Four

by Tia Fielding

  “No, thanks, just had some.” Danielle unwrapped her scarf, took off her matching hat and gloves, and then got out of her winter jacket.

  Kaos stepped forward to take them from her. “I’ll spread them out on the chairs near the radiator to dry them out.”

  She looked pleased, and then did a double take when she really looked at his face. “I love that shade of eye shadow!”

  “Thank you,” Kaos said, hoping everyone would be as accepting.

  She might have looked like a schoolteacher, but as soon as she pulled off her sweater in the doorway to Christa’s cubicle, he could see her back was filled with intricate designs where her tank top wasn’t covering her.

  Smiling absently, he put her jacket on one chair and the rest on the other one, and went to drink more of his coffee before it cooled.

  AN HOUR later, Kaos had done the wall and Danielle’s new tattoo had been wrapped. She was getting dressed again and smiled at Kaos when she found her outerwear dry and warmed by the radiator.

  “Thanks a bunch.”

  “No problem.” Kaos returned her smile and made small talk while she paid for her ink.

  “I’m off to feed the horde,” Christa called out, checking the time. “Kaos, I know it’s not your job, but can you clean up for me?” She aimed her puppy eyes at him, making Danielle giggle, and he waved them both off. “Thank you, Kaos!” Christa called, and Danielle repeated her words. They were still giggling as they went out the door and vanished from his view.

  Shaking his head, he hoped the rest of the people coming through the doors would be as nice as Christa and the clients he’d met so far.

  HE’D CLEANED and disinfected Christa’s station and had moved on to organizing his sketches in his portfolio when a car rumbled outside. He glanced at the clock on the wall and realized it was almost midday. That must be Christa’s ex’s client, then.

  He wasn’t sure what he expected, but the massive, biker-looking dude with leathers wasn’t it. Kaos gulped, and all the comfort and security he’d felt that morning evaporated.

  “Hey, I’m Bubba, here for Christa,” the guy said, his tone gruff as fuck as he glanced around, probably looking for her.

  “Hi, uh, she’s feeding the kids at the house but should be back soon.” Kaos tried not to tremble in his chair behind the counter. His mind was conjuring up visions of what could go wrong here. He was wearing so much makeup, and guys who looked like Bubba… well, Kaos didn’t have a good track record from the clientele of the old studio for sure. He tried to calm down, and Bubba looked at him.

  Kaos froze like a deer in headlights.

  Bubba looked at him more carefully then, taking in his makeup, before grinning. “Oh wow, you look awesome!”

  Kaos blinked a couple of times, his mouth as dry as a desert. “T-thanks…?” he croaked out.

  “My partner really loves makeup too. They’re really into all the bright colors right now.” Bubba snapped his fingers, trying to think of something. “What’s that one guy called? Not the Jeffrey one, but the younger guy?”

  “Uh, James Charles?”

  “Yeah, that’s him! I find the speed that kid talks in really annoying. No idea how Jade can follow his tutorials, but they seem to be able to. In any case, awesome makeup, man!” Then Bubba looked horrified for a few blinks. “I’m so sorry. I just called you ‘man,’ didn’t I? I’m not gonna go assuming pronouns or anything—”

  “No, it’s okay,” Kaos hastened to assure. “I mean, I go by the he/him ones. I’m Kaos. It’s nice to meet you,” he said, holding out his hand over the counter.

  Bubba took his hand and squeezed his fingers inside his massive paw, and Kaos’s mind provided the word “bear” out of the blue. He wasn’t even shocked that Bubba didn’t squish his fingers, because by now he really was pleasantly surprised by the huge man.

  “Nice to meet you too.” Bubba looked at the folder in front of Kaos. “That your portfolio?”

  Kaos smiled. “Yeah, wanna see?” He lifted it to the client’s side and turned it around for Bubba.

  “Christa said she’s gotten a new artist. I wasn’t sure. I mean, I liked what her ex could do, asshole as he was, really. She’s great as well. I like her versatility a lot.” Bubba seemed to really be interested in Kaos’s art. He stopped to look at some of his pieces as he continued to chat. “She did this awesome horror unicorn for my partner last year. I think she has a picture of it somewhere on the wall there.”

