Who: Aidan and Victor Where: The Point Pleasant Arts Festival When: Friday afternoon, July 13 Status: Complete
Any time there was a street event in town, Aidan tried to hit it up. He didn’t care too much for socializing, but the people watching was top notch and occasionally something would catch his eye. A good amount of what people were selling was junk–scented candles that he wouldn’t even use for light, scarves and hats as if everyone didn’t already have buckets of them, and soap so strongly scented it gave him a headache just from proximity. There was some art that he liked to look at, but would never buy, and then there were the jewelry and antiques.
Aidan hit up every booth leading up to his target and then continued on after, as if he was just browsing. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but was sure he’d know it when he saw it. A handmade articulated brass dragon caught his eye, but after his experience with Aya’s bird, he decided to pass it by. There was a beautiful battle ax that looked of fine craftsmanship, but was too big to swipe and he wasn’t paying full price for anything today. And then he found it, exactly what he’d been looking for–it was a silver lighter with a tarot card engraved on the either side: The Magician. Aidan picked it up, tested it, and set it back down as the vendor rattled on about the lighter. Aidan nodded along as he discreetly drew a box around the lighter with his pointer finger. He circled the lighter three times, then pulled his hand away, sliding it into his pocket. He told the vendor thank you, that he might be back, and moved on.
Thirty seconds later, after the vendor had checked that everything was in order, Aidan muttered the words to complete the spell. The lighter slid into the table and disappeared from sight. Aidan smiled to himself as he felt a weight settle in his pocket and he wrapped his fingers around his prize. Now two tables away, the vendor began to fret about the missing lighter, sure it had been there just seconds ago.
It was a sunny, warm day, and Victor couldn’t justify staying in the house again. He’d been working quite a bit -- both the kind of work that paid and the more personal kind. He had put up all new wards on his new place, strong ones, and then he’d spiraled out wondering if he really wanted to lock everything down so tight. Thoughts of Aidan O’Reilly had been circling obsessively through his head for days now, creeping up on him when he was trying to concentrate on work, popping up randomly as he went about his cleaning routine ... they were especially loud when he was in bed alone at night. Victor was honestly a little disgusted with himself for getting so fixated.
So the time had come for a head-clearing walk in the sunshine and fresh air, and the arts festival was the perfect opportunity. All of the cheap knits and paintings didn’t interest Victor, he was there for the antiques. There were always people at these things peddling stuff they’d found at estate sales and flea markets, and occasionally Victor found a gem amongst all the junk. It was rare, but it happened, and he needed the distraction anyway.
He stepped up to a table with a vendor behind it who was obviously looking for something, shifting items around and ducking down to check the ground. Victor glanced between him and some of his wares as the man began to grumble to himself about ‘goddamn thieves’ and ‘where the hell is it?’ A ripple of magic in the air tugged at his senses and he looked up and around ... and spotted a familiar back walking away a couple of booths down. There was no mistaking the back of that head now, not when he’d practically had his face buried in that messy dark hair so recently. Against his better judgment, Victor nudged his sunglasses up and moved to follow, taking longer strides to close the distance faster, flutters already starting up in his stomach.
Aidan usually preferred a sleight of hand to steal, but there were times when magic just made more sense. This was one of those times, when the crowd meant that someone was more likely to spot him, and getting called out caused more trouble than it was worth. He knew magic left a trace behind, but it only lingered for so long and he could tell the vendor wasn’t a witch, so he assumed he was in the clear. He turned off the main path, putting some distance between himself and the art booths, and removed his pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He didn’t need a lighter to light up, but he enjoyed the weight of it in his hand and the way it warmed from his touch. He flicked the lighter to life and smiled to himself as he looked into the flame, then lit the cigarette. Sometimes the simple things in life made his day.
As he took the same turn to follow Aidan, Victor started to second guess himself. This was weird, right? A few nights ago he had technically assaulted this man, and now he was stalking him through a public place? He was starting to lose track of who was the criminal aggressor here. His steps slowed down as he watched Aidan light a cigarette, and he almost turned back ... but he couldn’t quite resist the prospect of talking to him, seeing the surprise in his eyes when he turned around, being able to actually get a sense of how he felt about what had happened. That last one was what really kept him moving, nerves thrumming under the surface of his skin. Victor had a good poker face though, it came in handy in his line of work, and his expression and stance stayed relaxed as he approached. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?” he asked, his tone more amused than judgmental.
AIdan inhaled sharply, eyes widening as he went through a myriad of emotions and then started coughing. Of all the people to turn that corner and confront him, Victor was the last on his list. He’d thought about him constantly over the past few days, unable to determine how he wanted to proceed. He could not deny that he’d enjoyed himself, but he often felt that he shouldn’t have. And if he returned, he was sure things would escalate and that road was as intimidating as it was tantalizing. He’d worked to put Victor out of his mind and mostly failed, yet when he suddenly had him before him he was surprised. It was good to have a coughing fit as it gave him a second to figure out a response. “Only once out of all that junk—I’d say I’m showing great restraint,” he said with a small smile, still catching his breath.
The coughing fit set Victor a bit more at ease, like it shifted the power a bit more in his direction somehow, an irrational subconscious thing. Victor walked up to Aidan and stopped a couple feet away, his hands tucked casually into his front pants pockets. He looked Aidan over from behind his sunglasses, a bit of warmth blooming in his gut. Out here in the daylight, in a less intimate setting, he looked even less like the kind of guy Victor was usually interested in, but he couldn’t deny that the pull was still there. That cocky sparkle in his blue eyes was just as appealing with better lighting. All of that meant that Victor really shouldn’t be here, but damn did he want to. Aidan’s smile was promising -- at least relieving, because it wasn’t immediately full of mistrust or anger. “I suppose I have to give you that,” he replied with a faint smirk, then up-nodded toward Aidan’s cigarette. “Got another one of those?”
