“Okay, okay!” Tuesday turned his nose up and marched to the door. “I am gonna go smoke all your weed and eat your food.”
Ozzie snorted out a laugh. “Hey! Don’t you dare!”
“I dare anything. I’m Skeletor.”
“What?”
“I dunno. Heard it from some movie.” Tuesday wiggled his fingers in a little wave and then left the room.
Ozzie sighed, adjusted his headset, and got to work.
He breezed through his emails, talked a woman through hooking up her printer, and tried his best to not get distracted by Tuesday’s little visits. While Tuesday did leave Ozzie so he could focus on work, Tuesday did not stay gone.
He kept popping back in to see if Ozzie was done, or to ask if he needed anything to eat or drink, and would often sneak over to stare at his computer to see what he was doing. The attention was sweet, but it was difficult to focus with a beautiful alien constantly popping in and touching him and petting his hair and…
Yeah, Ozzie was not going to get anything done at this rate.
Eventually, it was time to clock out for lunch, and Ozzie had never been so relieved for a break. He took his headset and stretched, asking casually, “So, lunch?”
Tuesday peeked around the doorway from where he’d been hiding. “Hey, how did you know I was here?”
“I could literally hear you counting down the minutes even with my headset on.” Ozzie smirked. “You want some leftover pizza for lunch?”
“Is there actually any left?” Tuesday laughed. “I thought we ate it all last?—”
There was a knock at the door.
Ozzie froze.
“Oh!” Tuesday turned toward the sound. “Expecting somebody?”
Ozzie cringed, his panic hitting him like a bucket of ice water.
Derrick!
His brother.
His brother was here now.
Ozzie had been so caught up in Tuesday that he’d forgotten Derrick was coming by to bring him that crap for the company Christmas party. He had no idea how he would explain having Tuesday here, and he quickly grabbed one of Tuesday’s arms. “You gotta hide.”
“Hide?” Tuesday blinked. “What? Is it the cops?”
“No, maybe worse. It’s my brother.” Ozzie pushed Tuesday towards the bedroom. “If he sees you here, it’s gonna be an interrogation the likes of which Guantanamo Bay has never even seen.”
Tuesday dug in his heels. “Wait, what? Why can’t I say hi?” He flailed. “I will be on my best behavior!”
“Oh no. It’s not you. It’s him. Never in thirty years has he found me with a guy. This will be a whole fucking thing.” Ozzie huffed, giving Tuesday another firm push.
“Are you ashamed of me?”
“What? No!” Ozzie groaned. “Of course not! I just... I don’t even know what this is yet to try to explain it to my brother! I don’t want you getting stuck with all the family drama.”
“Okay. Fine.” Tuesday pouted and finally let Ozzie herd him into the bedroom. “I’ll stay here.”
“Thank you.” Ozzie sighed in relief. “Just chill and… I’ll be back in a bit.” He smooched Tuesday’s cheek and then hurried out, shutting the door behind him. He could still hear Derrick banging away and he quickly answered the door. “Hey!”
Derrick was carrying a brightly colored red dress shirt covered in Christmas lights on a hanger and an equally hideous matching tie, his brow furrowed. “Hey, you okay? Were you in the shitter or something?”
