The Magic Mirror – Box Shaped Heart Halloween Special (Patreon Exclusive) (Patreon)

Since it’s Halloween, I thought of doing something a little bit special. I hope you’ll like it.

This story is intended as a small treat, and it does not affect the main story line in any way. As for the time when this is happening, it’s while Aron is still married to Alex (the real one) and well before the accident. And it just happens that he has the strangest of dreams and that dream happens to involve his best friend. The next chapter of Box Shaped Heart will be posted tomorrow, as per the usual schedule (for early access and upward tiers).

Summary: Aron has a strange dream on Halloween night.

“Are you ready to go to sleep?” Alex yawned and stretched. “I want you next to me,” he added with a small flirtatious smile.

“Not just yet,” Aron said, his eyes never leaving the TV.

“Halloween night is such a boring thing,” Alex complained. “I hate dressing up in stupid costumes.”

Aron knew exactly what that was all about. Alex, who was the uncrowned king of fashionable parties, had said a firm ‘no’ when Aron had suggested attending the party his co-workers were throwing at his workplace. And it was really unpleasant to think that he had actually considered making Alex a nice surprise. Apparently, anything that was his idea was not to his husband’s liking.

For that reason, he was not in the mood at all to accept Alex’s half-assed apology if that was what the guy was trying to offer. He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure of many things these days, especially those concerning his husband. 

He sighed and wiped his face with both hands. So the honeymoon was over. The fact that Alex had been such a sweetheart all throughout their first months of marriage seemed the exception to the rule. There was too much tension between them, and more often than not, the simplest conversations turned into fights.

Maybe being married was not all that was pegged to be. Who was he kidding? His parents almost never fought. And, when they did, they had a way of getting back to being considerate and loving to one another. So maybe, just maybe, what was going on between him and Alex was not okay. There had been plenty of time to get used to one another, and, while he knew couples did fight once in a while, he and Alex seemed too much and too often at odds to fit some norm.

“You can go to sleep,” he eventually spoke. “I’ll come later.”

He was, in a way, thankful that Alex was not in the mood to fight tonight. Without a word, the guy walked away, and by the way he didn’t slam the door to the bedroom, he knew not to push his luck. A few times, when Aron had proven fed up with his husband’s tantrums and had been clear about not putting up with just everything, Alex had seemed willing to give up on the fight, too.

So, there were probably some warning signs in his voice or the way he just sat there that Alex had eventually thought that was not going to be a fight he was going to win. 

He was doing nothing but watch some stupid show on TV. 'Watch' was a way of saying because his eyes were going through the screen, staring at nothing in particular.

He could have called his mom and dad. Maybe they had some words of wisdom about what was going on between him and his husband. He loved Alex, but the guy had a way of driving him nuts sometimes.

Where could this phrase come from? Drive someone nuts? By all means, these words should not be used one next to the other. What could nuts have to do with driving? Or with how someone might feel? Although it’s a bit funny …

Aron smiled to himself at the memory. Count on Carter to analyze everything to the death. But he didn’t mind. Carter had a way of making even the simplest, most mundane things more interesting and funnier than how they truly were.

For the umpteenth time after even the smallest tentative to end up fighting with his husband, he was thinking of his best friend. What would Carter say about Alex’s behavior?

Maybe he is a bit nutty. Have you considered it? That’s how nutty people behave. Because they’re nuts, they can drive other people nuts. Meaning that they can lead … others to be just as nutty. You know, they drag you down to their level only so that they can communicate. 

Hmm, when he was trying to fill the empty place Carter had left, his explanations, the ones he thought Carter would be ready to offer, were not by far as funny as his best friend’s might have been.

Ex-best friend. What could he do? Things were just as they were. He took the phone and swiped through his contacts. For a second, his thumb hovered over Carter’s number. But, in the end, just like always, he chose not to call.

What could he say? They hadn’t spoken since the wedding. When Carter had made a complete, utter fool of himself. His parents had insisted that he should call. But he felt that Carter had to be the one to make the first step toward reconciliation. Not him.

After more than one year since that event, he still felt upset. Betrayed even. How could Carter be such a homophobe? How come he had never realized such a thing about his best friend? It was true that he hadn’t come out to Carter, and maybe he should have done it before breaking the news of the wedding to the guy, but …

He had postponed that. Over and over again. He had fretted so much over it. Mainly because he had been scared that he would also blurt out some other truths about himself. Like the old crush he had had during their teenage years and even later.