Aidan wished Victor would ditch the sunglasses. It was hard to read him when he couldn’t see his eyes. He wasn’t the kind of guy Aidan would normally associate with either, in gray chinos and a pristine black t-shirt—Aidan wouldn’t be surprised if it was pressed and his glasses were some designer brand. Everything about him screamed money, and then there was Aidan, somewhere between a street rat and a forest witch. Victor looked like the kind of guy who’d want to squish Aidan under his Oxfords, but the small upturn of his lips said otherwise. Aidan took out his pack of cigarettes and tapped out one for Victor, offering it before clicking his new lighter to life. “It’s a bad habit,” he told Victor, since he had no trouble being a hypocrite, though on his laundry list of bad habits, smoking was the least dangerous of the bunch.
“Mm, good thing I don’t make it a habit,” Victor said as he tucked the smoke between his lips and leaned in to let Aidan light it. It was an intimate little move, but it felt right and that was really all he was going on when it came to this whole thing, his gut instinct. He took a long first drag and exhaled the smoke out of the corner of his mouth. Part of his brain started to get a little panicky as it blanked out on anything else to say, every possibility that crossed his thoughts sounded insufferably stupid to him all of the sudden, and Victor hated sounding stupid. He was just totally unprepared for this. “Are you, uh ... satisfied now?” he asked with a suggestive quirk of one eyebrow. “Or going to try to make something else disappear?”
It was stupid how his heart ticked up when Victor leaned towards him—he was just lighting a goddamn cigarette for fuck’s sake—but Aidan was done trying to analyze his body’s reaction to things when it came to Victor. There was a draw there that was undeniable and Aidan could either fight it or see where it went. Though, in all honesty, it would probably be a combination of the two. “Am I satisfied?” he parroted with a smirk. “No, but this crowd wasn’t made for thrill seeking. One is enough.” He didn’t want to draw attention to himself, not like that. Cops were not his friend. “You… shopping for something? Fancy soap?” he teased, taking a draw off his cigarette. It was hard to imagine any of this stuff in Victor’s house.
Victor chuckled faintly, watching Aidan closely behind his shades. There was something playful and challenging in that smirk, and he wanted to both kiss and smack it off of Aidan’s face. Just being this close to him was making his crotch feel warm, no wonder his wit was slower than normal. “I have a passion for wind chimes made out of trash,” he quipped, casually flicking some ash off of his cigarette. “No, just out for a walk. It’s a nice day. Might stop by Castells’ or Belladonna for some real good soap.” This little encounter had made his day even nicer, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud. Now that he knew Aidan wasn’t full of rage or regret about what had happened, he probably ought to try and make a graceful exit. It was too brief, but they were in public and ran into each other by accident, after all. “Nothing planned for the evening,” he added casually.
The wind chime comment earned a grin from Aidan, who found himself watching Victor smoke with far more intensity than he liked. He needed glasses of his own to hide behind, so he could stare without being caught out, especially if Victor was going to make comments like that last one. He’d thought about going back more times than he could count and that was just short of an invitation. “Nothing?” he asked. “I thought you had some wards to fix.” Not that he wanted Victor to try and lock him out, but he was curious to know if he was even trying. It kind of sounded like he was welcome, or at least welcome to try again. “I’m going by the Castell’s. I’m not sure Reagan would like me in her shop.” The products might be good, but it was a little too frou-frou for him.
“She must not trust your sticky fingers,” Victor mused. He hadn’t spent enough time in Point Pleasant to really know the remaining descendants of the Six, but he’d been there enough during the summers and holiday visits to know most of them by reputation. He probably knew Zania the best out of all of them, since he’d always loved their family’s shop, and they’d had a few conversations over the years. “They were fixed the next day,” he said, a note of playful challenge in his voice. It was an invitation, but he still wasn’t going to make it easy on Aidan. That was part of the fun. Victor was tempted to offer to walk together, but that seemed too pathetic somehow. He took a couple of steps to move past Aidan down the side street he’d led them down. “Maybe I’ll see you there.”
“I don’t like her enough to steal from her,” Aidan said, aware of how weird that sounded. He avoided Reagan’s shop for different reasons, but it was mainly that he didn’t feel welcome there. She seemed the sort to expect him to steal from her, so he did the opposite, refusing to give her the satisfaction of being right. Despite barely knowing Victor, he fell into the other category, where he expected Aidan to steal from him, so he did it just for fun. “I’d be disappointed if they weren’t,” he murmured, impressed he was able to say it with a straight face. He wondered if Victor had a clue what this was doing to Aidan, upending desires that he’d believed set in stone by coupling them with an addiction. He was tempted to fall in beside Victor and follow him there, but his reply caused him to lean against the wall of the building instead, opting to finish his cigarette. “Maybe.”
Victor turned around to walk backward a few steps, looking like he wanted to say something. Weird or not, the idea that Aidan liked him on any level gave him tingles. It was so incredibly dumb, but that just came with the territory of this kind of flirtation. A smirk crossed Victor’s face and he changed his mind about getting the last word in -- and if that left Aidan wondering and hungry for more, all the better. He gave Aidan one last look-over and turned again to keep walking away, still smoking the cigarette. Victor was fairly confident that ‘maybe’ was going to end up a ‘yes.’
He didn’t want to walk straight to Castells, so he stepped into a couple of the shops on the way there, unsure if he wanted to reach the spice shop before Aidan or not. Victor didn’t want to look over-eager, that was never sexy ... but he kind of was. A store was still a public place, but a witch-owned spice shop was a hundred times more comfortable and intimate than the middle of the street. Victor wanted to get close to him again. He didn’t pretend to browse long in either place, too impatient to see if Aidan would show up. Victor’s heart was beating hard as he pulled the Castells door open and stepped into that fragrant air, immediately glancing around.
Zania looked up at whomever entered the door, down at her notebook, then back up again with wider eyes. “Victor?!” she asked, though the closer he got, the more sure she was that it was him. It had been years since she’d seen him, but his face was the same, though the man was a tree! He probably had a few inches on Nic and her brother was tall already. “God, you’re tall! When did you get this tall? It’s been forever! When did you get in? How long are you here for?” She wasn’t going to get any answers unless she stopped talking, but the questions just kept coming. “I hope you’re staying a while. Looking for something specific? Or just dropping by to say hi?”
