Thursday Breakfast

Aeolia flew through the night sky, gliding towards her old home. After her call with John and Vivian she hadn’t felt like socializing, especially with the people now living in her former HQ, but a sense of obligation urged her to pop over, just to do a quick check up. Invisible, she easily slipped in, finding most of the small group asleep. Stealthily, she flew towards where Teri had set up her domicile.

‘Just knock, say hi, make sure things are good and dip,’ she thought to herself as she reached Teri’s room. The door was cracked open and, still invisible, Aeolia peeked her head into the dimly lit chamber. A simple battery powered lantern provided the weak light and Teri sat in an oversized tee shirt on a plain mattress, an old paperback held in her hands. Her draconic pet lay next to the lantern, curled up into a ball as it slept.

Before Aeolia could announce her presence, Teri’s head snapped up from her reading and her eyes looked up at where Aeolia hovered.

“Aeolia?” Teri asked, her tone confused, as if she was doubting her senses.

Canceling her veil, Aeolia faded into view, lamely waving at the goblin girl.

“Hey,” she said. “I was in the area, and figured I’d check in. Looks like you guys are settled in just fine. I’ll be going.”

Before she could leave or reapply her invisibility, Teri’s eyes widened and she whispered out, “Get in here! Someone’s coming!”

Aeolia then picked up on approaching footsteps and dived in, taking Teri’s caution seriously. A second later, the footsteps reached the door, then stopped. Aeolia found herself holding her breath until the steps continued.

Teri got up and closed the door, letting out a sigh.

“Sorry about that,” she said with a sad look on her face. “The higher ups aren’t happy that you guys helped us. They’re only begrudgingly accepting food from Mason and Cammie. It’d probably be best for you guys to not pop around.”

“Well how’s that for gratitude,” Aeolia grumbled, now annoyed as she leapt up to sit on Teri’s bed, plopping down next to her opened book.

Teri shifted awkwardly. “I know. I’m sure things will calm down once we settle down. Now, what brings you around?”

Aeolia could still hear a tension in Teri’s voice so she aimed to keep things brief. “Just checking in, like I said. Giving John and Vi some alone time.”

“Oh, are things okay?” Teri asked, a concerned look flashing across her face.

Aeolia blinked at her sudden interest and flatly answered, “Um, things are fine. It’s just, well, gotta balance the time. I’ve already spent two nights with John and I figure that’s a little unfair.”

Teri’s green cheeks darkened and she shifted slightly. “I suppose that makes sense. Sounds like you guys have to put in a lot of effort to make your relationship work.”

“Yeah,” Aeolia remarked, a small smile on her face. “But I think that all that effort is worth it. We all sort of fell into things, but it's been fun. Only downside is that it happened after…”

She trailed off and gestured around before regaining her voice, “After everything that happened Sunday. Honestly, without John, I’d have probably gone full Rambo and tried to hunt down the bastards. And I’m not too hard headed to know that wouldn’t have ended well.”

“Better to count the good turns of fate than dwell on the bad,” Teri solemnly said as she sat down on the bed. “We can’t change the past, but we can work to make the future better.”

Aeolia nodded and she cleared her throat. “Good advice. But you’ve had a tough day and you probably don’t need me to talk your ear off. I’ll head out and let you get back to your book.”

“I would wait for a few minutes,” Teri cautioned. “Just so you don’t end up running into K’mels. He probably couldn’t pinpoint you if you’re invisible, but better safe than sorry, right?”

‘Couldn’t hurt to give John and Vi a bit more alone time,’ Aeolia thought as she nodded. Then, she asked, “So, is the reading good?”

A flash of sadness crossed Teri’s face as she picked up her weathered book. She looked at the faded cover, a finger tracing one of the water lions on it.

“My favorite,” she sadly said. “My mother is the one who taught me English. And we would leave the village to go out and search for thrown out books and other things. She... we really like the kind of things people without magic came up with. I got that move Vivian used on the tree monster from this book, actually.”

“There’s a character with Vi’s powerset in there?” Aeolia asked.

Teri lightly chuckled. “No, but there are people with wind manipulating powers and the main character has one of his subordinates use that power to focus the air into a lens to concentrate the sun into a beam to fry a bunch of enemies trying to cross a bridge.”

“Sounds exciting,” Aeolia said, peering closer at the cover.

“It really is,” Teri replied excitedly. “It’s about a young man, seemingly the only one of his people without the ability to interact with elemental spirits that inhabit the same land. It’s great. Mysteries, fights, strategy, political intrigue.”

