Shiny Demon

It's an Ache and It Shines Through Me

"Being on holiday is great, but do you know what I miss?" Nicky's resonant voice floated out into the hallway with the lilt of a radio DJ.

Seb's voice responded in a decidedly less enthusiastic tone. "I don't know. Your fedora?"

"No, I brought that with me. I was talking about my Sonos sound system."

Stevie crept quietly to the doorway to watch them record. She'd been heading to the pool, but she couldn't resist the urge to see Doom and Gloom in action. She'd been listening to the podcast for all those months, imagining what Seb looked like when he went on fervent rants about musical choices. Did he get that crease between his eyes? Did he lean forward over the desk like he was scolding the microphone? Now she could actually see for herself.

"Ah yes," Seb read lifelessly from a piece of paper. Rather than the impassioned posture she'd imagined, he was barely mustering the effort to remain upright. "You get world quality sound whenever you want, wherever you want."

"True!" Nicky chirped in a naturally cheerful voice. "I love being able to walk from room to room in the flat and have the music follow me."

"Truly the way of the future."

"Or if Elladine wants to listen to something else, she can do it in the living room, while I have my stuff playing in the kitchen."

"Doom likes that too. We're always fighting about what to listen to," Seb added, sounding slightly less bored. "I finally put a tiny Sonos speaker in her litter tray so she can play whatever she wants while she does her business."

"You heard it here first, folks. Doom endorses Sonos."

Seb dropped his script on the table and gave Nicky a sour look. "Don't turn my cat into your shill."

Nicky pressed a button on his laptop and gave Seb an exhausted look. "Can we just get through this?"

Seb dropped the script on the table with disgust. "I hate this peddling shite."

"Yeah, I'm aware." Nicky rubbed the bridge of his nose like someone who's had this conversation a thousand times. "We gotta do it. It's in our contract."

"Yes," Seb spat bitterly. "The contract. We live and die by the contract."

"You alright, mate?" Nicky tilted his head, his frustration tinged with concern.

At this point, Stevie began to feel voyeuristic, and she could see from Seb's face that he had no interest in answering Nicky's question. So she cleared her throat and knocked on the door jamb. "Hullo hullo hullo." The absurd British impersonation popped out of her automatically. "What's all this then?"

Seb's face still looked grim, but the corner of his mouth twitched in welcome.

"Stevie!" Nicky called out amicably. "Come to see how the sausage is made?"

She walked toward the small meeting table where they were set up. "I heard the dulcet tones of my favorite podcast. I couldn't stay away."

Seb slumped grumpily in his chair but Nicky smiled warmly. "So you've listened?"

"To every episode. I've got an alert set on my phone and everything."

Seb looked at her out of the corner of his eye as she sat in a chair across the table. A flicker of muddled emotion tensed his features. A mix of interest, surprise, and something more sour. Skepticism, maybe.

She continued. "I loved your episode with Owen Pallett. Has a Good Home was my favorite in high school."

"Oh man." Nicky threw his head back with a dramatic groan. He exchanged a look with Seb whose expression had shifted into a satisfied smirk. "Now you've done it, Stevie. He'll be insufferable from now on. More than usual, I mean."