  “Oh yeah, I’ve seen it. Really unique-looking.”

  “Suits my partner, for sure,” Bubba murmured, his lips curving into a fond smile under the bushy mustache and beard he was sporting.

  Kaos could feel the love Bubba had for his partner. Again, he’d judged someone based on other people he’d met before, and he felt like kicking himself.

  They were talking about some of Kaos’s new-school pieces when Christa bustled through the door in a flurry of snowflakes.

  “I’m so sorry, Bubba. I had to—”

  “Hey, it’s snow day, right? Of course you gotta feed the kiddos. How are they?” he asked, hugging her when she got closer.

  “Oh, they’re great, especially because they get to lounge in their pj’s all day. So, have you gotten any ideas yet?” She shook off her coat and took off her beanie, then went to put them on the chairs to dry.

  “Yeah, I’ve been talking to Kaos. He’s got some pretty awesome stuff in here,” Bubba said, tapping Kaos’s portfolio with one meaty finger.

  “That he does. Wouldn’t have hired him otherwise.” Christa grinned.

  “So I was thinking, I could wait until he gets his license, then have him do the work?”

  Kaos was stunned into a short silence. Then he managed to say, “Uh… you sure?”

  “Oh yeah. All of this looks great. Would you do a new-school portrait of my late dog if I brought you photos?”

  “Sure, I actually did some sketches of our puppy in various styles….” He got his sketchbook out of his bag and showed his work to Bubba, barely noticing how Christa smiled at them indulgently and went to make some coffee upstairs.

  PADRAIG PICKED Kaos up around three, looking worried about something he said he couldn’t really talk about.

  “Well, today I got schooled,” Kaos said, changing the subject immediately.

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. I realized I’m just as prejudiced against people as everyone else.”

  Padraig frowned, then glanced at Kaos. “You have to open that for me a little before I believe you.”

  So Kaos told him about Bubba and how he’d reacted, and how stupid he’d felt afterward.

  “That’s not prejudice. Or maybe it is, some sort. You were cautious because he looked like people who have hurt you in the past, and then you froze because of that old trauma. It’s not prejudice if you have had legitimate reasons to be scared of someone who looked a lot like him.”

  “I’m not afraid of black people because of Trev,” Kaos said, snorting.

  “No, but there’s also the biker stigma of society that’s ingrained in you. Just like there’s a stigma about black people. Or gay people, or transgender people, or hell, people who have red hair. People will always have certain expectations based on how you look, whether they’re positive or negative ones. Sometimes they prove to be right, either way, and sometimes completely wrong and different.” Padraig reached to squeeze his knee before putting his hand back to the steering wheel. The snow was falling steadily now, but there was very little wind. It was all quite beautiful.

  “I guess so….”

  “I know so, Kaos. I’ve been working with people and their pets for a long time.”

  They continued the drive home in silence as the snowy scenery passed by. He idly wondered if he should begin to paint like he’d always wanted. Acrylics, maybe?

  THE PERK of having a housemate while also having a puppy was that someone was home taking care of the said puppy while you were at work. Francis had taken care of Hestia a
ll day, and they’d had fun.

  “We built a snow fort in the backyard,” Francis said. “She wrecked most of it, but we had fun. And then she napped for two hours straight.”

  “So what you’re saying is that you tired her out so you could read in peace?” Kaos grinned over her head while she tried to lick him to death in greeting.

  “That seems… accurate.”

  “Did you give thought to Thanksgiving?” Padraig asked Francis when they’d put their outerwear where it belonged and reconvened in the kitchen.

  “Would you two mind it if we did a small one here?” Francis asked, looking oddly vulnerable for a moment. “I normally go to a friend’s house now that my mom’s gone. But I wouldn’t mind trying to figure out something myself?”

  “Nothing huge, right?” Kaos looked from Francis to Padraig and back. “I don’t have to go to Emil’s parents’ place—I can talk to the guys some other time. I’d like to have a quiet Thanksgiving here if you two are up to it.”