Teri’s expression drooped. “We only found the first three though. And I only managed to grab this one before we ran.”

Aeolia frowned as Teri sighed and shook her head. “Gotta look forward, not back, right?” she asked Aeolia. “We can always get new things and we’ll always have our memories.”

With a tight throat, Aeolia nodded. “Yeah.”

Carefully slipping a bookmark into the pages, Teri closed the book and set it down before saying, “I think the coast is clear.”

“Right. Sounds quiet out there,” Aeolia remarked, rising to her feet and taking to the air. She flew towards the door before doubling back. She held out a closed fist and said, “See ya later.”

Teri smiled and tapped her own fist against Aeolia’s much smaller one. “Yeah.”

Leaving her old base was easy enough, between knowing the layout, her invisibility and exceptional hearing, and soon Aoelia was airborne. She tried to fly slowly as she made her way to John’s house, detouring to check in on Vivian’s car. It remained safely parked a few streets over from the Newman residence and, with no more distractions, Aeolia made her way there, landing outside of John’s dark window.

‘Either they’re already out cold,’ Aeolia reasoned as she listened in, ‘or they went into a Barrier like we did last night.’

With both options meaning her lovers wouldn’t be disturbed, Aeolia carefully slid open the window and slipped in. As she closed the window with the same care she had opened it, she noted two distinct noises coming from the bed. She turned and through the low light could make out John and Vivian pressed against each other, the redhead draped over their shared lover with his left arm possessively holding her, palm resting on Vivian’s ass.

Taking in their state of dress, Aeolia smiled softly.

‘Taking things slow, eh?’ she thought as she shed her own clothing. ‘At least you two are comfortable. Maybe tomorrow?’

She slipped her attire out of sight then settled into the drawer bed John had made.

‘Looks like I’ll have to actually use this,’ she mused, sinking into the pilfered pillows. Thankfully, the stress of the day made it easy to drift off, lulled to sleep by the soft snores of her lovers.

The growing light of day brought John out of his sleep, a pleasant warmth pressed into his side and something soft tickling his face. He cracked open an eye, blearily looking at his room through red strands fanned across his face. He shifted slightly, drawing out a cute groan from Vivian, the redhead snuggling deeper into his side.

‘Wish I could just lay here all day,’ John thought, his left hand moving to ildy caress Vivian’s side. ‘Only way it could be better is if Aeolia was here.’

He closed his eyes, his Arcane Sense activating as he zoned out. He felt Vivian’s sunlight warm aura mix next to him before dissipating into the surroundings, fading into his room’s more heavy, fire-like heat. Then, he noticed Aeolia’s breeze-like aura emanating from his desk and he smiled.

‘Looks like she’s in the bed I made,’ John thought, a frown coming to his face. He recalled how Vivian wanted to experience her first time with both of them and wondered if Aeolia didn’t think that their redheaded lover wanted her present for that. A flicker to Aeolia’s aura caught his attention and he whispered out, “Aeolia, you awake?”

“Yeah,” came the quiet response. “Give me a minute.”

Within the time frame, Aeolia flew above the bed, John watching her through his unobscured eye, clad in her sleeping shirt.

“You guys look comfy,” she observed and John could detect a flicker of longing in her voice.

“Well, I’ve got no problems if you want to join,” John said. “Don’t think Vivian would object either.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” the redhead muttered sleepily, twisting her head to catch sight of Aeolia. “Get in here.”

“Someone’s feisty this morning,” Aeolia remarked as she floated down, shifting to her full height before lightly landing atop John, covering his right side. John’s arm quickly wrapped around her, pulling her in close.

Vivian peered over John’s chest to stare into Aeolia’s eyes. “Well, we’ve gotta make up for lost time. You really didn’t need to just bail last night.”

Aeolia shrugged as best she could. “Like I said over the phone, you guys deserve some alone time.”

“What if we wanted some together time instead?” Vivian countered, taking a breath to gather her courage, her face growing slightly pink. “I, well, I want my first time to be with both of you.”

Aeolia’s lips briefly formed an ‘O’ then she smiled sultry.

“Didn’t think you’d want such an intense first time,” she cooed, reaching an arm across John’s chest to stroke Vivian’s reddening cheek. “Who knew there was such a minx in there?”

Before any more teasing could occur, a knock tapped on John’s door.

“John sweetie,” Brenda said. “I know it’s a bit early, but I figure your guest would like to shower before having some breakfast. I figured pancakes would be the safest. And don’t try to sneak her out.”

