rolling thunder, chasing the wind

It was almost poetic, really, and it would have been funny if it weren’t so inconvenient. Luc should have known better than to brag to Baz about his successes (so to speak) in running away from bees. If there really was a good sort of bee repellant available, Luc was seriously considering buying some once he got home. Well, he would have been seriously considering it and had been considering it before the importance of the hive had taken over most of his considerations. Luc didn’t even feel the aftermath of the multiple bee (or had they been wasps?) stings he’d been rewarded with after his run led him tumbling down a small hill and straight into a swarm of the bee/wasps. The bumps from the stings were still there, mostly on his arms and legs and a few on his torso from where the fall had torn up his nice running shirt, coupled with the dirt and small wounds from the initial fall. Which again, Luc wasn’t paying much mind to the injuries, preoccupied with circling the area, keeping an eye out for threats. 

His body was filled to the brim with adrenaline, like a runner’s high times five, but there was very little to do with all that energy. Luc couldn’t venture too far from the hive, not when it needed protecting! So he paced, swatted at any flies or moths that dared venture too close, bounced on his toes and did whatever was necessary to stay on alert. 

Which finally paid off when a threat finally appeared running down the path, heading straight for the hive. Luc stilled, body thrumming with anticipation as he sized up the competition. Broad, strong. Definitely a threat. A threat Luc could easily deal with. Without warning, Luc was on the move, closing what little distance remained between him and the threat, tackling the man that dared come this close to the precious hive. 

—-

The bees had been a bit of a nuisance his whole run, but Zack had dealt with worse. Every few yards, there was another buzzing visitor, whizzing around his head and darting in front of his path. He just assumed it was due to the weather warming all over Wicked’s Rest, and resolved to find some bee repellent before his next run. It was apparently inevitable that he would end up stung – but was still a good ways off from turning back and that sting hadn’t hurt that badly. Besides, he wasn’t allergic. No reason to interrupt a perfectly good run.

That was about the point when he got hit, hard, with a solid wall of body. He hit the ground with a harsh oof and tried to get his breath back. “Fuck,” he groaned. “Dude. What?” He blinked to clear his rocking vision, trying to gauge what the hell had just happened. Did this guy…trip and take Zack with him?  Or maybe he had been trying to knock him out of the way of some larger danger? Not likely, given the guy started grappling Zack in the next minute. 

He tried his best just to defend himself. With no clue what was going on, he didn’t want to hurt the other guy. Mostly he worked at prying the man off of him, using his elbows and knees as levers. The bees, apparently, decided they were on this other guy’s side, though, and started stinging Zack. While the first sting hadn’t hurt that bad, ten of them at once didn’t feel nice. 

One thing at a time. The bees weren’t great, but the man attacking him was definitely the more pressing matter. “Man, what is your problem?!” Zack splayed his hand in the center of the guy’s chest and pushed as hard as he could, hoping to upset his balance and send him toppling off of him.  

—

The threat went down easily, probably the element of surprise, and Luc was pleased with the success. Not enough to let his guard down, of course, there was still a hive to protect, but it made all that adrenaline and… anger feel pretty good. Now he just needed to properly get rid of the intruder, somehow. Luc had never gotten rid of anyone before, in like the mafia sense of the word, but he’d figure it out! He was filled with aggression and confidence and he could do anything with it! Like grasp at this man’s wrists or shirt, maybe rough him up a little more although annoyingly, he wasn’t quite being cooperative with that. The guy was like an armadillo or something, curling up in a way that made it hard for Luc to really get at anything important, like his throat or eyes, and a disgruntled noise of frustration left Luc’s lips. 

In response, a question, to which Luc immediately scoffed. “My problem? You’re the intruder-” Luc’s passionate explanation was cut off by a yelp as firm hands found purchase on his chest, shoving hard. He just barely managed to latch onto the intruder’s shirt, gripping on for dear life and managing to yank the man down the slight slope they were on and back down onto the trail. “I won’t let you hurt them,” Luc growled, unaffected by the gravel digging into his back or the newer additions to his growing arrangement of scuffs and wounds. Spurred on by a fresh wave of anger, Luc redoubled his efforts to try and properly straddle the intruder, hands trying to get at his throat. 

—--

Zack was ready to ask what the hell this guy meant by “intruder” (Intruding on what? They were in the middle of the woods! No one lived around here for miles, Zack was pretty sure.) but before he could get a word out, both of them went tumbling down the short bank. His adversary had gotten a hand fisted in his collar on the way down and when they landed, Zack found that his shirt had suffered an impressive rip down the middle. “Aw man,” he huffed. That was the least of his worries, really – given the bees, and the scuffs and bruises from the tumble, and the full grown man still intent on grappling with him. But he liked that shirt, and now it was ruined.

“Whoa!” His hands flew up as the other guy’s made for his throat. There had to be some kind of misunderstanding… Maybe this guy had mistaken Zack for someone else? “I don’t wanna hurt anyone!” He could have added that of the two of them, his opponent was the one doing the most hurting, but he wasn’t in the best environment to formulate a proper argument. And he was pretty sure this guy wasn’t really in the mood to debate it out.

As Zack swatted the hands away from his throat, he felt his lower-half slipping. The ground was less solid there, colder and wetter and– Great. Mud. Through all their wriggling around, he and his now mortal enemy had worked their way into a mud puddle. It wasn’t easy, given the slipperiness of the ground, but Zack tried to work the other guy’s momentum against him and get him on his back. Maybe if he could just…immobilize him. Maybe then he would calm down and realize that Zack really, really did not want to be fighting him. 

—

Of course he would claim not being here to hurt anyone. Criminals never admitted to their crimes, did they? Luc’s teeth were gritted together hard enough to hurt and that probably explained the thudding headache, it had nothing to do with the struggle of his innate sense of believing in the best of people being trampled by bee-venom. It also did a fair job of making him mostly immune to what was revealed by the accidental ripping of the attacker’s shirt. Mostly. As far as distraction tactics went, it was a decent try but not good enough to stop Luc from achieving his goal - protect. 

Hands were slapping at his own as Luc tried to get his hands around the impressively thick neck, every attempt shoved away and fueling Luc’s anger. Around them, the bees had started to keep their distance, not daring to venture into the thick mud the two men had found themselves slipping around in, Luc’s feet now hard pressed to find any solid purchase as he struggled to hold onto his position of dominance. It was fine, he would take care of this, the bees didn’t need to risk themselves. Luc totally had this under control, he just needed to manage to lock his foot into something solid to gain that little bit of leverage and no, actually his foot was slipping real hard. 

