Page 35 of Lovesick Gods

Danny coughed out a laugh as Andre eyed the drink in his hand. He held it out to him again, and this time Andre took it. They both downed a couple of much needed sips to clear their heads.

“Delicious,” Andre said. “Thanks. Really.” He reached out for a quick slap of their hands—front, back, fist bump. “So…wanna see what I worked on last night after you left? Or did you want to tell me about this girl whose bed you talked your way into?Heartbreaker.”

Darting his eyes to the side, Danny couldn’t help thinking,That’s the idea…“How about what you worked on? Sorry I left you in the lurch last night, but you ended up with a breakthrough or something?” He could tell when Andre was excited, even if he’d been trying to hide it up until now.

With the air cleared between them, Andre’s smile split his face, and he kicked away from his desk, rolling across the room to Lynn’s station, which still had the Camo suit resting on the end. He took another quick sip of his coffee before setting itaside. As Danny walked over, Andre stood and held up a simple black—well, it looked like asack, but as Andre stretched it, Danny saw that it was a mask.

“I used the same printer we use for the Zeus suit, so same material with a few upgrades based on what I could figure out from Camouflage’s fabric.” As Andre tugged at the mask and turned it in the light, Danny saw how it shimmered—iridescent. “Think of it like being covered in dozens of tiny little mirrors.”

“To reflect the light.” Danny nodded.

“More than just light, dude. A combination of light, projection, andreflection—basically what I’m calling technochromes, which should make the suit work even better than what Camouflage does naturally. I’m still working on the right triggering mechanism, but for now, I have the mask connected to my tablet.” He grinned as he did some quick typing on the tablet next to the Camo suit.

The black mask in his hands shimmered more prominently, like a mirage or ripples in the air. When Andre pulled the fabric over his head, the technochromes kicked into full gear. Even Camo had occasionally revealed shimmers if Danny was looking close enough, but those were nonexistent as Andre stood before Danny—headless.

“Holy cloak of invisibility!” Danny laughed.

“Ichabod Crane, beware!” Andre boomed in a deep voice, spreading his arms to show off his currently headless form, save the longer braids still hanging over his shoulder.

Danny laughed harder. “That isawesome. And seriously creepy. Please take it off and never wear it by itself again.”

A scream erupted from behind them, and Danny and Andre both jerked toward the door. Lynn stood with a panicked look on her face and a hand to her chest, while her other hand clutched knuckle-white at a crumple of papers. Just as quickly, her shock dissolved into furious anger.

“Andre!” she scolded. “I told you not to put that thing on again!”

A disembodied—or at least disem-headed—voice snickered, and Andre pulled the mask off with a guilty grin. When the fabric wasn’t stretched, the mask distorted his fingers with a faint flicker. “I may have already surprised Lynn with my accomplishment when she came down this morning.”

Lynn huffed dramatically.

“That is…” Danny bit back a laugh when he saw the challenging expression on Lynn’s face, “not funny, obviously. So not funny.”

“But useful!” Andre jumped in. “Imagine when I finish the entire suit. You’ll be super-poweredandinvisible.” He tossed the mask back onto the table and shut the program off on his tablet, leaving a small crumpled pile of shiny black fabric.

Lynn shook her head at them but crossed to Andre’s desk to deliver the paperwork he’d requested and to reclaim her fritter.

“Really cool, Andre,” Danny said as they moved to join her. “Can’t wait to see the finished product.”

“Wanna help me work on the rest of the suit tomorrow after work?” Andre asked. “You can still do a quick patrol first and be ready if anything comes up.”

“Why not tonight?”

Andre plopped down into his chair and arched a no-nonsense eyebrow while holding his coffee cup beneath his chin like a supervillain holding a cat. “Because. Tonight you’re going to family dinner.”

“What?” Danny’s mirth plunged to the pit of his stomach. He scowled at both of his friends as he realized, “Stella talked to you, didn’t she?”

Andre and Lynn exchanged a look, which was a definite ‘yes’.Damn it.

“We didn’t tell her anything that’s been going on,” Lynn said. “That’s for you to decide if and when you’re ready to confide in her. But closing yourself off from the people who care about you is only going to make things worse.”

“I know that, I just—”

“Look,” Andre broke in, “are you getting laid tonight?”

For once, Lynn had no reaction, other than the same expectant look that Andre wore.

Danny squirmed under their scrutiny. “No, wasn’t planning on it. Though that was the original idea before—”

“Before you had your booty call last night instead, right?” Andre said. “Which means you’re free now and you owe yourself and your family some private time.”

---