End of the night.

I tried to be as subtle as I could, and after talking to everyone as we moved inside the house and ate in the kitchen/dining room, I was able to confirm that Thomas had been mostly right about everything.

Aside from him, all the couples said they didn’t feel anything strange, but they did seem… happier and more excited to me.

When I talked to Mark, I asked him “How are you doing? Everything okay?” and it seemed he took it a certain way, because he sighed and groaned.

“Yeah… It was really awkward for me, though. Before I noticed, everyone went into their own little corner to be all lovey-dovey. Mila and the others didn’t seem to mind, but I thought it was weird.”

Interesting…

I grimaced. “I see. Sorry about that.”

“It’s not like it’s your fault. Actually, are YOU okay with it?” he asked me.

“I would be if they hadn’t done it in front of you and the girls like you weren’t there,” I told him.

“Hey, it’s not that big a deal. Just weird, is all.”

I nodded in acknowledgement.

I was way more direct with Mila, Sarah and Noelle, of course, asking them straight out if they noticed something weird or supernatural.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Mila said. “I don’t think any of us did. Mark seemed fine, too. We just noticed how the others slowly began to step away and get more touchy-feely.”

So basically, whatever happened only affected the three couples in the pool. The gears were turning in my head, and given my own general understanding of how magic works, or rather, how our own magic works, I could already come up with some hypothesis.

I kept my eyes and ears out the rest of the night, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary beyond these three couples being in a fairly good mood. Well, Thomas not so much if only because he was also trying to pay attention.

Our guest left by 11:30 pm. Kevin, who didn’t drink, took Lena and Mark to their homes, while Alex took his tipsy wife to their house as well. Thomas and Maria, though, both drank, and I didn’t have to insist much for them to agree to stay the night.

I gave them what is supposed to be Diana’s bedroom, though she has yet to use it even a single night. She ends up sleeping with me when she stays over. The bed was made, so there wasn’t much to do beyond pulling Thomas aside for a short talk.

“The bathroom is there, that door in the middle of the hallway. If you need anything, don’t be afraid to go down to the kitchen and get it. Anything you don’t know, just call me,” I said.

“Sure. Thanks.”

“Also… Two important things.” I sighed. “Feel free to do it if you want. I don’t mind, none of us mind, and considering how things played out before…”

“...Yeah, even I’m a little pent up,” Thomas admitted, smiling wryly and rubbing the back of his neck. “Thanks.”

“Let’s say I’m returning the favor for last year.”

“Oh! And my birthday is coming up again! Haha!” We laughed together. “We’ll try to keep it quiet.”

“Um… Don’t worry too much about it. Because that’s the other thing. Um… The girls and I are going to disappear on the third floor.”

“Ah, gotcha, so the third floor is off limits because you’re going to be playing video games all night.”

“You know, that sounds good, too. Maybe some other night…”

Again, we laughed. We went quiet for a moment before we both said down on the bed next to each other.

“If you don’t mind me asking, is everything okay with Maria?” I asked him. “Like… intimately.”

Thomas nodded, quietly but without shame. “It’s been great. Like… I used to fear having sex because I was worried I wasn’t capable of pleasing a woman, but with Maria… It’s enough to make me understand why there are some idiots obsessed with sex that they’d want to have orgies.”

“Fuck you,” I told him. He just laughed.

I groaned and rubbed the back of my neck, too. “Hey… I have to tell you something. I… understand more about this supernatural stuff now than I did even half a year ago. I understand what happened to me… and what happened to you.”

Thomas didn’t look surprised. We’d talked about it before and we knew something supernatural had affected him as well, we just didn’t know to what extent. On that note, Thomas didn’t fully know what was happening with me. He knew I had powers, but he didn’t know they came from Frey or the extent of what they let me do.

“I’ll leave it to your judgement,” Thomas easily said. “Do you think it’s something I should know?”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Wait… Do you NOT want to know?”

“I’m fine with how things are now,” he said. “If you think I should know this stuff for whatever reason, then shoot. But if it doesn’t change anything… I think I’d rather not know. It’s… simpler that way, don’t you think?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “I wish I could think like that.”

“The trick is to not think about it,” he said.

“Yeah, I noticed.” I sighed. “Fine. It really wouldn’t change anything if I told you. Just… Thanks, Thomas. For being my friend.”

It was his turn to raise his eyebrow at me. “Are you dying tonight or something?”

“Nah. Too much to do.”

“Good. Now get out, I have a lot to do, too,” he said, smirking.

I stood up. “Breakfast will be at 8:00 am.”

“Got it.”

I exited the room and began to make my way to the third floor, but before that, I ran into Maria as she was coming up from the first floor.

“Ah, Oliver! I needed to talk to you.”

“Yeah? Need something?”

“No, just… I’ve been feeling guilty. I… got a little frisky with Thomas at the pool, but now that I’m more sober, I…”

I shook my head and smiled at him. “Relax, I don’t mind. Go and make all the noise you want tonight. I’ll be on the third floor.”

Maria laughed. “God, you’re…! Fine, I’ll take you up on that.”

“Goodnight, Maria.”

“You be good, Oliver. Goodnight.”

After that, I climbed the steps to the third with excitement in my chest.

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