Chapter Nine:

The Makeover, Presented by Sebby the Great

Nicodemus

The next week and a half was uneventful, and consisted of the Gods children helping me get adjusted. We didn’t get to hangout outside of class yet, but we did have lunch together, and stayed up all night texting in a massive group chat. I was steadily finding a place in the tightly knit clique they had formed, but found it wasn’t hard to integrate myself into their lives. Each of them seemed to love different things about me, and we were all more than compatible, so it was far from difficult to fit my piece into their intricate puzzle.

Odysseus still hadn’t come back to class, since his doctor’s note forbid it until he was done with his medication. He did end up taking a turn for the worse, but that didn’t stop him from complaining about his inability to join us. Lysander blamed this on Odysseus straining himself to fix my eyes, but Odysseus was happy to be sick longer if it meant I could see. Admittedly, though things remained casual between he and I, every day I went without seeing him only made my anticipation grow worse and worse.

I not only wanted to thank him eternally for fixing my eyes that Wednesday, but I also wanted to ask him about the dreams I had throughout my life. I did worry that it would freak him out, but at the same time, there’s no way I could deny that it was him sitting on that bench each time. His eyes hypnotized me for seventeen years, and now that I could see them in reality, it was agonizing to not spend every second I could trying to understand what it had all meant.

Coming off of that thought, it began to occur to me that the infatuation I had with him was different from my other friends. I truly was falling in love with Sebastian and his quirky sister, and my welcoming cousins, but the way I felt about Odysseus was very different. I spent two nights in a row staring at the ceiling, trying to picture his face as best I could, before finally deciding that this probably meant I had a crush on him. I’d never had a crush before, not just because I was blind, but because I never had any interest in relationships. I was always working with spirits and my music or books, so that put romantic relationships as far back on the burner as possible.

Another thing to come to my attention; Odysseus was a guy.

I didn’t necessarily know whether or not I was gay, as again I’d never had much experience, but I did know that the girls who flirted with me in the hallways had no effect, though I recognized that they were incredibly attractive. Whenever I saw a text of his come through in the group chat, however, butterflies filled my stomach and made my cheeks turn pink, yet girls blatantly telling me to my face that they wanted to go out sometime left me deadpan and uninterested. Part of me wanted to talk to my parents about this, but I almost threw up at the thought of it, so I decided to let myself adjust on my own before pulling anyone else into this.

Since I couldn’t spend time with Odysseus right now, I opted to print out pictures of different men and women, and lay them out on my bed like a crime scene map. Some were actors or singers, while others were models and some random people from social media in the Human Realm. This gave me multiple options, and ways to start deducing what exactly I was into. I wrote out a list of characteristics to start ticking off, and moved through each photo one by one intently.

Race played no role in my decision making, so that was a great first step. Body type was also open playing field; anyone that was put together was a considerable option for me. Next, eye colors; I did consider that these were all Humans, but for basics, I figured that I wasn’t a fan of blue or green eyes, but loved hazel and brown, (or gold…?). Blondes were a big no, but dark hair was an absolute yes. Taller versus shorter, definitely liked added jewelry or glasses; these characteristics were easy to define. Gender was the one I had circled a thousand times over, unable to place a check on either side. I’d even gone as far as to look on porn websites at each genders’ biological makeup, and after ten minutes of squeaking in embarrassment I decided I had tortured myself enough.

In my heart, I knew that the male pictures and, appendages, definitely peeked my interest much more than the female, enough that I started picking characteristics from just the men’s side because none of the women were attractive to me on a sexual level. I could envision myself kissing or touching any of the men from the videos or photos, but if I added a woman in their place, it was almost as if a blockade were between us, and an uneasy feeling encompassed my stomach whenever I tried to force or manifest a reality that involved a woman.

A sense of shame crawled up my spine when I stared at the circled word, and made the pen in my hand unable to move closer to the page. For starters, what would my parents think? I was their only child, and if I were… gay… would that crush them? Would they disown me? Would they be embarrassed to have their only child like men? What would the people at school think? I’d only been here two weeks, so what little reputation I was creating was fragile to begin with. Would coming out diminish my chances of a normal social life before I had a moment to enjoy myself? Would they bully me, or worse, drive me away from campus?

Looking back at my list, not only did I realize that the probability of my sexuality was a given, but that the perfect partner I had clumped together was, in fact, basically Odysseus. Tall, dark hair, gold or brown eyes with glasses and earrings… it was a given. At the same time, he was also the only person I could imagine myself cuddling with after class, or kissing by the lockers. The bubbling that enveloped me when I thought about him was untouchable compared to the other male pictures, but even they held much more weight than the female ones.

