Realistic or Modern Fairweather Communications - Urban Fantasy

[Mikotsuhime]

Lev laughed.

“Wade, generous?” He asked, and Wade pinched his upper arm.

“I can be nice,” he said, though the sceptical look on Lev’s face said otherwise.

“Well, if he says it’s good then it’s probably good. Nothing’s perfect on the first try. Did they finalize what they wanted us to do?” Lev switched into ‘business mode‘ fairly quickly, and Wade opened up his laptop and nodded.

“They want to make changes to the relationship function. Make it automatically detect relations with friends based on inputed data. So, for example, if you mark someone as your mother and she marks someone as her sister, the system automatically recognizes her as your aunt,” he explained, and Lev winced.

“That... sounds doable,” he said, though he wasn’t entirely optimistic. It would take a lot of trial and error to get the code perfect. Wade nodded solemnly.



Percival couldn’t help it. He raised one eyebrow at Thea’s antics, and then raised the other when they said that Dr. Drake wasn’t available. He could hear her in the back room. He wasn’t an idiot. But he kept his face polite.

“I realize I don’t have an appointment,” he apologized. “Something came up rather suddenly.”

He had no idea what ‘let him down easy’ meant. A gentleman caller? That was almost enough to make him frown. Almost.

Dr. Drake was a very nice woman, but he was more than done with people attempting to set him up. Normandy and her friend scheming had been bad enough, but a stranger? He could feel the familiar feeling of a headache starting to build behind his eyes, and his smile grew just a little more strained.

“I assure you, I’m not here for anything untoward,” he said, though he was very happy when Azrael appeared to show him to the back. He made sure to nod at Thea as he passed them, and kept his posture perfect up until Azrael closed the door.

Then his shoulders slumped and his smile turned into an irritated frown.

She was always so crass. Not that he really minded crass, but still.

“Nobody,” he said, because he liked Azrael well enough, but they didn’t really have the close relationship where he could say things like ‘my sister apparently thinks I need to get laid and has no sense of boundaries’. ”The heater in my office is broken and I can’t turn the central heating up or my secretary will complain.“

He was almost sulking, as much as he would deny it.

“I need a heat pack, if you have one. And... Maybe a bit of blood. My supplier ran into trouble.”

He shifted his weight, his irritation clear now in his posture as he looked around the room. The smell of ‘fox’ was putting him on edge, because the stupid instinctual animal part of his brain was telling him he needed to fight somebody. The rational part of his brain was telling him that he was above such things, and he certainly wasn’t going to make a fool out of himself by brawling with one of his programmers. The constant back and forth between them was making his headache worse, and his lip curled up in an unpleasant sneer.

“What did your assistant mean by letting me down easy?” he asked, because he needed to focus on something and idle conversation was better than the urge he was getting to reorganized Azrael’s desk.

 

[Reynarda]

Rowan chuckled. Ok, that was fair. Wade didn't seem like the type to dispense compliments like candy. Still, Rowan had no idea how to take compliments.

Right. Business. Rowan leaned forward with a sigh. It was going to be complicated, and he sensed a lot of late nights in his future. But they could do it. They had a lot of smart people on their team.

"It'll have to be sophisticated, but once we get the framework, the rest will be easy," he said. Rowan paused. Oops. That sounded overconfident. "Er, I mean relatively easy. Not like easy, easy."

Rowan took a quick sip of his coffee. "Anyway, um. We'll get it figured out."





Azrael arched an eyebrow. This wasn't just seasonal grumpiness. She almost asked him if he were lying to her but decided to let it go. For now.

She made a face at his request. She almost told him this wasn't the Red Cross but didn't. The last thing she wanted was Percival to take her seriously and stop coming to her for help.

Still, she wasn't about to look happy about it.

Azrael pushed herself off her desk and stepped behind him. She pulled the electric blanket from her supply closet. After plugging it in, she dropped it on top of him. She strode from her office into the lab and grabbed a heat pack and a bag of old transfusion blood from the deep freezer. She opened the blood bag with the scissors Thea used to open bags of chips and dumped the contents into a spare mug. That she stuck into the microwave and prayed Thea didn't suddenly get hungry.

While that heated, she grabbed the air freshener from the bathroom and returned to her office.

"Cover your face," she instructed before spraying the air freshener around the office. Azrael made a face, wrinkling her own nose, but it wasn't a typical air freshener. It was designed to mask the scent of blood from even werewolves. It should work to mask Lev's scent as well. Still, orange blossom was not her favorite smell.

Returning to the break room, she pulled the mug of blood from the microwave and stuck a straw in it--they were civilized here, after all. Thea's scissors she dropped into the autoclave bucket in the lab. Azrael closed the door to her office with her hip and handed the mug of warmed blood to Percival. After handing the heat pack to him, she turned the thermostat in her office up to 80.

Returning to her position against her desk, Azrael crossed her arms over her chest again. The problem was that there was pretty much nothing on which to base her treatments for Percival. He was an ectotherm but why? How? Vampires were endotherms as much as they preferred cold and dark. What genetics had determined that? And some of his hormones were just different. She couldn't recognize them by feel as easily as she could mammalian hormones.

But this wasn't just because he was cold and needed blood.

"I'm not sure you want to know the answer to that," Azrael said, finally answering his question. It was getting hot already. She pushed her sleeves up, exposing the many small scars on the insides of her forearms. "Thea is hellbent on spicing up my personal life is all. Anyone who talks to me is in danger. Don't worry, you're not a target anymore. Anyway, that's my problem. I'm more concerned about your problem."

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Percival, a sluggish metabolism and empty stomach do not make anyone glare at scents in the air. If you don't tell me what's going on, I can't help you. What's got you looking for a fight? Is it Wade Harper?"

Azrael had a feeling Wade Harper wasn't the only one to blame, but talking about him was the easiest way to make sure Percival told her whatever was actually going on. And in case he went all tight-lipped on her...

"The other option is I turn the thermostat down to 40 and stick you. You tell me how you want to do this."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Wade rolled his eyes and Lev laughed at little at Rowan's floundering.

"Relax, Rowan," Lev said with a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "I know this is all pretty new, but you'll get used to it. We're pretty chill in our department."

Wade huffed, because it was more that he demanded everyone be chill.

"Yeah, that's one thing I forgot to mention. We don't do crunch time here. If you want to do overtime at home to meet your deadlines, you're welcome to, but if you do more than five hours of overtime a week I will take your computer away. Remember you're a salaried employee. I don't think you were on the team for the project we just finished up, but after every major deadline you get Friday off. Well, not really off. You have to come in to work, but the workload is as light as I can make it. Some of the guys use the time to catch up on their emails and other work stuff, some play solitaire all day. Margaret brings in these really trashy bodice buster romance novels and pretends she's not reading them when the marketing guys walk past."

Lev made a face and nodded.

"If she offers to lend you one, say no. Those things are really explicit," he said dourly, and Wade laughed.

"Oh yeah, I do draw the line on actually watching porn in the office, though. Everything else is fair game. I just figured I'd warn you in advance since this Friday is our free day."

Wade did not consider himself a cool boss by any means, but he took his employee's mental health seriously. If that meant taking a few extra hours so they could have a well deserved lazy day every now and then, so be it.



Percival pulled the electric blanket around his shoulders, hunching down in his chair as he let it slowly warm him up. He sighed, already feeling less like he was at war between falling asleep and gnawing someone's arm off.

He covered his face as instructed, and once the scent of fox was gone from the air, his shoulders slumped in obvious relief. The tension that he'd been holding in his shoulders all day slowly started to drain, although it never left completely.

He poked his hands out from under the electric blanket to take the mug, sipping on the straw. He was certain he did not look very dignified, bundled up and drinking warm blood from a mug, but he was past the point of really caring. Azrael knew enough of his secrets already that putting up pretenses was a waste of time.

He was trying not to appear like a pouting child, but Azrael went and asked him why he was in a bad mood.

"It's not Mr. Harper," he grumbled, although it kind of was. Not quite in the way she was thinking of, though. He was a bit hesitant to really explain it, because even though she was a doctor, these kind of issues weren't talked about in polite company. If his mother ever heard that he had spoken of these things to a lady, doctor or not, she would have his head.

