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The glade had been quiet until the human stumbled in.
Or as quiet as such places could get, considering it was smack in the middle of a very big, dense forest. There were birds aplenty calling out for mates and trying to outdo one another, insects making noise for much the same reason, and not too far from where Martin was sitting on the moss-covered remains of what had once been a proud larch, a herd of deer were grazing peacefully.
There were no people though, no one to converse with, and Martin was quite content with that at the moment. As much as he liked people, he enjoyed being alone from time to time, too. It could get lonely, sure, but no more so than being in a crowd could. Sometimes, it was easier being around animals than people. Animals rarely sneered at you for eating too many muffins, or not wearing the latest fashion, or having red hair.
Sometimes animals scoffed at you for not having any nuts or seed, but that was fair, Martin thought. He would also be put out if the benevolent giant who tended to have tasty snacks on hand wouldn't have any. If he'd had a benevolent giant who fed him, that was. Which, unfortunately, he didn't.
In any case, there were currently no animals asking for treats, and so Martin and them were just hanging out, neither side bothering the other.
Until the human showed up. Or, well, until he made so much noise stepping on twigs and rustling through the undergrowth that it startled the deer, who looked first around the clearing, then at Martin for help. Martin tried to signal for them to keep calm, but then the human broke out from beneath the trees, and the deer took flight.
At least the human had the decency to look startled. It wasn't much, but it was a start, Martin supposed.
The human looked around the glade as if wondering if anything would bite him there, pushing his glasses further up his nose. Then his gaze fixed on Martin.
"Lost?" Martin asked cheerfully.
The human's eyes narrowed. "No," he said, a little too quickly.
"Right," Martin said, and then let him stew in that for a long moment. When the human just kept glaring at him, he continued: "So, what brings you to this remote part of an already remote forest?"
"Who are you?" the human said, instead of an answer.
Martin crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Now, that's a little rude, isn't it?"
The human blinked at him.
"You're asking for my name, but haven't given me yours yet. Not very gentlemanly of you."
"I never said I was a gentleman," the human snapped, but then seemed to realise that he was, in fact, being very rude. He dropped his gaze. "Sorry. But I'm not giving you my name."
"Why not?" Martin asked, curious.
The human made a face. "Because who knows what you're going to do with it?"
Martin laughed so loud it startled some birds into flight. "Why, what do you think I can do with a name? Except call you by it?"
The human seemed surprised, but quickly schooled his features into a frown again. "Well, I don't know what you are. So how would I know what you can do with it?"
Martin smiled. "I see. And what do you think I might be?"
The human started walking along the edge of the glade, circling Martin. "Hard to say. Considering you live within the depths of an enchanted forest, you could be any number of things."
Martin hummed. "And who says that I live here?"
The human stopped to blink in confusion again. "Well… you're here."
"So are you. Do you live in this forest?"
The human scoffed. "Of course not."
"Then why do you think I do?" Martin did, of course, but it was fun watching the human wrinkle his nose as if he had bitten into something unpleasant.
"Don't change the subject," the human said at last.
"Which is?"
"Who you are."
Martin shrugged. "Just a melancholic soul enjoying the freedom of silence."
The human's lips were pressed into a thin line. "You're a fae," he said bluntly.
Martin cocked his head, fighting down a smile. He wasn't going to outright deny it — it was impolite to lie, after all — but that didn't mean he needed to be as direct as his counterpart. "What makes you say that?"
"No human is 'just' anything in the middle of an enchanted forest," he said matter-of-factly.
Martin's smile widened. "I see. So what are you doing here, if not 'just' anything?"
The man's gaze became, if possible, even more piercing. "Looking for one of you."
"Ah." Martin nodded to himself. There were always those who sought out his kind to trade. A favour, against… well. That was up to the fae. "And what will you ask for once you've found one?"
The wording seemed to throw the human off-kilter once again. "I will… ask him to help me attain something I need."
Martin crossed his legs on the log, leaning backwards on his hands. "And what might that be?"
There was a glint in the human's eyes that might have belied some magical capabilities, if that hadn't been completely impossible. Humans didn't have magic.
"Knowledge," he said, an almost greedy expression on his face.
"Knowledge of what?" Martin asked warily.
That made the human waver again, the glint leaving his eyes. "Well…" He sighed, and put down his backpack, kneeling to rummage in it. "So many things. But the most important thing for now…" He made a small triumphant sound as he pulled out a notepad and a pencil. Quickly, he straightened, and looked ready to write down whatever Martin would say. "Who killed Gertrude Robinson?"
Martin looked at him for a long moment, resting his chin on his hand. "You ask curious questions. Dangerous ones, perhaps." He hummed again. The name rang a bell, and he had an inkling who might have been the culprit. Perhaps he wouldn't even need magic for this favour. "But first things first. If we are to seal a contract, I need your name."
The human took a step back.
"I don't know what you've heard, exactly, but we don't steal names," Martin said, a little more sharply than intended. "Well, except for Jonah, or James, or whatever he calls himself these days. Maybe some others. But it's not a general thing, and you just saying your name won't lead to me owning it. 'Giving your name' is just an idiom."
Martin was getting uncomfortable in his sitting position, and stretched out his legs. "Let's start over. I'm Martin." Martin Blackwood — but then, the human didn't need to know that this whole forest was under his mother's command.
Perhaps under his, soon, though he didn't want to think about the healers' predictions too much. Getting away from those thoughts had been one of his reasons for coming here.
There was a moment of silence, and then the human said: "Jon. My name is Jon."
