1.3

My instant, head-over-heels, senseless love for Romeo was hard for everyone to understand. I couldn’t stay away from him. I mean, it took me a while to invite him over our house, but before that I wouldn’t shut up about him at dinnertime.

I think the car won everyone over: a cherry-red Margaret Vaguester that he got washed that morning. He adored that car; it had a name (Bessie) and leather seats polished with oil every two weeks. Romeo did his work to have the lifestyle he wanted, and I had to do mine: well, get Katelyn to cook dinner. And then I’d know there was true love between us. We did this on a Wednesday so she’d be home and we’d get slow-roasted salmon.

Well, everyone around me was raving about it.

“Anyways, the real color of my car is properly known as rossa corsa,” Romeo said. There was some silence. He was hungry enough after work to eat half his plate without looking at me. And now he wanted to berate me about the car? It was still pretty sexy. “It’s not like it bothers me, but I always have to correct people on it.”

“I guess you love cars,” I said.

“You have to love something too. You get one car when you leave home and it spirals into an obsession and soon you’re left 40 and single.” Romeo wasn’t a guy who could really blush underneath his rich, dark skin, but he got that same blushing smile.

“Not complaining yet…”

But yeah, my sole mission in life was to make Romeo Rake not single. I couldn’t fix the 40 part without Pilona getting mad, so he’d have to accept whatever I gave him.

Let’s just say that I have fantastic gifts.

Morning came and my bed was empty again. It was hard to see our driveway from my room and Romeo’s favorite hunk of metal. But as far as I was concerned, Romeo was gone, and it was what I expected. Even what I wanted.

I’d call him after work or show up unannounced at his penthouse. He was pretty loaded from his job and not having children even in his 40’s. So that was gonna be worth mentioning, unless Pilona decided to groom another daemon child for the role. Was I getting ahead of myself? Suddenly everyone else looked so ugly next to Romeo.

And I couldn’t look ugly either. Or smell like it. If he wasn’t around, then at least I could be myself…

♫It would be good to do it in the nice way, but sorry I ain’t got no time.

I know you would like some light, but sorry, there is no lamp…

So please don’t stop the feeling! Please come close to me.

I’ve gotta feel your hand to bring it to an end…

I’m coming to the point where I can’t hold myself–♫

“Romeo!” I backed up into him by mistake. And he had to hear my awful singing voice. Were we at that level of intimacy yet? It was worse than being caught naked since he had already seen that part of me with no issues. “Uh…no one ever stays over my house.”

“I fell asleep here,” he said. “You also slept on my arm and it was too numb to drive with. But you’re cute when you snore.”

I batted my lashes. “Well, if you say so, old man.”

Romeo was the only guy who would let me hug him from behind and linger. Even before showering, he smelled great, like the last day’s cologne and my sheets. We used some amazing detergent after all. And the way we touched was so gentle. To think the rest of his life was about being tough on crime. He still would barely even tell me his work hours, though.

“You gotta get your pretty ass to work,” I said to him.

“Not for another hour,” he said. “I said I had a doctor’s appointment.”

“Oh, I know what you’re planning.”

Romeo rolled his eyes. “Of course I did.”

At least he didn’t have to worry about showering. I didn’t want Romeo to lose his job, but he asked me how I got such a nice house and seemed jealous that my uncle was funding everything. I guess he had to work hard to get to where he was and had only a car to show for it.

I lead him to the door, like a gentleman. And remembered that Pilona was coming to visit. He said it was about the plants but I always felt like I was going to be tricked into something.

“Sorry about the rush, there was some weird man watching us,” said Pilona, looking over his shoulder before closing the door. One of his companions was with him, cowering behind him. She was one of our groundskeepers and delivered clay and ice to Tom and I. We were having fun with the glassy medium until everything melted.

And who could he have been talking about? I didn’t want to have the daemon conversation with Romeo yet but maybe it had to happen.

“Yeah, I’d drop kick a paparazzo too,” I said.

“I know, it is a tragedy that someone has to tend to your plants and plumbing,” he said. “But we can save that for later. It has been a while. I have my claws in more of this city than you might imagine. I think we all deserve massages at a place I can trust.”

