Page 13 of To Cuddle A Gremlin

Kazmier: You deserve it, so no.

Crash: You told me you couldn’t afford it, so please…

Kazmier: You had a sh*tty day, and I’m fixing it as best I can.

Crash: But I don’t know how to reciprocate. >.< It’s not fair

Kazmier: Be my love slave. I’ll accept that.

Crash: Dude, that’s like weird, isn’t it?

Kazmier: Not unless you make it weird.

Crash: But…

Kazmier: Let me do this. I have to do this. You are so sweet and so adorable that I hate seeing you upset. I must fix it.

Isadore sat in the chair in his brother’s office and spun around. He regretted leaving Sebastian to walk home alone, but the determination and stubbornness in Sebastian’s stance warned Isadore to back off. Stars, how the hell had his date with Sebastian gone downhill so fast? Were the fates working against him?

Tony leaned on the doorframe to the office and cleared his throat. “Your guy is a jinx. Becks broke a whole set of dishes. She seems to do that while he’s around.”

“Why is Sebastian to blame? We were sitting down, having a pleasant conversation,” Isadore snapped. Jinx wasn’t a word a person threw around lightly. It did terrible things and caused a true mischief maker to show up. “He was so adorable, wasn’t he?”

“Izzy, he’s a spaz. Why would you want to be around him?” Tony grumbled. “He barely gets any sentences out when he comes here.”

Isadore counted to ten in his head before speaking. He had thought they had discussed this and everything had been resolved. Why was Tony still stuck on this? It wasn’t his life; it was Isadore’s, and he was excited to be a part of something sweet and amazing.

“That’s because you intimidate him. Make him nervous. If I can get Sebastian to relax, I think I’ll find the real person behind the "clumsy” persona.” Isadore dragged out Sebastian’s name with a delicious hiss. “I chased after him, you know. He was so upset. But I managed to set up a second date.”

Tony groaned as he came into the office and pushed his brother off the chair. “You are such a sap. Get out of my office and stay out. You can’t use it for your nefarious deeds. This is my space.”

“Fine, I’ll leave.” Isadore elbowed his brother lightly in the stomach as he passed Tony. As much as he bragged aboutgetting a second date with Sebastian, Isadore worried that he might have pushed Sebastian too far too fast. The poor guy had a shocking experience and here was Isadore asking for another.

Harry and Charles were in a corner of the café, hidden from the world. Dungeons & Dragons manuals and character sheets filled the table, leaving a small empty space for mugs and plates. Isadore peered at the sheets and wrinkled his nose. Campaign creation time. “What’s going on?”

“New game session is starting at the comic shop next week,” Harry murmured. For once, his attention was on something other than Tony. “If I do this at the store, people will ask questions, and I can’t get any work done.”

“You know Tony hates it when you block a table for the whole afternoon.” Isadore sat and studied a hand-drawn map. “What sort of campaign are you playing? This looks like an all-out battle.”

“Charles asked nicely, so we’re good for a while. And as long as we buy coffee and snacks, we’re paying customers,” Harry answered, his attention on what he was doing. His perfect hair was messed up as he ran his fingers through it. Isadore rolled his eyes. Why did Tony always give him shit when these two did the same thing all the time? Likely because they were brothers, and irritating each other was what they did.

“I heard Becks caused an international incident at lunch. What happened?” Charles asked, lifting his head to meet Isadore’s gaze. Sympathy filled his bright blue eyes as Isadore shrugged. Charles’s big eyes were his best feature. Isadore would have dated Charles at some point if he didn’t analyze everything Isadore did.

“Becky tipped a full tray of food down Sebastian’s back. Broke all the dishes. Worst mess since she started. Poor Sebastian ran out like the hounds of hell were on his ass. He wasso upset. Managed to catch up with him before he left the library. I should have walked him home.”

“Did he ask you to?” Charles asked.

“No, and I asked. Still said no.” Isadore didn’t think he had done enough, but the wounded look he’d seen had him biting off anything else he’d try. Going out again had to be Sebastian’s decision. Isadore couldn’t railroad him into making that choice. “How can I get him to like me if I can’t show him that I’m trustworthy?”

“By listening to him.” Charles rolled his eyes. “He’s a grown man, Iz. Like a true adult. You have let him come to you.”

“Listen to the psycho, Isadorable. He’s being smart. Your Sebastian likely needs to lick his wounds, and you sort of require privacy for that. It’s not a first date activity.” Harry glanced up from the critical hit chart he was creating. His eyes were unfocused as he spoke to Isadore. “You chasing after him is like chasing after a cat after you step on its tail. You know how they react.” Harry mimicked the actions with comical flair. “Let me love you!”

“I’m not that bad.” Isadore ran a hand through his hair, untangling knots with his fingers. “Did you see before hell broke loose? He lit up the room.”

“He’s in love,” Harry whispered loudly across the table to Charles, who grinned. “Definitely in love. It Isa-dorable.”

“Oh, shut up.” Isadore tossed a crumpled napkin at his friends. Their joking and teasing nature broke up some of the fears Isadore had about letting Sebastian go home without him. “At least I have a chance with the person I’m interested in, Harrison.”

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