Maesson Legacy: 1.18 - Boys Can be Pretty Too

Illdrid sat in the rocking chair bemoaning her old age. Where had the time gone? Her sister exercised beside her. She still seemed as young and effervescent as ever. But Illdrid knew that she, too, would soon become an elder.

Diarmuid was oblivious to his aunt's musings. He was too wrapped up in a game of chess with an invisible opponent. And somehow that opponent was winning. Diarmuid sighed. Elisedd has promised this was a fun game, but Diarmuid wasn't having any fun at all. Maybe he wasn't cut out for all this logic nonsense. He would give it another try later. He didn't want to let his cousin Evandrus down.

When Shae finished her workout, Diarmuid ran up to her and flung his arms around her shoulders, bringing her down to his level.

"Whoa, D! What's wrong?" Shae asked with a bemused chuckle. Her son wasn't usually so full of touchy feely emotions.

"Nothing, ma. The game Elisedd taught me was really boring, so I was just hoping you could...maybe play some tag with me?" he put on his best innocent face and stared up at his mom through lowered eyelashes.

Shae didn't want Diarmuid to think that giving her some puppy dog eyes would get his way every time, but she had a hard time turning him down for something as simple as a game of tag. So this time, she consented. But next time he'd have to work harder to convince her. Plus, even though she was getting close to elderhood, Shae was convinced she had the upper hand. Elisedd had given her some fairy dust, and it made her feel almost weightless.

When Diarmuid discovered that he couldn't catch up to his mom, he slunk back inside. He promised if she won, he would start his homework. But that didn't mean he had to be happy about it. Elisedd was already hard at work at the kitchen table.

"Come on, El. Do you have to be such a suck up?" Diarmuid complained.

Elisedd didn't even look up from his paper. "I'm not sucking up. It is my responsibility to do this homework. Plus, I really enjoy algebra."

"Algebra?! Isn't that high school math? Spend less time on that and more time helping me with my geography homework. Pleeeeeeaaassseee?"

Elisedd rolled his eyes. "Stop pretending to be stupid. You're just being lazy. Suck it up and do your work."

Diarmuid groaned but started his homework. He thought being a twin was supposed to be fun, but Elisedd was always such a pain.

Evandrus started to fret more than usual about the fairy war. He hadn't heard anything from his father, which indicated that something terrible could have happened. He didn't understand why, but he just felt that Diarmuid would be their only hope. People whispered about how crazy he was. For once, he hoped that they were right. But just in case, he decided to do some research on fairies. The logic discussions were keeping D interested. It was time to bring out the big guns.

That night, Evandrus brought a book of fairy tales to read Diarmuid to sleep. He tried to stick mainly to the stories in the book, but he went off on a couple of tangents he had read about online. The stories all had a common thread - good triumphing over evil because they had the better strategy.

Diarmuid took everything he learned into his imagination and decided there was only one way to defeat the mean fairies. He would have to become an astronaut and amass an army of super-powered aliens. "Look out little green dudes! I'm coming for you!" he shouted.

Despite being in a funk, Illdrid couldn't help but notice Diarmuid's wild imagination and chuckle at his exuberance. "Where are you getting all of these fun ideas?" Illdrid asked after one rant about aliens defeating the evil fairies with giant laser beams of doom.

"Well Evandrus told me one day we might be at war with the fairies because his dad is there. But in case his dad fails, I might have to lead an army. He was teaching me all about strategy, and I've decided I'm going to become an astronaut and command an army of aliens!"

Illdrid smiled, trying to mask her concern. She'd have to have a long discussion with Evandrus about planting ideas into impressionable young minds.

After school the next day, Diarmuid and Dagon both brought home friends. Diarmuid brought home Beverly. She wasn't as prim as the other girls. She preferred playing sports to playing with dolls. She spent a lot of time in art class. But mostly, Diarmuid liked her because she seemed to enjoy his company. And for him, that was enough.

"So what do you want to do?" Diarmuid asked shyly. He normally wasn't shy. But it felt weird having a girl over at his house.

"I have a great idea! Let's play dress up! You have a costume chest, right?" Beverly was grinning, her high pitched voice growing higher with each excited word. Oddly, it helped Diarmuid relax. He pointed her in the direction of the play room and she took off at a sprint.

Dagon and Aoife were also in there. Dagon was introducing Aoife to the friend he brought home. Her name was Danita. Diarmuid didn't really care about any of this. He was too busy thinking about what costume he should wear to complement the dinosaur costume that Beverly chose.

When he emerged from his bedroom, Beverly immediately began giggling. "Diarmuid! What are you wearing?"

"Well," Diarmuid started hesitantly. "You kind of look like a dragon. So I thought I should be the damsel in distress. Did I do it wrong?"

Beverly doubled over in laughter. "No, you didn't do it wrong. You just look kind of ridiculous..."

"I'll show you ridiculous!" Diarmuid shouting, before striking the most feminine pose he could think of. It must have worked, because Beverly began laughing so hard, she couldn't breathe. It wasn't until she was rolling around on the ground, her face red and blotchy, begging through gasps of air that Diarmuid dropped the pose. But he didn't take off the costume.

Once Beverly regained her composure, Diarmuid challenged her to a game of Rocks, Paper, Scissors. He might be comfortable enough in himself to wear a dress, but no way was he going to lose at this game. When he won, he tried not to cheer to loudly. He didn't want to seem like a spoil sport.

"Good game," Beverly said. "But I only lost because I couldn't handle how silly you look! I demand a rematch."

While Diarmuid and Beverly went through a couple more rounds of their game, Dagon and Danita watched television.

"Okay, now I understand they want to get across the whole idea of sex appeal. But come on, what are those women wearing?" Dagon emphatically pointed at the screen, his eyebrows scrunched.

"I don't know, Dag," Danita sighed. "You're the one who turned on this goofy modeling show."

"Yea, yea. I'm trying to get some photography tips," Dagon responded with a blush.

"Right. Photography tips. Are you sure you didn't mean fashion tips?" Danita snickered, her eyebrow raised.

"Honey, you better lock me up before I'd be caught dead wearing anything that risque! I may be gay, but I am a classy gentleman. Not a two-bit hooker."

Danita quirked her eyebrows and put a finger to her lips. "Shh! Your two-bit hookers are about to get into a cat fight. Meow!"

Dagon smiled slyly. "Oh yea? Getting into the show now, are we? Clearly your protestations were just an attempt to hide your guilty pleasure. Tsk tsk. You love trashy tv just as much as the next person."

Danita's eyes widened. She had been caught. But at least it was by her gay friend and not one of the nerdy guys she usually hung around with. They never would have let her live it down. After a couple more episodes, curfew approached and the teens said their goodbyes.

A few moments later, there was a knock at the door. Dagon groaned and shouted playfully, "Really, Miss Thang? What did you forget?" He threw open the door, goofy grin on his face. But the grin dropped when he saw that it wasn't Danita at the door.

Dagon gasped as he ushered Percy inside. He didn't know what had happened to his boyfriend's face, but it didn't look good.

_ _ _

Aaaaand cliffhanger! As promised, Diarmuid got a lot more attention this chapter in anticipation of his eventual takeover. I have a bit of a storyline in mind for him (and possibly Beverly) so hopefully it turns out well. Also, I loved him so much in his princess costume that I took a ton of pictures of him. So here is some spam: