Simon had only seen Avery once before, under rather more violent circumstances. His lightning-fast impression of the man had been his towering height, lithe muscles, black eyeliner, dark pink lipstick, and purple hair. He’d run a sword through the man’s colorful blouse an instant later.

  That assessment of and didn’t change the second time around. When they pulled into the driveway, Avery was waiting on the porch. Simon added to it,

  Avery grinned as they walked up, and scritched the kitten in his arms, but his blue eyes were alert and assessing. Despite his height, he stood lightly on the balls of his feet, and the only sign of broken ribs and a recent stab wound was stiffness when he took a step forward. He walked like he didn’t want to put his feet down too hard.

  “It’s Sir Stabs-a-lot in person,” Avery said. He shifted the kitten to his left hand and extended the right for a handshake without bending his back.

  Simon realized he had idea how to react to Avery. He opened his mouth, then shut it, and the geas threatened punishment for the awkward moment. He shook Avery’s hand. Avery bore down with a powerful grip that Simon had no chance of matching. The man’s hands were twice the size of Simon’s.

  Casey rested a hand on Simon’s shoulder. “Be nice, Avery.”

  “I’m always nice.” Avery wasn’t smiling. “My mom’s still asleep. Before she wakes up, I wanted to say my piece."

  “Avery..." Casey said, sounding worried.

  “Let me speak." Avery reached behind himself, opened the screen door, and deposited the kitten inside. Thus freed of a potential innocent bystander, he took two steps toward Simon and loomed over him.

  Simon stood his ground but was ready to duck out of reach. There was firewood stacked beside the door; a piece would make an acceptable club. He took a step to the side to improve his odds of being able to dart around Avery and snatch up a log before the man caught him. Even as injured as Avery was, Simon didn’t think his chances if this turned into a wrestling match were great.

  Avery said, "I’ve never known a world without Casey. I know him better than most.”

  Casey had his arms folded. He was glaring with real irritation.

  "The thing about Casey is, he sees the best in people. He’s a fucking white knight of a paladin, and sometimes it works out. Lots of times, it doesn’t. He tell you about Stephen yet?”

  "Oh, that’s below the belt!” Casey objected.

  “Shut up, CeeCee. He needs to hear this." Inexorably, Avery continued, "Casey met him while hiking in Sedona. Short, skinny little twink with bleach-blond hair. Big green eyes. Cute as hell, I’ll give him that. I knew from the moment I saw him that Casey’d be sleeping with him that night, and I was right—”

  “Hey!” Casey objected.

  Avery looked at him skeptically. “He was adorable and trying very hard to get in your pants. You never took your eyes off him.”

  Casey sighed. “Am I that predictable?”

  “Generally.” Avery turned back to Simon, “And, it turned out Steph was homeless. Living out of a little hatchback. Working at fast food.”

  Casey didn’t look embarrassed by the teasing, but he was angry. Avery didn’t seem worried about his brother’s temper and continued, "Casey took him in and gave space in the Junk Shop for a gallery. I helped him set up some online accounts to sell commissions for his art. Plus, I’ve got a pretty good-sized social media presence, and I promoted him on my channels. It worked; he’s got more followers than I do, now.”

  Simon wasn’t surprised by any of this. He’d already noticed Casey’s need to others. He wasn’t entirely sure what social media was, but Avery and Casey championed each other, and he had no doubt that that would extend to each other’s partners.

  Avery said, “Thing was... Steph never appreciated any of it, didn’t trust Casey, wanted to be the center of attention, and he was jealous that he had to share Casey with his friends and family, but Casey has a whole with us.

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  "So, Casey’s busy giving his heart to this little shit, and Steph’s going behind his back and playing games. He got Daxariel and Shana at each other’s throats, and Daxi quit over it — we didn’t get them to come back for almost a year. Daxi’s knowledge of action figures and table games is amazing, so that was a huge loss to the business, they’ve been our friend since high school. Then, Shana and I got into a huge blow-out fight over Daxi quitting. Steph instigated that by misrepresenting to me what Shana said to Daxi.”

  Casey sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Sorry, Avery. I should have—”

  Avery ignored the apology. "After Shana and I patched things up, I realized Steph was an unreliable narrator and that he was smack in the middle of every single bit of drama. I called him out on it, but he denied everything. No sense of accountability. I wanted him out of our lives at that point, but Casey said Steph wasn’t beyond help. He took him on a vacation to Rocky Point, and Casey told me they spent all weekend talking.