It was an unexpectedly enthusiastic greeting from the cashier counter, and Victor couldn’t help but smile as he approached Zania, taking off his sunglasses. “Zania,” he greeted, his voice and eyes warm. She didn’t look much different than she had the last time he’d seen her, just with longer dreads and maybe a fuller figure. Had they really not seen one another since they were teenagers? Victor supposed that was right. Time was weird sometimes. “Just here to browse and say hello, but I just bought a place up in Overlook a couple weeks ago, so ... I’m staying for the foreseeable future.” He leaned one hand and one hip against the counter as he looked at her. “You look great, how are you doing? How’s Nic?”
“Of course you bought a place in Overlook,” Zania said, smiling as she rolled her eyes. They were nice houses, so she didn’t fault him for it, but she couldn’t stand the idea of living that close to her parents. “What do you do that earns that kind of money?” She didn’t care if it was a rude way to ask; she was curious and if he didn’t want people to know he had money, then he’d bought a house in the wrong neighborhood. “I’m good. I’m out at my grandmother’s old place on Ludlow. Nic’s talking about buying across the street. His girlfriend lives next door, so we’ll just take over the whole block, claim it as our own.” It wasn’t Overlook by a long shot, but Zania liked the idea of making it theirs. Her eyes flicked to the door as the bell over it rang and she gave Aidan a little wave as her attention turned back towards Victor. “You should come visit sometime. What possessed you to move back here?”
Aidan had wasted a good ten to fifteen minutes dicking around, trying to pace himself so that he’d run into Victor at the spice shop. He couldn’t really explain to himself why. He wasn’t sure what he expected to come of it. But he wanted to see him again, perhaps to gain more insight into who he was. All he had to go off so far was his house, his things, and a couple of encounters that left him wanting more while questioning his sanity. It wasn’t so much that Victor was a man, even if that was new for him, but the entire nature of them. It was completely different than seeing him now, standing against the counter and talking to Zania. Her wave caught his eye and he waved back, slowly browsing his way towards the counter.
The way Victor’s body reacted when he also looked over and saw Aidan walk in very nearly made him forget all of Zan’s questions. Aidan had shown up, he had to be interested on some level, and it made Victor feel all unsettled inside. He forced his attention back to Zania and blinked before his brain caught up to what he was supposed to be saying. “I do some financial advising, stockbroking,” Victor told her with a wry smile. “Boring shit. But I’ve also gotten into dealing magical antiques. I figured this was the place to get a good client list going.” If Zan was still as into magic as she’d been when they were younger, Victor had a feeling she would be interested. It was hard to focus on anything but that prickly awareness that Aidan was only feet away, but Victor did his best to ignore him. “But yeah I’d love to come by sometime.”
“Magical antiques,” Zania grinned, already intrigued. “Far more interesting than stockbroking. Things come through here, people looking for something specific, or just wanting to know what’s out there. I’m sure we can work something out.” She had a small collection herself, but she dealt more in spells and ingredients than magical artifacts. And information. That was always worth something. Her attention turned towards Aidan as he joined them at the counter. “Aidan, have you met Victor? Cousin of the McCarthys,” she said, then flipped back to Victor. “Have you caught up with them? Phee works in my greenhouse. She’s amazing. Reminds me of your sister.” Again, looking back at Aidan, as if they could follow. “This is twice in one week. What are you up to?”
Zania was sometimes a lot for Aidan. On days like this he wondered if she was bored out of her mind, sitting alone in the shop, waiting for someone to talk to. It was clear from the second he stepped in the shop that she’d already gotten going on Victor and he was happy to listen in, picking up information he wanted to know, but wouldn’t have asked. That was the upside coming there. The downside was that it was just as easily turned on him. “We’ve met,” he said with a small smile, not giving her any more to go on. Instead, he reached into his pocket and removed four crystals and set them on the counter—three clear and one amethyst. “Can you charge these for me? Or exchange?” He could feel his insides knot up by doing this in front of Victor, but it was why he’d come there in the first place.
We’ve met was one way to put it, and Victor’s lips quirked ever so slightly. He glanced down at the stones Aidan put down, immediately curious what they were for. Not that it was any of his business, but he felt just as nosy about Aidan as the other way around. Aidan had stepped up to the counter, close enough to touch, and Victor made no move to give him more room. He made himself not stare, returning his attention to Zania since she’d asked him a question. “I haven’t seen my cousins yet, no. Good to hear, though. The last I knew their mother was refusing to let them learn anything.” It had caused quite a rift in their family, honestly, and Victor put most of the blame on Brianna for the fact he didn’t know his younger cousins well. “You’ll be a good influence on her,” he added with a tiny smile.
“Oh, so you didn’t hear that Sebastian got possessed by a three-hundred year old descendent and we had to form a coven to take her down? Nice omission,” Zania snorted, happy to spill the tea for Victor’s sake. The rest of the Six knew, so so should he. “They’re learning now, but I don’t think James is the greatest teacher. Don’t tell him I said that.” There was a lot of time to make up for and Zania got the impression their family life was in shambles. She wouldn’t tell Victor about all that—she’d leave that to Phee, if she wanted to share. “If I’m a good influence, I’m doing something wrong,” she grinned, picking up the three clear stones that Aidan had deposited. She weighed them in her hand, holding one up to the light. “You completely drained these,” she said, looking over at Aidan with a raised brow. “Please tell me you’re not waterboarding someone. This is a lot of water magic to go through.”
The McCarthy’s fuck up was old news to Aidan, but he was curious to see how Victor reacted. Maybe he’d known and just didn’t want to drag his cousin’s name through the mud. Zania clearly had no issue doing so, though he knew she was on good terms with them. “I was working on breaking a curse,” Aidan said and though his focus was completely on Zania, it felt like Victor’s presence was pulsing beside him. He’d never been so aware of another person just standing there. It was unnerving.
“A curse?” Zania asked, switching to the amethyst. “Damn, you drained this one too. These are a pain to make! Tell me you got something good out of it.”
