(Time skip, three weeks later)

John sat at his desk, writing papers for his father while Alexander went through his closet.

"Laurens?" John perked up at the sound of his friend's voice and turned to face Alexander.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you have a large stash of knives in your closet?"

"Safekeeping."

"Oh hey, this is the knife I sold you."

John chuckled and walked over to the closet, pushing the clothes aside to find Alexander sitting on the floor searching through the drawer in which John stored his knives (and his socks, but more importantly his knives). Alexander was looking at one knife in particular, which John recognized as the one he'd bought the first time they met.

"Indeed it is." John smiled and crouched next to the shroom.

Alexander whipped the blade around so it was facing John and fake stabbed him, not letting the sharp metal actually touch his skin.

"Watch it there Mushroom Boy, I'd rather keep my life." John teased, raising his hands.

"Oh yeah, Mr. Marigold?" Alexander replied, looking at the knife in his hands. "Well I'm not sure if I can aid you in that aspect but I guess I'll try not to kill you just yet."

"Is that the best I'm going to get out of you?"

"Yep." Alexander smiled and tucked the knife away.

There was a knock on the bedroom door and John sprang up hurriedly, moving to sit at his desk while Alexander opened the door, his face dropping its former grin.

"John!" James Laurens stood in the doorway and smiled at his brother, completely ignoring Alexander.

"Hey James." John waved, acting as if he didn't mind his friend being overlooked.

"Come, there's something cool in Martha's garden!" James grabbed John's sleeve and hugged him away from his desk.

John waved at Alexander to follow him and they made their way down the hall to Martha's room, where she kept a small garden.

James pushed the door and led his brother in. Martha was sitting beside her garden, wearing a simple brown dress so as to not get it dirt stained with her hair tied up out of her eyes. She was kneeling next to her garden with a watering can, pouring the liquid over the plants so they'd flourish. She looked up and saw two of her brothers.

"Oh James you went to get John?" She sighed. "I told you it was nothing special."

"But it's cool!" James said enthusiastically. "It's short and white and has a red top with white spots and I've never seen one before!"

"It's a mushroom, James. Just a mushroom." Martha sighed.

John went to sit next to his sister and look at her plants. The mushroom James has described sounded a lot like the mark on Alexander's wrist and he wanted to see if it was his friend's plant or not.

"See?" Martha pointed at the fungus. "Normal mushroom."

"It's fly Amanita actually." Alexander piped up. "Not particularly rare but not your average chanterelle either."

Martha and James turned to look at Alexander, who suddenly looked like he regretted speaking up.

"How do you... oh right." Martha answered her own question. "Can you get it to grow?"

Alexander looked at John questioningly and John shrugged slightly.

"Does he only listen to you?" James asked his older brother.

John glanced at Alexander, debating how to respond. He didn't want to treat Alexander like an object no matter how much Alexander insisted it was ok, but he wasn't sure wether Janes would be able to not tell their father that he'd befriended the faerie who was supposed to do nothing but tend to his needs.

"Not necessarily." He said after a slight pause. "But I mean... Alexander, can you make it grow?"

Alexander rocked on the balls of his feet but nodded, stepping closer to the little fungus.  He crouched down and Martha scooted aside, observing with interest.

Alexander put his hands on the soil near the Amanita and closed his eyes. After a minute, the little fungus grew taller and it's cap widened until it was full sized. Alexander opened his eyes, noticeably tired by the effort, and took a step back.

"That's awesome!" Martha squealed. "Can you do that with any fungi?"

"No... fly Amanita is my fungus." He showed her his wrist and her eyes darted between the mark and the mushroom.

"That's still so cool." Martha smiled. "I can barely make a Lily of the Valley grow an inch after minutes of warming up and that's my flower."

(Just in case you're wondering, I don't mean she's Jesus. In Victorian times it symbolized a 'return to happiness' and I liked that for Martha)

"Thanks...?" His tone made it sound more like a question.

"Is there a limit to your power? How big can you grow mushrooms? Can you grow them from just a seed? Can you stay here so I can see?" Martha peppered him with questions.

"Umm... ok..." John noticed how uncomfortable Alexander looked. "I'll stay...?"

"No." John said briskly. "I have things to do and Alexander's mine anyways. Now come on." He walked out of Martha's room, waving at Alexander, who followed after him.

Once they got back to John's room, he locked the door and hugged Alexander.

"Ok then Mr. Marigold, what's up?" Alexander joked, wrapping his arms around his friend hesitantly.

"I'm sorry." John said, tears welling up in his eyes. "I'm sorry I was rude and you're not anyone's you're your own person and I took it too far it's just that I could tell you were uncomfortable and I wanted to get you out of there and... I'm sorry."

Alexander patted John's back. "It's ok, chill. I should thank you; I don't think I'd have been able to leave if you hadn't stepped in and Martha's questions were making it seem like she was going to dissect me and examine my organs for fungi or something."

John pulled back and smiled, wiping the forming tears out of his eyes before Alexander could see them.

"God you're sensitive." Alexander chuckled, noticing the way his friend wiped his eyes.

"Oh shut up Mushroom Boy."

"As you wish, my lord." Alexander bowed deeply, laughing. "Anything to serve you."