Page 14 of Refraction

“I got nothing, honey. I can’t remember not drawing.”

“Right. Born with it.” Calvin slipped out of bed and found Tucker’s jeans, then pulled out his little sketchbook. Calvin tossed it, and it landed on his belly. “Show me. Show me something. Tell me about it.”

He turned to the first page, where a bloated witch sat, eating a toad, crocodiles at her feet. “My seatmate on the plane. She was grumpy.”

Calvin grinned at him. “Well, you’re what? Six two? Not sure I blame her.”

“She had the outside seat.” He turned the pages, showing off storefronts, one with a demon jacking off in the corner, another with an imp sleeping in a chandelier.

“Ah! I love that one.” He pointed to the imp. “I’d say it was cute, but someone’s probably going to eat him when you turn the page. Better to not get attached.”

“No, by the time we turn the page I was in the library.” Tall shelves of books were a nightmare begging to be explored.

“And the rest is history!” Calvin flopped over in the pillows, giggling. “God. You know what I had planned today? I was going to leave the library, come home, put my PJs on, and binge-watchGolden Girls. Possibly nap.”

“What were you reading in the library?” He was infinitely more fun than four old broads in a condo.

Calvin turned his head and looked over at Tucker. “Judy Blume.”

“As in,Are You There God?”Wow, go him and his memory.

“Actually, exactly as in,Are You There God?And before you think I’m even crazier than you already do, it’s a literacy thing. I was volunteering.”

Oh, that fucking rocked. “Yeah? Good on you. That’s incredibly cool.”

“Thanks. Gotta give back, you know?” Calvin smiled at him. “I don’t have a lot of skills people need, but I can read.”

He shook his head, but instead of arguing, he just took a kiss.

Calvin coaxed him into making it last a little longer and then settled against his side again with a yawn. “Oh, wow.”

“Mm-hmm. You want to nap, let the snow fall?” That sounded a little like heaven.

“Mmm.” Calvin nuzzled into the hair under Tucker’s arm and then settled on his shoulder. “Yeah. The city is almost silent in the snow.”

He heard Calvin exhale and felt the puff of breath across his chest, and the room went quiet.

Lord have mercy, Tucker wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve this, but he was damn glad he managed it. He watched Calvin sleep for a while, then let his eyelids close.

Naptime. He’d earned it.

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