Deo had taken his toy, Adonis, out for lunch. It had been working hard in preparation for Relar, so he figured he would treat it to lunch. Deo could see the results of the toy's training. Its body was leaner and less feminine. Unfortunately, the toy was still beautiful with skin as smooth as a porcelain doll's; Deo found himself staring at the mole on the boy's left ear. He gently placed a hand on the boy's back, pushing him through the Starbucks entrance. Smiling teenagers dressed in green aprons fixed lattes behind the mahogany counter. He and Adonis drew people's attention as they walked in; they were an attractive pair. Adonis dressed simply in faded skinny jeans and a grey hoody. Deo wore a black blazer over a white T and black jeans. He noticed girls snapping pictures of them and grew faintly annoyed. "Do you want anything?" he asked Adonis as they stood in line.
Adonis leaned to one side. The person standing in front of him was much taller and blocked his view of the display case. He stepped to the right, gazing into the display case at the muffins, bread, cookies, and sandwiches gathered. Like Deo, he wore a black cotton mask over his mouth, more for fashion than protection. Perhaps, people had mistaken them for celebrities. It was hard to read Adonis' expression, but he said, "You're not going to murder me after this, are you?"
"Why do you keep thinking I'll kill you?"
"You're being nice. And, you are anything but nice."
"You are the only person who thinks I'm mean."
There was a mischievous glint in Adonis' blue eyes. He chuckled softly and said, "Must be nice to live in denial."
Deo's left brow twitched.
He wrapped his arms around Adonis' neck and placed him in a chokehold. He squeezed the boy's neck, and Adonis patted his arm, immediately surrendering. Deo dipped his head and said, "Watch it. I can and will hurt you if you continue to insult me. Since, you want to give trouble, I'll order on your behalf." He released Adonis, who let out a slow, weary exhale.
Always quick to apologize before doing the same shit again, Adonis said, "Sorry, my highness. I was rash and inconsiderate, please forgive your humble servant."
Deo had grown used to Adonis' apologies; if they were drops of water, he could fill a hundred glasses with them. They meant nothing, and the boy learned nothing from the past. He said, "You're not sorry at all."
Adonis bowed his head in contemplation, and said, more to himself than Deo, "I think I'm a little bit sorry. Not a lot, but a little. Maybe you do have a few friends who share your demeanor and like you. Not that I have ever seen them. I mean, there is the group of kids that follow you around school, but they kinda worship you, and real friends don't do that. Maybe you have some imaginary friends-not that having imaginary friends is bad; I had imaginary friends when I was eight. They were good people. Tommy was a very fast runner, and Cindy was a pretty girl with a wicked afro. She could moonwalk like Michael Jackson; she was a smooth criminal. When we had dance competitions, she always won. Now Devin, he was the jokester-you could never trust that guy."
Irritation spread throughout Deo's mind, but he didn't attack the boy, no, he knew other ways of hurting him. They drew up to the cashier inch by inch. When it was their turn, Deo said, "Two black iced coffees, and an apple for the little one."
Adonis' eyes widened in shock. The boy nudged Deo, saying, "Your majesty, I think we can have something else. Something sweeter."
"You like sweets?"
The boy panicked, looking left and right and then finally at his sneakers. "No, my king. I hate sweets."
The girl working the till watched them expectantly, a wide grin on her face. She told Deo, "It's nice of you to take your little brother out; is he adopted? Oh god, you two are so handsome; sorry, I didn't mean to sound like a creep or anything, I was thinking aloud. Okay, let's move on, do you want a discount?"
Deo missed everything she had said, aside from the discount. He took out his phone. "No, I'll pay full price plus a tip for you-is twenty dollars alright? Could you add a chocolate chip cookie to the list?"
"Twenty dollars is great and sure, I'll add it. Your total is nine dollars; I'll take the rest as a tip? "
"Yes."
She smiled at Adonis. Adonis leaned closer to Deo, ears perked and alert as he waited for the cookie he thought would be his. It reminded Deo of a puppy waiting for a toy. He ruffled the boy's hair. He had been upset when he had seen the guy in a dress. And he had been pissed that the guy had gone on a date with Emmett looking like that. But he would teach the kid how to be more manly and not to date boys or girls- a fourteen-year-old should focus on school, not dating.
