As he and Cale walked through the castle gardens after their shift, a warm breeze blew across Demetri’s face, letting him know summer would soon begin. Most of the winter flowers began to wither in their sectioned off groups, but nature exchanged them for tiny red and yellow buds, promising to soon be just as beautiful. Tommy ran up in front of them, bouncing on his toes. The sun bounced off his long platinum hair as it danced over his shoulders with each movement. Clearly excited about something. Either that or he’d just had too much coffee again.

“Hey Tommy,” Cale said. “Got the wall-com in the exercise building working yet?”

“Nope. I have to make a new part for it later,” Tommy answered but swiftly turned back to Demetri, smiling like a fool until Demetri caved.

“Alright, I give. What are you so giddy about?”

“So, you know how a few months ago you told me I could set you up with someone?”

He gave Tommy an exhausted sigh. “Yes. And I also remember how all of those dates ended with disappointment and a bored handshake.”

Tommy waved his hand. “Those women were all duds. I knew they wouldn’t work out from the beginning. They were practice. But you gotta trust me. I found Him. This is the last one, I swear.”

Cale snorted in an attempt to suppress a laugh.

Demetri groaned inwardly. He’d never really cared about gender, but he never truly thought Tommy would succeed with finding anyone suitable—or even interesting. “Found who?” He found it hard to match Tommy’s enthusiasm for his own dating life.

“Him.” He squeaked. “Your perfect date. His name is Kai. And he’s blonde and cute.” Tommy rattled off faster than Demetri’s brain could process. “You will love him, I know it. Please say you’ll go on the date. Cause I kinda already told him you would.”

He put his hands on the pixie‘s shoulders. “Breathe, Tommy. Sit and breathe.” He pushed him down onto the nearest bench. “Now tell me what you found.”

Tommy took a deep breath and repeated it all, slower this time for all creatures to understand. Pixies were often excited and talked at supersonic speeds. And like most pixies, Tommy was small and thin, no taller than five feet, with shiny translucent wings. He stared up at Demetri with his big sparkly green eyes, pleading with him.

“Oh go, on Demetri.” Cale urged. “A fun night out will do you some good,” He always found amusement in Demetri’s suffering.

“Ok, fine. I’ll go.” Demetri could never say no to that face anyway. Tommy squealed, then started chatting away, telling him how he should dress and how to do his hair, making Demetri wonder if he had just made a mistake in agreeing.

The afternoon dragged on in a dull anticipation of the blind-date until it was time for Demetri to make his promised appearance. He tried to keep his mind off of it so he didn’t decide to stay home instead, but in the end he figured it wouldn’t be all bad. Tommy had said to meet him at Allanah’s restaurant. Her food was great and the wrap-around booths were super comfortable. Part of him hoped Kai wouldn’t show so he could just eat and go home. But, as soon as he walked through the door, he saw there was no hope for that.

His eyes found Kai instantly. He was easy to spot, since the choices were either the cute guy sitting alone or the old sheep couple bickering in the corner. Demetri twisted the hem of his black shirt between his fingers. Kai smiled at his approach, but the closer he got to his date, the more inadequate he felt in comparison.

Kai was a stark contrast to himself. His hair was short, white, and fell ever so slightly into his eyes, while Demetri’s was long, flat, and black. Where his own pale skin had hardly ever seen the sun, Kai’s was just the shade of tan Demetri happened to find incredibly sexy. And Demetri’s plain hazel eyes paled in comparison with Kai’s mesmerizing blueish-grey eyes that seemed to pull him in.

“Kai?” He asked, for the lack of anything better to say.

Kai nodded. “Demetri, hi, it’s nice to meet you.” He noticed Demetri’s quizzical look. “Is everything alright?”

The way Kai rolled the ‘r’ in his name made him weak in the knees. Demetri cleared his throat, “Oh, yes. Sorry. It’s just--Tommy said you were blonde.” He scooted into the blue-cushioned booth, sitting opposite his date. It seemed a bit awkward, which was kind of nice since he was usually bored by this point.

If Kai was bothered by Demetri’s comment he didn’t let it show. “I’m sorry to disappoint.”

Demetri winced, instantly regretting saying it. “No, no. It’s nice… I mean you look nice.”

Allanah brought out the night’s meal; a huge wooden plate piled full of her locally-famous spaghetti and garlic bread. “Enjoy,” she said, throwing Demetri a wink before walking away, causing him to blush. He was grateful for the well-timed interruption.

Kai dipped the bread into the thick, red sauce. “Wow, is the food here always this good?”

“Yeah, most of her food is great,” someone next to them said, laughing. “Just skip eggplant day.”

They looked up to see another couple sitting down at the table next to theirs. “Jin, Lance, what are you guys doing over here?” Demetri cringed, embarrassed that he hadn’t even heard them come in. “Sorry, I mean, this is Kai.”

Kai laughed. “Thanks for the tip on the eggplants. Nice to meet you both.”

“What city are you from?” Jin inclined his head at the greeting, his white, furry wolf ears twitched above his head with interest. “It must be pretty far away if you haven’t been here before.”

Kai nodded. “I’m from Kesh. It’s a few day’s ride from here.” He wiped the corners of his mouth, drawing Demetri’s eyes to them.

Lance cleared his throat and stood up. He pushed his chair in and held his hand out to Jin. “Let’s move to another table to give them some privacy.”

“Whaaa?” Jin’s ears drooped a little. “Why would we move?”

Lance smiled and changed his hand into its water form, touching a finger to Jin’s nose and leaning in close to his face. “Because, they are on a date, Jin. And, they don’t need us getting in the way. Now, be a good boy and do as you’re told and we’ll see what we have at home for dessert later.”

