Zach hugged me when I got in to work. It wasn't one of those 'guy hugs' - which were more like pats on the back, really - he did it like it was something he did every day, and he did it out in the open. Right beside the front desk.
"Good morning Alec." He smiled. Then he got back to looking over some paperwork.
Imasu gave me a surprised look when he was sure Zach wasn't looking. If a look could convey 'I don't know what the hell that was all about' then I hoped the face I used to respond did.
Maybe we had something to celebrate that day. Maybe the powers that be were publishing one of Zach's papers or something. Maybe he'd been hugging everybody.
"You seem in a good mood." I said.
"Always happy to see you, Alec." He replied.
Or, you know, he could just be coming on to me.
Imasu seemed to pick up on my discomfort and swivelled in his chair to face us when he was done giving information to an elderly couple.
"Yeah, sure is nice to work with friends, isn't it?" Said Imasu helpfully.
Surprise, surprise: Zach wasn't expecting the desk clerk's input. It only took a second for him to go from blank to smiling again, though. Sometimes it seemed like nothing could phase that man out of his constant stream of contentedness.
"That it is." Zach agreed, putting the final full-stop on his paper and handing it across the desk. Then he turned his attention back to me. "Shall we get to the office, then?"
Magnus was laughing so hard on the drive to my Mother's. He'd offered to take the wheel and I was beginning to regret letting him. I wasn't so sure he was giving the road enough attention.
"Ooh, a hug?" He chuckled sarcastically. "Maybe we should report him!"
I glared his way. "Magnus, it isn't funny."
"A hug isn't a big deal, sweetheart." My boyfriend insisted. "Friends hug."
"He didn't hug Imasu." I pointed out.
The thing about Magnus was that to him, nothing seemed like a big deal. He was so used to open relationships that nothing really phased him. On the one hand, I'd never have to worry about Magnus getting jealous. The downside was that even if Zach bent me over his desk, Magnus probably wouldn't think it was a 'big deal'.
"Have you considered telling him about me? That might put him off." Magnus suggested, looking around and pulling into my Mother's driveway.
I'd thought about this, obviously. Telling him I was in a relationship would almost certainly make Zach back off. But when is a good time to do that? Blurting out 'I have a boyfriend!' Next time he touched me just seemed like a completely freakish thing to do.
I needed to have more tact than that. In fact, what I needed was for him to actually ask me out or something. Then I could just say no and explain without it being weird-
"Oh, shit!" I gasped as I shut the car door.
Magnus looked startled and worried. "Did you slam it on your fingers?"
"What?" I looked at my hand in confusion and then remembered that Magnus couldn't hear what I was thinking about. "Oh. No. I'm fine."
Zach had asked me out, hadn't he? Suddenly I had a bad feeling the upcoming Halloween party wasn't going to be the group outing I'd thought I was agreeing to at the time. I wracked my brain, trying to remember if Zach had mentioned Imasu or if I'd just assumed.
Well, that would be why Zach thought he had a green light.
With this new revelation in mind I led the way up the porch, which was still looking good, and knocked. Magnus looked my hand over while we waited. When Max opened the door he was still holding it. So of course that was what my brother immediately honed in on.
"Hey Alec...?" He greeted. Then he looked Magnus up and down. "Why'd you bring your Tutor with you?"
"Nice to see you again, Max." Magnus smiled and dropped my hand so that he could shake my little brother's.
Max's brows knit together. "I don't need help with History."
Me and Magnus laughed. I asked Max if we could come in and get the paint and we followed him to the basement.
Church the cat, who was usually remarkably absent unless there was food to be found, was sleeping on the stairs. I thought he'd run away or something. Magnus loved cats and thought it would be a good idea to stroke the grumpy feline. It was not.
"You want a plaster?" Max asked while Magnus sucked on the blood coming out of his finger.
"That would be great, thanks." I replied. Seems as my boyfriend's mouth was otherwise occupied. Max went back into the kitchen where we kept the first aid kit. Church followed him. "Yeah, our cat is kind of a dick."
We got three buckets of paint up the stairs together, one in Magnus' free hand and one in each of mine. By the time we got up there Max had found the kit, so I went down to get the paintbrushes while Magnus sorted himself out.
When I got back up Max seemed enlightened. And a little weirded out.
"Magnus is your boyfriend?" He asked. I waited for more; because there was always more. "He's really old!"
As reactions to my relationship to Magnus went, Max's was a good one. Maybe not as funny as when I told Jace the guy was thirty and he face-planted the floor, but it still left me laughing. Magnus looks a little offended. The more I laughed the more irritation he showed. Which made me laugh more.
"He's not that old, Max." I said between chuckles. "Why don't you go put something old on and help us with the fence?"
The house I grew up in had a huge yard. Plenty of room for running around, and blow up pools and barbeque parties. You could set up home fireworks at one end and be a safe distance away at the other. It was a real family place.
Painting the fence around it took a good while, even with the three of us working on it. Especially the way we were doing it, with breaks for the occasional flicked-paint fight. I was covered again; but I'd remembered to bring spare clothes this time. I'd given Magnus a heads-up to do the same and he was hoping to get himself cleaned up before my Mother arrived.
That didn't happen.
Mother had been expecting me. We'd arranged the date I was coming out the last time I was there. However, she hadn't known Magnus would be there, and the shock on her face was evident.
"Welcome home!" Max called from the very end of the yard. He waved his brush in the air and white paint fell in a glob onto his head. He shook it like a wet dog would and Magnus got a spraying.
"Nice to see you again, Maryse!" Magnus called.
I can't believe we've actually reached fifty chapters and the story isn't even done yet. Thanks so much for reading it. The next chapter "Flawed Technique" will be posted soon.
I got so annoyed yesterday because something went wrong and I lost the chapter I was writing (a few ahead from this). I never feel like I've re-written right when that happens, but I'm trying to power through it!