“I can’t believe it’s May soon.” Will looked up suddenly from his book.
“Oh. Yes, I suppose it is?” Tyrian looked up from his bedside desk, where he’d been scribbling down some plot ideas, and the odd actual policy that was his actual job. It was Lumtide here. Fairies had been much more aware of what month it was on Earth before the lock out – there were traditions to keep up, after all - but not so much any more. Some still kept up the practice of riding out on Midsummer’s Eve and Samhain, but it was never a yearly thing.
“Can’t believe it’s been a year.” Will looked up at the ceiling, but he was staring into nothing.
“I’d say what a year it’s been, but...” If Tyrian weighed it up, more good things than bad had happened - a net gain, you could say - but the bad things had been SO very bad, after all.
“My contract will be up soon.”
Tyrian’s quill left a crooked line and an ink blot across the page as the king’s hand tensed, quite ruining a nice little sketch of an emblem he’d been working on for the school. “Oh. Yes. So it will.”
“I’ll have to think about that...” The jester tapped his fingers on his book as he thought aloud. “It’s probably too late to apply for uni... But I might just about get away with it, and clearing is a thing...”
So. Will was going to leave, after all. He’d known this day was coming. Will had come to Fairyland for a gap year. A YEAR. And now that year was almost over...
Tyrian got up, carefully placing his quill on the desk, and turned abruptly towards the door. “I’m going to get a drink.”
“Are you thirsty...?” Will asked. “I’m good? I’ve been safe for a week.”
“Not blood, just water.” Tyrian clarified. “Maybe some coffee.”
“You’re not supposed to have caffeine this late at night, you know,” Will cautioned him. “I guess I have no idea if bumblebean coffee actually has any in, come to think of it. I don’t suppose you know?”
“I am not entirely sure what caffeine is, Will.” Some sort of magical component that Earth plants still had somehow, from what he could tell. “Do you want anything?”
“No thanks.” Good. “Are you okay?” Not good.
“I just have a bit of a headache. Shouldn’t draw with my nose to close to the parchment, probably. I might be dehydrated.”
Tyrian went down to the kitchens. No-one would be there at this time of night. Maybe Louis, getting a midnight snack. It wouldn’t be so bad to see Louis right now. He could use someone to talk to... Then again... No. NOT Louis. Louis would take this PERSONALLY.
He got himself a cup of water and sprinkled some dried camomile in it, too distracted to find a sieve. He wondered how long he could stay here without arousing suspicion. He waited a minute or two and took a sip. Terrible.
Ah. Right. The water was supposed to be HOT.
He’d never tried heating water before, but he knew how to freeze it. Could he just do that in reverse? He put his hand over the top of the cup and tried to imagine channelling fire into it. He left it there for a few seconds. The cup split; the water ran across the table and dripped onto his lap. It was still cold. There was a black ring on the table where the cup had stood. He’d have to apologise to Babs in the morning. He pursed his lips. No, that wouldn’t do. He’d made the mess, he would fix it. And if nothing else, it was a good excuse.
‘I broke a cup and had to clean it up, that’s why I took so long,’ he rehearsed in his head. It took him some time to find which cupboard the cloths were in – right before he noticed one on a sink – but he mopped up the water and scrubbed at the black mark on the table. It wouldn’t come off. He was cursing under his breath when he suddenly felt a presence behind him.
“Will said something’s wrong, but you don’t want to talk to him about it, so I should have a go.” Aurelia looked askance at the cloth, before noticing the burn mark. “What did you do?”
“Chamomile is supposed to be soothing, so I was trying to make an infusion,” Tyrian explained, pouting. “I was in a hurry so I wouldn’t look suspicious, but... Well.” He rinsed the cloth in the sink and hung it over the side. He filled a small, leather cauldron and set a fire. Aurelia merely sat herself at the long dining table, waiting.
He sat opposite her with a sigh. “Will’s contract is almost up.”
Aurelia tilted her head to one side. “And?”
“And he said something about going to university.”
“And so he’s leaving soon!” Tyrian leaned on the table, putting his head on his arms. “I don’t want him to leave! But he SHOULD leave! He should be free, like the little bird he is!”
“I don’t think Will is a bird,” Aurelia mused. “Some kind of ferret, maybe.”
