Victor watched his breath cloud in steam and shivered slightly. He hated being cold-blooded- still it suited his purpose.
A door opened behind him and he heard Jonas galumph his way down the path: the boy was as subtle as a sledgehammer.
"Hello, Victor."
Victor smiled at the sound of his voice. "Hello, Jonas."
"I know with your…" he tried to remember the word Emma had taught him; Victor let him search for half a minute (he was so cute when he was confused) and then put him out of his misery.
"My mutation."
"Yes. You shouldn't be outside when it's like this. Please, come into my room."
Stage one complete.
Jonas handed Victor a cup of tea as one of the CDs Julian had lent him kicked in. Anole smiled into his drink. "For God's sake, Mr. Graymalkin, here we are, you've got me into your house. You give me a drink. You put on music, now you start opening up your personal life to me and tell me your husband won't be home for hours- Mr. Graymalkin…you are trying to seduce me, aren't you?" The cute confused look appeared again. "That's it: you're getting a Love Film subscription for Christmas."
"Is that…good?"
Victor sighed. "Y'know, Jonas, there are, like, a billion psychics in this place. It would take them all of five seconds to upload a history of pop culture into your brain." He paused. "Though I wouldn't use the cuckoos- they'd go into unnecessary detail about hello kitty."
Jonas took a step back. "I don't like people being in my head."
"You know everyone knows, right? And they know about me too and they're fine with it."
"Couldn't…couldn't you teach me?"
"No, Jonas." Victor stepped forward. "Because I know what it's like to like your teacher, and it never works. But, I promise, I won't let anyone go in any deeper into your head than they have to; and I'll hold your hand as they do it."
He reached out and touched Jonas' arm. Then Jonas leant forward…and kissed him.
Stage two complete.
Moving very quickly towards stage three.