wasn’t for Athaliah, maybe he could go on pretending he could keep this dream.
That he could keep Frankie and finally be that happy, free person he wanted so much.
But this was the real world, and there were no magical wish-granting genies to be found that could
give him a brand new life. All he could do was keep the game going, try to stay a few steps ahead,
and do his best to ignore how his heart sang when Frankie smiled at him.
Snod made his way through the rest of the bottle of vodka, allowing Frankie’s assistance when he
tried to drunkenly cook dinner for himself. He managed to steal a few kisses in between rounds of
singing all the songs he’d learned from his Disney marathon.
Frankie would not allow the affection to carry on as far as Snod would have liked, but he enjoyed
being close to him all the same.
Frankie holding him steady while he battered chicken was nice. He had never known a mundane task
could feel so intimate. It was too easy to imagine doing this every night together, and Snod quickly
found one of the bottles of liquor Lorenzo had left behind to drown the unavoidable conflict. He could
barely finish his plate of food before he was ready to pass out, Frankie again helping him by guiding
him into the bed in the guest room.
Snod hated it.
The bed was too small, the sheets felt scratchy, and it didn’t have Frankie in it. He pouted when he
felt familiar cold hands tucking him in, longing for more. He reached out, holding onto Frankie’s arm,
asking, “Won’t you stay?”
“Obe...” Frankie sounded torn. “We shouldn’t. I told you, one more month and—”
“Do you really see good in me?” Snod demanded suddenly, trying to turn his head and focus in on
Frankie’s face.
“Of course I do,” Frankie soothed.
“You shouldn’t.”
“Why?” Frankie asked patiently.
“Because... I’m not good,” Snod flubbed.
“Maybe you weren’t before,” Frankie said carefully, his cool fingers dipping over Snod’s scalp, “but
you can be now. I wasn’t good, but I changed. So can you.”
“Are we dating?” Snod asked suddenly.
Frankie paused. “Do you want us to be?”
