Beyond the Gateway (Cranksepticeye)

Twenty-seven

There was a knock on the door.
"Just a sec," Jack called, and put aside the old hairbrush he'd been using to try to comb the tangles out of Lucky's mane, with little success. The Faerie horse butted at him, and Jack affectionately scratched his nose.
There was another knock, more insistent this time.
Jack got up and headed to the door. "Tim?"
The door swung inward as Jack gave it a pull, and he saw that it wasn't Tim.
The largest bouquet of roses he had ever seen obscured the features of the person standing there holding them. The bouquet lowered slightly, and Jack saw Ethan's eyes over the tops of the peach-colored blooms.
Hee was thrilled and simultaneously horrified. He hasn't been expecting visitors and was wearing sweatpants and a faded hoodie. Hee was also covered in black strands of horsehair and Lucky Charms sugar dust. Yelping, he jumped behind the door.
"Ethan! What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you."
"You can't."
"You've learned the art of invisibility?"
"What? No!" hee blinked, and stayed behind the door. "Wait. I can do that?"
"Probably."
"Oh . . ."
"May I come in?"
"No! I'm a mess! I mean - the place is a mess." He glanced behind his shoulder to the obviously immaculate apartment beyond.
He could her the smile in Ethan's voice as he said, "I happen to think 'the place' looks absolutely wonderful," and stuck the bunch of flowers around the door. "May I come in?" He asked again.
"Yes," Jack answered . Surrendering, he plucked the bouquet from his fist.
Ethan followed a few steps as Jack went into the kitchen but stopped as a high-pitched whinny sounded from the bathroom. "Is that . . . ?"
"The only horse currently residing in my apartment?" he said, filling a vase with water. "Yup. Go say hi. Just, you know, watch out for the gangs and the flaming eye beams."
"The what?"
"I'm kidding." He laughed. "Go. He's harmless. You'll see."
Ethan shook his head. "You've obviously forgotten that, in my line of work, fangs and flaming eye beams aren't necessarily uncommon."
As he edged into the bathroom, Jack clipped and arranged the roses; he counted more than two dozen of them. He took them out into the living room and sat on the couch, placing the vase on the coffee table. Then he ran a shaky hand through his hair, trying to straighten it out. He heard water running in the bathroom sink and then Ethan came out into the main room, drying his hand on a guest towel.
"He sneezed on you, didn't he?"
"Yes. Yes he did."
Jack tried to pull a straight face. "But I also notice he did not try to rip the flesh from your bones."
"I'd almost rather he'd tried that," Ethan said ruefully.
Jack laughed, fidgeting with his placement of the vase. "They're beautiful," he said, failing "casual" miserably.
He shrugged and said, "I just thought - after the past few days you've had - that you could use something. . . ."
"Nice?" he finished, remembering their first encounter. "Are you going to disappear again before I have a chance to say thank you?"
"No."
"Thank you."
"For the flowers? Or not leaving?" He smiled and sat on the arm of the couch. "Jack . . . I have to take Lucky back to the Otherworld. To the court of Queen Mabh."
Jack stared at him, a cold sensation spreading through his chest. "Mabh. Isn't she the one who is probably causing all these problems with Lucky in the first place? No. I'm not giving him to her." Jack crossed his eyes, prepared to fight.
Ethan put out a placating hand. "She sent one of her minions, a Storm Hag, to see me. The Hag said that the whole thing was a mistake. That it - that Lucky - should never have been brought to this realm."
"Couldn't this Storm Hag have been lying?"
"Faerie don't lie. They may not always be the most forthcoming with the truth, but they do not lie outright. Jack, I know how fond you are of Lucky." Ethan moved from the arm of the couch to sit beside him and took one of Jack's hands in his. "But he can't stand in your bathtub forever, can he? If he stays, he poses a grave danger to the whole mortal realm. He will be destroyed. He'll have to be. Otherwise he will become the destroyer. I know you don't want that."
"I just hate the thought of sending him back to that place . . ."
"Mabh granted me a boon if I return him, and what I will ask is that she will see to it that he is well cared for, and that she will not subject him to further enchantment.
Jack raised his gaze to meet Ethan's. "You'd do that? When you could ask her for anything?"
Ethan nodded, and Jack could see in his eyes that he meant it. "He's important to you. So that makes him important to me."
Jack rose from the couch and went to the bathroom door, leaning on the door frame. Lucky flicked his tail in his direction and blew a soap bubble out of his nose in greeting. He'd figured out how to do it on command and seemed to take great delight in the ability now. Jack bit his lip, trying not to cry. It was silly. Ethan was right. He couldn't keep Lucky standing in the tub.
"He'll sure be missed, and not just by me." Jack sighed. "Tim actually went out and stocked up on all his favorite cereal."
"Who's Tim?" Ethan asked.
Before Jack could answer, the front door swung wide and his roommate appeared in the doorway as if summoned. Ethan took one look at him and threw himself off the arm of the couch, sinking into a defensive crouch.
"Seelie witch!" he cried, striking a menacing en garde pose.
Tim's eyes blazed like comets. His handsome face twisted into an expression of pure hatred. "Faerie killer!" he spat.
"One toe over the threshold and you die," Ethan snarled, interposing his body between Jack and the door. "I see through your glamour, nymph-"
"I'm no lowly nymph, you changeling dog!" Tim sneered. "I am Timothy of the Mere, man-in-waiting to Titania the Summer King! And you do not want to mess with me!"
"Go back to the Otherworld and tell Titania this boy is under my protection. You seek him at your peril."
Tim blinked. "What?"
"Or is it Mabh you're really working for, harlot?" Ethan's voice was a low growl in his throat. "Your kind have slippery allegiances, I know. Well, the Darkling Queen can no more have him than Titania. Jack is no pawn!"
"What exactly are you talking about, you deranged lunatic?" Tim shrieked.
"On my honor as a Jade Guard, I tell you I will not let you harm a hair on his head!"
"Ethan, he's not-," Jack tried desperately to interject.
"It's all right, Jack - you're safe."
" 'On your honor as a Jade Guard'?" Tim said sarcastically. "Oh, that's rich! Jade have no honor. Otherwise you wouldn't be standing in the middle of my apartment uninvited!"
"You lie. This is not your place-"
"He doesn't!" Jack interrupted loudly. "It is his place." Jack turned to Tim. "And he's not uninvited. I invited him in. Tim, come inside and close the door. Mrs. Madsen down the hall is going to call the cops if you don't pipe down!"
Ethan's eyes narrowed. "Jack, he's more dangerous than you know-"
"Oh shut it, fleshling." Tim stepped over the threshold and slammed the door behind him. "You know what I am and you know perfectly well that I am incapable of lying. Why the hell would I hurt him? He pays me outrageous rent!"
"What?" Ethan straightened slightly, looking utterly confused.
"He's my roommate. Wait a minute . . . are you the creep who's been stalking him in the park?"
"Yes - no!" Ethan protested. "I'm not stalking him!"
"Why is one of Auberon's lackeys so interested in a silly little mortal boy?"
"Hey!" Jack protested.
"Mortal?" Ethan's tone turned mocking. "You mean to tell me you don't know?"
"Know what?" Tim snapped.
"All this time living under the same roof, it never occurred to Timothy the Mere, man-in-waiting to Titania the Summer King, that his 'silly little mortal' roommate also just happens to be Auberon's lost son?"
Tim stood there dumbly, staring at Jack.
"Holy crap," he murmured at last. " when word gets out about this . . . Titania's going to kill me."