To avoid slipping face first into the mud, Luc was forced to abandon the thus-far fruitless attempts at choking the threat, instead bracing his hands into the cold mud. It would have worked to stabilise him if not for how persistent the intruder was being, refusing to just let himself be taken care of! With Luc barely keeping his balance, palms splayed against the slipper surface, he found himself shoved and flipped with frustrating ease, back sinking into the thick mud. “Stop it,” Luc gritted out, now having resorted to smacking at the other’s bare chest and arms since grabbing onto him was practically impossible in all this mud. 

—-

No matter what Zack did, even only in an effort to defend himself, the other guy only got madder. He seemed genuinely angry at the fact that he was trying not to die. Which was especially confusing given this guy had attacked Zack out of nowhere! That claim of intruding still stuck in his mind, but he couldn’t make sense of it. Plenty of people jogged in this area. Zack himself had been down these trails a number of times before without any issue. Now, suddenly, it was private property? And even if he were intruding, did it really warrant all of this? Zack didn’t think so.

At least he managed to get the upper hand, getting the other guy on his back. Too bad they were both covered in mud now. And Zack was down one shirt. He sat heavy on the guy’s middle, knees locked up to keep his arms at bay. Hoping that would keep him pinned for at least a minute, Zack tugged the ruined shirt off – one less thing to get muddy and weigh him down. Still, throughout, the other man grappled and fought to get a hand on him, to do more damage. When he commanded Zack to stop it, he had to roll his eyes. “I’m not the one doing anything! I was minding my own business when you came out of nowhere.”

Something like this would happen in Wicked’s Rest, as far as he was concerned. That thought, unbidden, led Zack to wonder if this guy wasn’t under some kind of spell. After all, he knew Rosemary could control corpses to do her bidding. He obviously wasn’t a corpse, but maybe there was some other kind of mind-control spell. Or maybe he was possessed. Or had entered into some weirdo fae deal. Once Zack began to consider the possibilities, he realized they were literally endless. But it at least gave him a little insight – this probably wasn’t just some crazy dude.

“What are you protecting?” Zack asked, hoping that might lead him to an answer. “Maybe I can help you keep it safe.” At the very least, maybe it could stop them from fully having a mud wrestling match.

—

The disappointment kept growing as Luc struggled to get a hold of the intruder, his attempts continually thwarted by either the slippery mud or getting his hands slapped away. The other guy’s weight was heavy across Luc’s midsection, not budging despite his best attempts to buck him off. Maybe the guy was like a wrestler or something - he certainly looked built for it, Luc noted distractedly - although the weight of the mud underneath and all around Luc certainly wasn’t helping. Luc scoffed incredulously as the intruder tried to argue, anger flaring up again at the lie, although burning just a bit duller than before. The bees still hummed just as angrily, keeping their distance, unable to provide fresh stings to anyone with all of that mud. Of course the guy had been running around here to do something… something nefarious! That was why Luc had been tasked with keeping the bees and their home safe. Right? “You… you spooked them!” Luc argued, suddenly unsure of himself but realizing that you protected things because they were afraid. So that was the logical conclusion here. 

At least Luc wasn’t the only one who was a bit confused, the other guy asking a silly question, silly enough even to momentarily halt Luc’s tireless efforts to grab and flip and overpower. “Them,” Luc stated the obvious, with a vague gesture towards the swarm of bees close by, eyebrows furrowed in frustration and now also, slight distress. The intruder wanted to help keep them safe? Why? It could be a trick but then, Luc was also finding it harder and harder to remember why he wanted to keep the bees safe in the first place, aside from like, general eco welfare and bees being cute. His mind was muddy and clear all at once and for a brief, stunned moment, Luc blinked up at the stranger who was maybe no threat at all. Until his scalp burned with a fresh sting from a bee that had squirreled its way into his curls, reigniting all of that anger from before. 

With a growl and a whole bunch of newfound energy, Luc planted his feet and bucked his hips once more, successfully jostling the threat off him. Slipping around in the mud, Luc’s hand finally found purchase on the other man’s waistband, grabbing on triumphantly and using it to pull him in closer… and then gripping it even tighter as Luc felt his own precarious foothold in the muddy ground start to slip. Or rather, he was slipping where the ground sloped downwards and the intruder’s weight wasn’t enough to keep them from both making the pathetically slow descent that then steadily picked up speed. At least Luc was bringing him away from the bees. 

His stomach swooped as the mud led them further still down the hill, Luc never giving up the grip on the other man’s waistband, even as stray rocks and branches scratched his skin and mud splattered into his face. As soon as they came to a stop, Luc could deal with this problem properly, finish the job. Except for the slight hiccup of the fading ache of that bee sting suddenly being replaced with a sudden and much sharper pain when his head slammed firmly against a larger boulder. It was overshadowed only by the painful thought that Luc had let the bees down, right before everything went black, his grip on the muddy waistband finally growing slack.

—-

Zack was loath to take his attention off the threat beneath him, but he needed an answer to his question. Turning his head, he saw that the man was pointing to…bees? A little ways off was a swarm of bees – the ones that had been buzzing around Zack during his run, no doubt. “I don’t want to hurt them!” He hadn’t even swatted at any of them earlier. Plus, bees were important, weren’t they? He felt like maybe Wynne had told him that before. Clearly this guy was confused, or mistaken. But Zack didn’t have long to wonder about that, or argue his defense, as his weight was rocked off the other man and jostled into the mud beside him. And then, they were both sliding.

Zack tried to fight against gravity but he soon realized that his opponent had a hand caught over his waistband, bringing him down with him. Despite all his scrambling, he wasn’t able to stop them, or get himself untangled from the other man. They eventually came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, and there was a sickening crack. Once he straightened himself out, Zack saw that the other guy had bashed his head against a boulder and knocked himself out.

“Oh no.” He wasn’t bleeding and his pulse was normal (It was there, anyway, which was really as far as Zack’s medical knowledge went) and he was still breathing, but he was definitely unconscious. “Fuck.” The guy might have attacked him out of nowhere (and ripped his shirt), but he wasn’t going to just leave him there, to wake up confused and potentially really hurt. Fumbling against the mud and the incline, Zack wedged himself between the man and the boulder, sitting cross-legged. Carefully, he positioned the man’s head in his lap and carefully tapped at his cheeks. “Hello? Earth to, uh…crazy bee guy?” No response came and with Zack unwilling to try anything more violent to wake him, he simply had to settle in for the wait.

