Glitter

Chapter Two

Henry

“Heading off soon, Henry?”

The deep sound of my boss’s voice woke me from the trance I’d fallen into, and I blinked hard as I jerked my eyes away from the monitor in front of me to find him staring at me. “Huh?”

Thomas chuckled. “It’s past seven on a Friday night. I had hoped that would mean you’d be packing up by now.”

I frowned while his words slowly coalesced to make a modicum of sense in my brain. It would always take a minute for my mind to recalibrate from one state of being to another. He patiently waited for me to play catch up with a soft smile on his face. He’d seen me in this state before many, many times, so this conversation, and his reaction, was nothing new. I would get so focused on designing the right three-dimensional model that the hours would slip away from me. It wasn’t unheard of for me to get suddenly startled by the cleaners when they came through at nine at night, long after everyone else on my team had left for the day without me even realizing they’d gone. “It’s seven already?”

“Technically, it’s seven-fourteen.”

“Oh.” I looked longingly back at the wire schematics on my screen. “I didn’t realize.”

“I thought that might have been the case.” He patted me on the shoulder. “What say we shut your PC down for the weekend and you come back to it on Monday? You’re already well ahead of release schedule, so I don’t see any reason for you to stay late on a Friday.”

My mouth dropped open automatically to argue with him until he smiled kindly and held up a hand to stop me before I’d even started.

“Especially when everyone else left two hours ago.”

I snapped my jaw shut, huffed a sigh, and frowned at him. Couldn’t he see I was so close to getting the design finished? Just a couple more hours now would mean that I could start the next section fresh on Monday.

“Come on, Henry. Take pity on an old man and walk me out to my car?” He smirked at me, knowing full well we were around the same age. He was also in much better physical shape than I was, so if anyone needed pitying, it would have been me.

“Fine,” I grumbled. “Let me save everything.”

“Of course,” Thomas said, happy now that he’d successfully coaxed me away from my work.

I expected him to go back to his office to do whatever management type thing he normally did during the workday while I saved my work and logged out, but nope. He settled into the chair next to mine and began playing with something on his phone, keeping half an eye on me to make sure I was doing what I said I’d do.

Seeing no other option but to comply with his frankly outrageous demands, I did what I needed to do before pushing my chair under my desk and coughing quietly to get his attention.

He looked up, absently clicking his phone off as he looked at my neat desk. “Ready to go?”

I nodded reluctantly, popping both hands into the pockets of my oversized black hoodie.

“Brilliant.” He pocketed his phone in the inside of his suit jacket and waved a hand in front of him to show he’d follow me out.

Damn him, he knew all my tricks. If he went before me, I could more easily accidentally lose him on the way to the elevator and double back to my PC. It might be possible I’d pulled that stunt one time too many.

I did as he requested and led the way to the elevator, half-listening to his small talk about his plans for the weekend. Something about taking his children and wife to the water park? I made what I considered thoughtful humming noises every so often to make it look like I was paying attention, but my mind was still on the work he’d pulled me away from. Thankfully, he didn’t call me out on my lack of focus.

When we got to the lobby, I paused nervously when I realized I needed to go to the bathroom. I knew if I mentioned it, he’d assume I was making an excuse to ditch him, but I actually did need to go. I really didn’t want to be followed, though, and now my brain was glitching on how to bring the subject up.

“What’s up?” Thomas asked when he realized I’d stopped.

“Um,” I muttered. “I need to go to the bathroom.”

He raised an eyebrow.

Yup, there was the suspicion I was expecting from him. I shuffled a little from side to side to get the point across.

“Okay,” he said, looking around the lobby. “I’ll wait for you over there.” He pointed at one of the deserted tables at the building’s deli.

“You don’t have to wait—”

“I know I don’t have to, Henry,” he said, cutting me off like I knew he would. “I’m happy to.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Can’t have you going back upstairs now that I’ve got you this far.” His eyes narrowed further until they turned into a heavy frown before he held out his hand and made a gimme motion with his fingers. “Actually, give me your phone as insurance you’ll come back.”

Staring at the ground so he wouldn’t see me rolling my eyes at him, I made a non-committal affirmative sounding noise, reluctantly passed over my phone, and headed for the nearest bathroom without replying. I’d ditched him in the lobby one time, and he would never let me forget it. The sooner I got this over with, the sooner he would leave me in peace.

Keeping my eyes trained on the floor, I pushed the door open and was just about to head to the urinals when I heard someone already in the bathroom quietly singing a Kylie song. Without missing a step, I immediately changed direction for a stall instead and glanced up to see who had the voice of an angel.

That was when I stumbled.

It was him .

The gorgeous guy I saw in the lunchroom almost every day. The one I’d been crushing on for months .

He’d first appeared around a year ago, and I’d noticed him instantly. How could I not? He was tall and slim, with a fine bone structure that gave off an ethereal look only the world’s best supermodels possessed. He had dark brown hair that was long enough that it swept easily over his eyes when it wasn’t tucked behind his ears, with a tuft at the center of his forehead that was always a burst of vibrant color. Right now, it was a regal purple at his scalp that graduated to a royal blue at the ends, but I’d seen varying shades of orange, pink, green, and every color in between over the past twelve months, with even a shimmering silver at one point.

A string of white pearls hung delicately around his thin neck, matching the tiny pearls glued carefully along his sharp cheekbones. His makeup was flawless, letting a hint of stubble peek through the foundation that highlighted his sharp jawline perfectly.

Strangely, he wasn’t wearing earrings tonight. Just like I’d seen him with different hair colors, I’d noticed a staggering variety of jewelry he liked to dangle from his pierced ears.

His blue jeans looked well worn and comfortable, but it was the white angel wings strapped around his shoulders to his bare back that drew the eye more than anything else. His pale skin glowed enough that it made me think he’d dusted a fine sheen of glitter on his torso and shoulders.

He looked absolutely stunning.

Still singing away, his eyes met mine in the mirror as he applied mascara to make his almond-shaped eyes pop even more than they did naturally. He blew me an air kiss and grinned at me with glossy plush lips before refocusing on what he was doing, not missing a single lyric.

I felt myself flush at the unexpected playfulness. He’d always exuded a certain impishness whenever he was sitting with his work colleagues or friends, often laughing and chatting exuberantly, but I’d never been the recipient of his attention before.

It felt almost overwhelming.

I scurried quickly into the nearest stall to escape, leaning back against the closed door for a moment to get my breath back under control and settle my cock that had perked up. I still needed to pee, and trying to do so with an erection would not end well.

I’d barely finished what I needed to do and was about to flush the toilet when I heard the door to the restroom open again and the angel’s voice stutter to a stop. I automatically assumed it was Thomas coming to check on me and was about to call out to him to wait just a tad longer until I heard a different voice entirely.

“Well, well. What do we have here? A little gay slut all dolled up to whore his way around town tonight?”

I didn’t know the voice, but the tone of what was being said showed an adversarial familiarity all too recognizable. Most gay men had heard variations of the same theme as they grew up, usually from people they went to school with, family members, or both. I closed my eyes as memories of my old schoolyard bullies ran through my head. As much as I wanted to open the door and protect my angel from this idiot’s taunts, my feet felt glued to the floor.

“Really, Travis? That’s the best you can come up with?”

I could almost hear my angel rolling his eyes. There was a hint of tired exasperation in his voice, proving that this guy had taunted him many, many times before. The thought hurt my heart.

“Eh, you’re not worth my time.” I heard a zipper release, some shuffling, then the steady stream of liquid hitting metal. “Your food, though… Mmhmm, that sure is tasty. Pity I have to put up with your ugly as fuck mug to get it.”

A slight pause, and another shuffle of material. I was waiting for my angel to respond, but he remained quiet.