The barista pressed a glass coin against Deo's phone. It glowed pink, and there was a beep as the money transferred.
The girl waved them to the side while a shaggy-haired boy fixed their order. They waited by the pickup station. Adonis tapped his feet to the rhythm of the pop song playing on the ceiling's speakers. When the food was ready, Deo carried the tray to an empty table, and they sat opposite together. He gave Adonis the apple and took the cookie for himself. He didn't care for sweets, but he wanted to torture the kid. Though Adonis wouldn't admit it, Deo knew the boy loved sweets.
They removed their masks. Adonis looked like a sad puppy as he watched Deo take small bites of the cookie. He tapped the apple, held its stem, and made it roll on a napkin.
After fooling around with his food for a moment, he bowed his head, respectively, and said, "My king, I'll trade this entire apple for a quarter of your cookie. Before you say anything, let me tell you about this apple. This apple won gold in the best-looking and most savvy apple of the year categories. I hear it makes you smarter and faster. A lot of high-end people want it, and they are willing to give me a lot of money for it, but, I'm giving it to you for a quarter of a cookie. Good deal, eh?"
"Everything you said was complete nonsense. How can an apple be savvy? And if it will make you smarter and quicker, then you eat it, I'm ahead of you in all those areas," Deo said and continued eating, slowly, to inspire more envy from Adonis. Two girls walked near their table, phone's raised to snap photos. Deo glared at them and said, "Do that one more time, and you won't have a phone." The girls paled and hurried away, fear written clearly on their faces.
Adonis muttered, "You're not mean at all. You're the nicest guy in the world."
Deo had a small piece of cookie left. He pretended to give it to Adonis. When Adonis reached for it, Deo tossed it into his mouth and laughed. Adonis' shoulders slumped in disappointment. Then his eyes narrowed, and Deo got the strange feeling that the boy was putting a curse on him. He pinched Adonis' cheek, and as usual, the boy was quick to apologize. He bowed and said, "Sorry, my king. I engaged in thinking unkind thoughts regarding you, it won't happen again."
"That's a lie."
"Yes."
Deo liked the boy's honesty. He asked, "What do you think about Relar?"
"What about it?"
"The whole no-kill movement has been trending this week. There have been protests in five cities already, and unless the government addresses it, there will be more nationwide."
Adonis crossed his arms over his chest, brows knitted in concentration. He picked up the apple-Deo knew the boy was about go off on a tangent, and an amused smile played on his face as he watched. Adonis said, "This apple, I've seen him before. Oh, poor Yorick.... I used to know him quite well, Deo- he was a very funny guy, with an excellent imagination-unlike you. He carried me on his back a thousand times, and now-how terrible-this is him. Some witch has turned him into an apple. Sad, isn't it? How fragile human life is. One minute we are here... the next, we have been turned into an apple. At least, he's a plump apple. Skinny apples are far less attractive. Good for him." He put the apple down, smiled and looked at Deo.
"To answer your question," Adonis said slyly, "Since I'll be applying to play the game when I turn sixteen, I think banning murder would be a mighty good thing, don't you, Yorick?" He made the apple nod.
Deo couldn't help smiling. "You're so weird."
Adonis shrugged. "So what do we do next, my king? What does a royal like you do for fun?"
Deo turned on his phone's camera and held it away from them. "Hang on, I want to post something on Instagram. Smile."
Adonis smiled, holding up the peace sign and leaning towards Deo. Deo snapped a photo of them. Adonis circled the table to scrutinize the picture. As he leaned closer, Deo noticed his scent-vanilla. It was sweet and made his stomach stir. He pushed Adonis' head away and muttered, "You're too close."
Adonis said, "Sorry." That apology was honest; Deo picked up on its remorseful tone. Adonis returned to his seat as Deo prepared his post. He argued against killing in Relar in order to preserve the lives of friends, and tagged the post #nokillRelar.
Adonis waited a beat before asking,"What do you think about them making killing illegal?"
Deo said, "I have a lot of enemies, so making killing illegal would be beneficial to my game as well."
"You know," Adonis said, "nice people usually don't have a lot of enemies."
