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Nandor wasn’t sure exactly how long that he had stood there watching Guillermo just sleep. And breathe. Someone could have told him seven minutes and he would have bought it. He would have also believed it if someone hold him an hour and seven minutes. Or seven hours, even. He had been lost in thought. Wondering if he had said and done the right things. But supposing it didn’t matter much if he had or not. It wasn’t as though Guillermo would remember it tomorrow.
As nice as it was look upon this hopeful little innocent reiteration of Guillermo as he slept, Nandor supposed the time was drawing nigh. With a frown, Nandor gingerly took a seat on the divan beside Guillermo’s sleeping form. He stuck out a hand with some trepidation and gently placed his fingers on Guillermo’s temple. His skin was so soft. And warm.
Nandor concentrated.
“When you wake up, you will remember everything. But also, you won’t be angry or freaked out that you slept here… because you were drunk. And there was a scary clown or some shit. Um, no. Not that. It was a Komodo dragon. And it just seemed better to sleep over here. Just for tonight. But do not worry. I fixed. I slayed the dragon for you. Just like I slayed Derek for you.”
In all honestly, Nandor wasn’t sure that there was anyone or anything that he wouldn’t slay for Guillermo at this point. And though he believed he had fixed, and the job was done, Nandor found he was having a hard time tearing himself away. The fingers on Guillermo’s temple drifted up into his soft, dark hair.
“Nandor?”
“Uh, yes, Guillermo?” Nandor responded awkwardly. Busted.
“Do you want me to go back over there? Since you killed the Komodo dragon and all. Should be safe enough now. And thanks.”
“You are most welcome, Guillermo. But it is very bloody over there. And I think I may have also seen a scary clown, so, perhaps it’s best to just remain here. Till I have managed to slay him, too.”
Guillermo gave him a quizzical look.
“You can never trust a scary clown. You’ve got your Pennywises. And John Wayne Gacys. And also that one that was on that season of that show you watch. The anthology show.”
“You’re talking about Twisty from ‘American Horror Story,’” Guillermo supplied.
“Yes. And your Twistys.”
“Okay. Two of those are fictional characters. And the non-fictional one is dead.”
“Still. One can never be too careful, Guillermo. And I have already gone to a good deal of trouble to get you out of this jam, you know. I would think the least you could do is stay put, maybe,” Nandor suggested.
“Okay. Do you think I have any aspirin or anything left over here in the bathroom cabinet maybe? I can feel a hangover coming on. I wonder why I drank so much, anyway. That’s not like me,” Guillermo remarked, and then asked, “I didn’t do anything embarrassing, right? I feel like there’s some parts of last night that I cannot remember.”
“Well. You did tell Colin Robinson that he was your best friend, so… I mean, it could have been worse, but, yeah, that was decently high up there.”
“Yeah. Anything else?”
“No. You were fine. Just worried about the Komodo dragon, mostly. Which I slayed. You’re welcome.”
“Yes, thank you again. But Nandor?”
“Yes?”
“Where did it come from?”
“What?”
“The Komodo dragon? I think they’re native to the Indonesian islands?”
“Well. He didn’t give me his life story, Guillermo. Maybe he escaped from a zoo. Or perhaps Laszlo was doing some science on him or something,” Nandor lied defensively.
“Sure. I guess that’s possible,” Guillermo accepted. Nandor supposed he should have been relieved, but the acceptance had almost come a bit too easily for his liking. Something seemed up.
“Guillermo?”
“Yes, Nandor?”
“Is something- did I do something?”
Guillermo looked up at him with those big brown eyes. After having thirty-seven wives, it was a look that Nandor knew well enough. The look of ‘I think you know what you did, you big ape.’ But then something happened that he had rarely seen. The look softened and Guillermo smiled just a little.
“Nandor. I’m still immune to vampire hypnosis. Entirely. Even sleep hypnosis, apparently,” Guillermo admitted, and then added, "Maybe it's the Van Helsing blood?"
