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Mrs. Stone came home to find the trio squished together on the couch swapping jokes and telling stories, or making up their own dialogue to the muted TV. They were watching an old black and white movie about Chicago gangsters. Corny was emulating the chief bad guy and was on a roll about how he was interrogating his victims to discover which one stole his baby blanket. Luis and Kaye were falling over each other laughing.

“It’ll be curtains for you old pal, CURTAINS!” Corny said with a whiny accent, whistling through his teeth on the ‘s’. “The last one to talk is gonna get a knuckle sandwich, you hear? Now, tell me where Blankie is.” Corny pointed his thumb and forefinger like a gun and poked it at Luis’ side. Luis slid down the couch, holding his sides and gasping for air. Kaye was balled up, clutching her knees and pounding her fist into the arm rest.

“Well hello everyone.” Corny’s mom shut the door and set down her shopping bags to take off her coat. Luis immediately scrambled to stand up and help carry the bags into the kitchen, prattling on about how it was so nice of her to cook for them and having him here. Corny rolled his eyes.

“Kiss ass,” he whispered into Luis ear when he bumped into him standing near the table.

“Damn right,” Luis mumbled, pretending to be picking a nonexistent speck of dust off of Corny’s shoulder. “I want to get invited back.” Luis grinned and sauntered off to offer his help with the groceries.

Whatever Luis was doing, it was working. Corny’s mom was enamored of him. Once dinner was made, she insisted on fixing his plate for him, leaving Kaye and Corny to fend for themselves. The meal, in fact, was especially good for once. It seems she would put herself out when Luis was there. Corny began to feel a great pride for Luis.

Luis filled her in on all the details of their new business and the progress they were making with the renovations. She listened with rapt attention. Since he was being completely ignored, Corny struck up a conversation with Kaye.

“So, how did visiting Roiben go?”

“Really good,” Kaye beamed. “Luis was right; Roiben had thought I was too busy to go see him. He dropped everything so we could be together.” She sighed as if remembering something extremely pleasant. “But he’s been having a lot of trouble getting the Seelie and Unseelie courts not to kill each other. Many of the free fey are actually acting as intermediaries for him. Ravus has become his right hand man… troll. You remember Ravus, right?”

“Vividly.”

“I saw him while I was there. He’s still with Val. He even said to me, in confidence, that he was planning on popping the question.” Kaye squealed a little. “They are so adorable together.”

Corny moved his peas around with his fork, trying to picture it. “Pop the question? You mean get married? Haven’t they only known each other for—”

“Two months,” said Kaye primly, ending any doubts that it was a more than sufficient time frame. “Besides,” she went on, “Fey marriages are different from ours… I mean yours.” Kaye still found it hard sometimes not to automatically associate herself with humans. “It’s more like a faithfulness ceremony for the first level.”

“Level?” Corny asked mildly.

“Oh yes, there are different levels of official commitment.”

Corny laughed. “That sounds easy. ‘I love you baby, how much do you choose to love me back? One down payment means a warm public affection, your lifesavings means bonded for all eternity’.”

Kaye giggled into her napkin. “Well, yes actually. Something like that.”

Corny poked at his salad greens without enthusiasm. It really didn’t sound all that bad, now that he thought about it a bit. Marriage the way humans looked at it was such a daunting prospect. This sounded… mutually bearable. He looked up at Luis sitting across the table, deep in conversation with his mom. What would Luis say to something like that? Corny spent a good five minutes imagining his response, seeing him dressed in an extravagant white tux.

Then, somehow, his mind wandered to seeing that same tux on the floor, everything but the vest, cuffs, and bowtie which Luis still wore, and nothing else.

Kaye snapped her fingers right next to his ear and Corny jumped out of his daydream. Luis was smiling at him with a knowing expression.

“You were staring at me again,” Luis said quietly enough so that his mom wouldn’t hear. Corny flushed, grinning. He shrugged since he had already been caught. Luis leaned back in his chair and rested his chin on his fist, letting his eyes wander slowly down Corny and back up again. When he was done, he winked.

Corny heard Kaye choking on a piece of bread and reached over to pound her back without looking away from Luis.

Corny’s mom cleared her throat and coughed politely. “Anyone for dessert?”

~*~

Corny was lying on his side with Luis’ chest pressed against his back, one arm snagged around his waist. He could feel Luis’ soft breath on the back of his neck. He snuggled closer against Luis, fitting his legs over the bend in Luis’ knees. It was extremely comfortable.

Kaye was curled up next to him, letting her glamour drop so she could stretch her wings out over the edge of the bed. Occasionally they would flick up and beat for a moment before sagging back down.

“Neil? Are you still awake?” Luis whispered.

“Mm-hm.”

“I think we should do something tomorrow after work.”

“Like what?” Corny turned his head back a little.

“I thought maybe I could get you a ring.”

Panic. Sweat. Accelerating heart beat. Huh? Where did this come from? Corny fought to keep his composure.

“You could get one in your ear, like a cuff. What do you think?”

In his ear? What was Luis talking about?

“Or in your nose if you’re daring. Or would you rather have a lip ring like mine, on the opposite side so they wouldn’t get stuck when we kissed?”

Oh. That kind of ring. Corny slowly calmed down, trying to wrap his mind about what Luis was saying now that he knew what he was talking about.

“Neil? Is this a bad idea?”

“No, no. I was just thinking. A lip ring, huh? I don’t know if my mom would go for that.”

“Oh come on, I spent all night buttering her up. She loves me. Piercings and all.”

“Don’t you think a lip ring would make it look like I was trying too hard?”

“What do you mean?” Luis asked, puzzled.

“You know. Like I was trying to be… cool.”

“You’re such a lovable idiot,” Luis mumbled, kissing his neck. Corny shivered.

“Exactly. I’m the idiot and you’re the cool one. That can’t be changed.”

“Is that what you really think?” Luis asked, sounding hurt.

Corny fidgeted uncomfortably. Yes, that was exactly what he thought. In fact, he was extremely insecure about how much of a dork he was compared to Luis. It was still a great mystery to him how Luis could love him so truly.

“Neil,” Luis said with concern, tightening his arm around Corny’s waist. “You know that’s not true.”

Corny stubbornly remained silent.

“Being ‘cool’ as you put it, doesn’t mean anything,” Luis explained in a soft voice.

Only cool people say that, Corny thought mutinously. Then, feeling guilty, he turned over and wrapped his arms around Luis. “I don’t want to argue,” he whispered against Luis’ lips.

They kissed tenderly for a minute. Luis stroked his hair and Corny ran his hands up and down Luis’ back.

“Okay,” Luis murmured when they fell still. “Just forget about it.”

“No,” Corny said quickly. “I’ll think about it. We’ll go look for a place tomorrow and see what they have. But I warn you, I’m a wimp when it comes to needles.”

He felt Luis smile against his cheek. “So a tattoo is definitely out of the question.”

Corny twitched. “For now…”

They both tried to laugh silently so they wouldn’t disturb Kaye, but she groaned and rolled onto her stomach, flopping one arm against Corny’s back. They both shushed each other even though they were still laughing. Then Luis delved his head into a cozy spot in Corny’s shoulder and went silent.

Corny played with his braids for a little while, making Luis hum so softly that he couldn’t hear him, only feel the vibrations against his chest. Then his eyes grew too heavy to stay awake. He kissed the top of Luis’ head and sighed, letting the black ocean of sleep take over his mind.

~*~

It was way too early to be awake. Corny walked around with his eyes squinted, frowning and growling at anyone who dared cross his path. Except Luis. Actually, Luis seemed to know Corny’s mood and kept quietly off to the side, smiling benignly at Corny’s morning antics.

Since they had a longer-than-normal drive back to the shop, Corny’s mom had stuck her arm inside his room and clanged a goddamned bell when she got up for work. It was five freaking o’clock in the morning. Corny didn’t know they owned a bell, but he muttered all sorts of murderous plans focused on removing said bell from existence on the face of the earth.

Once he had his coffee, Corny calmed down a little, but he still glowered at everything, especially the loud beep of the microwave containing their breakfast rolls. He contemplated yanking the microwave out of the wall and hurling it through the window since it seemed to have a death wish, blaring at Corny’s sensitive ears like that.

He grumbled and glared all the way out to the car. Barked at Kaye for taking too long getting in her seat. Honked at a truck driver that cut him off. Gave the finger to several more cars for no apparent reason. Corny was not a morning person.

Luis was used to this, even though Corny wasn’t usually this extreme, so he knew the best thing was to simply wait it out. He slumped down in his seat and stared out the window as though seeing something completely different. Like the surface of Mars, for example.

Kaye was grouchy about being yelled at and only made the situation worse by arguing with Corny about treating people nicer, especially when they opened their shop for customers.

“Don’t start with me, Kaye,” Corny said dangerously, gripping the steering wheel hard, as though it had personally offended him, and burning a hole through his rearview mirror with his eyes.

The air inside the car was buzzing with silent tension all the way into the city. Luis drew spiral designs in the fog on his window with his finger. When his fingertip squeaked over the glass, he glanced guiltily at Corny and stuck his hands in his pockets. Luis looked so apologetic and worried, Corny burst out laughing. It was the first smile he had cracked all morning, and it broke the ice.

“Damn I love you,” he said to Luis, who shrugged and looked sheepish, as if to say, ‘Well of course, who wouldn’t.’ Corny laughed some more and turned on the scratchy old radio, finding an oldies station and singing along to “I’m a Believer” by the Monkeys, substituting ‘his’ for ‘her’.

Kaye surprised them all by busting out with a terrific rendition of “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” and Luis even chimed in a few lines of “He Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog”. When “American Pie” by Don Mclean came on, they all sang the chorus together, singing over each other and slipping off key every now and then. Corny knew the rest of the words and whispered along, humming when he came to a part he couldn’t quite remember.

Luis shockingly broke out of his modest shell when “Love Potion Number Nine” blared from the speakers. He even pantomimed his own choreographed moves as he sang in an outrageous mockery of the singer’s voice, draping an arm sinuously over Corny when he was supposed to be ‘love struck’ according to the lyrics. Corny laughed and had trouble staying within the lanes as Luis clapped his hand to his forehead dramatically.

The last few miles of the long drive passed incredibly quickly. Before they knew it, Corny was pulling up in front of their expansive shop windows and parking on the curb. Since they had finally finished the painting, Kaye said the old tile floor would have to go. She handed them both metal scrapers and trash buckets. At least this time she was generous enough to get them kneepads.

At noon, Corny drove them back to the restaurant where they had met Mr. Timmons. Angel was there again and greeted them warmly, asking if they were going to have ‘the usual’. Corny said that yes, he would, just to see if she actually remembered what he had ordered last time. She smiled brightly at him and indeed brought out a steaming bowl of clam chowder. Corny stirred it a bit unenthusiastically. Now that he had it, he really didn’t want soup. He wanted something solid in his empty stomach.

Luis, who had been watching Corny’s reaction, slid a square of his lasagna over to him, encouraging him to take it when Corny protested half-heartedly. It tasted amazing. Corny regretted the fact that there were other customers nearby; otherwise he was sure he would be eating this lasagna out of Luis’ hand at this moment. Luis still wasn’t comfortable with being too openly affectionate in public.

Corny got the tab and they all went back to peeling up the chunks of rotting linoleum floor tile. Corny’s arms were burning and his back ached by the time it was dark. He groaned like an old man as he slid into the driver’s seat. Kaye insisted that they stay with her at Ellen’s place since it was a particularly cold night.

On the street to Ellen’s apartment complex, Corny waited for Kaye to get out, explaining that he had promised Luis he would look for place to get a piercing.

“Oh, I want to come! I didn’t know you wanted to get a piercing. Where are you going to have it done? Are you going to have a stud, a bar, or a ring?”

Corny felt overwhelmed with the bombarding questions. He still wasn’t certain he was going to follow through with this.

“Kaye,” Luis said gently. “We planned on going alone.”

“Oh.” Kaye’s face fell. “Oh okay. …Oh! Is it, like, a date?” She grinned sneakily at them.

Luis shrugged, not giving her a yes or no. Kaye took the hint, pouting a little at being left out. She waved them on and wished Corny good luck. Corny felt slightly sick.

They drove up and down the seedier streets until they finally got lucky. Flashing neon proclaimed the scratched old door squished between two large buildings was “Tit-for-Tat”. Corny parked in a fire zone and approached the chipped black painted door nervously. There was no window display, or even a window. Just this door. That possibly led to certain torture.

Corny abruptly turned around and headed back for the car. Luis caught his shoulders and forced him to stand still, looking him in the eye. “Don’t you at least want to go in?”

No, he didn’t. Corny felt cold sweat slide down his forehead. He let Luis walk him back to the door, leaving Corny the option of actually opening it. With Luis’ hand on his back, Corny did, stepping into a dimly lit room full of strange smelling cigarette smoke and screaming heavy metal background music. A delicate little bell tinkled above him in contrast with his ominous surroundings.

A thickset man with a long blonde braid down his back, wearing a black undershirt, walked out from behind a black velvet curtain. He had a kind face, which looked out of place on his weightlifter body. His arms bulged like Mr. Universe, heavily decorated in intricate tattoos, and his eyebrows sported more bars of gleaming silver than Luis.

He rubbed his hands together eagerly, smiling warmly. “What can I do for you gentlemen tonight? Will we be choosing a tattoo?” He had a very deep voice that reminded Corny of Darth Vader.

“No,” Luis said, stepping forward to hide the fact that Corny had frozen like an ice sculpture. “My friend was thinking about maybe getting a piercing.”

Corny made a small noise. Like a mouse being snapped in half under a cheese trap.

“Excellent,” said Darth Vader. “Here is my selection if you would care to take a look.” He walked over to a long glass counter-style cabinet, standing behind it while Luis leaned over to peer inside.

“These look good. Neil, do you want to see?”

Corny most definitely did not want to see the little instruments of pain and ridicule. He walked over robotically anyway, standing next to Luis and staring at the glass without seeing through it.

“What do you think of something like that? Just a small one.” Luis pointed.

“Hm.” Corny said vaguely, not looking.

“Nervous, huh kid?” Darth said soothingly.

“No,” Corny rasped. Darth laughed. Corny wanted to melt into the floor and die.

