Page 21 of Lovesick Gods (Lovesick #1)

Danny walked into the morgue the next morning early enough to have a good half-hour to spare before his shift started at the precinct.

He’d messaged Lynn and Andre to meet him there.

John had given him a stunned look when he bolted down the stairs to leave ahead of him for once.

It helped that Danny had actually gotten a solid eight hours of blissful, dreamless sleep for the first time in months.

Carrying a box full of donuts and a drink holder loaded with coffee for him and his team, Danny felt invigorated. All thanks to Cho. Now he had to make things right with his friends, especially Andre.

“Danny!” Lynn said in pleased astonishment as he entered. She rose from her seat to meet him at the center desk where he set his offerings. Andre rolled back from his computer to look at Danny but didn’t get up. “I was worried when you asked to meet us this morning. This is a nice surprise.”

“Did you actually go to bed last night or come straight here?” Andre asked neutrally, eyeing the coffee and donuts—and Danny—with equal stoicism.

“How late did you two play last night?” Lynn raised an eyebrow as she claimed her customary fritter from the box then the coffee labelled with her name.

“Not late,” Andre said, fake smile covering the truth from her, “but Danny had some energy to burn afterward. How’d you decide to do that, anyway?”

“Oh, uhh…” Danny averted his eyes and scratched the back of his neck. “What did you call it before? Recreation ?”

“ Danny ,” Lynn chided him.

Andre just stared.

“I slept great,” Danny said, but not as a challenge. He looked at Andre with pleading in his eyes.

“Well I for one don’t need to hear any details of the cause,” Lynn said, “but I will definitely enjoy the effect. Thank you, Danny.”

“Of course,” Danny brightened as he turned to her. “I know I haven’t been the best company lately. I just wanted to do something small to show you guys how much I appreciate what you do for me. During the day and off hours.”

Lynn smiled warmly.

Andre gave an inaudible but very animated sigh from behind her back. “Hey, Lynn? Can you grab the M.E. report on the Spillman case for me? I want to make sure I didn’t miss anything before I file my portion, and I can get through it way faster down here.”

“Oh, of course. Thanks again, Danny.” She set her fritter back in the box with a claiming bite already taken out of it and left the room at an unhurried pace.

Andre still didn’t rise from his chair. Plucking the other two coffees from the holder, Danny approached his friend with what he knew was his saddest, sorriest ‘puppy dog expression’, as his father once dubbed it, since, “You are not allowed to use that look on me when you’re in trouble, young man. ”

He held Andre’s coffee out to him, a hazelnut latte from Pronto; no foam, extra whipped cream. “It’s your favorite.”

“So it’s hoes before bros now?” Andre crossed his arms. “And coffee’s supposed to make up for it?”

Danny would have laughed in any other situation. He knew he deserved this treatment, but he’d just been so angry last night. “You know how Lynn hates that phrase,” he smiled sheepishly.

Andre fought a twitch at his lips.

“I’m sorry,” Danny said with conviction. “The whole point of last night was to not get caught up in everything wrong inside of me lately. I turned it all back on you and that’s not fair.”

“No, it’s not.” Andre dropped his arms, his stony expression crumbling like a non-existent wall between them. “But it’s not fair what you’re turning back on yourself either.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I don’t think you’re a killer—”

“Stop.” Danny wished he wasn’t holding the drinks so he could do something with his hands. They weren’t supposed to talk about it—ever. “This isn’t about that. Not only that.”

“Then what—”

“It’s everything . All the things I’ve done, all the things that have happened, just imploding and…” clenching his eyes shut, when he opened them again, Andre was watching him patiently, “…being a burden to everyone.”

“Danny,” Andre said in that sympathetic tone that Danny was getting so sick of hearing, “you’re not a burden to me.”

He wanted to believe that. He knew Andre cared, that Andre was his friend, but a persistent voice in the back of his head still parroted the same thing he’d been telling himself for months.

You wouldn’t feel that way if I wasn’t Zeus.

“You know you’re nothing like…” Andre started to say, but stopped himself.

“What?” Danny prompted.

The way Andre looked at him wasn’t sympathy; it was pity.

“Nothing. Look, Danny, I didn’t mean to bring up Prometheus last night.

Obviously, you have plenty of reason to hate on the guy.

I do too. His gorgeous sister aside, he’s a thief, a criminal, and he turned his back on us when we needed him most. I’m practically president of the anti-Prometheus fan club—”

“I get it, Andre,” Danny interrupted; he didn’t want to talk about Cho right now either. “I’m sorry I blew up. It was stupid to get so upset.”

“No. It wasn’t stupid, it was…harsh. Maybe a little cold-hearted, no pun intended, but not stupid,” he said, causing Danny to crack a smile. “It’s okay, Danny. You’re working through some things, I get that.”

“But that’s not an excuse for me to be a dick to you. You being understanding doesn’t mean I don’t need to apologize.”

Andre smiled back at him, a little sad but better than looking at Danny like there was something wrong with him. “I appreciate that, man. And the coffee, which…is really starting to sound good about now.”

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.

“ De licious,” 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 it aside.

As Danny walked over, Andre stood and held up a simple black—well, it looked like a sack , 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, and reflection —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 is awesome . 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-powered and invisible.” 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?”