"Well, Jon. Nice to meet you. I understand you want to trade. You want to receive the name of the person who killed Gertrude Robinson-"
"And the reason," Jon added quickly, his eyes burning with something that might have been passion, or obsession.
A tinge of paranoia, perhaps.
Martin smiled. Not completely unreasonable in the face of his kind.
"Right. The name of the murderer and the motivation for killing Gertrude Robinson," he corrected. "And what will I get in exchange? You know, a lot of my kind ask for someone's firstborn in exchange, but-"
"Alright."
Martin blinked. "Sorry?"
"I had ample time as I was trekking through that forest to think about the terms. I'm alright with giving you my firstborn."
"Ah." Martin was disappointed. Despite the almost fanatic quality to Jon's eyes, he had thought him quite cute. A part of him had even considered asking for a night or two with him. He probably wouldn't have — that seemed a little too much to pressure someone into, no matter what Tim thought.
(Tim was a hypocrite anyway, because he rarely actually asked for that sort of thing. People, including humans, just propositioned him left and right because he was, infuriatingly, really fucking hot.)
Anyway, now that Martin knew that Jon would trade away one of his children for his own gain, he wanted to wrap this trade up as soon as possible and leave. He hadn't been planning on getting a child out of a trade — hadn't really been planning on doing a trade any time soon — so he wasn't quite sure if he was prepared to be a dad. Then again, he supposed he would at least be better than Jon, insofar as that he wouldn't abandon the poor kid with a stranger.
"Right," Martin said, considering the conditions. "I suppose that's reasonable. For the record, do you already have a child?"
"No," Jon said, shifting on his feet.
Ah. Maybe he didn't want to abandon a child. Maybe he was trying to get out of the deal scot-free by never having children.
"Then I need to add that you're required to father that child within…" Martin tried to gauge what would be a reasonable time span for a human. "Let's say the next ten years."
Jon cocked an eyebrow. "That long?"
"Do you want to shorten it?" Martin asked.
"Yes, actually, let's say three years. So, you give me information on Gertrude's killer, including the name and reason for the murder, and in return I father your child within the next three years." Jon stepped closer to the log, and held out his hand. "Deal?"
Martin tried not to sneer as he considered whether to shake the hand or not. But they had negotiated and had come to an agreement. It would be impolite to go back on the terms now.
"Deal," he said, shaking Jon's hand without much enthusiasm.
"Brilliant," Jon said. "So, when do we start?"
"Hm? Oh, it will probably take me a few days to get the information you want. You could come back in… about a week, I suppose."
"Right," Jon said after a beat. "But I actually meant my end of the bargain?"
"What?" Martin went over their conditions again, but didn't see how they could 'start' something. Jon could, of course, but Martin?
Jon cocked his head. "Well. I'm not sure how it works, since you seem to be male as well… Then again, you're all shape-shifters, aren't you? Does it extend to your internal organs as well? Or would someone else be carrying the child?"
Martin blinked. "What?" he asked again, intelligently.
"I'm supposed to father your child, remember?"
Martin's mind blanked for a moment. Then he went back over the wording. "No, wait, you said 'father you a child'…"
Jon smiled. "I did not."
His heart beating far too fast, Martin weaved a spell that repeated Jon's earlier words. Why in the world had he left the final wording of it to a human? That was an amateur mistake! He had just felt so secure that Jon was the one out of his depth, that if anyone would regret the trade, it would be-
The letters of the contract stood, dark and ominous, in the sun-filled glade: 'and in return I father your child within the next three years'.
Your child. Martin's child.
"I-" Martin swallowed harshly. "Oh."
"I suppose we didn't talk about visitation rights," Jon said thoughtfully. "I'd like to be able to meet them, though I understand if that's not possible…" He looked away, seeming sad.
Oh no. He wasn't a vicious scoundrel who wanted to abandon a child.
He was a vicious scoundrel who wanted to have a child with Martin.
"It… it does extend to our internal organs," Martin stuttered hoarsely.
Jon visibly perked up at that. "Excellent! If I may make a request — and I realise we didn't talk about this either, really should have thought of that — but if it's no difference to you, could you keep this appearance? As much as possible, that is."
Martin stared at him for a long time, so long that Jon started squirming a little. Fae were indeed shape-shifters, but Martin had never liked taking on other people's appearance. Even if he was belittled for it, he kept his original form whenever he could.
Like right now.
And Jon wanted him to keep it?
"Are you sure?" Martin asked, much to Jon's apparent astonishment.
"You don't have to, if you prefer another form," he said vaguely.
Martin took a deep breath, and weaved a spell. It always felt odd to shift, but having just a part of him change was… both better and worse. Better, because it was contained to a specific part of him, and worse, because it was all concentrated on that part.
It didn't feel that weird once it was done. A bit inverted, he supposed, but he thought he could deal with it. He'd taken on female appearances before, though rarely.
"Alright," he said.
Jon blinked at him with wide eyes, almost like an owl. It was, unfortunately, very cute.
"Are you agreeing?"
"I'm done changing," Martin clarified.
Jon blushed. "Ah, so… now?"
Martin licked his lips. Imagined what it might feel like. "Yeah?"
"I-I see." Suddenly, Jon didn't seem so self-assured anymore.
In fact, he turned out to be quite clumsy as he shed his clothes.
Good thing Martin was there to help him. It wouldn't do for him to be too clumsy, and miss that brand-new hole Martin had grown just for him.
They had a trade to make good on, after all. And then, visitation rights to discuss.
But that, just like the information Jon wanted so much, would come later. For now, Martin was chasing a spark in Jon's beautiful green eyes that had nothing to do with magic. At least not the literal kind.