As soon as I've tackled Ian, he wraps his arms around me and we're kissing, Ian allowing himself to fall backwards from the impact so that he's lying on my bed with me pressed against him. This is an awesome surprise, I wasn't expecting to see him here today. It explains why he said he'd tell me once I returned to my apartment, too.

First, though, we just kiss for a few minutes, Ian wrapping his legs around me as we hold each other. Then, Ian shifts suddenly, and the next thing I know, we're in the air, flipping. We land with me on my back and Ian against me, his legs no longer holding mine. I bring my legs up and wrap them around him, our kiss not having broken in the slightest.

Our kiss finally ends after another minute of kissing, Ian pulling back a little and just smiling at me. I stare into those bright green eyes of his, sensing the energy within them and the pure happiness he's feeling that radiates out of him.

"Missed you," he says.

"I bet I missed you more," I respond. "You've never come out for a surprise visit before."

"I know," he gives me a quick peck on the lips. "I thought I'd do it for once. Let's get some business out of the way first, then we can enjoy ourselves all we want, Cas."

"Ugh," I groan as he pulls off of me. "Can't we wait, like, five minutes to do that?"

"If we did," he tells me. "We'd end up having sex within the next two, and 'five minutes' would probably turn into a few hours."

I watch Ian as he grabs his laptop from beside mine and boots it up, then starts pulling something up. He's dressed in green shorts and a matching sleeveless that fits him quite nicely, and it's showing his toned form quite well. I want to go back to kissing him, it's been too long since his last visit.

But he's right, if we don't discuss this now, it'll end up delayed, and the situation's somewhat important. Even with just what I know, I know that something major is going to happen.

"What was the Klen doing earlier?" I ask. "Wyatt said that-"

"Wyatt?" Ian snaps his head to look at me, eyes full of surprise. "Wait. Hold on. Let me show you what I was going to show you. Look at this."

He shows me what he's pulled up, which turns out to be a video of me… talking to the air. The video is from a camera fixed to the front of a shop we were outside, used to look at customers entering and exiting the shop, and from the timestamp and my clothes, that's when I was talking to Wyatt.

"Were you talking to Wyatt there?" He asks.

"Yeah," I answer. "His power prevents even cameras from seeing him? It's as if he wasn't even there in the first place, but I definitely felt him. That power's pretty strong, for a camera to look through him because of it."

"Looks like it," Ian sighs. "The bastard's in town. Great. Just great. What did you two talk about?"

I explain the full conversation, including about Wyatt's comments about how I feel and my response to it. That gets Ian laughing for a few moments, then he gives me another kiss as he calms down.

"Actually, that might be problematic," he says with a serious expression.

"What might be?" I ask.

"Him being afraid of me," he answers. "I do have to wonder what he thinks now that he's got confirmation that the person who's caused the Klen so much trouble here isn't a Sigil-Bearer. Anyway, for what they were doing earlier that they wanted to make sure you were gone for? Getting a sample of Tanner's blood."

"He didn't tell me-"

"They've got a girl," he says. "Fourteen, who can evade notice of those around her, but not from cameras and stuff, not like Wyatt. This evasion includes even as she's hurting someone. Someone who's observant enough would notice, so they probably won't try to have her assassinate you, though they normally use her as an assassin. Part of the reason I came to town was actually to kill her."

"Ah," I say. "Why'd she want a sample of his blood? Especially if her normal job is assassination?"

Tanner wouldn't have said anything because a prick from whatever she stuck him with probably wouldn't have healed in seconds, a minute at the most. It's unlikely that he would've felt anything than a sharp, pinpoint pain, as I doubt she used something bigger than a needle. Whether or not he saw it, if he felt it, he'd have just assumed he stuck himself and didn't notice.

"Tanner's an unknown variable," Ian explains. "Their power sensor is someone who needs to touch someone's blood to know their abilities, and once he does, he can always pick up their location from that moment on. I'm planning on taking him out."

"They wanted a sample of his blood," I say. "To see if he's the empathic healer."

"They'll learn he's an empath," Ian tells me. "But that's it. Since their sensor will find that he's just an empath, Tanner's in no danger from the Klen's plans to kill the empathic healer."

"That's good," I say. "Are you the one interfering with their prophet's ability to pinpoint when the empathic healer will be in town?"

"Yeah," he confirms. "I put a little spell on him. Don't worry about them finding the empathic healer, either, I've already run interference."

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"Cool," I say. "Are you leaving once you finish what you're here for?"

"Yeah," he pauses the video and sets his laptop back on the table. "I'd love to stick around, but I've got other work to do. I'd love it if you came with me."

"I'd love to go with you," I kiss him. "But you know why I can't leave yet. I would've years ago if so."

"Yeah," he kisses me. "It's soon, though, right?"

I pick up a pen and spin it around a few times as I think. After a few minutes, I flip it up into the air, then catch it. I meet my boyfriend's gaze.

"Based on my calculations," I tell him. "Using what information I do have, including what I've just learned today… the Revelation will be sometime this summer. It's been moved up from a few years from now to within the next month or two. When are you leaving again?"

"Sometime in the early morning," he answers. "I'm going to go handle what I'm here for during the night. I might return here for a little bit, just to say goodbye, but the only reason I was authorized to leave for this was because no one wanted to challenge me."

"Couldn't you use that to get out for longer?"

