My phone rings as I’m walking to Sam’s bar after lessons. Whenever my phone rings, I assume it’s a call about my nonexistent vehicle’s warranty, but I pull it out of my coat pocket and check just in case. It’s Dave, which is weird because he never calls when he can text. I answer the call.

“Hey, dude. What’s up?”

There’s silence on the other end, then finally, “Fuck, I don’t even know.”

“Kai?” I hazard.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, tell me what’s going on?”

“We were gonna go get supper after work, then come back to our place to watch a movie or whatever since you’re working late. Kai was kind of weird at work today, and then started talking about going to their support group tonight and when I asked about our plans they got weirder, like they forgot or something.”

“So what happened?”

“They bailed on me for their support group. I’m all about getting support if you need it, so I feel like I shouldn’t be hurt. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to be an asshole if they really needed their support group. I don’t think I would have been hurt if they hadn’t bailed at the last minute, you know?”

“Yeah, that feels shitty. Do you wanna come to the bar or if you need quiet company, I could see if I can leave early?”

“I think I’ll be okay, but thanks. I think I just needed to have my feelings validated. I might change my mind, though.”

“Super valid,” I assure him. “Lemme know if you need anything or if you’re coming. It’ll probably be pretty quiet tonight.”

Shortly after we say goodbye, I get to the building with Sam’s bar. The door at the bottom of the stairs where I first went in is the fire exit and is normally locked from the outside. Sam’s establishment is very much the sort of place where you have to be in the know, so the way from the building entrance is unmarked. Obviously, we can’t just have random people wandering in off the street. 

I take the stairs down and wave at Owen the bouncer. He looks up from his book and nods back. Owen is short and stocky and looks like he could easily bench two of me, which is misleading. He’s much stronger than that.

“My roommate might be coming in later,” I tell him. “He’s just regular human, but he’s chill.” The majority of Owen’s job is to make sure that clueless non-supernatural folks don’t wander in off the street. If they do, Owen will politely but firmly tell them that the bar is closed for a private event.

Owen, who doesn’t talk more than he has to, gives me another nod in acknowledgement and I enter the bar. The entrance is cleverly laid out so that there’s not a direct line of sight inside, as plenty of our clientele like to let down their metaphorical hair.

I take the opportunity to shift into something a little more comfortably myself. A moment later, there’s a tail poking out from my skirt and the tank under my unbuttoned flannel is stretched significantly tighter in some places.

Of course, for some of our regulars, the letting down of the hair is not so metaphorical. I wave at Olivia, who is sitting in a booth. The young gorgon is feeding bites of hamburger to her ophidian hair, but she pauses and waves back. There are a few other folks scatter around the place, but it’s pretty empty.

“Hey, Lark!” calls Sylvia from behind the bar. She’s one of Sam’s long-time employees and has been training me in on bartending. I’m still not entirely sure what her deal is and I’m reluctant to ask in general; I’m still learning supernatural etiquette. She looks human, although she is drop-dead gorgeous in a pale, willowy sort of way, but somehow any glass of water she gives you tastes way better than city water should and is all but guaranteed to prevent a hangover.

I stash my bass, jacket, and purse in my locker in the back room and join Sylvia behind the bar.

“Quiet tonight, huh?” I say conversationally.

“Yeah,” Sylvia answers. “A good time for you to practice mixing some more cocktails.”

I’m feeling pretty confident with the more common drinks, as long as I have a cheat sheet. Sylvia has me mix up several drinks and pronounces my efforts acceptable.

“Free drinks!” she calls.

“Huzzah!” responds the D&D group in the corner and the fruits of my practice are soon claimed.

Motion by the entrance catches my eye and I look up at the new customer.

“No fuckin’ way!” I whisper.

Sylvia glances up. “Oh, you know Kai? They came in with a group at the old location pretty regularly. Haven’t seen them for a while, though.”

Their already devastating cheekbones and jaw are even sharper than what I’m used to and their ears are definitely pointier, but there’s no mistaking them. They have a troubled expression and aren’t paying much attention to their surroundings as they mope up to the bar.

“Scotch, please,” Kai says, staring at the bar, then adds, “Neat.”

Sylvia gives me a little nod and I turn away to pull the whisky off the shelf as she says, “Rough day?”

“Yeah, no, I don’t know,” Kai says. “I bailed on a date with my boyfriend cuz I was scared and then my friends were all busy so I can’t talk to them so I guess I’m drinking alone tonight.”

I pour the Scotch and slide it across the bar. Kai takes it without looking up. I’m about to say something if I can figure out what, but Sylvia is quicker.

“That sucks. I’m sorry that your friends can’t make it, but we’re happy to listen. The drinks are good and any free advice is worth every penny you pay for it.”

Kai snorts quietly as he looks into his glass. “I dunno, I fell for this guy a lot quicker than I thought I would and now it’s serious but there’s nothing supernatural about him at all and the last time I got serious with a plain human it all went to shit.”

“Um,” I say.

“Lots of us have relationships with mundane folks and it works fine,” Sylvia says. “I understand you had a bad experience before, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give this guy a chance.”

“I wasn’t the only one who got hurt last time!” Kai protests. “She fetishized me but got weird about my friends, too. That’s why I wanted to talk to them before I go any further. Don’t need to be the one bringing a Legolas-fucker into the group again.”

