“The red is nice. Golden. Not the dark auburn that so many covet, but a pretty carrot color. You like carrots, right?”
“Carrots are good. Especially with hummus or peanut butter.”
Bas smiled. “Okay, ready for me to move one hand?”
“I guess.” But Dane didn’t sound all that sure.
“Let me cover just one side of your face. Sort ofPhantom of the Opera-like. Have you seen that musical?” Bas asked. “Close your eyes for a second.
“Saw the movie a long time ago on tour,” Dane said as he complied.
Bas moved his right hand to cover the lower left side of Dane’s face and adjusted his left to keep the top portion covered. “Open your eyes.”
Dane’s single uncovered baby blue eye stared forward, unblinking.
“You have beautiful eyes. I heard it’s actually pretty rare for redheads to have blue eyes. Some perfection of genetic code or something. There was this movement to try to get gingers to unite and procreate.” Bas removed his right hand. “Stop me any time.”
Dane reached up to touch the beard, fingers tracing the path down the side of his face and to his chin. “It doesn’t look like me. Is this mirror broken?”
“Nope. Do I look like me in the mirror?”
“Yes,” Dane whispered, his gaze straying to Bas.
“Ready for more?”
“Just do it.” Dane grabbed Bas’s left hand and pulled it away.
“What do you see?” Bas wrapped his arms around Dane’s chest and rested his chin on Dane’s shoulder as they both stared in the mirror.
“That’s me?”
“The gorgeous redhead with amazing blue eyes, yeah.”
“It doesn’t look like me.”
“Not like you were in Vocal Growth. But it’s you. The new you.”
Dane blinked and turned his head to the right, then to the left. “The beard is different. Are you sure it’s okay? Do I look older?”
“You want me to be honest?”
Dane sucked in a deep breath as if waiting for a physical blow. “Yes.”
“You’re really fucking hot. This gay boy has a thing for beards and redheads.” Bas let him go and stepped back. “So I’ll ask you the same question you asked me last night. Are you ready?”
Dane turned and looked at him in confusion. “Ready for what?’
Bas leaned forward and kissed Dane lightly on the lips. No more than a peck, but the stunned expression on Dane’s face said it was enough. “Would I kiss a monster?”
“No.” Dane touched his lips with his fingers like he could still feel Bas’s lips there. The thought made Bas smile.
“How did that feel? Weird? Gross?”
“I don’t know. It wasn’t bad. Fast. Not gross.”
“That’s a start, I suppose. Do you still feel like you? Not like a monster or a pervert?”
He seemed to think about that a minute. “Yes. Mostly. My brain is less jumbled. I think telling Ru last night helped. And watching him and Adam together gives me hope that whatever I am is normal.”