It was rather strange that his friendship with Carter ended with the start of his marriage. It was like the two relationships just couldn’t work together. Like him being married was excluding being friends to Carter.

He shook his head and sighed again. He was just overthinking things. Carter had to be the one to apologize. After all, he had been kind of a jerk to make such a scene at the wedding. And even Carter, with his twisted funny way of seeing things, could understand that he had overstepped big time. Plus, Aron was not going to tolerate a homophobe as his best friend. 

The sofa was unlikely to be the perfect place to sleep, but he could at least lie down and rest. The people on TV were competing in some game show for some useless prize. But the background noise was making him feel like he wasn’t alone.

Maybe his mother was right, and he needed to talk to Carter only so that they could clear the air. There had to be some explanation for Carter’s behavior. Carter must have misunderstood something. Or maybe he, Aron, was the one who had done that. As the game show participants continued to blast each other silly with some oversized hammers made of plush toys, he drifted off to sleep.

***

“Hey, Aron, nice costume,” one of his co-workers patted him on the back. “I could never try a Superman getup. Our female co-workers would probably see me out the door in an instant,” the man laughed while patting on his thick girth that apparently was an asset for the pirate costume he was wearing.

“Thanks,” Aron said in reply.

Why on Earth was he dressed up like Superman? He stole a look to one of the large mirrors in the hallway. Great, now everyone would think he was trying to boast. The truth was he didn’t need extra padding, and the contoured muscles showing through the spandex were all his. 

Maybe Alex had convinced him this was a good idea? How the hell had he said ‘yes’ to something like this? The costume was way too revealing. He had made no plans of attending a costume party at work by showing up as good as naked. 

A few of his female co-workers passed by and greeted him, their eyes all lit up and a bit moist, as they gave him quite a shameless once-over. 

“Ah, Aron, why do you have to be married?” one of them cooed.

“And not into women?” the other woman sighed.

He murmured an apology. Okay, so now he was going to be the talk of the party for walking in there dressed in tight-fitting garments. He needed to find Alex and convince him to go back home so that he could change. This was getting ridiculous. 

Ah, finally. He spotted his husband by the water cooler, chilling with a drink that seemed to have a spooky haze rising off the glass. Of course, his co-workers did nothing by half, so the drinks were all Halloween-themed.

“Alex,” he called for his husband.

To his surprise, the man by the water cooler didn’t raise his eyes to look at him. Instead, he was checking his glass very attentively. With a small shrug, Alex brought the drink to his lips and gulped it in one go. Then he made a face like he had swallowed an entire lemon. Hmm, Alex actually liked lemons. Water with lemon slices was everything the guy liked drinking.

He watched in disbelief as his husband pulled another equally spooky drink from something that looked like a hidden tray behind him. Great, Aron thought. He was dressed up like a superhero with no modesty about his anatomy, and his husband was trying to get smashed on strange looking cocktails. 

“Alex,” he called again, this time sharply.

His husband finally raised his eyes to look at him. Aron walked over to him.

“I need to get home and change. And how come you’re not wearing a costume?”

“Huh?”

Aron looked at his husband a little disconcerted. Something was off about Alex. Maybe he had already got drunk? That seemed unlikely and very not-Alex. 

“Alex, how many of these have you drunken so far?” he decided to keep his cool and treat the entire situation like an adult. 

Good thing that Alex was light as a feather and not at all difficult to carry if need be. 

“Hmm, how did you call me?” his husband stared up at him, and his green eyes seemed unfocused for a bit. 

“Alex. It’s your name,” Aron sighed and put his hand firmly on the guy’s glass.

Only to be met with resistance.

“Ah, it’s because of the costume,” Alex nodded with sudden realization, pulling back the glass like he needed to protect it from Aron’s grabby hands.

“What costume? Alex, you’re not wearing any. And what’s with you, drinking? This is so not like you. Are you upset over something?”

“Upset? Hmm, no,” Alex pressed his index finger against Aron’s chest, making a small dip in the spandex that disappeared as soon as his hand moved away. “You’re looking great, A.” 

