Showers, Flowers, and Fangs

by Aidan Wayne

  Darren gaped at them both before staring down at his hands again. Then he squashed down his freaking out and asked, as calmly as he could, “Can I put the glamour back?” His grandmother nodded. “Oh thank god.” It slid into place easily, barely a second thought, fixing the slight differences and covering the marks on his arms and hands again. “Okay,” he said, letting out a breath. “That’s much better.” Then he looked back down to the sunflower he was sitting on. Oh yeah. Not quite.

  “And the shrinking?” he asked. “Is that because of the dragon thing too?”

  His grandmother laughed. “Oh no, seedling, that is all your fae blood. Come, I will teach you how to undo it.”

  “SO SHE taught me how to unshrink, but I was so exhausted afterward that I could barely get back home,” Darren said, rubbing at his arms. “So she’s pretty sure it was a one-time thing.”

  “One-time thing?” Trish asked.

  Darren nodded. “Yeah, like, my body had so much energy, it just needed to get rid of it in one big burst. But it took a crazy toll. Everything hurt and I’m still sore. I might have the fae magic to change size, but my human side was not happy over the shrinking and growing. She says that the next time I feel like that, that I should just get myself outside and try to let loose, instead of ignoring it. Apparently the ‘sooner you accept what your power wants to do, the sooner it will listen’ or something.” He lifted a shoulder. “My mom’s already looking into study abroad programs for next year. There are a couple places in China that have programs for Dragon King descendants. I’m gonna be taking Mandarin as my foreign language after all.” He laughed, adding, “Vlad sounded kind of grumpy when I told him that. He’s been trying to talk me into taking German.”

  “That’s so cool, though,” Bethany enthused. “Do you know how much you’ll be able to learn? And a chance to live in another culture? I’m so jealous.”

  “I guess,” Darren said. “I’m just happy to be big again. Being tiny is freaking scary.”

  Bethany raised an eyebrow.

  “I was four inches tall, Beth. I’m perfectly aware that all five foot one of you could take me in a fight.”

  She nodded. “And don’t you forget it.”

  “Can we see?” Trisha asked.

  “See what?” She pointed eagerly at his hands. “Oh. Uh, okay, sure.” Darren concentrated and pulled the glamour off his arms and hands only, a trick he’d gotten pretty good at over the last couple of days. He’d had to show his arms off to a bunch of people and get pictures taken of all the markings and yeah, at this point he could probably just incorporate his new markings into his usual glamour if he wanted to.

  “Oh wow,” Trisha said, coming closer to look. Darren obligingly turned his hands palm-up to display the Chinese characters.

  “This one means wind,” he said, bouncing his left hand. “And this one means rain.”

  He let the girls look their fill before he slid his glamour back into place.

  “So,” Trisha said, “did you explain it all to Vlad?”

  Darren nodded. “Called him as soon as I was up to it, once we got back. He was pretty relieved. I think he was half-convinced that he had something to do with it, the dork.”

  “Is that why he’s not here now?” Bethany asked, sitting back.

  “Nah. He was practicing his shifting this morning. He always gives himself a little… time alone, after doing that. But he’s coming over later; my parents are going out to dinner and Tabitha’s out of the house tonight so we’re gonna keep each other company. He got curious over food after we had ice cream, so we’re gonna try a recipe that he should be able to eat. We already vetted it with Charlie, so it’s just a matter of trying to make it.”

  “It sounds like things have been going well,” Trisha said approvingly. “Told you you were worried for nothing.”

  Darren rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, yeah, I guess—”

  “Worried about what?” Bethany asked.

  “About Darren’s crush on Vlad.”

  Bethany whapped Darren on the shoulder. “You haven’t told him yet?”

  “Ow, hey! Why would I tell him? I’m not gonna do that. Why would I do that?”

  Bethany rolled her eyes. “Boys,” she said, sounding disgusted.

  Darren rubbed at his shoulder. “Look, I just don’t want to ruin a good thing, okay? Vlad’s my friend. We have a lot of fun together, and I’m not gonna freak him out by telling him I also want to kiss his face sometimes.”