“Could you give us a sec?” Luis asked.

“Sure thing. Just call if you need any assistance or if you make your choice.” Exit Darth.

“Luis, I don’t know about this,” Corny said in a voice that seemed a bit shrill. He was sweaty and breathing too quickly and shallowly. Luis came over and loosely wrapped his arms around Corny’s waist.

“Do you want to leave?”

“No.”

“Do you want to choose one?

“No.”

“Do you want me to choose for you?”

Corny thought about it. This option was less terrifying. “Yes.”

“Alright, if that’s what you really want.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Absolutely not. Now go ahead and pick something.” Corny crossed his arms and tried to look severe and tough. He guessed that he had failed miserably from the way Luis smiled at him as though agreeing to the whims of an overemotional toddler.

“Okay. But we can stop anytime.”

“Right.”

Luis called Darth back into the room and indicated his choice. Darth said some nonsense about what a superb choice it was while opening the back of the case with a set of keys attached to a chain through his belt loop.

Honestly, Corny thought darkly, who said ‘superb’ anyway?

Darth waved them into a back room and had Corny sit in a modified version of a dentist’s chair. Corny hated his dentist. Corny hated dentist chairs. Luis had to force his unwilling limbs into a sitting position before tipping him backwards into the fake leather. Corny gripped the armrests hard enough to crush bone.

“Okay kid, where to you want it?” Darth asked, scooting forward on a rolling stool and snapping on white latex gloves. Corny turned his head to look imploringly at Luis. Luis leaned over and pointed, brushing his finger softly against Corny’s skin. Corny gulped. Luis ran a thumb inconspicuously over Corny’s cheek to comfort him.

Darth flicked his braid over his shoulder and carefully arranged his tools on a little silver tray table, using alcohol and other various stinging liquids to clean the site of puncture. Corny closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, cursing himself for allowing Luis’ stupid, adorable, pleading face to him to get into this ridiculous situation.

~*~

Corny paid forty five dollars for his pain and walked distractedly out of the shop calling, “Thanks Darth,” over his shoulder. The tattooed bodybuilder looked highly confused, but he invited them back for more punishment anytime they so desired. Right, Corny thought.

“How does it feel?” Luis asked once they were outside.

“It hurts like hell actually, thanks for the concern.”

“Don’t touch it!” Luis warned.

Too late. Corny winced as he fingered his puffy red eyebrow. The new silver bar felt foreign and completely wrong in his skin. It kind of turned Corny on…. So much for his plan to murder Luis in his sleep for putting him through this.

‘Maybe I’m masochistic’, Corny thought idly as he continued to feel the new addition to his features.

“Well, what do you think?” Luis asked. Corny could tell Luis was getting impatient with him. Luis was really excited about this and all Corny could do was bitch.

“It’ll take some getting used to, but I’m glad you picked it for me. Thanks for making me do this.” Corny looked around for his car. “I want to see myself in the mirror again.” Luis grinned as he watched Corny lean down in front of one of the side mirrors, pulling different pained facial expressions as he got new angles on his piercing. “Yep, just what I thought. You’ve transformed me into some punk tough guy who intimidates everyone who ventures near him.”

Luis laughed. “Come on then, tough guy,” Luis said, opening his door and nearly smacking Corny in the head with it. “Let’s get to Ellen’s before she locks us out.”

~*~

“Oh, lemme see, lemme see!” Kaye bounded up to him as soon as he and Luis got inside the door. “Nice!” Kaye said, standing less than an inch away from his face.

“Let me breathe a little!” Corny said, backing away and walking into Luis who then tripped over the shoes piled by the door and overbalanced. His foot caught the back of Corny’s knee as he fell, making Corny’s legs give out from underneath him.

“Kaye!” Corny moaned, rolling off of Luis’ stomach. He had smashed his elbow against the hard floor. Luis was pulling dust bunnies out of his braids, sneezing.

“Sorry,” Kaye said in a small voice, hands behind her back, head hanging. She had dropped her glamour since everyone here knew her for what she was, but she pulled it back on so that her human skin could flush in appropriate shame.

“We’re always falling over each other,” Luis commented dryly.

Corny laughed. When he thought about it, it was true. “I guess that means we really did fall for each other.”

“Well isn’t that cute,” said Ellen, emerging out of a back room, crossing her bony arms. One of her tank top straps fell off her shoulder. She puffed on her cigarette, blowing twin streams of smoke out her nostrils. It made Corny think of a cartoon he once saw of an angry bull about to charge.

Kaye coughed. “Mom, could you not smoke while I’m here? It literally kills me.”

Ellen frowned, then sadly took the cigarette out of her mouth and stared at it despondently. “Well, you’re here so much that I’ll have to quit to make you happy.”

“That wouldn’t be such a bad thing,” said Luis reasonably.

Ellen gave him a strange look, somewhere between horror and rage. Then she shrugged and ground it into the ashtray.

“Thanks,” Kaye said.

“Yeah, yeah.” Ellen waved a lazy hand. “I made spaghetti if anyone’s hungry.”

“Me!” Luis called, stripping off his coat and boots and practically sprinting to the kitchen. Corny rolled his eyes and shared a look with Kaye.

“Looks like you got your work cut out for you, keeping that boy fed.”

“Tell me about it,” Corny muttered.

“I really like your piercing. What made you decide on a bar?”

“It was all Luis. Take it up with him. I was just the victim.”

“I thought for sure you’d want a lip ring since you like his so much.”

“How did you know that?” Corny asked, mortified. Kaye only looked at him serenely. “…Well I’m glad he picked this. It doesn’t feel as… obvious.”

“How?” Kaye said sarcastically.

“I don’t know. I guess because it doesn’t make me feel any different. I’m still me. Anything else would have been…”

“Too drastic?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“You’re a strange one, you know that?”

“Yes. I have business cards proclaiming that fact.”

Kaye laughed. Corny mussed her hair, getting her in a head lock and dragging her into the kitchen. Luis had a waterfall of spaghetti noodles hanging from his mouth, a blissful expression on his face.

Ellen used her fingers to pile more noodles onto two extra plates, letting them scoop out their own sauce from the pot on the stove. Corny used the side of his fork to cut the long pasta into bite size morsels. Luis, looking horrified, ran over and snatched the fork out of his hand.

“You’re murdering that dish!”

“Was I? I couldn’t tell it was alive.”

“Everyone knows you are not supposed to CUT spaghetti.”

“Well, apparently I’m not everyone. Now give me my fork back!” Corny lunged for it, but Luis dodged and kept it just out of his reach, making Corny hop around in a very undignified fashion. Ellen and Kaye watched with amused expressions.

“Okay, I’ll make you a deal,” Corny wheezed, giving up.

“Shoot.” Luis grinned lopsidedly.

“You show me how you want me to eat this, then you have to eat it the way I tell you.”

Luis thought about it. It looked painful. “Alright, but nothing nasty.”

“Of course not.”

Luis went over to Corny’s abandoned plate on the counter. “Observe.” He stabbed the noodles with the fork and began twirling it around, gathering them into a nice clump like a ball of yarn. “Open up,” Luis chided, holding his other hand under the fork as he brought it to Corny’s mouth. Corny chewed for a minute while Luis watched him with satisfaction.

