The thing that Edward Jameson prided himself in doing is being able to work through any situation. As the leader of a crime syndicate he needed to be able to manage is connections, shipments, money, and employees without anything getting in the way. Even sickness.

But now despite the glaring problem they were having throughout the city that even had the police consulting not only him but Zeus about it… He was distracted by the man with the voice that reminded him of the ocean. In the body of some he loved who died a year ago.

There were ways B acted that just reminded him of Bay. Seemingly eccentric nature and deep curiosity about the things going on around him… A trait he had admired in Bay and that he admired in B. 

B also seemed to be someone who needed to be entertained. He wasn’t content with just sitting around Edward’s large home while he worked. He was ready to take any opportunity to follow him out of the house for any reason and pouted like a child when he didn’t get to.

For a being who claimed to be a wish granter it was quite strange for him to act like his power was limited … then again … B hadn’t explained much after that night.

He had simply went on and started living his life next to Edward. Though he seemed a bit frustrated by the limited clothing selection he was forced to wear until the two had time to make a proper clothing purchase that was more to his taste.

“Edward, your minion is here again,” B stuck his head through the doorway of his office before coming in and sitting on the guest couch.

Behind him was Wilbur. Cheerful grin and wave he walked past where B was sitting right up to Edward’s desk.

“I have an update on how things are going,” he trailed off for a moment and leaned a bit forward over the desk.

“You still believing his crazy lie,” Wilbur asked.

“I can hear you, Appleseed,” B said.

“I know and I still gonna ask it since the story I’ve been told is absolutely crazy,” he said, “How do we know you’re not just some guy who had his face changed to look like Bay.”

“Got me there didn’t think about something like that… never had to deal with someone thinking that way so points for creativity,” B said giving a vague thumbs up.

“I don’t need your points. Maybe some proof,” Wilbur said.

The room was silent for a moment. B stared at both men who were at the desk across the room as if it had not even occurred to them to make an attempt to prove themselves to Wilbur. Maybe it was simply because they simply did not feel the urge to have to do such a thing. 

Wilbur was not the person who they had to grant the wish for. It was Edward himself that they had already given a full explanation to and Edward had found no reason to question it due to everything he was able to observe if B. 

“The white of his eyes are black,” Edward pointed out, deciding to put his attention to the work on his desk rather than what he assumed to be a glaring match between the two. 

“There could easily be a medical reason for that,” Wilbur said. 

“Really? There’s a medical reason for such a thing for you humans?” B sounded curious, “I guess if that is the only physical difference between me and you all that would explain the apple tree’s skepticism.”

Edward could feel B think about it. Had he really not thought this through. Just how many times had he been sent here to grant wishes? Was it the situation itself that was causing this?

Couldn’t help but draw some more comparisons between him and Bay. B was currently borrowing Bay’s look after all he just couldn’t seem to help it. Clearly B was someone who lacked the forefront of planning things ahead unlike Bay. She seemed to always have an answer to everything but B didn’t. It was like he was learning as he went. 

It really did make him seem a bitch childish but it was a bit endearing. 

“OH!”

This made Edward lookup. Why had he decided to yell like that? Both himself and Wilbur stared at the other watching him grab at the edge of his shirt lifting it up. 

“What are you doing?”

Edward also had the same question for a moment before he realized what was happening. 

“B wait.”

He stopped and stared at Edward. 

“Can you please explain before you flash Wilbur?”

“Ah right, my tattoo moves that should be proof enough for you right, apple pie?”

Wilbur was silent maybe because B continued to use the wrong forms of his last name and they all knew it was on purpose. Then again it could have also been because he didn’t believe at all what B was saying. While he appreciated that Wilbur was a skeptical man… this just seemed a little bit much. Even for a man that had been his right hand since they were younger. 

He sighed, “Fine, show me.”

B’s eye’s glittered with excitement. Seemed like something they wanted to show off for a while. Edward had chosen to ignore it simply because it didn’t seem that important. 

B had already admitted that they were indeed another being. He didn’t need more proof.

As B lifted up their shirt Edward could catch the movement of the orange tattooed against his skin moving down from his chest toward his navel. He glanced over at Wilbur to see his reaction and much to his surprise he watched the other man get up close to B.

He looked hesitant at first but actually went to touch it and was surprised when it moved away from his hand.

“... I thought you were fucking joking but this is the real thing,” he said.

Edward continued to watch the two for a while. This was weird. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He cleared his throat.

“Is that sufficient proof for this situation?” he said.

Wilbur looked back and raised his eyebrow before actually giving a smile.

“Are you jealous of how close I am to your new friend Ed?”

“No. We’ve only known each other for a short amount of time and as much as I enjoy that you are both bonding… I don’t think it’s necessary for B to have his shirt up for that long.”

“Come on, it's just a little chest. Have you even tried touching the tattoo yet? It’s pretty cool”

“No, I…”

Such a flip so fast. Those two will definitely get along now that Wilbur has gotten rid of his skepticism. 

“He didn’t say anything about it and I know he’s been staring,” B said, putting his shirt down.

“You didn’t? But you've been staring?” Wilbur said, thinking it over. Edward could tell he is about to say something stupid.

“You’re just checking B out. Always knew you’d be into the more rough and punk look.”

“Please stop it Wilbur.” Edward said with a sigh.

He really didn’t want to hear that at all. After all there was only one person he had ever been into and she was more of the goofy type.

Her style was more soft and cute. He did remember her brief punk phase but she got over it fast… then again he did remember when Bay did go through that phase he thought… She was really pretty… during that time not that she wasn’t always pretty but he liked it. It was a nice contrast from what he was used to.

“You came over here to talk about something right? Not just to examine my guest and tease me about my romantic tastes?”

Wilbur was silent for a moment. He almost looked like he was going to pout but went against it. Instead he went and sat down next to B.

“The kidnappings are getting worse.” He said almost too causally.

“What do you mean it has gotten worse.”

“We are starting to see some overlap into the criminal world,” Wilbur said, “Contacts between both us and Zeus are starting to disappear.”

“Are you sure it’s not just because of their normal activities? It’s not uncommon for criminals to go missing.”

“I assumed that too but I asked our informant and it seems at least one of them has turned up dead and not by the usual methods we are all familiar with.”

That was just perfect. An escalation as if he didn’t already have something odd to deal with right now. If people were not only disappearing but also turning up dead things were not going well.

Not to mention if both criminals and regular people were going missing the police were going to start thinking there was some sort of criminal war going on.

Why did all this start happening around the time….

Edward stared at B for a moment and they stared back at him.

“You’re not about to think I am the cause of this are you? Because I’m not,” he said.

“I was not thinking it….”

“I was.”

“You’re both foolish. Wouldn’t that be too easy? I appear in your life and I am the cause of your problems. If it was that easy I probably would have killed you by now or made you one of my victims.”

They had a fair point… Then again they could just be… Edward sighed. There would be no point in dwelling on this for any longer. If B did try something he would take care of it.

“It doesn’t matter but I believe I am going to have to have a meeting with Zeus so…”

Edward paused and looked right at B.

“Why don’t we finally go shopping and get you something meeting appropriate,”

B stared right at him and pointed to themselves before smiling.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”