“It’s lovely that your plants conspire against you?”
“What? No, that is deeply disconcerting,” Zef said with a dismissive wave. “I have just realized that you are handsome. Which is fortunate, as I will be seeing you every day now that we live together. How wonderful that I find you pleasing to look at.”
Oh dear, the human was expressing a lot now. His brows had risen high into his forehead, creasing his brow with wrinkles, and his eyes were wide, lips parted in anOshape. Red darkened the skin of his cheeks under his beard and crawled down his neck to meet the chest hair poking out his collar.
Shock, Zef thought. Or perhaps embarrassment or discomfort. Or maybe he was going to be sick. It was hard to tell. Interpreting emotions had never been Zef’s strong suit, and they still did not know Bryce well enough to have memorized his facial tells.
Nerves knotted their stomach unpleasantly. “Forgive me, have I said something offensive?”
“No,” Bryce said, too quickly, which usually meant it was a white lie offered in hopes of salvaging an uncomfortable social interaction.
“I apologize—”
“No, don’t. That’s not—you didn’t say anything wrong. I just wasn’t expecting…” Bryce rubbed the back of his neck and smiled ruefully. “People just don’t talk like that.”
Inhaling sharply, Zef stepped back, as if distance would somehow lessen the weight of the blow. “Ah, yes. I… I know I am… that I am notalways—”
Bryce’s features twisted into something akin to pain, though he did not appear physically hurt. “Ah, hell, I’m mucking this all up. That ain’t what I meant, Zef.”
Hand rising, as if to reach for them, he took a step toward them, and on instinct, Zef matched it with a step back of their own to keep him from touching them. The color drained from Bryce’s face at their retreat, and he dropped his hand back to his side instantly.
“Crap, I wasn’t gonna—ah, look out!”
And Bryce lunged at them.
For a moment, fear froze them in place, like a creature caught in the lights of an oncoming vehicle, and they could do nothing but squeeze their eyes shut in preparation for the impact. But nothing happened. The air pressure changed, and instead of the earthy scents of foliage, they breathed in something fresh and almost minty. Bryce’s body heat prickled along their skin like insect legs, and they barely resisted the urge to rub away the unpleasant feeling.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, these buggers have thorns?” Bryce grumbled, his breath fanning over Zef’s chin.
Their eyes shot open, and they were nearly nose-to-nostril slit with the human. His gray eyes were the color of the sky right before the rain, lined by full, dark lashes, but around his pupil was a ring of deep blue. It was rather beautiful. At least, Zef would have thought so had they not been within a hair’s breadth of being touched by a practical stranger.
“The vines were going for your hair again,” Bryce said in explanation, and the tension in Zef’s muscles released.
“Well, I did forget my hat inside,” they said morosely, and Bryce blinked at them. Then his mouth spread into a wide smile, and he laughed. It was a deep, rumbling thing, and for a moment, Zef swore they felt the vibrationin their bones. They smiled tentatively back, and his shoulders lowered, like the tightness there had eased.
Cautiously, Zef tilted their head to investigate Bryce’s claim. The vines had coiled around his wrists and wriggled between his fingers, instead of in Zef’s hair. They smelled metal and salt. Blood. Bryce was bleeding.
“You are hurt,” they stated, and he shrugged.
Before he could respond further, Toni’s voice rang through the garden. “What the fuck are you two doing?”
Peering over Bryce’s arm, Zef spotted their friends crowded around the back door, Toni in front, arms crossed over his chest as he narrowed his eyes on Bryce.
“The vines were trying to steal Zef’s hair,” Bryce said with a huff.
Oliver and Jude glanced up at Bryce’s tangled hands above Zef’s head in horror. Toni’s brows furrowed even more, black eyes flinty. Liel was snickering into Oliver’s shoulder, and Gemae leaned against the doorframe, cheek bulging with a bite of sandwich.
“Looks likeyou’retrying to steal Zef’s virtue,” he said around his food, and Zef barely held back an eyeroll.
“Do not be ridiculous,” they said as they carefully ducked under Bryce’s arm, ensuring they did not make contact. “The vines are being rude.”
“Oi, out the way, losers,” Tad barked from behind them all, and Gem shrieked, scrambling to Toni’s other side.
“I told you Tad was creeping around!” he hissed in Toni’s ear, and the Elas winced.
The group parted to allow Tad through, and she waddled over to Zef with a spray bottle in hand. She glared at Bryce, and even though he was five times her size, the human shrank away. She grinned gleefully at his retreat.
“Say it, don’t spray it, Gemmy. My gods.” Toni whined, wiping at his cheek.
