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“What do you think your true love will look like?” Nicky asked one sunny afternoon.
“I hope I never fall in love, so I don’t have to find out.” Andrew said, idly plucking the petals off of a flower he picked from the garden.
“Oh come on Andrew, how can you say that? Love is beautiful and–” Nicky’s voice trailed off as Andrew gave him his coldest glare.
“Okay, fine, Grumpy. We won’t talk about it. Anyway, I hope mine is tall and handsome and has a cool accent and …” Nicky continues to prattle on about what his dream partner would be like, but Andrew’s stopped listening. It was true that every person supposedly had a True Love, but he hoped it wasn’t true for him.
Andrew may have only been 8 years old but he knew enough about the world to know that nothing good ever came from love. It made people stupid and weak. Andrew had never seen love that didn’t end in heartbreak, and he’d already been hurt enough in his short time on Earth. He vowed to never let himself be that vulnerable. Besides, every person who’s ever said they loved Andrew had hurt him in some way, and he never wanted to be that for someone else. Luckily, Andrew had a plan.
Andrew woke in the middle of the night and snuck down into the greenhouse. He picked leaves and flowers from various plants, trying to remember what magical properties each possessed. Rue for protection. Borage for bravery and courage. Chamomile for luck. Devil’s Ivy for resilience. And of course, some rose petals for love. Once he was satisfied with his ingredients, he began to think about what he was doing.
Andrew had never cast a spell on his own before, but how hard could it be? You just gather some magical things, say a few words, and believe really hard. Or at least, that’s what he gathered from watching Bee perform her spells from his hiding place on the stairs. Technically he and Aaron were too young to really start lessons, unlike Nicky, but he was curious so he’d sneak in and watch them work from time to time. He could do this.
He looked over the words he had scrawled onto a scrap piece of paper, even though he knew them by heart:
He will hear my call a mile away
He can run faster than anyone else
He’ll have hair like fire and eyes like ice
He will be mean and kind at the same time
He will be a liar but never lie to me
He will always know what I mean even when i’m not saying anything
He will never hurt me on purpose
Andrew recites these words over and over again as he combines his ingredients in a mortar and pestle. Finally, he puts everything into a cauldron, throwing some crystals to boost the magical properties. He takes everything outside, and looks up at the moon. He’s still new at all this, but even he knows that a full moon is powerful. He lights his pink birthday candle (for love and friendship) and uses it to light the scrap of paper on fire before dropping it into the cauldron. He watched the smoke drift into the cloudless sky and hoped and prayed that his spell comes true and that he will never meet this person, and never have them break his heart.
You see, the spell Andrew created wasn’t a love spell at all, or at least not the way you would think. What he prayed for was someone who could not possibly exist. A person who would understand him and was full of contradictions and was perfect. If his true love was impossible, he would never find them. If he never fell in love, he could never be hurt. It was a perfect plan, as far as he was concerned. Satisfied that he put the whole idea of true loves behind him, he finally made his way to bed.
Years pass. Andrew never quite fits in with the sleepy town of Palmetto, but he's honestly ok with that. He's never been much for socializing anyway. The twins continue to practice their magic as they get older, Andrew studying magical plants and herbs, while Aaron gravitated towards healing, though he never took to magic quite the same way his brother did. The twins mostly keep to themselves, the townsfolk don't really want much to do with the quiet boys adopted by the lady in the large Victorian home at the edge of town.
Betsy had adopted Andrew out of the foster care system, after he had bounced around from terrible home to terrible home for the majority of his young life. Aaron had lived with their mother, but after she passed from making one too many bad choices while under the influence, the brothers were reunited and Bee took him in as well. It was an adjustment for them both, learning they each had a brother who had a life that was just as difficult as their own, albeit in different ways.
Andrew was secretly glad he had never met their mother, she seemed like a real monster. And if she had ever hurt his brother, Andrew would’ve done anything to protect him from her. He may have just found out that he had a twin, but he knew he would do his best to make sure nothing bad ever happened to his sibling.
Once, when they were teenagers, Andrew’s former foster family comes looking for him, and Aaron learns what happened to Andrew when they were separated. It was quite unexpected, Andrew had spent that summer focusing on his garden, and Aaron really had been getting better at knowing what plants can heal and which are deadly. They hadn’t been expecting visitors.
It's a shame that Drake, Andrew’s former foster brother, just disappeared after that visit. No one quite seems to know why such a promising young man would just up and run away like that. No one seemed to have any answers, but then again, no one had ever asked Andrew. It's not a lie to say he doesn't know if no one ever asked him directly. Either way, the Spears never came back to visit them in Palmetto. Andrew liked it that way.