“I’m still working on it,” Aidan laughed, sure Victor’s eyes were on him now. They had to be. He’d never been so happy for facial hair as heat crept up his neck and onto his cheeks. He hadn’t used a crystal to dampen the blood wards the first time, since he hadn’t realized he was walking into a witch’s home. The second time he’d been more careful, but he’d still gotten caught through a fault of his own. And he wanted to do it again. He could probably do without the crystal this time, but he liked the possibility of catching Victor off guard. It was a small one, especially if Victor would be home, but it was worth a try.
The revelation about his family was indeed a shock. Either news about the incident hadn’t left Point Pleasant, or it was something his parents hadn’t shared with him. Both of Victor’s brows rose sharply, but Zania moved on too fast for him to really comment. Which was just as well, he supposed. Victor knew nothing about it, or that James was teaching the kids now ... damn, he’d really fallen out of touch, hadn’t he?
He watched the exchange between Aidan and Zan instead, his eyes definitely lingering on the side of Aidan’s face. Was that a blush he detected? Victor wasn’t positive. The mention of water magic made him assume that the curse Aidan was working on cracking was the one at his own house, and Victor had to fight back a grin as he watched the other man laugh. It made his stomach clench in a pleasant sort of way, and he forced himself to look at Zan so he wasn’t just staring dreamily at this guy he didn’t actually know. He’d already known another break in was imminent, but the idea that Aidan was putting real magical work into doing it was delicious. It made Victor want to go home and put more strength behind his wards, to make it a challenge, make him work for it harder. Work for him harder. It wasn’t just the stuff anymore, he felt sure, it was a game now. He would have to be ready to give a suitable prize.
“You find something good, you bring it here. If I don’t want it, maybe this one can help find you a buyer,” Zania said, gesturing towards Victor. It was a lucrative business model in her opinion, even if all the goods Aidan brought in were stolen. “Okay, so the water crystals are twenty-five each. And the loaded one will be one-seventy-five, assuming you’ll add in air and blood yourself. Unless Shayna Mae’s adding in earth for you?” The look on Aidan’s face told her that was a no even before he got the words out. “I’ll take that as a no. That’ll be two-fifty, plus tip,” she smiled sweetly. “When do you need ‘em?”
Aidan had put in more work into breaking into Victor’s house and stealing his stuff than he’d care to admit. It was the first time he’d been challenged in a long while, not by technology, but by magic. He could work around cameras and alarm systems, but spells took a certain kind of finesse. And wards took preparation, unless he could take them down entirely, and that was rarely the case with competent witch. He knew recharging the crystals would be pricey, but there were some things he just couldn’t do on his own in a timely manner. And he’d rather his sister not know he was breaking into another witch’s house, even for a discount. It would result in questions that he wasn’t ready or willing to answer, some because he didn’t have the answer to. He just knew he was going back, even if Victor knew he was coming, this time probably without the ward dampener. It made his heart race to think about it, so he tried to focus on completing the transaction, not the man standing beside him. He took out his wallet to pay for the crystals, then reached into his back pocket to set a small bottle of clear liquid on the counter. “Your tip,” he said simply. “Whenever. Just text me when they’re ready.”
Zania’s eyes lit up when he set the bottle on the counter, immediately unscrewing the top to take a quick sip. It was strong, as always, but she was her own boss so no one was going to get onto her for drinking on the job. Except Nic. Nic would probably disapprove. “Oh my God,” she swooned. “Love it. You’re a doll. Did you know Aidan makes moonshine? Or, other things? I dunno, he can tell you more about it. I just know this is fantastic.” She honestly didn’t know what she was drinking, but she loved it, so she didn’t care. She also knew she had to brag on him because he never would. “Okay, anything else? Need anything, Victor?”
The Rich Boy part of Victor was tempted to pull his own wallet out before Aidan could pay for his stuff, as a gesture, but a lot of people were likely to take that the wrong way, and it would definitely look weird to Zan. He was mildly impressed that Aidan had that much cash on him, but if he was a good thief he knew how to sell things too. Victor shook his head to answer that he was not aware of the moonshine, but now he definitely wanted a taste of it. It wasn’t the only thing he wanted a taste of either, but he managed to keep all of that to himself. “No, I was just stopping in,” he answered, giving Zan a smile as he straightened up. He could stick around and chat with her, learn more about what had been going on with his family, but more of him wanted to follow Aidan out the door. Victor looked at him, a bit of mischief in his eyes. “Keep it in mind,” he said. “About finding buyers. I have plenty of connections.”
“We’ll see,” Aidan said, biting his cheek as he looked over at Victor. He almost asked how much he’d be willing to pay to buy back his own things, but successfully held his tongue knowing that Zania’s eyes might fall out of her head. And she’d never keep her mouth shut. It wasn’t worth it, no matter how badly he wanted to say it.
“Come by sometime. We’ll do lunch and catch up,” Zania told Victor as someone else entered the shop—a potential customer, but most likely a tea buyer, so not near as lucrative. Still, it cut off all magical conversation as far as she was concerned. “I’ll text you as soon as these are ready,” she said to Aidan, dropping the crystals into a velvet bag and setting them behind the counter. “Try to stay out of trouble until then.”
“Unlikely,” Aidan smiled, giving Zania a little wave as he turned to leave. He was eager to get out of the store, sure that if they stayed an additional five minutes Zania would somehow have his entire game plan laid out for Victor. She couldn’t possibly know that, but he also wouldn’t put it past her. He glanced over at Victor as he turned towards the door, hoping he would follow. This little dance they were doing left him unsure of how to proceed. He was good at breaking into his house, but small talk was difficult, especially considering whatever it was that they had going on. He didn’t even know what to call it. He just knew he liked it, even though it tied him in knots.