“A? You never call me A. Alex, come on, we need to head back home.”

“Stop calling me Alex. Okay, I get it, the costume is perfect. I really do look like the guy now, right? That damn cookie. All ‘eat me’ and stuff, and it came with no full set of instructions,” the man mumbled to himself.

“Damn, you’re a little tipsy,” Aron could not repress a smile. “I don’t recall you complimenting me on my looks too often. Of course, few people can compete on the same level with you since you’re a fashion icon.”

“What fashion icon?” Alex mumbled again. “I’m a programmer. Come on, A, it’s not like we haven’t spoken in a hundred years. Don’t tell me you already forgot what I do for a living. I,” he added, pointing the finger at himself, “can still recall what you like for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Also, that you like your toast medium brown. But still a bit crusty.”

Aron was now watching his husband and could feel his jaw getting slack. But it was making him all warm inside that Alex had noticed so many things about him. Maybe he had to let his husband get drunk more often. 

But what was with him saying that he was a programmer? Nothing was making Alex prouder of himself than his fashion career. 

“So you’re a programmer? And what programming language do you use most?” Aron decided to play along.

He almost wanted one of those spooky cocktails for himself. But he was only going to indulge his husband for a little while.

“Is that a trick question? You know,” Alex snickered. “Nothing that starts with the letter B.”

That gave Aron pause. He frowned. He knew where he had heard that before. What was Alex playing at?

“No, it’s not a trick question. I would like to know very much why you just said that, though, Alex.”

“You know. Because of what Dijkstra said about BASIC,” Alex said promptly. 

“Seriously? I had no idea you knew who Dijkstra is and what he said about BASIC on top of everything,” Aron insisted.

He could feel something like a mental itch starting to bother him. This conversation was making him feel strange. Like he wasn’t even talking to his husband.

“It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration,” Alex recited, and Aron stood there, mouth slack, feeling like he could not breathe, all of a sudden.

Someone was playing a trick on him, and it wasn’t even funny.

“Come on, A. You should know that’s my favorite quote from the guy. I’ve only repeated it to you at least a thousand times,” Alex patted his chest playfully. “Damn, when did your chest get so big?”

Aron was still in shock, so he barely registered as Alex started to feel his pecs through his spandex costume. 

“Go get a room, you handsome jerks,” someone yelled at them and laughed from a few feet away.

Aron shook his head and frowned. He caught Alex’s hands and put them down. 

“Alex,” he said, not really knowing what he wanted to say. 

“I’m not Alex,” his husband protested. “I told you. It’s this costume.”

“Then who are you?” Aron whispered, without even considering that in itself, the question was absurd. 

“Are you friggin’ kidding me? I’m Carter. How come you can’t tell? Ah, wait, we’re not talking anymore. Actually, we are since we’re talking right now. What I mean is …”

“You’re Carter?!” Aron immediately chided himself internally for raising his voice. “Alex, stop it, and I mean it. This is not funny.”

“Wow, you really got fooled by this costume,” Alex said and frowned as if he was pondering over something. “I know,” he said excitedly. “We must use the mirror.”

“What mirror?” Aron asked, feeling his irritation growing.

“Come, come,” Alex gestured for him to follow and sauntered toward a small closet around the corner where the janitor was keeping his cleaning supplies.

With a shake of his head, he followed his husband. He had no idea why he was doing that, but, at this point, he just needed to prove Alex wrong and then take him home.

“In here,” Alex said and stopped in front of the door.

Then he pushed him open and went inside. Aron followed quickly. He didn’t need his co-workers to gossip how he could not keep his hands off his husband that he needed to drag the guy to some dark corners.

“It’s right here,” Alex said, and Aron came closer.

Strangely enough, in one corner of the small room, there was a mirror. There seemed to be nothing peculiar about it. It was just a normal, full-size mirror. He moved and stared into it. His reflection, as much as he could make of it, in the faint light coming from the hallway, was nothing out of the ordinary, either. Except, of course, for the fact that he was wearing a Superman costume that left almost nothing to the imagination.

“We need a bit of more light,” Alex mumbled and touched the switch.

Aron turned toward his husband. 

“All right, it’s a mirror. Can we go home now?” he said, crossing his arms.

