Brad regarded Mark with his new fly eyes as he saw his husband pull out his phone and immediately start typing out a text.
“I better let Jim and Sal know the new rules,” Mark said as his fingers and thumbs kept working on a message that Brad could not see. “I should have known Jim would be trouble. We both know how he feels about bugs of any kind. Right, little guy?”
Brad was getting worked up. Brad, with a twitch of his wings, took flight and buzzed in front of his husband’s head.
“Babe, I’m not SUPPOSED to be a fly,” he buzzed. “What’s gotten into you?”
Mark chuckled. “I feel a little silly, having a conversation with a fly,” he said. “I know you’re supposed to be sentient, but how the hell do I know you’re comprehending anything I am telling you?”
That made the one-sided conversation even stranger, prompting Brad to fly to the front of Mark’s face to protest with a strident buzzing. But, gradually, he began to make sense of it. He was vaguely aware of the device’s reality-altering capability.
This was bad! Mark thought he had always been a fly.
A ding sounded on Mark’s phone. Ignoring the hovering fly, he held the phone to his face and glanced at the message.
“Oh good,” he said. “They can stop back by later this evening.”
They? Brad had to wonder… did Mark mean that his father and brother were returning.
The alteration had done nothing to erase the horror of being smushed beneath a water glass from his memory.
“I don’t want them back here!” Brad buzzed, seeing nothing but horrendous potential for deja vu moments. “Papi hates bugs, babe! You know that!”
“I’ll lay down the law,” Mark said. “And this could be a good thing. When I have to be away, we will need someone who can look after you and keep you safe!”
Brad thought of his bug-phobic father and careless sibling. “Not them!”
Mark surprised him by suddenly lifting a hand and levelling his palm. “Come on, Brad. Land here.”
Brad hovered over the enormous palm for an instant before he obeyed.
“You’re just so cute!” Mark crooned as he looked down at him. “I’m sure Jim and Sal will agree once they know the truth.”
A few hours later, after Mark made his announcement to Brad’s closest male relatives, Jim and Sal looked dumbfounded.
"Creo que está teniendo una crisis nerviosa,” Sal said.
Jim nodded his head, glared at Mark, and then glanced down with disgust at the housefly he was being asked to treat like a member of the family.
"Completamente loco,” Jim said.
“¿Quizás necesite ayuda?"
They both turned and looked at a smiling Mark.
“That is a fucking fly,” Jim said, causing the expression on Mars change to crash into defeat.
“No, it’s Brad.”
“I don’t care if you’ve given it a name!” Jim groused. “I only have Sal! I don’t have a son named Brad.”
“No,” Mark protested. “You do… there this machine…”
This wasn’t going well. Nervous, Brad flew to his husband’s shoulder and settled there.
“We have to go,” Jim said, glancing with murderous intent at the insect on Mark’s shoulder.
Sal, glad to depart, followed his father to the door, eager to get outside and discuss the best plan of action to deal with Mark.
They both thought of Mark as a family friend… with only the fuzziest recollection of how exactly they had become acquainted with him.