Victor had to hold back a chuckle at Zania’s parting words to Aidan, just as aware as either of them that wasn’t going to happen. “We’ll do that,” he said to her with a smile. “Take it easy, Zan.” Victor rapped his knuckles on the countertop twice before he moved away to head for the door himself, several paces behind Aidan. Once they were outside in the fresh air again, Victor briefly debated turning in the other direction to end this interaction -- or see if Aidan would follow him. That pull he was feeling was too strong though, and he took a few wider strides to walk alongside Aidan instead. Victor slipped his hands into his front pockets and glanced over at the other man out of the corner of his eye. “You need a ride or anything?” he asked after a few heartbeats.
The pang of disappointment Aidan felt when he thought Victor might not follow left him momentarily unsettled. It was nothing new and he shouldn’t let it bother him. People walked away all the time and he’d worked at becoming forgettable for a reason. But then Victor stepped up beside him, matching his stride with legs so much longer than his own, and relief settled inside of him. “If you’re offering, sure,” Aidan said, glancing over at Victor. He could walk home, just like he’d walked into town, but it was an excuse to talk to him for just a bit longer. “I’m out in Blackwater Woods.” He didn’t want or expect to take him all the way to the house, but even getting him close would be nice.
There was no way in hell Aidan would ever be forgettable to Victor ever again. He’d had his fair share of male lovers -- maybe more than fair -- but none of them had ever broken into his house and given him this rush of adrenaline-lust that hadn’t really died down since. The fact that he was real, out here in the sunlight walking around like everything was normal was even more tantalizing, like some juicy fruit Victor was forbidden to touch. Giving Aidan a ride somewhere meant privacy though, so maybe some touching would happen anyway. “I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t offering,” Victor said, then chuckled faintly. “And I know where you are. Come on, I’m parked this way.” He nudged Aidan with his elbow, unable to resist making a tiny bit of contact at least, and turned them to the left as they reached the corner. It was a short, quiet walk to his car, a sleek black Charger, and Victor pulled his key fob out to unlock it and let them inside.
Aidan suspected Victor wouldn’t have offered if he didn’t mean it, but he was never quite sure, as if it was some version of small talk and he wasn’t really supposed to accept. He couldn’t even recall the last time he’d accepted a ride from another guy. Walking beside him, he became aware of how close they were and kept hoping Victor might brush against him again, even though it was nothing. It wasn’t intimate. It was just a casual touch. “Nice ride,” Aidan grinned, giving the car a once over before climbing inside. “You know it’s, like, one of the top ten most stolen cars in the US, right?” After working to keep his mouth shut in Zania’s presence, he just couldn’t help himself. Victor’s car would’ve been his pick of the entire lot. It was a novelty to ride in one legally.
“That right?” Victor half-laughed as he folded himself into the driver’s seat. He started up the car and rolled his head to look over at Aidan. “Break into my house all you want, but if you touch my car, I’ll drown you in your own fluids,” he said with a smile, his tone flirtatious. He had a good alarm system installed, but he loved his car more than most other things, and he didn’t want Aidan fucking around with it. The idea that he would anyway was kind of a turn on though in that weird way, and he was tempted to kiss him right then and there. People were still milling around outside though, and his windows weren’t that tinted, and Victor had no idea how Aidan felt about being public with any of this to any degree yet. So he backed smoothly out of the spot and pulled out of the parking lot. “Do you know Zan very well? I always got the impression you all didn’t mingle with the rest of us.”
“I don’t usually steal local cars, but that’s tempting,” Aidan chuckled. Cars could be tricky and he didn’t want to risk doing actual damage to Victor’s car, but he had this bizarre desire to see him that pissed off. It was an idea that he could hold onto until Victor actually deserved it… or he was just really bored. “I wouldn’t call us close, but she invites us to her Christmas party every year, so I guess we’re friends. We’ve got all kinds of ingredients at home, but she sells stuff that it’s easier to buy than make.” It was the fact that she was a fire witch and her brother was a water witch, the two elements he and his sister didn’t have access to. They didn’t often need them, but occasionally Zania’s services came in handy. “She’s also a gossip. Be careful what you tell her.”
The qualifier of local cars made Victor chuckle again. He was no saint, he did legally-questionable things himself in the pursuit of his nerdy passions, though he wouldn’t call himself an outright criminal. He wasn’t interested in judging Aidan, except to maybe dole out enjoyable ‘punishments’ every now and then. That was jumping far ahead of where they were now, however, so he tried to tamp down on the erotic anticipation that had been slowly brewing inside of him. He couldn’t assume anything at this point. Not even that Aidan would let him touch him again, in spite of how chill he was being right now. “Oh I’m aware,” Victor murmured with a chuckle. “I didn’t grow up here, but we used to visit a lot, so I’ve known her off and on for years.”
“She and Nic are the only ones I can say I know. It’s mostly just name and reputation for the rest of ‘em,” Aidan admitted. He’d never cared about knowing them either. They lived differently, held different values, and looked down on them, as if they were superior for spending their money on big expensive houses. As if they didn’t use their powers to make their fortunes. Not one of them was completely legal; Aidan was just more honest about it. “What made you move here? You don’t seem close to the McCarthys.” He’d been wholly unimpressed with their inability to teach their kids magic, but didn’t blame the kids themselves. It would suck to go that long suppressing that part of himself. He couldn’t even imagine it.
“Not anymore, no,” Victor confirmed, a note of regret in his voice. “It’s Brianna’s fault -- James’s wife. She’s the one who wanted to cut my cousins off from who they really are, keep them weak and sheltered. Sounds like that’s crumbling now, like we knew it would.” The rift in the family had broken his mother’s heart, and Victor harbored some bitterness of his own about it. His cousins were younger, but he’d loved them and wanted to help them take their powerful places in the world. Instead he’d been prevented from seeing them for years. Aidan wasn’t asking about all of that, though. “It’s fertile ground for my business,” he answered. “And my roots are here, I want to explore that.” He glanced over at Aidan, his posture relaxed behind the wheel. “Have you ever lived anywhere else?”
Aidan was curious about Victor’s family, both immediate and extended, but he didn’t go down that path. It felt too personal, or like he was prying for information, when he really just wanted to know more about the man next to him. Family was everything to him, and sometimes felt like that was all he had, so he understood how being cut off from them could be devastating. Cousins weren’t brothers or sisters, but it still had to sting. “No, I’ve always lived in Point Pleasant, and… I’m okay with that. I can’t really imagine living anywhere else.” Like Victor said, his roots were there, and the thought of moving off on his own didn’t appeal to him in the least. “I’ve traveled a little, but never too far. Where’re you moving from?”
