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“I’m going to put in a double order of eggs and sausage. I have a feeling you’ve been burning the calories.” Chad’s elbow to my side jostled me back to reality. How did this coffee wind up in my hand?
“Should we just let him tell us about the freaky sex now and get it out of the way?” I shot Xander a dirty look. Over his shoulder, I could see the counter and the orange thermos meant for the Zipper. The colors reminded me of the sky the night before. Even millions of miles away on our boring Earth, it was a memory I’d never forget.
I took a sip of coffee before blowing on the liquid. “Jóvenes, I watched a star be born last night.”
“Wait, in the bedroom?” asked Griffin.
“Get your mind out of the gutter. He took us to a planet far away from here. There were meteors, a nebula thing creating a new star, and these birds that lit up the sky like fire.”
“Did you just say you were on another planet?” asked Xander.
“Who is this ‘us’ you speak of?” asked Griffin.
“EO and his husband Stonewall. It was date night for EO and me, and then he had to go save his husband from a god in Hell. We spent most of the night watching the stars.”
“You’re dating a guy with a husband? Wait, did you say a god?” Griffin’s eyebrow raised. I suspected people would have questions about that.
“I don’t care who he’s dating. You can’t be running off to other galaxies. What if something happened?” Xander had a point. But after watching EO’s heroics, I knew I was in safe hands.
“Bernard?” Griffin threw a sugar packet at the man.
“I’m still processing the fact Alejandro toldusto getourminds out of the gutter.”
“I say this with love.” Xander reached across the table, resting a hand on mine. “Do you really want to get invested with a guy you can’t have?”
“Back it up, Mr. Monogamous. Just because his relationship isn’t seen in every rom-com movie doesn’t mean it isn’t valid. The stupid smile on his face says everything we need to know.”
I appreciated Xander’s concern. It came from a place of love. But it was Bernard’s words that made my heart sing. I could almost overlook the caterpillar above his lip and kiss the man. Now that we had gotten his secret identity out into the open, I could imagine him or his caped alter ego getting naked.
“Sorry,” Xander said. “I didn’t mean anything—”
“I know.” Truthfully, I did. Xander would crack the skull of any person who did wrong by his friends. “I’m going into this with my eyes open. Right now, I’m just enjoying the experience.”
“Does this mean no more regaling us with your sexcapades?” asked Griffin.
“Ha! EO can teleport. Have you ever given yourself a blow job? Nope, don’t even dare lie about it. Dating a teleporter has some serious perks in the bedroom.”
“That’s the Alejandro we love,” Xander said, raising his coffee into the air. “May sex with your boyfriend stay freaky until the end of time.”
Boyfriend. It hadn’t been since Dan left I considered the word part of my vocabulary. The perk of a one-night stand was that they were both free of a relationship and, by design, remained a single night. I didn’t want to think about how this panned out in a week or a month. I could barely manage thinking about it right now. If I thought about the future, I’d likely call the whole thing off and hide.
“So tell us…” Griffin’s words trailed off as he reached for his phone. It had become a common occurrence. We could barely make it through breakfast before our phones sounded with the HeroApp™ alerts. I thought the supervillains of Vanguard City knew when I was trying to eat my breakfast.
The vibration in my pocket intensified, a sign that something was about to go horribly wrong. Bernard remained the only person at the table who refused to check his phone. I assumed nothing that dangerous for the three of us really applied to him. Or maybe he waited for the Centurions to call him on his secret phone before he sprung into duty.
“Not curious?” How else could I ask a superhero why he wasn’t springing into action?
“I’ll be curious once I finish my coffee.”
If I could wield the fury of Mother Nature, I’d probably finish getting a caffeine injection. Red alert? Great, was Ludo the living volcano threatening to destroy the planet again? Big men didn’t handle the heat well. If we were rooting for global climate change, I’d always side with Lord Frost and his snow giants.
“Those five goons again?” Griffin groaned.
My back stiffened at the words. There were a thousand supervillains capable of kidnapping any of us. But only one had reached into my soul and manifested my darkest fears. Sure, the man in white could probably punch a hole through my chest, but even now, the terrors inched their way into my peripheral.
“Not worth…”
“He nearly killed me.” I don’t know why I hadn’t told Bernard about it. Perhaps I was ashamed of the thoughts the villain forced me to confront. But I couldn’t let the table dismiss somebody capable of driving a person to kill themselves on a subway track.
