Proof #8
“I can’t get this spot off the counter.” He muttered.
Jacob looked at him and could see dark circles had formed under his eyes and his face was unshaven.
He looked a lot more unravelled than he normally did, which for him was a big deal.
Then he looked down at where he was scrubbing and saw that the spot Garret was referring to was actually a spot where he’d scrubbed straight through the counter laminate to expose what was underneath.
The rag itself was threadbare and it looked like his hand was even bleeding.
“Oh yeah- I don’t think that’s coming off…” Jacob began. “Maybe you should take a break, Garret.”
“How dare you!” He exclaimed. “I can’t! Not while this place is a pig sty!
You’re not working today so just leave us alone!
We demand great customer service so we need great customers!
Better customers! All the customers!” Garret exclaimed- but as he did his voice grew sleepy and sluggish.
A wave of exhaustion overcame him and he passed out right on the counter.
Jacob barely caught him in time to prevent Garret from smashing his nose in.
“Serena! A little help?” Jacob cried out, but she let out a yawn. Whatever was going on here, things definitely felt like they were spiraling. Jacob did his best to set the now sleeping Garret down on the counter as gently as he could.
“Okay. Good talk. I’ll be back.” Jacob whispered to Garret before grabbing two waters and bringing one to Joe. He took the water and looked a bit tired still, but seemed to be more coherent at least.
“I need some air. You going to be okay for a moment?” Jacob asked.
“Of course, is everything okay?”
“Yeah- I just need to go talk to my bird.” Jacob muttered.
“Oh.” Joe nodded. He looked confused but didn’t press. He took a sip of his water and sat back in the chair. “Do what you need to. I’ll be right here.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Jacob began, but as he got up to leave Joe reached out and grabbed his hand.
“I love you.” He said. Jacob tried to smile, but it felt fragile.
“I- know.” He began, before rushing outside to talk privately with Teddy.
“What the fuck is going on?” He exclaimed so loud a group of Asian tourists jumped.
“Oh yeah- things are spiraling.” Teddy laughed to himself. “If this wasn’t such a trainwreck I’d be laughing. Actually, I still might. It’s quite something.”
“You’re not helping.” Jacob grumbled.
“Is that what I’m supposed to be doing?” Teddy pondered.
“Teddy!”
“Okay! Fine! Look, this isn’t such a big deal.” Teddy shrugged. “Maybe.”
“How is this not a big deal?!” Jacob exclaimed.
“Look, you’ve shot a lot of magic out there and all of it is a little bit chaotic. Just be thankful that Joe hasn’t clued into all of this chaos coming from you.”
“What happens when he does?” Jacob frowned.
“Well, then I guess we find out if he actually would have loved you or not.” Teddy shrugged.
“Again, not helping Teddy!” Jacob yelled. He wondered how many people were worried about the man yelling at a seagull, but at this moment, he didn’t care.
“What do you want? Truth or sympathy. You’re not getting both.” Teddy responded.
“Look - This is a lot. Between all of this, and what happened with Thomas at the pet store…”
“Yeah, what happened there?” Teddy asked. “I only got a little preview from the leash.”
“Sorry about that by the way.” Jacob uttered.
“It’s fine. I’m not mad.” Teddy lied. “What happened?”
“They started to talk the same. It was like they were zombies but saying the same thing and just coming towards me. They started grabbing me and tried to take off my clothes… It was scary.”
“It always is.” Teddy began. “You might’ve triggered an echo chamber.”
“A what?”
“An echo chamber. The same spell cast on two people at the same time with the same result. If you break the spell on one, you probably will affect them both at this point.” Teddy sighed. “Oh yeah. This is a huge mess.”
“You’re the worst instructor!” Jacob exclaimed.
“I’m a fucking seagull, what did you expect?!” Teddy exclaimed back, throwing up his wings defensively. “Don’t put all this chaos on me!”
“Well it’s gotta go somewhere!” Jacob said. “What do I do?”
“Well- which problem do you want to solve first?”
“None of them!” Jacob exclaimed. “I don’t want to solve any of this! Why can’t the spells just work how they’re supposed to?”
“Oh you stupid boy. Nothing ever works how you expect it to. Nothing at all. This is all a giant mess that you’ve created and now we have to pick up the pieces one at a time.” Teddy chuckled again. “Or not. And we see just how deep this chaos spiral dives.”
“Well what do you propose I do first?”
“Well, you’ve never tried to break one of your spells before. That seems like a good place to start.”
“How does one break a spell?”
“Now that- I wish I could tell you.”
“Teddy!”
