Mathlin perked up. There was a skip in his step as he followed Titan back to the bakery.
He was just a few paces behind Titan when Jannie belched.
Mathlin made a choked sound. By the time Titan turned to see what the matter was, Mathlin was sucking in air like a goldfish out of water. Then the omega coughed and spluttered.
Titan paused, sniffing. Was that... smoke in the air? It wasn’t enough to indicate an ongoing fire. “Why are you breathing that in? It’s not great for you, is it?”
Mathlin squeaked. “I’m breathing in clean air! It tastes like nothing!”
Lie and lie. Titan glanced at Jannie, who had stuffed her hand into her mouth.
Was Titan imagining things, or was that soot on her fingers?
Mathlin looked very uncomfortable, so Titan shrugged and turned toward the bakery. “I saw nothing.”
“Thanks,” Mathlin whispered, his entire body relaxing.
Why was he trying so hard to hide what Jannie was?
“You know you can trust me, right?” Titan said.
Mathlin eyed him warily, but nodded.
The thing was, Titan had been distracted. Because of everything going on with Mathlin, he had forgotten his conversation with Hamilton.
Until they were back at Twin Buns.
A large banner had been hung up across the back of the bakery, with one sentence—in bold—printed across it:
The magical healing cock exists.
Titan stopped abruptly, staring. “What the hell?”
Mathlin followed his gaze. “Oh gods.”
Somewhere in the bakery, Hamilton cackled.
“What is a magical healing cock?” Titan demanded.
Mathlin turned to him, eyebrows raised high. “Have you never heard of it?”
Titan shook his head, his thoughts crashing together. “I’m thirty-two! And I’m older than you by, what, ten years? Why don’t I know about this?”
“It’s a huge thing in fiction,” Mathlin said, his face turning red. “Sometimes a character will sleep with their love interest,and they’ll be magically cured. Either from trauma, or physical injuries. Maybe both. It depends on the author.”
Titan tried to wrap his mind around it. “But it’s just a cock.”
“It’smagical.It helps you transcend reality,” Hamilton sang loudly from inside the bakery. “Maybe you should try it too, Titan.”
Mathlin’s blush intensified. “But it doesn’t make sense in real life! How would a cock make Titan’s bone heal faster?”
“Because you’re beingboned,duh,” Hamilton said. Mathlin winced.
Titan groaned. “That’s not funny.”
“Agree to disagree,” Hamilton sang. “If you’re so desperate to be healed, then you should tryevery possible solution.Including the magical healing cock.”
“Are you suggesting that Mathlin’s is magical?”