“See? Now isn’t that better than hacking it to bits?”

“I guess,” Corny conceded. “Now it’s your turn,” he said wickedly. He dug around for a particularly long noodle. “Here,” he motioned Luis closer. “Put this end in your mouth, then slurp it up like sucking on a straw.”

“…Okay.” Luis eyed him speculatively, waiting for the punch line. Corny only smiled.

As Luis bent over the plate to do as instructed, Corny stuck the other end in his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kaye giggle and Ellen roll her eyes.

It was perfect. Luis followed the line all the way up to Corny until their lips were pressed together. He bit off the end to separate them, then kissed Corny sweetly, licking a bit of escaped sauce.

“Oh, oh! My eyes!” Kaye screamed. Ellen pretended to gag.

“Mmm,” Luis hummed, ignoring the people in the background. “I like your way better.”

Corny could only grin like a fool. He finally had his Lady and the Tramp moment. His stomach was all fluttery. Luis hooked his arm over Corny’s shoulders and carried their plates to the table with Kaye and Ellen.

“I like the piercing, Corny. Very emo. But we need to die your hair again. The roots are growing in brown.” Ellen dug her fingers through the top of his hair, criticizing it with her eyes. Corny continued to put up with her fiddling, staring at the table and sitting perfectly still. “Let me go see if I have some more do-it-yourself boxes.” Ellen got up and trundled into the bathroom, weaving a little.

Luis, strangely, got up and starting poking at Corny’s hair like a gorilla looking for lice to chew. “I didn’t notice that before.” He sounded indignant. He continued to assault Corny’s hair furiously, deeply offended that Ellen had more knowledge about Corny’s roots than he did.

“Yeah, I guess I forgot to tell you. My hair’s brown.” Corny stirred his spaghetti remains with his fork unenthusiastically.

“Hmph.” Luis sat down angrily, attacking his plate with unnecessary force.

“Here we go,” Ellen said, returning into the room with two boxes. “I have electric blue or bleach blonde. Which one?” She held up the boxes, waving them around slightly and looking at him expectantly.

“How about both?” Kaye chimed in. “We could do alternating stripes with a wide blue one down the middle that we could gel into a mohawk.”

Corny began to feel nervous about all this talk of radicalizing his hair. He didn’t like the sound of Kaye’s suggestion. “Um…”

“Oh come on,” Kaye argued before he had a chance to properly protest. “It would go great with your new look.”

“My new look?” Corny asked weakly.

“Yeah.” Kaye got up and starting mapping out where the colors should go, dividing his hair into segments. “It’s getting a bit long again, too. Maybe mom should cut it some more.”

“I like it long,” murmured Luis defensively.

“We’re not cutting it.” Corny said firmly. Luis gave him a grateful look.

Ellen dropped her arms and sighed in aggravation. “So, what are we deciding on?” She stared impatiently at the ceiling, waiting for an answer.

“Blue.”

…. Kaye and Corny slowly turned their heads. To look at. Luis.

Corny raised his studded eyebrow. “Blue?”

Luis shrugged. “Sure. Why not? It’s up to you. I just think it would look good.”

Corny turned quickly to Ellen. “Blue it is then.”

~*~

Corny peered in the mirror critically. The next time he went home, his mom was going to flip. Blue hair and one pierced eyebrow later and BAM, whole new son. Corny pulled his still wet hair this way and that. He experimented with a mokawk like Kaye had suggested. No. No, that was just silly. He spiked it up in the front, letting the rest fall in carefully disheveled disarray. Yeah. Yeah, that looked bearable.

There was a soft knock on the bathroom door. “Can I come in?” It was Luis.

“Sure,” Corny called.

Luis cracked the door open and peeked in. “I’ve been dying to see. Why are you keeping us all in suspense? …Hey!” He noticed the hair, “That looks great!”

Corny picked up the now empty box. “It says it should be electric blue, but this turned out darker.”

“It’s because your hair was already dyed black. I like it this way though. Not too vibrant.” Luis began playing with it, getting the spikes just right. Corny closed his eyes and purred. Luis laughed. “No really, I love it! What do you think?”

Corny turned away from the mirror to face Luis. “I think it’s just what I needed.” He leaned forward and Luis met him, pushing him back against the sink as they kissed. Corny stood on his toes to sit on the edge. Luis moved between his legs and wrapped his arms around his bare waist, in danger of dislodging the towel he wore. Corny’s skin was still hot and damp from the shower. He bunched up the material of the back of Luis’ shirt and lifted. Luis raised his arms and Corny threw the shirt to the floor.

“Kiddo! You still in there? I found you and Luis some pajamas. I don’t know who they belonged to, but no one’s using them now. …Hello?” Ellen pounded on the door.

Corny came up for air. “Yeah,” he panted.

“Now don’t get all hot and bothered. We wondered where Luis had disappeared to. You in there too kid?”

Luis blushed and looked at Corny. “Yes,” he said guiltily.

“Well no messing around after midnight. House rules. Come on, it’s late. You guys should get to bed if you’re going to be ripping up floor tile all day tomorrow. You need your rest.” Ellen opened the door and set the pajamas on the sink next to Corny’s leg, completely ignoring the attempts of the two boys to get disentangled from each other.

“Good night!” She called, heading to the bedroom with Kaye. “I pulled out the sofa bed for you two. See you in the morning. Oh yeah,” she stuck her head around the doorjamb again. “Awesome hair, kiddo.” She clicked her tongue and shut the door.

Corny ran his hand over his face. “She’s killing me.”

“Ellen’s fun,” Luis scolded.

“Fun, right.” Corny slid down off the sink and picked up the pajamas. “Which one do you want? Red plaid or blue plaid?”

“Red. You have to wear the blue.”

“Oh very funny,” Corny grimaced, pointing to his hair.

They decided to only wear the pants because the tops were very… old-man-ish. Long sleeve button-down collared affairs that just didn’t work. Luis found his ‘village idiot’ t-shirt and pulled that on again.

Sure enough, the sofa bed had been made for them with two top sheets they could slide between. There were even two sweat stained pillows that smelled faintly of wine. Corny flopped down and stretched out. Luis snuggled up next to him and immediately began playing with his hair.

“You really like the blue don’t you?”

“Mm-hm.”

Corny closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of Luis sliding his fingers through his hair over and over. Luis leaned in close and blew softly in his ear. It gave Corny goosebumps all up and down is left leg and arm. He grinned.

As Corny lay there, letting his body grow more and more relaxed, he reviewed his life. He was in a contemplative mood. Hands down, the last month of his entire existence had been the best. He really would do anything for Luis. Hell, he already had two outrageous whims down. He wondered how many more changes Luis wanted him to make. Oddly, this thought didn’t scare him like it would have in the past.

Life was perfect.

Luis’ fingers began to slow down, until he was only rubbing his thumb back and forth. The quiet movement stopped when he started breathing in small regular puffs. Corny loved the sound of Luis breathing when he was asleep. It made him seem younger. Asleep, he lost the hard exterior he had grown living on the streets and fighting for his life. Corny turned and buried his face in Luis’ chest. There wasn’t any other place he’d rather be.