He sucked on his straw as he tried to think of a way to explain things that didn't make him sound pathetic OR make Normandy sound like a terrible person. She wasn't. She just made bad judgement calls sometimes.

Finally he practically deflated in his chair.

"My mother's species is unlisted, as you know," he said, because he had brought that up to her before when he was seeking help with his unusual condition. "I inherited more aspects from her than my father. My sister got the idea that she needed to set me up on a date, and did so by locking me in a car for over an hour with a friend of hers, who is also of our species and..."

He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"She was, ahem. Seasonally affected," he said finally. He wasn't going to say 'in estrus', because that made him sound like he was a horny dog or something. The situation was embarrassing enough as it was.

"The remaining effects of the pheromones are making me a bit... territorial. It should go away within a few days."

He hated how silly the situation sounded, and there was a dusting of red on his cheeks as he aggressively drank his blood. There was a bit of an obnoxious slurping sound from the straw, but he didn't even care about appearances anymore. Now that he didn't feel the need to fight somebody, he was just feeling morose and petty. If the stupid fox hadn't come down here, he probably wouldn't have had to explain all that. He was a bit resentful, even if he knew it was childish.

 

[Reynarda]

Rowan laughed a little when Lev patted his shoulder. It was good to know the rest on the team were more chill. He did try to relax a little instead of being so nervous and uptight but part of him resisted.

He turned to Wade when the other man spoke and nodded along. The idea of no crunch time was a little new considering he was coming straight from college, but he thought he liked the idea. It was nice to know that Wade tried to make their work loads lighter on certain Fridays. Part of Rowan felt nervous that he wouldn’t be able to cut it even with a lighter load on some days. So, regardless he resolved to do whatever it took to get the job done.

He did feel his face heat up the mention of Margaret’s bodice-busting novels. He nodded emphatically when Lev advised him not to take Margaret up on her offer. But part of him wondered why Lev had ever taken Margaret up on the offer. He would have had to to know they were explicit, Rowan figured.

The idea that he would watch porn during work was even more embarrassing, and he felt himself go tomato red at that.

“No of course not! I would never do that!” Really the most that he would do would be daydream during work. Even the thought of reading during work day made his skin crawl. But, right. Wade had said not to let work become the only thing he did. “I, um, appreciate the warning, but no, I would never do that.”

Rowan chuckled a little awkwardly and thought maybe he should change the topic a little. "So does the team ever do any like social activities?”





Azrael watched as Percival huddled under his blanket and sipped his blood. He really was being a bit sulky but she decided to let it slide considering the circumstances. She did arch an eyebrow when he insisted that the culprit was not Wade Harper. But it was the kind of partial truth she didn’t feel the need to call him on. She was a medical doctor, not a relationship counselor.

When he appeared finally ready to explain she relaxed her stance slightly from the disapproving imposing doctor and slid her hands in her lab coat pockets.

Azrael nodded She knew very little about the maternal side of Percival‘s family and hadn’t pressed. What she could learn from observation usually served her purposes. Her observations were essentially that his mother was an ectothermic species. That had told her much of what she needed to know. However that did not explain how he ended up with more of his mother's traits than his fathers traits--other than the obvious need for blood. Still, she was not a researcher, she was a doctor and so that didn’t concern her.

Azrael actually snorted at his description of this other of his species seasonal effect. "You mean she was ovulating,” Azrael said her tone blunt and unamused. "Mr. Fairweather, I am a doctor and therefore reproduction is an unfortunate part of my job description. You can be blunt with me. Polite society holds no sway here. Anyway, that’s fair enough. Those pheromones will really get you regardless of what species you are.”

Even human males recognized human female pheromones, even if they didn't realize it.

The territorial aspect, however, was a bit amusing considering it was Lev who had set him off. She wondered if it was just because Lev was male or if there were some other common connection. But once again that was neither her circus nor her monkeys.

"Well given my limited knowledge of your epigenetically dominant species, there’s obviously not something I can recommend right off the bat." She paused. "Pun not intended. But is there anything I could do for you to ease these territorial inclinations?"

After a beat she arched her eyebrow. "Or I could send you home with a doctor's note until the effects wear off."

Knowing Percival, he would rebel at that suggestion, but she found giving people a less-desirable option got them to do what she wanted.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Wade laughed at Rowan’s horrified face, and Lev rolled his eyes.

“He’s just joking. Nobody actually thinks you’ll watch porn in the office,” he clarified.

“That one guy tried a few years ago, remember? Marvin, or whatever his name was,” Wade said, his smirk becoming more devious as he leaned forward on his elbows. ”I showed him what was what by pulling his headphones out. I think he wanted to die. He quite like two weeks later.”

He seemed very proud of himself, and Lev couldn’t help but give Rowan a sympathetic look.

“Just so you know,” he said, keeping his voice low as Wade got up to throw out his muffin wrapper, “he’s not actually a bad boss. As long as you put in the effort, you’ll be fine. He’s a bit much to get used to at first, but Wade‘s a good guy.”

It was already clear that Rowan was somewhere between overwhelmed and a little scared, and Lev hoped Wade didn’t end up scaring off another newbie before they even had a chance to start their career.

“Oh yeah!” Wade said as he came back, a grin on his face. “We do drinks once a month, usually. Not everyone makes it every time, so don’t worry if you can’t. There’s a rotation on who gets to choose the bar. This month it’ll be Lev’s turn, and then next month is Margaret’s. Make sure you go hungry to that one, because we always end up going to this place that makes the BEST appetizers in the world.”




Percival couldn’t help it - his ears turned red when she said the ‘o’ word.

“I- well, yes,” he grumbled, looking thoroughly embarrassed. “And, you knew what I meant.“

He was flustered enough already, and he hadn’t even been the one to say it.

“And I wasn’t trying to keep it hidden or anything,” he added, pulling the blanket tighter around him. He didn’t want her to think he was trying to lie to her or anything. He knew her stance on that, and he had meant no ill-will.

He drew a blank when she asked him if there was anything she could do to ease the symptoms. His mouth opened once and then closed again, and his brow furrowed in thought. He hadn’t ever actually considered DOING anything about it. He was planning on just waiting until the problem went away, as he always did when this sort of thing happened. The idea of proactively trying to solve it caught him off-guard.

“I didn’t actually give it any thought,” he said slowly. “Normally it goes away within a few days to a week. I was just going to wait it out.”

If his heater hadn’t broken, he probably would still be sulking silently in his office while trying his best not to snap at any of his assistants.

For all that he was good at problem solving in business, when it came to personal matters his general approach was ‘don’t do anything and wait for it to fix itself’. He tended to achieve very mixed results.

He did bristle when she suggested going home.

“I can still work,” he insisted. “It’s hardly enough of a problem to send me home.”

If he went home sick over something like this, his father would no doubt eventually find out, and he would no doubt take him as being lazy. If his productivity fell, then so would his worth. He wasn’t Normandy, who could do no wrong in their parents’ eyes. He had to fight to keep what he had worked for.

”Do you perhaps have more of that deodorizer?” he asked after a moment of thought. “That helped.”

 

[Reynarda]

Rowan felt like he might die of second-hand (third-hand?) embarrassment for this Marvin guy. That was... yeah, there was no recovering from that. Rowan figured he'd just go and lie down in Central Park and let nature reclaim him if something like that ever happened to him.

Rowan smiled, grateful for Lev. If he had to contend with Wade by himself, he might be too stressed to come into work. "He's... intense," Rowan decided.

It wasn't that he didn't like Wade because he did. He was... well, like Lev said, a lot.

He smiled up at Wade's explanation of the monthly happy hour. That sounded like a lot of fun. And it was good to know the Marget had good taste in food if not in books. Rowan could respect that. He just hoped he would fit in with these people.

His rash was itchy-burning again and he resisted the urge to scratch at it. He hoped the doctor had figured out what was going on with him. If nothing else he hoped the cream she had prescribed would soothe his symptoms.

He popped the lid off his empty coffee cup and stuck his muffin wrapper inside. "I guess we need to get started on this project then?" he asked tentatively, hoping they weren't stalling for the new guy.






Azrael eyed Percival, trying to figure out why ovulation was making him avoid eye contact with her. "Are you also uncomfortable with spermatogenesis? That cycles daily in many species."

