peter's mind, though, was turning over. Mr. Stark only left those things to Ms. Potts? Wouldn't it have made more sense to leave her for last and say 'everything else is yours, babe.'

"Finally," Tony sighed and it was the most straightforward he looked all video. "Pete." Peter's heart clenched and he felt more than saw everyone start eyeing him. He was too focused on the screen to look anywhere but Mr. Stark's face. "You put so much trust in me, kid, and I gotta say it wasn't warranted. I have fucked up almost every single part of my life and until Thanos, you were the only thing I never ruined." The teen swallowed past the lump in his throat, tears gathering in his own eyes and wanting to scream you didn't ruin anything. "If you're seeing this, then that foolhardy plan of mine worked. And you gotta know, kid," the sincerity in the older man's eyes was sharp with pain, now, instead of dull with grief. "You gotta know I did it for you." He cleared his throat. "You're the best of us, and I wasn't going to leave you behind."

The sounds of crying hit Peter's ears and he realized that both he and Ms. Potts were starting to cry in unison. Their pain so similar and shared but so very far apart.

"I couldn't leave things the way they were knowing you had been lost because of that big purple smurf," Tony continued. "The first year you were gone I don't think I left my lab more than 5 times," he laughed softly and it made Peter's heart clench. "I drank more than my liver could probably take, considering everything, and I tried, tried, tried to figure it out, Underoos, I really did. I'm sorry it took this long."

He took a deep breath and the inhabitants of the room did the same. Peter could feel their curious stares boring into his neck but his eyes didn't stray from the screen.

"You have to trust me once more okay, Pete?" Tony asked and Peter would give him anything. He nodded even though the man obviously couldn't see him. "Firstly, to everyone else." The everyone else in question sat straighter up in their chairs. "This," he gestured and somehow it lined up with Peter's chair, "is Peter Parker. To all of you but Happy, Pete was my intern at SI. Believe me when I say this kid has the brightest mind of his generation, but that's not the only reason he's here."

He took another breath. "See the thing is, Peter Parker also happens to be Spider-Man. Yes," he said, sensing that half the room was going to interrupt with questions despite him being a recording - he knew them well. "Yes, the same guy that fought with us in Germany. Yes the same one who's spent the last few years - pre-Blip - defending the streets of Queens."

Voice becoming more intimate, he continued, "Pete is the best of us. He's got your bravery, Rhodey, and he's got your need to stick up for what's right, Steve. The kid is pure good and too smart to not do anything with it. He's gonna be better than you or me combined."

Peter flushed. It wasn't that Mr. Stark hadn't said things in that vein to him before, but to other people? He wanted to protest so, so badly and the fact that he couldn't was strangling him alive.

"And he's gonna need your help. I did what I could, before everything, and I failed over and over again." His mouth was set into a thin line. "He needs people on his side, now more than ever, now after everything, and even more than you might think because," he took a deep breath, "I'm leaving him the company."

"What the fuck," Rhodey whispered.

"What the fuck!" Pepper screeched.

"What the fuck?" Peter gasped.

Their weird sort of chorus ended after that as the room went up in cacophony. On screen, Tony was quiet because yeah, he knew most of the people in that room well enough to know they needed a minute.

"He can't do that," Pepper kept saying as Happy tried to calm her down.

"Pepper," Tony started talking again and it shocked all of them enough to calm down and shut up. "I know you're mad and I know you think I can't but - you're amazing, okay? You are so fucking good at being CEO it's like you were born for it. But Stark Industries has always, and will always, need someone there to be the mad scientist. First it was dad, and then it was me, and now it's gonna be Pete - if he accepts." He sighed. "I had really hoped to last a few more years to get you prepped for his, kid," he shrugged, chagrined smile on his face again. "But death waits for no one, me especially." That sobered them all up.

