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The door unlocks. It opens with a creak and the sound of bootsteps fill the entryway. Servais entered his house; taking off his hat, coat, and boots. He could hear voices in the background, in the dining room to be specific, and it was definitely his husband’s voice although there was another. It was a voice he had grown to recognize as William’s.
The fact he was even acquainted with William was completely baffling to Servais. William was a bee. Yes, a bee. A bee that flew into their home that Kurt spared and freed outside when Servais wanted to crush the thing. Fine, Kurt could save whatever pests crawled into their home if he wished. What wasn’t fine was the fact that this bee somehow wormed its way into their lives and befriended Kurt. This bee talked. Servais didn’t know how and he didn’t care to learn. He was a magician, not a bee scientist. But Kurt didn’t even question it. Servais was only mildly concerned with how close Kurt was growing to this bee before this…before it was hanging out in their house while Servais was gone.
He walked into the dining room, the table was set with fine china and candles. The bee was sitting at its own makeshift chair and table on top of the larger table. The bee sitting at the end and Kurt adjacent to him. The two were sharing steak and wine although William got a smaller portion of the meal. Servais saw red. Kurt noticed as his lover approached and turned to him, pausing his previous conversation. He was surprised but greeted the scowling man with a grin.
“Servais?” Kurt questioned the unexpected appearance of the magician. “Welcome home! I thought you’d be out till later.”
“I finished early.” He looked at the display and then to William, narrowing his eyes, and then to Kurt. “What is that doing here?”
“Don’t demean him.” Kurt scolded
“I’m enjoying the dinner.” William commented politely, not letting the way he was referred to get to him. “Your husband is a good cook.”
“That’s my spot, you know. The head of the table.” He said, pointing at the area William’s table set up was at. William looked behind him at the empty chair, as though to confirm, before looking back. Servais directed his attention to Kurt. “You’re letting a bee sit in my spot?”
“I’m sorry, I-” William started but Kurt quickly cut him off.
“No, don’t apologize. Servais wasn’t even here.” He looked to Servais “You know I’d let you sit in your spot if you were here.”
Servais narrowed his eyes at Kurt, suspicion growing, before focusing his attention to William. “Say, William, how often have you been to our home? Particularly with Kurt, alone, when I’m away.”
“I wasn’t cheating on you.” Kurt interjected before William could answer. Servais turned back to Kurt.
“Well I would hope not but I’m questioning your integrity here.” Servais’s reply was laced with bitterness and growing irritation.
“Servais…” Kurt sighed
The magician crossed his arms. “It certainly looks like you’re cheating on me.”
“I promise you, I’m not. William and I are just friends.” The other retorted.
“And how should I know that when I’m looking at your date? How long have you been bringing this pest into our home behind my back?” Servais practically hissed.
Kurt’s brows furrowed. “You’re being rude, he’s a guest and we’re eating food. You were busy with work and he was available, it’s not that deep.”
Servais cocked a brow “So you’re having dinner together without even telling me?”
The magician was met with a frown. “I don’t need to tell you about every time I spend time with my friends.”
“And yet you usually do. You can never shut up about your ‘adventures’, your novel, your friendships, even your uneventful days. And yet…” Servais trailed off, although it was moreso for dramatic effect than a lack of words to say.
Kurt glared at him. “My adventures are real.”
“We’re not talking about that.”
“But you’re saying it like they’re not real!” He was growing exasperated while Servais spoke more coolly.
“This isn’t about your stupid adventures.”
“They’re not stupid!” Kurt yelled, standing up from the table. The sound of the chair scraping against the floor quickly followed. William silently watched the two argue, slinking back in his chair, wishing he didn’t have the misfortune of bearing witness to this. “I’m tired of you doing this, this is why I like having William around because he doesn’t belittle me all the time. You never miss a chance to act like I’m delusional, do you?”
Servais scoffed “You can’t turn this on me, I caught you cheating!”
“I’m not!” Kurt shouted, slamming his palms against the table. William flinched.
“Should I go?” William asked meekly, the quarreling lovers turned to him.
“Yes.” Servais replied as Kurt said “No.” Kurt’s head shot back to face Servais.
“You never believe me!”
“Is it strange to have my doubts? You can see what it looks like and you tend to stretch the truth. It’s entirely plausible to assume that you’re in love with a bee.”
“I DON’T-” Kurt stopped. “You know what? Maybe I am! Maybe I am falling for a bee. Maybe I do like William. He actually treats me right unlike you. But I wasn’t cheating, I’d never cheat and I don’t lie.” Kurt then pointed at Servais “You’re acting like an asshole and right now I wish I had married William instead of you.” William covered his face trying to hide the blush that formed from hearing Kurt compliment him like that, he felt it was inappropriate to feel flustered in the middle of their argument. Although his small face was rather unnoticeable since the focus wasn’t on him.
