"I wish I did know! Maybe someday we can find out."

"I hope so!" 

(His fantasy of mind controlling her into being a brilliant scientist/mage and also his slave and using her to discover magic things that give him immense power will not go away, damnit. He is not going to do that!) 

Are they getting close to her house? They are probably getting closer to her house. Possibly he can be afraid of her parents instead of thinking about nefarious things he can use Rosy for.

They come around a gentle curve in the road and see something houselike up ahead. Then Rosy says, "Don't get too excited, that's the shed. The house proper is a ways past it."

'The shed' looks like a garage that budded from its parent mansion and went off to see the world. It hasn't gotten very far; soon enough they can see the house behind it, only a couple of minutes' walk further.

And they're not even walking! So it won't take them long to get there at all! John can be plenty scared right now. (And is!)

He follows her up the road to the the mansion, worried all the while. 

Yes, even at a pretty leisurely bike/skate, they're soon coming up on her front door. She sits on the step to take off her skates, and points John at a pillar to lean his bike up against— "or we could put it in the shed, or the Actual Garage, but the shed's annoying to get to and from and the Actual Garage requires an Actual Garage Door Opener which lives on mom's car keys and I don't have those on me. I guess I could sneak in from the house and open the garage door, that's a thing I could do."

"I think I am ok leaning the bike against a pillar if it won't offend anyone." Not offending anyone is important. "I probably won't be here too long and I don't think I'm worried about my bike being stolen from the Blake Mansion even though the pillar is too big to lock my bike on to. This just seems easier." He leans his bike. 

"Your bike will not be stolen from The Blake Mansion," she promises, gazing adoringly at him as she finishes tying her shoes. "Right, in we go."

She leads him up the steps—there's a whole portico thing going on—and unlocks the doors, which are double, and leads him inside. The house is nice, very wood-paneled but in a cozy rather than austere way.

"I'm going to guess that Mom is home and Dad isn't because that's usually the way of things, but I could be wrong. It'll be an adventure!"

"You're a big fan of those," he says, doing his best not to appear nervous. He's not much of an adventure person. Much more of a "careful planning" person. Or even "stay home and play video games and do homework" person. (The last few days have been new to him.)

"It's true, it's true."

"Well, all right then. Let's go meet your folks." he says, still worried. He pauses. "Are you going to um, tell her what you're planning to do with me?" 

"Well, that depends. I'm normally pretty open with my family, but if you ask me to keep quiet about it for now, I can do that."

"...maybe don't lead with it, at least? I know you've said they won't mind, but... I still am worried that they will do... something to me. Or who knows, if you're so sure she'll be fine with it, tell your mom straight off and get all the terror over with. Tear the band-aid off." He's pretty visibly worried. Maybe this was a bad idea? Maybe he should just go home and never see Rosy again and live a non-newt life? 

She picks up his hand and squeezes it. "Hey. It'll be okay. I promise."

"We're apparently about to tell the very rich and very powerful and important members of the town that her daughter intends to give her, her, her, vassalage to a random boy from her school, and also she has magical powers. It's really scary! Some parts of me are still scared I'm not going to come out of this shaped like a human!" 

The hand squeeze does help though. He squeezes back. 

Squeeze. "No one is going to turn you into anything. I'm not sure that's a real thing that can be done, and if it was my family couldn't do it on short notice because that's not how rituals work, and also they wouldn't because they care about me and that's not how you treat the loved ones of people you care about, and if somehow they went insane and did it anyway, I would turn you back. Okay?"

...he had admittedly not considered her turning him back.

Admittedly, this was because part of the... (anti-fantasy? Nightmare.) Part of the nightmare included them then locking Rosy up in a tower (this mansion does not have any obvious towers) to keep her from making any more horrible decisions. Upon reflection... Rosy would not let herself stay trapped in a tower. That is not how Rosy is. 

"...okay, actually, that does help," he says, breathing a little bit more. "I'm sure it will be fine." (lies) "Let's go tell your mother?" He squeezes again. 

"Mhm."

She cocks her head and listens for a moment. "I don't hear Mom on the phone, so either she's home and not too busy and she'll be around in a minute, or she's not and we'll have to wait. Let's sit down somewhere cozy and see which it is." She leads him to a sitting room right nearby, with pleasantly muted decor and a soft comfy couch where they could perhaps do Cozy Math were it not for all the anxiety.

Math, cozy or otherwise, is not on John's mind at the moment. He does spend several moments to take in the decor (looks nice!) and sits down on the couch (soft!) and looks around waiting for Rosy's mother (scary!). 

Rosy's mother appears in the doorway in short order. She looks...

...decidedly not terrifying?

She's wearing sweatpants and a beat-up old T-shirt with a band logo and faded tour dates, and her hair is gradually escaping from a loose ponytail, and she looks like she got into the wrong house by mistake, except for the strong family resemblance to Rosy.

"Hi there," she says, nodding to John.

"Mom, this is John, my stalking victim and/or boyfriend. John, this is my mom, who I promise will not turn you into a newt."

"Was there some doubt on that question?" she wonders, smiling.

"I offered him my vassalage and he is concerned."

"...I won't say that's my favourite thing you've ever said, but I'm hardly about to transmogrify anyone about it. You thought it through, right?"

"Of course!"

Okay that's a lot better than he was worried about (still human shaped!) but he's still concerned. She doesn't look mad at him though. She looks more concerned for her daughter than anything else, but she's clearly not angry or terrified that her daughter is making a big mistake? Maybe things are fine? 

They don't entirely feel fine, but maybe they are? 

Feeling poleaxed on the couch, John manages a tiny wave and not much else.