  Padraig nodded. “I agree. I’ll be on call, which is a good reason not to go to Mary’s this year. Of course the puppy is an excuse too. A quiet evening, barring any emergencies, sounds lovely to me.” He looked at Kaos with an expression that made him blush for some reason.

  “Do we want a turkey?” Francis asked, leaning to the counter. “We could start making our own traditions. Maybe not change everything, but you guys are the closest thing I have to family and….” He looked at his feet, clearly uncomfortable.

  Padraig went to him and held him close. “Hey, it’s okay. You are family—always have been, even though I forgot for a while. We’ll come up with something our own, right? Maybe start doing that every year from now on?”

  Francis nodded into Padraig’s shoulder, and Kaos was about to back away from the kitchen, but then both of them reached a hand out, gesturing for him to get in there.

  After the hug ended, Kaos felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and frowned.

  “What is it?” Padraig looked at him, worried.

  “It’s Lake, and she hates calling. Only really does in emergencies or if she misses me, and we just texted yesterday.” He swiped to answer the call. “Lake?”

  “Hey, Kaos,” she said, sounding off.

  “What’s up, baby girl?” He wandered to the living room, all of a sudden unable to stay still.

  “I came out to my parents. They… they didn’t take it well.”

  “Oh no,” Kaos hissed out. “Do you have anywhere to go?”

  “I… well, Trev’s obviously. But he’s….”

  “He’s what?”

  “He’s dating some girl, and he’s bringing her home for Thanksgiving and….” LaKeisha’s voice sounded more pissed off with each word.

  “Jesus….”

  “I’m not going to stay with that delusional idiot who’s just going to hurt the poor girl!”

  “I don’t blame you, honey. Have you asked Missy?” Kaos fiddled with the hem of his sweater, mentally going through the people he had left in Missouri. Missy, the wife of one of Trev’s business partners at the studio, would take Lake in in a heartbeat.

  “Not yet, I…. She has enough stuff with her own family, Kaos—”

  “She’s always been there for you when needed. She’ll be so pissed off it you don’t ask her. Trust me on this, okay?”

  “I guess I could call her….”

  “Either you do or I will. She’s always been an ally, and you know she loves you like one of her own. She’s a great lady, Lake. Either she tells you to come to theirs, or she’ll come with you to talk with your folks. You being gay doesn’t mean a thing to her, you know that, right?”

  “Yeah, okay. I’ll… I’ll call her.” Something in her tone still bothered him, so his mind made the obvious leap to a conclusion.

  “Has Trev been mean to you?” He stopped by the fireplace and forced his fingers to open from the fist they wanted to curl into.

  “No, not like that. But he doesn’t like that I came out. I think it fucks with his head.”

  “Good,” Kaos said darkly.

  Lake chuckled in a similar tone, then sobered. “I just wish he wasn’t hurting other people in any way. These girls he keeps dating…. Eventually he’ll knock one up, and then he’ll be trapped for life and… I just don’t want that for him, K.”

  “Honestly, me neither. He was horrible toward me and I have no sympathy for him, but nobody should live in that sort of delusion, especially if it means hurting other people in the process.”

  “Yeah….” She blew her nose loud enough for him to hear and made him laugh.

  “Call Missy. Then text me, okay, sis?”

  “I will. Thanks, K. Send me more puppy photos?”

  “Always, baby girl.”

  They ended the call, and Kaos went back to the kitchen to tell Padraig and Francis about the situation.

  “You could’ve told her to come here,” Padraig said after thinking for only a few moments.

  “I appreciate it, but she’s not very good with the cold weather, and she has a job. But if he hurts her, I will go back and kill him.” Kaos realized he meant it. He had never been this pissed off for himself, but the thought of Trev turning his fists on Lake made his blood boil.

  “We’ll come with you,” Francis said solemnly.

  “Thanks.”

  THE NEXT day, Padraig went to work and took Hestia with him, because Francis and Kaos wanted to get groceries before the worst rush. They drove to Woodruff, and on the way there, Francis filled him in with the situation in New Jersey.