Why did people get all awkward about it? It was interesting in theory, if not in practice, and she found most people tended to more interested in the practice of it. Why they had weird names for everything instead of just calling a spade a spade made no sense to her.

She filed that under "normal people are so weird" and eyed her grumpy ectothermic half-vampire. She hummed. "I assume you, of all people, should know why trying to lie to me is ultimately futile. So I don't expect it of you, don't worry."

Azrael arched an eyebrow. She had heard some human males suggesting cold showers, but she didn't think that would apply here. "What do other males of your species do during that time? I assume it tends to happen once a year in the warmer months. Do you have something that suppresses testosterone and corticosterone?"

Azrael paused. "Oh, wait, hang on. You're going to hate this, but I have something."

She poked her head out of her office. "Thea, where's my testosterone-inhibiting shirt?"

"It's a cock-block shirt, Doc, call it what it is!" Thea called back.

Azrael rolled her eyes. "Fine, where is my cock-block shirt?"

"In your file cabinet, bottom drawer--wait! Why do you need your cock-block shirt?! Do you need back up?!"

"No, I just want to show off your gift," Azrael said before Thea could come charging down the hall to rescue her.

She reclosed the door and opened the bottom drawer of her filing cabinet. It had a lot of various and a sundries, and one of those was a oversized, soft-pink shirt. Shaking it out, Azrael held it up. "Doc's Cock-Block" had been screen-printed on the front in gold letters.

"Colors can trigger things inside of the brain. For instance, red causes release of testosterone. But this pink is called Baker-Miller Pink, and it lowers testosterone levels, among other things. I told Thea the color of scrubs they had on at the time was Baker-Miller Pink, and they got me this last Valentine's Day. Thea does give the best gifts. Try to get them as your secret Santa at the next Christmas party. I would never wear it, but it is hilarious." She waved the shirt, not bothering to hide her teeth in the smirk she flashed him. "Feel your heart rate slowing?"

Azrael snickered a little. She had known Percival was going to hate it, and he hated it. Also she had never gotten to show her funny shirt to anyone. She balled it up and dropped it on her desk. "You may not like it, but it works. Anyway, the air freshener is supposed to mask blood, so I'm glad that worked. Yes, you can take it with you. I buy them by the case." She eyed him. "Do you want to borrow the blanket? I do keep it only for you."

Humming in displeasure, she removed her glasses and cleaned them with a lens cloth. Without the light-altering lenses, the florescent lights were harsher on her sensitive eyes, but the main reason she wore them was to filter out the red that was naturally in the brown of her irises. But when people were being troublesome, it was good to startle them a little. So she arched an eyebrow at Percival, her eyes shifting from warm brown to blood-red.

"If I agree not to send you home, will you swear to me you will get proper sleep and eat a proper diet?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Lev glanced down at Rowan’s arm, wincing in sympathy. Man, that looked painful.

“You mind tossing my coffee cup, Wade?” He asked, and Wade scowled at him.

”I just sat down, you lazy fox,” he grumbled, but he took the cup anyways. Once he was out of earshot, Lev turned to Rowan.

“Man, that looks like a nasty iron rash,” he said. “You got anything for it?”

He’d had a fae girlfriend back in college, and she always broke out whenever she used his cast iron cooking pan. She refused to just use the stainless steel because it ‘didn’t taste the same’. Lev had put cream on her arms and hands enough times to recognize it well enough.

”My ex girlfriend used to get those all the time. She used this stuff called iron-off, some weird sketchy off-brand over the counter cream. It works really well, smells kind of like hot old pennies.”



Percival coughed and had to clear her throat when she mentioned the word ‘sperm’. He was not used to speaking frankly about these things at all. The last time had been in high school sex-ed, and it had been just as embarrassing then.

”My family doesn’t really... discuss reproductive matters,” he admitted. “I’m not, erm, used to hearing it talked about aloud.”

He just hoped she didn’t mention errections, or he would really die.

When’s he asked what males usually did, he ended up choking.

”Uhm. Well,” he said, his cheeks growing bright red. “Males are... not very common.”

Male naga were rare enough that, had he not been a half-breed, he was certain that his mother would be taking every opportunity she had to marry him off and make eggs with the first available woman who asked. As it was, she was still pushing him to get married and have babies, just not quite as aggressively.

(She did, however, show him off to all of her friends and bring him on diplomatic trips like some kind of good luck charm. He had a feeling he enjoyed the looks of envy she got when she said ’this is my SON, isn’t he wonderful’. He had loved the attention as a child, but nowadays he mostly put up with it because he loved her.)

”I’ve actually never met another cis male. Ah, well, my maternal grandfather, maybe, but I haven’t seen him in years.”

He certainly wasn’t about to ask his grandfather what to do when he was horny, either.

Luckily, Azrael was soon bringing out the cock block shirt, and Percival once again was trying not to choke on his own spit.

“That—“ he tried very hard to get his blushing under control, because this was ridiculous. “That is so CRUDE.”

He was pretty sure he had never even spoken the word ’cock’ out loud before.

”If anything it’s even higher,” he grumbled. “The colour is fine, but. Who would wear something with that word on it?”

Wait. Oh god. Now he was remembering that horrible t-shirt Wade had in high school that said ‘pussy destroyer’ in bright pink, bold lettering. He had worked so hard to block that memory out. He folded his head in his hands and groaned.

He kind of did want to borrow the blanket. His secretary would probably give him a funny look, but it wasn’t quite as bad as wearing his coat and scarf...

”If you don’t mind,” he said finally. “I’ll bring it back at the end of the day. The heater should be fixed by tomorrow.”

Her attempts at threatening him into sleep and good food actually make him laugh, though.

”The rest I can try. As for the food, well. My sister has us on a low-carb low-fat diet. I can promise you that I will be eating lots of lettuce, at least. Greens has to count for something.”

 

[Reynarda]

Rowan almost asked Wade if he’d toss his empty cup as well, but decided not to when Wade called Lev lazy. He was probably just joking, but the last thing Rowan wanted was Wade to think he was lazy.

He blinked at Lev and then looked at his arm. “Iron rash? Oh, is that what’s it’s called? I just thought it was hives.”

He got the overwhelming urge to scratch at it even though he knew that would just make it worse. He rubbed it a little as a compromise.

“The doctor—uh, Dr. Drake—prescribed some kind of special cream, I don’t know if it was iron-off. She put something on it and that helped a whole lot, but I think it wore off.” He hesitated. It was starting to bother him again, and he thought he needed more of the cream. But also the doctor was scary. He glanced at Lev. “I would ask for some more of it, but she’s a bit... intimidating. Her assistant seemed nice, though. Do you think if I asked them, they’d help me out?”




Azrael arched an eyebrow. “But your species isn’t parthenogenec?” she asked, more to herself than to Percival.

She of course had no idea. Her burning question was if he had been hatched, but she figured that was a slightly inappropriate question. You didn’t just ask people if they had been hatched even if you were a doctor who found polite society inconvenient.

But then she wondered what trans males used because that could help her figure some things out, but she seriously doubted that was something Percival knew considering he found the word “ovulation” embarrassing.

Azrael frowned and glanced at her shirt. Clearly he didn’t get the joke. “No, it’s funny because the color inhibits the testosterone. Get it? Cock block. It rhymes. And testosterone causes—oh nevermind. It’s not funny if I have to explain it.” She sighed. “Anyway, I don’t wear it in public.”

She sighed. At least Thea agreed the shirt was hilarious.

“If I minded I wouldn’t have offered,” she said. “It wouldn’t do to have the very important boss grumpy because he’s cold. Just don’t turn it all the way up.”

She made a face. She doubted his mother’s species was strict vegetarian and a vampire’s diet was nearly entirely protein. Fad diets were the bane of her existence. All of them had some good aspects, but the mentality behind it was one she thought troublesome. And most of them didn’t work for non-humans. At least she had gotten some blood into him. “Well make sure you are either eating some kind of animal protein or plant protein. Your body will start breaking down your muscles if you don’t.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Lev tried not to stare at Rowan.

He... didn’t know it was an iron rash? He was in his twenties, wasn’t he? Shouldn’t his parents have explained the whole ‘iron is bad for fae’ thing to him? He was getting the idea that this was not quite as simple as it seemed, and was glad he hadn’t said anything too intimidating.

