Serious talk.

John had dreaded this moment for one week. Revealing to his mom not only his powers but also what he had done to her was not an easy decision to make.

Some spicy smell welcomed him home; a look to the kitchen revealed some boxes of Chinese take out food on the table. His mom was standing nearby, wearing a tank top and yoga pants that she often wore when exercising.

"Hi, Mom!"

"Hi, sweetie. Did you have a good day? I ordered some Chinese. Go change out of your uniform and come back to eat. Do you need to take a shower before dinner?"

"I'll take a quick one; I'll be there in less than 10 minutes."

John quickly ran upstairs and stripped, and after a quick trip to the bathroom and a short shower, he put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a video game company logo on it. He had to be careful to pick one that had been a bit too big when he got it; even if he was not massive, he definitely gained some muscle, and his tighter clothes would make it more obvious. He was trying his best to look as normal as possible.

The dinner, spent eating food on the couch while watching TV, was a bit awkward. His mom had been a bit surprised to see him fully clothed at home for a change, and he had been slow to answer the usual questions about school or how things were going with Anna. He was too busy thinking about what he would tell her and how she would react.

He had something in his pocket, ready to use. The thought of using it sent shivers down his spine, to know how far it would have gone to necessitate using it. The oblivion charm he had borrowed from Moira on Monday had one charge left, half an hour of memory to remove from someone. And it was equally horrifying and reassuring to have it with him before talking to his mother.

"Mom? Can I talk to you for a bit?"

"Of course, you know that you can tell me anything. What is it?"

"It's... important. There's something that I need to tell you. It will sound strange and maybe worrying, but I really need to tell you and to know that you will let me explain myself to the end."

"Now you are scaring me a little, John... Did you get in some trouble?"

"Do you remember last week? On Tuesday?"

"You mean when we... When I... John, I really don't know what got into me last week, I'm your mother... We shouldn't... I guess it really helped you be so assertive lately, and you even got a girlfriend after that, but we..." She really seemed conflicted by feeling remorseful for something that seemed to have had such a positive outcome. John took a deep breath and checked the twenty nine and a half minutes left on the timer that he had started.

"Mom, don't blame yourself. It's me, I fucked up. I made a mistake and didn't expect it to turn out that way. I... I'm sorry." His mother looked at him really puzzled.

"Don't say something like that. I'm the older one, and I am the one who started this; I have only myself to blame, and you have nothing to do with that."

"No, you don't understand. Do you remember that you only told me that Dad was not coming home during the dinner? I... Fuck, there's no way around it. I did something thinking he would have an awesome time when he would arrive and only then learned that he was not going to be here."

"What are you talking about? Did you **** me?" Brenda looked at her son with shock as she moved away from him on the couch instinctively.

"No, it was not ****. Damnit, it is not going to be easy to explain. Did you notice something different with me since last week? Something different about things and people around me?" he replied, putting his hand on her forearm to calm her down.

"Don't change the subject, young man! What did you do to me?" she asked; John could see that she was getting angry and wondered if he had picked the wrong order to explain things in.

"Please reply first, it will be easier to explain."

"Ok, but you better have a good explanation for what you just said. You... It's really strange, you changed a lot since the last week. You seem healthier, and I used to have to drag you out of your room and away from your video games. But you spent a lot of time out, to be honest this doesn't look like you. And Anna too, now that she is with you, she looks like she lost some weight and totally changed her attitude. What happened to you? What happened to us?"

"Alright, you noticed. It will make things easier for me. Monday morning, I woke up with a pop-up in front of my face, floating in the air..." John tried to explain to his mother the fact that he had acquired his powers and some functions of them leading to the fateful night.

"So let me get this straight... You want me to believe that you acquired some magic video game powers, including some perverted ones, and that you used one of them to make me excited as a gift for your dad?"

"Well, it was a bit of a gamble. I wanted to test it on you because I thought that being my mom you wouldn't be attracted to me at all. And that it would be a nice surprise for dad."

"This is insane! You can't expect me to believe that? Do you have any proof of that?"

John knew that this would happen. After a short sigh, he opened his hand in front of his mom to reveal her balled panties inside of it.

"WHAT THE FUCK? How did you? This is insane! This is true, then?" There were a lot of things that could be rationalized, but no amount of sleight of hand or trickery could have possibly removed her panties from under her yoga pants without her noticing it. She was looking around, expecting to see reality shattering like her world was. Magic existed, her son had powers...

"I told you. I fucked up. I thought that you would feel nothing of the sort for me even with the spell and would have fun with dad. And, well... When you offered, I couldn't refuse, this was too tempting..."

John was totally torn by this situation, he was afraid that this confession would totally destroy the relationship that he had with his mother (the familial one), more than the secret he kept. He was totally dumbfounded when she threw herself at him and locked him in a strong hug.

"It's OK, sweetie, I know... I... didn't know about magic or anything, but I knew that you would not be able to pass the occasion. People do mistakes, you're young, and it would be obvious that you would make some with these powers. Promise me to be careful in the future though. The thing is, even if it was an accident, your thing didn't push me much, maybe a bit over the edge," she told him with tears in her eyes.

"I promise, this was a lesson that I had to learn already. But, what do you mean by that?"

"I always thought that it was a bit tragic that someone so imaginative in that domain didn't get any chance to put them to practice, and what we did is something that had been in my mind before, even if I didn't dare do it."

"Imaginative in... Wait, you know? You too?"

"About your little stories? Yes, I'm very proud of you, and you shouldn't be ashamed. And I know what I'm talking about. Hmm, me too? Who else knew?" she asked, letting go of him and letting him breathe.

"Hmm, Miss Summers at school figured it out... What do you mean by knowing what you are talking about? And how do you know?"

"Ohhh, I get why you were so eager to get some tutoring from her on Saturday. Listen, your dad and I thought it would be easier to wait for you to be older before telling you. Your dad makes enough money for me to never need to work, but I really needed something to do when you were at school. The truth is that you are not the only person in this family writing this kind of stories. In fact, I am a published author, under a pseudonym of course, but I've been doing this since you were born. As for how I know? One day I was in your room to pick up dirty clothes for laundry while you were showering, and you had an unfinished chapter open, that was nearly two years ago."

John was awestruck, he did not expect her to keep such a secret, but he understood why his parents might have waited before telling him this. He sat down on the couch, trying to figure what to say next.

"Does Anna know about you and Miss Summers? About you and me?"

"I told her everything on Monday. I couldn't keep such things secret from her. We were going to tell you yesterday, but having a guest changed our plans."

"And you two have a place where you have sex, where is it?" she asked, watching the surprised look on his face. "Don't even try to deny it. If you didn't, you would have brought her here every evening to hide in your room and badgered me to let her stay the night."

"Well, it is easier to show than to explain, why don't we meet her there? There are other things we need to talk about, and we will have more time once there."

"Meet her? She's there already? I know the Kleins, and I am pretty sure she is at home on the other side of town. Can't you tell me before we drive half an hour to get there?"

"Ohh, we'll see her a lot quicker than that. Take my hand." His mother took the offered hand and watched with disbelief as her living room was instantly replaced with a large stone room with magic orbs flying in circles above some pedestal.