coveted magics, 12
“This has the potential to be so awkward,” Peter complained to Harley as they lay side by side in bed for a little mid-afternoon break. “I mean, I know I have the opportunity to do things right here, but still!”
Harley raised his hand up to Peter’s face and started tracing fingers along his cheek, which may have helped him to relax, but it didn’t help him concentrate. “Darlin’, I reckon’ you don’t have a thing to worry about. Billy’s been here three weeks now, and he practically opened up to you more and more at lightspeed. If he’s gonna take this well from anyone, it’s gonna be you. And we both know that the Kaplans won’t have done this properly, if at all.”
Peter groaned a little in frustration, and shuffled his body to press his cheek further into Harley’s hand, a silent communication that Harley was doing exactly the right thing and Peter wanted more. “Yeah, I know. And I want to make sure this happens in time. It’s just like Danny said when we spoke last week – I don’t want him to feel like he has to hide or sneak around with Teddy at all.”
Harley nodded in understanding, and then smirked. “Those two’ve really taken a shine to each other, huh?”
Peter grinned, his heart warming at the sentiment. “They have, and I’m so excited for both of them. Getting young queer experiences is just… it’s special.”
“I only got to have mine online,” Harley said with a sigh, “but I did get some of them, even if it was just bein’ out and unabashedly gay around some other people. Now, you ready to do this?”
Peter yawned, and then made a playful show of curling into his boyfriend as much as he could. “I dunno Harls, I could go for a nap now…”
Harley kissed Peter’s forehead, and then grabbed Peter by the shoulders and pulled him upright. “Nup, no puttin’ this off, Pete. You know it’s gotta happen.”
“Ugh, fine,” Peter relented, and stood up from the bed. He leaned closer to Harley for long enough to plant a quick kiss on his lips, and then moved to leave the bedroom. When Harley tried to follow Peter’s movements, it was his turn to gently push Harley back onto the bed.
He slipped out of the bedroom to find Billy playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch. Well, more accurately, the game was paused while Billy’s eyes were glued to his phone in his hands. Judging by the gleeful, excited expression on his face, Peter could easily guess that he was texting Teddy.
“Any luck beating any of Harley’s time trial scores yet?” Peter asked by way of announcing himself. He stepped around the couch and took a seat at the other end from Billy, debating internally whether or not to challenge him to a race. Peter decided against it, figuring that the distraction actually wouldn’t be helpful for this conversation.
“Somehow I doubt I’ll ever accomplish that,” Billy sighed, and placed his phone down upright on the coffee table. “You done being gay with your boyfriend in there?”
Peter made an obvious, knowing glance towards Billy’s phone. “Are you done being gay with yours?”
Billy flushed. “He’s- he’s not my boyfriend! I mean we are dating, but we haven’t put a label on it yet!”
“I know, I know,” Peter chuckled. “But I don’t doubt he will be, when you’re both ready to call it that. And… I wanted to talk to you about that, actually.”
“Oh? About what exactly?” Billy asked inquisitively as his flustering settled down, replaced by a content smile at Peter’s appraisal of how his relationship with Teddy was developing.
“Well,” Peter started, feeling the awkward apprehension set right back in. “Look, I really don’t want this to be awkward, but is it safe to assume the Kaplans didn’t really give you a safe sex talk?”
Billy winced a little, and Peter immediately felt a little embarrassed. “Um. No, they didn’t. I mean, they tried? But it was kind of pathetic and weird. Do we, uh, do we have to do this?”
Peter let out a sigh and put effort into stopping his body from deflating. He tried to focus on his desire to make this a comfortable experience for Billy, and that helped somewhat. “We don’t have to right now, but I would like to go over some things with you. Can I say some things and then you decide whether you want to keep having this talk now or later?”
Slowly, Billy nodded. “I guess, yeah?”
Letting out a breath of relief, Peter relaxed a bit on the couch and directed his thoughts to a rather rehearsed script he’d been going over in his mind for the last few days. “First and foremost, I don’t want you to feel like you have to sneak around, okay? I’m not here to judge you, because I really don’t think that helps anybody. Whether you decide to have sex tomorrow, in a year’s time or never, I just want you to know that you can come to me with questions, and that you feel prepared to be safe.”
