Their coexistence suddenly became more strained than it ever had been. James knew he was the one most at fault for that. He’d freaked out after Maze had kissed him, squirming away from the alien and running to his bedroom like a big chicken as soon as Maze pulled away from him. He’d been too afraid of what might happen if he stayed.

He knew he’d most likely hurt Maze’s feelings when he’d run but what Maze didn’t understand was that the moment he’d kissed James, everything had changed. As if to prove his point, Maze went back to his usual self, acting as though nothing had happened the next day. At first he’d tried to include James in his pretence, trying to start conversations and joking, but when all he received from James were short, sharp answers and not a hint of emotion he gave up a few days later and stuck to only speaking to him when he needed to.

Maze didn’t understand, how could he when James didn’t even really understand? He felt like he was being torn apart from the inside. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t liked Maze kissing him, it was all he’d been able to think about when he tried to sleep that night, but he knew he wasn’t gay. He’d only ever dated women and never had any kind of attraction to any other man.

The morning after Maze had kissed him he’d even done something he’d never done before and looked briefly at gay porn online. It did absolute nothing for him. He didn’t find either of the men in the video attractive at all and he was neither turned on, nor disgusted by it. All watching that video proved was that his feelings were even more confused than he’d thought.


Instead of confronting the alien and trying to figure things out James chose to hide in his bedroom most of the time. Thinking and painting, daydreaming and painting, sleeping and dreaming and painting; all of it centred around Maze. He’d built up quite the collection of paintings of Maze, hiding them under his bed, and none of it helped with the frustration of the feeling of his insides being pulled in opposite directions.

Things became even more confusing and awkward a week after the kissing incident when James, sweaty after a workout and intent on showering, grabbed clean clothes from his bedroom and headed for the bathroom. He hadn’t heard the shower running at all and he was almost completely through the door before he realised what he was seeing.

“Oh god, I’m so sor—”

Maze was standing under the spray of the shower and had turned his head when he heard the door opened. A smirk spread across his face as James began to stammer his apologies but he didn’t say a single word as he stepped to his right and his whole body came into view through the shower screen. His whole naked body.


It was like watching a car accident in slow motion. James knew as soon as Maze began to move out from under the shower that he should look away, get out of the bathroom, do anything other than stare. And he definitely shouldn’t have looked down. Yet there he was, screaming internally as his eyes travelled down over Maze’s naked body.

“At this point you really have three options,” Maze sounded thoroughly amused. His voice startled James as it echoed around the bathroom and he managed to tear his eyes back up to look at Maze grinning. “You can keep staring from the doorway while I finish my shower…”

James didn’t answer, he couldn’t. The alien was so oddly comfortable with being stared at that James found himself wondering how many times it had happened before. Did people openly stare at him wherever he went? And did they stare because he was an alien, or because he was beautiful? Had this exact same situation happened to him before? And why was he suddenly jealous of anyone who had ever gotten to see Maze like this before?

“You can turn around and leave,” Maze continued, completely oblivious to the internal struggle James was having. “Or…” he squared his shoulders and his grin widened, baring his teeth. “You can join me.”


Panic. There was no other way to describe the feeling that suddenly surged through James. The options were simple enough, yet each one had it’s own set of repercussions and that was where the problem lay. It also didn’t help that his stupid body was betraying his constant insistence that he wasn’t gay.

It was too much. James turned and ran, leaving the bathroom door wide open.