Page 16 of Glitter

“The dowels let the mechanism know the lid’s been removed,” I explained, pointing to the other one. “Once the pressure on the dowel lifts, it sets the bowl into motion, and the air pump underneath it pushes the glitter up and out.”

A look of childish joy and excitement washed over Blue’s face. “Henry… You built this? You built thisfor me?”

I felt my face flush in embarrassment as I shrugged.

He beamed as his attention swayed from me to the glitter bomb, then back to me. “No one has ever done anything like this for me before.”

Figuring I should probably change the subject, I coughed and pointed at the lid that he’d dropped to the side. “There’s also a mini camera attached to the lid that records audio and visual, either continuously or via motion capture.”

“There is?” he said, his voice getting excited again. He lifted the lid to look at the small spy camera I’d purchased the prior weekend. “Where’s the lens?”

I rotated the lid in his hands and pointed at the tiny hole at the end of the camera. “I got one that records audio as well, just in case Travis opens it from the other side.”

He turned to me with wide eyes. “It’s recording us now?”

“Yup. It saves everything to USB. I’ll show you later how to check the recording.”

“Holy shit.”

While he returned his excited attention back to the glitter bomb, I laughed at his enthusiasm. “I mean, this is just the prototype. I need to check if this will fit your lunchbox and also come in under the weight you recorded earlier, but it’s a start.”

“It’s a fantastic start, Henry! I can’t believe you made this.” His eyes glistened as he lifted the lid closer so he could inspect it more. “And you made it for me…”

I patted him on the shoulder as I stood up. “You’re worth it, Blue.”

His brow furrowed as he looked at me, his eyes glittering even more from the overhead lights. His bottom lip trembled slightly before he bit it and pressed his lips together so tightly they turned almost white, before repeating quietly, “No one’s ever done anything like this for me before.”

Smiling kindly, I patted him again before I went over to the kitchen to grab us both a drink.

“How did you even think to make something like this in the first place?” he asked, still toying with the prototype.

Humming, I wondered what I should tell him. Should I admit that the inspiration came from him? If I’d never seen the picture of him wearing glitter, the video that inspired the build would never have caught my attention, which in turn would never have led me to build the glitter bomb sitting in front of him. I opted to err on the side of caution. “I saw a video on YouTube.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

“Huh.” He poked at the dowels again. “Such creativity.”

“Yeah, the guy who uploads these videos is insanely clever, but he explains everything in kid friendly terms.” I picked up his now full glass and headed to the lounge. “Here, I’ll show you.”

Blue put the lid down and almost skipped to the sofa, taking the glass from me when I offered it to him.

I sat next to him and brought up the video that had started this whole thing. We watched it, then watched the next video, and then the next. It didn’t take long for us both to fully relax into the sofa.

After the fourth video, I felt Blue lean against my shoulder. I glanced over and saw nothing but his hair nestled against me, the pop of green hair stark against the sleeve of my black hoodie. His hand gripped my upper arm, holding it steady as he relaxed further into me.

A warmth spread through me at how comfortable he was, how right it felt for him to be there.

Deciding not to move, I let the videos run. After another twenty minutes, Sir Cattus stalked across the room and made his way to Blue’s lap, settling in easily with his tail wrapped around himself. I was astonished that Sir Cattus would do something like that, as he’d never deigned to sit on anyone’s lap other than my own.

Blue absently scratched Sir Cattus’s head, but even that eventually stopped, his hand resting gently upon Sir Cattus’s back.

When I heard Blue’s breaths even out, I realized he’d fallen asleep, still curled up against me. I blinked, not knowing what to do. I’d never had anyone fall asleep on me before. Well, except for Sir Cattus.

I let a few more videos run to see if Blue would wake up, but he seemed to just fall deeper into sleep. When I noticed it was getting close to eleven, I shuffled a grumpy Sir Cattus off Blue’s lap and ever so gently maneuvered Blue back so I could get out from under him. He mumbled something too low for me to understand but didn’t wake up.

Carefully, I lifted Blue into my arms and took him to the spare room and lay him on his back on the bed. I removed his shoes, then softly placed a blanket over him so he could stay warm. He mumbled again, this time rolling onto his side and curling up into the blanket.

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