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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/ragnarocknroll on 2025-06-27 11:55:15+00:00.
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May 5
It’s Sunday. The rush is over, time to clean up and get stuff ready for the order. Jackie is in the lobby, bussing tables and talking with guests. She treats both our human and our inhuman visitors the same. Makes me happy seeing everyone get along and her be a source of that.
She’s wearing a frilly skirt that sways when she struts. It lifts up a little when she bends over. I wonder what color… DERAIL
Jackie fumbles and then gets the cups off a table. Klutzy as ever. She comes over. “Hey boss lady.” She seems happy to be doing this. I am happy to let her. Since she and I started doing this Sunday shift the sales have gone up over 10%. I’d be an idiot not to notice that it was all her. Especially with all the guys watching her.
She passes Doctor Gupta. He waves at her, and she walks over, bows to him, kisses him on the cheek, and checks to see if he wants a refill. That doctor has free coffee for life here. He has become one of the Sunday regulars. He still thinks he witnessed a feat of adrenaline and fury that is spoken of in urban legends when I snapped a metal fence post with my bare hands to get her down. It was part of my domain, I told it to let her go, it did, but he doesn’t need to know that. He also tells her that he still wishes he could have seen the miracle that followed in the ambulance. She tells him it was all me.
I really need to find that EMT. I know he has shown up. Lemar served him once and when he tried to pay, he got really surprised. Said he “I don’t deserve it. The brunette literally yelled at her until she came back.”
I don’t know how to take that. It kinda sounds mean of me.
Mundane doorbell chimes ring out. Human walking in. I look and see if it is Mark. Confirming it is him, I wait for him at the counter. “Usual?” He smiles and nods. I get his usual.
“Grande Americano for Mark.” Normally I might have used Marky Mark or some other variation, but something has been telling me not to mess around with him and I listen to those instincts.
He grabs his drink and heads to a table that lets him see almost the entire room. Jackie heads back to the counter and I watch him follow her with his eyes again.
“Heeeeeee’s back.” I say. She chuckles.
I shake my head at her. “You going to take him up on his offer? You have wanted to see a Broadway show since you first moved here.”
“I know, but there are some issues.”
I shake my head at her. I am trying to be a supportive friend and roommate. I am worried. She has been really sad lately. I know she is happy when she has someone she is close to. The last one she had was Tailor, kinda, a guy that was not good enough for her. I mean, cheating on her by not clearing it first at a Fae wedding reception with a nymph? How rude!
This guy has money, dresses well, seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and isn’t even smelly. Even if not a good match, he can show her a good time, spoil her, and distract her. I don’t want her obsessing. She still seems to have the occasional nightmares about dying. I can hear her crying out every now and then when she’s waking up. That’s dangerous. She also seems to be depressed about something and has been since Cindy and Ricardo left our happy home. I am so worried about her.
She looks at me, lost in thought, and smiles. “You know what, I have wanted to see one. So why not go on a date? Might be fun.”
I smile as she goes off to see him. Good for her. It isn’t until she is talking to him that I notice her smile doesn’t touch her eyes…
He smiles big and grabs her hands in his. I cheat a little and listen in. “Thank you. Can I ask why you finally said yes?” She giggles in that adorable way she does and looks back at me. “Boss lady said I should give you a shot since you have been very polite, and I agree. “
He looks my way and waves a thank you. I nod and continue cleaning the dishes. I see Paul doing some work cleaning. Paul is a funny guy, first day I explained the Fae and he just accepted it. Not even a shred of doubt. He also believes in aliens, so Fae wasn’t much of a stretch…
“May I go on break?” He asks me with an obvious motive. Heh.
I nod immediately and he heads out to the floor. He starts having a cup of tea while talking to Todd. I would listen in, but the last time I did they spent the entire time debating about if Atlantis was a Fae or alien city and I was just done with that. I am ninety percent certain Todd knows which it is and is just messing with him at this point.