Nandor’s brows furrowed as he thought about what all of that meant. And then he cringed a little bit.
“Why did you do it? To trick me? Make me look stupid?” Nandor asked, frowning. He supposed that wasn’t hard to do. But he and Guillermo had been getting along so well of late. There had been actual growth. Nandor had dared to hope that by giving Guillermo his space, he would realize that there was a big Nandor-shaped hole in his life that only Nandor could fill. And that maybe then, Guillermo would ask him to fill it. But he supposed it had been too much to hope for and now he had blown it. As he was wont to do.
“No,” Guillermo replied quickly.
Nandor just looked at him, his right thumb tucking behind his left index and middle finger. He gently rubbed his fingertips to his fingernails. He wasn’t sure why it seemed to help in moments like these, but it did just a tiny bit.
“Look. I’m sorry. I suppose that it was kind of shitty on my part to trick you like that, but after seeing what happened to all of you, I just saw an opportunity.”
“To embarrass me?” Nandor asked quietly.
“Nope. I just wanted to see what you would say… what you would do, if you thought you had the chance to meet me again for the first time. Make a new first impression. That’s all,” Guillermo replied.
Nandor thought for a moment. It still didn’t really make sense to him.
“How did I do?” Nandor ventured.
Guillermo smiled.
“Good. Really good. You’re clearly not the same guy as the one who interviewed me all those years ago. I don’t know if you remember our actual interview, but-”
“Yes. I was abrupt. And dismissive. And shitty. Just charming enough so you’d stay. And, but in my defense, you know, familiars come and go. They die. Or they leave you. They give their little ultimatums and then there are decisions and… but they all still leave in the end, you know?” Nandor asked, smiling weakly.
“I know. Mr. ‘I was a jock and rich’ that it’s not as easy and you made it out to be. Any dismissiveness this time around, you directed at yourself. But you were gentle with me. And empathetic. And I saw your eyes. And it was really hard to pretend that I believed that I was nineteen-year-old Memo. Here for the first time. Meeting you for the first time. But I did it. Because I wanted to see what it would be like if you had another chance. To start over.”
“It was test?”
Guillermo gave a slight nod.
“Did I pass?”
“Yeah. I’ll admit I started to get a little nervous that you might try to leave me as the wide-eyed innocent so that you could have another chance to take things from the top. Get your familiar back and all that, but you didn’t. You let me go.”
Nandor nodded. As tempting as it had been to do otherwise, he had.
After a couple of minutes in a contemplative silence, Nandor just had to ask.
“Is there anything that I get? For passing the test?”
“My respect?”
Nandor nodded.
“Disappointed?”
“No. Not in the slightest. It’s no small thing,” Nandor replied with a little smile.
“I should probably go back to my place now. Now that it’s all over.”
“Probably,” Nandor agreed, as much as he wanted to ask Guillermo to stay. Stay and never leave him again.
“But… you know, there is that scary clown over there.”
“Guillermo, there’s no scary clown. I made that up. I also didn’t slay a Komodo dragon for you. Not that I wouldn’t, but I didn’t. I didn’t really do anything.”
“You did. More than you know. Maybe I could stay here just in case there is a scary clown.”
“Sure. Of course. Stay as long as you like. I- I’ve missed you,” Nandor admitted, patting his hands of his legs. Preparing to stand up.
“Maybe don’t go? Maybe stay until I actually fall asleep?”
“For real this time? Not listening to me trying in vain to hypnotize you, saying a bunch of really stupid shit?”
“Yeah.”
“Sure, yeah,” Nandor agreed. Guillermo had done as much for him, after all.
“Could I ask you for one more thing?”
“Name it,” Nandor replied.
“Kiss me goodnight?” Guillermo asked, looking up into Nandor’s eyes.
“Kiss you how?” Nandor asked. This seemed like another test.
“You choose.”
Nandor looked down at Guillermo intently. Was it a test? A trap? Or the answer to a prayer?
For another eternal moment, Guillermo continued to look up at him, waiting.