"I really hope you take this, Petey," he continued, "but if you don't, I won't be disappointed. It's a lot, I know, and if you say no, then everything goes to Pepper and that's fine. But all the weapons I've made for the Avengers and co over the years, all the Iron Man designs, all the Spider-Man things - I'm sorry, but I'd have to trash it. Friday already has the program depending on your answer, but don't let that stop you. Even if you say no to this, you're still gonna be set for life, okay?" His voice, for the first time the entire video, took on a pleading tone. "Please, please don't do this just because I'm asking. Do it because it feels right for you and if it doesn't that's okay. I set aside money for you and May to live easy for the rest of your life if you need it, college, all of it. Just, please consider it."

As if Peter could do anything else. As if Peter would let the last of Tony die with this one request. Say yes and get everything, say no and Tony dies again.

"Pepper," Tony goes on. "If Peter does accept, then I need you there to support him. I know it's hard, and I know you're probably fucking furious at me," he smiled and for just a moment his eyes twinkled in the most devastating way. "But trust me this last time that this is what's best. You know I was never the business guy, not really. But you also know that I love this company and would never leave it to someone who wouldn't do it justice."

He shifted in his seat on screen. "And for Rhodey, Steve, Bucky, and Sam - the kid's gonna need you guys to help him out with the superhero gig. I wasn't really the best with, you know, ground level stuff and that happens to be his specialty. Get him what he needs, help him where you can, and just be there for him, okay?"

"We will, Tones," Rhodey agreed, swearing on their behalf.

For his part, Peter was overwhelmed. It didn't matter what everyone else was saying right now. He heard it, but it was cotton in his brain, the lightning fast jump of thought to realization to devastation of this whole hour more than he could keep up with.

"And with that," Tony sighed. "I'm sorry, but I've got to hopefully go save the world. Or end it," he shrugged, chuckling, "who knows."

The video cut out and the screen turned off. Silence reigned until -

"You cannot take it," hissed Pepper.

"Pep - " Happy started.

"No!" Pepper yelled, standing and slamming her hands onto the table loud enough to make Peter's sensitive hearing ring. "He already took Tony he's not taking my company!"

"My company," Peter said, quietly, resolutely.

Her bright red hair whipped as she faced him, glaring. "No."

"I'm really sorry, Ms. Potts," he said quietly, firmly. "But Mr. Stark was right. Stark Industries needs someone to lead the innovation side and I'm not saying I'm the best - "

"You aren't," she hissed. Across the table from Peter, Rhodey frowned at her.

" - but I'm the one Mr. Stark chose," the teen finished. He stood, facing her, and it felt weirdly powerful to be the only other person standing in this room of powerful people, facing off against Pepper Potts against something that was by all rights his.

What the fuck was his life.

"It's not the first time Tony's thought with his dick before his brain," she spat, "but for fucks sake to give the leading shares of SI to a fucking teenage twink."

"Pepper that's enough," Rhodey said. Beside her, Happy was trying to get her to calm down, one hand reaching up to her shoulder. She shrugged it off, shaking her head.

"You can hate me all you want," Peter said, shrugging. "But Mr. Stark spent the last 20 years trying to fix the world in the best way he knew how and if a bunch of board members who are too greedy to care about that get a hold of his patents or turn the tide against the CEO and spin SI back to the weapons manufacturers that you used to be," he shook his head. "There is no greater way to disrespect Mr. Stark's legacy than that and I'm not gonna let it happen."

"You think you know about how business works," she laughed cruelly. "You think you know Tony - well you don't, Peter. No matter how many promises he made you or how much he lied to everyone else, Tony Stark was always one thing at his core: selfish."

Peter's face crumpled in perplexed sadness. "You can be as mad at me as you want, ma'am," he said, shaking his head. "But I know you don't believe that."

"I didn't," she said, voice quiet but still full of venom. "I haven't for 20 years. But him killing himself to bring you back to life, only to give the leading shares and intellectual rights to you after the fact?" She rolled her eyes. "God, you must have been some fuck."

