—
“This is stupid,” Joey muttered, sitting down.
“It’s not,” Travis promised. “You’ll like it, I promise.”
Joey sighed, because Travis had often been right about things Joey would like in the past. “My horns are already cool,” he said, scowling at the box of stuff Travis had with him. “They can’t get cooler.”
“You’re wrong.” Travis started out with some paint and a thin brush. “Well, not really. Your horns aren’t going to get cooler. But decorating them is going to help show off how cool they already are.”
Joey rolled his eyes. “Whatever, they’re already cool, and if people can’t see that, that’s their fault, not mine.”
“Mm-hm,” Travis said, not saying anything else. So Joey just sat there and let him do what he wanted. It took about a half hour, but then Travis was done, sitting back. “Here.”
Joey looked up, but obviously didn’t see anything, so he let Travis take him by the hand and lead him to the mirror. “If I don’t like it, you have to take it off,” he warned.
“Sure,” said Travis. He put Joey where he wanted him, and then stepped back. “Here you go.”
Joey looked at his reflection, and…oh. He’d expected something ugly and silly looking, but Travis had decorated his horns with spiral patterns that started bold near his head and got fainter as they went out, making him want to look at them harder. There were dots in different colours amidst the spirals, and Travis had run a little bit of ribbon between them, hanging a few small baubles from them that shone in the sunlight.
“Do you like it?” Travis asked, nervous. “The paint will wash off if you don’t.”
Joey wrapped his tail around Travis’s waist and pulled him closer. “It…it looks really good. You were right.”
Travis beamed, and he kissed Joey’s cheek, and that smile was better than any paint. “Thanks. Your horns are doing all the work. I just made them stand out more.”
“You did an awesome job. Can you do it again tomorrow before we go out?”
“Totally.”
Joey blushed, looking in the mirror again. “Thanks, Travis,” he said. He should have known that if anyone could make him even more awesome than he already was, it was his human.
—
How Best to Use a Sword 