Color Chameleon

Chapter 1

Chapter One

“I’ve heard of shifters. I have a friend or two. I just didn’t realize….” Darcy stared.

The guy stared back at him.

“That they could be so small,” Darcy finished.

“I know I break physics.” The guy looked so proud, and then he leaned in slightly and added, “It’s called magic.”

That made him chuckle because, yeah, shifters were totally magical. Because, well, shifters.

“You’re still—"

“Naked? That would be because my clothes are back on the beach.”

“I meant—" He waved at the guy. “—rainbowy.”

“Oh!” The guy shook himself and the colors faded away, leaving lightly tanned skin in their wake.

“Those assholes thought it would be amusing to put me on a little rainbow flag and make me turn all the colors. Joke’s on them—I love rainbows.

” He did a little twirl, looking totally comfortable in his skin.

Darcy could understand why—it was very lovely skin. “You are also still naked,” he pointed out. Not that he was complaining, though he probably shouldn’t be looking as hard as he was. But… well, he was human after all and at the moment, so was this guy.

“Clothes back at the beach—which you’ve taken me away from.”

“Right! Sorry.” He mentally shook himself. “I wanted to get you somewhere safe and figured home was the best option until I could look up how to take care of you.”

“Three squares and lots of petting.” The guy winked.

And Darcy became suddenly aware that he was already semi-hard and in danger of going full-on wood. He cleared his throat and turned away. “Let me go get you something from my closet.”

“I’m not in the closet, honey.” The words were tinged with laughter.

“Clothes. I mean clothes.” And he was probably going to grab them from his little dresser rather than the closet.

Semantics. He opened the third drawer down, finding a pair of red shorts with strings and a T-shirt.

Which just happened to be rainbow tie-dye.

It made him smile—he thought his very unexpected houseguest would appreciate that.

When he returned to the living room, he found the shifter at his window, looking out. The back view of the guy was as enticing as the front, the bubble butt in front of him doing nothing to encourage Darcy’s cock to stand down.

Darcy cleared his throat, and the guy turned, giving him a smile when he saw the items in Darcy’s hands.

“Oh, that looks perfect. I’ll look like an orphan but at colorful one at least.” Eyes twinkling, the guy—Darcy didn’t even know his name—took the clothes and slipped into them. He looked like he was drowning in them, but they more than covered everything up.

“I’m Darcy, by the way.” He held out his hand.

The guy stared for a moment, then grinned and shook. “I’m Charma—with a ch not a k.”

Charma’s hand felt good in his, warm and smooth. And still not encouraging a downturn in his lower parts. Hell, not even the oversized clothing was making Charma any less sexy.

“Charma with a ch pronounced like a k, eh?”

“Yep, mom is… unique. She said it was either that or Leon. I’m glad she went with Charma.”

“It’s cool. Suits you.”

“Thank you.” Charma gave him a pleased little look. “And thank you for the rescue. I’m pretty sure bad things were going to happen, and I was going to have to shift back in front of a lot of people, and then more bad things were going to happen.”

“Being out on the beach as a chameleon doesn’t seem like the most… prudent idea.”

Charma rolled his eyes. “I was out basking in the sunshine—it’s been so damp and rainy, you know? Anyway, I guess I lost track of myself and shifted to bask even better.”

“You can shift without even realizing it?” Darcy had to admit that he was fascinated, not just because Charma was pretty damn hot, even when he wasn’t naked, but he didn’t know any shifters.

Oh, he’d met one at some event or other, but a handshake and a how-are-you-fine-thanks-how-are-you did not constitute knowing.

The community as a whole kept pretty much to themselves.

Charma might be out as a gay man, but Darcy would bet his ability to shift was pretty deep in the closet. People could be such assholes.

“Under the right conditions, yes.”

“The right conditions?”

“Yeah, you know, like lying in the sun on the beach with no one around, half dozing off and boom, my lizard took the shot and came out.” Charma shrugged.

“It’s never been a problem before, but I’ve been on my own for a while now and don’t have access to private basking areas, among other things.

” Charma’s demeanor changed for a moment, a sadness on his face.

“Sounds like there’s a story there.”

Waving his hand in front of him, Charma shrugged. “Let’s just say the fam was less than pleased that I’m not into girls.”