Nandor marveled at how nervous he felt as he leaned in. Hundreds of kisses. No, it must have been thousands of kisses. Maybe tens of thousands of kisses, even, and none had ever made him feel the way he felt right now. Placing a gentle hand on Guillermo’s warm and soft cheek, he closed his eyes and kissed Guillermo softly on the lips. No tongue or tricks. Just his gooey feelings and the fear that it was the wrong thing to do. Maybe he ought to have just planted a chaste kiss on Guillermo’s forehead.
But when he felt Guillermo’s hand on the side of his face and Guillermo kissing him back, he was sure it was right. Nothing had ever felt so right before. Nandor was reluctant for it to end, but if it continued, Nandor wasn’t so sure he could control himself.
Nandor straightened back up and they sat for a moment in silence. This time, it was Guillermo who broke the silence.
“I’m not the same as I was either.”
“I know that. You grew up. Into a man. A strong and smart one. A cunning warrior.”
“I don’t know what I want to do yet. Not entirely. But I do know that I love you.”
“It is okay that you don’t know what you want to do yet. And I love you, too,” Nandor replied, feeling a huge weight lifting from his mind and heart. Clouds breaking. He leaned down again. This time he went with the forehead kiss. As he drew himself back up again, he caught Guillermo’s sweet little smile, and it made him smile, too.
“What do we do now?”
“Up to you.”
“I don’t want to go back. And I won’t for right now, but I think I do have to. I think we have to take this slow. Uh. Maybe we could date.”
“Yes. Date. Dating,” Nandor agreed.
“But for tonight, could we go to the blue room?”
Nandor’s eyes widened.
“Oh. I don’t think I’m ready for that quite yet. Soon, though. Maybe after three dates?”
“Could I take you out tomorrow? To a movie, perhaps?” Nandor inquired, wondering how quickly they could get through three dates.
“I have to work. Don’t you also have to work, Jandy?”
“Oh, yes. I must clean up all the spills and crumbs and unclog the toilets and all of that nonsense. Saturday, then?”
“Sure. It’s a date.”
“What do you want with the blue room, then?” Nandor asked.
“I just want you to hold me. Finally. If that’s what you want,” Guillermo replied, his voice soft and a little uncertain. And Nandor glimpsed him again for just a brief second. The insecure boy that had responded to his craigslist ad all those years ago.
“Of course, I want that.”
“Good. You can keep me safe from any scary clowns that might be out there. Present company excluded.”
Nandor giggled.
“Maybe kiss you a few more times while I am protecting you.”
“I was counting on it,” Guillermo replied, looking up at him.
“Shall we?” Nandor asked, standing up.
“Yes.”
“Want to go and get your jammies?”
“No. I figured it would be okay to just strip down to my underwear, if that’s alright with you,” Guillermo replied, swinging his legs over the side of the divan so his stocking feet touched the ground.
“Yes, that will be fine,” Nandor replied, taking Guillermo’s hand as they began to make their way towards the blue room. This would take some self-control. Especially if Guillermo was wearing those damn sock garters.
“I’m glad it went this way… alone and off-camera.”
“Me, too,” Nandor agreed.
“You know, five years ago, I never would have believed that this could happen. That you could treat me with so much respect. That you could actually love me.”
“I’ve always loved you in my way, Guillermo, but you are correct. This was not something I was capable of five years ago. I was broken. And you fixed. You made me earn it. It was the correct thing to do. And you know me so well that you knew that.”
“I hoped so. But I wasn’t sure,” Guillermo admitted, opening the door of the blue room.
“Do not doubt it, Guillermo. I love you and I am ready to prove that. However it is that you want me to do that.”
“One night at a time, I guess,” Guillermo replied, offering a sweet and shy smile, shutting the door behind Nandor.
“One night at a time,” Nandor agreed, taking Guillermo in his arms and kissing him again, heart soaring.
There was plenty to figure out yet, Nandor knew, but Guillermo loved him. And he loved Guillermo. And really, what could be more important to know than that?