Five to Love Him (Phoenix Immortal: Hive #1)

28. LEOPOLD

twenty-eight

“O h man, I can’t believe it’s still so hot and muggy,” Tate said as we finally left the classroom behind us. “Ezra said he was going to go to the university pool. I should have just skipped class and gone with him.”

“I heard that, Mr. Moore,” Instructor Arick said from inside the room, the voices from both of his heads echoing after us.

“Oops. Sorry, Instructor Arick,” Tate called as we fell in step, Tate, me, two hivelings.

“It’s not too bad inside the building,” the hive said.

I nodded. “Yeah. Although cooling down would be nice. What was that about a thunderstorm later today? Or ice cream. Hive, you made that sorbet, right?”

“Yes, with pineapple and mint. We’ve never tried this particular recipe before.”

Other students walked past us as Tate slowed. His face looked like a light bulb had lit up.

“I know what we should do.”

“Head back to mine and have some fancy sorbet?” I asked.

“We made enough for seven, easily,” the hive said. They really were spoiling me.

Tate shook his head, put a finger to his lips, and gestured for us to follow him into a bathroom.

“What—”

“Shh!”

Tate grabbed me by the elbow—his own damn fault, I was sweaty all over—and pulled me along. That meant the hive kept very close though they knew I thought it was too hot for touching constantly, so they didn’t.

“Tate, what the fuck,” I asked as the lot of us stepped into the bathroom.

“I have an idea ,” Tate said. “Hello? Any ladies or gentlemen in here?”

He bent over to look underneath the stalls while the hive and I stood in front of the urinals.

I sighed and decided to wash my hands and face with some cold water.

“I don’t think there’s anyone here,” the hive said as I turned on the water.

“Oh, good idea about the water, Leo. That way Instructor Arick definitely won’t hear.”

“Hear what?” the hive and I said together. They shrugged at me, meeting my eyes in the mirror.

“We are going to the Dazzle. I’m going to need your guys’s help for Ezra’s birthday surprise party, and this is as good a time as any to plan. He gets so grumpy around his birthday, and he wouldn’t ever even tell me when it was, so I had to get really creative in the first place, but I got him to tell me the month at least.”

I let the water fill the bowl of my hands and dunked my face, enjoying the cool liquid. “Tate, if he doesn’t want you to know his birthday and if he gets grumpy around this time of year, then maybe that’s because he doesn’t want to celebrate it.”

Tate shook his head and crossed his arms. “No, that’s not it. He said it was something about his family. They don’t like celebrating anyone’s birthday, so he doesn’t want to do it, but he told me it was in early fall. October, he said, but you wouldn’t believe the amount of begging that went into getting that confession. Anyway, we’re going to make it a really special day for him, fuck family tradition.”

“We can save you a table for today,” the hive said. “And our boss at the Dazzle has been looking forward to meeting you, Leo. We like the idea of going.”

I raised my hands. “Look, guys, it’s not like I don’t want to grab a drink. I’m just saying that this party thing might not be a good idea. Never said that about a cocktail or two.”

“Not more than two,” the hiveling farthest away from me mumbled.

“We’re going then!” Tate said, raising his arm like we’d won a game or something.

I turned off the water and pulled paper towels from the dispenser. The staff bathrooms had real towels and a nice selection of soaps and lotions.

“Did we really have to sneak in here just for this? Instructor Arick knows I go to the underground, and it’s not like my hive is going to let anything happen to you.”

The hive nodded. “Leo’s right, Tate. We’ll keep you safe. Not that the underground is that dangerous.”

“To the underground!” Tate said.

To be fair, the heat had been getting to all of us.

***

“I just love it down here,” Tate said as we got to the underground. “It’s so nice and cool.”

“It gets really cold in winter though,” I said, which had the hive smile at me fondly.

“Handholding is fine again now, right?” they asked, almost shyly.

“Yes. Hey, we’re going a different way, aren’t we?”

Tate looked around. “Yeah, I think so.”

“What do you mean?” The hive tilted their heads in confusion while they braided their fingers with mine on either side as if they’d missed holding me and needed to make up for it.

“When we first came down here with Ezra, that day we first came to the Dazzle, we went a different way. There are a lot more food stalls here, and the road is wider.”

Tate leaned over to a hiveling. “I’m telling you, he was trying to get out of the way of anything fun. It’s the same thing when we go to the farmer’s market. He knows my sense of direction is only so-so, and we hardly ever pass that veggie seller with the eggplants anymore. It’s all Ez being uptight. He deserves the best surprise party ever.”

“We…suppose so?” that hiveling said while the other one exchanged a helpless look with me.

Tate crossed his arms, then jumped a little when a creature with black skin or fur flew past just above our heads.

“Oh! I didn’t see them. Anyway. I think I have perfected the brownie recipe, and I want to make those for him. For his birthday.”

“I’m sure he’ll be—scratch that, I don’t actually know, but if you need help plotting, I guess I’m in?”

“We are too.”

Tate nodded. “Of course you are. Ez is never having fun and always worrying about stuff. So where are we? Are we really going to the Dazzle, hive?”

Both of them nodded. “We are. We have your table waiting, and our boss gave us permission to be there with several tonight. We think Ezra took the quickest way along Market Line. This is more walking but not as cramped.”

“The scenic route.” Tate snorted. “Ezra never opts for the scenic route.”

I leaned forward. “Tate, did you guys fight or something?”

Tate looked guilty, and his energy leveled out. “Nah. It’s just…forget it. Sometimes, I simply don’t know… I guess it’s a communication issue. I know there’s something he wants to tell me but doesn’t, and it’s fucking frustrating.”

“Really?” the hive said, somehow managing to keep their voice neutral.

I forced myself to keep my mouth shut. It was a good thing the hive was holding me by the hands, because I had the urge to smack Tate. How two people managed to be this blind for this amount of time was beyond me. Then again, it was their life. And back when I had told Tate why I had been looking for the supernatural, he hadn’t made fun of me but listened, so he deserved the same from me. While he was ignoring the obvious and planning a surprise birthday party for his secret boyfriend.

I cleared my throat. “Oh, look, food. It comes on a stick. Let’s get some while we walk.”

I had no hand free for pointing, but the hive saw where I was looking. “Yes, roasted rice dumplings. They are very sticky. Make talking difficult.”

My hive. They winked at me. At least we had the communication part down.