Chapter Text
“Please Spen.” Courtney begs, moving her chair marginally closer to him.
Spencer sighs, finally giving up on what he was working on -- typing up an email for Ian that he just couldn’t get right -- and turning to them, “How many times do I have to tell you? No.”
“Why won’t you just try it out.”
He shakes his head, “You know that I don’t believe in that shit. It’s just someone who does too much research on you beforehand and tells you things that you’ve made public and, in our case, we’re definitely public. There’s so much of my adult life out there on the internet,” he shakes his head again, “No way that sitting in front of a guy who’s way too stalker-ish will help me.”
They shake their head, reaching out to rest a hand on his arm, “I know that’s how a lot of those are, but this guy’s legit. He does sessions anonymously so he can’t find our name beforehand and the way he operates is real. His readings hit the nail on the head and he lets us interpret things on our own.” She hums, “Shayne was saying the same thing, but even he’s decided that he likes this guy.”
Courtney continues to nag him for the rest of the day, denying that they have anything to be working on -- which Spencer finds hard to believe, since they’re low-staffed right now and Courtney has been floating and rushing around for weeks -- until he finally gives in. They even offer to make the appointment for him, and proceeds to refuse the payment that he offers her, so his name is nowhere on the order to make sure that the psychic that she’s booking knows nothing about him.
Spencer still doesn’t buy it. Courtney’s been going to this guy for long enough that he’s sure his name has cropped up a couple times. He actually goes home and makes a checklist that he’s going to bring to the shop with him, things like ‘mentions that I’m an editor for a social media company’ and ‘I have two cats’. He’s getting the text from Courtney in a couple days that his appointment with this guy is on Friday evening. Great.
Friday comes before Spencer knows it and he’s getting into Courtney’s car at the end of the day. The appointment is right after so they offered to drive him, then bring him back so he can get his car and bring it to his apartment.
The shop that she brings him to is one that they have to part outside on the street of. It’s a hole in the wall, painted a deep purple with glowing paper stars and weird lamps and plants in the window. There’s a black sign in a typical voodoo-style font that reads ‘Towering Empress’. Courtney parks and gets him out of the car, bringing him into the shop.
He’s immediately assaulted by the smell of something herbally and woody and maybe a bit of citrus? Courtney grabs him by the wrist and leads him to the front desk where a tall woman wearing a black tank top and a cardigan is standing by the register. There’s a sign on the corner of the glass-topped table that reads, “Like the smell, try some?” With a box labelled ‘Frankincense’. He decides that he doesn’t mind the smell much and might have to purchase some… but he should probably ask if it has any meaning first.
Courtney drags his attention back when she exclaims, “Hey Amanda!”
“What can I do for you, Court?” The woman asks, throwing her black hair over one of her shoulders.
Courtney smiles up at her, jabbing their thumb in the direction of Spencer, “This guy has a reading with Tommy scheduled.”
The woman, Amanda, glances at a sheet of paper that she has nearby, reading over it for a second then nodding, “I can see that. He’s just finishing up with cleansing his space and he’ll be down any minute. Take your time to look around, I’ll tell him to look for you.” They nod, thank Amanda, and grab him by the wrist, dragging him off to go look at some of the jewelry that they’re offering.
It’s just as she’s jokingly modeling a pair of really eccentric earrings for Spencer, does someone speak from behind him, “I heard that I’m doing a reading with you Courtney?” Spencer whirls around and is frozen for a moment at the sight of the man. He’s tall, with brown hair in an odd style that sits slightly mussed in a weirdly attractive way. He’s got a rather bushy mustache and is dressed in comfortable clothes -- a pair of brightly coloured patchwork pants that sit maddeningly low on his hips and a black tank top under a mesh shirt with moons and stars on it -- with several necklaces with symbols that Spencer doesn’t recognise hanging from his neck. He’s got a bit of purple glitter on eyes that are slightly obstructed by glasses and a gentle sheen to his lips and Spencer has to take a breath and drag his eyes away from the man.
Courtney just smiles up at him, “Nope! You’re doing it on my friend here, Spencer.”