Victor wasn’t surprised to hear that -- it always seemed that the more rural a person was raised, the more likely they were to stay close to their family land. For people so tied to the earth like the O’Reillys, that bond had to be even stronger. Victor envied them that a bit. Whenever they visited, Point Pleasant had always felt more like home than their place in Boston. It was the magic here, he knew that. It was another reason getting cut off from James’s part of the family had been so hard to accept. “Boston,” he answered. “I was raised there, but I’ve always felt ... tied to this place. I’ve wanted to move here for a while.” Victor probably could’ve come a few years ago, but he would’ve had to compromise on what part of town he lived in, and he didn’t want to. He’d chosen his house very carefully.
“I think we feel the draw more than others,” Aidan said with a little nod. He wasn’t sure if it was their heritage or the magic in the land, but as witches he thought the pull was stronger for them. It explained why the area was so highly saturated, even with the danger it presented. “You hear much about the stuff that happens around here?” If he’d been cut off from his cousins, it was possible he’d missed out on those kinds of details, but Aidan kind of doubted it. He knew Zania and her shop, seemed aware of the other families in the area—he had to know Point Pleasant was an agent of its own chaos. Part of Aidan felt like he deserved a warning, but he also wanted to see how he handled that kind of madness without warning. Then again, no amount of preparation really helped. It affected everyone, even the O’Reilly’s, separated from the others out in Blackwater Woods.
“Maybe not everything,” Victor admitted, tilting his head back and forth briefly. “But I’ve got more connections here than just my family, so I hear a lot.” His business being magic focused meant his interests in the area had expanded quite a bit before he’d decided to move back here. His reputation hadn’t reached the families of the Six yet, but he planned to fix that now that he was here. Dealing in antiques and artifacts often meant dealing in information too, and Victor wanted to have his finger on the magical pulse of Point Pleasant. “Have you and yours been okay through it all?” he asked after a moment’s thought. Victor’s eyes flickered toward him. “That fog sounded like nasty business.”
Most of the time, Aidan felt like they got away unscathed, but the fog had truly fucked them over—Max specifically. He’d barely been home before he’d disappeared, and even though he was back Aidan knew things weren’t quite right. He worried about the new power he had and his darker mood and kept expecting things to go sideways again. Knox didn’t think anything was wrong, but Aidan still worried. “The fog took my brother,” he said quietly. “It spit him back out alive, but worse for the wear.” His gaze turned towards the window, watching the buildings pass, the distance between them start to become longer and longer as they moved towards the edge of town. “It got everyone in some way. Magic was useless.” He’d felt defenseless and he hated it.
Victor’s brows rose and he looked slightly horrified for a brief moment. Aidan wasn’t looking at him and his tone was still mild, but it definitely felt like he’d stuck his foot in his mouth. Victor had known that people had disappeared, of course, his aunt had been one of them. But he hadn’t heard who else had been with her. “I didn’t know, I’m sorry,” he said, low. “My aunt was among them too ... I haven’t been fond of her in years, but I’m still glad they all came back.” If Max was really struggling with it all, it probably wasn’t a subject Aidan wanted to dwell on, and Victor mentally groped around for something else to ask him about. “I always heard the O’Reillys had a real familiar out there ... is that true?”
“It’s okay,” Aidan said quietly. The fog and all that followed was still a sensitive subject for Aidan, who wasn’t prone to opening up to anyone, let alone a man he barely knew. Victor felt strangely trustworthy, but Aidan blamed that on the intimate encounter they’d shared, not on a feeling he’d earned. While he was aware of how quickly he shuttered in uncomfortable situations, he still appreciated the way Victor moved on, giving him something more entertaining to latch onto. “That’s true,” he said, looking back at Victor with a hint of a smile. “His name is Knox. Get too close to the property and you’ll probably meet him. He’s… family.” Aidan had never known a time without Knox and he hoped it stayed that way. He was like the big brother that never got old.
Victor couldn’t decide if the bit about the property was more of a warning or just a fun fact about their familiar. Either way he was fascinated. He had no interest in trespassing on the O’Reilly land to turn the tables or anything, but now he was interested in meeting the man. Or spirit, whatever he was. Familiars could take many forms, but everything the rumor mill had to say about Knox sounded pretty damn cool. Ageless, powerful, more than just an animal spirit given magical sentience. “I’m sure he is,” he murmured. “How many generations has he been around for? I’m just curious.”
It was a bit of a warning, but only because Victor was dropping him off and Aidan didn’t know if Knox might just show up. He wasn’t expecting him to, and kind of hoped he wouldn’t, but Victor was a witch and an unknown witch within their wards might draw attention. Then again, if Victor dropped him off on the main road, it shouldn’t be an issue. “I don’t know exactly. For almost as long as we’ve been in the area. I know he pre-dates the original Six, so… over three hundred years, I guess. Lots of generations.” Over time Knox had become more accustomed to their way of life, but he was still a forest spirit and would never be quite human, no matter what he looked like.
“Interesting.” Over three hundred years. Victor itched to sit down and ask the familiar so many questions, show him so many things and ask if he recognized any of it. If he pre-dated the Six, had he been here when the town was founded? Earlier than that? How long had he lived as a forest spirit before the O’Reillys brought him into their family? Did he feel more like a captive or more like one of them? Maybe one day he would get a chance to interview this Knox, but he wasn’t the one in that farmhouse who interested Victor the most. He glanced over at his passenger, full of questions about him too, just trickier ones that he wasn’t sure he wanted to ask. Not yet anyway. But that also meant he suddenly didn’t know what to say, so he let a silence settle between them while he headed for the road out of town.
