Ezza sighed. He’d been waiting to use the bathroom for a while now. Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned around the door again.

“Are you done yet? I have to go to the washroom.” Ezza said impatiently. There was a grunt and the sound of metal twisting against metal. “Hello? Zas!”

“Yeah, yeah. You can go, I’m working on the sink.” Zas said sounding strained. He was hunched over the sink and fiddling with the taps.

“I can’t go with you in there!” Ezza said. He was starting to feel a bit like a dam under pressure.

“Why? What are you two? You don’t have anything I haven’t seen.” Zas said without looking up.

“I’m certain you haven’t seen what I have, unless you’ve gone all pervy on me.” Ezza said. Zas stopped for a moment and looked back at Ezza.

” I meant I have one too.” Zas said, then he shook his head and went back to working on the sink. Ezza sighed. Well that was a bust. Zas had been acting weird lately, he was upgrading everything in the house to be better. When Ezza asked why he was doing it all at once like a mad man, Zas only said so they won’t know. Truth be told, Ezza was worried about Zas.

Zas finished the upgrade shortly after and was about to start on the tub, when Ezza grabbed him from behind and shoved him out of the bathroom. Zas stood impatiently outside the bathroom door, offering Ezza tips and listening for Ezza to tell him to bugger off. Ezza had always had a shy bladder even back at the Academy. Zas could remember watching Ezza running towards his room in desperation after a long day of classes, instead of just using the washroom near the classes. It was one of the reasons Ezza had been picked on so much.

Finally, Ezza left the bathroom and headed outside to the garden. Zas went back inside the bathroom and began working on the tub. Well Muffin, we’ll see who holds still in the end.

Outside Ezza greeted Layne and they started working on the garden. It wasn’t until a shadow fell across him blocking out the sun that Ezza looked up. He’d been outside for a while and Layne had gone, Ezza hadn’t even noticed. Dina stood there smiling down at him.

“Hey Ezza.” She said. Crouching down she ran her fingers across one of the leaves and Ezza watched as she studied the plant itself. She had long elegant fingers, and graceful movements. Ezza found himself watching her, actually he had found himself watching her a lot lately. He heard Dina giggle and looked up to find her blushing while watching him watch her. Oh no, he knew what was happening, and it wasn’t going to. Woman were trouble. They lead you on and then got rid of you if something even went slightly wrong. Ti’Voxi had done that, and he didn’t need his heart ripped out and stomped on anymore. Ezza stood up and moved to another box.

“So, what are you doing in Eden today?” Dina asked. Ezza crouched down and started inspecting another plant.

“I was going to do some grafting,” he replied. Dina came over with a confused look on her face. Ezza chuckled and then explained how grafting worked. “So I’m going to try grafting onto my strawberry plant using a snapdragon. I’m hoping to get dragon fruit.” Then he showed her how to do the graft. When he was finished, he turned to Dina and found her almost stuck to his side. She was so close he could make out the slight curve at the end of her mouth from all the smiling, and how the sun shone in her hair and made it almost glow as if the sun emanated from it. She slipped her hand through his arm and leaned closer. With their bodies touching, he shivered when her voice whispered beside him.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it? The thought that by just giving a little of yourself to another person, something beautiful and new will be born. Two different living things, slowly entwining around each other, melding into one, growing together, becoming one…” Ezza shook his head. Great Mates, that sounded so good.

Woo! She is a sparker isn’t she? How can you resist her?

Shut up Zas. Ezza cleared his throat and stood up. Dina stumbled and got up as well. Zas smiled as Ezza moved onto the next planter box. Idiot, he thought as he watched Dina chasing after Ezza in the garden. After a few more hilarious, but painful moments watching the two of them, he offered them drinks inside. The evening passed pleasantly.

Zas lay back on the couch propping his legs up on the other end after work a few days later. He was exhausted from work and ready to just sleep. Ezza came walking up and shoved Zas’s feet off and practically knocking him off the couch. Then he collapsed on it too. Both men sighed. It had been a busy day. Everything that could have gone wrong did. The shipment at the club had been wrong, then John had stormed out of Make A Dish. He had been one of the line cooks and he had gotten mad and just stormed out in the middle of a rush. Clara had called them back in a panic and they had tried to keep up as best as they could. At the end they had been promoted officially to Line Cooks. Zas was extremely happy, he loved cooking and had wanted to get back into the kitchen. Ezza however, preferred the club. So it was mixed feelings tonight.

“Well, could have been worse.” Zas said. Ezza nodded too tired to form words. “You know we should head to that place that Clara mentioned when she was rambling.”

“The Von Haunt Estates?” Ezza asked rolling his head to look at Zas.

“Yeah. We have Thursday off, wanna go? We could invite the girls.” Zas said.

“I’d prefer just the two of us.” Ezza said. Zas looked at him and sighed.

“Dina likes you. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to get back out there you know. I know that Ti’…SHE hurt you. But that’s no reason to back out of life and love completely. You’re a good-looking guy, not as good-looking as me mind you, but who is? You could use the company.” Zas said. He was staring at the ceiling and hoping Ezza was listening. He wasn’t good at all this touchy feely stuff, that was Ezza’s department.

“Her name is Ti’Voxi. She didn’t hurt me. I hurt her by doing something stupid, and she did what was right by her. I had just hoped to get home and fix it.” Ezza said. His tone had hurt in it, but also sadness and longing.

