Chapter 19 #2
“Ruff,” Zef finished the joke. “It is an animal word pun. Perhaps a silly one.”
Bryce snorted a laugh. “No, I love it. It’s funny and clever, just like you.” He knocked their shoulders together before he pulled out the second mug. “Oh I love red. That’s my favorite color.”
“I know,” Zef said.
“Bryce’s mug,” he read and nodded. “Concise and to the point. Nice. Thanks, Zef.”
“I was putting the clean mugs in the cupboard a few weeks ago, and it all looked wrong,” they said, and Bryce’s shoulders slumped.
“Hey, I’m trying, okay? I’m doing my best to honor the system.”
“No, you misunderstand,” they said with a quiet laugh. “It was wrong because I realized that there were only my mugs in the cupboard, and it should be your mugs too. So now you have the start of your mug collection. For our mug cupboard.”
Tracing the handle of the red mug, Bryce swallowed thickly. “That’ll definitely mess up the system.”
Zef knew this, but they were committed now. “I know. I will… adjust.”
Like he understood exactly the significance of such a statement, the human beamed up at them, lifting a hand to quickly brush a thumb over their chin. “Thank you, Zef.”
“You are welcome, Bryce.”
The last two days of Nan’s visit, Zef started to feel sick.
They were tired and irritable, and their brain was foggy.
Not wanting to pass on any contagious germs to Nan, given her age, they sequestered themself to their room.
They listened to Nan and Bryce laugh and play card games in the living room while they moped alone in their bed.
Before she left for the train station, Nan reached a hand through the crack in their door and patted their head as they lay curled up on the floor under a blanket. “I’ll see you in July, okay?”
“Thank you for visiting, Nan. I apologize I was not good company at the end.”
“Oh hush, you silly kid. Take care of Bryce for me, okay?”
“I will do my best. Safe travels back to Montana.”
She petted their head again before retreating, shutting the door behind her.
Alone and miserable, Zef wandered around their house, awaiting Bryce’s return from dropping Nan at the station.
They hooked the blanket over their head, holding it closed at their chin as they stared blankly into the fridge.
They were hungry, but they did not want anything from the cupboards or refrigerator.
They wanted cake. A koca cake with thick icing and… Something greasy and juicy. Why did they not have anything like that in their fridge? Life was so unfair.
The front door opened, making Zef jump at the sudden sound. They spun around, hugging their blanket closer, and Bryce offered them a pitying smile as he removed his shoes.
“Hey, Zef, how you feeling?”
“Angry,” they said, and Bryce’s brows shot up.
“Angry?” he echoed.
“We do not have cake.”
“Cake?” he asked, and they whistled in frustration.
“Why are you repeating everything I say? Am I not speaking clearly enough for you to understand?”
Hands raised in placation, Bryce approached them cautiously. “Okay, easy. Just took me off guard with the cake.”
“I want it. I need it,” they insisted.
“If you’re sick, you should probably eat some vitamin rich food and take some medicine.”
They vibrated their wings in warning. “I do not want vitamins or medicine. I want cake.”
Gray eyes wide, Bryce nodded. “Okay, I can go to the store and get some cake, if that’s what you need right now.”
“You would do that for me?” they asked, their annoyance melting away at his kind offer.
“Sure, Zef. The store’s close by. It’s no trouble.”
Emotion cinched their throat closed, and their eyes welled with tears. “You are so kind and thoughtful.”
Alarmed now, Bryce gawked at them as they sniveled into their blanket. “Whoa, okay. Um… Zef, are you sure you don’t need a doctor? You’re not exactly acting like yourself.”
“I do not want the doctor,” they whined. “I want to sit in the bath and eat cake.”
Like he was trying to smother a smile, he pressed his lips together and nodded. “Mhm. Okay. I will go get you some cake, and you can… eat it in the bathtub.”
“Thank you,” Zef whispered, reaching out to rub his arm.
It was firm under their hand, and they cocked their head in curiosity and gave it a squeeze.
Goodness, there were muscles there. Well, of course there were muscles.
Bryce had a muscular system, but they had never noticed the firmness of his arm muscles before.
Yet, here they were, just blatantly showcased by his t-shirt.
And why did his shirt look tighter than normal?
It accentuated the round curve of his belly and the slight swell of flesh around his nipples.
Oh, he had nipples. Zef had not noticed those specifically before either.
They had seen them, when Bryce had been shirtless and sleep-rumpled. And when he had been shirtless and wet.
Oh dear, now they were thinking about him shirtless, which was not helping the sudden, strange tightening in their stomach. What. Was. Happening?
Apparently, Bryce was wondering the same thing because he said, “Uh, Zef? What’re you doing?”
“Nothing,” they said, only to realize that they were, in fact, doing something. They were massaging his arms with all four hands. They squealed in horror, jerking away from him and pulling the blanket tightly around themself. “Why would you let me do that?”
“There was no letting. You just started doing,” he said.
“I was not—I did not… I was sleepwalking,” they lied.
“No, you weren’t,” he said.
“I was possessed,” they lied again.
Bewildered, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Possessed? By what?”
“A ghost,” they said primly.
“And this ghost wanted to rub my arms because?”
“Your shirt,” they blurted, and he barked a disbelieving laugh.
“My t-shirt? What about it?”
“Yes, it is… and well I.. I—I can see your nipples clear as day.”
Covering said nipples with his hands, Bryce cried, “Stop staring at my nipples.”
“They are the ones staring at me,” they shouted back. “Go change your audacious shirt this instant.”
“It’s just a gray t-shirt!”
“And yet, it is flaunting all”—they gestured wildly at Bryce’s torso—“of that! Your muscles. And your belly. And your nipples! And it is making me uncomfortable.”
With an infuriating smile, Bryce rubbed at his beard. “Zef, are you attracted to me right now?”
More offended than they had ever been in their life, they shrieked, “You shut your tramp mouth!”
Bryce’s jaw dropped, and Zef squeaked, covering their mouth with their top hands. They stared at each other for almost a full minute of silence before they winced.
“I am sorry. I do not know why I said that.”
“I think I might,” he said as he promptly walked away from them, disappearing down the hall to his bedroom.
“Where are you going?” they demanded, their temper rising again when they heard his laughter echo from his room. “Why would you laugh at me? That is so mean.”
He simply laughed harder, and they whined, eyes filling with tears again. Why was he so cruel?
When he returned, he was carrying two books. They looked like textbooks.
“Oh, of course. Just do homework while I stand here, crying and cake-less!” they lamented.
“When was your last fertility cycle?” Bryce asked as he flipped through the top book, and Zef gasped at the sheer gall of him.
“What kind of question is that? I—” The brain fog cleared for one suspended moment, and horror crashed over them. “Oh no.”
Slowly, the human looked up from his book. “Zef?”
“Oh no,” they whimpered, and this time, the tears started to fall. “No, Bryce, I do not want it.”
Abandoning the books on the island, Bryce rushed back to their side. “I know, darlin’, but it’s gonna be fine. It’s natural, okay? It happens to every Mantodea, and it’ll be over before you know it.”
“I hate it,” they said tearfully. “I feel all wrong inside.”
He carefully laid his hands on their shoulders as they buried their face in their blanket. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
And oh, they liked him calling them sweetheart and darlin’.
It made them feel warm and prickly. His hands on their shoulders also made them feel prickly, but it was a different kind of prickly, a different sort of tingly.
This was deeper, spearing them in their stomach instead of skittering over their skin.
They did not like it, even when their body hummed because of it. With a shudder, they peeked out from their blanket, startling at how close Bryce was. His hands rested on their shoulders, a heavy weight, and he was close enough they felt his body heat. Their wings thrummed with… desire?
Mortified, they pushed Bryce away. “No, get away. Take your muscles and your nipples and your beard and go away. I cannot… handle it right now.”
Bryce was smiling infuriatingly. “Zef, are you, uh, feeling things?”
“No,” they lied unconvincingly.
“No? You’re not… horny?” he asked, and they gagged.
“No! How could you—why would you—unacceptable.” They stepped forward and smacked his chest. “You absolute rapscallion!”
He sniggered. “Why are you calling me names, when you’re the one looking at me—”
“Do not say it,” they warned.
“Like you want me.”
“I do not,” they snarled. “I would never because… blech, and… I hate you?”
“You’re massaging my biceps again,” he said smugly, and they shrieked again.
“Get away from me, you siren!”
Pointing an index finger at them, he said, “You got penis-brain.”
“Impossible. I do not even have a penis!”
“And yet,” Bryce said smugly. “You, Zefryn and-I-promise-I-will-remember-your-middle-names-eventually Ootyk, have penis-brain right now.”
“No,” they wailed dramatically. “I want my brain-brain back.”
“You’ll get it back, I promise. But first, I need to go to the store and get you cake and birth control. Unless you have plans that you haven’t shared with me,” he said, pointing to their stomach where the evil little eggs were begging to be inseminated, and Zef physically recoiled.
“Absolutely not.”
“Okay. What’s the name of the medication you need?”
Since Zef had only experienced one fertility cycle before, they could not remember the pills Toa Sian had provided for them. But they had kept the box for exactly a time such as this.
Leaving Bryce in the kitchen, they hurried to their bathroom and pilfered through the baskets of cleaning and medical supplies under their sink. All the way in the back, box flattened and torn, was the medication they sought. Well, the empty carton for the medication.
They returned to the kitchen and handed it to Bryce. “I need one box please.”
“Okay. Go run yourself a bath and try to relax.” He tucked the blanket closer around their face and smiled sweetly at that. “I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Thank you,” they whispered, their antennas reaching out to leave little kisses across his forehead.
“I apologize for calling you names and for blaming my current hormonal imbalance on your shirt. It is a perfectly fine shirt. I was simply overwhelmed with penis-brain, and it is making me feel bad tingles I do not want to feel.”
Whatever humor Bryce had been feeling dropped from his expression. “I’m sorry, Zef. I can’t imagine how hard that must be for you.”
“I do not feel like myself,” they confessed. “I feel all wrong inside.”
“How can I help?”
“The cake and the medicine,” they said, and he nodded.
“Okay. I’ll be back. Go take a nice, hot bath and try to relax.”
“Thank you. You are everything good and wonderful, and I do not hate you.”
With a shy chuff of dismissive humor, he swiped their chin with thumb, then put his shoes back on and ducked out of the house, taking his distracting nipples with him.