Description
Mrs. Stone came home to find the trio squished together on the couch swapping jokes and telling stories, or making up their own dialogue to the muted TV. They were watching an old black and white movie about Chicago gangsters. Corny was emulating the chief bad guy and was on a roll about how he was interrogating his victims to discover which one stole his baby blanket. Luis and Kaye were falling over each other laughing.

“It’ll be curtains for you old pal, CURTAINS!” Corny said with a whiny accent, whistling through his teeth on the ‘s’. “The last one to talk is gonna get a knuckle sandwich, you hear? Now, tell me where Blankie is.” Corny pointed his thumb and forefinger like a gun and poked it at Luis’ side. Luis slid down the couch, holding his sides and gasping for air. Kaye was balled up, clutching her knees and pounding her fist into the arm rest.

“Well hello everyone.” Corny’s mom shut the door and set down her shopping bags to take off her coat. Luis immediately scrambled to stand up and help carry the bags into the kitchen, prattling on about how it was so nice of her to cook for them and having him here. Corny rolled his eyes.

“Kiss ass,” he whispered into Luis ear when he bumped into him standing near the table.

“Damn right,” Luis mumbled, pretending to be picking a nonexistent speck of dust off of Corny’s shoulder. “I want to get invited back.” Luis grinned and sauntered off to offer his help with the groceries.

Whatever Luis was doing, it was working. Corny’s mom was enamored of him. Once dinner was made, she insisted on fixing his plate for him, leaving Kaye and Corny to fend for themselves. The meal, in fact, was especially good for once. It seems she would put herself out when Luis was there. Corny began to feel a great pride for Luis.

Luis filled her in on all the details of their new business and the progress they were making with the renovations. She listened with rapt attention. Since he was being completely ignored, Corny struck up a conversation with Kaye.

“So, how did visiting Roiben go?”

“Really good,” Kaye beamed. “Luis was right; Roiben had thought I was too busy to go see him. He dropped everything so we could be together.” She sighed as if remembering something extremely pleasant. “But he’s been having a lot of trouble getting the Seelie and Unseelie courts not to kill each other. Many of the free fey are actually acting as intermediaries for him. Ravus has become his right hand man… troll. You remember Ravus, right?”

“Vividly.”

“I saw him while I was there. He’s still with Val. He even said to me, in confidence, that he was planning on popping the question.” Kaye squealed a little. “They are so adorable together.”

Corny moved his peas around with his fork, trying to picture it. “Pop the question? You mean get married? Haven’t they only known each other for—”

“Two months,” said Kaye primly, ending any doubts that it was a more than sufficient time frame. “Besides,” she went on, “Fey marriages are different from ours… I mean yours.” Kaye still found it hard sometimes not to automatically associate herself with humans. “It’s more like a faithfulness ceremony for the first level.”

“Level?” Corny asked mildly.

“Oh yes, there are different levels of official commitment.”

Corny laughed. “That sounds easy. ‘I love you baby, how much do you choose to love me back? One down payment means a warm public affection, your lifesavings means bonded for all eternity’.”

Kaye giggled into her napkin. “Well, yes actually. Something like that.”

Corny poked at his salad greens without enthusiasm. It really didn’t sound all that bad, now that he thought about it a bit. Marriage the way humans looked at it was such a daunting prospect. This sounded… mutually bearable. He looked up at Luis sitting across the table, deep in conversation with his mom. What would Luis say to something like that? Corny spent a good five minutes imagining his response, seeing him dressed in an extravagant white tux.

Then, somehow, his mind wandered to seeing that same tux on the floor, everything but the vest, cuffs, and bowtie which Luis still wore, and nothing else.

Kaye snapped her fingers right next to his ear and Corny jumped out of his daydream. Luis was smiling at him with a knowing expression.

“You were staring at me again,” Luis said quietly enough so that his mom wouldn’t hear. Corny flushed, grinning. He shrugged since he had already been caught. Luis leaned back in his chair and rested his chin on his fist, letting his eyes wander slowly down Corny and back up again. When he was done, he winked.

Corny heard Kaye choking on a piece of bread and reached over to pound her back without looking away from Luis.

Corny’s mom cleared her throat and coughed politely. “Anyone for dessert?”

~*~

Corny was lying on his side with Luis’ chest pressed against his back, one arm snagged around his waist. He could feel Luis’ soft breath on the back of his neck. He snuggled closer against Luis, fitting his legs over the bend in Luis’ knees. It was extremely comfortable.

Kaye was curled up next to him, letting her glamour drop so she could stretch her wings out over the edge of the bed. Occasionally they would flick up and beat for a moment before sagging back down.

“Neil? Are you still awake?” Luis whispered.

“Mm-hm.”

“I think we should do something tomorrow after work.”

“Like what?” Corny turned his head back a little.

“I thought maybe I could get you a ring.”

Panic. Sweat. Accelerating heart beat. Huh? Where did this come from? Corny fought to keep his composure.

“You could get one in your ear, like a cuff. What do you think?”

In his ear? What was Luis talking about?

“Or in your nose if you’re daring. Or would you rather have a lip ring like mine, on the opposite side so they wouldn’t get stuck when we kissed?”

Oh. That kind of ring. Corny slowly calmed down, trying to wrap his mind about what Luis was saying now that he knew what he was talking about.

“Neil? Is this a bad idea?”

“No, no. I was just thinking. A lip ring, huh? I don’t know if my mom would go for that.”

“Oh come on, I spent all night buttering her up. She loves me. Piercings and all.”

“Don’t you think a lip ring would make it look like I was trying too hard?”

“What do you mean?” Luis asked, puzzled.

“You know. Like I was trying to be… cool.”

“You’re such a lovable idiot,” Luis mumbled, kissing his neck. Corny shivered.

“Exactly. I’m the idiot and you’re the cool one. That can’t be changed.”

“Is that what you really think?” Luis asked, sounding hurt.

Corny fidgeted uncomfortably. Yes, that was exactly what he thought. In fact, he was extremely insecure about how much of a dork he was compared to Luis. It was still a great mystery to him how Luis could love him so truly.

“Neil,” Luis said with concern, tightening his arm around Corny’s waist. “You know that’s not true.”

Corny stubbornly remained silent.

“Being ‘cool’ as you put it, doesn’t mean anything,” Luis explained in a soft voice.

Only cool people say that, Corny thought mutinously. Then, feeling guilty, he turned over and wrapped his arms around Luis. “I don’t want to argue,” he whispered against Luis’ lips.

They kissed tenderly for a minute. Luis stroked his hair and Corny ran his hands up and down Luis’ back.

“Okay,” Luis murmured when they fell still. “Just forget about it.”

“No,” Corny said quickly. “I’ll think about it. We’ll go look for a place tomorrow and see what they have. But I warn you, I’m a wimp when it comes to needles.”

He felt Luis smile against his cheek. “So a tattoo is definitely out of the question.”

Corny twitched. “For now…”

They both tried to laugh silently so they wouldn’t disturb Kaye, but she groaned and rolled onto her stomach, flopping one arm against Corny’s back. They both shushed each other even though they were still laughing. Then Luis delved his head into a cozy spot in Corny’s shoulder and went silent.