Aidan glanced over at Victor, wondering what he was thinking. He knew their family was different from the rest, living out in the woods, cut off from most people with a forest spirit as a familiar. The differences never really bothered him, but he knew it made him hard to relate to because he often found it hard to relate to others as well. Many times he just didn’t put forth the effort, but Victor had become quite the curiosity to him. While he could have sat back and enjoyed the ride in silence, one of the easier questions came to mind instead. “You close to your family? Any brothers? Or sisters?” He could hazard a guess—that Victor was either an only child or an eldest child—but that’s all it was, a guess. He just didn’t seem like Aidan in that regard, the baby of the family.
Victor couldn’t tell if Aidan was actually interested or just filling the quiet with something. It was a little weird to think Aidan might be as curious about him as the other way around for some reason. Victor was dying to know what he was thinking, to know if he’d been on Aidan’s mind since the last time. Gods knew Victor had been thinking about him way too much. It was a simple question that might have just been politeness ... but he wasn’t convinced that Aidan cared much about being polite. “Only child,” he answered with a wan smile and another glance over. “I used to beg my mom for a brother, but ...” Victor shrugged. He knew now that kind of decision definitely hadn’t been his to make, he’d just been kind of lonely as a kid. “You’re the youngest, aren’t you?”
Aidan could easily see Victor as an only child, and if his family was anything like the McCarthys, then he was probably spoiled beyond reason. He felt for him though, on having begged for a sibling. He couldn’t imagine life without his brother and sister. He imagined it would have been lonely, but then Victor probably wasn’t as cut off from everyone as Aidan was, so maybe that wasn’t the case. “Yeah, my brother, Max, is nine years older than me. Shayna Mae is only two. You wouldn’t know it though. She’s the responsible one of the family,” he said with a fond little laugh. Without his sister, they would have probably fallen apart. His dad was a mess and had been for a long while, and Max had his own problems. Knox took care of them, but it was Shayna Mae who made sure bills got paid on time. Aidan contributed the best he could, even if he didn’t come by it legally.
He gave a hum of acknowledgement and a small smile as he turned the car down Witcham Road to leave town. Victor knew of the O’Reillys more than he knew them personally, so while part of him was interested in mentally mapping the family tree, he got a flash of amusement that the two of them were even talking about something so mundane when just knowing Aidan was within arm’s reach got his blood pumping so hard. After another moment of silent driving, Victor abruptly pulled the car over to the shoulder and threw it into park. He turned to look at Aidan, a smirk growing on his face. “Let’s be honest with each other, shall we?” he murmured, lifting his left arm to casually rest it on top of the steering wheel. “I don’t care about your family, you don’t care about mine. You didn’t accept a ride to do these first date questions.” It was so tempting to just grab for him, pull him forward to Victor’s mouth, but even though they were alone, things felt different in the daylight.
Aidan’s stomach knotted up as Victor pulled off the road, his eyes turning to Victor as he tried to figure out his motive. At first he wanted to protest because he did care about Victor’s family in the sense that he was curious about him. Along the same vein, it stung to think he’d been sharing a part of himself with someone who didn’t care. But the comparison to first date questions shut him up completely. Was that what he’d been doing? It’d been so long since Aidan had been on a real first date that he wasn’t even sure. But he supposed the real question was why he’d accepted a ride from Victor in the first place. Aidan wasn’t sure he could give Victor a concrete answer. Even if he tried, all honest answers were more vulnerable than he liked. “No, I guess not,” he answered simply. “Why did you offer?”
Victor meant he didn’t care in the most flippant way possible -- he was plenty curious about Aidan but in that moment it was hard to care about much of anything but the attraction he was feeling. His gut told him that he wasn’t the only one feeling it, but Victor knew he could still be wrong about that. The tension of uncertainty was part of the draw. He scraped his teeth over his bottom lip as he considered his answer. “You have my attention,” he said finally, his tone making it fairly clear what kind of attention he meant. Admitting that he’d wanted to see Aidan again, to get a read on how he felt about what had happened between them, to try and suss out whether he would be back ... Victor wasn’t eager to say any of that out loud either. He wanted to show him instead, but that still felt risky. So Victor watched his face, hunting for signs when he probably ought to be driving instead. “If that’s a problem, I need to know.”
Aidan watched as Victor’s teeth scraped over his bottom lip, feeling a twinge he could now identify as desire. It was a novelty his brain hadn’t quite worked out, but his body seemed more sure of it than anyone he’d been with in a long time. Instinct said to lean into it, that the why didn’t matter as much as the fact that Victor was there, returning his interest in his own fucked-up way. As awkward as Aidan sometimes was, he knew this was not how people normally went about flirting, yet he just didn’t give a shit. Aidan turned in his chair, giving Victor his full attention as his heart began to race in his chest. “It’s not a problem,” he said with a small upturn of his lips. “I just don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.” That seemed to be the case across the board, from breaking into Victor’s house a second time to accepting a ride with him. He was moving forward blindly, not even sure what the destination was, but chasing it anyways.
He’d given up on doing things the way ‘normal’ people did them a long time ago. Victor’s tastes were out of the norm, and trying to force them into those narrow boxes had never worked out well for him. It had taken several years of failed relationships for him to learn that he needed to find people who were like minded already, or at least had kinky curiosities. As things stood now, Victor wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted either, just that Aidan and that cocky little smirk and the way he kept turning up drew delicious sorts of reactions out of him, and he wanted more of it. It was a relief to hear Aidan say it wasn’t a problem, even though Victor had been fairly sure he wouldn’t have gotten into a car with him if he felt otherwise. “I can help with that,” Victor murmured with a slow half-smile, flutters deep in his stomach. “I’m a good teacher.”
“Are you now?” Aidan said with a soft laugh. He’d spent the better part of the last few days thinking about all the things Victor could potentially teach him and the only thing holding him back was his own inexperience and the concern that he was making something out of nothing. Now he knew the latter wasn’t the case and there was only his self doubt to deal with. If Victor teaching him was anything like the other night, Aidan couldn’t help himself. He wanted more. It was why he’d already been planning another break in. “I’m not the best student,” he warned, his lips pulling into a smirk. “You sure you can handle me?” Remembering Victor’s hands on his wrists, pinning him to the wall, he was sure this was the case, but he couldn’t help but poke at him.
