Build-A-Were

Valentine’s work day passed in a blur of customers, inventory spreadsheets, joking around with Jonny, and texting with Charlotte. Cal came by as they were closing up the shop.

“Wow, Valentine!” he said, too loud as he always was, drawing the attention of the last few customers waiting at the register.

Valentine couldn’t help preening a little bit. He’d spent far too long choosing his outfit this morning: a fitted black tee, a silver heart lock on a long ball chain, black denim cut-offs, and dark purple thigh high boots. He felt a little bit like a mall goth, but he also felt good, and that’s ultimately what mattered. It was a power outfit, meant to imbue him with confidence as he embarked on a new adventure. Tonight, he was going on a date with Lalo.

“I can lock up, Jonny,” he said, once the last customer was gone. “No need to stay.”

Cal snorted. “You think we’d miss this for the world? Think again, Valentine.”

Valentine looked out into the plaza, his nerves jangling like skeleton keys in the hands of a crypt keeper. There weren’t that many people around, so it was easy to spot Lalo coming up the stairs in a turquoise button-up, one arm tucked carefully behind his back. He’d probably bought some flowers. How ordinary of him. Valentine wondered yet again how he’d managed to fall for someone like him.

And then he saw Lalo’s smile, their eyes meeting through the glass door, and he remembered.

“Get lost!” he hissed to Jonny and Cal, who perked up at his tone and turned as one unit.

“Lalo!” Cal shouted, opening the door to the shop and waving madly.

Jonny shook his head, shoving his boyfriend over the threshold. He tossed Valentine a dazzling smile.

“Good luck tonight!”

Valentine’s palms were sweating. He could feel the warmth rushing to his cheeks as Lalo neared, beads of sweat forming at his temples, his hair sticking to the back of his neck. He felt that his stance was too artificial and tried to be more casual, leaning back against the counter by the register.

“Hey,” Lalo said to Jonny and Cal in passing. “Good to see you again.”

“Have fun!” Cal said, giving Valentine a huge, cheesy wink over Lalo’s shoulder before Jonny dragged him away.

Valentine didn’t even react, distracted by Lalo walking up to him, a funny little smile on his face as he revealed what he’d been hiding behind his back. It was a bouquet of all stems, the blossoms trimmed off, wrapped in black tissue paper. Valentine blinked, unsure if he should be insulted.

“Haven’t you ever seen The Maddams Family?” Lalo asked.

In the movie, the lady of the house grew roses just for their thorns, trimming off the bright red blooms. It was a gothic classic, and it had also been one of Valentine’s favorite movies as a kid. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t made the connection.

“I know bouquets probably aren’t your thing,” Lalo continued. “But there were some roses at my work that were wilting, and it gave me the idea.”

Valentine was at a loss for words, every part of him screaming because Lalo had managed to surprise him yet again. It almost felt threatening at this point, but he didn’t think Lalo was being disingenuous. He’d fallen for that once before, and he was fairly certain he would be able to recognize the signs. He bought himself some time by slouching back against the counter and propping his heel up on the lip between the glass display window and the wooden base. Lalo’s gaze skipped down for a fraction of a second and then flashed back up.

“Nice boots.”

Valentine motioned him closer, taking the bouquet and looking it over, his heart hammering in his chest.

“Beautiful thorns, my dear. Absolutely lovely.”

Lalo sighed, clearly relieved. “Oh, good. I’m glad you like them.”

Valentine wanted to kiss him, but there was something hesitant between them, as if the frenzied intimacy of the other day had only been a dream.

“We’d better go if we want to have enough time at Build-A-Were,” Lalo said.

The Build-A-Were store at the mall was packed full of screaming children. Well, probably most of them weren’t screaming, it just sounded like it to Valentine’s delicate ears. Their voices were so very high-pitched. The parents moved through all of the displays like swans, serene, or like crows, cawing loudly.

“Children here even at this hour?” Valentine hissed in Lalo’s ear.

Lalo shrugged. “It’s Friday night.”

Valentine held his bouquet in front of him like a shield. “All right. I’m ready. Let’s go.”

