“The Death of the Sun” ~Title by Fawful_ subject by Cloaked37m
“The Death of the Sun” ~Title by Fawful_ subject by Cloaked37m
“Are you doing it again,” he asked scowling at me. “Honestly Jesse, you’re pathetic.”
“Shut up, it’s not like I’m asking you to do anything. If you hate it so much, why’re you even here,” I asked him.
“Moral support.”
“Criticizing me isn’t moral support Aaron,” I quipped as I pulled on my wig.
“Whatever,” he said while shrugging at me while flopping down on my bed.
It was two days to the con and I was anxious, I had worked on the costume all summer. Aaron was my constant reminder of how un-cool it was to actually do this kind of thing. Between my summer job of being a lifeguard and working on this costume I think he started to feel really neglected. I offered to make him a costume, but he scoffed at me and told me I was ‘a freaky, lame-o, loser’ and he had no intention of becoming one too.
I made him one anyway.
My parents were out of town for the week, and I was left home house sitting. Aaron was considering spending the night so he could go with me to the con the day after next. We lay on my bed watching the sunset and Aaron looked at me with a strange expression on his face.
“Something feels funny,” he said frowning, still looking out the window. “Sky doesn’t look right or something.”
“Sure,” I said, pulling myself off the bed and walking to the closet. “I have a surprise for you Aaron.”
“Jesse, I swear to GOD it better not be a costume,” he said scowling at me. He looked good laying there with his hands tucked behind his head, it made his arm muscles stand out.
“Aaron, it is a costume, and I know you’ll like it,” I told him as I reached into the closet again. I pulled it out and hung it beside mine. “Come look?”
He sat up and walked over behind me. His hand reached out and grabbed the dark clothing bag it was tucked into.
“What, now it’s some sort of big surprise,” he reached out and started pulling down the zipper.
“Wait, I need to finish some of the sizing, it might not fit you perfectly in places,” I told him, putting my hand over his and unzipping the garment bag the rest of the way. When it was unzipped I pushed it open and showed him.
“You’re kidding me. You’ve gotta be shitting me,” he said, his mouth open. “How on earth did you do this?”
“You thought I was just working on mine, honestly I thought you had it figured out a while ago.”
He grabbed the costume out and held it up.
“Darc! You even have the horns, hand, and ears!”
“Yep, and dad’s friend is letting me borrow his airbrush to do your body paint,” I told him while pointing at a large compressor in the corner of the room.
“Ok, so maybe this isn’t COMPLETELY lame,” Aaron said looking at the costume. He lifted the sword that was in the garment bag and swung it around a bit before taking the bag to the bed and looking at all the pieces.
It took us a little while to make sure everything fit. I had to leave the room three separate times so he could take things off and put things on and he got mad when I explained that I would indeed need to see him in his boxers to do the scales. When I told him I considered making him a Delma he stared at me for a long time, but when I explained that Delma was for me to wear he nodded and maybe even blushed a little. By the time we were done getting the last measurements I collapsed into my bed and told him that I wasn’t going to watch him change, that I was too tired for that kind of thing after everything else we had done that evening. He grunted and turned around to unbuckle some things and when he pulled off his clothes and put on his pj pants he lay beside me again. I jumped when my bed shook and looked over at him.
“The sky still looks wrong,” he said.
“I’m too tired for this conversation Aaron,” I told him pulling a pillow over my head.
“Seriously Jesse, something doesn’t look right.”
“Ok, I promise to listen to whatever you have to say about the sky tomorrow, please let me sleep. It’s going to be a long day.”
“Ok Jess,” I heard him say quietly, patted my stomach a few times and then he went to the guest room. I pulled the pillow off my head and stared at the sky before passing out.
Morning came too early, but Aaron was awake and told me that he was going to treat me to breakfast at my favorite restaurant before chores and last minute con preparation. Breakfast was good, and the day was promising to be hot, so we wolfed down the food and got back. He told me that if I mowed the lawn, he’d play pool boy for the rest of the day. There was no way I was turning down him cleaning the pool and bringing me fruity drinks and sandwiches so I told him it was a deal. He changed into his shorts and started making us sandwiches in the air conditioned house. After I was half way through the yard, I almost thought he got the better part of the deal, but I remembered how much my back hurt after scrubbing the pool walls and decided to let him enjoy the ac now, because soon he was going to be my personal slave. That thought alone got me through the rest of the mowing job, and when I put the mower back in the shed he was waiting next to the pool with two tall glasses of something icy.
“I’ve skimmed the pool, just need to scrub some spots then we can get in and enjoy the water,” he told me while grinning.
I grunted at him with my mouth around the straw of the frozen and fruity drink. My hands felt fuzzy from the mower, and a few seconds later I almost dropped the glass because I got a wicked case of brainfreeze.
“Stupid,” he muttered as he grabbed the cup and sat it down. “Go lie down and relax while I finish this.” He walked to the poolside, picked up the brush, and began scrubbing.
I must have fallen asleep on my towel because the next thing I know there are wet icy cold fingers playing on my lower back. When it occurs to me what I’m feeling I almost jump out of my skin. Aaron is sitting beside me holding his drink glass and occasionally rubbing me with his icy hand.