"No," he stands and stretches. "Unfortunately not. I might be terrifying, but I do have other duties right and I can't shirk them. Not if we want everything to go to plan. Especially now that I know our timetable has been moved up. You know I'm not actually in charge of monitoring the Klen, despite what the official statement is."

"Yeah," I say. "Going somewhere?"

"To the kitchen," he smiles. "Went shopping before I came here, going to whip up something good for us. Your fuck-buddy's eating with his friends, and you're getting a bit too possessive."

I sigh as I lie down on my bed and Ian heads into the kitchen. He's right. I'm getting possessive of Tanner. It wasn't intended, and no one but Ian or my coworkers would have been able to tell, anyway.

"It's not healthy for us to get possessive," Ian says from the kitchen. "Especially since it won't matter after the Revelation."

He snorts.

"I can't believe Tanner bought that story," he tells me. "About how the reason I don't want to be with someone more than a few times for hookups is because of my looks. Seriously, Cas? I can't believe you made a semi-believable story out of that."

"It was better than the truth."

"A truth you need to keep in mind," Ian warns me. "We easily get possessive, and you know that. I'm safe at three times with someone. How many times is it for you?

"How many times is it for the Australian twink?"

"I made sure to not get possessive," he says. "You got possessive with Tanner in under a week. Being with him so much and helping him develop his power isn't going to help."

"You're telling me I should back off?" I ask. "There's no one else in town I'd like to get with, Ian, and you know I'm a horny bastard. I-"

"I'm not telling you to back off," Ian says. "You and Tanner have a thing going that benefits both of you sexually. I'm just warning you to keep in mind that you shouldn't be possessive of him, especially since you know the sex-based relationship you have with him is ending once one of you leaves."

"How do you deal with it?" I start undressing.

"Why do you think you always get the notice at the same time every Saturday?" Ian asks. "I've set aside a three-hour period each week where the two of us get together. Because it's the same time on the same day every week, it's easier for me to associate the possessiveness with just that time block. Do I sometimes have moments of contempt for those who might have an interest in him outside of it? Yes. But because it's just a three-hour time block where we're together and not 'whenever', it's easier for me to push them down. And once it ends between us, it won't take me long to push away the association with that time block and my possessiveness of him.

"You, on the other hand," he says. "Started feeling contempt towards those hanging out with Tanner just seeing them. You know that we display possessiveness differently, Cas. Be careful with that. The normies won't understand what's going on, and Tanner wouldn't, either."

"Yeah, yeah," I'm done undressing, so I head into the kitchen, where Ian's preparing dinner. "If you need to, just lock me up for however long it takes for me to get over the possessive feeling."

"That's not how it's gonna work," he snorts as I start pulling his shirt off, Ian setting the knife down for a moment so I can pull his arms through his shirt before working it out through the apron strap around his neck. "Plus, it won't be long after you leave him that the Revelation occurs unless something happens to move it up sooner, and after that, it would be extremely easy for you to lose that possessiveness."

I push his shorts and blue boxer-briefs down, and he steps out of them. I toss his clothes into my bedroom, then wrap my arms around his waist, sliding them under the apron as I rest my chin on his shoulder, as he returns to work.

He's right, and I hate it. I didn't realize I was getting possessive of Tanner until Ian brought it up, but it's true. And it's also true that we display possessiveness differently from other people, which is probably why no one around us has noticed my feelings of it for Tanner.

There's really nothing to do for it now, and none of it will matter once Tanner and I part ways, especially after the Revelation. Ian's right about that. I'll deal with the aftermath once it comes.

For now, though, I won't really change anything. Tanner would probably get suspicious and think I'm having an inferiority complex or something due to him being a Sigil-Bearer, and that might cause complications. Nothing really needs changing, either. Me being possessive of Tanner won't result in a toxic atmosphere, especially now that I'm aware it's occurred.

Mostly, I'll just be condescending to those who think they actually have a chance with him, especially if they're normies. I'm special, and that's why Tanner doesn't have an issue doing stuff with me. Has he he stopped to wonder why he's taken an interest in me? Probably. Does he think it's just because it's me and not others? Probably. I'm not a Sigil-Bearer, but he's not going to think too hard on why he actually has an attraction for me.

Ian definitely had the better idea. Never get with someone enough times to develop the possessiveness we'd get over them, except for one person, and make sure it's associated with a set time and place, too. Oh, well. What's done is done.

As Ian cooks, I just hang about him, mostly hugging him from behind except when that's in the way. It feels nice, being able to hold him like this. I should've give up living among the normies years ago, I really could have. But then stuff happened and I ended up needing to stay out here for a personal project.

Ian doesn't know all the details, but-

"Yes, I do, Cas," Ian snorts. "Though I didn't until earlier. I noticed a few birds acting unusually and tracked them, watched them return to the garden. Wasn't hard to glean the information from there."

"I suppose it was only a matter of time," I sigh, then lightly knock my head against his. "Get out of my head."

"Sure, sure," he says, and I make sure to check to see that he's actually left. He has. If I focus, I can always tell when someone is in my head. Anyone could, if the knew what to look for, but most don't. "Come on, dinner's 'bout done."

I get us some drinks and help Ian serve the food, then he pulls off the apron and we sit at the table to eat, digging in. After we finish dinner, we wash the dishes, then move back to my bed. As soon as we're on it, I push Ian down and start kissing him.