Corny played with his braids for a little while, making Luis hum so softly that he couldn’t hear him, only feel the vibrations against his chest. Then his eyes grew too heavy to stay awake. He kissed the top of Luis’ head and sighed, letting the black ocean of sleep take over his mind.

~*~

It was way too early to be awake. Corny walked around with his eyes squinted, frowning and growling at anyone who dared cross his path. Except Luis. Actually, Luis seemed to know Corny’s mood and kept quietly off to the side, smiling benignly at Corny’s morning antics.

Since they had a longer-than-normal drive back to the shop, Corny’s mom had stuck her arm inside his room and clanged a goddamned bell when she got up for work. It was five freaking o’clock in the morning. Corny didn’t know they owned a bell, but he muttered all sorts of murderous plans focused on removing said bell from existence on the face of the earth.

Once he had his coffee, Corny calmed down a little, but he still glowered at everything, especially the loud beep of the microwave containing their breakfast rolls. He contemplated yanking the microwave out of the wall and hurling it through the window since it seemed to have a death wish, blaring at Corny’s sensitive ears like that.

He grumbled and glared all the way out to the car. Barked at Kaye for taking too long getting in her seat. Honked at a truck driver that cut him off. Gave the finger to several more cars for no apparent reason. Corny was not a morning person.

Luis was used to this, even though Corny wasn’t usually this extreme, so he knew the best thing was to simply wait it out. He slumped down in his seat and stared out the window as though seeing something completely different. Like the surface of Mars, for example.

Kaye was grouchy about being yelled at and only made the situation worse by arguing with Corny about treating people nicer, especially when they opened their shop for customers.

“Don’t start with me, Kaye,” Corny said dangerously, gripping the steering wheel hard, as though it had personally offended him, and burning a hole through his rearview mirror with his eyes.

The air inside the car was buzzing with silent tension all the way into the city. Luis drew spiral designs in the fog on his window with his finger. When his fingertip squeaked over the glass, he glanced guiltily at Corny and stuck his hands in his pockets. Luis looked so apologetic and worried, Corny burst out laughing. It was the first smile he had cracked all morning, and it broke the ice.

“Damn I love you,” he said to Luis, who shrugged and looked sheepish, as if to say, ‘Well of course, who wouldn’t.’ Corny laughed some more and turned on the scratchy old radio, finding an oldies station and singing along to “I’m a Believer” by the Monkeys, substituting ‘his’ for ‘her’.

Kaye surprised them all by busting out with a terrific rendition of “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” and Luis even chimed in a few lines of “He Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog”. When “American Pie” by Don Mclean came on, they all sang the chorus together, singing over each other and slipping off key every now and then. Corny knew the rest of the words and whispered along, humming when he came to a part he couldn’t quite remember.

Luis shockingly broke out of his modest shell when “Love Potion Number Nine” blared from the speakers. He even pantomimed his own choreographed moves as he sang in an outrageous mockery of the singer’s voice, draping an arm sinuously over Corny when he was supposed to be ‘love struck’ according to the lyrics. Corny laughed and had trouble staying within the lanes as Luis clapped his hand to his forehead dramatically.

The last few miles of the long drive passed incredibly quickly. Before they knew it, Corny was pulling up in front of their expansive shop windows and parking on the curb. Since they had finally finished the painting, Kaye said the old tile floor would have to go. She handed them both metal scrapers and trash buckets. At least this time she was generous enough to get them kneepads.

At noon, Corny drove them back to the restaurant where they had met Mr. Timmons. Angel was there again and greeted them warmly, asking if they were going to have ‘the usual’. Corny said that yes, he would, just to see if she actually remembered what he had ordered last time. She smiled brightly at him and indeed brought out a steaming bowl of clam chowder. Corny stirred it a bit unenthusiastically. Now that he had it, he really didn’t want soup. He wanted something solid in his empty stomach.

Luis, who had been watching Corny’s reaction, slid a square of his lasagna over to him, encouraging him to take it when Corny protested half-heartedly. It tasted amazing. Corny regretted the fact that there were other customers nearby; otherwise he was sure he would be eating this lasagna out of Luis’ hand at this moment. Luis still wasn’t comfortable with being too openly affectionate in public.

Corny got the tab and they all went back to peeling up the chunks of rotting linoleum floor tile. Corny’s arms were burning and his back ached by the time it was dark. He groaned like an old man as he slid into the driver’s seat. Kaye insisted that they stay with her at Ellen’s place since it was a particularly cold night.

On the street to Ellen’s apartment complex, Corny waited for Kaye to get out, explaining that he had promised Luis he would look for place to get a piercing.

“Oh, I want to come! I didn’t know you wanted to get a piercing. Where are you going to have it done? Are you going to have a stud, a bar, or a ring?”

Corny felt overwhelmed with the bombarding questions. He still wasn’t certain he was going to follow through with this.

“Kaye,” Luis said gently. “We planned on going alone.”

“Oh.” Kaye’s face fell. “Oh okay. …Oh! Is it, like, a date?” She grinned sneakily at them.

Luis shrugged, not giving her a yes or no. Kaye took the hint, pouting a little at being left out. She waved them on and wished Corny good luck. Corny felt slightly sick.

They drove up and down the seedier streets until they finally got lucky. Flashing neon proclaimed the scratched old door squished between two large buildings was “Tit-for-Tat”. Corny parked in a fire zone and approached the chipped black painted door nervously. There was no window display, or even a window. Just this door. That possibly led to certain torture.

Corny abruptly turned around and headed back for the car. Luis caught his shoulders and forced him to stand still, looking him in the eye. “Don’t you at least want to go in?”

No, he didn’t. Corny felt cold sweat slide down his forehead. He let Luis walk him back to the door, leaving Corny the option of actually opening it. With Luis’ hand on his back, Corny did, stepping into a dimly lit room full of strange smelling cigarette smoke and screaming heavy metal background music. A delicate little bell tinkled above him in contrast with his ominous surroundings.

A thickset man with a long blonde braid down his back, wearing a black undershirt, walked out from behind a black velvet curtain. He had a kind face, which looked out of place on his weightlifter body. His arms bulged like Mr. Universe, heavily decorated in intricate tattoos, and his eyebrows sported more bars of gleaming silver than Luis.

He rubbed his hands together eagerly, smiling warmly. “What can I do for you gentlemen tonight? Will we be choosing a tattoo?” He had a very deep voice that reminded Corny of Darth Vader.

“No,” Luis said, stepping forward to hide the fact that Corny had frozen like an ice sculpture. “My friend was thinking about maybe getting a piercing.”

Corny made a small noise. Like a mouse being snapped in half under a cheese trap.

“Excellent,” said Darth Vader. “Here is my selection if you would care to take a look.” He walked over to a long glass counter-style cabinet, standing behind it while Luis leaned over to peer inside.

“These look good. Neil, do you want to see?”

Corny most definitely did not want to see the little instruments of pain and ridicule. He walked over robotically anyway, standing next to Luis and staring at the glass without seeing through it.

“What do you think of something like that? Just a small one.” Luis pointed.

“Hm.” Corny said vaguely, not looking.

“Nervous, huh kid?” Darth said soothingly.

“No,” Corny rasped. Darth laughed. Corny wanted to melt into the floor and die.