  “When they came back, Steph apologized to everyone and said things would be different. I thought Casey might have worked his magic..." Avery glanced at his brother, lips pressing together in a thin, hard line. “He’s got this with people. But, a week after they came back, Steph started talking absolute about me to Shana.

  “He called me crazy, he made fun of a few faux pas I'd made in his presence — if you know me, you know sooner or later I'll say something stupid because I’m awkward as — and he was mincing around with a purple Halloween wig on his head, pretending to me. I’m not sure what he thought he was accomplishing with a limp wrist and lisp; he sounded like Pee-wee Herman. It didn’t sound like , that’s for sure.” He said this last with an effeminate lilt to his voice, in demonstration.

  Casey said, “Avery knows about this because Shana was fed up. She secretly recorded Steph and posted the video online. Steph lost any friends he had that day, including me. We’d all had enough.”

  "The thing is, he was fun when he wasn’t being toxic.” Avery shook his head. "He made everyone laugh with horribly creative puns and killed us all at Cards Against Humanity. He created an D&D character. He got our jokes. He spoke our language. He’d have fit right in if he hadn’t chosen to be a shit.”

  Casey glanced up at his brother. “I know what Avery’s point is. Simon, I put in a amount of effort, time, expense, and emotional investment to try to help Steph, and doing so ended up hurting my friends. He’s worried I might do the same thing with you."

  Avery interrupted. “It’s not Simon’s behavior I’m worried about, Casey. Shana and Daxi both say he’s respectful, and they like him... Simon, my point is that Casey will go to the ends of the earth and beyond for people he cares about.”

  “Ah,” Simon said, tilting his head in understanding. “You are concerned that his desire to help me will lead him into danger.”

  Avery’s smile was a little crooked. “Am I wrong? He told me about the hellbeast. I’ve heard about what happened to the windows.”

  The geas throbbed, threatening to punish Simon for putting Casey at risk. Avery’s words had merit, and the spell forced him to put Casey’s interests before his own.

  Casey must have seen his flinch, even though Simon was trying hard not to show weakness. Casey dropped a hand on his shoulder and said, “Simon? Are we planning any more dangerous quests or crazy spells?”

  “... No.” Simon let out a slow breath as the geas lessened its grip. “And Avery, I give you my word that I will put Casey’s safety before even my own.”

  Casey added, “The geas him protect me. He says he’ll die if anything happens to me.”

  “If you merely get hurt, I will suffer,” Simon said, “but, Avery, that’s not why I’d protect him.” He couldn’t quite bring himself to articulate the reasons. It felt terrifying to think about just how much he liked Casey and how Casey was to him. He wasn’t even sure the feelings were real.

  Avery frowned. “Hm. He’s still going to want to do stupid shit. He’s told me a bit about the magic. Doesn’t sound like it’s going well.”

  Simon met Avery’s eyes. They had softened a little. “The book unlocked something within him. Without its influence, he might have used magic unconsciously, reflexively, his entire life. Now that he’s seen the pathways, he cannot forget. He needs training.”

  “And you intend to do this?”

  “... no.” Simon looked down, no longer able to meet Avery’s eyes. “I don’t have the skills or knowledge. He needs a mage to show him what I cannot. I can teach him the same exercises I was given as a child, but nothing beyond that.”

  “I thought you had no magic.” Avery seized on his words with quick suspicion.

  “I don’t. As part of my lessons, I was tasked with trying the most basic exercises twice a day for my entire childhood: lighting candles, moving small objects with my mind, guessing at symbols on cards, visualizing places I was familiar with in a mirror... I was never once successful.”

  Casey’s hand was warm where it rested on his shoulder. Now he squeezed. Simon found himself leaning into the touch and welcoming it. There were bad memories there of constant failure, Libeza’s unhappy frowns, and Ellia’s mockery, but Casey’s presence felt like warm sunlight chasing away the shadows.

  Oblivious to Simon’s thoughts, Casey said teasingly to Avery, “Kinda like you used to try to meditate your way into using the force when you were little.”

  Avery snorted a laugh, finally relaxing fully. “The results might have been more interesting if had tried to levitate objects.”

  Simon wasn’t sure what ‘the force’ was, but Casey’s chuckle was reassuring. “Done with the shovel talk yet?”

  Avery grinned, baring an even row of very white teeth. “Simon, hurt Casey, and I will dig a hole in my backyard and you. I’m done.”