—

Loud buzzing rattled in the darkness inside Luc’s skull and he didn’t exactly speak bee but it sounded judgemental all the same. Or maybe that was just the throbbing pain in his head messing with him. Why did his head hurt so bad? “Ow,” Luc groaned, his own voice exacerbating the pounding headache along with the first attempt to open his eyes, which were shut immediately against the onslaught of brightness. Luc was aware of something cool sticking to his skin, drying and crackling, like a face mask but over his whole body. The ground was hard and bumpy underneath him, except for his head, supported by something softer and warmer. He was outside, for sure, and there had been… bees? Why was it always bees? Baz was going to be insufferable about this. 

Slowly, Luc reached up a hand to feel around his scalp for a bump or a laceration, instead bumping into a knee. A knee? Despite the searing pain, Luc’s eyes shot open, peering and blinking until an upside face came into focus as well as a torso, covered in drying mud but undoubtedly bare. “Oh. Hey?” Memories felt like they provoked the headache further but Luc still let them through as best he could, remembering that same face, not muddy and connected to a fully dressed body, running towards him. Luc then also remembered tackling him. “Oh no. Oh, I tackled you. I don’t know why I tackled you, I–” Luc started moving, wincing immediately as multiple parts of his body protested, whatever strain had been dulled by the bee stings earlier now arriving with full force. Still, Luc pushed through, slowly and steadily moving to sit up, not feeling deserving of this stranger’s kindness and protective lap after he’d tried to choke him out. 

“I’m so, so sorry, that’s not– I mean, I would never do anything like that. I think it was something with the bees or maybe like, heatstroke and god, I didn’t even ask yet, are you okay? Did I hurt you?” Luc rambled worriedly, finally getting a good look at the man he’d attacked, relieved to find that he looked mostly unharmed. More than could be said for Luc, who finally ran a palm over his head and cringed at the generous goose egg already growing on the back of his head. 

—-

Zack was relieved when the man started to stir, but did tense up. He didn’t know if he was going to start attacking him again. For a long moment, he didn’t move. Just let the man feel for his head and shift around slowly. Luckily, it seemed like whatever had been causing his aggression had worn off or stopped. “Hey, it’s okay!” he rushed to reassure him. “It’s okay, really. I figured something…was weird. It’s all good. I think you ended up getting more hurt than me.”

He moved with the other guy, hands out to help keep him steady. Zack wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t pass out again and it was clear that he wasn’t going to try and fight him anymore. As he brought up the bees as a potential cause, he remembered the man pointing to the swarm. “Oh! Yeah, I bet it was the bees. You said you were protecting them from me.” The bees had since dispersed, were further up the hill, but Zack looked up in that direction warily. “I wonder if they’re some kinda…weird bees.” Magic, is what he meant. Or maybe fae? Either way, if they had caused all that, they weren’t normal bees.

“Hey, don’t worry about me. I’m all right, I promise.” Sure, he felt a little bruised and achey but nothing too bad. He stood, stretching, and offered a hand to the guy. “We should probably get you checked out though. You weren’t out for too long but you did get knocked out which can’t be good for you.” Even if he just dropped the guy off at an urgent care center, he wasn’t about to leave him to fend for himself. 

—

How lucky it was that this poor guy hadn’t been seriously injured due to whatever had compelled Luc to attack him. Equally lucky was the fact that this man had been kind enough to stick around after all of it, just to make sure Luc was alright. The reassurances that he really was okay helped Luc relax some, dissuading some of that guilt but not managing it entirely - it was Luc’s fault that the two of them were currently sitting in a puddle of mud. And probably his fault that the guy was down one shirt. In the chaos of it all, Luc hadn’t even begun to consider how weird it might sound to blame the bees for his sudden aggression - another stroke of luck, there were no strange looks or arguments. This didn’t seem like the time to ask why ‘bees’ was such a solid explanation to this stranger but maybe Luc could ask at a later point. “Yeah… that felt, like, super important at the time. I couldn’t really think about anything else.” Luc ran a palm over his arm, finding multiple small bumps from the bee stings, grimacing. “Definitely weird bees…”

Watching the stranger shift, Luc slowly started to do the same, accepting the offered hand without hesitation. He did feel slightly woozy but nothing horrible. Maybe Luc could get away without a visit to the doctor, though, if he called his mom or even Mickey. Monica would probably be home tonight but it wouldn’t hurt to use this as an excuse to have Mickey around for the night. “I have a few medical professionals on speed dial, actually. I’ll be alright,” he assured the other with a smile, trying to brush off the bulk of the dirt with little success. There wasn’t even any nausea or dizziness present, just a headache, which was a good sign Luc knew from previous experiences. 

“Thanks. Seriously. For being so chill about… murder bees?” Luc’s voice rose with a bit of hesitant doubt, even as he couldn’t help a slight smile of amusement. “I’m Luc, by the way, and I so totally owe you one.” Not wanting to tempt fate by hanging around longer than they needed, Luc moved his achy legs to start heading back towards the trail. “Maybe a new shirt would be a start?”

—--

 Definitely some kind of supernatural bees, then. Zack watched as the other guy ran a hand over the stings the bees have left behind and winced in sympathy. He wanted to explain about being possessed, that he knew something about waking up to find that you had no memory of some horrible, aggressive act you had committed. He could have killed Regan, who was nothing more than a stranger to him at that point, had done nothing to deserve it. Zack remembered how bad he had felt for Regan, for scaring her, and he didn’t want this other guy to have the same angst. “Really, man, don’t worry about it. I got bit by a big worm one time and almost bled out in an alley. This is far from the weirdest thing this town has had to offer for me.” He had also fucked a demon, but that was a less relevant life experience.

Zack was relieved to hear that the guy –Luc, apparently– knew some doctors or something that he could call. “All right, but you gotta promise that you call them first thing, all right?” Luc was standing pretty steadily which was a good sign, but Zack would still feel better knowing that he had gotten fully checked out. 

Zack had never actually been to a spa. Once, when he was maybe eleven, he had gotten dragged along to his mother’s manicure appointment. Brimstone Springs was nothing like that nail salon had been, though. First of all, the whole place reeked like rotten eggs. He knew the smell was sulfur, which only served to make him nervous: was just the air around this place flammable? Even if it wasn’t, the decor was largely rustic and wooden. One wrong step and he could set the place ablaze. Meditation and mindfulness had done wonders in helping Zack with his control, but he couldn’t be sure whether this kind of relaxation would have the same effect. What if he got too relaxed? What if his hold over his powers slipped away?