Brenda retreated, leaving John and the girls stunned silent. Then Vivian scrambled out of the bed, her blush growing.

“What are we going to do?” she frantically asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “How did she know I was here? Did she look in here last night?”

“Probably what happened,” Aeolia remarked, swiftly flying over to the panicking redhead and enveloping her in a hug from behind. “Where’d that minx go? It’s just John’s mom. What’s the worst she could do? Tell you not to see him? We were already pretty much doing that.”

“That’s a good point,” John managed to get out, hauling himself out of bed and withdrawing Vivian’s glasses. “But, I don’t think she’s going to go all Spanish Inquisition on us. She wouldn’t have gone through the effort to make breakfast.”

He carefully slipped her glasses on and joined the hug. Vivian let out a soft chuckle, her emotions settling as she pressed her face into John’s shoulder.

“Sorry,” she said, her voice muffled. “Guess I jumped the gun a bit. It’s just I really don’t want to lose this. I was hoping to keep your mom out of this, at least for a while. It’s not really smart to get mundanes involved, even for something as basic as dating.”

“I don’t think Mom’ll be too harsh,” John responded, planting a light kiss on Vivian’s forehead. “She’s dropped enough hints about me starting to date over the past year. Hell, I let slip I ‘worked’ with a girl yesterday to cover why I was all sweaty. Made up a story about needing to move equipment and furniture. She probably thinks you’re her.”

Aeolia let out a snort. “Not that far from the truth.”

“So, I’m your coworker and after work, I snuck over to chat and we just fell asleep. Sound good?” Vivian asked, lifting her head to look at John’s face.

“It’s a bit vague,” John answered. “Maybe we can say you're new to town and don’t really know anyone else. And after we hit it off at work, you came over.”

“Sounds good enough,” Vivian said, then took a calming breath. “I’ll just jump in and shower. You gonna go down and start things?”

“Yeah,” John replied, breaking the hug. Vivian let out another sigh as Aeolia released her, shrinking down and landing on the redhead’s shoulder, patting the side of her head.

“Let’s get this over with,” Vivian muttered and made her way to the bathroom.

John watched them leave before quickly shifting into his uniform, briefly jumping into the storage Barrier to collect some things. Then, he left his room and went to the kitchen. Brenda was at the stove, tending to the pancakes. John tried to speak, but the awkwardness finally stole his voice. To both his relief and mild horror, Brenda broke the silence.

“Morning, sweetie,” she said, turning from the stovetop right as the sound of the upstairs shower being turned on reached them, her expression serious. “Now, I don’t mind you bringing people over, or them spending the night, but I will not tolerate it happening without my knowledge or permission. With that out of the way, is she the coworker you were talking about?”

John blinked as her tone had gone from stern to excited and he stuttered out, “You, um, you’re not mad about it?”

Brenda put her hands on her hips. “I’m not too happy you felt you had to sneak her in, but you’re an adult now. I’m not too old to remember some of the things I did or thought about doing at your age. Just promise me you won’t be getting up to anything dangerous or illegal.”

John felt his gut twist with guilt over his new, magic filled life but he pushed it down.

“I’m not going to do anything like that,” John assured her. “And, yeah, Vivian’s from work. She’s new in town and after dinner last night, she called and asked if she could hang out. And after the work we did earlier, we sort of just drifted off.”

“She’s all alone?” Brenda asked as she turned to flip the pancakes.

“Yeah,” John replied. “Not sure if she’d be comfortable with me just telling her story.”

“Well, I’m not going to pry,” Brenda said, turning her head to look at John, a flash of concern on her face. “Pancakes are alright, right?”

“Pancakes are fine, Mom,” John answered as he moved to fix some drinks.

“I was a little concerned about making bacon or sausage. You know, in case she doesn’t eat meat,” Brenda explained. “Didn’t think about the gluten thing.”

A light cough drew the two Newmans’ attention to the entryway, where Vivian stood, her hair still slightly damp and tousled from a halfhearted drying.

“Hi,” she timidly said. “I’m, um, Vivian.”

A familiar weight dropped onto John’s shoulder and Aeolia whispered into his ear, “Vi’s going to play up the shy angle.”

John nodded as Brenda beckoned for Vivian to come closer, a motherly smile on her face.

“Nice to meet you, Vivian. Feel free to call me Brenda. Might be too early to go with ‘Mom’,” Brenda said, her tone joval.