The entire mess left my head spinning, and while I knew I should probably bring this up to someone like Sebastian, who was clearly and openly gay himself, or even Soren, especially because he was my cousin, I didn’t want to even begin thinking about it. I didn’t want to risk either of them telling my family, or to offend them because I was unsure of myself. I also didn’t know them nearly enough to dump this on their plates, so I decided to slip the notebook in between my mattress and box spring until I was ready to continue exploring the topic. I thought I’d be fine closing that chapter for now, but when I crammed the book into its assigned coffin, tears spilled down my cheeks as I tucked my sheets into place and turned my back on my nagging thoughts.

╪

Saturday morning, Mom made a big breakfast so we could all fuel up before tackling the household chores, and called my name at around ten to come down and enjoy it with she and Dad. I had spent the night before blinking back tears and forcing myself to not pull the notebook back out, while also turning my phone off so I didn’t have to torture myself with Odysseus’s messages. I was more than annoyed to have to drag myself out of bed and attend breakfast, but I didn’t want she or Dad to worry about me more than they already were.

Dad was scribbling away on some one page essays he had to finish grading while simultaneously drowning his lungs with cup after cup of coffee to keep himself going. Mom complained that he was going to have a heart attack, or worse, make her have to go back to the store and stock up because he was being so greedy, but he was too busy to argue with her. When I rounded the corner and slid into the kitchen, my socks dragging on the tile, Mom looked up from the stove and shot me her bright and beautiful smile. “Good morning Love Bug; are you hungry? I made your favorite!”

“Sausage, mushroom, onion omelet.” Dad and I said simultaneously, laughing at one another as I went to hug her side and thank her for the meal. She slipped a lightly toasted bagel with butter on the plate as well before shooing me off to the table, where I sat beside Dad and dragged over the milk and chocolate syrup. Dad peered at me over his glasses to watch as I whisked the chocolate in my cup numbly, my thoughts much more distant from the table than ever. He clicked his pen and pulled his glasses off, setting them on the stack of papers before smacking his chin into his hand casually. “You sleep ok last night, squirt?” He pressed as he poked my temple.

I was so zoned out that he had to tap my arm to get my attention, which made me jump a little before I set my spoon down with an inaudible sigh. “Um, yeah, I suppose so.” I mumbled.

Mom sat down and raised an eyebrow at my odd behavior; Dad leaned forward and tilted my chin up so he could look over my face, “Are your eyes bothering you at all? They look a bit irritated today. I can get you more drops to help calm that a bit, or we can stop by the clinic and have Lysander take a look…?”

“I’m fine!” I snapped abruptly, which made him jump a little.

Mom stared at me with her mouth slightly open in surprise, while Dad slowly dropped his hand with a scowl. He plucked his glasses back up and slid them into place, glaring at me over the bridge as he clicked his pen again, “Well, good to know. Sorry to have bothered you.” He acidly shot back. Before I had a chance to retaliate, a loud and sharp set of knocks echoed through the house, which made us all turn to the door. The dogs ran up and barked wildly at the edge of the window, but based on their tail wags, we picked up quickly that is was someone they knew and or liked. I took this opportunity to be freed from the tension at the table, and sprung up to race over and wrench the door open gratefully.

A set of arms choked me into a violent hug, followed with hysterical laughter that made my parents roll their eyes sweetly. “Good morning, my sweet baby Angel!” Sebastian cried as he kissed my cheeks wildly.

I hacked a bit from his forceful embrace, but ended up laughing and hugging him back, “Morning, Seb. What are you doing here?”

“Well…!” He whisked me up and took my wrist to drag me into the kitchen, “We, meaning the besties club, were going to head to Human Realm and hit the mall. We thought since Monday is a no uniform day that you’d want to come buy an outfit with us!” He declared, mostly asking my parents over me at this point.

Dad turned pale at the idea, but Mom stood in front of him with a big smile, “That sounds like fun, Nick? Do you mind telling us where the mall is, Sebastian, just so we know?”

“Of course; we always pick a small town so our parents won’t worry. There’s a relatively uncrowded one in Ohio that we like to go to, with a portal in the family area behind the food court. We don’t ever leave the mall either, and return from the same portal.” Sebastian explained like a pro, a routine I figured he’d practiced with other parents before asking my own.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Oh, perfect! Well then, I don’t see any reason for Nick to stay here and bore himself to death with us today, so as long as you text us once in a while you’re fine to go. You could use a break from studying,” she said with a smile, hinting more that she understood I was stressing hard about something personal, and did need some space to clear my head.

Sebastian gleamed like a shooting star, his big green eyes sparkling like diamonds, “We promise to have him back whenever you want him! Our parents know exactly where we’re going, too, in case of emergency, I promise!”