"Virginia," Happy hissed, standing up next to her finally.

Her eyes darted over to him, then to the rest of the faces staring at her from around the table, like she'd forgotten they were there. Her face blanched slightly but her expression didn't change. She glared at him, gathering her things, and walked toward the door.

As she left, she shouted over her shoulder, "You'll be hearing from my lawyer."

#peter parker x tony stark #ironspider #starker #tony stark x peter parker #iron man #peter parker #peter x tony #spiderman #tony stark #no beta we die like men #for you fic #angst #i swear it gets better

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mar-the-magician · 2 years

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Healing And Explanations With a Sarcastic Tsundere Fae Healer

Seriously, a big, massive thank you to @glassbearclock because

FUCKING SHIT 100 NOTES???? THAT'S THE MOST I'VE EVER GOTTEN!!!!

So, ahem, anyway, here is the much anticipated second chapter! Part two of A Traveler's Tale.

Healing And Explanations With a Sarcastic Tsundere Fae Healer

“Hey. You. Up. Now.” I cracked an eyelid open. Ow— it was bright. Where was I? I definitely did not normally sleep in the middle of the day on a bed of grass, flowers and other plants. The same sarcastic, biting voice said

“Up. Off my flowers. Now.” I sat up, looking around for the source of the voice, remembering as I did— rumors, hiking, ankle got hurt. Eris. I reached up around my neck and felt the the pendant was still there. Well that was something. I turned my head and finally caught sight of the person who had been talking. I just barely contained a “holy shit” at the sight of her. She looked like something out of a painting. Pale skin, rosy cheeks, massive almond shaped eyes framed by long lashes, perfectly defined freckles— and she had long, pointy ears. The only thing not very picturesque about her was her expression, which seemed distinctly murderous.

“What are you doing here, human?” She almost sneered. “You shouldn’t have even been able to get in these woods, let alone my clearing.” I stood up, (ankle— ouch) partially to be squashing as few of her flowers as possible, but also partially to be more on level with her. Wow she was tall.

“I don’t know what you mean about getting into the woods, there was a trail and I walked right in. As for the clearing, I didn’t find my way here. Some… apprentice guided me here.” Her eyes widened.

“Eris? Oh fuck, did he let you in the pathway?” I bristled.

“Hey, don’t blame Eris for this! He was just as surprised to find me here as you are. I got my ankle caught and hurt in some dead branches in a dried up creek bed, and he found me and helped the pain go away for a little while, and then said he would take me somewhere that I could get proper healing from somebody.” Realization dawned on me.

“Was that supposed to be you?” She smirked.

“Well don’t sound so surprised, human. Yes, I’m a healer. Eris is my apprentice, though I guess he probably already told you that.” I nodded.

“In not so many words, but I could’ve guessed.” ‘Though not because of any similarities in personality, that’s for sure,’ I thought. She sighed.

“Well. Okay then. That explains what you’re doing in my clearing, though not in these woods.” I shrugged.

“I heard rumors about paranormal activity around here and wanted to check it out. Specifically I heard something about a ‘fae trickster’.” She scoffed.

“Oh don’t pull that on me, Eris and I are the only fae that frequent these woods and neither of us are tricksters.” I glared at her.

“I don’t know, I heard what I heard! Stop glaring bloody murder at me like you think I'm the one spreading the rumors or something,” I grumbled.

“Bloody mur—“ she sputtered, then took a deep breath.

“Okay. Whatever. Your ankle's pretty badly hurt, do you want me to heal it or not?” She muttered something under her breath that sounded like “you piece of shit” but I decided to let it pass.

“If you’re willing to do that, then yeah. That would be helpful.” She sighed and waved her hand, humming quietly under her breath.

“What are you doing?” She frowned at me and didn’t answer, continuing to hum until the flowers, weeds, and grass parted like the Red Sea into a space big enough for me to lie down on.