“It’ll be okay, Valentine,” Lalo said. “I have two nieces. Twins. They’re harmless.”

Valentine followed Lalo into the store, crowding up so close behind him that when he stopped in front of the plushie display case, Valentine tripped on the back of his sneakers.

“Sorry,” he said, hooking his chin over Lalo’s shoulder. There were far more options than he had imagined: a vampire rabbit, a werewolf, a zombie cat, a unicorn, a vampire bat, a bigfoot, a zombie dinosaur, a were-hippo, a yeti, and a dragon.

“Is this too much commotion for you?” Lalo asked. “We can do something else, instead.”

“No,” Valentine said. “It’s the same wherever I go. I don’t get out much. I’m practically a shut-in.”

“How stereotypical of you.”

Valentine hit him with the bouquet. “Don’t judge me!”

“I’m just teasing,” Lalo said, laughing. “Which one do you want to make?”

Valentine huffed, still processing the fact that Lalo had such a sassy streak underlying his unassuming exterior.

“I don’t know. Which one are you going to do?”

Lalo turned to look at him, his brows scrunching together. “I, uh, I thought we could make one together…”

Valentine glanced over at the prices advertised by each plushie. They were rather expensive, once you factored in all the customization options. If they both made one, it would end up costing far more than just getting food and drinks at a bar.

“I want to make a zombie cat,” he said.

They waited, patiently on Lalo’s part, impatiently on Valentine’s, for a horde of children to swarm through and choose their own plushies before Valentine grabbed a black cat of their own. The plushie was shaped like a teddy bear, but with pointy ears and a long tail. It had a purple suture embroidered across its face, glowing yellow eyes, and scrappy little ears. There was a little bit of green goo embroidered at the corner of its smiling mouth, along with one pointy tooth sticking out, very much like an anime fang.

“I think the cat should have a Hawaiian shirt,” Lalo said, pointing to a neon green and yellow monstrosity that could barely pass as what it was actually meant to be.

“Absolutely not,” Valentine said. “This cat is obviously a goth.”

“She’s obviously a jock,” Lalo said, picking up a pair of athletic shorts.

Valentine scoffed, snatching them out of Lalo’s hands and throwing them as far away as possible. They fell to the floor and were immediately trampled by a parade of children. He caught a parent glaring at him as she bent down to pick up the shorts he’d so rudely discarded.

“Sorry,” he said. He really had been planning to go pick them up himself, but he’d been waiting for the kids to clear out.

“Look,” Lalo said, holding up a black sequin jumpsuit.

“That’s it,” Valentine said. “That’s the outfit. She doesn’t need anything else.”

“Can we please get her a sequin bow tie, though?” Lalo asked, grabbing a purple one.

They finished putting the cat together, and Valentine felt his heart squeezing with glee at how cute she looked. He was having fun, but there was also a strange feeling of displacement, like he was reliving some part of his teenage years that he’d missed the first time around.

“Will you be paying cash or credit?” the Build-A-Were cashier asked them. She looked like she was probably at the tail end of her work week, judging by the blankness of her gaze and the dark circles under her eyes.

Valentine fished a wad of bills out of his pocket, but Lalo was already paying with a card. He would have argued to at least split the cost, but he knew the symptoms of retail burnout when he saw them, and didn’t want to take up more of the poor cashier’s time than necessary. He’d have to make it up to Lalo another way.

“Wow,” Lalo said, looking at his watch as they exited the store. “It’s only 8 o’clock. Do you want to get something to eat?”

“Ice cream,” Valentine said. “My treat, this time.”

“Dessert before dinner?”

“Always.”

Lalo laughed. “I knew there was a reason I liked you so much.”

Valentine felt like such a silly teenager, head-over-heels for Lalo, clutching a plushie and a mangled bouquet of flower stems to his chest. The lingering sense of threat was still there, but he knew it was reflexive, an echo of the past, and not grounded in the reality of the moment. He could tell that Lalo was right there with him in this experience, bubbling over with genuine joy and excitement as he led them to the soft serve vendor in the food court.