Sunflowers (Peter's Story) MXM

Part five

Elias cursed, sweat pooling in his armpits. He knew he forgot something, but deodorant of all things? That was a rookie mistake. Elias once spent a night in Paris seducing a vampiric duchess known as the Black Widow. He got her so drunk and vulnerable, she was weeping for him to never leave her side. In the end, she was so hung over the next day, she missed her sister's graduation and Elias was given a thick wad of cash for a job well done.

Tonight, it shouldn't be so hard to seduce a half fairy that stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to pick up trash and throw it away. And yet, here Elias stood without cologne or deodorant, two different pairs of socks and a pair of pants he thought he dry cleaned, but still had a spaghetti sauce stain from the night before.

He was losing it.

And now, he was faced with another problem. Probably the worse there was: James Connolly. James wore a purple floral-patterned suit over a black shirt and a skinny tie. He was dressed up for a date, at the same place as Elias was supposed to be on his first official date with Peter.

There was no such thing as coincidence.

"What are you doing here?" Elias sharpened his scowl into a knife that might cut James out of this picture entirely. He did not expect this. As a recovered mercenary/bad guy, Elias learned to prepare for disasters such as bullets, freak car accidents, explosions and even the occasional paper cut from receiving his check. Not in all his years, did he prepare to face a terrible thing like a double date.

This wasn't something he could cope with.

"Go home. I don't want you here," Elias demanded as mean as he meant it to sound.

"Uh," James muttered, his feathers thoroughly ruffled. He placed a hand on his hip and waved Elias a warning finger. Here comes the lecture. When they fought, James always spoke like Elias had another thing coming. James stated, "First of all, you can take your attitude and put it back in your car. Second of all, you should be thanking me. I'm doing this for you."

"For me?" Elias crossed his arms.

"Yes," James insisted, matching Elias' stance. It was comical since James was skinny and shorter by quite a few inches. Also, freckles were exactly intimidation fodder. "I'm here for moral support and to keep you from making a fool out of yourself and to fill in the tiny gaps of awkward silence."

He was rambling. Elias stopped paying attention because he already figured out the real reason. James had a tell when he lied. His ears were pink and the sides of his lips trembled. Elias spoke over all the bullshit. "Peter asked you to come."

James stopped mid rant, sucking in his lips.

"Silence is also an admission of guilt."

"Okay," James huffed and dropped his arms. "He did, but it's just because he's nervous."

"Nervous about what?"

"I don't know," another voice cut in and Elias' neck hair tickled. "Maybe it's the fact that you've only recently become a decent human being, or it could be the fact that your resting face could curdle milk and your all-around attitude is less than eager."

Instinctively, Elias stood straighter and even wider. He knew he was becoming a wall, something to protect himself against James or Eric, who approached them, slipping out of the crowd. Eric said, "Just a guess."

He was dressed in a maroon suit that complimented James. Between the two of them, they always looked red carpet ready and immediately outshined Elias. A gust washed Eric's thick Alpha pheromones across Elias' face, causing his nose to itch.

Something was going on between them lately. Elias knew it. Eric was more stressed than usual and when he stressed, he over compensated with his Alpha role. He'd take the pups in the pack on weekly hunts and he was renovating a few rooms in the main house. Elias couldn't put his finger on it, but Elias knew Eric was freaking out about something.