Tyler looked around to see if there was somebody else behind him. "We've met?"
"Demon, two o'clock. Run."
Tyler gasped at the replay of the voice he'd heard in his head at Miya's house just before he saw that creature. "That was you?"
The scorpion nodded again. "Lyght had me on ba—uh, bodyguard duty." The scorpion turned with a faint clatter of multi-jointed legs to look at Peggy and Maxwell full on. "How did you do that?"
Peggy seemed to know exactly what he meant and blurted, "We just think it! And it's so easy! Try it! Go on, please, please, please."
He held up a pincer "Stop. I need to acclimate before I attempt that trick. I'm exhausted." He moved fully into the room with more clattering joints and plopped himself to the floor in what looked like a carefully coordinated routine despite sounding like a sack of broken glass.
Reality pricked at Tyler's mind and he blinked, feeling like he was stuck in a dream that was really more nightmare.
"You okay?"
Tyler looked at Francis. Francis the ruby man-boy. "I'm…just kinda weirded out." He looked at Peggy. And Maxwell. And Robert the scorpion. "I only ever see humans."
The three of them suddenly resumed their human form, looks of concern on their faces. Tyler stared around at them, confused. "I'm okay, it's just…"
"You don't look very okay." Maxwell bent a little and peered at him closely.
The back of his neck suddenly prickled and sent an uncomfortable chill down his back. Tyler raised one hand to rub at the annoying sensation but froze with it halfway up. His entire forearm shook and trembled. Oh. He stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"Are you going to be sick?" Peggy rushed over and stroked his cheek.
"Please, don't…" Tyler didn't know what to say without looking like an idiot or offending her.
She pulled her hand back. "Do I repulse you?" She sniffed her hand. "Do I smell?" She turned to Francis, worried.
He shook his head. "It's not you."
"I can do black hair." Her hair changed to black licorice. "Or red. How about short?" Her hair changed again. "What about lavender? Oh! Magenta!" She went through several colors and styles until Tyler felt responsible for the crayon show.
"Stop!" Tyler said. "You're perfect the way you were. Trust me." He turned to Francis. "Tell her."
"You're perfect to him."
"Not to me," Tyler corrected.
"Not to you?" she asked.
Tyler's mouth hung open at how badly the whole thing was going. "Yes to me. To everybody."
"To you." Maxwell smiled a little.
"Yes, that's true." Of course Francis agreed with Maxwell.
"To you?" Hope filled Peggy's clear blue eyes as though being perfect to him was suddenly the most important thing. And Tyler was ready to consent to anything just to get out of the spotlight.
"Yes. To me."
"I'm perfect to you?"
Was she really going to make him say it again? He looked at Francis, desperate, but the red dude only chuckled and raised his hands, no help.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Tyler met her beautiful gaze head on and bit the bullet. "You are."
"Perfect to you?" She raised an eyebrow in question, insisting he be clearer.
"You are perfect to me. Very perfect. The most beautiful girl I've ever seen up close." Oh crap. Well, at least his Gramps would be proud of him for manning up.
She giggled, leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you." Then she spun away, and danced to some unheard tune in her head. Maybe the Cinderella theme song, whatever that was, all while Tyler's mind zeroed in on the spot where her lips had touched his skin. It still tingled and he couldn't stop his hand from going to the spot.
"I'm not naming any names, but somebody is dotty gaga with our Peggy."
Tyler looked over at Robert the Scorpion and realized in horror what he was saying. The instinct to deny it jumped on his tongue, but one look at Peggy's pleased smile froze him. No way would he offend her for his own pride. He looked down and shuffled his feet, wishing the subject would change.
"So when do we tell them?" Francis mercifully granted Tyler's wish and took the conversation back to the original subject.
Tyler sighed in relief.
"Tell what?" A deep voice with a sort of odd accent came from just outside the door.
Interested in what would come through the door next, Tyler leaned to get a good look. When a monster that looked a whole lot like the one he'd seen back at Miya's house strolled in like it owned the place, he sucked in a deep breath to scream a warning. But Francis and the others seemed perfectly at ease. Maybe this was another of their friends, practicing different forms? He sure hoped so as he let his breath out slowly.