Tommy finally turns his gaze onto Spencer, making eye contact with him. His lips spread out into a grin and he reaches out a hand, “We’ll do a bit better introductions later, but for now: I’m Tommy, I’ve been doing readings for seven years now.” He takes a minute to look Spencer up and down when the shorter grabs at his hand, “You’ve got an interesting feeling, I’m excited to do this with you.”
“Thank… you?” Spencer says -- asks? -- furrowing his brows, “Spencer.”
“Excuse his shortness,” Courtney pipes up, “I had to convince him to come here.”
Tommy shrugs with one shoulder, “I have no issues with it.” He looks between the two of them for a while, “Are you coming with us Courtney, or will it just be the two of us?” Spencer looks at her as well at his words.
They shrug, “If you want me with you, then I’ll go. But this can also be pretty intimate about certain stuff in your life so I wouldn’t be offended if you wanted me to stay back.” Spencer thinks about it for a while.
While he would much prefer being with Courtney in this new situation, with a new -- very attractive -- person, if it’s true what they say and that they’ll touch on personal things -- god he hopes not -- then he might not want Courtney there. As much as he loves them, he doesn’t need her to know everything about him.
But does he want to be left alone with a man this pretty?
Spencer looks between the two of them for a while, thinking, before he settles on his friend, “Are you sure you’re good to be on your own down here?”
Courtney shrugs, “I’m good with the workers here, I’m sure that I can just talk to Amanda and Arasha or look around or something. I’ve done the same for Shayne before.” Spencer nods at the reassurance, turning to Tommy.
The taller man claps his hands and nods, “Alright, ready to head up?” Spencer nods and he smiles gently down at him, gesturing for him to follow him. Spencer waves one last goodbye to his friend before turning away and following the taller.
Tommy leads him up a flight of stairs in the back corner of the building hidden behind a tapestry, where there are several doors with paintings and plaques on them. One of the doors is open, and Tommy swings into it for a moment, “I’m taking another one right now, Anthony.” There’s a sound of approval and Tommy nods, continuing on his journey to the end of the hall, where a darkly painted door sits.
Tommy opens the door and holds it open for Spencer. When they’re both in and the door is shut, Tommy gestures for Spencer to sit down on the cushions that litter the floor in front of a low table with dried wax puddles, burn marks, and stains. Tommy goes around the room to grab a couple things, giving Spencer the opportunity to look around the room.
It’s dark, dimly lit with darker coloured walls, several tapestries with more symbols that Spencer doesn’t recognise littered around the wall and the corner of the room. The cushions that he’s sitting on are black, purple, and blue and there are gold accents throughout the entire thing. Against the wall across from him, there’s a black painted bookshelf with two cabinets on the lower half dusted with gold that’s filled with all sorts of things -- two shelves of books, stacks of boxes of… cards? on one, and boxes of various candles filled with different amounts and incense on the fourth. Tommy opens one of the cabinets, revealing jars of herbs and a random assortment of things.
Before Spencer realises it, Tommy is sitting down and obstructing his vision. He sets two partially-burnt candles, one black and one white, in the candle holders on either end of the low table and takes a match to light them. Then he picks up an incense stick that he put on the table earlier, humming, “I’m going to use this to cleanse you. Think positively and clear your mind while I do this. We’re going to be silent.” Spencer nods and Tommy lights the stick with the flame of the white candle. He stands and takes a moment to walk around the room, bringing the stick to the corners of the room and running it along the edges of his tapestries. Then he brings it around the table to where Spencer is sitting.
Spencer closes his eyes, hyper aware of Tommy’s location in relation to himself. His hairs rise everytime the slight warmth of Tommy’s presence nears a part of him, but he doesn’t let himself react. He just sits and thinks positive thoughts and takes in the smell of vanilla while Tommy does his thing.
He opens his eyes as the man retreats from him, watching as he walks back to the table and sets several things onto it, taking the time to let the smoke fall over each thing before he brings the incense stick around himself. When he’s done with that, he stands and puts the still-burning stick into a vaguely pot-themed holder.
Then he sits down again, “Alright, since you’re new I’m going to be explaining everything that I do to you, that way you can follow it. Courtney said that you had to be convinced to be here, so I take it that you don’t really believe in what I do?” Spencer doesn’t answer, he feels his face heat up just a bit. It feels a bit silly admitting it now, facing the same man that he’d refused to see for weeks because he thought it was utter bullshit. He just shrugs.