“Huh,” went Billy. He was silent for a few seconds after that, before speaking again. “You’re saying it’s okay? To, you know. Not wait until I’m older? Not that I’m planning on it now! I just… I don’t know, I’m used to people saying teens are too young to be having sex.”
That made Peter laugh a little. “As someone who is technically also still a teenager, I don’t think that idea makes sense when you consider just how horny a teenager’s hormones can make them.”
Billy snorted and blushed a little at that, but as best as Peter could tell, he didn’t look uncomfortable. “That was blunt.”
“Eh-” Peter shrugged. He was then interrupted by a calico cat that had gotten up onto the outside windowsill and was heartily yowling. Both Peter and Billy turned to admire the cat until it left, before Peter grounded himself and started speaking again. “No point beating around the bush, you know? I think that you can be the judge of when you’re ready, and what you’re ready for. I just want to make sure that you know how to do things safely – and I don’t just mean when it comes to physical health, I mean emotional health too.”
“I guess that does make sense,” Billy said eventually. “Um. We can talk about it now, I think. I don’t know when it’ll come in handy, but… yeah.”
Peter nodded, and began the talk. “I think the first and most important thing for you to know is about good communication. It’s more than just about getting consent for stuff – it’s also about having a nice time with each other. “
Inhaling the rather decadent scent of vanilla coffee, Gwen decided that she was glad to be doing this. Riri knew she was here and was okay with it, so they really were doing everything right, even if it was their first time acting on their polyamorous relationship desires. And it sure as hell helped that the girl sitting across from her at the cafe was witty as hell, and beautiful too. She had this dark curly hair that hung by her side, melding comfortably with her tawny brown skin.
There was this constant faux-blase look about her, but Gwen had seen the kind of shit this girl got up to, and knew that there was a very perceptive depth to her. After all, Gwen had first met her when they spotted this girl sitting on campus and sketching a guy who appeared to be having a breakdown about exams outside the library. That caught their eye, and everything had kind of just developed from a single conversation back then.
“You sure you’re not gonna get too buzzed from that?” MJ, the political science student who had agreed to go on a date with Gwen, asked.
Gwen chuckled, and shook her head in mock disdain. “Oh, you have so much to learn. This shit calms me down. I could have another three and at worst I might get a bit shaky.”
“Huh, interesting,” said MJ with a startlingly similar look on her face to during that sketching incident. “So what you’re saying is that if I don’t want to finish a coffee I bought, I should come find you. Noted.”
“Oh?” Gwen questioned, smiling at the implication. “So you want to see more of me, then?”
MJ shrugged, and flashed a half-second smirk. “What can I say? You seem fun, and after a tragically single high school experience I figure I should get out there and have some fun.”
Gwen raised their eyebrows momentarily. “Noted. And just to make sure, you remember me mentioning I have another girlfriend, yeah?”
“Oh, that? Sure, I don’t mind,” MJ said. “I’m pretty open to the whole poly thing. Hey, what would you say to joining me for a slam poetry night next week?”
“Su-” Gwen started, but was interrupted by their own failure to stifle a yawn. “Sure, sounds fun. Send me the details and I’ll let you know if I can make it? Perhaps you’ll even get the privilege of meeting all my friends after that!”
“Wow, I’m flattered,” MJ responded dryly, but Gwen got the sense the dryness was more a part of the performance than anything. “Might even take you up on that. I have like, one friend from my old school and then I haven’t really hit it off with anyone else yet.”
Gwen felt their phone buzz repeatedly. Glad that the date was pretty much over anyway, they gathered their things and prepared to get up. “I’m sure I’ll be able to fix that. My people are basically one big family, and they’re pretty welcoming. I do need to run now, but I’ll text you later?”
“Sure thing,” MJ said with a two finger salute. “Catch you later, Gwen.”
After shooting MJ a smile that was hopefully attractive enough to increase their allure, Gwen pivoted to leave the cafe and checked their phone. Then they saw who had been blowing up their notifications.
Wanda.
That couldn’t be anything good.