  “He’s got a point, Beth,” Trisha said.

  “See?” Darren pointed. “See, even the resident expert agrees with me.”

  Bethany grumbled but left it alone.

  It wasn’t easy. Every time Darren and Vlad hung out now, Darren kept noticing things. Like, even more than he had before. And yeah, some of it was superficial stuff, like the way Vlad’s T-shirts pulled tight across his back, or his biceps—Darren maybe had a thing for biceps?—or how crazy green his eyes were, standing out against his dark brown skin….

  But there was also how stupid nice Vlad was. How his lips quirked when he thought something was amusing, how happy he sounded when he laughed, the way he always tried to be polite when he was uncomfortable, instead of lashing out. How he worked so hard to be in control and make himself safe all the time. His willingness to go along with Darren’s crazy ideas and—and biking in the rain.

  Darren wanted to stand under a downpour with Vlad and laugh about it and then kiss him through it.

  But he was not going to screw something up by making Vlad uncomfortable. Vlad already had enough of that feeling to last a lifetime. Darren could deal. No sweat.

  And he would deal, he thought as he straightened up his room after Trish and Beth left. It wouldn’t be too hard. Act like things were normal and make sure he didn’t accidentally stare at Vlad too much. Easy enough, right?

  He was getting out bowls and ingredients in preparation for their vampire-friendly borscht attempt when the doorbell rang.

  “Hey, Vlad!” he said, opening the door with a smile. Vlad was holding a plastic bag in one hand and carrying a bouquet of sunflowers in the other. “Uh?”

  “I brought you a snack,” Vlad said, thrusting the bouquet at Darren. “Since we are making food for me.”

  “Oh hey! Thanks.” Oh my god, Vlad, stop being adorable. He tried for a laugh. “And I’m actually bigger than the sunflower this time. Come on in.”

  “I’m glad you are all right,” Vlad said as they ended up in the kitchen. “I was worried about you. You seemed pretty out of it, on the phone.”

  Darren winced a little as he put the sunflowers in some water for safekeeping. “Ah, yeah, sort of was. But I’m all sorted now. Back to my usual self. Well, you know, except for the….” He wiggled his hands.

  “May I see them?” Vlad asked. “If… if that is okay.”

  “Psh, yeah, it’s fine. I’ve already shown them to like half the town practically.” Darren slid the glamour off his arms again and held them out for Vlad to inspect.

  Vlad carefully took Darren’s right hand in his own and turned it over, inspecting the palm before turning it back again, tracing the swirling pattern with his fingertips. And okay, touching, Darren was totally fine.

  “Uh—yeah.” Darren did not squeak; he was done with squeaking. “Descendant of a Dragon King I guess. My mom and I are going to the doctor next week for a full physical and to get blood drawn, to try to trace it and figure out which one.”

  Vlad nodded and let go of his arm. “How are you feeling?”

  “Kind of lousy,” Darren admitted. “Turns out shrinking and then growing again is not pleasant when your body isn’t made for it. But I’ll live. How’d your shifting practice go?”

  Vlad frowned and shook his head. “I still can’t get it,” he said unhappily. “I’ve been doing well with all the other things, but I can’t get the hang of the shift.”

  “Is Charlie still away at that emergency meeting thing? Can you call him?”


  Vlad sighed. “He’s coming back tonight. We’re meeting tomorrow. I wouldn’t mind if you were there,” he added.

  “Are you sure?” Darren said. “I thought… you were kinda uncomfortable with, you know, shifting around people.”

  “If Charlie is there, I won’t have to worry,” Vlad said matter-of-factly. “He would step in if something went wrong. And I will have to get used to controlling the shift around people eventually. I’d rather start with someone I trust.”

  Darren swallowed. “Sure thing,” he said. “And don’t worry about getting the hang of shifting! Charlie’ll know what’s wrong and fix you up. You’ve been doing really well with everything else—shifting was probably just like, the thing the universe made you bad at so you weren’t crazy awesome.”

  Vlad huffed a laugh. “You have a lot of faith in me.”

  “Don’t have a reason not to,” Darren said. “Now, did you bring your half of the stuff?”