“We trust you, don’t worry. Go have some fun.” Mom coaxed, shoving Dad backwards with a violent punch to the chest as he tried to protest wildly.

I thanked her with a simple smile, turning for the stairs, “Mind if I get ready really quick, Seb? You can come hangout in my room for a second…?”

Sebastian lit up like a firework, “A chance to redecorate your room, too? I’ll take it!”

“Who said anything about redecorating!” I barked as he marched past me and up the steps, laughing maniacally to himself as I screamed his name.

╪

After throwing on a t-shirt, jeans, and stuffing some stowed away allowance money into my wallet, Sebastian and I set off to join the rest of the group. He rambled off to me the entire walk about how casual days were his absolute favorite, and yet another thing he was known widely for. I was half listening, not because it didn’t interest me, but because when we came over the hillside, my heart skipped about seven beats.

Griffin and Praxis were practicing some fighting moves in the sand while Soren and Odysseus were on the swings, chatting casually as they moved their long legs back and forth to keep up momentum. Odysseus wore a simple pair of grey fitted sweatpants and a long-sleeved black t-shirt, though the outfit accentuating the muscles he was forming during training. He had put a set of gold stud earrings in, and pulled his hair up into a short ponytail. His bangs were left out to frame his wide oval shaped glasses, and when he looked up and saw us entering the park, his smile took my breath away.

Soren waved wildly, his fiery orange hair catching the sun as he bobbed back and forth from the swing, “Hey guys! Took ya long enough!”

“He was in his nightgown when I got there,” Sebastian teased as I swung at him.

“This is going to be fun! We haven’t hung out in so long, and now we have a new member! Have you been to a lot of malls, Nick?” Griffin asked, jogging over to clap a hand on my back.

I turned to give him my full attention, “Hmm, not really. I might have gone once or twice, but I’ve always been a bit of a homebody.”

“Well, I think you’ll have a good time. There’s a really good food court there, and tons of stores. Plus, I’m sure you’ll have fun buying clothes with you new blinkers!”

“Heh, yeah, that I am excited for. I’m still trying to figure out what I like, and t-shirts and jeans are kind of not it.” I admitted sheepishly.

Odysseus hopped off his swing and combed a hand through his bangs to tighten his ponytail before flashing a casual smile, “Glad to see you’re joining us?” He offered.

I nudged his side playfully, “What, you can ditch school for two weeks, but you’re healthy enough to go shopping all day?” I snorted with a wink.

He rolled his eyes, “Please; I’ve been yelling at Lysander for a week to let me back, but my Dad is just as protective as your parents. If I so much as blink too many times he has a stroke, so of course Lysander can con him into making me live in a dungeon for two weeks.”

“How did you achieve freedom today?”

“I gave him rights to the tv so he could catch up on football games,” he said with a shrug that made me laugh lightly.

Sebastian hopped up on the slide and cleared his throat, his bright yellow hair blowing across his face from the somewhat fast wind, “Alright crew! Everyone think about what stores you want to go, and let’s get this day started!”

“Would you get down before you crack your head open?” Soren scolded as Odysseus and I blushed lightly to one another. Griffin was already shaking Praxis wildly about his excitement over the sports store they wanted to raid, and Soren made it very clear that he was not sharing Sebastian with me today, so that left Odysseus and I to the side on our own.

“Guess you’re stuck with me today,” Odysseus lightly said with a small shrug, though I could feel anxiety radiating through him over my response.

I summoned my courage, “Well, maybe I wanted to get stuck with you.” I attempted before violently hyperventilating behind my hand.

He turned as red as Soren’s hair, but before he had the chance to respond, Sebastian was already grabbing my waist, “Oh no you don’t, we travel as a pack today; that means you too, Freaks!” He called to Griffin and Praxis, who rolled their eyes.

“Hey, can I ask; are you guys dating?” I blurted, which made them shriek wildly.

“D-Dating?! W-What, no, no of course not…!” They said in perfect unison.

I raised an eyebrow, “Eh heh. Well, sorry I asked… you just seem to have a lot in common and spend a lot of time together…?”

“Don’t even bother, Nick… You’re fighting a losing battle,” Soren sighed as he lead us to one of the many square booths that were around campus. He typed his student I.D into the keypad before touching the gold door, which opened to a hazy white mist, “Alright, everyone ready? Let’s try not to stand out too much for once… Sebastian!” He coughed dramatically.

“Oh cram it, you Rotten Strawberry!” Sebastian laughed before he and Soren laced hands and lead the way through the portal. The rest of us followed before stepping out into the middle of the food court, as Sebastian had promised. It truly was very lackluster for a Saturday morning, as only a few families were aimlessly walking about the seemingly empty stores. Sebastian clapped excitedly at that before turning on his heel, “First stop, hair salon!”

