18
T here was little to do in Midtown Sacramento in the middle of the night, but Matt Nghê had an incredible ability to entertain himself with the most meager of means.
Blake had a sneaking suspicion, however, that it had something to do with Matt wanting to keep Noel out and social for as long as possible.
They ended up at an old shooting-range style attraction on the Historic Waterfront. It was inexplicably themed to the Winchester Mystery House, which was about a hundred miles away. Matt struck a sexy pose with one of the fake pistols, determined to put the picture up on his social media.
During a bathroom break, Blake managed to check in with Marin: “Hey, are you doing okay?”
Marin blinked in bewilderment, in the midst of playing with the industrial-strength hand dryer. “Yeah?”
“Good.” Blake deflated in relief. “You seemed… really uncomfortable when Celeste and Ryan were fighting—not that there’s anything wrong with that!” he added. “I mean, we were all pretty…”
“Yeah, I get what you mean,” Marin provided him with a wan smile. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to draw any attention to myself.”
“Oh! No, no, no that’s not what I meant at all,” Blake waved his hands, dismissing the notion. “You don’t have to apologize. I was concerned about you, is all. You looked really upset.”
“It’s fine,” Marin shrugged, looking like he wanted to put the issue to bed. “I think I’m a little sensitive to shouting.”
Blake made a mental note to never raise his voice around Marin—not that he was prone to yelling, but he knew he sometimes came across a bit rougher than he intended.
Back at the shooting gallery, Matt sidled up to Blake while Noel and Marin were having a one-on-one shoot off.
“Hey Big B,” he greeted with a wide, sleepy smile.
“Hey Little M,” Blake bumped him with his elbow. “You gonna be able to stay conscious much longer?”
“Nope!” Matt returned with a sloppy shrug. “Hey, is Ryan doing okay? He and his datemate were all over the place tonight. Hope they got home safe.”
“Yeah, Ryan texted me that they’re back at Celeste’s place. I…” Blake trailed off, dropping his voice to a lower register. “Don’t tell anyone, but I think they’re having some problems.”
“ Naw ,” Matt replied with a sardonic gasp. “You don’t say? B, I think the entirety of Lavender Heights heard that fight. They were about to go subatomic.”
Blake flinched. “Yeah.”
“Whaaaat about you?” Matt asked. It was his turn to nudge Blake in the ribs with a bony elbow. He did that annoying-ass thing where he gripped his tongue between the tips of his teeth, like he was about to crack the worst pun known to man and make everyone in the vicinity groan.
“What about me?” Blake replied, suspicious.
“What about you and that cutie over there?” Matt whispered, jerking his head towards Marin, who was exchanging friendly jabs with Noel over the former’s winning score. “I know he was being a jerk, but Ryan was right. You’ve been super flirty all night.”
“You may be my best friend, but you’re also my ex, Matt. I’m not talking about my relationships with you,” Blake grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. Matt groaned, jutting his lower lip out into an exaggerated pout.
“Come on , it’s all over your face!” he said, grabbing Blake’s forearm and giving it a violent shake. “You liiiiiike him. Like, you like -like him, BB.”
“Shut up,” Blake groused, staring at anything that wasn’t Matt’s face—although he couldn’t help the smile that eked up the corner of his mouth. Matt gasped, doing a poor job of staying quiet.
“You’re smiling! You’re fucking smiling!” he accused, shaking Blake’s arm even harder. Blake ducked his head, grinning down at the floor. “I know that look, Blake DeLuca. That is the look of love .”
“I’ve known him for two days!” Blake countered in embarrassment.
“You okay back there?” Marin asked, glancing over his shoulder at the pair.
“Yeah!” they responded in unison. As soon as Marin’s attention was back on the game, Matt rounded on Blake, his smile manic.
“You’re super into him! You want to marry him!” Matt accused in a barely-hushed tone. “You want to share your monsterfucker fantasies with him, don’t you BB?”
“ Matt !” Blake hissed between gritted teeth, face reaching thermonuclear temperatures.
“I’m so ri-ight!” Matt trilled, doing a small victory dance somewhere between a hop and a wiggle. He calmed, glancing over at Marin and Noel. “In all seriousness, B—and you know I don’t do serious,” he added.
“No, really?” Blake replied, voice thick with sarcasm.
Matt flipped him off. “But… I like you two together. Marin’s a really cool guy—I’ve never seen anyone get Noel out of his shell quite like him. I think you two could make a good couple. You complement each other really well.”
Blake stared at Matt in mild shock, surprised by the sincerity of his words. “I… wow. Thanks, Matt. That’s…” He shuffled a little in place, “That’s a lot, coming from you. I don’t take that lightly, you know.”
“I know.” Matt smiled, looking wistful. “I was your first love, after all. Gotta make sure you’re well taken care of.”
“Same goes for me, you know.” Blake chuckled, staring over at Noel. “We’ve gotten to hang out with Noel a bit over the past few days and he’s a lot different than the initial impression he gives off—he’s way more similar to how you said he really was.”
“Yeah, Noel’s a loveable, dorky sweetheart.” Matt looked over at him, expression still tender. “He’s gonna make someone really happy someday. I can tell. I’d give anything to date a guy like that.”
Blake shook his head, horror slowly dawning over him. It truly was a situation of dumbass-for-dumbass, huh?
“Matt,” he said. “You’re a dipshit.”
?
It wasn’t another twenty minutes before Matt proceeded to plop down at one of the fraying barstools in front of the shooting range, prop his head up on Noel’s shoulder, and attempt to go to sleep.