“No, Dr. Drake is great,” he said, more than happy to sing her praises. It was then that Wade came back, his eyebrows raised.

”The doctor? Is that the errand you needed to run earlier?” He asked, then his eyes narrowed. “Are you all good?”

Lev was quick to wave off his concerns.

“I’m fine. Just some stomach problems.”



Percival shrugged his shoulders.

“Not that I’m aware of. The population is fairly small, and I know that, er, the sharing of husbands is... not uncommon,” he said, his cheeks turning red once more. “But as a hybrid I do not quite have the same appeal.“

He also did not have the proper inclinations, and wasn’t that the worst part of it. His mother hoped he would father as many children as he possibly could, but he had no interest in it. He did have a naga friend who was a trans man, and they could theoretically make it work together, but they had no romantic feelings for one another, and Percival was sure his mother would not approve.

Besides, he had been nursing a very unrequited crush for the past, oh, fifteen years? He highly doubted he had any chance on giving up on that any time soon.

“I get the joke,” he said quickly, because he did not want her explaining the physical process to him. “It is... Funny in concept?”

He didn’t understand how people found vulgar words funny, but he did know that many people at least DID.

When she called him grumpy he found himself sulking again, but he folded up the blanket so he could take it up to his office. He was already missing the warmth.

”Don’t worry, I plan on making rabbit stew this weekend, whether Normandy likes it or not,” he said dryly.

 

[Reynarda]

That was easy for Lev to say. He was non-human, so of course a peevish doctor with needles didn't scare him. Not that he'd asked or anything, but Rowan just assumed non-humans were not intimidated by humans. Though, maybe there were other non-humans that someone like Lev might find intimidating. Or maybe even the intimidating ones liked Lev, who knew? Rowan figured there was no one out there who didn't like Lev.

"Oh, stomach issues?" Rowan said, concern creasing his brows. "Is it stress? My mom makes this tea--maybe I could get the recipe?"

Or, she might mail him some of her tea if he said his friend was stressed out. But that would involve talking to her.

"It settles nerves and stomachs," Rowan concluded.





Azrael hummed in sympathy. "Those poor husbands," she said. One partner was a lot, but multiple? "Yes, I assume most of your mother's species do not like the idea of having a part-vampire child," she agreed.

Azrael paused, running that back through her head. It sounded fine to her as it was just a statement of fact, but perhaps...

"I'm not saying there is anything wrong with being part-vampire," she clarified. "Obviously. As I am full-vampire. I just mean that genetics-wise, it's not preferable."

Ok, so that sounded almost worse.

"You know what I mean," she huffed, though it was more of a hope than a statement of fact.

Azrael shook her head at Percival. Clearly he didn't think it was funny, and she understood that some people didn't think science jokes were funny. But those people were wrong. Anyway, did Percival Fairweather think anything was funny? Well, that wasn't fair of her. Thea had told her just recently that she didn't laugh as much as she thought she did and that a smirk didn't count as a laugh. Perhaps Percival thought things were funny but just didn't laugh about them.

She did roll her eyes at his sulky expression but let it go. Their relationship mainly consisted of giving each other space to let their guard down a little bit. Not that they knew very much about each other. It was probably better that way.

Her mind drifted to the morning news. Why. Why did they have to use their magic like that? And why couldn't they have just stayed in Columbus? Half of the police and district attorney's office had been in their pocket. Cleveland's PD and mayor were putting up a fight and it was a bloodbath. She wondered if she had stayed she would have been able to save the man who had been airlifted to the Clinic.

Azrael pulled her mind back to the present and nodded. "Good. Tell your sister it's doctor's orders if you want. I'm happy to be the bad guy if it means you get protein."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Lev chuckled. Rowan was so eager to help, and it was kind of endearing.

“Nah, nothing like that. I appreciate the thought, though,” he assured him, because he didn’t want the poor kid to feel bad.

He really didn’t think that Azrael was nearly as scary as Rowan was acting like. He had been scared to see her, sure, but that was only because he was defrauding an insurance company. For everyday stuff she was perfectly helpful. Wade, however, nodded wisely.

”The doc is a little scary,” he agreed. “But her bark is worse than her bite, so I’ve heard. If you want we could stop by together. I did that with Lev one time. He didn’t want to go to the doctor so I hauled him down there myself and blocked the door so he couldn’t leave.”

Lev groaned and buried his face in his hands. Wade had done that. It had been embarrassing. He was certain Thea had had an excellent time.


Percival gave Azrael a wry smile, which was more emotion than he usually showed on his face to anyone.

“Yes, I get your meaning,” he said. “Blood drinking is very inconvenient.”

He hesitated for a moment, because she seemed lost in thought all of a sudden. Percival was not very good at heart-to-hearts, and he was even worse at comforting people, but she had treated him well so far.

“I will tell her. And if you ever need to... Ahem... To talk, to somebody who, er, knows things, my office is always open. Erm, unless I’m in a meeting, but. I’m available, if you need me.”

 

[Reynarda]

Rowan tilted his head at Lev. Well, if he said it was fine, it was probably fine. Anyway, the doctor was probably taking care of him.

He nodded, agreeing Dr. Drake was scary. He certainly hoped her bark was worse than her bite. He flushed a little at the thought of going down to her office with an entourage, but the idea did have its appeal. And he had done it for Lev, so it wasn't like he didn't want to do it. He hesitated for a moment.

"I mean... I don't want to be an inconvenience. But it is bothering me. It might make it feel better. But, uh, I'm sure you're busy so you really don't have to."




"It is inconvenient," Azrael agreed with a sigh. It was nearing lunch time, and she shouldn't help but think of her "protein" shake in the fridge in the break room. She drank small amounts of blood throughout the week instead of large amounts once every few weeks like vampires normally did. But warming blood for Percival had made her mouth water.

She raised her eyebrows at Percival when he offered himself as a friendly ear. "Don't go getting sentimental on me, Fairweather," she grumbled. "All I did was fed you and warmed you up."

She was not about to dump her troubles on Percival Fairweather, of all people. She was more likely to confess her species and family to Lev than go to Percival Fairweather for emotional support, and she had no intentions of ever telling sweet Lev about her past.

But... Percival was being kind, so she should not make him feel stupid for doing so.

She rubbed her toe in the carpet of her office. "Thanks. I appreciate the offer. Most of my troubles are your people refusing to get fresh air and consume more than pizza and alcohol." Azrael paused. "And my door is always open, Percival. Don't wait until you're about to fight someone next time, though, alright?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Wade grinned as he patted Rowan on the shoulder.

“Nah, it’s no problem. We’re done here anyways, right?” He said, and Lev nodded. He wasn’t sure if he should go with them or go back to his office, but he had a feeling that leaving Wade alone in a doctor’s office with many sharp instruments was probably a bad idea.


Percival huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. He was more than aware that he was not exactly the most... personable individual. He didn’t take it too personally, though he offered her a small smile when she agreed to take him up on it.

He did hesitate at the idea of going for help. He honestly hadn’t even considered it. He figured issues like that were just unavoidable.

“Well, then. I will be returning to my office,” he said, heading out to the front reception just as Wade walked in with his arm slung around Rowan’s shoulders.

Percival froze, and Wade, oblivious to his presence, waved cheerfully at Thea.

“Hey, is the doc in? My newbie says he’s still havin’ some trouble,” he said, grinning at Rowan while Lev trailed in behind them.

Percival very still, his eyes glued to Wade’s hand where it was resting on Rowan’s shoulder.

He had literally just managed to calm himself down, and now his stupid animal brain was demanding he kill something again.

He wasn’t going to. For one thing, he WASN’T an animal, and for another, killing employees was frowned upon. But he was picturing in his head exactly how he would remove Rowan and Lev from the room and coil up around Wade and—

He stepped forward, pulled out the air freshener and doused Rowan in it.

Which, really, was not entirely useful. The visual was still bothering him, and he was very close to hissing, but Wade quickly pulled away in shock and anger.

“What the hell?!” He snapped, and Lev froze in the doorway.

He did not know Percival Fairweather’s secrets. He didn’t really care to know them, either, but he was pretty good at sensing immediate danger. It came with the therianthrope territory.

