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Michael stood frozen for what seemed an eternity, and that was saying something for an ageless demon. He stared at Eleanor and tried to make sense of what he was seeing.
She was dressed in sheer orange, yellow, and red fabric, inexpertly cut into a revealing dress. That, in and of itself, wasn’t so hard to grasp. The tall, conical hat and papier mache tubes sticking off, however, were throwing him for a loop.
“What are you wearing?”
“You don’t like it?” asked in a rare moment of vulnerability. “I wanted it to be a surprise, so I couldn’t ask Janet. You don’t even want to know what all else I had to ask for to disguise all this. I think she thinks I’m helping Jason build a giant model hot wing for what he thinks is his birthday…”
“Are you mocking me?”
"What? No, man, I’m trying to, like, meet you in the middle here.” Eleanor bit her lip for a moment. “I’m a sexy fire squid...like you.”
Michael’s face went through a quick series of expressions, from shock to sadness to thoughtful appreciation.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t know. How about something like, ‘Eleanor, you’re the hottest fire squid in the multiverse, pun intended, and I’m the luckiest demon that ever existed, and you’re not going to be wearing that costume long.”
Michael paused again.
“This is very sweet, and you are, and I am very lucky, and...that other thing, certainly. Just, uh, I don’t have to, um, ‘show you mine’, do I?”
Eleanor approached, putting her arms around Michael’s waist, the move made somewhat awkward by the extra appendages.
“I know who and what you are, Michael. You don’t have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”
Michael sagged in relief.
“Fire squid, silver fox, it’s all good. Now, let’s follow through on that promise, because I want to see if it’s true. I’m told, when it comes to fire squids...there’s so much juice.”