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“I’m game.”
It turned out that Leo was fascinated by reptiles in a macabre sort of way. He claimed he had been since watchingLive and Let Dieas a kid, watching as one of the baddies meet a distressing demise by falling into a coffin full of snakes.
Quint could remember Leo embracing all creatures, whether ugly, dangerous or cute. He’d always attempt to befriend any they came across. His kindness was one of the many things that made Quint fall in love with him.
As they walked into the enclosure and the stale smell of dead skin hit them both, they were drawn to a huge boa constrictor laying completely motionless. But in its eyes, Quint could sense its awareness of them staring at it.
“Poor bastard. Probably has no idea how terrifying he is, just going about his business,” said Leo.
“He’s just cracking on like the rest of us. Well, as much as he can cooped up in that thing. Luckily for him, I don’t think he’s got the brain capacity to philosophise about such things.”
“That’s exactly what I was going to say.” Leo wedged his tongue against his cheek.
Nudging him, Quint smiled, wanting to take the discussion further. He wanted to ask Leo if he too wondered where in the universe that snake’s energy had come from before ending up in a glass cage in a zoo in London, or how it attracted its current predicament—and why. Whatever it was, Quint convinced himself that somehow it was there in that moment for the greater good and he tried to sweep any negative thoughts out of his mind, despite feeling bad about its incarceration.
“Penguins?” asked Leo, cheering Quint’s mood at the thought of his own favourite animal.
“Ahh, I was gonna save them until last, but since you asked so nicely…”
Completing their circuit of the reptile house, they exited into the bite of the fresh air and winter sun outside and searched for a sign to point them towards their next destination.
It was quite a walk, so Quint took the opportunity to find out more about Leo’s life on Earth and his aspirations. “So, tell me about your TikTok stuff, then.”
Quint had no idea really what it was he did. He hadn’t even downloaded TikTok onto his phone.
“Well, we just dick about, really. I’m not sure how we got so popular, if I’m honest. Sometimes we nab people off the street who play along with our videos. Well, some do, some don’t. Either way it seems to get us more hits. Before the supermarket one with the little old lady singing along, it was a few hundred hits here and there, then wallop. After that one blew up, we thought ‘shit… we’d better do some more’,” explained Leo.
“You and… Kai?”
“Yeah, me and Kai, the other guy in the videos. He’s the serious one. I’ll be honest, he’s the brains behind it all. I mean, he says I’m the ‘genius’, but I just take stuff he says and rearrange it all. He’s the one with all the ingredients.”
This Kai really meant something. Quint could see that by the sparkle in Leo’s eyes, and the look on Leo’s face when he spoke of him was reminiscent to the looks he used to give to Quint. If this was jealousy, it hit Quint hard.
He couldn’t bring himself to ask if there was more to their relationship than the music, but he needed to so badly. Even as Leo spoke, he could think of nothing else but this ‘Kai’.. There would have always been a risk of Leo being with someone else. Thirty years was a long time to remain celibate.
In their last lifetime, they hadn’t found each other until much later on in life. If Quint had been with someone when Leo found him, who knows what would have happened.
As they carried on walking, Quint focussed and pressed on, maybe needing to dig a little more into who Leo and Kai were together. “So, I’m guessing you’re the one that throws Kai’s magical ingredients together to make a killer recipe?”
“That’s what I keep telling myself.”
Quint was half listening, thoughts spinning around his head. Even if Leo wasn’t with Kai, could he have found comfort with another man?That’swhat scared him.
Enough was enough. He needed to know, even if the pain of hearing the answer he dreaded would tear his heart apart, so he ripped the plaster off.
“You guys are together?” he asked. “Sorry, I just presumed… the way you talk about him is, well, you seem fond of him.”
Leo cocked him a smile. “Your gaydar checks out fine, then.” He didn’t seem offended at what Quint now realised was an intrusive question to someone he hadtechnicallyjust met. “Together? Us? Not at all. Kai’s my best friend, and we’ve known and lived together for years. We’ve got each other’s backs. I won’t lie, there have been moments when I’ve thought about ‘us’ and we shared a kiss once, but there’s something always holding him back. I can’t quite work him out in that way, even though I know him better than anyone on Earth.”
“Strictly a professional relationship, then?”
“We do what we do together music wise, and we’re best friends. I guess neither of us want to mess that up.”
“I guess remaining single’s gonna be a good move considering you’re gonna be such a catch when you’re rich and famous?” Quint cleverly disguised the question, hoping Leo would confirm that there was nobody else special in his life at the moment.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
Quint inwardly sighed in relief, suppressing a smile, happy that Leo had now confirmed his availability. There was no relationship that needed to be infiltrated or make things messy.
