Clutching my cure
I tightly lock the door
I try to catch my breath again
I hurt much more than any time before
I have no options left again
I don't want to be the one the battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize that I'm the one confused

Five months.

Five months since that fateful night where you'd met Bálor officially.

You had learned a lot in that time. Every other day seemed to bring at least one conversation, typically more, about the Others and their world and what you had been blind to as a human. You couldn't help your curiosity. Thankfully, Finn was as patient as ever with you.

There'd been many lessons on the existence of creatures you'd only ever heard about before as mythical. Centaurs. Werewolves. Nymphs. Banshees. Mind readers, or as Finn kept politically-correcting you, empaths. Good beings, evil beings, unaligned beings. The powers so many possessed, ranging from the ability to morph their physical appearances to teleporting through space and time.

You had learned that the Salem Witch Trials actually came not even a hundred years after the rule change, and that many of those women had been good witches. Good witches that lived in an unaccepting society.

If felt like some weird hybrid of Harry Potter, Supernatural, and every fairy tale ever had turned out to be real.

Sometimes you honestly felt like Finn was just messing with you, seeing what outlandish things he could get you to believe. Your disbelief was always followed up by a Facetime call to his parents, and his mother confirmed the truth of his information every time.

You trusted his mother to not lie to you. She'd always been kind to you, and you had built a good rapport with her over the years. When Finn had told them you knew, truly knew, her reaction had surprised you. She had expressed relief. Relief that Finn no longer had to worry about keeping his secrets from you. Relief that he could talk to you, confide in you, fully and truly. Relief that you seemed to be accepting of it, and weren't running off.

His dad had kind of just shrugged during that initial conversation before stating, "Hope ya have better luck makin' sense of it all than me. Four-hundred years in, still confused."

Finn and his mother had laughed heartily. You had just sort of huffed and smiled weakly.

Inside, you were worried. You knew he was joking, but there was always truth in jokes. If his father had been doing this for so many years, and still had questions and struggles, what hope did you have?

During one discussion with Finn, you'd just come right out and asked if there was some type of book, an encyclopedia, something that housed all of the information from The Others' world. You figured it would be easier on all involved if you could just read the information at your leisure versus quizzing Finn at random. He'd told you there were of course books out there, but he didn't have any access to any at the time.

Why couldn't there just be an Others' Wikipedia, and be done with it?

So here you were, far more informed, but almost just as clueless as when all this started five months ago.

Currently, you were working on your make-up in your bathroom. Finn had told you earlier you were going out tonight. He had been vague in explaining your destination, only saying you were meeting one of his friends and to be prepared to learn a lot more about his life.

To no one's surprise probably, his words had put you a bit more on edge than usual. It was one thing to have conversations about Others in the comfort of your home; it was quite another to face the real world implications.

"Almost ready, love?"

Finn's voice startled you, and thankfully you were putting on eyeshadow and not eyeliner or else you would have injured yourself probably. You watched in the mirror as he appeared behind you, leaning himself in the doorway.

"Getting there," you answered, returning to the task at hand. "Do we need to leave soon?"

"Planned to be at the place about an hour from now, and takes about thirty to drive there," Finn explained. "So you're OK if you keep on with this."

"Good to know," was your slightly sarcastic response. You knew Finn was typically a stickler for being on time, so you held back some of your annoyance at his questioning. You knew you'd finish up in time for what he had planned.

Sure enough with time to spare, you were seated in the front of the car Finn was driving. There was no talking between the two of you as he drove through one of the cities of Florida. And when you parked at a rather normal looking – read "inconspicuous" – building, you didn't feel the need to speak.

Finn turned off and exited the car, you following suit. When you met at the front of the vehicle, he took your hand in his, entwining your fingers as you walked up to the establishment.

"Do ya see that circle there? Beneath the building number?"

"Is that a snake? And is it…eating itself?"

"It is," Finn confirmed. "It's called a ouroboros."

"…don't ever expect me to say that correctly," you replied, making him chuckle.

"Just know that it represents a place that everyone can come to, with no problems," he explained. You looked at him curiously, waiting for this Others' lesson to continue. "When everythin' changed all those years ago, part of the deal with lettin' everyone choose to follow the evil or the good, was that there'd be some places that were off limits for war and destruction and conflict. That symbol marks those places."

"So, this is like Switzerland?"

"Sure, somethin' like that," Finn agreed, good-naturedly. "And when we go in, there's goin' to be another room in the back with the door shut. That symbol will be there too. That room is meant only for Others, and those they bring, so anything can be discussed without humans overhearing."

"How many places like this are there?"

"Dunno," he shrugged. "Most big cities have 'em around the world I've found."

"So…who owns it then? Others?"

"Most of them, but not all," Finn replied. "There are good humans in this world, who know and understand, that aren't scared or worried about it all."

For some reason that felt like a bit of a dig at you. You were trying to be supportive and accepting, but you couldn't help but be weary of what you didn't know. Five months ago you'd only known one way of life and the world. Now you were attempting to learn about thousands of years of history of an entire Other world's existence. And a good chunk of that was negative and evil and scary. No one could blame you for struggling.

Except you felt like Finn was sometimes.

You felt like sometimes Finn was annoyed you didn't believe him, asked question after question, required some type of reassurance from his parents. You weren't purposefully trying to be skeptical or difficult, but sometimes it was really hard for you to wrap your brain around certain bits of information.