After they graduated high school, and a couple of years at the local community college, Aaron leaves for university, and then Medical school, leaving Andrew to his quiet life with Bee and his plants. It wasn't glamorous, and everyone said he was wasting his potential, but that didn't bother him too much. As long as Aaron was safe and no one bothered him, he was content to spend his days in an easy routine.
The first major change happened when Nicky came back from his European travels moping about how he had met the love of his life, but had to leave him behind. Andrew personally thought he was being a little ridiculous. There were multiple ways, both magical and not, to keep in contact with his One True Love, but that didn't stop Nicky from sighing wistfully every time he heard a love song on the radio.
Andrew knew he couldn't blame his cousin, not really. Nicky had gone to Europe in the first place to escape his Evangelical mother and father, who had never accepted either his sexuality nor predisposition to magic. Ironic, considering the magic had probably come from Luther’s side of the family, but that was none of Andrew’s business. The less he spoke to his Aunt and Uncle the better, as far as he was concerned.
After all, they were the ones who had facilitated the ‘reunion’ between Andrew and his former foster family all those years ago. They thought that the twins shouldn't be living such an 'unconventional lifestyle’, being raised by a single woman and being taught about magic in her manor on the edge of town. If Andrew never spoke to them again, it would be too soon. Truthfully, the only reason they were still alive was because, no matter how miserable they had made him, Nicky would be crushed if something happened to them.
Nicky had always been miserable growing up, especially once Luther had stopped letting him come to Bees for the summer to practice magic. His cousin’s world had shrunk to the church-shaped bubble his parents forced him into, and doing a ‘Cultural Exchange Program’ in college had been his only way out. It only made sense that he had latched onto Erik as an escape from everything he grew up with.
Andrew understood. It didn’t make his cousin's lovesick pleas to the moon any less annoying, however. Eventually, Erik, Nicky’s True love got approved for a Visa and they were once again reunited. Just in time, if Andrew’s being honest, because he was going to personally ship Nicky back to Germany himself if he had to hear about Erik’s Deep Brown Eyes one more time.
Eventually, when Aaron leaves Palmetto to pursue his dream of going to medical school, Andrew stays behind. They had both gone to the local college after high school, but Andrew had no interest in furthering his education any more than he had to. In a different life, Andrew might have followed his brother or made him stay. Luckily for them both, they had a type of twin telepathy that allowed them to communicate across distances. They weren't always able to talk to each other directly, but they had a way of knowing if the other was hurt or injured. It wasn't the same as knowing where his brother was at all times, but it was enough to keep the itch at bay, and let Aaron have a life outside of his brother.
Andrew’s garden blossomed into a full blown nursery where he sold both magical and non-magical plants. He had a reputation for finding the perfect plant for his customers, no matter how rare or hard to find. People said the plants he sold never died, no matter how bad you were at taking care of them. It was just like magic. No one could say for sure if it really was or not.
Once Nicky finally reunited with the Love of His Life, they opened up a small apothecary shop that sold body care products, as well as potions and little magic charms for those who knew how to ask. They became one of Andrew’s most loyal customers as Nicky and Erik often sought out Andrew’s botanicals to boost the magical qualities of their products. It gave Andrew a chance to grow plants that he wouldn’t get to cultivate otherwise, as magical plants often weren’t edible or decorative the way most of his other stock was, and he appreciated the challenge of growing more obscure and difficult to grow varieties.
It was a quiet life, and Andrew liked it that way. He heard from Aaron fairly often, either magically or through texts and occasional phone calls, but for the most part, it was just him and his plants. He had dinner with Bee on Sundays. He delivered plants to Nicky for the shop. Life was easy, if a little monotonous, but then again, a boring life was better than a dangerous one.
When Aaron finally finished medical school, he met a girl during his residency that happened to be from the next town over. Andrew would say it was a coincidence, but things were never that simple.
Aaron brought Katelyn home one day for the holidays, and Andrew could tell that his brother was head over heels for her. It was Andrew’s first instinct to be cold towards her. After all, she wasn’t anything to him, just because she happened to be dating his brother.
Andrew saw how his brother looked at her like she hung the moon, and quite frankly, it was kind of disgusting. But late one night after everyone else had gone to bed, the brothers sat out on the porch, just drinking and enjoying each other’s company the way they had when they were younger. Neither had said anything for a while when Aaron, more tipsy than Andrew had realized, but definitely still lucid, looked up at the moon and said “You know how Nicky’s always going on about how Erik’s his True Love and he can’t live without him? I think she’s that for me.”
Andrew doesn’t respond, he doesn’t really know how, he just nodded slightly to show that he heard, and took a drag from his cigarette. A few moments pass before Aaron continued and said “I think i”m going to ask her to marry me.”
