Page 13 of Dead Serious Case 4 Professor Prometheus Plume
“Come on,” he says decisively, grabbing my hands and pulling me up. “Let’s go take a shower and head over there now. You’ll feel better once you’ve seen him for yourself, and then you can be there when he wakes up.”
“Thank you,” I mutter, still feeling really unsettled.
Danny’s right about one thing. I will feel better once I’ve seen Dad. But as Danny turns away, still holding my hand to lead me to the bathroom, I give his hand a little tug and he looks back at me.
“What were you going to say?” I ask. “Earlier, before the phone rang, you looked like you wanted to say something.”
He opens his mouth but hesitates. “I… it’s fine.” He shakes his head and gives me a small smile. “It’s nothing that can’t wait.”
“Are you sure–”
This time it’s my words that are cut off as the doorbell buzzes.
“I’ll get it,” I tell him, heading out of the room and through the flat. When I reach the door, I glance through the peephole and smile.
“Merry Christmas, darling!” Chan flounces through the door and hands me a bottle of bubbly, then kisses both my cheeks affectionately.
“Merry Christmas, Chan,” I return as I see Aidan trailing in behind him and carrying a bag of presents.
“Hi, Tristan,” he says shyly in his thick Irish accent.
“Hey, Aidan.” I smile at the kid, closing the door behind them.
Aidan’s such a lovely boy, only just turned seventeen. Death and Chan found him on Shepherd’s Bush station platform late one evening in the summer. The poor kid had been kicked out of home as soon as he turned sixteen. He still hasn’t said much about his family or his life in Belfast, but it’s pretty obvious the kid falls somewhere on the rainbow.
Just after Chan had found Aidan, he’d given him a friendship bracelet that Benny from the Rainbow Room had made. It had been wound together with rainbow silk threads, and Aidan had worn it until it had literally frayed and fallen off his wrist. I could tell he was really upset at losing it, so Danny and I had bought him a brand-new bracelet. This one was a lot sturdier, with a large rainbow bead and a braided leather strap. To my knowledge, he hasn’t taken it off since he got it.
After Aidan had been kicked out by his birth family, he made his way to London, but by the time Chan found him, he had no money and no place to sleep. Chan had taken him home that night and given him a safe place to stay. That was nearly six months ago and the kid’s a firm part of our little found family now.
He took to Sam straight away, fascinated by his work as a PI, and Sam, being the sweetheart he is, gave Aidan a job even though he didn’t need the help. Now Aidan’s going to college and working with Sam part-time, and he’s starting to open up little by little.
“Is, um, Danny here?” Aidan asks, his cheeks pinking slightly.
Oh, yeah, and by the way, the kid has a massive crush on Danny. Can’t say that I blame him. It’s really adorable. I still remember my first crush fondly. Okay, it was Brad Pitt and I had zero chance of that little fantasy coming true, but it certainly helped me figure out my sexuality.
Aidan is going to be an absolute heartbreaker when he’s older with his jet-black hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. He’s just starting to grow out of that skinny, gangly phase and carries himself with a little more confidence. Personally, I think that’s more because he’s found himself surrounded by a tight-knit queer family who are more than willing to step in and play older siblings.
“Danny will be out in a minute,” I answer.
“Did I hear my name?” Danny wanders out into the hallway still wearing his pjs, which mostly just consist of grey sweatpants and an old Queen t-shirt. “Hey, Aidan. Merry Christmas.”
“M-m-merry Christmas.” Aidan blushes bright red.
Oh my god, he’s too cute.
“What are you doing here so early?” I ask Chan, trying to give the poor awkward teenager a break before he passes out from all the blood rushing to his face. “I thought you weren’t coming over until later?”
Chan looks amazing as always. He finally figured out a lot of things back over the summer. Funnily enough, when he started a relationship with Death. Yes, you heard right. Chan’s boyfriend is – honest to god –theGrim Reaper.
While Dusty had been alive and they’d both performed at The Rainbow Room in drag, Chan had kind of been swept along in Dusty’s wake. It’s not to say he didn’t enjoy drag. He did, but he was also still trying to figure out his own gender identity, and all of that kind of wound together for a long time.
He told me once that Dusty is like ninety percent Dusty, ten percent Dustin, and is happy with that. And he’s not wrong. I mean, I’ve known Dusty for well over a year now and only ever saw her appear once as Dustin. But she’s both—when she’s Dusty, she’s ashe. When he’s Dustin, he’s ahe. Dusty doesn’t feel the need to quantify it beyond that. She just loves being in drag.
For Chan, it was a bit different. It wasn’t about becoming a drag queen. If anything, drag just allowed him the freedom to experience all the things he loved: makeup, painted nails, heels, glitter, beautiful dresses. For a long time, he thought he was gender fluid. He told me that it didn’t fit him quite right but it was the closest he could find to how he felt at the time. It wasn’t until Dusty was gone and he had to figure out who he was without her that he started to understand his own core identity.
I think Death kinda helped actually. As Chan pointed out, Death in his true form is, in fact, genderless. He doesn’t understand the human preoccupation with gender; to be honest, he doesn’t really understand humans at all most of the time, which is another thing we’ve all had to adjust to as well. But being with him helped Chan let go of any residual insecurities and embrace who he really is.
He let us know that he’s ahebut very fem. He still loves beautiful clothes that are typically considered female, along with heels and makeup, but the self-reflection he had done moved into other parts of his world too. He decided to give up drag a few months back.