“You look pretty damn good as Superman, A,” Alex giggled. “Damn, the way I laugh is annoying as hell.”

In vino veritas, Aron thought with mirth. Alex’s laugh could be a bit annoying, but heavens forbid someone would tell him that. The fact that he was the one saying it just made things funnier.

“Let me close the door. I can tell you, Aron, this is pretty wicked,” Alex said with satisfaction.

And stepped in front of the mirror. 

“Fuck me,” Aron jumped, almost hitting a side wall in the cramped room.

By some trick he could not understand, looking at him, from the mirror, was Carter, his best friend, and not Alex, his husband.

“No way,” he said, and walked to stand in front of the mirror, with the other a bit behind him.

His reflection, however, was not changing to someone else.

“C’mon, what kind of weird trick is this?” he touched the cool surface of the mirror.

His eyes met the other’s in the mirror. Carter’s eyes. The brown eyes he knew so well, intelligent and warm. For so long, those eyes had followed him in his dreams.

Ah, that had to be, he exhaled. Things could not have a believable explanation due to a simple reason. It was all a dream. 

So he started laughing.

“Carter,” he looked in the mirror at his best friend, “it’s good to see you, buddy.”

Carter from the mirror threw at him a big goofy smile.

“Funny I dream of you like this,” he added.

“Yeah, I guess,” Carter snickered. 

“So you know it’s a dream, too?” Aron asked.

“Yeah. I mean, cookies that talk and say ‘eat me’ and mirrors you can go through? Definitely a dream.”

“So you came through this mirror?” Aron asked without turning.

Looking at Carter like this was good. It was like barely now he could feel how much he really missed his best friend.

“Yeah. Apparently, I had no choice. The moment I ate that cookie and I sensed how I was transforming, it was like I knew I had to walk through the mirror.”

“Just like that?” Aron smiled.

Their eyes connected in the reflection.

“Not exactly,” Carter’s smiled widened.

“What was it then?” Aron asked.

“I needed to talk to you. It’s been a while.”

“Yeah,” Aron said. “So what do you want to talk about?”

“Hmm, for starters. There seem to be quite a few things I need to tell you. Like when you told me that you learned how to kiss from that girl with freckles who lived a couple of houses away from us.”

“Wow, you’re really going back in time,” Aron said, surprised.

“You know how I told you I had the stomach flu?”

“Yeah, we didn’t see each other for three whole days. It wasn’t fun without you,” Aron said.

“Well, I lied. I was pissed.”

“Because you felt left behind, I assume. We were almost 15, so you probably thought you were.”

“Yeah, I was pissed,” Carter sighed. “But not because of that. It was because I wanted to learn how to kiss together.”

Aron wondered for a second whether it was okay to tell this dream Carter about that kiss from that time. He decided against it. Since it was a dream, he was curious what surprises his subconscious was trying to throw at him.

“So you were pissed for three days because of that?” he snorted, but then he smiled while looking Carter straight in the eyes.

“Yeah, it was the maximum I could stay away from you. Three days was too much. Still is.”

“Seriously? I thought you hated my guts.”

“Really? What for?” Carter’s eyes grew wide.

“You know. Me being gay. Getting married. And we haven’t talked to each other in more than a year. Definitely more than three days,” Aron joked.

“Ah,” Carter said, and his face scrunched up in thought.

“Is that really all you have to say?” Aron said, feeling disappointed.

What was the point in feeling disappointed? After all, Carter from his dream could not tell him more than he knew since it was his subconscious creating this dream.

“No, actually, it’s just like the learning how to kiss episode. The problem was that ... It wasn’t me,” Carter said with a long sigh, while his shoulders slumped.

Aron opened his mouth to say something, and then he caught himself. Instead, he started laughing.

“Talking about wishful thinking,” he said mostly to himself.

Now he understood what the dream was trying to show him. His regrets.

“I think I’m here with a purpose,” Carter spoke. “To repair at least one mistake.”

“Ah, so you’re going to apologize for the speech you held at my wedding?” Aron smiled, his eyes never leaving Carter’s reflection in the mirror.

Dream or not, he didn’t want to waste one moment of looking at his friend.

“No. That is not something that can be solved while dreaming.”

“That’s true,” Aron nodded. “So what mistake do you want to correct then?”