“Doesn’t really change my point,” Tyrian mumbled into the table. Moving his head so she could hear him properly again, he continued, “I knew this day was coming. But I don’t want him to leave. But he loves travelling. I don’t want to be like Rosa.”
“Ex-girlfriend of his,” Tyrian explained. “She didn’t want him to go travelling, so they split up.”
“Sensible.” Aurelia nodded approvingly. “And... You’ve talked to Will about it, have you?”
“I hadn’t thought about it until he mentioned it, what, thirty minutes ago?” Tyrian waved a hand. “I mean, I had, briefly, but I always pushed it away. I didn’t want to think about that on top of everything else.”
“Do you not think you’re jumping to conclusions?” Aurelia suggested. “Why are you avoiding asking him about it?”
“I don’t... I don’t think I can without... without... sounding manipulative, or, or, something.” Tyrian sat up and forced himself to sit straight, clenching his hands on his lap. “He must make his own decision. If I let him know how sad I am about it...”
“Communication is the cornerstone of a good relationship, is what I’m saying here,” Aurelia pointed out. “I get where you’re coming from. But... and this is my professional opinion as your ex-fool... you’re being dumb.”
“I’m not being dumb, I’m being... considerate!” Tyrian protested.
“Tyrian.” Aurelia took him by the shoulders. “You are being dumb. You are practically walking into one of those Earth stories where someone says something vague and there’s a WHOLE THING that could be solved in two minutes if two people would just frikking talk to one another. We are not doing that, do you hear me? And that’s both an earnest request from your wife, and an ‘I will kill you if you make this worse’ from your best friend. Got it?”
“I’m not ready!” Tyrian blinked back tears. “I’m just not ready to talk about it!”
The yokai stood up and marched around the table. “Tyrian. C’mere.” She reached out and pulled him into a hug, leaning her head on top of his and running her fingers through his hair. “I really don’t think Will is going anywhere,” she soothed. “If he is, he’ll be back. You know he loves Fairyland. You know he loves us.” She paused. “Okay, maybe not Louis. But he definitely loves you.” Aurelia managed to sit on the bench, and still cradling his head, they stayed there for a while.
“...Why did you quit being my fool? It’s... it’s always bothered me.”
“I overheard your granddad saying you’d suck at being king, and I was hopping mad.” Aurelia shrugged.
“That... that’s it? That’s the reason?”
“I mean. I sort of agreed with him,” Aurelia admitted. “In a way. You can be irresponsible. You avoid things and you get like this and you let it affect your work.”
“Yeah.” She leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Don’t get me wrong. We’d much rather have you than him. Much rather. You just need someone to balance you out. Everyone does.”
“Is that why you married me?”
“Yes? I thought you understood that already. I wasn’t going to marry for love, was I? Not the romantic kind, anyway. Really feel like I’ve dodged a bullet there.”
“Watching my train wreck of a love life is enough to put anyone off, aromantic or not,” Tyrian remarked.
“If you’re making jokes, you’re probably okay to go back to bed.” Aurelia let him go and stretched. “You should. Will will be worried. And what are we going to do when we get back to the bedroom?”
“I’ve got a few answers, none of which are the one you’re looking for,” Tyrian replied.
“Tyrian.” She gave him a Look.
“I’m just not ready.” He rubbed an arm. “Just... Give me a little more time. To process it.”
“You don’t know what you’re processing,” the yokai chided. “You’re going to worry over nothing and you’re going to make Will worry over nothing.”
“I’m not saying the whole month, just a few days... A week, at the most.”
Aurelia clicked her tongue. “If you insist. But if you don’t have a proper conversation with him by then, I’m dragging you both in a room and making you do it, like I did with Victor and Lucinda.”
“Alright.” Tyrian blinked. “Wait, you did WHAT?”
The time limit was almost up. Tyrian was in the throne room, anxiously awaiting for the consultation hours to end. It had been quiet today. Aurelia took a lot of these things, and she was so much better at dealing with nonsense than he was. The problematic nobles had realised they weren’t going to get anywhere and had given up, leaving more time for the actual problems to get addressed. Speaking of addressing problems, in came Will.
‘This is it,’ Tyrian told himself sternly. ‘You are going to have a sensible, grown up conversation with your grown up boyfriend, and he is going to leave happy with no regrets over his decision, whatever it may be, and you’re not going to cry.’