With everything that was happening, though, a day at a spa sounded welcome. Maybe he could get out of his head enough to stop worrying about what was happening with the town’s magic, what Rosemary was going through, his own powers, and, always, what the secret that Netherville held was. Hopefully this experience would give him a nice little refresh so he could return to his daily life better.

And, he was here on the invitation of someone he hoped could become a friend. Zack straightened his shoulders and pinned a smile on. Baz was an exceptionally talented artist from what he had seen and, aside from that, a fun and interesting person. “I’ve never been to a bathhouse,” he added, as they waited in the entrance. “Or any kind of hot spring.” Baz seemed like the type to enjoy being pampered. “Have you been here before?”

—

Self care was important to Baz. It wasn’t rare for them to spend their days with sheet masks covering their face, or cucumbers resting on their closed eyelids. It wasn’t a necessary thing for the doppelganger, of course — skincare routines were for people whose skin aged, and Baz’s didn’t. But it was the principle of the thing, wasn’t it? The act of self care, the ritual. That was important, even if the benefits were more or less meaningless.

It was also a good way of bonding! At least, Baz thought it would be. They’d never actually done self-care with another person before. They’d seen it in movies, on television; two people laying side by side, gossiping with their hair in towels and their faces smeared with bright green masks. Baz wanted that! They wanted the gossip! They wanted the green! 

And so, they’d asked around. They wanted someone they didn’t know well, because this was the sort of way you came to know someone better. Zack had been their first choice, so it was a thrill when he agreed to meet them at Brimstone Springs. Baz was practically bouncing with excitement, ecstatic at the idea of a new experience. “Never been before, no,” they replied. “Actually, I’ve never been to any sort of bathhouse before! Do we get naked?”

—

Zack was dismayed to learn Baz wasn’t an old hand at spas and bathhouses. He had been hoping he’d be able to follow their lead on what exactly to do, where to go, how to act. Fuck, did they get naked? There didn’t seem to be anyone around who worked at the establishment who could guide them through it. Surely, even if they were meant to get naked, it wasn’t right out here in the foyer. Zack was almost positive about that. Pretty positive about that. “I think there are probably locker rooms? Or a changing room? Or something?”

There was a desk station, empty, where a service bell sat gleaming in the dim ambiance. Zack tapped it gingerly, so the tone that rang out might be construed as polite. He hoped so, at least. After a minute, two, three, no one responded. He craned around to peer further into the building. “Maybe we’re supposed to go further inside?” Zack was half-expecting someone to leap out of some hidden door and startle them, but he didn’t think that would be very conducive to the whole rest, relaxation, and mindfulness thing. Maybe this place had a more avant-garde approach.

For some reason that would remain unknowable barring a truly unwieldy amount of therapy, Zack began to feel like the uncertain start to the day was his fault, and like he had to do something, personally, to fix it. “I’ll go down this way,” he offered, pointing through the hall that led behind the front desk before veering into a fork at either side. “Maybe I can find someone who will tell us what to do?”

—

A locker room or changing room probably made a bit more sense, given how odd humans tended to be about the idea of public nudity. It wasn’t something Baz had ever completely understood — fae didn’t care much about nudity, and bodies were easier to look at with a clinical eye when you lived in one that technically belonged to your dead best friend — but they tried to adhere to societal norms whenever possible in order to ensure they fit in the way they liked to. “Right!” Baz agreed, clapping their hands together. “A locker room. Yeah, I bet you’re right! Do you think it’ll have lockers? I’ve always wanted a locker.”

Of course, in order to get a locker room — and, by extension, a locker — they’d need to find whoever was in charge here. Presumably, there was some sort of check in procedure. But what was it? How did they begin it? Baz saw no one behind the desk, and Zack’s tapping on the bell laid out for them yielded no results. Were the employees all on break? At the same time? This didn’t seem very feasible, but Baz wasn’t overly familiar with how most jobs worked. “Is there a phone number we should call? Maybe someone’s in the back?” Was there a back? Baz had no idea, but it seemed like the sort of thing people said.

Zack was pointing towards a door, offering to wander off in search of someone who might be able to point the two of them in the right direction. Without really meaning to, Baz brought their hands up to grip Zack’s (very toned, very muscular) bicep. They disliked the idea of Zack wandering off and leaving them here, where there was no one but themself for company. Baz had never much liked being alone, even for short periods. They’d just as soon avoid it. “I think we ought to stick together, just in case we stumble upon where we need to be, yeah? That way we don’t risk forgetting where it’s at when we run to fetch the other! I’ll come with you. Between the two of us, we’re sure to find the proper place.” They began moving with a more decisive step than they actually felt, tugging Zack towards the hallway.

—

Baz’s simple delight at the prospect of having a locker made Zack smile. He nodded as he answered, “Yeah, definitely. I mean, if we’re getting into a robe or something, we’ll have to have someplace to keep our clothes.” Of course, they could find out all that pertinent information if there were only someone there to greet them. Baz’s idea about calling the place was a better one than Zack’s of just wandering around. Why hadn’t he thought of that? 

But in the next minute, Baz had their hands around his arms and was proposing that they both went off together. “Oh! Yeah, of course. I won’t leave you here alone.” It did make more sense for the two of them to stick together. After all, Zack didn’t really have any plan other than just wandering around. With Baz along, it was more likely that he might actually find something. Not that he knew the other person very well at all, but they had a certain presence to them. Confidence, maybe, in the way they just kept moving, and Zack found he was powerless against that inertia. It was good for him, though. Probably. Left to his own devices, he was likely to overthink in one spot until the heat-death of the universe and never get anywhere. Maybe he and Baz would make a great team after all!

He more or less let them lead as they moved through the back hall. There was one of those tingly, new-age-y soundscapes playing and Zack kept getting distracted by the hooting of an owl – he had to remind himself it wasn’t a real owl, but just a recording on some CD. It was a nice overall ambiance, though. He could understand why people liked to come to these places and found them relaxing. There was a door, finally, and he reached out to stop Baz. “Maybe there’s someone in here? Like an office?” Without waiting to think better of it, or to knock, Zack pushed through the door. 

On the other side was what looked to be some sort of storage closet and a…water heater? It was enormous, taller than Zack and hissing steam from different pipes and making an awful clanking noise. He had been living in Wicked’s Rest long enough to fear that it might be sentient. Or cursed in some way. There was a whiteboard on the wall to the side as well, that read CURRENT pH LEVEL: 5. He looked to Baz with uncertainty. “Do you know anything about…pH levels?” He vaguely remembered the term from some high school science class, but not enough to know what it meant.