“Fucking angel wings? It’s not Halloween yet, little boy blue, and you’re no fucking angel.”

I ground my teeth so hard I was surprised they didn’t crack. Silence filled the bathroom again before the zipper was done up.

“Nah, you’re just a try-hard wannabe who is so ugly that he has to resort to covering his hideous face with women’s makeup and flashy trinkets just to survive in a man’s world. It’s fucking pathetic.”

I could hear more shuffling, this time with what sounded like a ruffle of feathers. Despite that, my angel remained quiet.

Evil laughter filled the bathroom, then what sounded like a sturdy slap of skin on skin. It didn’t sound heavy enough to have caused any damage, more that it was just to shock the recipient.

Cursing the fact that my boss had my phone, I turned around and quietly released the lock, easing the door open just enough so I could bear witness.

A man in an ill-fitted black suit had backed my angel into the tiled wall where the hand dryers were, his wings crumpling behind him. Travis, a name I’d now committed to memory, towered over my angel, crowding him into the corner as best he could.

Considering my angel was a few inches taller than me, Travis was a giant. Even though I was hefty, there was nothing I could do to physically separate them if things escalated.

Noting his lightly pink cheek where the bastard had slapped him, I caught my angel’s furious eyes. He gave me the tiniest shake of his head before he turned his attention back to his tormentor. Both of his splayed hands were on Travis’s chest, preventing him from getting any closer, but I could see the straining effort he was putting in to keep them apart. The mascara wand that he’d been using when I entered the bathroom lay forgotten on the tiled floor behind them both, a black smudge trailing from the end across the off-white tiles.

“Listen to me, Travis. You’re drunk.” My angel quickly flicked his eyes to mine again, and I just knew he was talking to me rather than Travis. “As you said, I’m not worth your time, so do us both a favor and go home.”

I sniffed the air, and sure enough, amongst the lingering smell of cleaning chemicals, there was a distinct alcohol scent permeating the bathroom.

Travis swayed in place before slamming a hand on the tiles beside my angel’s head, making both him and me jump.

“Punk ass bitch trying to tell me what to do,” Travis slurred. “You ain’t got no right.” He flicked the squished feathers like they were an insect in his way, then slapped my angel’s cheek again. He held his chin in place before spitting in my angel’s face, catching him on the side of the nose. “Disgusting whore.”

Seeing Travis sway once more and begin to turn around, I eased back into my cubicle and closed the door enough that it wouldn’t alert him I was there. As soon as I heard the bathroom door swing shut, I carefully opened the cubicle door and looked around to make sure he’d truly gone.

Sure enough, Travis had left, and my angel was crumpled on the floor in the corner, his knees hugged to his chest and his feathered wings crushed at an awkward angle. I almost expected to see him crying, but nope. When I looked into his eyes, they burned with fury.

Hesitantly, I approached him like a caged tiger, my hands slightly out in front of me. My immediate instinct was to ask him if he was okay, but I knew he wasn’t. How could anyone be okay after all of that? So, instead, I softly asked, “What can I do?”

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly enough to catch my eye. He shook his head and wiped the area where he’d been spit on. It was dry, so he must have swiped it off him while Travis was leaving, but the memory obviously remained. “Help me up?” He held out a slender hand to me in obvious invitation.

“Uh, sure. But I haven’t washed my hands yet.” I looked down guiltily at my hands, then back at the stall I’d left, absently wiping my hands on my jeans. “Or flushed…”

He chuckled. “I’ve just been spit on. Unless you literally pissed on your hand, I think I’ll be fine.” When I grimaced and shook my head, he leaned forward to grab hold of one of my hands, and I took the hint to haul him to his feet. “But yeah, you might want to flush.”

Silently, I nodded, scurried back to the stall, and did as he suggested, emerging again immediately. “Uh, my name’s Henry, by the way.” I knelt to pick up his mascara before placing it carefully on the bench next to the rest of his kit, the contents of which I only noticed now were strewn across the counter.

