It was now.
When they sat down, everyone else was already settled with their drinks and food. There was a pile of snacks in the middle, and an ashen-faced Jake was stuffing his face with Cheetos. Vars, who was next to him, caught Gray’s gaze and laughed, patting Jake’s shoulder. “Azog got shot in the wing. He needs the energy to regenerate.”
Shadow nudged a stray peanut toward Jake. “And you eat human things for him?”
Jake looked up, eyes wide as if he’d been caught stealing club property, but must have finally understood what the question was about. “Ah, yeah. No bats with dust. But whenever I let him come out I get so hungry I could eat a truckload of sugar. It gets even worse when he’s injured.”
Vars shook his head and tapped his finger to the rhythm of the jukebox song. “Last time we practiced him breathing fire, he ate all of Nao’s birthday chocolates. He was manic with hunger. Nao’s no proper lady, but I’ve never seen her swear so much before.”
Gray snorted. “Well, they were her favorite European ones, and you can’t just buy them at the nearest store.” He glanced at Shadow, feeling warmer with each passing second. “What about you? Would you have lost your shit if someone ate all your worms?”
The mortified look on Shadow’s face was priceless. “But… All of them? A world without worms?”
Laurent started laughing. “Now I know what to get Shadow for his birthday.”
Jake frowned and swallowed a huge gulp of food before speaking. “Will he be… one year old then?”
Gray’s happiness, induced by the smiling faces of his friends and the burn of the alcohol down his throat, went a bit dim when Jake’s question once again reminded him of Shadow’s uncertain future, but then he pulled his lover close and downed another shot. “Of course. I wonder if he is gonna get old or not.”
Shadow smiled. “We still don’t know. How exciting is that?”
“Not exciting at all,” Rev said, approaching the table like a dark cloud, and Gray already hated the rain it would bring. “Have I heard this correctly? You’re going off on some risky venture tomorrow just so this greedy thing can get a ruby?”
Gray exhaled and looked at his father, who was still holding the pool cue. “Yes. Why?” he asked, choosing to just be honestly confrontational. If he wanted to take risks for Shadow, it was only his choice to make.
“Because he isn’t meant to be here. Are we still having this conversation? He is a creature from some hellscape.”
Laurent sat up straight. “Should we not judge a being by their merit?”
Rev scowled and tried to poke Shadow with the stick, but Gray grabbed the tip before it could reach his lover. Anger simmered just beneath the surface of his skin, and the others could feel its heat too, judging by the sudden tension around the table.
“Thank you, Laurent. I agree with you. A hundred percent. You’re welcome to get to know Shadow,” he told Rev, barely managing to keep his voice level.
Rev tipped forward, and when he shouted, the scent of his breath made Gray realize that he must have been drinking long before they’d arrived. “I forbid it! Shadow can go and fight on his own! Why are you needed for that?”
Vars stood up. “You might have had too much to drink, brother…”
Rev growled and tossed the cue to the floor. “Don’t stand between me and my blood!”
Knight gave a theatrical gasp. “Girls, that’s enough,” he said dismissively, but his tone seemed to only aggravate Rev further.
“None of you know what I’m going through. I lost Mike, and now Gray is fucking this… thing. It’s not normal and it’s not safe!”
Gray spilled another shot down his throat, hoping the pleasant dizziness would help him block out his father’s bullshit, but Beast didn’t want to just let it slide.
He glared at Rev. “We all lost Mike.”
Fox approached the table and patted Rev’s back. “Let it go. I get it, my son barely listens to me as well, but you’ve gotta let him make his own way.”
Shadow took a deep breath and stared back at Rev. “I’m not a thing, and I deserve to live.”
Gray’s thoughts twisted in his head as the pile of colorful snacks became increasingly blurry in front of him. “I’ve failed, and he died. I’m not letting this happen ever again. I am not letting Shadow disappear even if it kills me,” he said in a hard voice, even though his tongue was getting too thick to pronounce the words quite right. What the hell was this green spirit?
His throat became so tight even breathing was hard, and when he looked up into the faces of his friends, who for once stopped talking, nausea joined his general disorientation. Shadow’s kiss on the side of Gray’s head was incredibly gentle, and nothing could make Gray reject it, even his father pretending to throw up.