—

Whatever phone number might exist, Baz didn’t see it listed anywhere. They didn’t think it would have mattered much, even if it were. When they pulled out their phone to attempt a quick internet search to see if the number might be online someplace, they found themself with no bars of service, no chance to find the number or dial out. Whatever adventure they were going on, it would be the technologically lacking sort. In a way, that added a whole new level of excitement. It wasn’t often that Baz was without technology, these days. So long as the journey ahead remained entertaining enough to hold their attention, the prospect was actually somewhat exciting!

They were pleased — and more than a little relieved — when Zack agreed not to leave them alone. There were few things Baz liked less than the idea of standing alone in an empty room, after all. And there were, in this moment at least, few things that sounded more appealing than keeping a firm hand on Zack’s bicep to enjoy the shape of his arm, so the whole thing was really a win/win. They trailed happily behind Zack as he moved into the hall, glancing to the doors. None of them looked very enticing. Certainly, none looked like locker rooms or spa areas, which were what Baz was mainly interested in. They couldn’t hear anyone behind the doors, either, though they knew that didn’t necessarily mean no one was there. When Zack chose a door to open, Baz followed him without much question.

It wasn’t a particularly exciting room. There was some sort of machinery in there that Joel would have known something about, but Baz didn’t even know what to call it until the term water heater clicked into place after a good minute of staring. They squinted at the label on it, tilting their head with a thoughtful purse of their lips. What was pH again? “Not particularly,” they admitted with a shrug.

The moment the words left their lips, the water heater began to vibrate. Small vibrations at first, but steadily reverberating into something larger. Baz yanked Zack out of the room, slamming the door shut. “Let’s go somewhere else!”

—

Baz simply didn’t seem like the type to know anything about pH. He would have been happy to be proved wrong. He knew they were an artist, too, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t also be a scientist. Or just have a hobby. After all, Zack himself had been branching out into other areas of interest lately. None of them chemistry, unfortunately. Or…biology? pH had to be one of the two if it had something to do with water, right? Whatever it meant, he just hoped that level 5 was a safe one for water to be. The perfect one, in fact. 

The pipes bulged and retracted as water moved through – or maybe it was steam? Maybe it was something else entirely. Plumbing hadn’t been on his list of trials either. He suddenly wished Joel were there. Surely he would have some idea about this tank and what it might do, after spending time at sea, on an oil rig. Joel wasn’t there, but Baz knew enough to know that it was probably best to get out. It wasn’t until Baz’s hand was on his shoulder that Zack realized it could be dangerous. He hoped it wouldn’t be, that some room that was accessible in a spa of all places wouldn’t hold anything immediately dangerous. But this was, after all, Wicked’s Rest. All bets were off.

“Sure,” he agreed gamely. There wasn’t too much hallway left for them to explore, and Zack mused out loud, “I hope we don’t get in trouble for wandering around. I mean, it’s not like there was anyone around to tell us not to.” Or to tell them anything at all. He thought they were probably in the clear, as long as they didn’t mess anything up while poking around. But still, he didn’t want to end up in trouble. “Maybe we should try the outdoor area, actually?” They couldn’t get in trouble for snooping outside could they? That’s where the springs were and it was basically public property. Right? It was outside. Anyway, it could be that all the staff were busy monitoring that area, and that’s why no one had greeted them.

“Is there a door that looks like it leads out?”

—

Luckily, Zack was an agreeable sort of bloke. He offered no argument when Baz yanked him out of the room with the terrible water heater that was surely planning on exploding and taking both of them out with it. With the door closed between them and it, the danger seemed far enough away that Baz could easily forget about it, which meant the fun was injected back into the ordeal. No longer worried about water heater explosions, Baz could focus fully on the promise of a spa day instead.

“I can’t imagine we’ll get in trouble for it. What else were we meant to do? Stand round and twiddle our thumbs waiting on someone to come tell us which way to go?” That wasn’t the sort of thing Baz was good at. Idle hands were the devil’s workshop, and as much as they appreciated the devil in general, they didn’t have the attention span to sit idle long enough for him to come out to play. They had much better things to do, really. 

Zack’s suggestion of poking around outside was an interesting one, though, and Baz found themself nodding along with it. “Maybe we’ll find the hot springs!” They suggested, even if they weren’t entirely sure what one did with a hot springs. Did they take off their clothes and take a dip in it? How hot was hot, then? The last thing Baz wanted was to be burned. But perhaps they could convince Zack to go first, allow him to be a guinea pig. 

“Oh.” The doppelganger glanced around the hall for a door that looked promising. They pointed to one at random, nodding. “That looks good, yeah? Come on!” And they yanked Zack along with them, pulling open the door and stepping inside…

…and right off a ledge. With a yelp, Baz clung to Zack, trying to climb up him to keep from falling.

—

That was exactly what Zack thought they would be expected to do, actually. But Baz explained the idea with an air of such incredulity that he realized it must have been a ridiculous option. He was glad, then, that Baz was his partner in all this. He sometimes needed encouragement to make a decision and get moving. Baz, it seemed, was not the type to just sit back and let the day pass them by. Evidenced by their immediate readiness to venture outside, as he suggested. Zack only hoped they would find the hot springs and someone who worked there.

Of course, they didn’t find the hot springs, not really, but just a Looney Tunes sort of ledge to nowhere. Or, not nowhere exactly, but the outside area of the springs for sure. The smell of sulfur was a hundred times stronger out here and Zack would have plugged his nose if he had not suddenly been burdened with an armful of Baz. “Oh. Okay.” Not at all what Zack had been expecting. He scrambled to get an arm around their waist to keep them from pitching over the side and took a step back. The ledge was pretty steep. Steep enough that there was no way a door should open right up to it. But had Baz fallen off, they likely would have been fine – a foot or so down from the ledge was, indeed, the hot spring. 

“Cool!” Guess we found the outdoor part.” A glance around told him that it must not be peak time for the spa. There were only a few others wading through the water. One of them was giving the two of them a very strange look. Then again, Zack was holding a lightly panicking Baz against his chest as if they were a toddler. “I can put you down, I guess.” He turned just enough to settle them back on solid ground, loosening his own grip he had gotten on the doorframe. 

—

There was a moment before the feeling of freefall took a hold of you where it felt as though you were suspended in the air. Baz knew of people who chased that feeling with everything they had, people who longed for it. They were the sort of people who went skydiving and bungee jumping, their screams rising up through the air like tangible things. Baz sort of thought they were all a bit mad. They didn’t like that feeling, didn’t like the way it made their palms sweat. They could get their thrills in plenty of different ways, plenty of better ones. Give them a stranger’s bedroom, give them the excitement of someone whose name they couldn’t remember writhing above them. They’d rather have that than danger, even if that danger was only an illusion.