“Uh,” I add.

“I think it makes a lot of sense to talk to your friends,” Sylvia says calmly. “But also, maybe you can learn from last time. Are there any red flags that you saw in the previous relationship that are popping up again?”

“Well, no.” Kai admits, and finally takes a gulp of their Scotch. They sputter.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I say.

Sylvia shakes her head minutely at me and gives me a look that I’m pretty sure means, “Let me handle this.” I ignore her.

“You’re making a much bigger deal out of this than you need to,” I say and gently hip-check Sylvia out of the way so I’m standing directly in front of Kai.

They finally look up and I’m rewarded with the most beautiful double-take. Kai stares at me. I can see their eyes flick up to my horns, then down and at first I think they’re staring at my breasts, but I realize it’s probably the trans flag plastered across the front of my tank top. I can almost see the pieces dropping into place in their brain.

“Fuck me,” they breathe.

“Pretty sure that’s Dave’s job,” I say smugly.

“Does he know about…?” They wave their hands vaguely at me.

“Yep!”

“How long?”

I point at the stage. “Wizard Rob did a little ritual on me right over there like two days before he asked you out.”

“Huh.”

I pull out my phone. “Get your ass down here ASAP. Tell the bouncer you’re my roommate,” I say, only breaking eye contact with Kai long enough to make sure that voice recognition hasn’t mangled my message. I tap Send.

“What the hell, Lark?” Sylvia says with an edge of anger in her voice.

“You know how sometimes in books and movies if people just talked to each other, the story would be over by the end of the first act and everybody would be saved a lot of angst? Since the boyfriend in question is my roommate and he’s already pretty damn upset about the whole thing, I’d like to speed things along a little bit.”

“Really upset?” asks Kai.

“He called me on my way here. On the phone.”

“Oh shit.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Sylvia says. “You could have said something earlier.”

“I tried.”

Sylvia shrugs as if to concede the point. There’s an awkward moment and then my phone pings.

“He’s on his way,” I say. “Look, if you don’t want to talk to him yet, I’ll make up an excuse for why I told him to come.”

Kai considers this, but only briefly. “Nah, might as well get it over with. You really think he’ll be cool with everything?”

“Dude barely batted an eyelid when I turned up like this with no advance warning. Okay, slight exaggeration, but he adapted quickly and has been remarkably chill about his roommate suddenly being a trans lesbian demon chick. But more importantly, he really cares about you and just wants to be close to you.”

“Oh,” Kai says quietly. “Thanks.”

They sip the rest of their Scotch meditatively and Sylvia and I don’t say any more.

A few minutes later, Dave walks into the bar. He didn’t waste any time. I can see him trying not to stare at Olivia, but she smiles at him and he grins back. There’s a brief hesitation in his step when he spots Kai, but he comes up to the bar and settles onto the stool next to them.

“Huh,” Dave says, looking at Kai’s ears. “Cool!”

“Why don’t you two take this over to one of the booths?” I suggest. I open a bottle of beer from Dave’s favorite local brewery and hand it to him. I hold up the bottle of Scotch and Kai nods, so I pour them another round before they take Dave’s hand and pull him towards a booth.

I can’t help but watch them. Kai is talking and Dave is listening intently with his hand on top of Kai’s.

“That seems to be going well,” Sylvia observes. “Sorry for snapping at you earlier. It’s a weird coincidence that he’s your roommate, though.”

“Yeah,” I say. “I seem to be getting a lot of those lately.”

Dave and Kai are both leaning in.

“Now kiss,” I say under my breath. They do, and I whistle appreciatively. Dave gives me the finger without breaking lip contact.

By the time Anya drops in to pick me up, Dave and Kai are cuddling in the booth. Anya raises an eyebrow at me when she spots them.

I shrug. “They just needed to get some things out in the open, I guess.”

“I didn’t catch on that Kai was a changeling,” Anya says.

“Yeah, well, they didn’t catch on to me either.” I notice Kai is looking at Anya. “And I’m guessing they’re wondering about you now.”

Anya waves at Kai. “Let them wonder. You ready to get out of here?”

“Yep, just a sec.” I grab my things from the back and then take Anya’s hand and we head out to her car.

“So to clarify,” I say as Anya pulls away from the curb, “because I’m not going to assume that every urban fantasy trope is applicable to my life, you’re saying that Kai is part fae?”

“We’d have to ask to be sure, but I’d put a small amount of money on it. It’s pretty common.”

“I guess it would be consistent with what they were saying. Sounds like maybe there’s a group that used to go to Sam’s old place. Sylvia recognized them. Kind of weird that June and Kai didn’t recognize each other that one time.”

“Not really. June has usually worked days and Sylvia showing up meant that she could leave. But yeah, a lot of us do kind of hang out with others like us. I don’t so much, but I swear my mom knows at least half the Nephilim north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Speaking of, I talked to her and she’s willing to put some feelers out for Karl if you want. Your family has pretty unique wings, so that’ll probably help find him if he’s not laying low.”

“Yeah, I think so. Thanks. I wasn’t sure about looking for him without Mom involved, but after yesterday, I’m invested enough that I want to find him for my own sake.”