“Could you give us a sec?” Luis asked.

“Sure thing. Just call if you need any assistance or if you make your choice.” Exit Darth.

“Luis, I don’t know about this,” Corny said in a voice that seemed a bit shrill. He was sweaty and breathing too quickly and shallowly. Luis came over and loosely wrapped his arms around Corny’s waist.

“Do you want to leave?”

“No.”

“Do you want to choose one?

“No.”

“Do you want me to choose for you?”

Corny thought about it. This option was less terrifying. “Yes.”

“Alright, if that’s what you really want.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Absolutely not. Now go ahead and pick something.” Corny crossed his arms and tried to look severe and tough. He guessed that he had failed miserably from the way Luis smiled at him as though agreeing to the whims of an overemotional toddler.

“Okay. But we can stop anytime.”

“Right.”

Luis called Darth back into the room and indicated his choice. Darth said some nonsense about what a superb choice it was while opening the back of the case with a set of keys attached to a chain through his belt loop.

Honestly, Corny thought darkly, who said ‘superb’ anyway?

Darth waved them into a back room and had Corny sit in a modified version of a dentist’s chair. Corny hated his dentist. Corny hated dentist chairs. Luis had to force his unwilling limbs into a sitting position before tipping him backwards into the fake leather. Corny gripped the armrests hard enough to crush bone.

“Okay kid, where to you want it?” Darth asked, scooting forward on a rolling stool and snapping on white latex gloves. Corny turned his head to look imploringly at Luis. Luis leaned over and pointed, brushing his finger softly against Corny’s skin. Corny gulped. Luis ran a thumb inconspicuously over Corny’s cheek to comfort him.

Darth flicked his braid over his shoulder and carefully arranged his tools on a little silver tray table, using alcohol and other various stinging liquids to clean the site of puncture. Corny closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, cursing himself for allowing Luis’ stupid, adorable, pleading face to him to get into this ridiculous situation.

~*~

Corny paid forty five dollars for his pain and walked distractedly out of the shop calling, “Thanks Darth,” over his shoulder. The tattooed bodybuilder looked highly confused, but he invited them back for more punishment anytime they so desired. Right, Corny thought.

“How does it feel?” Luis asked once they were outside.

“It hurts like hell actually, thanks for the concern.”

“Don’t touch it!” Luis warned.

Too late. Corny winced as he fingered his puffy red eyebrow. The new silver bar felt foreign and completely wrong in his skin. It kind of turned Corny on…. So much for his plan to murder Luis in his sleep for putting him through this.

‘Maybe I’m masochistic’, Corny thought idly as he continued to feel the new addition to his features.

“Well, what do you think?” Luis asked. Corny could tell Luis was getting impatient with him. Luis was really excited about this and all Corny could do was bitch.

“It’ll take some getting used to, but I’m glad you picked it for me. Thanks for making me do this.” Corny looked around for his car. “I want to see myself in the mirror again.” Luis grinned as he watched Corny lean down in front of one of the side mirrors, pulling different pained facial expressions as he got new angles on his piercing. “Yep, just what I thought. You’ve transformed me into some punk tough guy who intimidates everyone who ventures near him.”

Luis laughed. “Come on then, tough guy,” Luis said, opening his door and nearly smacking Corny in the head with it. “Let’s get to Ellen’s before she locks us out.”

~*~

“Oh, lemme see, lemme see!” Kaye bounded up to him as soon as he and Luis got inside the door. “Nice!” Kaye said, standing less than an inch away from his face.

“Let me breathe a little!” Corny said, backing away and walking into Luis who then tripped over the shoes piled by the door and overbalanced. His foot caught the back of Corny’s knee as he fell, making Corny’s legs give out from underneath him.

“Kaye!” Corny moaned, rolling off of Luis’ stomach. He had smashed his elbow against the hard floor. Luis was pulling dust bunnies out of his braids, sneezing.

“Sorry,” Kaye said in a small voice, hands behind her back, head hanging. She had dropped her glamour since everyone here knew her for what she was, but she pulled it back on so that her human skin could flush in appropriate shame.

“We’re always falling over each other,” Luis commented dryly.

Corny laughed. When he thought about it, it was true. “I guess that means we really did fall for each other.”

“Well isn’t that cute,” said Ellen, emerging out of a back room, crossing her bony arms. One of her tank top straps fell off her shoulder. She puffed on her cigarette, blowing twin streams of smoke out her nostrils. It made Corny think of a cartoon he once saw of an angry bull about to charge.

Kaye coughed. “Mom, could you not smoke while I’m here? It literally kills me.”

Ellen frowned, then sadly took the cigarette out of her mouth and stared at it despondently. “Well, you’re here so much that I’ll have to quit to make you happy.”

“That wouldn’t be such a bad thing,” said Luis reasonably.

Ellen gave him a strange look, somewhere between horror and rage. Then she shrugged and ground it into the ashtray.

“Thanks,” Kaye said.

“Yeah, yeah.” Ellen waved a lazy hand. “I made spaghetti if anyone’s hungry.”

“Me!” Luis called, stripping off his coat and boots and practically sprinting to the kitchen. Corny rolled his eyes and shared a look with Kaye.

“Looks like you got your work cut out for you, keeping that boy fed.”

“Tell me about it,” Corny muttered.

“I really like your piercing. What made you decide on a bar?”

“It was all Luis. Take it up with him. I was just the victim.”

“I thought for sure you’d want a lip ring since you like his so much.”

“How did you know that?” Corny asked, mortified. Kaye only looked at him serenely. “…Well I’m glad he picked this. It doesn’t feel as… obvious.”

“How?” Kaye said sarcastically.

“I don’t know. I guess because it doesn’t make me feel any different. I’m still me. Anything else would have been…”

“Too drastic?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“You’re a strange one, you know that?”

“Yes. I have business cards proclaiming that fact.”

Kaye laughed. Corny mussed her hair, getting her in a head lock and dragging her into the kitchen. Luis had a waterfall of spaghetti noodles hanging from his mouth, a blissful expression on his face.

Ellen used her fingers to pile more noodles onto two extra plates, letting them scoop out their own sauce from the pot on the stove. Corny used the side of his fork to cut the long pasta into bite size morsels. Luis, looking horrified, ran over and snatched the fork out of his hand.

“You’re murdering that dish!”

“Was I? I couldn’t tell it was alive.”

“Everyone knows you are not supposed to CUT spaghetti.”

“Well, apparently I’m not everyone. Now give me my fork back!” Corny lunged for it, but Luis dodged and kept it just out of his reach, making Corny hop around in a very undignified fashion. Ellen and Kaye watched with amused expressions.

“Okay, I’ll make you a deal,” Corny wheezed, giving up.

“Shoot.” Luis grinned lopsidedly.

“You show me how you want me to eat this, then you have to eat it the way I tell you.”

Luis thought about it. It looked painful. “Alright, but nothing nasty.”

“Of course not.”

Luis went over to Corny’s abandoned plate on the counter. “Observe.” He stabbed the noodles with the fork and began twirling it around, gathering them into a nice clump like a ball of yarn. “Open up,” Luis chided, holding his other hand under the fork as he brought it to Corny’s mouth. Corny chewed for a minute while Luis watched him with satisfaction.

