The Way of the World

Chapter Two

Did you ever realize that you study people you like? Just really look at them and notice them for the first time? How they use their hands to talk, rub their nose when thinking, push their glasses up differently each time they slip down their nose. Maybe you realized that you started picking up ticks from them. You brush your hair from your face the same way, you pick at your hands the same way, you've adopted their laugh. Do you know why? It's because you like them.

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Grim stared at himself in the mirror, trying different grins and head tilts. What if Will didn't feel the way Grim did? What if he never felt the same way? What if Grim came on too strong and scared the human away? What if he didn't come on strong enough and Will lost interest? Grim groaned and let his head fall against the mirror. He never knew that finding the one was this stressful. He barely knew human customs, or proper word phrasing, he barely knew how to eat properly!

Grim straightened up and looked at himself in the mirror his eyes focused on the smear from where his forehead rested. Humans are so messy. He wet one of the small hand towels the hotel had given him and wiped the mirror clean. Leaning down over the counter he splashed cold water onto his face. He look at himself from under his lashes. Grim's vessel had a thin face, he realized, reflecting on Will's slightly rounder face. His cheekbones were prominent and his amber eyes were sharp and harsh. The face of a powerful man. He knew that his vessel, named Adam Lambert, had been a very young and successful entrepreneur, but he had the looks of a strict man.

He hoped it didn't scare Will off.

Grim sighed and, just like that, was almost completely ready to go. He had on a light brown jacket, dark blue — almost black — pants, a blue button up shirt, and an untied tie. He stared at the fabric around his neck in frustration and simply tied a loose knot. He wondered what Will was doing. What if he didn't show up?

And around the thoughts flew.

Around and around ... What if Will didn't like him? What if Will noticed how the angel grimaced every time he took a bite of food or a drink of something? What if he noticed how awkward and confused Grim was in the face of interaction? What if Will just didn't like him? What if he found him boring? What if he thought Grim was creepy? What if Will though he was too posh for him?

Grim took a deep breath and walked back over to the small hotel bed, sitting on the white sheets carefully. He had been stressed before, he knew what it was like to feel like you didn't have enough time to finish the task you'd be given, the result of which would be failing everyone. And here he was, practically more stressed than he'd ever been before. Over a human. Over a person. And already, after one meeting, Grim couldn't keep his mind off of him.

William.

Will.

Why did he have to get attached so easily?!

Grim forcefully flung himself backwards into a sprawled out, lying position on the bed, emitting a puff of air as he made contact with the not-so-soft mattress.

Wait ... didn't the humans have this ... this thing where they took people mostly based on gender — save a few. Most didn't even put thought into the possibility that they could fall in love with someone of the same gender. What if Will was like that? What if he didn't see Grim as an unidentifiable, non-gender oriented being, but rather a man?