  Vlad nodded and held up his plastic bag.

  “Great! Okay, ‘project make vampire friendly food’ is officially underway.”

  THE THING was, even with all the prep and figuring out the ingredients, the dish still needed like an hour on the stove to cook. Even after cleaning up after themselves, they had a lot of time to kill while they waited.

  “Wanna go out back?” Darren suggested. “It’s a nice day.”

  “As in, it might rain?” Vlad smirked.

  “Shut up, no. As in, it’s partly sunny and the temperature is perfect and there’s a breeze. Are you coming or what?” Vlad laughed and beat Darren to the back door.

  They sat down side by side on the porch, and for once, Darren’s skin wasn’t buzzing.

  “Are you okay?” Vlad asked.

  “Hm? Yeah, why?”

  “No reason. Just lately you have been more energetic when outside,” Vlad said. “You seem a little more subdued today.”

  “Probably just the aftermath of what happened,” Darren said. “I used up so much energy shrinking, I almost didn’t have enough left in me to grow. I can’t even hear the nature right now. Honestly? It’s kind of nice.”

  “So no more birds and bees in your head?”

  “Not right now,” Darren said, smiling. “And let me tell you, it is fantastic. I’m learning how to block it out, but it’s been taking some effort. I don’t know how full fae deal with it.”

  “Probably by making a lot of winter babies,” Vlad said, quirking his lips.

  Darren clutched at his ears and flopped onto his back. “Ugh, no, stop.”

  “Although I am sure some of them aren’t trying for or cannot have them,” Vlad added thoughtfully.

  “Shhh, you’re the worst.”

  Vlad snickered down at him. “The very worst?” And seriously, how were his eyes so green?

  “You know it,” Darren managed, waving his hands. “The worst there is, what with the—being crazy good at physics and math and world history and—and speaking five languages—”

  “Four,” Vlad said, sounding amused.

  “—four languages, and being a good cycler, and impressing all the adult figures with your politeness, and, okay, you suck at video games that aren’t just point and shoot but—”

  “Darren?” Vlad was suddenly really close.

  Darren blinked up at him. “Yeah?”

  “I….” Vlad squared his shoulders. “May I kiss you?”

  Darren sat up so fast they almost knocked heads. “What?” he squeaked out.

  “I—it is fine if you don’t want to,” Vlad said immediately, looking away. “I’m sorry. Forget I said something, please.”

  “No! No, no, no, sorry, you just—I didn’t even—kissing is fine. I am absolutely down for kissing.” Darren couldn’t believe it. “I just, I mean. You’re sure?”

  “I’m even sure that Tabitha wouldn’t put me under house arrest, if she found out,” Vlad said.

  Darren froze, getting that reference instantly. “Oh my god, that first-kiss story was about you kissing a guy, wasn’t it?”

  Vlad nodded. “You… did say that you were willing to try with men, if they were interested in men,” he said nervously. “I promise I don’t think that you’re a girl.”

  “If you did after all this time, I think I would actually have to punch you.”

  “I really would prefer kissing to punching,” Vlad said, fingers twisting in the hem of his shirt.

  “Oh my god,” Darren said, making grabby hands. “You—just—get over here.”

  Vlad smiled and obliged.

  They both had some experience, but not with each other, so it took a couple seconds for it to become a good kiss, while they figured out how to turn their heads so their noses didn’t bump, where to put their hands. Vlad ended up mostly in Darren’s lap by the time they finally broke apart, panting a little and foreheads touching.

  “You absolute loser,” Darren murmured against Vlad’s mouth. “I thought you were straight. Do you know how freaked out I was over liking you? I thought I was gonna tear our friendship apart by accident.” He paused, realizing something. “Wait a minute, oh my god, you brought me flowers.”

  “You mentioned liking edible presents,” Vlad said, sounding smug.

  “Oh my god, you nerd.”

  “I’m not sure how I feel,” said Vlad, still grinning, “about you calling me all these names.”

  “What was that? Sorry, didn’t catch it, busy kissing you.”