“Blue,” came the response as he patted a small damp makeup cloth to his nose while staring at the mirror in front of him. He huffed at the foundation he’d had to remove. “Fucking hell, I had this perfect. Stupid, inconsiderate, fucking asshole.” He threw the cloth down in disgust.

I washed my hands while staring at his reflection. “I don’t know. It still looks perfect to me.”

His eyes flicked to mine before resettling on his nose, but a tiny smile emerged. “Oh, aren’t you sweet, Henry?”

“Not really,” I mumbled. I looked down at my hands when I felt my cheeks warm. “Did you say your name was Blue?”

“Yup.” He searched through his makeup until he found what he was looking for, then dabbed away at the bare skin on his nose. “Chose it myself.”

“Huh.”

He frowned at me, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Do you have a problem with that, Henry?”

My eyes widened. “Not at all.”

“Then why the surprised tone?”

“Just I’ve never heard anyone being named after a color before.” I flushed again and dropped my eyes to the bench-top once more. It was an odd name, but now that I’d heard it, I couldn’t imagine him being called anything else. It was certainly better than calling him my angel in my head. “Suits you though.”

I dared to peek up at him to find his face relaxed into an amiable smile while his eyes slowly raked over my face in the reflection. “Thank you, Henry.”

This was the third time he’d used my name. My brow furrowed in confusion. “Why do you keep saying my name?”

Blue laughed, the tension finally easing from around his eyes and his shoulders. “It’s a trick I learned back in college. When I get introduced to someone, I say their name during our conversation a few times so it’ll stick in my memory.”

“Huh.” I tilted my head to the side while I let his explanation settle into my brain. It made a lot of logical sense. I’d have to try it the next time I met someone new. Using it on Blue seemed redundant, as he’d already occupied so much of my thoughts over the past year.

He smiled at my reaction and checked the pearls stuck to his skin. “At least I didn’t lose any of these.”

Leaning against the cabinet, I crossed my arms and watched him test each one with a careful but practiced finger. “Has he done that to you before?” I asked quietly.

He stilled, pressing a little harder into the pearl he’d been inspecting, before slowly releasing both the bauble and his breath. “No.” He fidgeted with the brushes and sponges still scattered along the countertop, gradually refilling his makeup bag. He grimaced, his lips pressing into a thin line. “Travis didn’t say or do anything I haven’t heard or experienced before—”

Rage filled me at his words as a flood of protectiveness washed over me. Why were people so cruel?

“—but normally he prefers to stick to being a simple lunch thief.” He rolled his eyes. “This is the first time I’ve seen him drunk, though, so maybe he’s just a mean drunk…” He trailed off as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Are you going to report it to security before you leave tonight?” I chewed my lip nervously. “I couldn’t record anything because my phone is…” I frowned at the door and my boss waiting just beyond it. He’d picked one hell of a time to use my phone as warranty I’d return to him. “But I can come with you. Let them know I overheard the whole thing.”

The bitter sound of his laughter as he shook his head sent chills through me. “I’ll send another report to my manager, but I’ve been told there’s nothing they can do without irrefutable proof. I can’t imagine this will make any difference, even with you as a witness.”

My jaw clenched again at the injustice of what he was saying. He was such a vibrant young man, and yet the protocols that should have been in place to protect him were failing him miserably. This whole situation didn’t feel right. “How could me being a witness not be seen as enough proof?”

“He has reach in Eckersley’s that I can’t compete with. I’d need video or audio proof for HR to take me seriously with how much pull he has here, otherwise it’ll all be a he-said, he-said situation, and they’ll side with him. If I go to them with anything less than irrefutable proof that they can’t wave away, Travis will just twist it around and somehow blame me. And other than him hounding me, I really do enjoy working here.” He sighed as he took off his wings and laid them out on the bench, plucking at the feathers in an attempt to straighten them as best as he could. “I guess it serves me right for getting ready at work,” he muttered.

