Fix swallowed hard. “Oh? What did you see?”
“A truck. A very familiar truck, driven by a very familiar person. Just…cruising down my street.”
It was a reprimand, but Liam didn’t sound angry. At least Fix hoped he wasn’t.
“I have an evil twin.”
Liam snorted. “Well maybe tell your evil twin he has to up his stealth game?”
“He says he’s sorry,” Fix said, shaking his head.
“He doesn’t sound sorry. In fact, he sounds like he’s gonna quote another obscure cursebreaker rule from a never-before-opened book.”
Fix groaned, sinking deeper into his pillows. “How did you know I never opened it?”
“I literally cracked the spine on it, Fix,” Liam said.
“Rules are still rules.” Fix shrugged as if Liam could see him. “And I am a rule-abiding cursebreaker.”
“So I can expect that to become a regular thing? Your patrols around my building?” Liam asked, and Fix convinced himself he could hear a hint of hope in his voice. As if he liked the idea of Fix being there. As if he wanted the answer to be yes.
“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
Liam fell silent.
It stretched, long and loud between them. Fix could hear Liam breathing on the other side, fast little intakes of air he started counting just to ground himself.
“You don’t, Fix,” Liam said softly, barely audible. “I just…I’m not worth it.”
Everything in Fix shattered at those words. He wanted to claw his way through his phone to Liam to hold him in his arms and show him just how special he was. How infinitely beautiful the world was because he was in it.
“Let’s agree to disagree on that, honey.”
“You said you wouldn’t call me that,” Liam said, but his voice sounded lighter now.
“I’ll try and stop myself,” Fix said. He heard something louder from whatever was playing in the background. “What are you watching?”
“You can hear that?”
“No words, just sounds and inaudible yelling.”
Liam snorted. “You just described half of anime.”
“So it’s an anime?”
“My favorite one, yeah,” Liam said shyly. “Star Stealer.”
Fix squinted as that name rang bells inside his skull. “Is that the one with the guy and the dog?”
“You’ve seen it?”
“Wren likes it, so I’ve caught it in passing. Some aliens were trying to steal planets and it turned out to be the guy’s parents?”
“YOU WATCHED THE END FIRST!”
Fix blinked. “I did?”
“The series starts with Sora being abandoned on Earth. He grows up on the streets and meets Nova, his dog, in an abandoned mall. They bond and he imbues long life and power into him with the strength of his love and then they work together to stop the star stealers who are terrorizing the galaxies. You aren’t supposed to find out who the star stealers are until the end!!”
