Is it Hot in Here... Or Is It Just You?(ManxMan)

Chapter 17: How many more people have a contract?!

"How much stamina do you have?" Cam asked, as soon as we entered his garage.

"Uh stamina? I have enough, uh I am uh good?" I coughed, trying to stop the metaphorical elephant in the room from crushing me.

"Oh child!" Cam chuckled and shook his head. "What I meant was, how well are you physically? Like are you fit? Healthy? Mildly average with no history of sports? Or slightly above average because of a particular high school sport, hmm?"

"Oh that.. you could say I am average at sports... I would prefer not to run around when I could be sitting comfortably and fine."

"What am I gonna do with you?" Cam shook his head again and went deeper into the garage, rummaged for something and came back to hand me a gun.

"Why are you giving me a gun?" I took a step back, alarmed at the weapon.

"This, is loaded with holy water treated bullets. So that you actually physically damage those spawn if and when they come for someone you know."

"B-but I don't know how to use a gun."

"And that's why we are here, to learn!" Cam continued to maintain the same cheerful tone he had while talking about something as mundane as the weather or someone's clothes... the same tone for talking about violent weapons and murdering monsters.

"I uh I am not really sure about this... I am sure there could be a more peaceful way to solve this? I don't need something to permanently you know? K-kill them." I wince at my own words. "I just need something to keep them away from my friends and family."

"And that's why you need the gun. Because if you were alone and were the target, I would have suggested you to l learn to outrun those little shits. But you are more worried about others. And when you both try to outrun it, it's senses become more fixed on your scents and will try harder to get to you, much more easier to track prey with intermingled scents... they won't even be distracted by other easier prey sitting right in front of them when there's two or more people trying to outrun it..."

I sighed and took the gun, testing it's weight in my right hand.

"Matt? Just so you know, I wish there was another way to handle the spawns... but ever since they had started to come after my sister... I decided it was time I stopped those little shits from wrecking my family."

"I uh I understand.... but it doesn't make this situation any less heavier than it is. I am probably overthinking this too, just like everything else."

"Amiable sentiment, but not really. Your feelings about all this is valid. I totally understand. Hell, I was exactly you just a decade ago‍, but yes, my life did significantly improve after that."

"After what?" I asked, confused

"After the contract."

"Wait a minute! You had a contract with the devil?" I set the gun down on a table, checked if the safety was on and immediately went closer to where Cam was leaning on his car, looking as though he was internally debating whether to tell me or not.

"I did." He finally answered, his shoulders and back straight, a determined look on his face.

"I am gender-fluid. Ever since I was 17, I was gender-fluid. I was born a man, christened Cameron, but when it came to my own choice, I wanted to be able to be Camilla too... and it was just too much to take it all in then. People were mean, stupid, arrogant. I was friendless during High school and mostly hid my sexuality throughout college. And then I decided, I had had enough. And that was the day I found that-"

"Fortune cookie?"

"Nah. I actually found a poster in the events board at my hostel. Decided I was ready for street gangs or something and they way that poster advertised it sounded like a cult or a gang. What I didn't expect was Luci. He was annoying."

"Same with me."

"No no. He wasn't with me the way he was with you. Sure, he told me to go through the trials, decided my danger level, then let me sign the contract. But, he was annoying because his offer was irresistible to me."

"What was his offer?"

"The ability to change. Literally." He finally met my searching gaze and his eyes gleamed with excitement.

"You mean..?"

"Yup. It made me feel great actually. I could finally be a guy or a girl whenever I felt like it. And though it's kinda painful and I don't do it often and let it just happen on its own, I still count it as the best thing that happened in my life! And all it took was my soul!"

"Uh soul?" I gaped at him.

"Yeah my soul. It would be his immediately after I die. I'll probably be tortured in the seventh ring of hell for the rest of my afterlife!" Cam chuckled cheerfully.

"And that doesn't scare you?"

"Nope. Not even this much." Cam showed his thumb and index finger touching each other. "I believe in living life to the fullest. Better to have a beautiful life to remember when I am tortured throughout my after life than to grumble in heaven about how shitty my life was and continue to stay miserable then too." He shrugged.

"Oh"

"But you, Matt? I believe you have a chance of getting what you want without the devil's contract." Cam scrutinised me.

"What?!" I looked at him like he was crazy.

"I mean it. That girl you are after may not be in a relationship forever right? And the next time she breaks up with someone, be there for her. Comfort her. And when the time is right, ask her out." He shrugged.

I shook my head.

"What you said sounds so simple. And it is. But Samirah? She's not a simple girl. Not even close. She's the girl who'll commit it to a relationship 100% and make it work. So much so that I believe she may already be lost to me. I had been trying so hard for a long time to muster the courage to even talk to her normally... but I found her long gone by the time I had become a staple in her life, at least in the office."

"So you think those two will get married or something?"

"It's definitely on the cards. With women like Samirah, there's no fooling around. They either like someone too much, so much so that they don't like anyone else enough." I sighed, unable to actually express what I was feeling but Cam seemed to understand as he nodded.

"I understand Matt. And I hope you get what you need." He clapped my back then took my gun, checking each part. I noticed how he said that I would get what I 'needed' not what I 'wanted'.

"Let's start now, shall we?" Cam stood up, the gun in his left hand, ready.

~*~

Hey y'all!

Hope this chapter explained some stuff?

Also, I do not write filers chapters. I need certain things to happen in each chapter so that when you read the end, it will all click into place and make so much more sense, later on.

I love writing, and sure, writing an easy, cliched MxM book sounds breezy, but I just love to hide Easter eggs here and there and then have you readers guessing till the end when I finally pull the curtains down and reveal the trick!

Am I exaggerating? I probably am... 

Cheerios!