Tommy lets out a laugh, a bit startling but fun to hear, “I think that was answer enough. So Court signed you up for just a regular reading, so I’ll take you through that and if I mention something else that you want from me, you’ll just have to pay extra for it. You’re my last person of the day, so I’m really able to do almost anything.” Spencer nods, so Tommy continues on, “First we’re going to connect. I want to be able to feel your inner spirit, are you comfortable with touch?”
“For the most part, yeah.”
“Can we hold hands?”
Can they? Spencer doesn’t normally mind people grabbing at his hands or his arms, especially if they ask, but… will he be able to handle holding Tommy’s hands for god knows how long?
He nods.
Tommy hums, “Alright, we’ll just connect. I’ll walk you through it,” he outstretches his hands, palms up, “I’m going to be looking at you, if you want we can make eye contact but that doesn’t have to happen. You can look anywhere or close your eyes.” Spencer nods and hesitantly reaches out to place his hands in Tommy’s. The man smiles gently at him, “We’ll be silent for the first while. Think of what’s bothering you, what’s good in your life, what makes you happy. Just let your mind wander but keep it to the topic of you, yeah?” Spencer nods and Tommy nods back.
He closes his eyes, taking the moment of silence to take in the sensation of his hands in Tommy’s. His hands are warm, a bit more calloused than Spencer would’ve thought, but soft nonetheless. There’s the cold metal of rings that Spencer hadn’t realised the taller was wearing against his skin.
Not wanting to linger on those thoughts, he tries to think like Tommy told him to, focusing on himself but he doesn’t really tend to think about himself.
Tommy, luckily, doesn’t leave him in silence for very long, “Good, now I want you to take in your senses. What do you hear, what do you smell, what do you feel, what do you taste?” Spencer feels himself nodding, “Good, keep those in mind.” He clears his throat gently, “I have us sit on the ground to keep us, well, grounded even if we’re on the second floor. Dabbling in spiritual stuff, especially as a first timer can be scary and we can get lost. I want you to remember what it’s like to sit on the floor, remember that and keep that as I guide you through this. The floor is your anchor.
“I can also be your anchor. Take in how my hands are, if you feel any connection there. Remember my touch.” And of course now he tells Spencer to focus on his hands.
Spencer’s not sure he’s going to make it through this.
After a while more of silence, Tommy takes his hands from Spencer’s and hums, “You can open your eyes.” Spencer does so, being greeted by the kindest, gentlest smile from the man -- is it possible to be in love already? -- as he nods approvingly, “Good!”
Spencer needs this man to stop calling his actions good, he might go fucking crazy.
Tommy doesn’t seem to care about his internal thoughts, gesturing to the pile of cards in front of him, “These are tarot cards, are you familiar with them?” Spencer shakes his head, “That’s fine. There’s 78 cards in this deck, each with a different meaning. I also use reversals, so there’s 156 total messages that could be sent to you.” He takes a moment to spread out the cards evenly, letting Spencer look at the pure amount of them, “Now, contrary to popular belief, these aren’t predictions of your past or your future or what’s wrong with you.” He does a funny voice on the second part, sounding cartoonishly mystical -- he’s fucking funny too, of course.
“Tarot cards, at least the way that I operate with them, are messages being sent to you from a higher power. Do you have a God or something you believe in?” Spencer shrugs, “That’s alright. I’ll tell you that I believe in the fates. Eitherway, you likely believe that there’s something guiding you or watching you, which could be your own subconscious. The tarot are just messengers that rely on intuition. Those that believe there’s a higher being guiding them say that their hand is being guided to the right card, but if it’s just yourself that you believe in, then it’s just your mind knowing what’s right or what’s wrong.
“I’ll have you pick cards with the context that I give you, not right now, and whatever card is calling you is the one that you need to grab. Just grab the card from the line and bring it straight down, facing the table, don’t rotate it or turn it around or anything, yeah?” Spencer nods, Tommy nods back, “These are messages being given to you, and they’re for you to interpret. I’ll tell you their meanings and maybe common events and I’ll help you create a bigger picture when all of the cards are looked at, but your first thought upon hearing each of the meanings is up to you.