Right now this office felt like the most dangerous place he could possibly be, and he was tempted to turn around and leave. But, well, Wade was his friend, and he was probably about to die if he left him here, so.

“I apologize,“ Percival said, as if realizing that he had just sprayed an employee in the face. At least they weren’t touching anymore. He still had the urge to shove everybody outside and lock the door just in case, and his fingers were twitching anxiously as he straightened his tie. “I, er. That was rude of me...”

Lev, who had snuck in closer, put a hand on Wade’s elbow to keep him from crowding up in Percival’s space the way he normally did.

“Wade, maybe we should—“ he began, but cut off as his hand was immediately removed and he was shoved out the door.

Wade gaped as Percival slammed the door in Lev’s face with an actual growl, sounding severely irritated as he quickly sprayed the space where he had been. He held the door shut as an angry Lev attempted to pull it open, yelling something unintelligably through the glass.

Wade was supremely unimpressed.

“What the hill- What is wrong with you? Open the door!”

Percival did not, in fact, open the door. Instead he stood stalk still, because he realized that he was not acting very rationally OR very politely right now. For somebody who was supposed to be an ordinary human who never had bad days, he was fairly certain that he looked like a lunatic.

But at least Lev was OUTSIDE and he was INSIDE and—

He brought his thumb and forefinger up to pinch the bridge of his nose as Lev called him a very nasty word behind the glass.

“Doctor I think I need that shirt of yours after all.”

 

[Reynarda]

Rowan flushed when Wade threw his arm across his shoulders and guided him into the clinic. His flush deepened as Thea turned their grin on him.

Thea was absolutely delighted to have three men--one of whom was Lev--come waltzing into the waiting room. Also, they hadn't interacted with the legendary Mr. Harper all that much and were eager to take some notes to share with the receptionists.

"Aw, Baby," they said, eyebrows drawing up in concern. "That arm--"

They broke off as Mr. Fairweather doused poor Rowan with Dr. Drake's smell masker. Thea stared at the four men, their mouth open.

Rowan recoiled, throwing up his arms to protect his face. He coughed and spluttered, sticky air freshener filling his lungs. He scrubbed at his face and then stared at Mr. Fairweather. What had he done that for? Rowan didn't think he smelled bad. He had showered just this morning. Even if he did that was a bit dramatic. He frowned, giving Percival a wounded look.

"Um..." Thea began.

Then everything happened so fast. They barely got out a, "Doc!" before Mr. Fairweather had shoved Lev out the door and slammed it, and Wade looked like he was about to murder Percival right then and there.

But Dr. Drake had appeared between Wade and Percival. Thea was worried one of the two men might try to shove her away, but then they caught sight of Dr. Drake's face, and her eyes were bright red with fury.

Azrael could not believe this. There was about to be a fight in her clinic. This was a place of healing, blast it. She was not setting any bones if this went south. So she had done the most logical thing. She had inserted herself between the two men. She could take one hormonal half-vampire and a human on if she had to. She shot Percival a nasty look before turning around and repeating the look for Wade Harper. Then she turned her back on Wade and glared at Percival.

"Mr. Fairweather," she began. Really, she wanted to shake him. But there were two humans behind her and the poor half-fae kid was practically hiding behind a chair. Lev was outside which was honestly probably best.

"You are not your basal ganglia," she snapped at Percival, invading his personal space just slightly. She wasn't about to insult his lizard brain in front of other people, so she used the scientific term for it. She wanted to spend some time ranting about the portion of the brain involved in mating behaviors, but she had several people with no idea why Percival Fairweather had sprayed one man with a deodorizer and shoved another out of the door. She resisted the urge to rub her temples. She was going to have to cover for this idiot.

"Just because your seasonal allergies are making you crazy, that does not mean you get to act crazy in my clinic." She turned back to Rowan and then glanced at Lev through the door. "You must have dehydroepiandrosterone," she said, using the first thing to come to her head. She was pretty sure both of them had it since it was a typical androgen, but she doubted they knew that. "It sets off Mr. Fairweather's allergies."

She shot Percival a meaningful look. "Look at Thea. Their scrub shirt has the right color in it to soothe your affliction."

Thea stood and turned dramatically. Azrael just hoped no one would ask how a color would help with allergies because she would have to make up something really quickly.

"Now, why are there four men in my office?" she asked, glaring at each of them--except Rowan, poor kid--in turn.

"Because--"

"Thea," Azrael snapped. "Not the time."

"--you're popular with the men," Thea finished under their breath. "Lemme know if you need your shirt."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Percival, for all intents and purposes, was very embarrassed. His first instinct when Azrael got between them was to growl at her, but he had a feeling that would only end with him getting his ass kicked. He didn't know exactly what Azrael could do in a fight, nor did he have any particular reason to think she could take on two grown men herself, but. Well.

He wasn't stupid. He didn't actually want to start a fight here in the doctor's office.

Wade very much wanted to start a fight in the doctor's office.

"No, what the hell," he said, drawing himself to his full height and glaring at Azrael. "He just assaulted Lev and my newbie for no goddamned reason. You don't get to blame that on allergies! You're going to apologize right now, or I'm going to kick your ass."

He side stepped Azrael to jab his finger in Percival's face, and Percival just shot her a pleading look as if to say 'please take pity on him'.

Thea, right. He turned to them, though Wade grabbed him by the sleeve of his shirt and forced him back around.

"No, you don't ignore me. Apologize, now, Percival," he snarled, getting all up in his space. Percival had the urge for a moment to push back, but...

Oh. Hm. Surprisingly this wasn't so bad. He took a deep breath, because Wade was very close to him. He didn't really get close much anymore. Only when they were fighting. Which, they were definitely fighting right now. But it was still nice.

Wade punched him in the chest, which was less nice. He wheezed a little, but clearly he hadn't put much force behind it. He seemed surprised more than anything that his fist had actually made contact.

"Wait. Are you, uh. Are you ok?" he asked, as if only now entertaining the thought that Percival might actually have a reason to be in the doctor's office. Percival grimaced, but at least now that everyone else was more or less backed off, he felt... a bit better.

Dr. Drake was right. He was not his lizard brain. Technically snakes weren't even lizards anyways.

"Yes," he said, though he was still a little breathless as he quickly turned away and covered his face. He was pretty sure his ears were red. "I-- I apologize. I really didn't mean to--"

Wade actually looked worried, because he hadn't punched him that hard.

"I really am sorry," he said to Rowan. He had no intention of scaring the poor kid, and the hurt look that he had given him had been enough to hurt his conscience. "It was-- Allergies, yes. The spray helps. I just... wasn't thinking."

Wade did not look entirely convinced, but his expression was a little more concerned now than furious. Still about 49% furious, though.

"Well-- Good," Wade grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "You should feel bad."

Percival gave him an unimpressed look, but he decided not to push the issue.

He had to leave, though, before something else set him off and he did something even stupider.

"Perhaps I should take your advice, Doctor," he said, straightening his suite to hide how flustered he was. "I think I will work from home today after all. Thank you for your assistance."

He had the blanket still in his bag, and he would return it the next day. But if he was spraying employees in the face and locking other employees out of the room, he was in no state to work.

He would just hope nobody told his father.

Speaking of people locked out of the room. Lev was standing behind the door and looking mutinous, though he was a bit calmer now that no actual fight had broken out. Percival was loathe to open the door. Maybe he was still feeling a little petty.

Wade unlocked the door in his stead, and Lev pushed his way inside with a huff.

"Is everything ok?" he asked, giving Percival a glare that was somewhere between pissed and cautious, but Percival just ignored him.

"Have a good day, Mister Harper. Mister Shepherd," he said, and quickly left before he could do anything else very stupid.

 

[Reynarda]

Azrael arched her eyebrow as Wade puffed himself up like a tomcat. Oh, this human thought he could intimidate her?

To be fair, she agreed with Wade. Percival did not get to use excuses. But she was mainly concerned with making sure her office did not become a mosh pit.

But when Wade Harper had the audacity to brush past her, she felt her mind turning to the scalpel she kept in her labcoat pocket. There was about to be a brawl in her office. She was a doctor. These bastards were about to turn her place of healing into a WWE ring. She was tired. She hadn't slept well in about four years. She was always looking over her shoulder, and her family was bleeding people in the worst way. She hadn't had her blood yet today. So, if these two big oafs wanted to play, she would play. Her blood boiling, Azrael reached for magic she hadn't called on in a long time.

