Something was irritating Aiden’s face. He groaned and swatted it away on instinct, but it kept coming back. Blinking his eyes open, he looked up to see what the annoyance was. He’d forgotten that he’d fallen asleep on the floor since Damien crashed in his bed. The blanket he was under had gotten tangled and his head had slipped off the pillow onto the floor. As his eyes focused, he swore he saw something red, pointy, and wiggly swing past his face. Brows furrowing, he realized it was a tail. A devil’s tail. Complete with a heart-shaped, pointed end.

In a panic, he shot up. It startled Damien awake, but Aiden didn’t want to address the awkwardness of it and raced into the bathroom to shower. He slammed the door, which most definitely got Damien’s attention even if that wasn’t the point, and realized he’d forgotten a clean pair of clothes, his glasses, and his sanity.

“You’re not awake yet,” he mumbled to himself as he set his head on the door. “That’s all. You’re still in dreamland.”

A cold shower would fix this. Yep, an ice cold shower. Freezing cold. Like jumping into the waters in Antarctica cold. That would help.

💖

After he showered, Aiden secured the towel around his waist and stepped out into his apartment. Heat flashed over his cheeks when he saw Damien at his kitchen counter looking totally normal. No tail or horns or anything particularly otherworldly to be seen. He tried not to feel embarrassed about being completely naked aside from the black towel as his neighbor looked over his shoulder to address him.

Damien’s gaze danced over his body for a second before meeting his eyes with a smile. “I was worried for a second. Thought you might be puking or something.”

“Weird dream,” Aiden said, not entirely a lie.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I was sweating and felt gross. What… what are you doing?”

“Making coffee… or trying to, I don’t know how to work this thing.”

Aiden smiled. “Let me get some clothes on and I’ll show you.”

He walked to his dresser and grabbed some clean boxers, sweatpants, and a shirt then excused himself to the bathroom again to get dressed. Once he was more presentable, he joined Damien by the counter and showed him how to use his coffee maker. It was one of the more expensive items Aiden had in his apartment, he liked his fancy coffees so he had a variety of frothing items, syrups, beans and other necessities to make perfect lattes and cappuccinos. As he made them both drinks, his eyes kept flicking to Damien’s butt. He couldn’t help it, the thought of a tail had crept into his mind and wouldn’t let him go—whether it was true or not.

He handed Damien a mug.

“Hungover?” Aiden asked.

“A tad,” Damien replied quietly.

“I can tell, you’re not your usual cheery self.”

“I’m glad I don’t have to go in today. I like my job but I feel awful right now.”

“Want me to run down to the store to get you something with electrolytes?”

Damien looked at him pitifully, those liquor-colored eyes watery and tired. Aiden’s heart melted. It was completely unfair, Damien was just too cute for his own good. It felt like he had him in a chokehold and nothing he could do would let him wriggle free. He was smitten, crushing like a schoolboy, and forgetting all sense of logic and reasoning. Almost as if he were under a spell. 

He walked to his desk to get his phone and other necessities so he could take a trip down to the convenience store. He told Damien to make himself comfortable and enjoy his coffee, mentioning he’d be back in a second.

He checked the time, it was late in the morning and he wasn’t quite awake enough to remember what his class schedule was. He didn’t feel great and was considering skipping, anyway. Things had been so hectic the past few weeks he kind of wanted to just chill and watch a movie, go back to sleep for a while.

The first stop he made once he walked into the shop was the pharmacy end cap. He grabbed some cold medicine before moving onto the sports drinks. He grabbed a few flavors just to have in the fridge and walked over to the counter. Colby, Mr. K’s son, looked at him with a thick eyebrow cocked and a curious look in his brown eyes. 

“Hey, Colby,” Aiden said quietly.

“You look like Hell, man,” Colby replied.

“Yeah, I may need to call out of a shift or two.”

“No worries, I can take over. I owe you for that last minute coverage last semester when I was slammed with my finals.”

“I forgot about that, but I’d appreciate the help. I want to go back to bed.”

“I’ll let the old man know. Get some sleep.”

Colby finished ringing him up, got his employee discount logged, and let Aiden swipe his card while he bagged everything. Aiden said his thanks and wandered his way back to the elevator. He slumped against the wall as the carriage went back to his floor, the bag dangling from his forearm as gravity fought against him. He wandered back to his unit and unlocked the door. Damien was sitting on the floor with one of his blankets wrapped around his shoulders, still drinking the coffee.

“I think I’m sick,” Aiden noted.

“Sick how?” Damien asked with worry.

“Probably just a cold if anything, and the wear from my anxiety last night. I’ve been pulling too many late nights and long hours. I didn’t realize how awful I felt until I got up and started walking.” He set the bag on the counter and rummaged through it for his medication. He pulled out the bottles of sports drinks and showed Damien. “I got a few flavors, which one do you want?”

“The red one is fine. Do you need anything?”

“Just these meds and a nap. I have to message my professors to let them know I won’t be in class for a day or two.”

“Do you want me to leave—”

“No, absolutely not… Well, I mean you might get sick but we did sleep next to each other so you might have already caught whatever I have. If you don’t want to take the risk though…”

“No, I don’t mind. My immune system is pretty strong so I think I’ll be fine, and I don’t really want to go… I may go shower and come back.”

“Cool, I’ll leave the door open.”

Damien smiled. He stood up and set the blanket to the side before placing his empty coffee mug on the counter. He told Aiden he’d be back shortly then headed for the door. Despite his best efforts not to, Aiden kept his eyes on Damien’s butt—at first to check for a tail, but then to simply admire how good it looked in those jeans.