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June 24 - November 29, 2022
“Ow!” Nico pulled back, turning to glare over his shoulder. “Mama!” “You’re supposed to make food in the kitchen, not love,” she told him firmly. “If you’re not going to help, out.”
Mama Luna’s voice was eerily calm, like the eye of the storm. “You’re telling me that at seven years old, you were deemed too much trouble to raise and your parents shuffled you off to someone else to be their responsibility.”
Bel’s birth family was shitty, but his family of choice apparently rocked. Really, he was happy to take that win.
A date? A grown-up date? Bel’s only dates had been with teenagers and had normally involved pizza, a movie, and sex. Nothing more complicated than that.
Dont remind me
There was no reason for this insecurity, this self-doubt, this insidious fear that he’d lose them too.
You are 19, its ok to feel this way
Skin to skin like this felt wonderful, even if Nico was still wearing pants. Pants needed to go, definitely.
Oooh, but Garen wasn’t wearing pants. Or anything else, for that matter. A naked Garen was a very impressive sight; no one could claim otherwise.
Garen’s teeth scraped along the top of his buttock, and Bel shuddered with anticipation. Yes, please. Oh please, oh please, Garen was amazing at rimming; he could make Bel melt in less than three seconds.
He had words to describe this. Maybe. Braining was beyond him just then.
Universe, why did you create a second Nico and then decide to give him magic? Really, one wasn’t enough for you?
“If it makes you feel any better, this thing is a good twenty feet tall, so it’s not like you’re facing an easy thing to defeat.” “So…in gaming terms, is this like the final boss of this area?” “I sure as hell hope not. We don’t have a full raiding party.”
They filed out and back into the oversized van, Corporal Williams driving with the detective riding shotgun to navigate for her. Nico sat with Bel in the middle, leaving Garen in the back row of the passenger van.
Bel’s curiosity was piqued. Something had gotten past Nico’s reflexes? Really? Bel hadn’t thought that was possible. “What happened?” Nico’s glare at Garen promised death and no nookie if he breathed even one more word. “Don’t you dare.”
“What’s the biggest, baddest lizard you can think of?” “Godzilla,” Nico answered promptly. “Exactly.” “You’re…going to conjure Godzilla?” Wicky’s chest puffed out with pride. “I am.” Nico couldn’t contain himself. He just had to hug this man. “Wicky, you’re awesome and I’m proud to know you. Be my best friend for life.” Laughing, Wicky hugged him back. “Done. Come on, let’s go fight Godzilla.”
More than a little bemused, Bel looked up at the conjured form of Godzilla and the illusionary buildings along the edges of the AOE area, looking like something straight out of a bad Japanese monster movie. He wasn’t sure if the scale was accurate or not, but that seemed beside the point.
“The lion, the witch, and the audacity of this bitch,” Nico growled. Victoria was right there with him. “He’s always been a little bundle of bitch.”
Out of Bel’s peripheral vision, he could see when Garen’s gargoyle genes activated. In the blink of an eye, his skin changed from soft and supple to rock hard, covered in grey stone like he was donning armor. It went over his arms and hands, up to his jawline, clearly visible to anyone looking.
Bel would feel better if Nico killed Spencer, right? Right? He felt good about this decision.
When he killed Spencer, he knew precisely who to call to help him bury the body.
It’d be easy to disappear him. Problem eaten and gone, yeah? Garen gave a slight shake of the head. No. Dammit, don’t be a spoilsport. It’s just a little murder.
Yeah, granted, Bel wouldn’t take it well. Initially. But Nico was sure he’d agree eventually that Spencer would do the world a favor when he stopped breathing. Really, he’d be more use as crocodile food than walking around taking up valuable oxygen.
“Bel Bel. Confess.” Nico came to him, taking his hand but still giving him a Scroogey look. “You really can see through the back of your head, can’t you?” “I confess nothing.” Bel wrapped his fingers around Nico’s hand, keeping him firmly planted at his side. “And no disappearing Spencer.” “Dammit, and now you read minds?”
Nico stayed planted at Bel’s side, daydreaming about how to kill Spencer. The initial plan of dumping him over the side of the boat and letting the crocodiles have him might be too simplistic. Not enough suffering. Also, there was the sad possibility that someone might feel the responsibility to fish him out before the local wildlife got him.
Right, so what was the deadliest creature in northern Australia? That Nico could use for an assassination attempt? Google surely knew this answer. He pulled out his phone and input the question. Google-sensei, do your magic. Oooh, so many possibilities.
Come on, Australia, do your job. Nico needed something killed. Wicky’s brows scrunched together in deep thought, but he gave Nico an encouraging look. They’d figure this out. Wicky was in this with him.
“And what, you’re having this conversation exclusively via eyebrow?” “We didn’t want to be loud,” Nico explained modestly. “Are we too distracting? Wicky, let’s change to something else.” “Air guitar work for you?” Wicky inquired, the very soul of helpfulness. Nico perked up. Now they were talking.
Really, Nico considered Wicky a gift from the universe. He gave Wicky another riff, this one complicated and with a few extra strums in there, trying to get his point across. Wicky gave him a fist to bump. “Right there with you, man.”
“No. He’s not that. But he looked at me and thought me too young. I think our age gap made him feel like a predator? You have to understand, at sixteen, I didn’t really look my age.
He would have been a predator
He adored them to pieces, and it was obvious to anyone around them for more than thirty seconds. There had been many a time when Wicky had watched these three in action and thought #relationshipgoals.