“Hey now, don’t talk like that.” Concerned, I reached out to lay a hand on his bare shoulder. “This wasn’t your fault.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He sniffed before swallowing and letting out a long sigh, still fidgeting with the feathers. He let out a soft snort of laughter. “Maybe I should have tried to stuff my wings down his throat. It would have been nice to see him coughing up feathers for a couple of weeks.”

I smiled at the return to his fun-loving personality and the visual he presented. “I think they’re better suited on you.” Letting go of his shoulder, I trailed my fingers along the edge of one of the wings. “Do you often go out wearing wings?”

“No! This is the first time.” His eyes lit up with excitement at the topic change, thrilled at my interest. “Normally, I experiment with glitter during Pride month. This year I thought I’d try pearls for something different, and the wings kind of followed that thought.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Glitter?”

“Yes!” He let go of the wings and dug into his jeans pocket to find his phone. “Look, I’ll show you.”

He opened Instagram and navigated to his profile page. Row after row of his face appeared before me, each one with perfect makeup and different glitter configurations. The one that caught my eye the most was a remarkable closeup of his eye, staring unflinchingly back at the camera, glitter lining the side of his face in a perfect rainbow design.

“Wow…” I murmured, my fingers absently reaching for the screen before I realized how much of a creep I was being and pulled them back. I offered an embarrassed grimace to Blue only to see him beaming at me.

“I love experimenting with color. It relaxes me,” he explained, the light in his eyes glowing with enthusiasm. “I get so much inspiration from makeup tutorials on YouTube and shows like Glow Up .” He looked down at his phone, scrolling through the images with a relaxed smile on his face. “I wish I could do it more, but you know what it’s like with work. So little time left for the fun stuff.”

A little dazed, I nodded. I couldn’t imagine being that creative. I lived my life in black and white, not in radiant color like Blue. Not for the first time, I wondered if I was like a raven, attracted to the shiny, colorful bauble that Blue represented in my dreary everyday life, a craving of what I could not possess.

Shaking myself free from my maudlin thoughts, I looked at Blue. “I should probably go.”

“Oh.” Blue’s smile slowly dropped from his face as he dropped the hand holding his phone. “Right.”

Unable to help myself, I brought my fingers up to tuck an errant strand of hair behind his ear, blushing when I felt Blue leaning slightly into my hand. “You’ve obviously got a big night planned. I don’t want to keep you.”

He peeked out from under his lashes, a ghost of a smile hovering on his lips. “You could come with me?”

“I wish I could, Blue.” Reluctantly, I pulled my hand back. “Unfortunately, I don’t do well with sizable crowds, and I have a feeling that where you’re headed, there will be people everywhere.”

Disappointment flooded his face, but understanding lingered. “I could make a call. Change my plans.”

I shook my head. “Don’t. I’m not worth the trouble.” I put my hand up when I saw him open his mouth to argue with me. “Go. Have fun with your friends. You need some fun tonight.”

The sound of the bathroom door opening made us jump apart. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized how close we’d drifted towards each other.

“There you are, Henry,” Thomas said as he wandered in, not registering Blue’s presence at all. “I wondered if you’d gotten past me and headed back upstairs, even without your phone.”

I sent Blue an apologetic look before responding to Thomas, “No, boss. Not this time.” I put a slight emphasis on the word boss , enough for Blue to understand who Thomas was in relation to me.

With a relieved smile, Blue nodded, while Thomas hummed in response to my words before he handed my phone back to me on his way to the nearest urinal, muttering about late nights and missed dinners.

Ignoring him, I shrugged at Blue, who was busy stifling his laughter. I leaned forward to murmur in Blue’s ear, “Have a good night, angel.”

He let out the smallest puff of air before leaning in and whispering, “You too, pocket bear.”

With that, I watched him gather his makeup bag and wings and leave the bathroom, wishing that I had the courage to join him for a night out on the town rather than heading home to microwave my dinner like I always did on a Friday night. And wondering why on earth he called me pocket bear .