“The fact that I didn’t tell you I wanted to learn how to kiss with you. That I wanted you to learn how to kiss with me.”

Aron chuckled.

“Well, we might be a little too late for that, buddy,” he said with unhidden affection. “For the record, if you had come up with this idea when we were 15, I would have been totally down with it.”

“Are you down with it now?” Carter questioned.

“Eh,” Aron shook his head. “I suppose you do know how to kiss now, and I know, too.”

“Yeah, but none of us knows how it would be to ... You know,” Carter giggled.

“Hmm, now at least one of us speaks like he’s still 15,” Aron laughed. 

“I would like that. To kiss you,” Carter said. “I have this feeling that I would not have eaten that strange cookie if it weren’t for this chance.”

“Are you sure?”

Aron turned. Behind him, Alex was looking at him. Well, it wasn’t Alex, but Carter. That was the kind of dream Carter would have a blast analyzing. 

“Yeah, I’m sure. On only one condition. Close your eyes and imagine you’re 15 and you’re just learning how to kiss. With me. Damn, those are three conditions, right?”

“I guess,” Aron laughed. “But I still don’t understand why the disguise. Why do you have to look like Alex?”

“I could not have walked through the mirror without this disguise,” Carter explained. “It was mandatory or something like that.”

“Hmm, so all I have to do is to close my eyes?” Aron asked.

“Yeah,” Carter nodded eagerly. “Make sure not to open them, okay?”

“Okay,” Aron said solemnly.

And he closed his eyes. He could feel the other moving, and soon there were hands touching his shoulders.

“Ah, I was so damn pissed you learned to kiss with that girl, and not with me,” the other murmured.

Aron could swear right now he was hearing Carter’s voice, and not his husband’s. He was tempted to open his eyes.

“Don’t open your eyes,” came the warning.

“How come you were pissed? About me kissing some girl? You’re straight, right?”

“Yeah, straight like pasta,” Carter snickered.

“Like pasta?”

“Yeah, and just as flexible,” Carter added. “After it’s boiled, I think.”

Carter was just a tad shorter than Aron in real life. So the fact that there were soon lips covering his, seemingly on a level with him, added more to the strangeness of the dream.

But it was all a dream, so he could consider the possibility to allow himself to embrace the other and kiss him as he meant it. By all means, the body he was holding close had the solidity and heat of someone who was definitely not Alex.

The touch was familiar, too. He had never embraced Carter with romantic intent, but there had been plenty of body contact between them throughout the years to know how the man’s body felt. 

The kiss was, however, nothing he knew. The lips touching his were tentative, and a quick brush of a tongue was there, too. It was making him want to stay very still, afraid that he might miss something important if he moved. This was not like the chaste kiss he had stolen from his best friend when he was 14. 

“Hmm, so you were this unresponsive when you learned how to kiss the first time?” Carter laughed.

Aron wanted to smile. But more than that, he wanted to kiss back, and so he did. Carter’s lips were a bit rough, and there was nothing guarded or overly studied in his kiss like it often happened with Alex.

This kiss was honest. So the hold on the other’s body tightened, and he enjoyed the sensation of having his best friend in his arms, kissing him as he had always wanted.

There was something like a soft breeze making his Superman cape flutter behind him, but he knew he had to keep his eyes closed, so he ignored it. He doubted they were in the janitor’s closet anymore. Since it was a dream, everything was possible.

His nose caught a faint, sweet smell. Something like … pastry? And there were sounds, too, of voices and laughter. 

He deepened the kiss, squeezing his eyes tightly. Soon, he could sense another smell, something like earth this time. And leaves falling from a tree. An oak? He wondered.

All these held a tinge of familiarity combined with the excitement of something new and unknown.

Carter was slowly exploring his mouth with his tongue, and he was doing the same, lost in everything. For the moment, he felt free. 

“Carter,” he whispered, letting go for just a fraction.

And he opened his eyes, and they were in front of the old oak that held so many memories of their childhood. And when he looked at Carter, his best friend was right there, staring at him with something like love in his eyes. 

“Ah, you opened your eyes,” Carter said with a small smile.

The oak disappeared, and so did Carter. Aron embraced nothing but air, losing balance for a second.