Jackie sort of flirts with Mark a bit, keeping it professional, and then he leaves. She nods as he says something that makes her lean her head back a bit in surprise. I feel suddenly protective of her. She’ll be fine. I push it down.
“He’s picking me up at the end of my shift Friday night. Remind me to pack a makeup kit for work when we get home. I don’t want to forget.”
I laugh. “Going to want an overnight bag too?”
“I don’t do that first date.”
“Cindy.”
“That was a special exception as it was my first time with a woman. Also, we’ve been friends since Freshman year. As far as I am concerned that club thing was a culmination of months of work on her part.” She thinks for a second. “Maybe years worth…”
I squint my eyes at her, “You have stated you only need a yes to do so for Obie.”
“He and like 3 others are also special cases as I have known all of them for going on years now.” Jackie pouts at me. She actually looks upset over this.
My hands go up as I relent immediately. “Okay, sorry, sorry. I did not mean to imply anything by it. He’s just very cute and has been coming here for over a month to flirt with you.” Not like I am slut shaming, I banged Ricardo the night I met him. A lot… I’d never judge her poorly, she is too amazing.
My curiosity is killing me. “Now I gotta know, sorry. Obie, maybe Nestra or Titania but there is that weird ancestry hang up of yours. Wait, Oberon should be included in that!”
She glares at me. “I am over most of that.”
“Cool, so who else?”
“I am not telling you. Also, ‘cool?’ What are you, like 50?”
“My dad said it all the time. It stuck. And why not tell me?”
She stares at me. “In this place you are a power onto yourself. It is exactly like telling one of the three Queens my desire. Hell, I think I heard one of the irregulars say something about making an oath to the Queen of Coffee. No thank you, ma’am.”
My confused look must have been blatant as Connie, my favorite Dryad, that had been refilling her tea stepped in.
“She’s not wrong, my lady. I was here when Morgana released your power to you with her blessing. We all saw it at the wedding. It has only grown with time. If court was held here in this building and now, you would be given a seat as you would be on par with any there.”
“But I am a human!”
“Yes and no. You are a human who has been given a Fae Pact with both the Major Courts. In terms of raw power? You are an ArchFae on par with a Queen when you embrace it. You easily eclipse me and any of the regulars. Frankly, you are more powerful than most ArchFae I know of.”
“I never signed a pact that would allow such a thing. I know there was one sort of arranged when I bought the franchise to help the Fae, but it wasn’t for my benefit.”
“You seal the pact and with each and every action you take. You can’t help yourself. Whenever a test has been given to you, you rise and meet it. You constantly prove your devotion to the ideal of that pact. You wrote down the rules. They were made for both humans and Fae, as your staff abided by them. As such you held dominion over both.”
I get a little concerned, but she isn’t done. I remember Em’s talk of being in a pact before. Was it formalized and I didn’t realize it?
“You also protect your customers who do not know as well as those that do. Every action has been a seal on the pact. You saved my life when you had nothing but a “selfish” reason to. The courts viewed it as such well before that and began to move to make sure you could hold this place as domain. Once you could properly do so, a whisper or two was made. And then they got you to agree to it at the congratulatory party.” She winks at me.
I stare at Connie. Why is she telling me the machinations of her people? Is this because I am her lady?
“The party… I remember being tipsy…. Okay, smashed, as we celebrated my buying this place. Wait… That toast?” I am starting to realize how deep this goes when I say this.
Connie nods and adds, “A toast is a wish. A wish is a desire and as such may be considered a request for a favor.”
“So, the leprechaun that started it was a plant?” I am so mad.
She smiles, “I wouldn’t say a plant, more a volunteer. Said he could get them the pact set if we could get you a few drinks. He was right.”
Jackie chimes in here, “He started it with a toast, what was it…”
Words come tumbling into my mind, not from me.
“A toast. May you live long and happily.” It was Sam’s voice. The Leprechaun was a little sloshed but not bad. Th...
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