“So I think today is the last legal day I can renegotiate my contract,” Will started as he approached the throne. “I know you probably don’t really care, but Fairyland and all, and I should stick to the rules.”
“Mmhmm.” Tyrian responded.
“So, I think we should just rip it up, to be honest? Like, not renew it.”
“I feel like the cat’s out of the bag on our relationship now, and I’m living here for free anyway... I think I’d rather earn stuff outside the palace like everyone else. Bartering, washing dishes, etc.”
“Like, I guess we should probably find some kind of title for me that’s not fool, but I think I’ll keep wearing the stripes if it’s okay, it’s a great deterrent.”
“I thought you were going to university?” Tyrian asked.
“I mean... I still might, but I can’t decide what’s best to do. I thought maybe I should take tourism to help you with the tourism thing here, but Earth tourism is going to be pretty different than Fairyland tourism BUT tourism can actually be really bad for places, so maybe I SHOULD study it to avoid that... but then I’d have a student debt to deal with, and I can’t really be bothered to lie to the government about where I’m living for the rest of my-”
“Will,” Tyrian cut him off.
“You’re not leaving, then?”
“No? Unless you need me to?” Will frowned. “I guess I can keep being a fool if it’s politically more convenient?? I just kind of feel like it’s ridiculous to pay me for doing what I’d happily do for free. And I might kind of need to get a part time job on Earth for a bit. But I was hoping I could live here and just commute. What with Hel’s Map and all.”
“Yeah? Oh. It means travel from here to a job or school somewhere else.”
“Ah. Yes. So... You were planning to... commute... to university from here?”
“Yeah. It would save me a lot of money and there’s still a bunch of stuff you need help with here, the magic school and all.” Will rubbed his neck. “I kinda might decide against university for the reasons I mentioned, but, I should at least study online instead or something if I don’t go to uni, but I need Earth money for that, hence the part time job... Is that... okay?”
“Of course it is.” Tyrian slumped on the throne, very nearly sliding off the thing. “I thought you were going to leave once your contract was up?”
“Well, that was the plan, originally... but, well, plans change?” Will smiled awkwardly. His smile turned to a frown as he studied Tyrian’s face. “Did you think I was just going to leave? Like, leave leave??”
“Yes,” Tyrian admitted. “It’s been a... rough year.”
“Yeah...” Will agreed. “You can say that again. Thing is, when I got here, it was something to tick off my bucket list. I mean, it was THE thing. The main thing. Everything I did for years was to set me up to come here to Fairyland. But I had no idea what I was gonna do afterwards.”
“And now you do?” Tyrian prompted.
“I don’t know exactly, but I know I don’t want to leave,” Will reassured him. “The idea that I could stay... it just didn’t occur to me.” He laughed. “I’m still in shock I got through the first day. Imagine, just turning up somewhere thinking you’re funny enough to get a job as a professional funny person, just, like, on the spot. The nerve of me, really. Don’t know how I got away with it.”
“You were cute and charming and you stood up for yourself and you spouted some wonderful nonsense and I thought someone was setting me up,” Tyrian replied.
“Oh, absolutely. I had to check with Aurelia.”
“Did you... check with Aurelia that night you suddenly starting acting weird?”
“She said I was being stupid and I should talk you like a normal person and she was 100% correct.”
“I seriously thought both of you might eat me, my first day.”
“You still came back the second day.”
“I’m not easily deterred.” Will walked up onto the dias to hold Tyrian’s hand. “Try thinking about that, next time you think I’ll leave.”
“I don’t really want to think about all the bad things that have happened to you this year,” Tyrian protested. “But I know what you mean.” He leaned over to touch his forehead to Will’s.
“...You gonna stay on there all day?” Will asked. “Consultation hours are over. Let’s get out of here. Drusilla’s tea house?”
“Drusilla’s tea house.” Tyrian agreed.
They walked out hand in hand.
I don't think I have the energy for comics but this is okay, I hope.
I haven't written anything focusing on Tyr and Will in a while and I miss them so here you go.
Originally Will was supposed to leave after his contract was up.
But Will does what Will wants, so yeah, he's not going anywhere, not for long, anyway.