“Now,” Tommy clears his throat, “On occasion, I will make an observation about you. Perhaps I’ll ask a question or something, and you never have to disclose information with me that you’re not comfortable with. You’re also welcome to ask questions of me at any time, understand?”
“Yeah, uhm… how will I know that a card is ‘calling to me’?”
“That depends.” Tommy shrugs with one shoulder, “Do any of these cards look particularly appealing to you right now? Does your eye keep going to any one card?” Spencer shakes his head, “Well, if there’s something like that when I ask you questions or you’re asking questions on the card, then that’s the one calling for you. And if that’s not happening, you can just reach out and grab one at random and that’s the one you were meant to grab. Don’t try to make up excuses for why you might be attracted to a card, chances are I’m attracted to a different one despite your reasoning. Does that make sense?”
Spencer mulls it over for a minute before he nods. Tommy nods back and claps, “Alright, we’re going to do three things here. First, when I do a reading, I always ask the initial question, ‘do you have anything to say to me’ and pick a card. Then I’ll have you ask me a question and we’ll do a three card spread of our choice about it. Finally, I’ll have you pick a card to the question ‘is there anything else you have to say to me’ and we’ll be done.” Spencer nods once again and Tommy gathers all the cards in his hands again, beginning to shuffle them for a while.
Eventually, he lays out the cards in front of him again, “Now, as you pick this first card. Just repeat the question, ‘do you have anything to say to me?’ or any variation of it over and over. Ask it genuinely like you’d ask a friend, you can say it out loud or in your head I don’t mind either way. Take your time picking a card, feel over some of them. This is at your pace.”
Spencer nods and closes his eyes to take a deep breath, fighting back the thought that this is still stupid. Tommy clearly believes in this, and Courtney fully believes that this might be helpful to him, so he perseveres. He opens his eyes and asks the question that Tommy told him to, repeating it in his mind several times while looking over the cards.
One to the far right grabs his attention, so he reaches and grabs it. He brings it in front of him, turning it over when Tommy tells him to. The card reads ‘Ten of Wands’, though it’s upside down. It’s got a man in the center of the card with nine wands pointing at him, he’s holding one as well but seems unsure and scared. Tommy hums, “The Ten of Wands marks the end of a journey, the end of a new endeavor that you’ve been spending a bunch of time on and you’re tired. You’re coming to realise that now that you’ve achieved this big thing you’ve been working for, you bear a great burden of responsibility on your shoulders. The upright version means that you’re likely to learn how to bear it without stretching yourself too thin.
“The revered version however, which is what you have here, is a warning. You’re bearing too much weight on your shoulders and you’re likely to burn yourself out. Whatever it is in your life, you’re holding more responsibility with it than you can manage, and you need to reach out to someone or allow yourself to rely on other people for help.”
Spencer nods, taking a moment to consider the message, surprised that he’s actually taking the meaning to heart. But he does think about his recent promotion, now he’s one of the directors of their shoots instead of just the photo editor, about how he has a lot more on his plate, and how he’s been so stressed about it. He’s been hesitant to ask Alex, or even Damien, for any help since he feels like he should do this all on his own but…
He’ll reach out to them tomorrow.
Tommy’s watching him when he focuses back on the situation. He offers Spencer a gentle smile, “You’ve taken that to heart, good. If there’s at least one thing that I want you to walk away from my session with, it’s to not overwork yourself. You seem like a stubborn man who doesn’t like asking for help. You’re driven.” Spencer nods, unsure of what to say. Tommy doesn’t say anything else for a minute, letting Spencer guide their pace.
And when he does finally say that he’s ready to move on, Tommy nods, “This part is up to you. We’re going to pull three cards with any meaning, and they’re going to individually have something to say but also paint a whole picture together. I can do past, present, future over basically anything, including love life. I can do something related to work or your emotions or your health, though that’s nothing concrete. Or, we can just do a general three card spread. I can also do something to give you options for a situation you have or we can take a look at the state of yourself. Do you have any nagging questions?”
Spencer thinks for a while, “You said that we can look at the state of me?”