“I’m not going to try to heal your foot while you’re standing up, I’m not going to let you do any more damage to my meadow than you already have, hence, magic. Now lie down. Or sit. I don’t really give a fuck, just get your foot off the ground so I can have a look.” I gladly obliged, sitting down with my legs stretched out in front of me. She knelt beside my ankle and blew out a breath.

“Yes, that’s pretty bad…” she looked up at me.

“Okay if I touch?” I nodded. She took a gentle hold on my ankle and slowly twisted it to the side.

“Does that hurt?” I winced.

“A little bit,” I nodded. She carefully replaced it in it's original position and then gently turned it another way.

“Ow— ow, ow, ow—“

“Okay, okay, I get it. Shh, you’re… you’re gonna be okay, I can fix it.” I blinked back tears and mentally cursed myself. ‘Acting like a complete baby about a little pain in front of the prettiest girl you've ever seen. Great job, me!’

“I'm gonna start the healing magic now, and it might feel a little… different, but it won’t hurt. Okay?”

“'Kay…”

Humming again. Suddenly a rush of warm, heady pleasure shot up my leg from my ankle and I gasped. She looked up.

“All good? I can slow down, if you need me to,” I shook my head.

“No— you don’t have to— slow down—“ the closest thing I can liken the feeling of being healed to is a massage, but an extremely intense one. And at the same time, it was too strange to be quite like a massage. Warm and cool at the same time, tingling, and similar to the way I had felt when Eris had “healed” me as well. I tried to breath deeply, counting slowly in my head.

“There. You should let it rest and set for an hour, maybe, but then you can head back to wherever you came from.”

“Are you gonna want me to wait somewhere else and get out of your meadow?”

“Of course not!” She glowered at me. “You shouldn’t move or put any weight on it at all!” I held up my hands.

“Okay, okay! You know, your bedside manner could use some work,” I joked. She sputtered. “Usually gentle magical beings aren’t supposed to cuss, either,”

“Oh, racially stereotyping the fae! We love that!”

“I'm just kidding!” I laughed. Her face actually got red when she got angry.

“You and Eris are the only fae I’ve ever met, it would be a bit hard for me to start stereotyping y’all just yet.”

“Oh trust me, I can tell we're the only fae you’ve ever met.” She sighed and shifted. “I still don’t understand how you got in these woods in the first place. There’s a distraction spell, a fucking good one, too. You don’t smell like magic, and you certainly aren’t a commander.”

“First off, you can smell magic? Secondly, what is a commander?” She groaned.

“Not exactly how I wanted to spend my afternoon, but whatever.” She held out her hand to me. “Before I explain a bunch of things that you probably shouldn’t know, let’s introduce ourselves, shall we? Oversharing is always better when it’s with someone that you know. My name is Hedera.” I introduced myself and took her hand. Soft fingers. Oh wow.

“Hm. Not a bad name. Now, to answer your questions, yes of course I can smell magic, I eat magic.”

“You eat magic??”

“Yes! And you eat dead animal carcasses! Instead of arguing over who has the weirder way of consuming energy, do you want more answers? Good. That’s what I thought. A ‘commander’ is a human who can do magic without any aid. Some humans wouldn’t be able to do, say, what I just did for you, unless they had a diagram, or some magical reagents, or—“

“Reagents?”

“Do you ever run out of questions? Ugh. A reagent is a… a component for magic. Say, herbs, or a jewel, or a specific type of sugar or salt, or paper that’s intentionally made of rice, or whatever. Commanders don’t need those things, they just do magic like the fae do.”

“Well, I’ve never shown any ability in that area, but how would you know I’m not a commander?”

“They give off a magical signature. Every being that can directly connect to magical force does. But even if you weren’t a commander and were just using something other than natural command to reveal the distraction spell, you would still smell like magic. Which you don’t. Which is why I still think someone must have let you in.”