  They did end up making it back inside, if only because Darren was not about to let their vampire-food attempt burn. Vlad reported that it wasn’t bad, but that next time they should try less salt; the blood made the dish salty enough without it. They might have also spent a large part of dinner staring goofily at each other, but… no one else had to ever know that.

  When they made their way to the living room to watch something after they finished eating, Vlad took his usual seat right in the middle and raised an eyebrow at Darren. Darren immediately pressed himself up against Vlad’s side because that was okay now. Like, even more than it had been. And Vlad had been pretty okay with it, before.

  Maybe the hand that wasn’t holding Darren’s sunflower dessert ended up curled around Vlad’s shoulders.

  And when, halfway through the movie, Vlad turned to Darren and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth just because, well, they’d both already seen the movie, so it wasn’t really a big deal if they missed some parts.

  Chapter Nine

  DARREN TRIED not to feel nervous when he walked over to Vlad’s house the next day. Vlad had asked again for him to come when he’d left the night before, as if making sure Darren still didn’t mind. Which of course, yeah, Darren was totally down for being moral support. And for more time with Vlad. All of which he’d said enthusiastically, while Vlad watched him, smile soft.

  Darren had never had a good-night kiss before. Not a real one, at the door of a house before going back inside.

  It was super nice.

  Part of him had wanted to tell Beth and Trish pretty much as soon as Vlad had gone home, but Darren had decided to hold off. Not because he didn’t want to—he was basically exploding with the need to brag about his boyfriend, and oh my god Darren had a boyfriend, but he knew they’d be completely unbearably smug about the whole thing forever.

  He could wait a day for that part.

  But that also meant he was going over to Vlad’s, after kissing him, by himself without, like, moral support.

  And even with texting all morning, Darren was still a little jittery about seeing Vlad in person after last night. Mostly worrying about things like What if it was a mistake, and What if he came to his senses, and ugh Why couldn’t the birds and bees shut up for one more day?

  Vlad answered the door with a bright smile, and all Darren’s worries pretty much vanished.

  “Hey, Vlad!” he said, and he didn’t need a mirror to know he probably had the goopiest smile going on. “I made it.”

  Vlad huffed a laugh.
“You did. Come on in. Would you like something to drink?”

  Darren shook his head. “Nah, I’m good for now. Is Tabby home?”

  “She is working in the garden,” Vlad said. “Some of her plants have not handled the storms well.”

  Darren winced. “Oops? I mean, not like it’s my fault. But. Sorry? If she needs some help with repair work, she can always ask. Although, uh….” Darren frowned. “Maybe she should talk to my dad, not me. I’m still kinda out of control right now.”

  “Is the buzzing back?”

  “Kinda?” Darren made a face. “No storms that I can… sense, or whatever right now, but I’ve got a feeling that something big is on the way? Like maybe later this week. Or next week? I don’t have a real feel for this yet.”

  Vlad nodded. “Let me know when you think it might get here. I’d like to be there with you. If, ah, you’ll have me.”

  “Are you kidding? Yeah, of course!” The doorbell rang, and Vlad got up to show Charlie in. Darren bit down a gasp when he saw him. Charlie had dark bruises under his eyes, and he was limping. He looked completely worn down, and he had a faint, weird glamour hanging off the edges of his aura. It kind of made Darren’s nose itch.

  “What happened to you?”

  “Are you all right?” Vlad asked, clearly concerned.

  Charlie smiled tightly. “I’m fine. Just a little tired. It’s a long flight, and I may have pushed myself to make it faster.”

  “Where’d you go?” Darren asked, before sneezing hard. He sniffed. “Sorry.”

  “Bless you,” said Charlie. “And Scandinavia. A clan head went a bit… out of control. They needed a team of impartial soloists to handle negotiations. But it was nothing that we couldn’t take care of. Everything’s sorted.”

  “I’m glad you are okay,” Vlad said. “But shouldn’t you be resting? We can have my lesson another time.”

  “No, no,” Charlie said. “I’m fine. Really. You’ll be doing most of the work today. I shouldn’t have left you at all. I wouldn’t have, if it hadn’t been an emergency. I take the teachings of the newly turned very seriously. Your training is important. Especially when it gives you trouble.”