Deo pinched Adonis' cheek. "You keep talking back today."
Adonis dipped his head in apology. "Sorry, sir." His lips pursed, then he asked, "Can I ask you something?"
"Haven't you already asked me things?"
"I mean something different."
"I have no interest in dating you," Deo said.
"Narcis-" Adonis stopped himself and glanced at the ceiling as if to say 'why do I bother?'. Focusing on Deo again, he asked, "If your friend starts to act like a crazy person, what do you do?"
"Define crazy."
"Doing things out of character. Just not being himself; it's hard to explain unless you see it for yourself." Adonis sipped the coffee through the straw, paused, scowled and spat it back into the cup.
Deo slapped Adonis' head and said, "Eat properly, you're not two. And if I had a friend who started to act strangely, I would talk to him and try to figure out where his head is."
Adonis tapped the table, a vacant expression on his face as he thought. "What if you don't want to talk to him? What if you felt like the guy was playing with your feelings? What if one day he's close and the next day he's super distant? What if you don't want to talk to him because he just lost his brother and needs you to be there for him but you don't want to take on that responsibility?"
Deo said, "I thought you weren't gay anymore."
"I'm not.... It's nothing romatic. We are-were friends, but now, I'm not sure. I like him, but a part of me kind of hates him- he messes with my head and makes it hard for me to think straight. I need some space between this guy and me, but I don't want to do it in a way that causes him more pain, because he's hurting really bad right now." Unshed tears pooled in Adonis' eyes as if he shared this friend's pain and he wiped them.
Deo didn't have an answer to this. If he didn't want to speak to someone, he didn't speak to them. That was all. He didn't hesitate; he simply pulled the plug. Deo also felt reluctant to give Adonis advice. He had never been good at sharing, so he didn't exactly like the idea of Adonis getting along with someone else. He stayed quiet for a long time, and Adonis, realizing that Deo wasn't going to be of any help, murmured a quiet, "Thanks." He stood up, adjusted his sweater, and covered his mouth with the black mask, attaching the handles to his ears. "I've got to head home; I have some stuff to do. Have a goodnight, my king." He bowed then left.
Though Deo had never had a pet; he felt training it would go a lot like this. Sometimes, it was obedient. Other times, it gave trouble. He had wanted Adonis to stay a bit longer, but he wasn't the honest type, so he let the boy leave. His phone's notification were constantly buzzing after posting the image.
Angelttsu: Oh mygosh, he never posts but he's so hot. I'm blessed to see this today. Also #nokillRelar
Juko: Okay, he's hot but I want the handsome blonde guy's insta. That sneaky smile tho <3 #nokillRelar
Kilo: Love you so much! What's Relar?
Bruce1766: @Kilo It's a Canadian gladiator match thing. It's really cool tho. Currently, contestants can kill and rape without legal punishment and a lot of people are fighting to get this changed. #nokillRelar
Cakey: He's never posted a pic with someone else before. He made a friend.... Aw. A pair of hotties. Yes! Post more, love. #nokillRelar.
Kilo: I just checked out Relar, that shit is fucking awesome. Why has no one told me about this?
VioletRobber: Bro, Relar has existed for like ever, you have just been living under a rock. #nokillRelar
Deo tapped the screen and the holographic messages faded. He smiled and picked up his coffee to go. This whole situation had gotten entertaining; he sipped his drink as he moved towards the door. What would Fidel do?
He felt like someone was watching him. It was different from the lust-filled gazes of girls: whoever it was had bad intentions. He looked over his shoulder but didn't see anything suspicious. A group of girls chatted while drinking iced cappuccinos. A guy wearing a black hoodie sat alone at the table behind them, checking his phone. Deo never ignored his instincts and kept an eye on his surroundings in case anyone was tailing him as he strode over to his hoverbike. The guy from Starbucks didn't follow him out. However, he could be working with someone else. Deo finished his drink and tossed it into the trash. He sat on the bike's leather seat, pretending to use his phone, while checking to see if anyone was watching him. He ignored young girls.
Whoever it was would be more mature, less likely to flirt with their eyes when he glanced at them. He got the feeling it was a man. Women usually weren't hired for espionage.
***