Evenings were their busiest time. It was one of the few times they were thankful for insomnia. If they were able to stay awake, they could treat more people. Speaking of, they had a lot of orders to get done this week. By taking on a project this big, Wren really limited their time for normal work.

They groaned and dragged themselves off of the couch and into the work room. It would be a long day.

***

It was noon the next day when they finally finished. They were exhausted. While most potions required little more than time and ingredients, the more complex ones drained magick rather quickly. The good news though, was that they had enough supplies of backup potions and prescriptions to be able to treat most everything straight from the counters, and just adjusting dosage for each client. The secretary could do that.

Alan didn’t have a magickal bone in his body, which made him the perfect assistant for the clinic. Wren never had to worry about having another witch’s magick interfering with spells. He was a medical student, and was fairly good at diagnosing simple things like colds and flus, and was able to manage any first aid issues that needed attention at the clinic. It also helped that he was good looking. With blond hair, flawless skin, blue eyes, and washboard abs, a lot of the women (and men) who came in were easily charmed by him and his easy going manner.

Sometimes though, Wren wished he could tend to magickal disease as well. While he could take measurements and run simple tests for magickal beings, he wasn't able to sense auras at all, let alone see what was wrong. It meant Wren had to see any ill non humans themselves, which took a lot of time. There really weren’t a lot of doctors willing to help anyone with magickal blood. The amount of times mixed people had to come to the clinic for a simple human cold simply because they had been refused entry elsewhere was sickening.

Speaking of, it was past time to head to the clinic. Saturdays were the only day Wren took off, and even then they were on call for emergencies. But yesterday had been very calm, besides their visitors. Alan had closed the shop at midnight to get some rest. He worked noon to midnight Saturday through Tuesday. Wren let him have the rest of the week off. They knew better than to overwork their only staff member. However, finals were coming up soon, and while he hadn’t said anything, Wren knew Alan had been studying during slow times at work. They didn’t mind it; in fact they encouraged it. But Wren also knew that 48 hour work weeks could seriously interfere with his studying. They were considering hiring a new secretary for the days Alan didn’t work, that way he didn’t need to spend so much time sorting paperwork from the days he was off. It would mean he would have more time to study.

But where could they find someone as dedicated as he was? Wren really lucked out finding him after he had attended one of Reese’s many parties. He was drunk, and had confided in them his true dream of being a doctor. They might have ignored his speech about wanting to help and be a force of good, and chalked it up to drunken boasting, but then he had started to cry. He brawled his heart out to Wren, and they let him pass out on their bed while they worked that night. The next morning, after assuring him his purity was intact, Wren offered him this job.

Wren signed. Maybe Alan had an equally pure hearted friend who was good at paperwork? They might just settle for good at paperwork. Wren really hated that part of running the clinic.

***

The clinic was a short walk from the train station. Lestrine had an amazing public transit system, making it easy to get pretty but anywhere in the city. However, officials didn’t spend a lot of taxpayer dollars maintaining the poorer districts stations, and instead put it towards making the richer districts more tourist friendly. So the station in south Lestrine had a reputation for muggers and gang related crime.

Even so, Wren was caught off guard when an arm grabbed the back of their coat and threw them against the wall in a small alley. The knife their assailant was holding bit into Wren’s throat, just barely breaking skin. Wren’s bright green eyes met his hard amber ones, and Wren was shocked again by the sheer beauty of the man holding them against the wall.

His tawny complexion reminded Wren of fall nights gazing upon a harvest moon, and his sharp features made them feel vulnerable under his gaze. The way his eyes drew them in made it easy to forget he still held a knife to their throat.

“Give me your wallet,” His voice was low, and while it may make many shake in fear, it washed over Wren like a slow tide. They swallowed, and the prick of the knife brought them out of their daze.

“Front left pocket, but I’m gonna tell you now there’s only a train pass and loose change in there.” Wren took a breath, trying to keep calm. While they weren’t afraid of the knife, their heart was racing from having this strange man pressed against their front.

He grabbed the wallet from them, pulling away slightly, but keeping the knife firmly in place. It took him less than a few seconds to flip through it single handedly, turning his head away slightly so that Wren could see his slightly pointed ears. His blond hair was tied loosely in a low ponytail, but would probably hide his ears if let down.