Somewhere downtown in Bridgeport was this piece of history: an old hammam-style bathhouse. It was there before there were even skyscrapers in the city. But history gutted it out a little. The ownership changed hands. It became popular. They stopped serving the free tea they used to. Worst of all, you also had to wear a towel or a swimsuit inside instead of baring it all.

Or so the story from Pilona went. I guess he always had a fondness for it.

Anyways: massages. He promised them, even for his nameless underling. She was situated the furthest from Pilona and dozed off on the table, mumbling in daemonic.

“Zhãmi! Savazheiapilona kolitafailate’tai ti lasavazha hamakila…”

“Let her bask in this,” said Pilona. The masseuse was gentle with him, but he was still a clueless human and I feared that he would break my uncle in half. Or maybe his bones were made of diamonds and I was too far diluted to have those. Meanwhile, my daemon masseuse ground his elbow into my sorest spots and it was amazing. And he was a lovely shade of gold like a big, living chandelier. Or like Pilona’s little pet daemon.

“I need an update, Heathcliff. Ever since you got that boyfriend, it’s like you ceased to exist altogether. Think of it like me reporting to my investors,” said Pilona.  “And investors hardly care about your personal life.”

“How much?” I asked.

“Enough so that I know you are not wasting all your time. It is a waste, there are empires to be built after all. Am I not making you do this to make up for my own lost time? Does that even make sense to you?”

Well, didn’t I have to make a name for myself too? We got a commission from the state to do some ice sculptures for the governor’s ball. Tom and I loved sculpting in ice but it didn’t mean either of us were good at it. We threw a lot of blocks into the bay because we made a mistake.

“Can you get that girl to deliver some more ice? Like, a lot of ice, before it melts. The gov’s still not getting my vote after this, but…”

“Oh, it will not melt where I get it from,” he said. “They should be paying you extra for that, not just for your votes. What is he paying you?”

“Probably more if you paid your taxes, old man.”

“And you say that while the stars shine above you.” Pilona then relaxed. “You have to do some work on your own, unlike your great-grandfather. All people remember him for is what they told him to make. There are many daemons who believe in you, and if you fail them, then you fail me even worse. I will look like a scam artist.”

“Yeah, I love being known for being some guy’s great-grandchild, especially so people start being nicer to you. You sure look shady here on Earth.”

Silence from Pilona, the old grump.

I closed my eyes in defeat.  “Can’t y’all wait until I’m over the hill like he was?”

“I do, but that one is between me and the cops, and I always win against cops.” He motioned for the masseuse to keep working. “And waiting? It is difficult to be taken seriously among our kind these days. I do not have endless time. I have one human lifetime left to correct my health, and your kind is gone in an instant. You will understand that one soon enough if you can beat it.”

“So what happened to the guys who resurrected my gram?”

“Are you mad?”

“Isn’t this what it’s all about?”

“Oh, it is always more complicated than that,” he said. “Vega will find everything going back to normal for her. But we are just like any society. Old practices come into question, reputations fade, and laws are broken, and it happens to be that all of those are my whole life. Our world exists in a tangled web of bureaucracy and affairs too. I am sure even my woes will be eclipsed one day soon.”

“Like that mysterious star sickness you want me to cure,” I said.

“Call it slow-acting. Perhaps you never needed this advice anyways. Get my beloved Kate to improve her cooking, even though breakfast was very nice. But enough about me, you certainly have had your brushes with death too…”

What a reminder, and one I needed. For the rest of it, I relaxed. The masseuse dug into muscles that had been abused for years, and it wasn’t like I was taking care of myself either. There was a lot of overzealous club dancing and not stretching every day. Or Romeo left me sore. Worth it.

“You know, I finally get the need for self care,” I said to Pilona. “Oh, can you help me with working around Romeo’s job? He’s hard to catch as a–”

“AGH! For Lyra’s sake, you broke me in half!” Pilona was bent out of shape by his masseuse. It would be healable if it wasn’t him. “Is this how the city treats the elderly now?”