Rowan wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he knew two things. The first was that an important man in the company had just doused him in air freshener. He felt bad that his... whatever the doctor said he had... had set off Mr. Fairweather's allergies. But also, another person had just sprayed him with air freshener. There was no protocol for that that he was aware of. The second thing he knew was that a rather short human woman was about to get flattened by two larger human men. It wasn't that he didn't think Dr. Drake could handle herself. She was frightening, but in that intense way people sometimes were. Not the way that told him she would not get flattened by two brawling adult men.

The doctor bristled and started forward when Wade punched Percival. Without thinking, Rowan grabbed her arm and yanked her backwards. As she collided with his chest, something shot through--well, it felt deep enough to be his bones. He wasn't sure what it was, but quite suddenly, he felt very faint. Oh no, not again.

Azrael swore in Latin as Rowan swayed on his feet. She had been prepping magic that would drop the blood pressure of two grown men whose blood she had not touched. But a single man whose blood she had touched had taken the full force of her partly finished spell. If she didn't do something, he could drop into a faint again. In her panic, she almost brought his blood pressure back up immediately, but in a flash of calm, she recalled her textbooks from med school.

"Easy," she said, guiding Rowan to a chair.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Azrael crouched next to him, swearing at herself in her head as she gently coaxed his pulse and blood pressure back up. This was why she didn't use her magic on people. People always got hurt. She could dream about using it to help people all she wanted, but it just wasn't made for that. "Not your fault. Low blood sugar?"

"Just ate a muffin," Rowan said.

"Well, it's probably not in your bloodstream yet," Azrael muttered, even though she guessed it probably was considering what muffins were made out of.

"S'okay," Rowan told Percival, because what else did you say when a man apologizes for spraying you with air freshener?

Azrael glanced up when Percival said he would take her advice. She scowled at him but nodded. It would probably be for the best of all involved. She made a mental note to fuss at him more later.

Rowan frowned slightly. The doctor's hair had shifted when he had yanked her backwards, and he noticed that at least her left ear was slightly pointed. Shit. She wasn't human. Was she like... fae or something? He glanced at the others but guessed they hadn't noticed.

"Does our boy need his legs elevated again?" Thea asked, appearing behind the doctor. They reached down and with one smooth motion brushed the doctor's hair back over the tip of her ear. Dr. Drake didn't even seem to notice. They knew, Rowan realized.

"No, I'm fine. It was just sudden," Rowan said. "The excitement, maybe?" He lifted his head in a wave as Percival left as he didn't want him thinking he hated him now. He did notice Mr. Fairweather didn't say anything to Lev, which was weird. Lev was the nicest guy Rowan had ever met. Was... no. Mr. Fairweather couldn't be bigoted. It wasn't because Lev wasn't human, surely.

Azrael let out a long sigh. "Alright, Mr. Shepard, why are you back in?"

"Oh!" Rowan pointed to the rash on his arm. "I was wondering if I could get more cream for my iron rash?"

Azrael blinked. "Your what."

Rowan felt his cheeks going pink. "Oh, is that not what it--I mean, Lev said--"

Rowan broke off as Dr. Drake's eyes went dark and she slowly turned to look at Lev. He quickly shot an apologetic look at Lev--he had no idea why Dr. Drake was looking at him like she could make his soul leave his body with a glance, but somehow Rowan figured it was his fault.

"Thea," Dr. Drake said after a few seconds had ticked by, "please get the cream for Mr. Shepard. The one with--" The doctor huffed. "You know the one."

Thea did know the one. She meant the one she kept for fae that accidentally touched iron. They quickly slipped into the first exam room and pulled out the cream. It very obviously said it was good for iron rash and had been approved by the FDA for topical administration on fae. But you didn't just bring that sort of cream into a waiting room full of other people. They squirted a generous amount into an empty jar that usually held swabs and put the tattle-tale tube of cream back in the drawer. They grabbed several gloves from the glove box and returned to the waiting room.

"Here, Doc." Thea passed over the jar and the gloves.

Azrael glanced at the jar and then lifted her eyes to meet Thea's. Thea winked. Bless them and every pink hair on their head.

As she applied the cream to a much more relaxed Rowan, she scowled. "Mr. Harper, if you continue to punch people in my office, I will be forced to declare you a health risk and quarantine you. Please take all future quarrels outside."

"Yeah," Thea agreed. "If our boy, here, hadn't stepped in, you might have hurt the doc--or worse, she might have hurt you. You're quite the hero, Rowan."

Rowan went bright red at their teasing, but only Azrael knew how right Thea was.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Wade was going to glare at Percival until he left, but he was quickly distracted by Rowan almost dropping into a faint right there. He immediately abandoned his boss and ran over to the kid, sort of floundering a bit because he had no medical training, but helping to support him as they brought him over to a chair.

"Oh shit, are you ok? Did you need, like, a juice box or something? They give you juice boxes when you faint right? I can run to the cafeteria," he said, concern clear in his voice, Lev sighed, Percival's slight forgotten as he put a hand on Wade's shoulder.

"I'm sure the doc can handle it," he said, and Wade's cheeks went red as he remembered that yes, there was an actual doctor here. He moved back to give her room, though he kept his hand on Rowan's shoulder. The poor kid was having a rough day, and it was all Percival's fault. Well, mostly. Maybe some of it was his fault.

He and Percival brought out the worst in each other.

Lev, meanwhile, tried to portray how sorry he was with just his eyes alone when Azrael turned her glare on him.

"I mean, I was just guessing," he said, to give himself a way out. "You know, my ex used to get something similar. But you're the doctor, so clearly I could be wrong."

If Rowan didn't actually know that he was fae, that was a whole can of worms that Lev was not going to open.

Except Wade, with the social awareness of a turnip, was more than willing to open it anyways.

"Lev," he said with a long-suffering sigh. "Nobody here cares about--"

"I was just guessing," Lev said very sternly, because he was not about to have Wade blurt out that the kid was fae when he clearly had no idea. Wade did not look entirely convinced, but he figured maybe Rowan didn't want everyone knowing his ancestry. Some folks were like that. He squeezed Rowan's shoulder encouragingly instead, as Thea went into the back and returned with the cream.

He looked entirely unamused, however, when he was deemed a threat to public safety.

"Hey, I could take that asshole," he grumbled, though perhaps she was right. Taking things outside might be better in the future. "Besides, I would never hit a lady."

 

[Reynarda]

Azrael huffed air through her nose. Yes, she could pretend it was hives all she wanted, but eventually, someone was going to have to tell Rowan one of his parents was not human. Personally, Azrael lived in fear of having to explain, and then Rowan was going to demand answers only to find his mother had a secret fae boyfriend somewhere. The last thing she wanted to do was throw open the Shepard family closet to reveal the skeletons inside. But. This kid was 23. He needed to know eventually. Maybe she could get his emergency contact info and contact his mother directly. He had given her permission to discuss his medical information with his parents, after all.

"I didn't even know iron rashes were a thing," Rowan said, feeling really bad that the doctor had shot Lev an icy look. Though, why she had done that, he wasn't really sure.

"Yes, well, they're not incredibly common," Azrael said wryly. The cat was out of the bag, and there wasn't really anyway to grab the irate feline and stuff it back in. But then Wade almost patted Rowan on the shoulder and said not to be ashamed of his heritage. He wouldn't be saying that if he had anything to hide about his family.

Though, come to think of it, Thea knew a decent amount about his mother--she seemed like a lovely lady--and absolutely nothing about his father. Maybe he understood better than his ability to read a room suggested.

Rowan watched as the doctor applied the cream to his arm, the itching-burning disappearing almost instantly. There seemed to be a lot in that jar--he hoped she would let him take it with him.

Rowan was starting to think non-humans were a lot more common than he thought. Maybe he just didn't know how to look. He had been intimidated by her, maybe it was because he had subconsciously realized she wasn't human. Though, he didn't really picture fae as being intense. Didn't they like... dance in forests and play pan pipes and stuff? He had once seen a rally protesting some company doing something that messed up the environment, though, and those fae had seemed pretty intense.