Well, that was disappointing, Darcy would have thought a group that had to hide who they were for the most part would be more liberal toward the queer community. “They kicked you out because you’re gay?”

“It was more they disapproved of my refusal to knock up a few females to propagate the line. I’m not making a bunch of babies that I won’t be parenting, though.

If I’m going to father kids, I want to be their father, but it was made clear that would only happen if I stayed with the kids’ mother, so…

no babies for me. And they didn’t kick me out, but I couldn’t take sticking around when I was treated like a pariah by everyone, family and not.

” Charma gave another shrug that Darcy thought was far less casual and uncaring than Charma wanted him to believe. “So, I struck it out on my own.”

“And it’s not going well?”

“Well, you tell me—you’ve got a pretty small place here—I bet it’s still costing you a fortune.”

Darcy couldn’t deny that. If the place had had more than one bedroom, he might have looked for a roommate. Hell, he was half considering it anyway if he could find someone willing to share the bedroom dorm room-style.

“Yeah, it’s kind of pricey and this isn’t even a nice neighborhood.

” It wasn’t scary bad, but it was pretty run-down.

“At least it’s fairly close to the beach.

” Only a few blocks. Which he’d walked with Charma in his front right pocket.

Now that he knew Charma was a shifter and not an actual chameleon, it seemed…

well, the guy had kind of been right next to his cock.

Charma chuckled. “Location, location, location, right? You’re right, though, because the beach is a wonderful place to be able to go and sit, sunny or not.”

Darcy nodded happily. “That’s it exactly. There’s something primal about it that I love. I’ve found a rocky little spot that usually doesn’t have anyone around where I can just sit and enjoy the waves and the breeze, or walk on the beach in the waves. It’s rejuvenating.”

Head tilting, Charma considered him for a moment. “You sure you don’t have some shifter in you? Maybe a bit of turtle or shark or whale or something?”

“Huh?”

“Your affinity to the ocean.”

“Not a shifter, I just love the water.” Some people did and some didn’t, right?

“Sure.”

They stared at each other for a few minutes, and Charma bit his lower lip. “I should probably head back to the beach and see if I can rescue my clothes.”

“Or you could stay for lunch.” Darcy hadn’t even realized he was going to ask, the words shooting out of him unbidden at the merest suggestion that Charma might be leaving.

He didn’t want to let the guy go until he had a reasonable expectation of seeing him again.

He figured maybe spending a little more time together would do that.

“I could, eh? What are you serving?”

“You have an offer from somewhere else?”

That made Charma laugh. “Nope. Good point. On the other hand, if all you’ve got is say canned tuna, well I’ve got American cheese and bread at home.”

“You don’t like tuna?” He wasn’t overly fond. His mother had served tuna sandwiches for a hell of a lot of lunches back when it was a cheap choice and he’d lost his taste for it. Which was fine given the price of a small can of it these days.

“Tuna, licorice, maple syrup, and zucchini. I’ll eat pretty much anything else.”

“Huh.” That was a pretty short and disparate list of items.

“So…” Charma looked at him expectantly.

“So… what?”

Charma laughed, and the sound was so bright and cheery that it made Darcy smile.

“So, what are you serving for lunch?”

“Oh! Right. Well, I have peanut butter, spam, ramen noodles—with stuff to doctor it so they’re actually pretty good.

And I also have leftover lasagna. Homemade.

” He’d been at a friend’s house for a potluck dinner the other night and she’d insisted on sending him home with most of the leftovers.

Something about him being the only one living alone and there not being enough of anything for two or more.

He’d had home cooking for dinner the last three nights and just the lasagna was left.

There’d be enough for two though, he’d bet.

Especially if he put a couple pieces of bread in the toaster oven with butter and garlic on them.

“Homemade lasagna?” Charma’s eyes went wide. “I haven’t had a homemade meal in a while…”

“Does that mean you’re staying?”

“I shall indeed accept your generous offer and stay for lunch.”

He laughed, pleased that Charma wasn’t going to disappear back out of his life just yet.

He really liked the guy, and they were both gay, both around the same age…

not to mention they had the best meet-cute he could imagine.

He shook himself and told himself to stop daydreaming.

Just because he was single and looking didn’t mean that Charma was.

Well, he was pretty sure the guy was single or he would have said something.