Servais’s mouth fell agape from sheer disbelief. He hadn’t expected Kurt to admit anything as much as he believed it to be true. His gaze flickered between his “lover” and William who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. Before ultimately settling his gaze on Kurt. “Kurt…you know that’s a bee. It’s an insect.”
“So what?” Kurt asked angrily “Looks don't matter to me. You don’t know him like I do.”
“When people say that they're referring to ugly people, not insects. Don’t you hate insects? And now you’re falling for one?”
“The love I have for him transcends any hate I could harbor in my heart.”
Servais blinked, taking a moment of surprise to process that unexpected statement “…that’s too poetic to be about some bee, don’t you think?”
“He’s not just ‘some bee’, Servais. He’s important to me.”
“And I’m not? Do I mean nothing to you? Is our marriage meaningless? Did the love we made mean nothing at all?”
“Of course it meant something at the time but it’s nothing I couldn’t do with William.”
“You’re going to make love to the bee?!” Servais questioned as Kurt grimaced in irritation.
“Alright, that’s enough.” William piped in, sensing Kurt’s discomfort. He hadn't wanted to insert himself into this scuffle but defending Kurt right now was more important. “Servais, you should leave.”
“Me leave? ME leave?! That’s it.” Servais turned and headed to the living room, grabbed a magazine off the coffee table, and rolled it up. William grit his teeth in horrored anticipation and Kurt gasped, both quickly realizing the situation.
“Servais, don’t murder him!” Kurt’s tone with the other grew angrier by the minute.
“It’s a bee, Kurt. You’re being insane right now.” Servais responded calmly as he came back to the dining room.
“I won’t let you hurt him.” Kurt bolted from his spot and lunged at Servais, grabbing the wrist of the hand holding the magazine. Servais pulled back and when that didn’t release Kurt’s grip, he tried to push Kurt away. But Kurt was strong. The two kept fighting for a minute before Servais dropped the magazine and Kurt finally let go.
“This is unbelievable…you’re fighting me over a bee. A BEE.”
“You’re saying that like he’s nothing when he’s everything to me.” Kurt shot back.
“Everything?! This bee is now everything to you?” Servais felt disgusted, he couldn’t have possibly expected this the first time that bee accidentally flew into their home. “So you were cheating, I knew it.” Kurt opened his mouth to disagree but Servais kept talking. “You’re deranged, completely deranged and delusional. Falling in love with an insect? I’m convinced this is grounds for re-admittance at the asylum, you’re utterly insane.”
Kurt couldn’t help but stare at Servais after his outburst, in shock for a few seconds as the words hit him. “Servais…” Kurt’s pained expression was a mixture of hurt, surprise, and horror. “You really are horrible…”
“You’re a lunatic, no sane person would remotely consider dating a bee.” Servais shot back, agitated. “You know I’ve done everything for you. I brought you up a class and treated you well. I gave you the finer things in life, I gave you everything. And you’re throwing away all the love I have for you, over some insect?! What do you expect to happen when I stop supporting you? Your novels never get published and I doubt that a bee can get a job.”
“Bees are hard workers, if you had bothered to learn anything about them instead of being cruel.” Kurt balled up his fists, William could tell what he was thinking of doing.
“Kurt.” William spoke his name to pull him back. The last thing Will wanted to happen was for Kurt to do something that’d make him wind up in jail. Kurt’s anger dissipated a bit as he heard William speak his name. Not enough to calm down but enough to not do anything rash. His anger was still very evident in his voice.
“I’m sick of this, Servais. I’m sick of you, get out!” Kurt yelled.
“You know what? I would be simply ecstatic to leave.” Servais snapped at the duo as he left. Only taking pause to put back on his boots, coat, and hat before taking his leave and closing the door on the way out.
The silence that followed was deafening. It was only a minute but felt like ten, finally broken by Kurt’s sigh and the noise of the chair as he pulled it back to finally sit down again. “I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s…no- It’s okay.” William reassured him. Another uncomfortable silence followed but only for a moment before William piped up with hope in his voice. “Did you mean what you said though? About falling for me? Or was it something you said to make Servais mad?”
“I’m not a liar like he makes me out to be, I really did mean it.” He spoke more softly after the adrenaline from the argument had dissipated.
“Oh!” William said with a sense of happiness, his blushing face made Kurt feel warm inside. “I have to admit, I’ve fallen for you too. But I thought you wouldn’t be interested, you know? I mean a human and a bee?”
“You’re more to me than that, Will. You’re so important to me.” Kurt confessed
“Thank you.” He grinned, struggling to find the words he wanted to say next as a more comfortable silence graced the pair. Kurt could tell he had something on his mind and he had a feeling as to what.
“I’ll be divorcing Servais.” Kurt told him.
William nodded in approval. “Yeah, I figured.”
“So…I’ll be single.” Kurt replied and Will nodded again before Kurt continued. “If you’d like to go on an actual date instead of having a friendly dinner.”
William lit up, the proposition made him so happy. “I’d love to!”