Jin twitched the water off his nose and laughed, turning back to them. “Well, that’s a good enough reason for me. I’ll see ya later, Demetri. Nice to meet you, Kai.” He stood quickly and followed Lance to a booth on the other side of the room.

Demetri twisted at the bottom of his shirt and Kai snickered through another bite. “So… Tommy said you’re a guard at the castle? That must be exciting.”

“Hardly. Not much happens around here. A few pranksters every now and then, but nothing serious. I like it though. Gives me time to read.” It struck him that the topic was far too boring to keep the conversation going. “I also teach a history class to the kids every now and then.”

Kai’s face brightened with surprise. "Oh? How interesting. Do you like it?"

"Well, I enjoy the excitement the kids get from learning about the past.” Demetri paused. “Plus, the money's good," he said with a wry smile.

Kai tipped his head to one side. Demetri watched curiosity pass through those blue-gray eyes before as he gave him a chance to puzzle through the joke.

"Oh, right," Kai said through a breathy laugh. "I’ve heard of that."

"Not a fan of history jokes, I see."

"I guess I just thought it was a myth. Did they really do that? Use money?"

"Oh all the time. It’s mostly just a running joke between me and the other guards, since we see customers actually pay for their coffee in Talia’s dream world.” Demetri sobered his face. It was probably a bad idea to start off with that joke. But, he’d already started, so he figured he may as well finish it. “For the people on Earth, it seemed to be the most important thing to exist.” He looked down at the fabric twisting between his fingers. This was usually where he lost most people's interest.

When he dared look up, Kai’s smile beamed back at him. “Nonsense. Nothing is worse than the same inane small-talk about the weather and crops. We never had much of a history class in our school. I’d love to hear more.”

Demetri willed his fingers to cease and placed them atop the table. He’d never been asked to continue before. “Did you know, back in those days you didn’t have a choice of the classes you took, no matter what you wanted to become?” Demetri had been expecting an eye roll or disinterested sigh by now, but he was relieved when Kai gave neither. “Not only that, everyone had to pay their important money just to go, even though they had no choice in any of it.”

“That sounds awful. I'm so glad children have a choice now. Athlone is lucky to have such a spirited teacher.” Kai smiled and took another bite of his noodles. “Maybe you could come teach a class in Kesh sometime. I know many who would be fascinated to hear such things.” Demetri couldn’t help but stare at the bit of red sauce on Kai’s lip and found himself wanting to lick it off for him. “Will you tell me about your king?”

Demetri shook away the thoughts forming in his mind. “Oh, there’s an interesting lesson. I mean, he’s not really a king anymore, but we do still call him that, treat him with respect, and try to keep him comfortable. He’s the oldest and only human alive today.”

Kai took another bite and made a nodding gesture, saying to continue.

“Well, I think it’s safe to say that when Marius told the king that he would live to watch his only daughter die. I don’t think even he counted on us keeping her alive this long. But, it still held true.” Too bad it’s such a sickly, sad life, Demetri thought. He was barely more than a pile of bones waiting to fade away. “He keeps himself locked away. Back before the change, people would often see him—at court, balls, and feasts—but other than a few guards and doctors, no one has been allowed to see him for a very long time.”

Kai paused mid-bite and whispered, as though he was just thinking out loud. “I wonder if he’s truly even still there.”

They talked for what felt like hours, about their hobbies, their likes and dislikes. Kai asked more about Princess Talia. Demetri asked about Kesh. When they finished their meal, they cleared off the table and took their dishes to the kitchen for a wash. Allanah was usually alone in the kitchen, so, like any good customer, Demetri never made her clean up after him.

He had just put the last dish on the drying rack when he felt suds splash against his cheek. Kai giggled at Demetri’s surprise—though, he was more surprised that Kai even had a playful side. He had seemed so serious. Demetri splashed a bit of water back at him.

Kai feigned a gasp. “How could you do such a thing?”

Demetri laughed. “Oh, do forgive me. How shall I be punished?” He cringed inwardly, regretting being so forward so quickly.

He snuck a peek at Kai who picked up a finger of bubbles and smeared them across Demetri’s nose. “I can think of a few ways,” Kai whispered.

Allanah, un-successfully, tried to cover her barking laughter with a fake cough.

Demetri tried to hide the shade of his face as they thanked Allanah for the food and went back to the booth with cups of coffee. Kai scooted closer to him and lightly ran his fingers over Demetri’s hand. Demetri almost pulled away out of reflex until he looked into Kai’s beautiful eyes and found himself leaning closer, breathing deeply. He couldn't quite recall the scent emanating off Kai's tanned skin, but it was something like freshly fallen autumn leaves.

Kai stared back with an intensity that left him breathless. Kai reached his hand up, and pulled Demetri’s face closer. Demetri held his breath as he thought Kai would kiss him, instead, he pushed a lock of Demetri’s hair behind his ear.

He usually pulled it back in a loose ponytail, but Tommy had convinced him to leave it down for the date. Demetri's breath hitched when Kai touched his ear, and he was suddenly thankful he took the advice. He closed his eyes, feeling Kai’s fingers slide down his cheek. Kai’s breath was warm on his face as he leaned closer and Kai’s lips grazed his.

Demetri leaned into the kiss, deepening it, until he suddenly became very aware that they were still in the restaurant. He pulled his head back. Kai smiled knowingly and slid his cheek against Demetri’s to whisper in his ear. “Would you like to go somewhere with me?”