Noel flushed so pink that Blake could see it through his thick, white foundation, his eyes scrunching up above the small, shaky smile of disbelief that was certainly hidden behind his mask.
“Noe, I’m sleepy,” Matt mumbled into the spikes on Noel’s overcoat—it did not look comfortable.
“Knock it off, Matt,” Blake scolded, peeling Matt’s face off of the studs. Without hesitation, Matt resettled himself on a smoother part of Noel’s person, which happened to be his chest. The poor guy looked like he was going to combust.
“We should probably get going home,” Marin said, glancing at an analog clock tacked above the shooting gallery and then over at Blake. “It’s almost five.”
“Shit, I didn’t realize,” Blake started. “Yeah, we should probably get going.”
He glanced at where Noel was stroking Matt’s head. “I didn’t know what your plans from here on out were—Celeste said you’re free to crash at their place.”
“I can drop you guys off,” Noel told him. “Where do they live?”
“Roseville, near Maidu Park,” Blake replied. Matt stirred, blinking up at Noel.
“Let’s stay at Celeste’s place,” he said, still groggy. “I don’t want you driving around too much in the middle of the night. It’s not safe.”
Lodgings arranged, the quartet made their way out to the parking garage. Blake and Marin climbed into the second row of Noel’s truck, while Matt took his helm in the passenger’s seat—it took approximately three minutes before he was slumped against the side window, snoring with his mouth open.
The ride went smoothly, and they arrived at Celeste’s home right as the first rays of dawn were staining the horizon grey.
“It feels a little weird going in while everyone else is sleeping.” Blake frowned as they approached the front door. He pushed it open, Marin and Noel trailed in after him, Matt draped over the latter’s back, still snoring soundly.
Bonbon and Kerby were snuggled on their cushion down the hall. Bonbon wuffed sleepily before placing his head back down and closing his eyes. Blake checked his texts.
“Ryan asked us to fill the dogs’ food and water before we go to bed,” he said.
“There’s a dog door for them in the back, so we shouldn’t have to worry about one of them having an accident.
I’ll go take care of that. According to him, there’s a guest room down here and a bed in the granny house out back—the passcode is 1885. ”
“I’ll go put him in the guest room,” Noel said, hiking Matt up higher on his back. “Do you think Celeste would mind if I slept on a couch?”
“Mmm, ‘sokay.” Matt yawned against the nape of Noel’s neck. “We can share the bed.”
Noel flushed.
“If you’re sure…” he hedged before bidding goodnight to Marin and Blake: “Sleep well.”
“Thanks, you too,” Marin told him, disappearing out the back door with a brief wave.
Once again, Blake felt acutely aware of the fact that he was alone in a stranger’s house.
He managed to find the kitchen and the dog food with ease, loading up the bowls with kibble and fresh water from the fridge.
He stopped in the foyer to check that the ancient dog was still breathing before heading out into the backyard and—
Splash.
Blake’s gaze traveled from the back porch and to the pool.
In the glowing water, he could see Marin’s naked silhouette, legs coalescing back into a fin.
He breached through the surface a moment later, sighing and pushing his hair out of his face.
He glanced up at Blake, and even from a distance Blake could see that his eyes, his fin, and the little frills on the tips of his ears were all alight with bioluminescence, reflecting the cycling colors of the pool lights.
Marin’s mouth curled into a smile. With a soft jerk of his head, he beckoned Blake towards the pool.
Blake approached, as if drawn forwards by an invisible force. He lay down on his stomach at the side of the pool, watching as Marin sliced through the water towards Blake with ease.
Without hesitance, Blake reached out towards him, fingertips caressing Marin’s damp, soft cheek. He remembered when he’d kissed him, how it had still been cool and spongy under his grip. Still fiberglass.
But the man in front of him now was warm, made real by the press of Blake’s lips. His eyes were glowing, tail undulating slowly beneath the water in order to keep himself afloat, lips still curved into a gentle, imploring smile.
In two days’ time, Marin had made a far more drastic transformation from just fiberglass to flesh: Blake had watched as his personality filled in, blossoming from the inside out.
When he was by Blake’s side, Blake was nervous, yet reassured.
Happy. Marin was firm without being cruel—fun, encouraging, opinionated, mysterious, and a little bit sad.
Blake wanted to kiss him again.
Fingertips gentle, he brought Marin closer towards him, until they were nose-to-nose, eye-to-eye. Marin’s head bobbed out of the water, but instead of going for Blake’s lips, he brushed their cheeks together, pressing his damp mouth up to the shell of his ear.
“If you want a kiss,” he whispered. “You’re going to have to come in here with me.”
He rocketed back into the water with a mischievous grin. Blake was left lying on the lip of the pool, smiling and gaping at Marin in disbelief.
“You heard me!” Marin laughed, ducking behind a decorative waterfall. Blake found himself laughing, too, stripping down to his boxers and jumping into the cool water.
For someone who worked summers at a waterpark, it had been a long time since Blake had been in a pool for pleasure, rather than for fishing out squirming children.
He was reminded of the pool parties that they’d have after polo games in college, when he and the other guys would be able to mess around, playing chicken and volleyball, flopping around leisurely in the water.
Blake followed Marin through the crushing pressure of the waterfall, surprised to see that there was a little grotto behind.
Marin sat on a rock shelf, his bioluminescence illuminating the cave in gentle pulses of green and blue.
He reached out to Blake as he drew near, pulling him in by the shoulders.
“I’m in here with you,” Blake said, reaching out to hold Marin’s cheeks.
“So you are,” Marin smiled, and closed his eyes.