Harry was half-way through opening a portal to the apartment building almost a second after seeing the texts come through from Wanda. He wasn’t bothered at all by the summons, more than happy to help her – especially given the circumstances. Besides, she had more than earned Harry’s loyalty, especially after that one rooftop conversation not long after she moved in with Daisy. Every now and then, Harry was trying to pop into the Playground with Wanda so they could work on developing each others’ magical skills, and it was rewarding as hell.
In all, Harry felt like Wanda was becoming part of his family, which meant that she had earned his support. He just wished he didn’t have such a bad feeling coursing through his body, which had begun perhaps a few hours ago and then gradually crept up in intensity. Something was going to go wrong, and perhaps that was why he was on edge enough to react immediately to the texts.
He knew that Wanda had been genuine in her hopes that this wouldn’t have happened, even if she longed to be reunited with both of her sons. Never would she wish an emergency severe enough to trigger her warning spells upon the Shepherds, and since Tommy wasn’t supposed to have the same type of destructive ability that Billy did, Harry doubted that it was inflicted by Tommy himself, like it had been in Billy’s case.
Stepping out of the portal, Harry saw Wanda in as frantic a state as she had been a few weeks prior before Billy’s rescue. She was holding her small red crown in her hand, looking at it as though unable to decide whether to put it on – which Harry assumed meant she couldn’t decide if she needed to go herself or not.
“Harry,” Wanda said desparately, seeing him step out of the shimmering portal. “I had a bad feeling, and then the spell went off in Minnesota. It’s- I think things are worse this time.”
Harry stepped forward, and put a hand on Wanda’s shoulder. “I know it’s hard, but you should stay put. If it comes to blows, I won’t hold back. Did you have anyone in mind to come with me?”
Shakily, Wanda nodded. “Gwen. Tommy is fast, and they will be the only one to keep up with him if he runs.”
Right on cue, a yellow blur of lightning preceded Gwen’s near-instantaneous arrival in the hallway beside Harry and Wanda. “What happened? I saw some texts and came straight away!”
“It’s Tommy this time,” Wanda explained to them, “and I have a bad feeling. You should be prepared.”
Harry nodded once more. “Give me thirty seconds to go back to my place and change into my suit, and then I’ll take us there.”
“Got it,” Gwen said seriously. “I’ll meet you right here.”
So Harry stepped back through the portal into his bedroom, and rushed to change into the darkened suit that would protect his identity. Even in an emergency like this, it would be pretty disastrous if the world found out that the hero Witchboy was the heir to OsCorp. Harry really didn’t need that kind of media attention on him, especially after all the work he, his father and Greenie had put into keeping it away from him this long.
Once changed, Harry went straight back to the apartment hallway, finding Gwen already there and suited up too. Wanda looked even more frantic – if that was actually possible. Filing away his curiosity about how Gwen’s date went as a lower priority matter, he looked at the map address that Wanda showed him – set up on a street view display so that Harry could visualise it clearly – and turned his fingers in a circular motion to open yet another portal right away.
The sight before him and Gwen was… horrid, because words did not quite do it any justice. Harry had seen plenty of shit in his time since becoming Witchboy, but this was far too in his face to not feel utterly confronted. An ordinary family home in Minnesotta had been reduced to a barely standing structure of smoke and rubble that hardly resembled a home anymore. It had clearly been recent enough that no police had arrived, though a few onlookers were beginning to gather and stare in horror on the street nearby. Naturally, phones were out and recording.
Harry sighed, and hoped to himself deeply that he and Gwen were in time to save everyone within from who or what ever had done this damage. The scream that pierced out from within did not bode so well for that hope.
He and Gwen shared a glance, and they both prepared to rush inside. Gwen grabbed Harry, making sure that she’d bring him with as she dashed forward. They arrived a split second later inside what appeared to be the remnants of a joint kitchen and dining room. A dark force sent a teenage boy hurtling across the room and into the wall, and Gwen surged to catch him.
Harry’s eyes moved across the room to see who had conjured that dark force, and-
Everything stopped.
His breathing stopped.
His thoughts stopped.
His heart stopped – rather, it skipped a whole beat.
His legs stopped holding him upright.
As he fell to the ground, not even his reflexes caught him.