Wren knew then that he was at least part fey. That meant he probably lived nearby, or in a close district. People who were only partially magickal faced discrimination at every turn. Being part fey also meant he was likely raised among humans. The fey king and queen discouraged “half bloods” living with or being in contact with their fey relatives. Places like the south district were a refuge for these people, which was why Wren made the clinic here in the first place.

At least if he took Wren’s wallet, they could ask around to see if anyone “found” their lost ID.

“You aren’t lying. This wallet is empty. So where are you hiding the rest of your cash?” He was in Wren’s face again, his eyes watching them closely. Wren was confused.

“The rest? I don’t have anything else.”

“Do you think I’m stupid? What kind of dumbass only carries around a few pennies?”

“A broke one?” Wren immediately realized this was the wrong thing to say as he grabbed the front of their shirt, pulling them away from the wall only to be slammed back into it, making stars dance on the edge of their vision.

“Don’t try and be a smartass, got it? I don’t have time for that shit. Just cough up what you have on you or I’ll take it from your body.” Wren was still trying to focus when a hand came down on the man’s shoulder.

“Hey dumbass, this is the fucking doc! Get your filthy hands off!” A familiar voice rang out from behind the man as the hand yanked him off of Wren. A tall, slender young man with golden umber skin socked their assailant in the jaw, just hard enough to knock them back a step.

“Hey doc, you good?” Wren breathed a sigh of relief and let out a small laugh.

“I’m good Dante. Long time no see. How’s your mom?” Dante had been coming to the clinic for years with injuries from fights, and when his mother had gotten a bad case of pneumonia a few years ago, Wren had made house visits for two weeks to help her recover. Ever since, Dante’s whole gang and their families came to Wren for everything, not just wounds they couldn’t take to a normal hospital.

Dante was interrupted from responding by the man.

“Are you telling me this fucking blue haired twink is the doctor you’ve been raving about?”

Dante turned and gave him a glare so cold it made Wren shiver just being near it. He pulled the slightly shorter man close by the front of his shirt.

“Don’t you dare disrespect Wren, got it, homie?” The way he said homie made it sound more like a threat than an endearment. He dropped the man. “Now you're gonna get real nice and apologize to Wren, and give them their shit back.”

The man appeared shocked, and met Wren’s eyes. He took a breath, and Wren could tell he was pissed.

“Sorry about that.” He held out their wallet. Wren smiled at him and took it.

“It’s fine, I get it. I’m a bit of an easy target.” They laughed, and they could see it startled the young man. They held out their hand to shake. “Name’s Wren Arcanist. I run the clinic down the way.”

He cautiously took their hand. “Felix.”

Wren smiled again and there was an awkward moment before he released their hand.

“Well, I had better get to work before Alan thinks I fell down a manhole somewhere.” Dante laughs and throws his arm over Wrens shoulders.

“Let us walk you down there doc. How has Angelface been?” It was what Dante had called Alan since they met, and it irritated Alan to no end. Although, at times, Wren thought he might enjoy Dante’s teasing.

“He’s good. He’s got a lot of school stuff going on. He thinks I don’t notice it, but I’m thinking about maybe hiring someone to help him out.”

Dante looked at Wren with shock. “Hiring someone else? I never thought you’d ever do that. Though I guess it makes sense…” he sighed dramatically.

Wren wrinkled their brow at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

A look of overdone sadness came to his face. “You’re just getting on up there in years doc. Pretty soon you’ll need a cane and a nurse to cart you around.” He laughed as he easily dodged Wren’s attempt to punch him in the gut.

“I’m only 24 you smartass. And for your information, I get around better than you ever will.”

They had finally reached the clinic, Felix trailing after them. Wren turned and gave Dante a hug.

“Tell your mama to come say hey sometime. If I don’t see her I might have to come by myself.”

Dante grinned at them. “Of course doc. I’ll have her bring you some pound cake as well.”

“Ooh, if she’s got a poundcake at the house, I’ll come by asap.” They laughed together for a minute before Wren turned to Felix. “It was great to meet you, even if it was in less than ideal circumstances. I hope we can hang sometime. See you later Dante!” Wren gave a tiny wave and headed into the clinic. Dante and Felix stood there for a moment after, gazing after them. Dante shook his head and looked at Felix.

“Aren’t they as tight as I said homie?”

Felix was silent.