“Well, at least one mistake got corrected,” he heard someone talking, and he looked behind him, at the mirror.

That was now no longer showing his reflection but Carter, seemingly trapped on the other side now.

“Carter,” he whispered, touching the glass.

“A,” Carter smiled at him and put one hand up to match Aron’s. 

“Too bad this is a dream,” he exhaled.

“Yeah, too bad,” Carter smiled. “So how was it? On a scale of 1 to 10?”

“11,” Aron grinned. “For you?”

“That plus pi,” Carter grinned back.

“Pi?”

“You know. A bit like something infinite,” Carter explained.

“Will I see you again?”

“Who knows?” Carter said with a small shrug. “Apparently, we cannot exactly choose what to dream.”

“Apparently,” Aron said with a sigh.

And in the small span of a second, as it took him to blink, the mirror was gone, and so was everything.

***

Aron woke up with a stiff neck. He groaned and rubbed his eyes. Yes, the sofa was not at all a good idea for sleeping arrangements. So he decided to get up and walk toward the bedroom.

His hand on the doorknob, he paused. What a strange dream! Maybe it was due time that he talked to Carter again. 

He tiptoed into the bedroom and sneaked under the blanket while making as little noise as he could. Alex shifted in his sleep and mumbled something. Aron reached for him, caressing the man’s hip through the blanket.

What a strange dream indeed. It almost made him want to turn Alex, wake him up and ask him about Dijkstra. 

Maybe it wasn’t right he was dreaming of kissing his ex-best friend while being married to another man. It was making him feel guilty. The reality was what it was, and he had to act like a grown-up and own up to his choices.

So he moved closer to Alex and pulled him into his arms. His husband shifted again but didn’t protest, accepting his embrace.

Maybe that was what was wrong with his marriage. He wasn’t letting go of his childish crush on Carter. And Aron knew his parents had raised him better than that. Better than being half-assed about his feelings.

So he kissed Alex on the shoulder slowly.

“Aron, I should sleep,” Alex mumbled. “I have three photo shoots tomorrow.”

Aron pursed his lips.

“So sleep,” he said, a bit clipped.

“Hold me?” Alex cooed, pushing himself into Aron.

Aron knew he would have preferred something else. But Alex was his husband, with his quirks, and photo shoots, and diva tantrums. Not Carter. No matter what strange dreams were trying to tell him, and how much he would have wanted things to be different between him and his best friend.

So he held Alex close. For a while, he listened to the other’s steady breathing. It took him a while to fall asleep again.

***

“I was thinking of calling Carter,” Aron spoke while fixing himself a sandwich.

Alex was sipping his herbal tea slowly. He pursed his beautiful lips and stared at Aron with unforgiving eyes.

“The homophobe?”

Aron could feel his jaw hurting a little. Carter was going to go down in history, at least in Alex’s eyes, like the jerk who had ruined the wedding.

“My friend,” he said.

“Are you asking me if you should, or you’re simply telling this to me?” Alex inquired.

“I’m asking,” Aron said with a sigh.

He still felt guilty over the imaginary kiss in his dream. No matter how right that kiss had felt, and how wrong his marriage seemed at the moment.

“No,” Alex said while continuing to stare. 

“No? Is this everything you have to say?” Aron said bitterly. “Carter is not like that.”

“Sure,” Alex’s eyes thinned. “He’s just suddenly homophobic when his best friend gets married. Sorry, Aron, I’m not buying it. And I am against you talking to him. Homophobes do not suddenly see the light. I’m sure he didn’t change. And I’m saying this because I care,” Alex touched Aron’s forearm slightly. “He will just spew the same poison, and you’ll be just as upset. So there’s no point.”

Aron wanted to argue a little. Take Carter’s side.

Alex came over to him and embraced him.

“Aren’t we over Carter yet?” Alex asked, and for a second, Aron thought he could see real hurt in his husband’s eyes. “And, you said it yourself. If there’s one of you two who needs to apologize, that’s him.”

Aron just nodded. Alex kissed him slowly. But, when he opened his mouth to kiss back and closed his eyes, Aron wished he could be back in his dream, and hold someone else in his arms.

THE END

Author’s note:  And this was a small glimpse from Aron's POV and his feelings for Carter! Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Also that you’re ready for the next chapter of the story tomorrow :)