It was an illusion here, it seemed. Zack was quick to react, grabbing Baz and holding them close to his impressive chest to keep them from falling, and Baz clung to him desperately. But the ledge they had been so sure stepped off into a bottomless pit that would represent their doom led to a simple hot spring instead, and wasn’t even really that far off the ground. Baz blinked at the sight of the strangers in the spring, still clinging to Zack.

“Oh,” they said, expression pulling into something almost disappointed when Zack announced he could put them down now. Baz quite liked being held like this, actually. But they offered no argument besides a quiet sigh as Zack settled them back onto the ground, straightening their back with a nod. “Right, then,” they said, “should we get springy with it, or did you want to keep looking round? I’m good to wander, if that’s what you’d like.”

—

It was, Zack had to admit, a little nice to have someone holding onto him so tightly. As if he was the only thing keeping them from danger. That wasn’t really the case here, he thought. Baz would have been fine had they taken the tumble, but it still stroked his ego all the same. It wasn’t very often that Zack felt in control of the situation, or as if he were the one doing the rescuing. Despite appearances, he was much more suited to the damsel role. Baz, it seemed, enjoyed their current roles as well, if their hesitance to be put down was any indication.

A laugh bubbled through Zack at get springy with it but he did little more than smile as he considered their options. They hadn’t found any locker room, after all, which meant they were still fully clothed. He didn’t want to disrobe out in the open like this, even if there weren’t many people around, and they couldn’t very well dive into the waters in all their clothes. 

But, there was a path that curved to one side, around the edge of the springs and leading further out onto the property. Zack found himself intrigued by that. “We could keep wandering,” he proposed, pointing out into the distance. “I wonder what’s out that way.” Maybe different offerings for springs? He didn’t know if there was an “advanced” option when it came to spas, but if such a thing existed, that was where he would expect to find it. “And if you get bored at any point, at least we know where the one spring is now.” They could always turn back.

Zack carefully stepped down from the ledge to the rim around the spring, offering a hand up to help Baz.

—

They were a little more pleased than they’d expected to be with Zack’s response. Of course Baz had come here for the springs, looking for some sort of lovely spa day to enjoy if only to see how well they could enjoy such a thing, but there was something to be said for the simplicity of enjoying another person’s company as well. Sure, the pair of them would still be together if they chose to soak in this spring here side by side, but they’d be together with a small crowd accompanying them rather than together on their own. And while Baz certainly enjoyed a crowd, they enjoyed the intimacy of being alone with someone, too. Being alone with Zack was fun; Baz wasn’t finished enjoying it yet.

“Always happy to wander,” they hummed, tone light and easy. There was always the possibility that there was a better spring someplace else, too, wasn’t there? A premium version of the one they’d found here, reserved for those guests willing to go the extra mile (perhaps literally, depending on how far they might have to walk for it). The thought was more than enough to excite Baz, who was always happily imagining greener pastures than the ones they were offered. “Right you are! We’ve got a backup spring ready to go if we need it, but we shouldn’t settle for the first thing we find. We’re better than that, I’d say.” The comment earned them a dirty look from one of the people currently relaxing in the spring, but Baz paid it no mind.

Reaching out, they took Zack’s hand and gingerly stepped off the ledge, careful not to step in the inferior spring. “This way, then?” They looped an arm through Zack’s, tugging him towards the crooked path. “What do you imagine we’ll find? Something lovely, I’d hope.” They stepped onto the path, noting how soft the ground was. Did that mean another spring was nearby? They’d certainly be finding out!

—

Satisfaction sunk slowly through Zack, like it was melting down his spine. Baz approved of his choice, which felt better than any activity at a spa might. No, he didn’t know his companion all too well, and he didn’t owe him anything, but one could fairly say that Zack wanted to please those around him, no matter who they were. And Baz was better than just anyone! They were kind and funny and an artist. Zack liked their company, and so it was even better that he had made the right choice for their outing. Now he just had to make sure not to embarrass himself as he and Baz wandered.

It started off well, as Baz took his offered hand and made it safely down and around the spring. “Exactly. A better spring.” The one they were leaving behind seemed more than fine, to Zack. Not that he exactly knew what made a good spring (not that he really believed that Baz did, either). And if he were really being honest, he was much more likely to settle for the first thing he found. What if there wasn’t anything better on the other side? What if, worst of all, there wasn’t anything, and Zack had missed his shot at anything by looking for better? 

That didn’t really apply, in this situation, of course. The spring they were leaving behind would be right there, should they not find better. 

“Something lovely for sure.” At first, he didn’t point out that the smell was getting thicker. Baz must have noticed it themself.  But soon it was strong enough and so acrid that Zack could feel his eyes beginning to water. “Do you think that smell has to do with the springs? Like, maybe the stronger it is, the better the spring is?” If that were the case, it must mean they were coming up on the best spring ever. At least, he hoped. But the area around them, as they walked, was growing sparser and more barren. The ground got softer and softer and… was that a tire? 

“Do you think we maybe went the wrong way?” Not that they had a set destination. But that was absolutely a car sunk into the ground not too far ahead of them, and Zack failed to see the medicinal or calming benefit of a rusted out car.

—

Zack was agreeable, which Baz liked. There were few things they enjoyed more than a person agreeing with them, few things that tasted sweeter than someone else’s voice offering a yes, and in response to whatever scheme or idea they’d come up with. And Zack seemed more than willing to do just that. He was quick to agree that their mission ought to be not only to find a different spring, but a better one. What more could Baz really ask for in a companion? What more could they hope for? 

And so, the doppelganger moved with a spring (ha!) in their step. They were excited by the promise of a better spring waiting somewhere ahead, yes, but they were also thrilled just by the idea of a journey. Baz, when boiled down to the meat of things, really wasn’t difficult to please. They might have pretended to be, might have put on a show of being picky and turning their nose up at whatever was offered to them under the belief that they deserved something far better, but that wasn’t the truth of it. The truth of it was that Baz, at their core, only really wanted company. They could be happy with just about anything so long as they weren’t alone. And they weren’t alone now, with Zack at their side in search of a better spring to enjoy. 