Victor remembered it all extremely vividly himself -- the thrill of holding Aidan in place with his hands and his body while his cock throbbed in his pants was very fresh in his mind, especially since he’d been replaying it over and over to himself. He was tempted to ask Aidan if he had any idea how many times he’d made Victor come already, but he wasn’t sure of his boundaries yet. Guys were tricky sometimes, especially if they were only just feeling out how they felt about sex with other men. Victor didn’t want to spook the skittish little fox boy in his passenger seat with too much bluntness. “Oh I’m sure I can,” he purred back, an answering smirk on his own lips. He finally reached out like he’d been dying to do, ghosting his fingertips over Aidan’s cheek and jaw, his thumb moving to brush the curve of his bottom lip. “I don’t even mind if you bite.”
Having the situation flipped, being pursued in a sense, was refreshingly different. Aidan didn’t feel required to take the lead for once, allowing him to fall into a role he was far more comfortable with. His skin tingled where Victor’s fingers grazed over him and when Victor’s thumb slid over his lip, his first instinct was to bite. That Victor thought to grant him permission made his chest shake with a silent laugh. He bit down on the tip of Victor’s thumb, hard enough to leave a mark, then dragged his teeth along the skin and nail until it was free. His tongue followed his teeth, desperate for a taste, even just a tiny one. It was something to take back with him, fuel for the fire that he’d meant to snuff out, but instead set ablaze. “Do you bite back?” he asked with a cheeky little grin.
That jolt of pain in his thumb was delightful, and Victor hissed in a quick breath, his eyelids drooping. Aidan’s tongue felt just as good, promising, and it was all Victor could do not to push it into his mouth. He told himself the tease would be worth it, he just had to stay patient. There was no doubt in his mind now that Aidan was coming back, and Victor didn’t want to spoil their game by rushing things. Plus they were in a car on a technically public road, it wasn’t the best environment for everything he wanted to do at the moment. “I do,” he replied, bringing his hand to his mouth to give the tip of his thumb a brief suck, like he might taste Aidan there. “Can you take being bitten?” Victor arched a brow, his own lips curling up slightly.
Just watching Victor’s reaction got Aidan’s blood pumping and it almost made him wish he’d done a bit more, sucked a bit longer and teased something he’d never actually done. In the last few days he’d thought about it though, surprising himself with the voracity of his new desires. He blamed it entirely on Victor, though he wasn’t actually bothered by it. Now he had biting to add into his fantasies and he considered Victor’s question with a hint of a smile. Aidan’s mind momentarily flashed back to Aya, biting his finger hard enough to draw blood. It hadn’t been sexy in that moment—it had hurt like a bitch and had pissed him off—but under the right circumstances he could be into it. The thought of Victor biting his neck, or his shoulders, or even his hips, made his pants a bit more uncomfortable and he had to fight to keep his breathing calm. “Depends where you’re biting me,” he said softly. “But yes.”
While the thought of drawing blood with his teeth had always excited Victor, he had no real desire to hurt Aidan -- or any of his partners, for that matter -- in ways he didn’t enjoy. If Aidan wanted to find his good-pain limits, Victor would happily help out and maybe push them a little, but his main goal was pleasure for all involved. And gods, that quiet answer made him practically ache to get his hands under Aidan’s clothes again. His willpower was stumbling a bit ... it was better to wait, right? Let it happen organically instead of acting on his instincts while he had Aidan trapped in his car -- though hadn’t he already proven that he was difficult to trap? If he didn’t want to be in Victor’s passenger seat, he wouldn’t be, that felt clear enough. “I thought as much,” Victor murmured, letting his gaze drift over Aidan again. Was that a sign of arousal or just the way his jeans were sitting? Victor blinked himself away from staring, focusing on Aidan’s face again. “Then I look forward to your next attempt.”
Aidan tried not to squirm as Victor’s eyes traveled over him, sure that would make his arousal worse. As charged as the moment was, this was the wrong time for it. He didn’t mind being in a cramped car, but they were on the side of the road in the middle of the day. Aidan didn’t care a lot about breaking the law, but he didn’t like the idea of starting something they might not be able to finish. “It won’t be as effective without the crystal,” he murmured, and it went unsaid that he wasn’t willing to wait on it. He wanted to go tonight, even if it meant Victor would know the moment he crossed his wards. A plan began to evolve, one that brought a smirk to his lips. “I don’t plan on making it easy.” He was sure Victor would catch him, he wanted him to, but he wasn’t going to make the same mistakes he’d made the first two times. He knew the layout of the house now and, though the knife was there, it was no longer his goal.
So the crystal exchange that had happened at Zan’s did have to do with him. The confirmation of what he’d suspected gave him the tingles -- knowing he’d been on Aidan’s mind appealed to the ego he’d never quite been able to tame. A lot of things inflated his ego, but not many of them had the same erotic edge. Victor wanted him to come tonight too, but he decided not to ask. It was better if it wasn’t explicitly planned, he could spend the evening on pins and needles, wondering when Aidan would show up. That smirk was certainly promising. “Good,” he said, trying to suppress his own smirk and largely failing. “Neither do I.” He decided to leave it at that, before the temptation got too great, and Victor turned back to the steering wheel. He pulled the car away from the curb to continue down Witcham and drop Aidan off like he was supposed to do.
Aidan was sure that smirk was going to do him in. It made his insides twist up and his heart race, engaging the part of his brain that desired to do something mildly reckless. Later, later, later, he told himself over and over, attempting to practice some form of restraint. It was easier when he didn’t know what he wanted in that moment, other than Victor’s hands on him. And his mouth. That goddamn mouth… Aidan sighed softly when Victor turned the car back onto the road, but it was impossible to say if he was relieved or disappointed. Regardless, it was just put on pause. They could resume later, in a different setting with different rules, none of which had been truly established. Aidan had originally thought that if Victor knew he was coming, the thrill would be gone, but after their talk he knew it was the exact opposite. The hard part was going to be waiting.