  “That’s so fucked-up,” Kaos said with feeling. “What are you going to do?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I mean, I really like the clinic, but I feel weird working with him now, even if it all went away nicely.”

  “And chances are it won’t?”

  Francis nodded as he drove. They’d taken his car instead of Kaos’s Toyota, and Kaos felt grateful. At least this one would make it to Woodruff and back and had proper snow chains on just in case it started to snow again.

  “I don’t have much to keep me in there, though…. I’ve been considering options, and I don’t know. Maybe I’ll move somewhere.”

  “Well, it seems like Acker isn’t half bad for a pit stop or more,” Kaos said, grinning.

  “But job prospects aren’t very promising there.”

  “Have you ever thought about a new profession? Or private nursing or something?”

  “I have been thinking about a more LGBTQ-friendly nursing service. I could travel some, stay with patients if needed. For example, there are bunch of transgender people who are having kids now, and it’s not easy for them to go to just any place for checkups and such.”

  Kaos made a thoughtful noise. He’d read online about men who had carried their own children and women who wanted to freeze their sperm just in case they wanted kids later in life and so on. It was a complicated world they lived in now, and while it was all very normal for Kaos, he could understand that it might not be for all healthcare professionals, especially outside large cities or in more conservative states.

  “Sounds like a good idea. In any case, there ought to be jobs around in healthcare if that’s what you want. If you find something close enough to Acker, you could always stay at the house with us. I’m sure Padraig would love that.”

  Francis said nothing, just smiled slightly, as they continued their way to Woodruff.

  ON THE way back home a few hours later—they’d gotten a bit distracted by all the shops, and Francis had wanted to have lunch in the city—they stopped by the clinic to pick up Hestia.

  They parked in front of the building, next to a police cruiser.

  “Wonder what that’s about?” Kaos got out and walked to the door with Francis trailing along. Kaos stepped in and saw a deputy leaning to the doorway between the waiting room and the back of the clinic. He turned around and looked at Kaos, his gaze narrowing in a slightly unpleasant way.

&nbs
p; Padraig brushed past the deputy. “Hey, did you guys have fun?” He smiled at Kaos and handed over a very squirmy Hestia. “Here you go. Kaos, Francis, this is Deputy Mark Forrest.”

  Ah, the infamous Deputy Forrest. The homophobe Emil had decided was secretly gay.

  “Deputy.” Kaos nodded, stepping away from the front door to give Francis room to enter.

  Except… Francis didn’t. He stood in the open doorway, frozen, as he looked at Deputy Forrest.

  For a few beats, nobody moved or said anything. Then, just as Kaos was about to ask, Francis seemed to shake off whatever had come over him and stepped inside. “Deputy,” he said politely, but concentrated on Hestia. “How’s the munchkin doing?”

  “I better go. I’ll let you know if I hear anything else, Doc.” Forrest moved to the door, glancing at Kaos and Francis oddly.

  “All right. Have a nice Thanksgiving,” Padraig wished Forrest, who nodded and walked out, closing the door behind him.

  “That was… weird,” Kaos murmured, glancing at Padraig.

  “He’s a weird guy. A bit jumpy when it comes to LGBTQ people these days.”

  “Oh?” Francis asked, still ruffling Hestia’s fur while dodging her tongue as she squirmed in Kaos’s arms. Kaos pushed her at Francis, who took her willingly.

  “There was a thing at Makai’s in the summer. They cleared out an old boat shed. Bunch of firemen from Mercer and sheriff’s people from here came to help, apparently,” Kaos started.

  “Right, and Lotte with her kid, Joie, were there too,” Padraig said, having heard the story even though he’d told Kaos he hadn’t been there himself. “Forrest had gone on a bit of a rant about Lotte raising ‘her son’ wrong by allowing ‘him’ to wear dresses and whatnot. It wasn’t pretty.” Padraig made air quotes in the appropriate spots.

  Kaos continued. “Turns out he had some opinions on LGBTQ issues, and the sheriff was behind his back while he spewed his opinions. On several LGBTQ people and allies.”

  Francis hissed and shook his head. “That’s not good.”