“For what?” Griffin snorted.

Sebastian walked his fingers up my shoulders with a devilish smile, and squeezed them so I couldn’t run away. “This day is also my secret give-Nicodemus-a-makeover day, starting with chopping some of these beautiful locks away!”

“Excuse me!?” I shrieked as he ruffled my hair wildly.

“Come on, you need something that would flatter your face more! I was thinking curtain bangs; your eyes and freckles are too stunning to keep hidden!” He declared as he began to separate my hair into sections, pursing his lips as he did.

“Yeah, while you play dress up, we’re going to check on those new baseball jerseys. Call us when Nick keels over.” Praxis laughed before she and Griffin bolted down the left hallway.

“Who needs those bozos; off we go best friend!”

“Do I have any say in this!?” I sobbed as Sebastian stormed towards the escalator, leaving Odysseus and Soren laughing while shaking their heads.

╪

Sebastian refused to allow the boys inside the salon while I was being tortured, but had no problem telling his favorite stylist exactly how to cut my hair. In all honesty, he did make sure I was alright with doing this before forcing me into the chair, and I trusted his judgement enough to let it slide. The stylist commented on how well I took care of my hair as she parted the thick locks down the middle and began chopping, mesmerized by the ‘rich color’ it was. I didn’t understand how brown hair could be so exciting, but apparently it was to her. When she finished the cut, she brushed some stray hairs off my cheek and spun me towards the mirror, where Sebastian was sitting on the counter with a smile. He gasped audibly and cupped his mouth, kicking his legs excitedly, “Oh my Gods, Nick, you look amazing!”

“You were right, Sebastian; these bangs were a great suggestion,” the stylist sang as she ran a hand through one side of my wavy hair. I blinked in awe at my reflection, and turned back and forth to see every angle I could. My eyes really did sparkle like diamonds now that they were visible, and Sebastian promised that showing off my freckles made me incredibly adorable. It did feel nice to have taken some of my dense hair off, since she cut the sides and back shorter as well, so I was pleased with the new style.

Soren was talking about our upcoming Elemental classes when Sebastian banged on the bench the boys were seated on, rolling his lips as he created a drumroll on the metal, “Introducing the new and approved, Nicodemus Crawford!”

“Would you knock that off?” I laughed as I rounded the corner with an eyeroll. Soren gushed over the haircut, and Odysseus was taken off guard so sharply that he couldn’t do anything but stare at me with no shame. I tucked one side behind my ear and flashed a sheepish smile, “So, you guys really like it?” I shyly asked.

Soren scoffed in disbelief, “Like it; it’s awesome! Seb always knows best, though. You look totally different!”

“In a good way!” Odysseus finally managed to say something, but winced at himself.

Sebastian brushed his fingers through my hair as he spoke, “I didn’t realize he had his ears pierced, so I was thinking we add some bigger and bolder earrings; something that would dangle past the hair!”

“You’re turning him into a K-pop star, Seb,” Soren laughed.

“So what if I am!? He’s so cute, it would be a waste not to doll him up!”

“What am I, a puppy?” I offered with a giggle.

“No, but I can tell you like what we’ve done so far. I’m trying to help you boost your confidence and put your best self forward!” Sebastian replied, with much more seriousness in his voice than usual.

I sighed softly and hugged his shoulders, “I know, and I appreciate it a lot. It is kind of fun exploring what kind of style looks best on me.”

Sebastian nodded with a sincere smile, “That’s why I’m being so overbearing about making this fun; gaining your sight is no small thing, Nick, as I know you know, and I want to help you explore all you can in your new world, and make each experience a positive one.”

“Awe, Sebastian…” I tsked, pulling him into a full hug. “I can see why you keep him around, Soren.” I teased, though Soren was beaming with pride over Sebastian.

Sebastian kissed my cheek sweetly before clapping his hands once, a quirk I was picking up that he did when he wanted to move on, “Phase two involves clothes, but I really want to surprise you for that, if you trust me? I think you’d look really good in some edgy, gothic styled pieces, and I know exactly which ones I want to get. Not because you’re a Death Elemental, by the way, but because you just have the vibe.”

I shrugged lightly, “Sure, go for it. I actually really like that kind of stuff, so you have free reign.” I offered, now fully intrigued about whatever he planned to get me.

“Perfect! Soren, if you’d please; I need a test subject!” He whisked his boyfriend up by the arm before trudging forward, turning to wave to Odysseus and I over his shoulder, “You two go find a store to walk around or something, and we’ll meet at the food court in an hour!”

“Here we go again…” Soren groaned to himself.