“See? Now isn’t that better than hacking it to bits?”

“I guess,” Corny conceded. “Now it’s your turn,” he said wickedly. He dug around for a particularly long noodle. “Here,” he motioned Luis closer. “Put this end in your mouth, then slurp it up like sucking on a straw.”

“…Okay.” Luis eyed him speculatively, waiting for the punch line. Corny only smiled.

As Luis bent over the plate to do as instructed, Corny stuck the other end in his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kaye giggle and Ellen roll her eyes.

It was perfect. Luis followed the line all the way up to Corny until their lips were pressed together. He bit off the end to separate them, then kissed Corny sweetly, licking a bit of escaped sauce.

“Oh, oh! My eyes!” Kaye screamed. Ellen pretended to gag.

“Mmm,” Luis hummed, ignoring the people in the background. “I like your way better.”

Corny could only grin like a fool. He finally had his Lady and the Tramp moment. His stomach was all fluttery. Luis hooked his arm over Corny’s shoulders and carried their plates to the table with Kaye and Ellen.

“I like the piercing, Corny. Very emo. But we need to die your hair again. The roots are growing in brown.” Ellen dug her fingers through the top of his hair, criticizing it with her eyes. Corny continued to put up with her fiddling, staring at the table and sitting perfectly still. “Let me go see if I have some more do-it-yourself boxes.” Ellen got up and trundled into the bathroom, weaving a little.

Luis, strangely, got up and starting poking at Corny’s hair like a gorilla looking for lice to chew. “I didn’t notice that before.” He sounded indignant. He continued to assault Corny’s hair furiously, deeply offended that Ellen had more knowledge about Corny’s roots than he did.

“Yeah, I guess I forgot to tell you. My hair’s brown.” Corny stirred his spaghetti remains with his fork unenthusiastically.

“Hmph.” Luis sat down angrily, attacking his plate with unnecessary force.

“Here we go,” Ellen said, returning into the room with two boxes. “I have electric blue or bleach blonde. Which one?” She held up the boxes, waving them around slightly and looking at him expectantly.

“How about both?” Kaye chimed in. “We could do alternating stripes with a wide blue one down the middle that we could gel into a mohawk.”

Corny began to feel nervous about all this talk of radicalizing his hair. He didn’t like the sound of Kaye’s suggestion. “Um…”

“Oh come on,” Kaye argued before he had a chance to properly protest. “It would go great with your new look.”

“My new look?” Corny asked weakly.

“Yeah.” Kaye got up and starting mapping out where the colors should go, dividing his hair into segments. “It’s getting a bit long again, too. Maybe mom should cut it some more.”

“I like it long,” murmured Luis defensively.

“We’re not cutting it.” Corny said firmly. Luis gave him a grateful look.

Ellen dropped her arms and sighed in aggravation. “So, what are we deciding on?” She stared impatiently at the ceiling, waiting for an answer.

“Blue.”

…. Kaye and Corny slowly turned their heads. To look at. Luis.

Corny raised his studded eyebrow. “Blue?”

Luis shrugged. “Sure. Why not? It’s up to you. I just think it would look good.”

Corny turned quickly to Ellen. “Blue it is then.”

~*~

Corny peered in the mirror critically. The next time he went home, his mom was going to flip. Blue hair and one pierced eyebrow later and BAM, whole new son. Corny pulled his still wet hair this way and that. He experimented with a mokawk like Kaye had suggested. No. No, that was just silly. He spiked it up in the front, letting the rest fall in carefully disheveled disarray. Yeah. Yeah, that looked bearable.

There was a soft knock on the bathroom door. “Can I come in?” It was Luis.

“Sure,” Corny called.

Luis cracked the door open and peeked in. “I’ve been dying to see. Why are you keeping us all in suspense? …Hey!” He noticed the hair, “That looks great!”

Corny picked up the now empty box. “It says it should be electric blue, but this turned out darker.”

“It’s because your hair was already dyed black. I like it this way though. Not too vibrant.” Luis began playing with it, getting the spikes just right. Corny closed his eyes and purred. Luis laughed. “No really, I love it! What do you think?”

Corny turned away from the mirror to face Luis. “I think it’s just what I needed.” He leaned forward and Luis met him, pushing him back against the sink as they kissed. Corny stood on his toes to sit on the edge. Luis moved between his legs and wrapped his arms around his bare waist, in danger of dislodging the towel he wore. Corny’s skin was still hot and damp from the shower. He bunched up the material of the back of Luis’ shirt and lifted. Luis raised his arms and Corny threw the shirt to the floor.

“Kiddo! You still in there? I found you and Luis some pajamas. I don’t know who they belonged to, but no one’s using them now. …Hello?” Ellen pounded on the door.

Corny came up for air. “Yeah,” he panted.

“Now don’t get all hot and bothered. We wondered where Luis had disappeared to. You in there too kid?”

Luis blushed and looked at Corny. “Yes,” he said guiltily.

“Well no messing around after midnight. House rules. Come on, it’s late. You guys should get to bed if you’re going to be ripping up floor tile all day tomorrow. You need your rest.” Ellen opened the door and set the pajamas on the sink next to Corny’s leg, completely ignoring the attempts of the two boys to get disentangled from each other.

“Good night!” She called, heading to the bedroom with Kaye. “I pulled out the sofa bed for you two. See you in the morning. Oh yeah,” she stuck her head around the doorjamb again. “Awesome hair, kiddo.” She clicked her tongue and shut the door.

Corny ran his hand over his face. “She’s killing me.”

“Ellen’s fun,” Luis scolded.

“Fun, right.” Corny slid down off the sink and picked up the pajamas. “Which one do you want? Red plaid or blue plaid?”

“Red. You have to wear the blue.”

“Oh very funny,” Corny grimaced, pointing to his hair.

They decided to only wear the pants because the tops were very… old-man-ish. Long sleeve button-down collared affairs that just didn’t work. Luis found his ‘village idiot’ t-shirt and pulled that on again.

Sure enough, the sofa bed had been made for them with two top sheets they could slide between. There were even two sweat stained pillows that smelled faintly of wine. Corny flopped down and stretched out. Luis snuggled up next to him and immediately began playing with his hair.

“You really like the blue don’t you?”

“Mm-hm.”

Corny closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of Luis sliding his fingers through his hair over and over. Luis leaned in close and blew softly in his ear. It gave Corny goosebumps all up and down is left leg and arm. He grinned.

As Corny lay there, letting his body grow more and more relaxed, he reviewed his life. He was in a contemplative mood. Hands down, the last month of his entire existence had been the best. He really would do anything for Luis. Hell, he already had two outrageous whims down. He wondered how many more changes Luis wanted him to make. Oddly, this thought didn’t scare him like it would have in the past.

Life was perfect.

Luis’ fingers began to slow down, until he was only rubbing his thumb back and forth. The quiet movement stopped when he started breathing in small regular puffs. Corny loved the sound of Luis breathing when he was asleep. It made him seem younger. Asleep, he lost the hard exterior he had grown living on the streets and fighting for his life. Corny turned and buried his face in Luis’ chest. There wasn’t any other place he’d rather be.