So what if it was a bit stinky? That was probably just part of the spring of it all! All springs probably had a bit of a smell to them. Maybe the stinkier the spring, the better it was, even! The moment they thought that, Zack voiced it aloud. To Baz, it felt like proof that they were right in this assumption, and so they nodded. “I’m sure of it,” they confirmed. “The smelliest spring is bound to be the best one, I’d say. We’re persevering and we’ll be rewarded handsomely for it! They’ll feed us grapes!” That was something done at springs, surely. 

This steadfast belief prevented Baz from succumbing to any sort of doubts, even as the path ahead seemed a little less promising than it had in the beginning. “No,” they replied confidently. “No, this must be the right way. I’m sure there are new age studies about… sunken cars.” Who were they to question the professionals? They saw another car half sunken into the ground, and a bike tire sticking up, and a pole. These were all beneficial to the spring. “We’re headed in the right direction,” they said. “I’m sure of it.”

—

If Baz was hoping for a better spring, a more exclusive spring, than the one they had left behind, Zack was afraid he had failed his new friend. Rather catastrophically. The spring (if it was even really that) they were standing before was in no way better than the other. Maybe more –What had that sign on the water tank said?-- pH but not better. They didn’t seem too put off, though. In fact, they didn’t seem concerned at all, just confidence that they were on the right path. He wasn’t sure about the being fed grapes thing, but he’d try anything once.

Zack’s confidence only waned as they ventured further and came across more detritus in the spring. Was that a washing machine? No, he wasn’t any kind of…relaxation scientist, or whatever kind of scientist would be the one to study springs and spas and their benefits. But he couldn’t imagine a sunken car, or that submerged bike, was good for their skin, or mental health, or whatever.

Still, Baz’s certainty never wavered. They were going in the right direction, they were sure of it. “Right. Maybe there’s some kind of skin benefit from…rust.” Actually, that seemed believable. Maybe Zack had even seen that somewhere? Some instagram influencer maybe? As quickly as he had begun doubting their jaunt, he was back fully on board. Sure, the cars and bikes themselves were a gimmick of some kind, but that had to be it. The healing properties of rust. And… 

He squinted as a much larger structure, only half protruding from the frothing water, came into view. It appeared to be some kind of building. Maybe an old Victorian house? Or an inn? “Oh, maybe this is where we’re supposed to check in?” The door for the house, if it still existed, was certainly well under water. But some businesses really did have quirky, hipster catches to their service. 

—

The rust! Yeah! That sounded plausible. Humans were always discovering all sorts of new ways to help out with skincare routines. Baz massaged snail mucin into their face every night before bed, and wasn’t there that old cliche about cucumbers on the eyes? Of course, for Baz, there was little risk to it. If something happened to muck up their skin, it was easy enough for them to reset by bouncing to another face and then back to Sebastian’s, frozen on the day they’d first borrowed his appearance. This also meant there was really no long term reward to upkeeping a skincare routine, though Baz held themself to it regardless. The long and short of all of it was that Baz liked to pretend to be human, at the end of the day. They liked doing all the silly things humans did, liked pretending those things were necessary. Their father had considered humans to be lesser to fae, and there were times when Baz agreed with that line of thinking, but they still thought being a human was more appealing than being a thing. They’d take human any day of the week, really. 

Which meant they wanted the spring. They wanted whatever weird, new agey skincare routine involved soaking next to the rusted out skeleton of an old pickup truck, wanted to relax next to an old bike without really understanding why they were doing it. They wanted to claim to see instant results even when they didn’t see anything at all, wanted to point to a freckle on their arm and tell Zack it was less prominent than it had been an hour ago. They wanted all of it, really, because they always did.

“We’ll look great after this,” they told Zack with a serious nod, practically skipping towards the nearest rusty car. Would the results be better if they were closer to it? They wished there were a professional around they could ask, but this area seemed just as devoid of staff as the rest of it had been. Not devoid of everything, though, it seemed.

Baz was squinting at the rusty car, trying to determine if this one or the one a few feet away was a better option, when Zack’s voice cut through their thoughts. They turned, spotting a large structure they’d missed in their single mindedness. “Oh!” They exclaimed, moving back towards Zack with a nod. “Yeah, I bet you’re right. We’re probably meant to crawl through a window. That seems new agey, doesn’t it? Exactly what I’d expect, from a place like this.” They grabbed Zack again, pulling him towards the structure. Sure enough, there was a window a foot or so from the ground, the glass long gone from the frame. Baz ducked through it, motioning for Zack to follow along. “It’s a bit damp,” they told him. “I’m sure the humidity is good for your skin!”

—

Once again, Baz’s confidence helped to boost Zack’s own. He wasn’t the most self-aware, but he was self-aware enough to admit that he was vain. He liked to look good in the particular, conventional ways. He didn’t work out every day because his job required heavy lifting, after all. “We’re going to look so good,” he agreed. “Everyone is going to be jealous, and ask us about our routines. And we’ll just lie and tell them that we were just born with good genetics.” That had been a joke, between Zack and his adoptive brother. Whenever Zack could do something that his brother couldn’t, had excelled in something, they would just shrug and say, it must be genetics.

(That had been turned against him, though. When he started acting out, behaving in ways that his parents couldn’t control. When they spoke in hushed tones with the priest, they had murmured that it must be something he had gotten from his mother. He had never liked that, the way they blamed her for anything they didn’t like in him. Maybe that shame he felt, that protective anger toward his mother, was another reason he fought so hard to be the perfect son to them. One less thing they would blame her for.)

He wasn’t totally sure about the window if he was being honest, but it all seemed to make sense to Baz. He followed the other through and felt the floor sag with his weight as he stood. “Yeah, like a sauna.” The whole structure was precarious and Zack was afraid he would fall right through some of the sunken, rotten-looking floorboards. But that must all just be for show. Like Baz said, all these details were likely just new age gimmicks. Still, he found himself stepping carefully as he moved deeper into the building. There was a staircase not far from them, missing several steps and half its railing, that led up. “Probably up there, right? Since below is…under water.” If nothing else, it was a direction to go in, and Zack started on that way.

Halfway up, the humidity in the air shifted. It was cold suddenly, clammy and awful. But that was probably another factor to help their skin. Didn’t all those influencers keep their skincare products in mini-fridges? And the little globes, for rolling on your cheeks and under your eyes (Zack only knew about those from the ASMR videos he sometimes put on to help him sleep), those were supposed to be cold too. “We’ve gotta be getting closer.” 