Tommy nods, “It’s a mind, body, and spirit reading. One card will look at the state of your mind, one will look at the state of your body, and one will look at the state of your spirit. I would personally suggest that one after the card you just got.” Spencer agrees and Tommy quickly explains where he’ll set each card and which question to ask when.
Spencer gets to work, grabbing one card while asking the state of his mind and putting it in front of him. Then grabbing one for his body and putting it just below that card to the left. Finally, he grabs the final card for his spirit and sets it to the right of the body card. All are face down.
“Alright,” Tommy, who’s been silent the entire time that Spencer’s been picking cards, “We’ll turn them over one at a time, look at the individual meaning, then we’ll try to put something bigger together. We’ll do a run down of everything we’ve gotten today at the end, when we finish with the last round.” Spencer nods in agreement, flipping over the mind card when prompted. The card reads ‘Seven of Wands’, once again upside down, and depicts a person standing on a pedestal with six wands pointing at them, they’re holding the seventh high above their head.
The medium hums, “Now, the Seven of Wands means that you’ve just come out of a conflict. There’s been fighting going on around you and you and the people that've been fighting have finally begun to come out of it and come to their senses. Unfortunately, when this card is reversed, it means that the conflict has stopped because everyone is tired of fighting. But it also means that you’re tired too. You’re overwhelmed and not sure what to do with yourself now that everything is over.” Spencer nods, though he’s not quite sure what that means.
Tommy furrows his brows, “Normally this card is used in literal contexts, though from it coming up for your mind, I would assume that there’s a mental conflict going on with you. You’ve been fighting yourself over something, though I don’t sense that it’s the same thing you’ve been fighting for that presented itself in the Ten of Wands you got earlier. This is something different and it’s struck you harder. You don’t know how to recover from it.” Spencer nods again, he’s starting to get an idea, but he shoves it away. It’s stupid, why would the card be able to know what’s going on in his mind?
He doesn’t say anything, just reaches to flip the body card. This one reads the ‘Nine of Wands’ with a man holding a wand in his hand almost triumphantly, looking at eight wands floating up and above him. Though, as positive as that seems, Spencer thinks he’s starting to learn that this isn’t a good thing as it’s reversed. Tommy looks at the card for a moment before nodding to himself, “The Nine of Wands means that you’re getting close to your goal, whatever you’ve sent out to achieve and have been working towards for a long time. A lot of people consider this card as the ‘last stand’ where you need to gather all of your energy to face up against your final challenge, even if you’re tired from the journey. When it’s reversed, it means that you’re not able to do it. You’re exhausted, in this case physically.
“Now this one, I feel like it relates back to the Ten you got.” Tommy watches him for a moment, “Did you recently get a promotion?” Spencer feels his mouth dry a bit, before he realises that Courtney’s been to Tommy since he got promoted, which is likely how he knows that. Despite that, he nods. Tommy makes eye contact, and a part of him feels like the man is seeing into his very soul, but that just can’t be possible.
Tommy continues after a second, “You’re tired because of that. Whatever new position you have, you feel like you have to prove yourself with it. Like you have to take all of this on your own, but you’re overworking yourself. You need to rely on your team and your coworkers to help you and remember that you’re not less than deserving for what you need help with. Everyone has weak points, and you’ll have a lot of them in the beginning here. Don’t stress yourself out or be afraid of what you’re doing.” Spencer nods, and he can feel himself taking the message to heart.
He’s really going to message Alex and Damien after this. Maybe Shayne. And he knows that Ian wouldn’t fault him if he needs some help sometimes or if he asks for a break. As joking as they are about how Ian’s abusive towards him, the man does undeniably care.
The medium hums, seemingly happy with what he sees in Spencer’s face, “Are you ready to flip the last card?” Spencer nods and reaches forward, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. He flips the card before opening them, then takes a second to take in the card like with all the others. Finally, this one is upright, but he’s not sure that’s a good thing. ‘Two of Swords’ it reads, a woman standing in the center with her hands out to either side of her, a sword hovering over each one.
