A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps by Kit Bryan
Rule 67- Jealousy is just love and hate at the same time. Stick to simpler emotions, like enjoying pizza. It's less complicated.

You would think that after sleeping the whole day we wouldn't be tired, but by nine pm we're all ready to go to bed. Lucy crashes in my bed with me after showering and stealing some of my pyjamas. The good part of going to bed so early is that we're all up bright and early the best morning. Well rested and ready to face the day. Lucy is a much better cook than I am so between the two of us we manage to put together an awesome breakfast including pancakes, bacon, eggs, even some breakfast muffin thing that I would have sworn we didn't have the ingredients for but Lucy somehow managed to make it work. Ashton and Fin shower us with praise for the meal and when I direct the compliments to Lucy she goe pink but plays it off as no big deal. But I know the fancy breakfast isn't for my benefit so she must be thrilled. Fin insists that he will do the dishes for us. Ashton tries to help but Fin shoos him away and refuses to let him help with anything. Ashton seems a little embarrassed by the special treatment but I'm not that bothered. He's literal royalty and so far seems less entitled than most people I know. It's clear to me that as his attendant Fin usually manages things for Ashton and that neither of them generally have to take care of regular tasks like cooking and cleaning. So I never really expected either of them to help with that stuff. They're guests anyway, although admittedly I've never had a houseguest that stayed fo more than a day or two other than Lucy who doesn't really count.

Lucy and I return to my room to get ourselves dressed and ready for the day and I can hear a lot of clattering coming from the kitchen, I crack open my bedroom door.

"You okay in there Fin?" I say at a regular volume.

"I am fine. There is nothing here that I cannot repair if broken. You do not need to be concerned." He assures me, calling out loudly enough for me to hear from the kitchen. I'm still not totally convinced, but he's an adult and I doubt he appreciates me babying him. I'm just pulling on a shirt when my phone rings. I grab it off my bed and I'm momentarily confused when I realise that it's not ringing. Lucy answers her phone. Oh.

"Marcus, hey!" She greets him. She listens for a moment then groans loudly and pouts

"Really... Is there no one else? Ugh, I get it. One second." She turns to me.

"Hey Kat, do you need me for anything this afternoon? Marcus wants me to work." She does not sound keen. She holds the phone out from her ear for a second. Even I can hear Marcus yelling through the phone. "Okay, geez, one second." She puts the phone on speaker.

"Hey Marcus." I greet him cheerfully.

"This is all your fault Kat. Covering your shifts is starting to become my full time job. I didn't realise how often you covered people's sick leave either. Did you know that there is no one willing to pick up the early shift on tuesdays?" He demands.

"Yeah... That's WHY I ended up with it every week.” I point out.

"Aww and here I thought you were taking it to hang out with me." Marcus complains.

"That's why I kept turning up." I assure him.

"Good. Now, first things first let me pretend to do my job. Lucy, are you going to take the afternoon shift or not?" He asks. Lucy glances at me and I shrug. She groans then slumps forwards. "Ugh, fine. I'll do it." She complains.

"THANKYOU. Now, while I have you both on the phone, I've finished asking for favours. You are both awful friends and have been totally neglecting me! I saw Kat in a video in a literal cat fight over the hot guy and Lucy was on the floor with a gorgeous guy with WINGS in her lap and neither of you said ANYTHING." He sounds half offended and half concerned.

"Yeah sorry. I haven't had a chance to call. It's been chaotic around here. But the short version is the chick I slapped was another fae assassin and hot guy number two is Ashton's bff who turned up on my doorstep and wanted to help out." I sum up.

"There is so much to unpack there I don't know where to start. Actually, yes I do. WHY were you fighting an assassin? That is definitely not like you.” he says worriedly.

"Chalk it down as extenuating circumstances. Don't worry, I'm not planning to make a habit of it." I promise.

"I saw the video, it was a good hit. I was kind of impressed." Marcus compliments and we all laugh.

“Now, Lucy. Tell me about the guy who was lying in your lap. The guy has been here what, a few days? You move fast girl.” He teases.

"He's so... Composed." She sighs.

“Uh... And that's an appealing quality in a guy?” Marcus says doubtfully.

"Yes." Lucy and I both answer in unison like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okay, fair enough. I do find it funny that you guys have had to look outside the realm to find decent guys. Hey, do either of them have brothers? Sisters? Cousins? I'm not picky.” Marcus jokes. I roll my eyes. “Sure, we'll get on that." I say sarcastically.

"Great. So you both owe me dinner and drinks later this week. You can bring your new boy toys." He teases.

"They're not-" I start but Lucy just grabs my hand and shakes her head.

“Don't fight him on it. It'll only make him worse and you know it.” She reminds me and I sigh.

"Yeah, you're right. Sure Marcus. Drinks later this week. Let us know when you're free and we will try and figure something out. Or maybe we can have a movie night here, or a games night. I taught the fae to play monopoly and that was pretty funny." I add.

"We could teach them to play twister. That would be fun for all of us." Marcus says mischievously.

"I won't argue with that." I agree.

"Okay, well I'm supposed to be working and there's only so long I can justify staying on the phone before it becomes obvious that I'm just gossiping. I'll talk to you later, and you had better call me more often!" Marcus insists. We both promise then he hangs up.

Once we're dressed and Lucy has borrowed something to wear we let the guys know that we need to go pick up Lucy's car first thing so she can go home and get ready for work this afternoon. She hasn't been home in two nights. Her mum isn't all that worried because she often stays at my place for days at a time. But she didn't plan it this time so she didn't bring her stuff. I offer to drive her by myself but both Ashton and Fin insist on coming along. Ashton takes the passenger set while Lucy and Fin sit in the back. When we reach the hotel Fin insists on walking Lucy all the way to her car rather than just dropping her off which I think is incredibly sweet. We decide to go from the hotel straight to the police station. Ashton wants to question the fae woman and I want to talk to dad about the guys who got arrested for theft. Maybe there's something we can do for them? Some story we can spin. At very least I want to make sure that Mr Clark doesn't get in too much trouble. Ashton won't be pressing charges. It was all under duress anyway