"You can keep the rest," Dr. Drake told him, standing and pulling her gloves from her hands. "Don't apply it more than once every two hours or it will dry out your skin."

"Yes, ma'am," Rowan said.

"If your symptoms worsen, stop using it and call immediately."

"I'm sure you could have, handsome," Thea told Wade. Though, they personally thought it was because Percival wouldn't hit Wade back. "But then you would have had a pissed doctor to deal with. You've never witnessed Dr. Drake reading the riot act to someone who was in her office because they did something stupid."

For her part, Azrael pursed her lips. Whether or not Wade could have taken Percival was unimportant. Percival was her patient, and she felt slightly protective of him, even if he did smell like old vampire money. Also, a clinic was not the place for a fight. She was going to make both men wear her testosterone-inhibiting shirt.

Thea bumped her shoulder slightly, and Azrael relaxed her scowl into a her typical put-upon expression. She turned to Rowan, who was holding the jar of cream and eyeing it thoughtfully.

"How do you feel?" she asked, knowing full well he should no longer feel faint. As she had now used her magic on him three times in as many hours, his heartbeat practically thundered in her ears.

"Fine," he said. "Well, better, thanks to the cream. Sorry again."

"No need to apologize," Azrael said. It was entirely her fault, after all.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Wade gave Thea a scrutinizing look. He couldn't tell if they were trying to be genuinely supportive, or if they were making fun of him.

"I could," he reiterated.

He had won their final fencing match in high school. If he could handle Percival wielding a sword, he could handle him with his fists.

He clapped a hand on Rowan's shoulder again, smiling at him.

"If it was trouble, the doc wouldn't be here," he pointed out. "If you're sick, you get it checked out. That's, like, a team rule. You don't try to work through a fever like it's nothing because you're a bit scared of the doctor."

He shot Lev an accusatory glare, and Lev held up his hands in defense.

"That was ages ago. You told me about the time you broke your leg in college because somebody dared you to jump off the roof of your frat house onto a trampoline when you were drunk, you don't get to talk," he shot back, and Wade waved him away.

"Please, that doesn't even count. Everybody does dumb shit in college, it's what college is for," he said as if it were nothing. "Anyways, you have health insurance. The company covers visits to the local doctor, so don't feel bad about making her work."

 

[Reynarda]

"I'm sure you could, darling," Thea said, popping their hip a little.

Azrael rolled her eyes. Wade clearly had no idea if they were just ribbing him, but with Thea, it was usually half and half. They were simultaneously flirting and making fun.

"Even if it was trouble, I'd still be here," Azrael corrected dryly. "Cleaning up people after they do stupid things is unfortunately in my job description." She arched an eyebrow, eyes sliding to Wade. "If that's the team rule, Mr. Harper, why is it I have never seen you in my office?"

"Ooooooo oh no she didn't," Thea said.

Azrael nodded to them, appreciating the back up dramatics.

"Ooo, I had college pegged all wrong," Thea said. "Doc has been pestering to get a BSN, and if that's what college is, maybe I just will."

"No, that is not what college is for," Azrael said, knowing full well Thea was just baiting her but feeling powerless to not correct Wade. "And I did not do anything stupid in college."

"Which is why you're the doc and Trampoline Boy is not," Thea agreed wisely. "But you've also never done anything fun in your life." They turned and grinned at Rowan. "The doc may like working but I don't, so try not to do anything stupid, ok? No jumping off of roofs."

"I think I can promise that," Rowan said, flushing again. He wished Thea wouldn't grin at him like that. "Wouldn't want to make you, uh, work."

Thea's grin widened, and Rowan got the feeling his was tangling with some devilish inhuman. They winked at him, and his face flushed deeper.

He rose, rubbing the back of his neck. Well, today had been very embarrassing. Maybe the doctor should just keep him in an exam room for the rest of the day. Too bad he wasn't spraying people with air freshener. Maybe the doc would let him go hide in his apartment if he were. "Thanks again, Dr. Drake."

Azrael inclined her head. "Do me a favor and keep an eye on these two. Don't let them power through any more fevers. I am not against hunting them down if they attempt it. Keep close watch on Mr. Harper. I get the feeling he's a hypocrite."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Wade opened his mouth, then closed it again. She kind of had him there.

"I have an excellent immune system," he said finally, and it was even half true. He got sick very rarely, and when he did, it was usually mild enough to take care of with dayquill and determination.

But he was the boss, and it was the job of the boss to do the tough shit so they employees didn't have to.

"How can you have not done anything stupid in college?" he asked, wrinkling his nose. "You have to let loose sometime. Oh, doc, maybe you should come to one of our drinking parties. I'm certain I can make you do something incredibly dumb if you get enough booze in you."

He grinned, and Lev swatted him.

"Don't be a jerk," he chastised. Wade huffed, because he was just telling the truth. But then, he was told he did come on a little strong sometimes.

He stretched, his shoulders popping as he held the door open for Lev and Rowan.


blah blah time skip


Lev was excited for drinks. He was trying not to be too excited, because he didn't want to give a bad impression, but he couldn't help it. It wasn't exactly a date or anything, but it was nice to go out to drink with someone who wasn't Wade.

Wade took happy hour a bit too far most times. Lev would worry about him if he didn't know that he only drank once or twice a month.

Still. New people. That was nice. It was always nice to make new friends, especially since he was only kind of work friends with most of the folks in the office.

He had picked out a nice bar and everything. It was classy and low key, and they had a soft jazz band on Fridays. After finishing work early, it was perfect. And, well, if he had dressed up a bit nicer than usual and put some time into getting his hair just right, that was just normal for hanging out with friends.

This was perfectly normal. Besides, Thea would be there too. It wasn't weird to go to a nice bar with a band when you were with a group of people.

They had decided to meet up outside the place, Lev didn't have a car and he wasn't sure if the other two did either. he had his hands shoved into his pockets as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. He was only ten minutes early. That wasn't like, weird or desperate territory yet.

 

[Reynarda]

"What? No, boooooooooooo."

Azrael scowled at Thea. "Why are you booing me?"

They had had a last minute patient and so had decided to leave for the bar together--though, Azrael thought Thea had scheduled it that way on purpose.

"You were wearing that earlier," Thea pointed out. They, however, had changed into a flouncy purple shirt and torquoise pants that looked better suited to a merperson pool party. It was weird seeing them in something other than scrubs.

Thea dragged her into the employee bathroom and started pulling her hair from the braid she'd had it in. Azrael made a face. "If you start trying to put makeup on me, Thea, I will fire you."

"You can't fire me for friend stuff, Doc," Thea said, completely confident in their position. "Ugh, do you not have any color other than black? Seriously, are you in mourning?"

"I feel comfortable in black," Azrael muttered.

"Where's the red scarf I gave you for Christmas?"

"With my coat. Ow. Why are you doing this?"

Thea had their tongue protruding slightly from their mouth while they tried to convince her hair to sit normally around her face. "Because you look like a stern school marm. You are going on a date--"

"It's not a date."

"--with a dashing Mr. Choi and you need to look nice."

"If it's a date, then why are you coming?" Azrael countered petulantly. "That one does what it wants, leave it be."

Thea scowled as the strand of hair they had been soothing sprung back into a weird curl. "I am your wingperson, obviously. But if you want me to duck out so you can snog Lev, I will feign sickness."

"Thea, I swear. There will be no snogging," Azrael said firmly, scowling at Thea's reflection. They had untwisted the coil of braids they usually piled on top of their head and let the small braids hand down their back in a pink curtain. Azrael thought she might add "merperson" to the list of non-humans Thea could potentially be.

"Ta-da!" Thea announced proudly.

Azrael eyed her reflection, unimpressed. Her hair was just going to get in her way.

"Ok, now hear me out, what if--what if... you unbuttoned the top button of your shirt."

Azrael shot Thea's reflection a dark look. Thea sighed. "I tried."

"Come on, we're going to be late," Azrael said, slipping past Thea.

"Doc, we have like thirty minutes to get there."

"And with you in tow, we can expect delays."

"Rude," Thea said, grabbing their coat and hurrying after her.

As she left the building, Azrael froze, coming to a stop so suddenly Thea ran into her.