Andrew took another pull of his cigarette and said “If she breaks your heart one day, I have more than a few plants in my garden that can take care of her.”
Aaron smiled like his brother had told a joke, but they both knew he was serious. He also knew that it was as close to a blessing as he was going to get from his brother. Because, even if Andrew hadn’t exactly given her the warmest welcome, he wanted his brother to be happy. It was moments like that where Andrew was grateful for their connection, he hated saying the quiet part out loud.
They don’t mention the moment again, but Andrew’s less than shocked to find out that his brother had popped the question a few months later. And when they both finished their residency, they moved back to Palmetto to open up their own practice. It gave Andrew some peace of mind to have his brother back, even if he would never say directly.
Their practice wasn’t magical, at least not on the surface. The Minyard-Mackenzies mostly followed the teachings of standard western medicine, but every now and then Doctor Minyard prescribed a potion or an herb that you couldn’t get at your local pharmacy. Maybe someone had a cough that lingered just a little too long, or had an affliction that couldn’t be solved with modern medicine. It wasn’t all the time, Aaron was a man of science after all, but he knew that some things were better solved by going to an apothecary than the pharmacy. He could never quite shake the magic he learned during his upbringing.
Andrew’s life grows to be a little less quiet as he gets used to not only having Nicky and Aaron but also their respective Loves of Their Lives around. Every now and then, someone asks Andrew if he was Looking, but he always just stared at with his blankest stare until they got uncomfortable and changed the subject. He had never told anyone about the spell he cast as a child.
He wasn’t even sure it worked, but either way, it wasn’t anyone’s goddamn business why he was single or not. He knew, logically, that everyone supposedly had a soul mate, but that didn’t mean that everyone met theirs. Love was complicated and messy and led to heartbreak. As happy as his family seemed to be with their partners, he had no desire to deal with the whole ordeal himself. He was fine just the way he was, thank you very much.
He’d had a conversation with Bee about it once, one night when he was a teenager. It was just the two of them out in the garden, tending to a particularly finicky herb that Andrew had been attempting to grow. Andrew didn’t quite know how to bring it up, but lucky Betsy always seemed to know when he had something on his mind. It was one of the things Andrew liked best about her. They had spent a good twenty minutes or so weeding in companionable silence when Bee said, seemingly out of nowhere, “They say this herb is supposed to be good for helping you find your true love. “
Andrew knew that, he’d read about it when he was researching the plant before they started growing it. Either way, it’s a good segue into a question he had always wanted to ask her. “Does everyone meet their soulmate?” He asks quietly, while trying to pull out a particularly nasty bunch of weeds.
“Some do, but not nearly as many as people would like to think. It’s not exactly uncommon, but not everyone is guaranteed to find theirs in their lifetime.”
Andrew sat with that thought for a second, then asked “Have you ever met yours?”
Bee set down her trowel, and took a drink of water from her bottle before answering “I thought I had, when I was younger. I was very close with one of my best friends, and I thought she might be my platonic soul mate. Unfortunately, we grew apart, and now I’m not so sure. But no matter, I’m happy with the way my life is now, and I don’t have any desire to try and find them, if they are out there. Things are just perfect for me just the way they are.”
She gave his shoulder a slight squeeze, and continued with her work like she hadn’t just turned Andrew’s worldview upside down.
He had no idea soulmates could be something other than romantic, and the idea sends his head for a loop. But he liked the idea of having a life that was complete even without a soulmate. He thinks that could be the kind of life he’d like. Now that he had that settled, Andrew continued with his gardening, grateful that Bee was able to answer a question he didn’t even really know he had.
Andrew once again settled into his life, now slightly less quiet and calm than before. He grumbled about his family being annoying, but really, he enjoyed the added chaos in his life. His brother and cousin had befriended some of the newcomers in town, expats who had moved to the relatively safe haven for magic users that Palmetto had become. They had started to trickle into town when an old friend of Bee’s moved back to the sleepy village to restore the old b&b on the edge of town.
David Wymack had known Betsy in her younger years, and she’d always made off-handed comments about him wanting to fix up the old place. Andrew had never met the man, and truthfully, he couldn't have cared less about what someone he’d never known planned on doing. He would have been content to ignore the whole project altogether, but the fact of the matter was, he had a patch of herbs growing the garden there that he just couldn't get to grow the same way in his greenhouse. When Wymack finally broke ground on the renovations, he and Andrew came to an agreement that he could continue to grow his herbs in exchange for using some plant magic to help keep the grounds in good condition.