Every now and then you didn't feel like Finn was appreciating how hard this was for you, and how hard you were working to be OK with it all.

"C'mon," Finn broke you from your thoughts, opening the door, allowing you to walk in ahead of him.

It was large on the inside, with an area full of tables straight ahead. To your left were a few steps, which lead up into another seating area and the bar. There were several groups of people, music playing loudly, drinks flowing. It felt like any other bar you'd ever been in.

Finn took the lead, guiding you through the lower level, towards the back. After so many feet, you found yourself near the bathrooms and the kitchen. There was an open doorway, which led into a room that housed pool tables, arcade games, and other entertainment.

Finn bypassed this, and instead went down the hallway beside it, and that was where you came upon the Other door he had spoken of. On the door itself was a sign that said 'Employees Only', but the ouroboros was clear as day beneath it.

Your eyes scanned the room as you stepped in behind Finn. It had its own bar along with tables and booths along the wall. There was a pool table and a dart board on the wall. It essentially just looked like just another room of the bar behind you.

As you looked over the patrons, you attempted to find the person Finn had alluded to you meeting that night. Another Other. You tried hard to keep your breathing level and hold in any shock as you realized that many of the…beings in the room weren't in their human form, but rather were presenting as their true selves. You were guessing at best, but you were pretty sure you saw a vampire and a fairy of some kind.

And then you saw him. Someone you knew from everyday life. A man you'd spent plenty of time with and around given his long-standing friendship with Finn.

Noam.

You couldn't help that your breath caught in your chest as you realized what seeing him here meant. Noam wasn't a human being like you. He was…something, though you didn't know what.

"C'mon, this way," Finn's voice broke into your rising panic, apparently as he had spotted his friend as well. Your hand instinctively tightened in Finn's, your feet staying planted.

"Finn…." He stopped in his forward motion to go to his friend, turning his head towards you. Your widened eyes met his gaze, as your brain tried to formulate coherent sentences to match your thoughts.

"Hey, it's ok." Finn's words were little comfort to you.

It wasn't OK, not to you. This was so much to take in and understand in one night. And what was Noam anyways? Another Demon? Something worse? You'd seen him in the ring, he was pretty destructive in his behaviors. Noam had never been negative towards you. Maybe a little pushy and abrasive but not mean. Did he align with the evil ways of living?

Or was he something good? A counterpart to Finn's…counterpart? Maybe an Elf or an Angel. Something that didn't believe in the benefits of pain and destruction.

Would his façade, whatever it was, be rendered unnecessary now that the truth was out? How different would he be towards you? The possibilities were truly endless.

You had never seen this coming.

"Finn, I don't know…. Does he…. What…." Despite your best efforts, you couldn't get your thoughts out in full sentences. But you also knew Finn would understand, and get the gist of your words. Your confusion and incoherence was a familiar trait as you had learned more about The Others.

Finn turned fully towards you, stepping close, putting his forehead to yours. Your eyes immediately closed at the action, your breath matching up to his.

"It's OK," he repeated with conviction, his voice quiet. "Noam knows this isn't easy on ya. He asked for tonight, wanted you to know."

"Why?"

"Thought it might help ya, ya know, see it as more normal, just another part of life. He just…I kinda talked to him a bit about all this, and he thought maybe having someone else to talk with would…give you an easier time with it all."

Most of you was appreciative that Finn was trying to make this world-change easier on you, but a small bit of you was a tiny bit offended he was talking to his friends about you.

And jealous.

You were jealous he could talk to his friends about how hard it was watching you learn about The Others. You had no such ability. You couldn't exactly call up your coworker and say 'Hey, guess what? My boyfriend's a demon, and all those mythical creatures you've heard about, yea, they're real'. You had no outlet, no sounding board, outside of Finn and his parents.

Maybe Noam was on to something….

"OK," you acquiesced quietly. Your eyes didn't open until Finn finished laying a kiss to your head and was standing apart from you again.

This time you followed after him without stopping, finally reaching the table where the Scottish man sat.

It brought you some type of relief to see the empty beer bottle in front of him, the label having been picked at. Noam was revealing a big secret to you, and that couldn't be easy for him, just as it wasn't easy for you to accept it immediately.

Noam stood up, greeting Finn both verbally and nonverbally, with what was commonly called a 'bro-hug'. When they released one another, the Scottish man turned to you, and seemed to hesitate for a moment. You did the same. And then you went to extend your hand for a handshake, while he seemed to step closer as if to hug you. While you put your hand down then, Noam realized what you were going for, and stood awkwardly, with his arms slightly in the air. After taking in a small breath, blowing it out in a slight huff of a laugh, you stepped forward and put your arms around him, as his encased you with his.

This was still Noam, the Noam that you knew and had had drinks with before, the Noam that had told you embarrassing stories about Finn, the Noam that had slept over in your guest room after a few too many. There was no need for this to be as awkward as you were both making it.

Yes, it was big but it wasn't going to break either of you.

"Welcome to our bar," he stated lowly, as you hugged.

"Didn't expect you," was your response. "Not unpleased though."

"Gosh, thanks," Noam responded with sarcasm, as you let go of one another. Finn pulled out the chair closest to you for you, as he took the one beside it. Noam resumed his seat across the table, immediately picking up his beer and taking a swig.

Tonight was shaping up to be something.