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“You sure this is gonna work?” Nate asked skeptically, watching Jason line up gummy bears on a cookie sheet.
“Pretty sure. Like, ninety-eight percent sure,” Jason answered, going back to the top and adjusting the bears to be in straight lines. “Help me, this still has to soak all day while we’re gone.”
Nate shrugged and started at the bottom, working his way up to meet Jason in the middle. There was certainly no harm in trying this, Nate figured. He liked gummy bears, and he loved vodka. If Jason was right and this worked, this could be very good.
“You hardly drink, where did you even learn this?” Nate asked, curious.
Jason chuckled and shook his head. “I learned a lot before I met you. Not all of it was, you know, good learning, but some of it has come in useful.”
Nate watched Jason unscrew the cap on the vodka bottle. Jason barely ever talked about the darker parts of his past. Nate knew the basics of Jason’s history, of course. He’d met Jason’s parents, who were very happy that their son had found love, and he’d spent time with Jason’s twin sister Jessica and her young twins, but that was nearly it.
Jason poured a liberal amount of the vodka over the bears, until they were nearly drowned. “Okay, now we go to the mountain, and when we come back tonight, they should be ready.”
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They had a mission that day, but it was pretty cut and dried, though tiring. They ended up walking nearly five miles from the gate to reach the settlement they were supposed to check up on. When they finally got back to the mountain at the end of the day, all Nate wanted to do was take a long shower to wash off the dust and debris from the primitive crop threshers, then go home and have a good stiff drink or four.
“Ready to go?” Jason asked as Nate joined him in at the lockers after his shower. “We have the bears waiting at home.”
Nate perked up at the reminder. “Yeah,” he agreed. He quickly threw on his civilian clothes and followed Jason out of the mountain.
They made a quick stop on the way home for smokes and a pizza. When they got home, Nate was surprised to see that the gummy bears had inflated a little and that the vodka was all gone. “Holy shit, they did absorb it.”
Jason laughed and picked one up. “They’re a little bloated, but they’re not that sticky. Try one.” He held it up to Nate’s lips.
Nate smiled before opening his mouth and sucking the bear and Jason’s fingers in. Jason pulled his fingers away slowly, his eyes darkening a little at the suction before they popped free. Nate smirked knowingly before focusing on tasting the gummy bear. It was still sweet, with a tiny bite from the vodka. The texture had changed a little; more gooey, but not gross. “Wow,” he said when he swallowed. “Those really are pretty good.”
“I ended up smashed the first time I had these,” Jason told him as he popped one into his own mouth. “It was an accident in the beginning. One of the guys spilled vodka all across the tray full of gummy bears and no one noticed it. The next morning, I started eating them, just looking for the sugar, you know?” Jason paused and shrugged. “Needless to say, I wasn’t able to go to work that day.”
Nate wanted to ask for more of the story, wanted context for what Jason was telling him, but Jason had already turned away to open the box of pizza. “Anyway, I’ll have some, I still like them, but I made them for you. Special treat.”
Nate moved up behind Jason and wrapped his arms around his waist. “How did I get so lucky?”
Jason chuckled dryly, and leaned back into Nate. “I think I should be the one asking that.”