“Oh god, not again,” my masseuse said. The female one to the side was deathly silent for the whole day, which was for the best but not in an emergency.

“Not for this daemon. Penama, take me home,” he grunted towards his assistant. “You too, Layton.”

His assistant and my masseuse rushed to his aid. Pilona was still in a lot of pain. Penama nervously whispered to Layton. He did it back.

“This is serious!” Pilona grunted. No one understood. “Take me home, ti kalotepelã.”

Penama was not her name, but a title you didn’t have to force out of her. She was a skinny little thing and almost like a child, but she carried Pilona over her shoulder like he was a sack of flour. Layton tried to help but was refused. I followed them as they didn’t leave the building, but went further into the hammam. Down an elevator.

To where an even stronger servant of Pilona’s waited at a portal, shining like a golden candelabra. Well, it seemed like a lot of daemons did.

They both carried him off through a swirling vortex of blue gas. No one explained it to me but the only daemon in the room who knew English was in immense pain.

“Have a nice night with your boyfriend,” Pilona coughed out, as he left to a place unknown. “But in the future, ask me for a match.”

“Oh no, don’t tell me that you hate him!” I cried out.

 

I couldn’t help but peek into a world that was supposed to be a key part of my heritage. The travel was so smooth. As much as Pilona hyped it up: I felt like a normal guy. A really rich one, but that wasn’t uncommon here. I related more with Romeo than anyone that Pilona could approve of.

But his world was gorgeous…or ugly like the inside of a coal mine. A lush garden was protected by some harsh rocky landscape by a thick glass dome. The garden itself looked like a magical place that could heal any ailments. Or at worst, a great place for a date. I couldn’t convince Romeo of it…or Pilona…but it would be nice to pretend.

I dressed myself again and sheepishly walked to the front lobby.

“He’ll be fine,” I said to the scared masseuses. “I…I think you have a deal with him anyways. Did he pay yet?”

Yes.

“Do you guys have a favorite wine? I need to surprise a guy with some.”

It was a short subway ride to Romeo’s place. This was going to be a surprise. I didn’t even know if he was home, but then again, he didn’t seem to have much of a life outside of his job until I forced him to. After that he was an absolute madman. Chugging drinks, dancing, complaining about his ex-girlfriend, the usual stuff. I’m sure I drunkenly mentioned Tarik before. Maybe I needed to call the guy…

…but then you know why you keep forgetting.

“Thanks for the bottle, how did you know I liked pignolo?”

“Get into your mind and follow one of those wine flowcharts?” The store I bought it from had one. And I begged a clerk to let me impress my boyfriend somehow, since the masseuses were no help. Those were the moments of weakness that I refused to show Romeo. Plus, I didn’t want to make him jealous about my free massages.

“Sounds good. Don’t sleep on my arm again though, they might have to call me in to work in the middle of the night.”

“Busy crime season?” I asked him. We spent almost every day together, built around Romeo’s irregular work schedule. Sometimes it was just to grab coffee before he was pulled away to analyze evidence or do paperwork. But somehow what he did was more secretive than…singing in the shower and being naked. Wasn’t being an investigator cool and glamorous?

“No, just one large case, I’ll get in trouble if I say too much,” he said.

And not even alcohol could change that stubborn man!

Who knew that was all it took? Maybe Pilona was afraid of the easy to woo. But me? I had done enough work, and I was right where I needed to be.

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I HAVE NO CONSISTENCY WITH HEATHCLIFF’S NAIL POLISH WTFFFFF (this was something I took VERY SERIOUSLY during gameplay, what happened to me? Meanwhile I had to make outfits of “well they’re not gonna wear the same underwear two nights in a row, yuck”)

Despite my promise of no explicit sex scenes for this story because it’s not needed, I have mixed feelings on using the censor blur (surely you’ll find it in some screenshots though) and…uh…look that’s EA’s animation in the shower. You have to make the executive decision on who’s gonna get boinked from behind and everything. I’m so sorry to all the innocents who probably already know how to remove the censor blur anyways.