“It’s brewcasting! It’s new! It’s unique and exciting and different! Double double toil and whatever else the fuck it is you do! This is your domain. You made a spell and now you either let it continue, or you find a way to break it.”
“The only one I know I could talk to about this was Tic… and he’s…” Jacob sighed. “Well who knows where he is.”
“I know… but he likely didn’t know much about this magic anyway. As I said it’s a rare gift. And being a boy witch already puts you in the minority so this is… complicated.” Teddy huffed.
“Do you know anyone?”
“You’re the first. Perhaps one of the first in decades. I think the only way you could potentially learn more about how to break it is to go to old sources.”
“Old sources?”
“You know… The old magics. Something that has existed since magic was more accepted and available to people. Something that would record the old world ways?”
“You don’t mean…” Jacob said slowly cluing in.
“I do. I suspect I know a place where we can find out a bit more about it. If your boyfriend is actually a Templar, he’d have resources on magic there. We could read a few of them and figure out how we can break it all.”
“I suspect that’s where it is.” Teddy sighed. “You think Joe would be up to going back there?”
“I’m sure he’ll be able to find some excuse to go back.” Jacob looked at his phone and grunted. “Okay- go to the templar whatever, figure out how to break the spells, come back and save Serena-”
“And Garret.” Teddy needled.
“Fine. And Garret. Then we deal with Thomas. Then we come back and we finally figure out how Joe feels.”
“Are you ready for this?” Teddy asked.
“No. It sounds awful.” Jacob whined.
“Perfect. Let’s go.”
28
Chai.
“How’re you feeling?” Jacob asked as he sat next to Joe. He seemed more coherent now. He was taking a sip from his water and seemed fully like himself. Whatever happened earlier had obviously passed and Jacob was relieved- but still unnerved.
“Better. I think. I just need a moment to still figure out where my head’s at.” Joe responded.
“Hopefully on your shoulders.” Jacob responded.
“You’re cute. But your jokes are terrible.”
“I get that a lot. Well not the ‘I’m cute’ part, but the terrible jokes part for sure.” Jacob smiled. He felt comfortable here. Even if this wasn’t real, it was different. It felt nice to be able to just unwind. He loved being next to Joe, and the way they talked just felt easy and comfortable.
“Well those people are lying. You’re very cute. In your own way.” Joe responded. Jacob reached out and felt his forehead.
“No headaches or anything?”
“No. I’m okay. Whatever that was earlier seems to have passed. I’m sorry for scaring you like that-”
“More than okay. It’s not your fault.” Jacob responded.
“Because it’s your fault!” Teddy hissed in his ear.
“Look- I know this is a bit strange, but can we go back to your work for a bit?” Jacob asked. Joe looked at him quizzically.
“I mean, I suppose so. But why?” Joe responded.
“This… This whole Tic situation has me a little bit-” Jacob shrugged. “I just wanted to-”
“I didn’t think you were religious?” Joe smirked.
“I’m not but-” Jacob tried to think of something to say that sounded right. “I just wanted to be able to possibly talk about all of this.”
“I mean, sure. I’m happy to take you. Maybe I should give you a tour of the space so you can get to know it better. I mean, if you’re going to be dating me you should probably be comfortable seeing my workplace.”
“That sounds nice.” Jacob looked over to see Garret still laying on the counter passed out, and Serena leaning against the back countertop. Both of them seemed frozen in time and the guilt felt palpable. “I mean mine doesn’t always look like this.”
“What do you mean? I’ve come in here multiple times with people passed out. I thought that was just a part of the atmosphere.” Joe chuckled.
“Not always.” Jacob paused. “Or at least not until recently.”
“Well, if you want to check out the area, I suggest we head off then. Maybe take you on a very special tour that’s only for us.” Joe said as he slid his hand down to Jacob’s leg and gave it a good squeeze.
“Yeah. That. Let’s do that.”
The walk over was nice. The sun was starting to set and the air felt refreshing on his skin. Joe walked just close enough to be able to grab his hand if he wanted to, and Jacob was more than happy to brush hands whenever their fingers accidentally touched.
There were still so many questions he had. What was about to happen? What was he doing? And what was it about Joe’s scent that made him so unbelievably sexy to him?
This whole thing felt easy. Like it was something that they had both been waiting for forever, and finally had found in each other.
“What was she like?” Jacob asked.
“Who?”
“Your wife. What was she like?” Jacob asked. “Sorry, was that too out of nowhere?”
“No. It’s fine. I can understand your curiosity about it.” Joe chuckled. “Well… She was wonderful. We dated for three years before I finally popped the question. She was sweet, kind and gentle-”
“So nothing like me then?”