“Been done with the pool for almost half an hour lazy,” he tells me, his eyes twinkling with suppressed laughter. “We gonna eat now, or after a swim?”
“Swim first, I need to wake up,” I grunt as I slid toward the pool and into the cool water.
As my body got wet, I wake up, and by the time it reached my neck I was wide awake again. The water feels good and soothing so I was only a little annoyed when Aaron cannonballed into the water beside me. We spend a while splashing one another and making a mess and by the time we dragged ourselves out of the pool, we were tired and giggling. He toweled off a bit and went to get the sandwiches and I headed into the shade with our glasses of melted frozen juices.
We ate our sandwiches and drank the juice and he begins telling me all about this new game he wants. I noticed that it’s getting hotter and hotter and that we’re both sweating.
“We should head in. You need a shower so I can get the base for tomorrow’s paint down,” I tell Aaron when he takes a breath. “Then we can watch a movie or play something, then early to bed so we can be up in time to finish the costume.”
“You think I’m going to shower all naked in your house,” he says heading in the door, and the second his words end he wiggles his butt at me. “You’re likely to spy on me or something.”
“Doofus! Your shorts near came off when we were swimming in the pool, if I wanted to see something, I’d have taken my chance then.”
“Scandalous,” he mutters while slapping his butt as he heads up the stairs to the bathroom.
Shaking my head I wander into the basement where the other shower is. When we meet in the living room almost thirty minutes later he’s smiling like the proverbial cat that ate the proverbial canary.
“What’d you do,” I asked wearily. That kind of smile on that face made me more than nervous.
“Nothing,” he said while laughing. “Honest!”
When I stared at him he shrugged and lifted his shirt.
“I put the base lotion stuff on that you showed me last night and prepped the machine,” he smiled. “And I put a few trash bags on the bed so I could lay down for you to work.”
I followed him upstairs and he had gotten everything laid out and he stripped down to his shorts and sat on the bed. I finished the prep and got to work laying down the base of his makeup and scales. When the work was done a few hours later I looked out the bedroom window. The sun was still out and it should have gone down a while ago.
“Aaron, what do you think is going on,” I asked while cleaning everything up. I handed him the powder that is for setting the makeup and making it tolerable for extended wear. As he put the powder on I stood staring at the large ball of light that now seemed to just be starting to set.
“Don’t know, but we have an early day tomorrow Jesse.”
“You wanted to tell me something last night,” I said, looking back at him as I shoved the machine back into its corner.
“It’s just,” he started, and then he looked at me. The sunlight was red and shining through the window making it seem as if the windows were covered in blood. “The daylight feels strange, looks strange too. It’s too hot, like something is trying to bake us. Something is wrong Jesse.”
“Yeah, I see that now. What do you expect me to do about it,” I say while looking at him.
“I don’t know,” he shrugs and pulls the shirt back over his head. “You’re just the smarter of us, I figured you might be able to…”
“Yeah, I’ll think on it. Let me check something online,” I say, patting his shoulder and sitting at the desk. “Just… Go brush your teeth or something, set the alarm for tomorrow.”
The internet said something about sun flares and the solar winds pushing the atmosphere strangely. I didn’t quite understand everything, but it said that things would even out before long. When Aaron came back into the room, holding his toothbrush out and looking pitiful, I couldn’t help but smile.
“How am I supposed to brush without messing my face up,” Aaron asked.
“Doofus, you can’t brush your teeth without brushing your face? As for the sun, it says it’s supposed to go away soon. Come here if you actually need me to brush your teeth.”
He stepped forward and held his brush up and I couldn’t help but laugh as I carefully brushed his teeth.
“You SO owe me,” I said as I handed him his tooth brush and ushered him out the door so I could change.
The next day, the sun woke us up again. I rolled over to see the sun bathing my room in a bizarre orange-red light and Aaron was staring at me. My breath caught in my throat, from the makeup and the light he looked a little creepy.
“Sun is still wonky,” he told me quietly.
“I noticed.”
“When is it going back to normal,” he asked urgently.
“Soon,” I said while sitting up. “Put those pieces on and well get the rest on at the con. I’ll adjust a few things and you can ride in the car in your horns. Now get out of my room so I can change.”
He smiled at me and walked out of the room with his bag. I pulled my costume on and put my makeup on when I saw him behind me in the mirror. He held up his horns and looked pitifully at me. I got out the glue and put them on. Then we headed out the door.
Parking at the Con was a pain, the last pieces of his costume and mine were easily put on in the parking garage. He shouldered his sword and we headed out. It was crowded inside, but the feeling of everyone wasn’t excited, but scared. There was chattering everywhere about what was happening. We posed for pictures while the photographers and other Con-goers were babbling about the sun. It was actually a little annoying.
“Awesome costume,” someone said in passing as Aaron walked by.
“Yeah, thanks,” Aaron replied as we found a quiet spot near a wall.
“Something wrong Aaron,” I asked as I turned my head to follow his gaze.
“The sky,” he said. “I want to go outside.”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, following him as he walked through the crowd.
When we made it outside, he moved so we were out in the open, not under the covered walkway. He looked up into the sky and I followed his gaze. The sun seemed darker than normal. It flickered then, like a light bulb going out. I looked at Aaron and he took off his glove and held my hand. We stood there staring at the sky as the sun went out.