"What?" Thea asked, eyeing the tense lines of Azrael's shoulders with concern. Azrael looked around, looking for all the world like a brand new thief who had just run off with someone's wallet. Thea repeated, "What?"

"Nothing, come on."



"Slow down," Thea complained as Azrael hurried ahead. The doctor had been twitchy ever since they left Fairweather Communications. Once of the reasons Thea had scheduled the late appointment was so Azrael could figure out how to get to this place and take them there, but even Thea could tell they had doubled back a few times.

To their surprise, Azrael doubled back and grabbed hold of their elbow, pulling them after her. "What the--"

Azrael pulled them onto a side street, popped out onto a parallel street, and then dove into a crowd. Thea held tightly to her arm, afraid they would lose her. But the doc pulled them out of the crowd and down another street. Then, she dragged them into an alley.

"Is there a stalker? Do I need to pretend to kiss you?" Thea asked, their eyes wide.

"Why is that your solution?" Azrael demanded. "No... I don't know. I just had a bad feeling and I couldn't shake it."

"Still there?" Thea asked.

Azrael shook her head. "No, we lost it, I think."

Thea thought for a moment the doc was being paranoid, but then decided they trusted her for everything else. Though, Dr. Drake did seem really uneasy.

Thea checked Azrael's watch--they were allergic to timepieces and so didn't have one of their own. "We only have five minutes."

"The bar is just over there," the doctor said, nodding behind her. She hesitated, a sheepish look crossing her face. "Do me a favor and don't mention this to Lev, ok?"

"Mention what," Thea deadpanned.

Azrael let out a sigh of relief. "I'd give you a raise, but you said I couldn't do that for friend stuff."

"No, that was firing me for friend stuff," Thea corrected wisely. "You can pay me for friend stuff whenever."

"Fine, first drink is on me, then," Azrael said, slipping from the alley.

Thea followed Azrael out of the alley and rounded the corner. Spotting Lev, they waved enthusiastically. "Hey! Hey cutie boy! Over here!"

Azrael let out a huff of air. Her nerves were fried now, but thank goodness Thea was there to make her release tension. She smiled at Lev, suddenly feeling self-conscious. She hadn't done anything with friends in years, and she had never been particularly social to begin with.

"You look dapper," Thea told Lev. "Doesn't he look dapper, Doc?"

Azrael felt her face heat up. Great, thanks Thea. "Yes, very dapper," she agreed. She turned to the bar. "So, this is it, then? I've never been."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Lev's phone dinged as he waited, and he pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open.

wat r u doin

Wade. He didn't usually text often on the weekends. If he was going to invite Lev out, he would have done it at work. He replied to texts, but he didn't like to send them out himself.

But then, he hadn't seemed particularly happy at the office today. When he was upset, he tended to be louder and more obnoxious than ever in his attempt at hiding it. He had made a number of inappropriate jokes, and even Margaret seemed pissed at him by the end of the day.

Lev was a tiny bit worried. But he had already arranged this night out, and he was going to enjoy it. He couldn't drop everything in his life to worry about Wade Harper.

Busy. Talk tomorrow?

He hoped that wasn't too abrupt, but a few seconds after he sent it his phone buzzed again with an obnoxious chirp.

2mrw cool hav fun

Hm. It must not have been too important, then.

He looked up as Azrael and Thea approached, and he grinned at them as he waved.

His cheeks did turn a bit pink at 'cutie boy', but he took it in stride.

"Well, you look dashing yourself," he said to Thea with a smile, and his smile was a little shyer as he looked at Azrael. "You too, Doc. I like the hair."

He had said he wouldn't flirt during work, but this was not work which meant flirting was fine, right?

Right.

He looked back at the bar behind them and nodded.

"Yeah, uh, Wade introduced me to this place a few years ago. It has good music," he said as he held the door open for the two of them. The band was playing softly on the stage at the back of the room, and a woman in an evening dress was crooning along to a saxophone. The dress code was surprisingly casual, with a mix of more formal evening wear and even one person in jeans. There were a few booths and tables around the place, and Lev was about to bypass them for the bar before he saw who was sitting there.

Huh. He didn't think he had ever seen Percival Fairweather outside of work.

He was even dressed casually, in a black turtleneck and grey slacks. There was a lightweight grey scarf wrapped around his neck, and he kind of looked like he just stepped out of a fashion magazine.

Stupid handsome people.

Lev quickly snapped out of it, and led Thea and Azrael to a booth. Percival didn't even look up as they came in, which Lev considered a blessing. The guy seemed to hate his guts for some reason.

"A-anyways," he said as they got seated, picking up a drink menu and looking through it. "I've been looking forward to this."

Wait, was that too desperate?

"Uh, a normal amount, that is."

 

[Reynarda]

"I know," Thea said, striking a pose. Azrael rolled her eyes. Thea looked like a cotton candy machine had exploded, but Azrael was very found of this particular sucrose disaster with legs.

Thea's grin widened as Azrael Drake, MD went as red as they had ever seen her. Dang, she didn't even pink when Thea teased her. But hand it to Lev Choi to say he liked her hair and here she was rivaling the stoplights. The blush faded as soon as the doctor caught them grinning at her and her expression turned into a scowl.

"I know, right! I told her she needed to let her hair down--like Rapunzel."

Azrael sighed. Thea was going to be even more insufferable, now. She raised her eyebrows. This didn't seem like the kind of place Wade Harper would spend time in. She sort of pictured him at basement bars with local grunge bands playing so loudly one couldn't hear themself think. But maybe she had him pegged all wrong.

She noticed Percival Fairweather, but pretended not to. This did seem like the sort of place he would come, however.

Thea gracefully slid into the booth, making sure Azrael sat across from Lev. They snorted. "How much is the 'normal' amount?"

"I," Azrael announced, frowning at Thea, "have also been looking forward to this."

"Me, too. I've been vibrating I'm so excited." Thea picked up the other drink menu. "What's the most expensive thing? Doc is buying my first round. I am responsible for the hair." They winked at Lev over the top of their menu.

Azrael sighed. "We're not at the office. You can call me by my first name."

"Are you saying your first name isn't 'Doctor'?" Thea asked, finding the most expensive drink. It had too much champagne in it. Gross. They wanted something more... pink.

"No, it's Azrael, actually."

"Azrael is your middle name," Thea continued. They shivered. "See, I can't even say it without getting hives. Normal hives, not iron hives."

Azrael rolled her eyes and smiled at Lev. "Sorry, I'm so used to Thea doing all the talking. Have you lived in New York all your life?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Lev enjoyed this. Thea was a little like Wade, in that they were able to keep a conversation going all on their own, and set the mood around them. He appreciated them, even if they were teasing him.

"The normal amount," he reiterated.

He did turn bright pink when Azrael said she had been looking forward to this too, though, and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Oh god, he was grinning. He was pretty sure he looked like an idiot.

"Oh, you should try the Strawberry Daiquiri. It's really sweet," he suggested as he looked through the menu. He spoke like he knew the place, but he was far from a regular. Wade took him here when he wanted a break from the world, but it wasn't so often he was here every month or anything.

He'd probably get the local craft beer. He wasn't much of a cocktail person, although he liked a good whisky sour every now and then. But his alcohol tolerance was not super high, and he did not want to actually get tipsy.

"What do you want, doc--- Azrael?" He asked, his ears turning red as he tried using her first name. "I can put our order in at the bar."

He smiled at Thea's antics, glad that they were here. Their lightheartedness helped him relax a bit.

"Yeah, I don't know what was up with that," he said, sighing. "I thought the kid actually knew what was going on, or I wouldn't have mentioned anything. Sorry to put you in an awkward position."

He hoped that issue would get cleared up soon, for Rowan's sake. It was hard enough being a supernatural creature in the city when you knew what you were and were able to adapt. Being without that knowledge would be unbearable.

But Azrael seemed to want to talk, so he shrugged his shoulders and leaned back in his seat.

"Mmm, more or less. We've moved neighbourhoods a few times, but I've basically always been here. My mom moved here from Korea with my grandma when she was just a kid, and we've been here ever since. Set up some roots, I guess. Mom, dad and Grandma have an apartment in Queens, which is a bit of a trek, so I got a place closer to the company when I joined it. That was... oh, nine years ago now? Man, time flies, huh?"