Andrew wasn’t too thrilled at the prospect of having yet another person to make polite conversation with on a semi-regular basis, but as it turned out, Wymack wasn’t half bad. He never asked Andrew annoying questions about his work or attempted to make meaningless small talk. He just let the man do his work, harvest his plants, and be on his way. Andrew was grateful for the quiet understanding, considering all the busybodies he somehow ended up with in his circle. Now that Wymack had his place up and running, more new faces started to move to town. And once Aaron and Nicky had befriended them, it was only a matter of time before they became Andrew’s acquaintances by default.
Andrew was used to strays wandering into town by now. He couldn’t blame them, afterall he was as stray himself once upon a time. Not much surprised him any more, but the new nameless runaway who’d showed up at the Foxhole b&b certainly came closer than anything else had in years. Andrew normally avoided socializing with the others if he could help it. Lord knows his brother and cousin dragged him to enough social outings without him actively seeking them out.
But no matter how he tried, Andrew couldn’t help how he was drawn to the newcomer. He found himself tagging along when he would normally decline, if only so he could have a better chance at observing the new guy in town. His name was Neil, and no one knew where he had come from, Nicky had said one afternoon. Nicky could be dramatic and flighty, but Andrew knew he could count on his cousin to always have the inside scoop. The way he could get people to divulge secrets they wouldn’t normally tell anyone was almost like magic. If Andrew didn’t know that Nicky specialized in potions and magical homeopathic remedies, he really would think it was magic.
He didn’t know why he was so drawn to the man. Sure, he was hot. Andrew may have never wanted to fall in love, but he wasn’t dead. He had eyes, and those eyes could see that Neil was hot, even if he did have terrible fashion sense, and box-dyed brown hair. Unfortunately for Andrew, yet another piece of intel from Nicky had revealed that Neil didn’t date - not men, women, or anyone in between. But there was no crime in looking, so Andrew took every outing as an opportunity to watch Neil, to try and figure him out. He was quiet, flitting around the edges of groups without actually participating if he could help it. He never seemed to give a straight answer, no matter what question was asked. Andrew wasn’t sure how, but he could tell that every other word that came out of the man’s mouth was a lie, or at least only a partial truth.
Or, at least that was the case when he spoke to anyone but Andrew. Andrew often found himself with Neil on the outside edges of whatever group they found themselves in on any particular night. Neil seemed especially close with Matt, the head chef of The Foxholes restaurant, but he seemed more than content to sit next to Andrew in companionable silence, rather than participating in whatever nonsense conversations the rest of their friends were engaged in. Andrew wasn’t complaining, Neil was better company than most, even when they weren’t speaking.
Gradually, their silences were broken up by sly comments made by Neil under his breath. He seemed to be offering up the opportunity for conversation, but never making Andrew feel pressured to talk if he didn’t feel like it. This eventually led to them debating nonsense scenarios: what they would do in a zombie apocalypse and they had no magic, or what sports they would play if they had to play something professionally. It was all surface level conversations, but each ridiculous statement gave Andrew a glimpse into who Neil was behind his facade.
The longer they talked, the more Andrew wanted to know about Neil. He was a complete mystery, but Andrew couldn’t shake the feeling that he was familiar somehow. Andrew knew Neil wasn’t likely to give up personal information freely, so he proposed a game: a truth for a truth. Andrew could maybe stomach sharing bits of his life if it meant he could solve the puzzle that was Neil Josten. Maybe. Luckily, Neil seemed into the idea, and they started to share small truths in between their more ridiculous conversations. Andrew wasn’t sure how he knew. But he could just tell that, unlike all the half-truths and outright lies Neil told everyone else, every bit he shared about himself was true. Andrew couldn’t get enough of it.
Andrew revealed he built his own greenhouse when he was 16. Neil was on a track team at one of his highschools, but he moved right after he set the local record for the 400m race. Andrew had 6 piercings. Neil’s natural hair color was red. That one Andrew learned when Allison had dragged Neil to her salon after declaring that she just couldn’t deal with the tragic state of his hair any longer.
The first time Andrew saw Neil after Allison had worked her magic, he stopped dead in his tracks. Neil’s hair shone like fire in the late autumn afternoon sun, and apparently Neil also wore contacts because his normally dark brown eyes were an icy blue. Words that he hadn’t thought about in years were screaming in his head at top volume:
He will hear my call a mile away
He can run faster than anyone else
He’ll have hair like fire and eyes like ice
He will be mean and kind at the same time
He will be a liar but never lie to me
He will always know what I mean even when i’m not saying anything
He will never hurt me on purpose
‘Oh Shit.’, Andrew thought to himself. There was no way that person was real, Andrew had picked contradicting traits on purpose as a way to make sure he never met this man in real life. And yet, there Neil Josten stood, right in front of him. A man full of contradictions, an impossible man who couldn’t, shouldn’t be real. Andrew was so fucked.