Cooper had waited patiently while Chaos inspected the hotel room on their arrival, delighted at the novelty. Cooper had gotten them two beds, for some reason. Chaoswasdue to sleep soon, but he didn’t see why he had to do it in his own bed. He was going to curl up with Cooper, obviously. Friends snuggled, didn’t they?
The room had smelled like sterile cleaning supplies but not strongly enough to mask the layers of human emotions that had built in over the years. Lust, sorrow, and boredom were the strongest, although there were little pockets of other things, like a bit of rage and disgust.
The bar was a little more Chaos’s cup of tea. It was quieter than a tavern of old, but the people were still a mix, as they tended to be in establishments like this. Everyone here had come from different places for different purposes, and their conflicting goals and emotions stirred up a mild bit of disorder in the air. It was a calm sort of chaos, but it was still something.
Chaos had always been partial to the flavor of violent mayhem above all—spicy and sharp and metallic—but now, with Cooper, he was getting a taste for many different types of disarray.
It was oddly pleasing. After all, variety was the spice of life. Chaos had read that on a tea towel through the portal once.
Cooper was beside Chaos on a stool at the bar, studying the menu with a furrowed brow. The bartender—an annoyingly handsome man with very stupid facial hair—returned, and Chaos didnotlike the interested gleam in his eye as he looked Cooper over.
Yes, Chaos’s puppy was aesthetically pleasing, but that was for Chaos to know and others to…not know.
“I’ll just have a seltzer with lime, please,” Cooper told the bartender, his eyes remaining lowered on his menu. He might have been too shy to look up and notice the man’s interest, but Chaos certainly saw it.
The bartender hesitated, then placed his hand on Cooper’s menu in a way that had Cooper looking up at him. The man’s eyes widened when he took stock of Cooper’s mismatched pair, then gleamed anew. Like he thought Cooper was exceptionally pretty. Like he thought he might have a chance.
I will bite your hand off at the wrist, Chaos threatened in his mind, sensing Cooper might not like him saying the words out loud.There will be fountains and fountains of blood.
“If you’re interested,” the bartender drawled, oblivious to the murder and mayhem Chaos had planned for him, “we’ve got some good mocktails here, on the back page. There’s one with guava that’s my favorite.”
Cooper’s cheeks flushed with embarrassed pleasure at the suggestion, and Chaos let out a low growl from somewhere deep in his throat.
The growl was too quiet for the bartender to hear, but Cooper’s gaze darted to Chaos, and whatever he saw on Chaos’s face had him blanching.
Cooper nodded frantically at the bartender. “Guava mocktail sounds good,” he said quickly, pushing the menu away. “And a water for my friend, please.”
Chaos didn’t need any water, and good thing too, since requiring the consumption of a tasteless liquid to live sounded as boring as anything could be. But he was pleased his puppy was thinking of him. He cut the growl off and lowered his head onto Cooper’s shoulder, snuggling his face into Cooper’s cool neck.
When the movement garnered the bartender’s attention, Chaos flashed his true demon eyes at the man, grinning when confusion washed over his face.
“That’ll be all,” Chaos crooned, just as sweet and polite as his puppy.
When the man had scurried away, Chaos lifted his head. “Youlikehim,” he accused, something strange and bitter swirling in his belly.
“What?” Cooper seemed genuinely confused by the allegation. “I don’t even know him.”
Chaos pressed a finger to Cooper’s cheek. “You blushed.”
“I blush when strangers are nice to me. It’s embarrassing in, like, a nice way.”
Chaos considered that. “AmInice to you?” He thought he was, at least by his own standards, but he wasn’t sure Cooper felt the same way. Chaos didn’t know how he could be much different, though, if Cooper disagreed. He was what he was.
Cooper seemed to consider the question, his brow furrowing thoughtfully. “You are,” he said after a moment. “In a bossy sort of way.”
“And you like bossy?” Chaos pressed.
“I don’t mind it,” Cooper said with a shrug. “I’m pretty easygoing.”
“Even though lots of things make you nervous?”
“It’s easier to deal with that stuff when I’m doing it for someone else. Like, I wouldn’t necessarily be hanging out at a hotel bar by myself. But with you here, it’s not so bad.”
Oh, that was a lovely thing to say. Chaos lowered his head onto Cooper’s shoulder again, suddenly pleased with the general state of things.
The bartender approached with their drinks, and this time, Chaos flashed his fangs at the man. He backed away with a start, then held a hand to his forehead, as if checking for a fever. He eyed Chaos warily as he headed to the opposite end of the bar, leaving them in peace.
Cooper shot Chaos a suspicious glance as he tasted his mocktail. “What did you just do?”
