Alex came walking into the apartment to see Fallen seated at the kitchen table, and Kelvin cooking something on the George Foreman. “Alex! I’m so glad you’re here.”
Alex sniffed. It smelled like burgers. His stomach growled – he had a habit of not eating until he got tunnel vision. Kelvin was pretty punctual with breakfast, lunch and dinner, but Alex didn’t stay in the house very much. He thought that Kelvin wanted alone time with Fallen. Alex found himself on Monster Island a lot, or in Canada. There were no places to eat out there.
“Want a burger?”
“Sure,” he said. “Just let me take a shower and get this worm smell out of my nose.” He nodded to Fallen. Fallen nodded back, and placed his hands on the table, one on top of the other.
“Alexander,” he said, in that gentle voice that he had, “When you finish, I have need to speak with you.”
“Me too,” said Kelvin, and he looked at Fallen. “But it’s not the same thing, I think.”
Fallen smiled at his lover, “No, it is not.”
Great, thought Alex, as he went upstairs. He took the shower, used the towel with the runes on them that Mike had made for him so they wouldn’t fall apart in his hands. He put on the shorts that Scott had made for him and slipped on a shirt that would be rags within four hours. He went downstairs wearing special slippers.
A burger was on a plate, with assorted condiments lined up like little soldiers surrounding it. Fallen was digging into a hamburger with Kelvin doing the same across from him. Alex found himself at the head of the table.
As he decorated his hamburger, carefully and quickly touching the condiments, “So what’s going on?”
Fallen said, “You do not stay here very often.”
Alex shrugged, put the top bun on his burger, and pressed it down. Ketchup oozed from the sides.
“I wish you would. Is it me?”
Alex looked at his burger, then up at Fallen. “No, it’s not you.”
Kelvin asked, “Is it us?”
Alex shrugged again. Scott had hit the nail on the head a few nights ago: “You’re not dating.” “Maybe I’m lonely.”
Fallen placed his hand on Alex’s arm. Alex pulled away fast, but Fallen kept his hand nearby. “I am sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. Nobody’s fault.”
“Maybe you need to go out to find a girl,” said Kelvin.
“Who would…” He paused. He thought back on what Scott had said. How handsome he was, in a lean sort of way, how the white skin was not necessarily a turn-off, but a novelty. Plenty would go out with him. “Not a girl,” said Alex, and bit into his hamburger.
Kelvin smiled, looking at Fallen. “We can find someone,” Fallen said.
“I’d rather look myself.”
“Okay,” said Kelvin, still smiling. “But we can get you some leads. More than worms.”
“Alerts?”
“Some of those. I was on one a couple of days ago, and there was this guy…do you like them brawny?”
“I’ll take what I can get, to be honest. I’m not exactly what you would call experienced.”
“Do you top?”
Alex looked heavenward. “Jesus, Kelvin, can we talk about this when we’re not eating?”
Fallen finally took his hand away and went back to eating his burger. Kelvin fell silent until Alex ate half of his burger. Alex asked, “So what did you want to talk to me about?”
“Oh! It’s a surprise.” He finished his burger and ate some potato chips, killing time until Alex finished his burger.
“Care to share?” Alex asked.
“Most certainly,” said Kelvin, then both he and Fallen got up at the same time. Alex found that weird.
Fallen started clearing the plates. “You go show him, I will take care of these.” Alex got up and followed Kelvin to the side room, that Kelvin had claimed as his workshop. He had brought most of his technological items from his basement.
Kelvin kept the lights off when he walked into the room. “Wait right here,” he told Alex, standing in the doorway. Kelvin shut the door behind them, and they were plunged into darkness. Not quite pitch black, as some computer screens threw some light and there was an LED strip on the floor marking a pathway.
Alex looked at that, and could see the shadow that was Kelvin move about the room. “Ready?”
“Yes,” Alex said. Suddenly, he heard a “whoomp” and a spotlight went on at the end of the room, hi-lighting a wall. On the wall, were various pieces of armor, front on the left, back on the right. Kelvin stood next to it on the right hand side, like Vanna White waiting to turn the letters on Wheel of Fortune.
“Ta da!” Kelvin said proudly. Alex went up to the front. It was still green and yellow, but this time a darker green and more gold than yellow. Gone were the mecha accents. Everything seemed streamlined. The armor was scaled, dark green and yellow, with a small blaster on the bracers, not the huge monstrosities that were on them before.
“Heat protective,” he said. “The same ceramic tiles used on the space shuttle.” Kelvin ran a hand down the scales.
“Must be heavy.”
“Hydraulic assist.” Kelvin went into a whole host of other technological improvements that Alex could only nod at. Finally, he said, “You don’t get what I’m saying, do you?”
“I get that this is an improvement over the other suit.”
“Sure is! I’m going to go try it out tomorrow.”
“And your name is Power Shift 2.0?”
Kelvin laughed. “I like that! Yeah, I think I’ll keep it.”