“Mom!” John groaned out and Vivian played her part, her face flushing pink.

“It’s a mother’s job to tease her son, and his…” she said, leaving a moment of dramatic silence before continuing, “friend. But no need to be a stranger. Please, take a seat. Pancakes will be done in a few. I hope they’re okay with you.”

“Pancakes are fine,” Vivian quietly replied as she scurried over to the table. John moved to join her, but a glance from Brenda and a jerk of her head to the refrigerator altered his course.

Taking his mother’s hint, when he reached and opened the appliance, he asked Vivian, “Want anything to drink? We’ve got milk and OJ.”

“I’ll take some orange juice, please,” Vivian answered and John pulled the carton out, then two glasses. He took note of the mug near the stove and asked Brenda, “You all good, Mom?”

He caught the ghost of a smile on her lips as she reached for her mug. “I’ve got my morning brew. Thank you, though.”

John poured his and Vivian’s drinks then joined the redhead at the table. John felt Aeolia fly off his shoulder, the slight distortion of her veiled form landing on Vivian’s shoulder before fading once more.

John sat and leaned over to whisper in Vivian’s ear, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Vivian replied. “Not too hard to play shy.”

The pair separated as Brenda turned off the stove and approached with her fluffy pancakes. She placed them down, then quickly brought over the butter and syrup.

Once she sat down, she turned to Vivian, a smile on her face.

“So,” Brenda said as she picked up a plate, “how many pancakes would you like?”

Breakfast proceeded calmly. Brenda’s interrogation hadn’t amounted to much more than lightly prying into Vivian’s ‘past’ and asking about how she and John had met. They managed to paint a convincing story of meeting at work, the redhead taking the role of someone in the start up’s administration, and they had hit it off while John hauled in furniture and equipment after seeing her struggle with a cabinet.

Brenda hadn’t stopped smiling after that little tibit, obviously proud her son had done the chivalrous thing, prompting him to flush even though the act was fictitious. Between eating and spinning their tale, time slipped away and Brenda paled as she checked the time.

“Oh shi-,” she nearly cursed, getting up from the table. “Sorry, but I have to dash. John, can you do the dishes before you head to school? Also, don’t think about skipping.”

“Wasn’t even an inkling, Mom,” John assured her, already collecting the syrupy plates.

“It was nice meeting you, Mrs. New… Brenda,” Vivian said. “Um, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you know I was here?”

Brenda didn’t answer immediately, instead she pushed a strand of Vivian’s hair out of her face.

“You have lovely hair, dear,” she stated. “But you shouldn’t brush it too hard.”

Her cryptic advice given, Brenda departed, leaving a confused John and a red faced Vivian. Aeolia regained visibility, also looking perplexed.

“What did she mean by that?” the winged woman asked as she flew into the kitchen, growing to full height and snagging an apple.

“Last night, I think I left a strand of hair in the bathroom,” Vivian whispered out, mortified. “I fixed my hair there. I must have pulled some out. Oh, that’s so embarrassing!”

“Well, it could have been worse,” Aeolia remarked through a full mouth. “She could have popped into John’s room while you were still awake.”

Vivian let out a groan, then said, “At least breakfast went well. Do you think she bought the story?”

“I think she did,” John answered, stepping away from the sink to wrap Vivian in a hug. “We didn’t contradict each other and everything sounds plausible. I’m glad she likes you. Just wish there was an easy way for her to meet you, Aeolia. I kind of hate not being able to be as honest as I could be.”

“Wonder what would throw her off more,” Aeolia pondered as she finished her apple, her tone sly. “That the whole magic thing exists or that you hooked up with two girls at once.”

“On second thought, maybe keeping things as they are right now is for the best,” John interjected. “Anyway, just got to print out the letter and then it’s back to the Academy. Man, it feels like forever since Monday.”

“You still want to do this alone?” Aeolia asked, shrinking down and flying over to him, landing on his shoulder.

“Safer that way,” John replied, shrugging his unoccupied shoulder. “Should take the bus like I normally would, too. Try and see if I can suss out whoever marked me as a target.”

“I really don’t like that idea,” Vivian informed him, a concerned look on her face.

“I know,” John said, tightening his hug. “But if they are trying to keep an eye on me, having you drive me puts a target on you. If you’re off their radar, best not to risk it.”

“That’s a stupidly good point,” Vivian muttered, shaking her head. “Alright, let’s give the note one last look over then print it out. You have a bus to catch.”

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.