— 

Genetics. That was a funny thing, wasn’t it? It wasn’t one Baz had ever claimed before, if only because they had no idea what their natural genetic makeup was. They didn’t know if a doppelganger had any genetic makeup to speak of, though they supposed there were scientists out there who would tell them everyone had some sort of genetic makeup. Baz wondered, though, what those scientists might have thought of them. If a scientist saw them, wearing Sebastian’s face and accessing a select few of his genetic abilities through touch alone, would it break some unspoken rule Baz had never been made aware of? 

It hardly mattered for this, of course. Regardless of how little Baz knew of their own genetics, they knew how to twist things into something that served as a compliment towards them. When people asked how their skin was so smooth and soft and flawless as it would inevitably be when this spa trip was over, they’d claim genetics right alongside Zack, even if only because it was what Zack wanted to claim. “We’ll make sure they know it’s unattainable,” they agreed, flashing a grin. They would have, of course, agreed with anything Zack said. Being agreeable was always the first step towards being liked, after all.

Inside the building was certainly humid, and damp in a way that made the air feel heavy. The ground beneath their feet didn’t feel like a solid thing, but Baz was certain it was all part of whatever self care plan was laid out for them. All spas were probably like this, weren’t they? It was probably the sort of thing that was to be expected, in a place like this. They followed Zack as he moved further into the building, practically glueing themself to his side just in case anything unexpected happened. At the staircase, they nodded adamantly. “Up!” They agreed. “Down is probably… an indoor swimming area. But that’s not the sort of spa day we’re after, is it? No, we want the rest and relaxation package, not the one with exercise!” 

The stairs were old and rickety, but there was probably some sort of science behind that, too. Perhaps the goal was to get the heart pounding, to maximize the amount of blood coursing through your body? That was probably the sort of thing that was good for your skin, wasn’t it? Baz gripped Zack’s arm as they moved up the stairs, instinct telling them not to step on the same stair the other was standing on at any given time. They shivered as the air grew colder, tightening their grip. “I’ll bet there’s a desk with mimosas waiting for us just round the corner, yeah?” They reached the top of the stairs, stepping onto uneven floorboards. “Come on. We should go this way.” They tugged Zack forward again, towards a long, winding hallway. “This looks right, I think.”

—

“Oh! I bet you’re right.” An indoor swimming area made sense – that was why the building had to be half-underwater, probably. Swimming was great exercise, after all. That was one of the more exclusive packages, like Baz had said, with exercises included. “Yeah, we definitely signed up for one of the ‘sitting around and looking pretty’ packages.” If Zack hadn’t been with Baz, he might have inquired about the exercise options. As it was, he didn’t think his companion would be interested in such activities at all. And, they still had yet to find a worker at the spa, so it really was a moot point.

As they made their way slowly down the hall, though, Zack had to disagree with Baz. This absolutely did not look right. With all decisions prior, his confidence had increased with Baz’s. With this one, though– There was no way this was the right path. The wood of the walls was warped, wallpaper peeling and carpet matted. With each step they took, Zack grew more convinced that this wasn’t a part of the spa at all. Just a random, half-sunken building. “Maybe we ought to—” Before he could finish his sentence, a plea for turning back, there was an inhuman wail from a little further down the hall. The air went deathly cold and Zack was struck with the memory of being in that grave with Regan. She might not want to admit it had been a ghost that possessed him, but Zack knew the truth.

“Um. Okay. Call me crazy, but I think that might be a ghost.” He tried to keep his voice as even as possible, not wanting to freak Baz out, or have them think he had totally lost it. “And I really don’t want to be possessed again, actually, so.” He gripped hard on Baz’s hand, where it rested on his arm, and tugged back in the direction they had come.

— 

Baz nodded, pleased that Zack saw things their way. He was very agreeable, Zack; it was the kind of thing that made Baz like a person immensely. They’d have more spa days after this, the pair of them. Though Baz couldn’t see them taking on the exercise package. Or, rather, they couldn’t see themself taking such a thing on. Exercise wasn’t the sort of thing Baz enjoyed, after all, and they weren’t one to pretend otherwise without anything to be gained in return. “We’re very good at looking pretty,” they added with a grin. They were, though Baz thought they were slightly better at it than Zack was. No offense to Zack, of course, Baz was simply a hard face to beat! (And if they’d thought Zack’s face was better, well… they’d have lifted it for themself.)

As they walked down the dreary hallway, Baz continued working to convince themself that they were heading in the right direction. Sure, the decor left something to be desired, but this sort of thing was considered in style these days, wasn’t it? Apocalypse chic, or whatever they called it? This place was just trying to be modern, that was all. Keep up with the aesthetic of the month. Still, Baz gripped Zack’s arm as they moved through the hall, uncertainty clinging tightly to their throat. And then — a wail. Baz practically jumped out of their skin, all but throwing themself into Zack’s arms like something out of an old cartoon. 

“You know, actually, I think there are much better spas in town! This place is a bit dull, innit? They’re trying too hard! We can do better!” They began tugging Zack back towards the stairs, moving quickly. A heartbeat before they stepped down onto the first stair, though, they hesitated. Wait a minute… “You don’t want to be possessed again?” 

—

Relief surged through Zack as Baz immediately agreed and began to head for the exit. That scream was a pretty big motivator, after all. Still, they had to be careful as they retraced their steps. The last thing they needed was for one of the floorboards to collapse. Then they’d be stuck in this place and underwater. No, thanks! “Exactly,” Zack agreed, dodging weak spots in the hallway. “We deserve much better than this.” Actually, he thought he would probably be avoiding spas for some time. Who knew what other places were doing, if this one had a whole haunted hotel in its backyard. 

When Baz stopped, anxiety crept up Zack’s spine. “Oh, we don’t really have time for that whole story. Not here.” Thankfully, he was stronger than Baz, and could loop an arm around their shoulders and start to lead them down the steps. “But it’s a fun one! Or horrible. I could tell it to you as we walk very quickly in the opposite direction.” In truth, he didn’t really want to recount that night with Regan and whatever entity had taken him over. But he thought the promise of a good story might urge Baz along. “It involves a coffin!” Maybe that would sweeten the deal.

—-

Of course, it was not hard to convince Baz to leave a location where they felt their safety might be at risk. They had never been one for rolling the dice in matters of their own physical well-being; if there was a chance something could hurt them, they wanted nothing to do with it. There were people who found impulsivity with no regard to physical safety fun or exciting, or ones who thought their own well-being was better off forfeited for the good of those around them, but Baz fit into neither category. Baz, more than anything else, wanted to be safe. That was more important to them than being pampered, even if they still wanted that, too. (Maybe they could talk Zack into giving them a massage or an at-home spa treatment of some sort. They filed the idea away.)