The room erupted.
Tula sagged against Esag, relief flooding through her. Around them, people were cheering and clapping. Yamanu stood and took a theatrical bow, playing to the crowd like the showman he was.
Shira ducked under the rope and dropped to her knees beside Tony, who lay motionless on the mat. She gathered his head into her lap, brushing sweat-damp hair from his forehead, and murmuring something that Tula couldn't hear above the noise of the crowd.
As Shira cradled Tony's head, there was tenderness and care there. Whatever was developing between them, it was real.
Good. Tony needed someone to take care of him. He didn't know how to be alone, and Shira seemed good for him.
The minutes ticked by. Conversations resumed at a lower volume, with people milling around, refreshing their drinks, and picking at the food on the tables, all the while glancing toward the mat where Tony lay unconscious.
Then his eyes fluttered open.
"Wha..." He blinked up at Shira's face hovering over him. "Am I dead?"
"No, you idiot." Shira's voice was thick. "You're just trippy."
"I feel weird."
"It's the venom. It'll wear off."
"I don't want it to wear off." Tony tried to sit up, failed, and flopped back down. "Everything is very... floaty."
Yamanu crouched beside him. "How do you feel? Besides floaty?"
"Like I got hit by a truck and then the truck apologized by giving me really good drugs." Tony's words were slurred but coherent. "That was... wow. Is it always like that?"
"The first bite is always the most intense."
"Can I get more? I mean not now, but later. Maybe tomorrow?"
Yamanu laughed. "That depends on how well you learn to fight. I don't go around biting just anyone, you know."
Tony's face fell into an exaggerated pout. "But I'm your little brother."
"Yes, you are, which means I'm not going to bite you."
"Then I'm probably never getting another one."
"That's right." Yamanu's grin turned wicked. "When you transition, your job will be to give those fabulous venom trips to Shira every night or whenever she wants them."
The crowd erupted in hoots and cheers. Someone wolf-whistled, and some offered helpful suggestions that made even Tula blush.
Shira, on the other hand, didn't seem embarrassed at all. She just smiled and smoothed Tony's hair back from his forehead. "One step at a time. You need to transition first."
"I like the sound of that plan," Tony mumbled. "The every night part, I mean. Not the transition part. Well, also the transition part. I like all the parts."
After a few more minutes, Shira got Tony to his feet. He swayed like a sapling in the wind, but he stayed upright. Kaia and William helped steady him and get him over the rope.
"Let's get you to bed," Shira said.
"Bed sounds good."
People crowded around to wish him well, to pat his shoulder, to offer congratulations that were technically premature but felt earned anyway. Tony had done his part. Now his body had to do the rest.
"He'll transition," Esag said.
"You think so?"