Once again, Tommy takes a second, “The Two of Swords… this is a battle. Both fighters are equal in strength and therefore the fight isn’t going to go anywhere, but you’re stuck between the two. You’re conflicted in this, since you have to choose a side but aren’t sure which one to choose, neither option is good right now. But the fighters will always be going at each other, matching blow for blow, until you make a choice. It’s a hard thing to do, but it has to be done eventually. Sooner than later is better.”
He’s quiet for a moment, watching Spencer. Then he reaches forward and taps the mind card with a ring-clad finger, “These two are connected. While you’ve made up your mind about whatever internal conflict it is, you’re still not happy with it. You’re in denial about whatever it is. We’ll work through what that could be in a moment here…” Spencer nods, now confirmed in his mind what these two cards are talking about. It’s the only thing that makes sense… but it also means that he has to confront it sooner than later.
But not now, because Tommy leans back just a bit, leveling Spencer with a steady gaze, “You’re very negative right now, you’ve not gotten a super inherently positive answer in our reading. But it’s two situations, the one that you’re fighting physically, the pressure of a new promotion and the stress of feeling like you can’t rely on anyone, and the mental one that you’re going through.”
Spencer nods, finally having something more to say and finally feeling less like a broken robot that only knows how to nod and disjointedly follow commands, “That’s why Courtney wanted me to come here so badly. She wanted me to confront what’s going on.”
“But you were already doing that, in some ways.” Tommy nods, finishing for him, “You already know what’s wrong, so you thought that this would be useless. I’d spout off some fake bullshit, take your money, and send you one your way. But,” he leans forward again, “You’re more ready to face these problems head on now that someone has brought them up to you. But you’re a stubborn man, and you’re not going to let anyone know what’s going on unless they pry it out of you. But the people in your life are too kind to do that.” He shakes his head, “I’m not. The practice of Tarot doesn’t care about your feelings, it cares about telling you things plain and simple.”
“I’m also noticing that you’ve only gotten Minor Arcana, which is this type of card. Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. The Minor Arcana focuses on personal, small snapshots of things instead of the whole picture. It focuses on one aspect of you and the people around you, like your emotions or your work or what have you. And,” Tommy reaches out and gently taps the three Wand cards that Spencer’s pulled, “You’ve pulled three Wands, which make sense. The Wands is a suit that represents passion and creativity. I imagine, from the fact that you work at a social media company with Courtney, that you’re creative. I’ve met several of your team and I could see you fitting into that equation well. You’re an idea generator, which is why you’ve been promoted.
“The Wands also represent fire and the colour red.” Tommy smiles at him, and the look makes Spencer’s stomach whirl, “Your aura is red, bright and very obvious. I’ve never seen a red aura so… alluring before.”
“My… aura?” Spencer pushes, his brows furrowing.
Tommy laughs softly at the confusion, “An aura is an emotional… light around us that a lot of mediums can see but not many people outside of the spiritual world. And those who can see it but aren’t in this world, usually ignore it and pretend it doesn’t exist. Its colour and intensity is influenced by your emotions, your environment, and your personal beliefs. Red is passionate, creative, fiery. You stand for what you believe and you’re a good leader, which I take to mean that you’ve been promoted to something like a director at work. You’re passionate, full of life, and maybe a bit of a jokester, even if those jokes are sometimes… misunderstood.” Tommy nods resolutely, seemingly at his own words, “Wands suits you as a suit.”
The two of them stare at each other for a while, and Spencer swears that he can feel a crackle of energy pass through them, but he doesn’t say anything, doesn’t dare break the tension that they’ve created. He just lets Tommy look into him, finally starting to believe that he can actually tell what’s going on in Spencer’s life even without prior knowledge. Though, he’s sure he’ll rationalise it later as him just believing what the pretty man says.
Then Tommy clears his throat and snaps his eyes away from him, “Are you ready for the final card?”
Spencer takes a second to watch him back, almost pretending that he can see in Tommy what the taller can see in him. Could he get some of this information from Tommy just by reading his body language and his eyes like Tommy has seemed to so easily do with him if he really tried?
He’s not sure he wants to.
So he nods.