“Okay… makes sense… wait, y'all eat magic—“

“We’ve established this—“

“— So that’s what Eris must have meant when he talked about foraging!” She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Honestly, I love the child, and I know it’s not true, but sometimes it feels like he couldn’t keep a secret to save his life. Yes, a foragers job is to seek out volunteers of legal age and capacity to consent to donate some of their magic for the consumption of fae who, for whatever reason, cannot currently feed from the fae realm.” She droned like she was reciting from something. “It grows back, as long as we don’t take too much, but that’s part of the reason why we always need foragers, to constantly be looking for new volunteers. So we don’t ever even risk taking just a little bit too much.” I nodded.

“I see. Why are you so mean to Eris?” She spluttered angrily.

“I'm not mean, he's my apprentice. I have to be a little tough on him sometimes.”

“Hmm. Okay… next question, what are access points?”

“You know, you’re taking this remarkably well for someone who clearly has no prior knowledge of the magical world.” She said suspiciously. I shrugged.

“I’ve always known there was something else out there, you know? I guess I went through a brief phase as like, a twelve-year-old, where I wanted to be a skeptic and a cynic and all that good shit, but by the time I was around thirteen I realized that that just wasn’t going to cut it when it was as obvious as could be that… we weren’t alone in this world. I mean, I’ve read and researched enough paranormal, cryptid shit that this is really just confirming what I’ve suspected for years.”

“Huh. Okay then. To answer your question, access points are… like gateways, I suppose, between your realm and the realm that Eris and I hail from. In order to get from one realm to another, you have to find an access point and enter it with intention. No-one just accidentally slips from one realm to another, that way. It’s a whole lot safer.”

“Don’t tell the fantasy authors that,” I joked. She snorted.

“Sure. Not sure I quite get the reference, but whatever.”

“How do you find an access point, then? What do they look like?”

“Well, access points are created when the energy from one realm, or one layer of a realm, touches the energy from another realm, or another layer of that realm. That’s really the only qualification. They can look like anything. So most people find them using finding spells, though Eris has taken to trying to detect the difference in the energy of an area instead. Which I think is very admirable of him, honestly. That’s nowhere near as easy.”

“Then why is he doing that?” I queried. She chuckled. Oh. Pretty laugh.

“Because he doesn’t know when to let well enough alone, the little shrimp.” That was the most affectionate I had heard her sound the entire conversation.

As we continued talking she softened somewhat, though she was never what you’d call amicable. Eventually she looked up at the sky and raised her eyebrows.

“It’s uh. It’s been enough time, now.” She coughed. I looked at my watch.

“Oh, shit, it’s been three hours! …I guess we were both enjoying ourselves,” I tried, awkwardly. She scoffed. Did her cheeks get a little pinker or did I imagine it?

“E-Enjoyed is a strong word, but… sure,” she waved her hand. “Whatever floats your boat.” she stood and held out her hand to help me up. My ankle was still sensitive, tender-feeling, but no immediate pain when I stood up. She nodded, looking at my ankle.

“No tangled pain, and your stance is balanced. That’s good. Go easy on it for a couple days. You shouldn’t be here after dark, so let’s hurry back.”

“Why shouldn’t I be here after dark? I thought you and Eris were the only ones who frequented these woods?”

“The only fae. Now less talking, more walking.” So I stayed silent for the rest of the hike to the driveway. When we reached my car, she turned awkwardly.

“Get— ah, get home safe, Traveler,”

“Both you and Eris called me that. Why?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you some other time.” ‘Some other time?’

“Does that mean I’ll be seeing you again?” She started walking away.

“Maybe.”

And that concludes chapter two! Eris will pop up again in the next one, so I'm sure some of y'all are looking forward to that. Except for getting hit with writer's block for a while at the end there, this was really fun to write, and I'm going to enjoy exploring Hedera's character more! I hope you all enjoyed!!

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