“I shouldn’t have laughed friend. I’m sorry, don’t worry we’ll get back and you can grovel to her and make fat little smart babies. However, in the meantime, maybe you should consider Dina practice?” Zas asked hopefully. Ezza laughed and smacked him the stomach.

“Dina’s not practice. She’s a really sweet woman.” Ezza said. Zas let out a triumphant A-Ha! The two men bantered and bickered all the way to bed.

On Thursday, they hailed a cab and went to the Van Haunt Estates. They wandered around the house checking out the rooms and learning the history of the house.

“It’s beautiful in here.” Ezza said. He loved the history of the place, it had a certain character to it. He could live here. He looked out the back door, the place had a sprawling yard, green vegetation everywhere. He let out a happy sigh.

“By the Great Mates!” Zas yelled from upstairs. It echoed down the hallways and in the rooms all over the house. Ezza looked upwards listening, when he heard nothing else, he ran for the stairs worried something had happened to Zas. Instead he found Zas standing before the rope to the bedroom looking in. Hearing Ezza run up the stairs he turned to his friend excitedly.

“Do you see the size of this bed! They really knew how to do it up back then. I could fit me and at least three women in there with room to spare!” Zas was grinning so wide his face might have split apart. Ezza gave him a disgusted look. After dragging Zas away from the bedroom, they went outside to explore the grounds.

The main area was lush gardens as far as they could see. Off to the right a row of hedges could be seen through the stone arches. Curious Ezza headed over and Zas, bored, followed a long behind. Ezza read the sign at the entrance proclaiming this a maze. He grabbed Zas’s arm excitedly. Zas smiled and motioned for Ezza to go on ahead.

“Honestly, I don’t see what you find so exciting about this; it’s just hedges.” Zas said. They had been wandering for a bit, and Zas was unimpressed with the Maze. “Where’s the deranged people trying to blast you? The woman trying to seduce you, and then poison you? There’s no poison clouds or anything. It’s just bushes, push through them. How about here Ezza? This looks like the middle. Ezza?” Zas turned and Ezza was gone.

Ezza!

Ezza grabbed his ears. Why was Zas yelling? He turned behind him to give him a piece of his mind and Zas wasn’t there. Where did he go? Ezza went back the way he had come and found no sign of Zas. He didn’t even know where he was. He felt a slight tug and turned to follow it like he had before. Every once in a while he would feel a tug in a certain direction and would follow it. Soon he found himself at the entrance to a garden. A wonderous garden filled with orchards of different fruit, and vegetables and fruits further in. He stepped inside it and was crouching down to examine the plants when he heard Zas shout again.

Ezza! Where are you?

I’m in the garden. There was a pause.

Really? Well that’s easy then, I’ll just look in the garden. Oh wait, it’s ALL a garden!

Over here. There’s an actual garden in the maze. Just follow the sound of my voice.

You do realize this conversation is taking place in our minds, so there’s no sense of directionality right?

Ezza blushed a bit embarrassed at his mistake.

“Over here!” Ezza shouted. Zas hearing Ezza shout, changed directions. After shouting until they both felt hoarse, and a few hours later Zas managed to find Ezza and the garden.

“Oh good a table and chairs.” He said collapsing into it. Ezza was checking out the plants. After a time, Ezza came and joined him at the table.

“The plants here are well taken care of. It reminds me of my garden. There’s some new plants here that I don’t have as well.” He said. Zas suggested he take samples to plant at home. Ezza nodded and began collecting. By the time he was done it was getting late and both of them were hungry. They set out on the pathways again, this time Zas held onto Ezza’s sleeve so they didn’t get separated.

After awhile they found a small area outdoors. It had a BBQ and a couple of small tables. Ezza’s stomach growled, both men chuckled and Zas set about making dinner. They sat and ate looking around their surroundings. It was a beautiful space covered in vine laden trellises, it gave a sense of peace and relaxation.

After they finished their meal they wandered at a more leisurely pace and finally found themselves back in the front drive of the Estate.

“Wow, it’s even more beautiful at night.” Ezza said wandering over to the fountain. It was now lit up and it seemed as if the water glowed giving it an ethereal look. He ran his hand in the water and enjoyed the sensation of the cool water playing on his skin. Dina would probably like to see something like this. He thought to himself. He turned to find Zas staring at the front of the mansion.

“What is it?” He asked. Zas motioned for him to be quiet and then come join him. He pointed towards the front steps. Ezza looked and saw to his amazement a see through woman standing at the stairs. She smiled and waved at him, Ezza didn’t know why but he smiled back. He was pretty sure he should be frightened, after all this couldn’t be normal even for humans; they were mostly solid. He felt happy and safe however. He watched as she bent over and began tending to the plants out front. Suddenly it made sense, the tugging, the well-kept plants, it had been her. He reached out and put his hand on Zas’s shoulder.

“It’s ok. She won’t hurt us.” He said. Zas turned to him with widened eyes.

“What she? He’s over there and he looks mad.” Zas said. Ezza looked at him and then back towards the woman. There she was smiling at him. Ezza described the woman to Zas as if he was crazy. Zas described the stern-faced man he was seeing. After a short pause, they both started whistling and began to walk at a fast clip back home.