Tommy instructs him to do the same thing, pull a card with the question ‘is there any last message for me?’ and Spencer does so, pulling a card from smack in the middle of the line. He flips the card before he even puts it on the table this time. The card he’s confronted by has a man and a woman, reaching for each other from across the card. There are two snakes, one black and one white, coiled around something, reminding Spencer of a card that he’s seen before. The card has a number on top, VI, and ‘The Lovers’ written on the bottom of it.
Tommy sucks in a breath, “I’m going to be honest, I don’t like this card very much, and there’s a lot that it could mean, so bear with me.” He clears his throat, “The Lovers is exactly what you’d expect, it’s about romantic relationships. Usually between a man and a woman, which is how it is in the heteronormative society. However, there’s a lot to it, y’know.” He gestures to the snake, “Usually these cards, even though the real depiction of this varies from deck to deck, has some reference to Adam and Eve. Mine has the snake, others will have an apple tree. It represents choice and temptation, and older depictions of this card used to have a third person to go along with that.
“Like I said, this card is usually for straight couples, a reminder that your relationship is going so well and not to stray from the other and depend on each other, y’know stereotypical cute bullshit. However, I get the sense that in this situation, it’s because you’re questioning your sexuality.”
Spencer’s stomach drops.
What the fuck?
It’s not said as a question. No, he says it like a fact. Spencer is questioning his sexuality, no two ways about it.
He must look as shocked as he feels, because Tommy offers a soft laugh, “This is a safe environment, you don’t have to worry about that.” He gestures to a small pride flag on the side of his bookshelf before turning back to Spencer, “But seeing the Lovers finally made the connection happen. You're having an internal conflict, and even though you’ve come up with the answer, you don’t like it for one reason or another. I get the sense from this card that you’re bisexual?”
“Something like that, yeah.” Spencer finally admits, his shoulders deflating. He’s suddenly glad that he asked Courtney to stay out of this. He knows that they wouldn’t care -- hell, she’s pansexual and married to the most supportive man on earth -- but… “I’m from Florida, which I think is where the… hesitance is coming from, especially with coming out. But I’ve also gone for thirty two years being okay with being straight but recently…”
“You’ve started to look at things a little differently,” Tommy nods, reaching out in an offer of a hand, “I’m Florida, too, I understand where you’re coming from.” Spencer takes it, and he feels the electricity from the touch shoot all the way up to his arm, making its way to his heart which begins to beat increasingly rapidly. This is almost too much.
Almost.
Spencer takes a deep breath, “It feels a little ridiculous that you’re the first person that I come out to, a fucking stranger that’s telling me to confront my problems.”
“Well, that’s what you’re doing isn’t it?” Tommy smiles gently at him, tilting his head in the cutest way possible, “Sometimes it’s better to confront your problems with someone you don’t know well, or someone that’s not part of your personal life, especially if their job is to be blunt and not care so much about your feelings on a matter. That’s why therapists work so well, and mediums aren’t much different. We want to help and we don’t feel much reason to bite our tongue or watch our words because, well… we don’t know you.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
Tommy nods, “Coming to terms with your sexuality, no matter the age, is a hard and weird thing to do. Especially if you grew up in a place like Florida. No matter how accepting of a place you live in now, or how open your family may be, it’s still hard to confront that reality that you yourself instead of just your friends around you could possibly be queer.”
Spencer hates how much sense that makes. Why does this stupidly attractive -- not to mention apparently gay -- man have to be so… rational? Even when doing something that Spencer didn’t believe in until just… how long has it been in this room? There’s no clock and Spencer hasn’t looked at his watch or his phone… whatever, he didn’t believe in until just a couple hours ago.
Hell, he didn’t even start to entertain the idea of this actually being a thing until Tommy expanded on the mind card he flipped earlier.
The two of them sit there for a while, their hands clasped between them and the scent of vanilla filling Spencer’s nose. He closes his eyes and just… processes. Tommy doesn’t say anything through this, just provides a gentle pressure and warmth to his hand and lets Spencer work through what’s going on in his mind.
“You’ve just fucking… turned my worldview on its head, man.” Spencer shakes his head, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table, running his free hand over his face. Tommy laughs gently.
They sit there for a while, their hands interlock with Spencer hiding his face in his other. Then Spencer becomes aware of the fact that his knees are starting to hip and he’s getting to be old enough that he can’t sit like this for that long -- he’s in his fucking thirties, having a gay crisis in the weird lair of a medium and his knees are hurting, what a fucking life he has. So he eventually tells Tommy that he’s ready to wrap up.
Tommy nods, “I’ll finish this quickly and we can stand up here soon. This sounds… weird, but would you mind thanking the cards before I put them away?”
Spencer huffs a weak laugh, “You just told me my own sexuality and comforted me about it, you like- read into my life and shit, I don’t think it’s that weird to ask me to thank your miracle cards.” He shakes his head jokingly before genuinely thanking the cards, and internally whatever god was leading him. Tommy smiles at him gently -- does he look like this after every reading or is it just Spencer getting into his own head.
The man hums as he gently puts the cards away into a nice box, then he gestures to the two candles that have burnt a bit since he lit them, “Blow these out. Start with the black and thank it for its presence, then do the same with the white.”
“Why do you even have these candles?”
“Black and white together represents balance and white and black are protective candles. They keep everything contained to us.” Tommy explains quickly. Spencer doesn’t fully understand it, but he does as Tommy says anyway. Then Tommy beckons for him to stand up and he goes through the process of taking the vanilla-scented incense stick around.
He’s closer to Spencer this time when he approaches the man. Spencer swears he’s leaning more into the shorter’s space and he can feel his gentle breath on his ear.
Tommy ghosts a hand over Spencer’s waist when he bends down behind him to wrap the smoke around his legs and Spencer feels like he can’t fucking breathe. And when he does, it’s the intoxicating smell of vanilla.
When Tommy finishes with the cleansing -- at least that’s what Spencer thinks it is, he’s seen Courtney do it to their spaces when they feel like it’s off -- he ashes the incense stick in a white, weirdly light reactive bowl of what looks like salt then walks over to Spencer, “Can I give you my number?”
“W-what?” Spencer asks, a bit louder than expected, and sudden.
“I-” he shakes his head, “I don’t… normally do this, but,” he shakes his head again, like he can’t get his thoughts straight, “but when I saw you it was like… I don’t know- there’s something pulling me to you, and I could just be attracted to you but-” He doesn’t get to finish his thought before Spencer is giving him his phone, open to the contact creation page. Tommy smiles at him softly, taking the phone from him and typing in his number.
When he hands the phone back to Spencer, he can see that the taller made his contact name “Weird Gay Dude 🔮” to which Spencer insists that he needs a picture of Tommy so he doesn’t forget who this is and get freaked out by it. Tommy doesn't seem to believe his reasoning, but smiles for an unflattering picture anyway -- only unflattering pictures in Spencer’s contacts, apparently it’s the same for Tommy.
Then Tommy is telling Spencer to text him when he pleases and he’s guiding the shorter out of his room. The door that was open before is closed, marked with the name Anthony and having several cool black interconnecting lines going across the entirety of the wood.
The two of them head down the stairs and find Courtney and Shayne -- where he came from, Spencer isn’t sure -- towards the back of the shop, looking at those cool water features where there’s like a ball that moves at some point while the water goes down each level.
Shayne sees them first, smiling broadly at the two before grabbing the attention of his wife. Courtney looks up soon after, getting a big grin on her face that matches her husband’s and rushing over to their friend, grabbing his shoulders, “How did it go!”
“It was…” Spencer casts a glance to where Tommy is standing not far behind the group, “interesting for sure.”
“Do you think it helped?”
“It gave me things to think about.” He nods. Courtney seems like she wants to put but doesn’t otherwise, though Spencer’s sure that he’s going to get ambushed as soon as they get into the car throughout the, longer than it should be, drive back to their workplace.
Tommy guides them to the front of the store, discussing with Shayne and Courtney when they want to visit him again. When they get to the door, Courtney calls a goodbye to the new person that’s standing at the front desk, a tall, dark-skinned man with bleach-tipped curly hair.
They hop into the car and Courtney starts driving, looking at Spencer in the backseat through the rearview mirror, “So?”
Spencer shakes his head, “It’s… hard to talk about, even after confronting it. I’m sure you’ll hear about it later when I start working through it.”
Courtney pouts but Shayne mutters something so they relent for now.