“You’re not a dreamwalker,” Clayton muttered without heat.
“No, I’m better, so stop making me jealous and have some faith in me, okay?”
“Jealous?You’rejealous of something? What on earth could you possibly be jealous of?” Clayton tried to push away from Mal, but Mal snagged a hand in the front of Clayton’s shirt to keep him from getting too far.
“If you actually need me to answer that question, either you’ve not been paying attention, or you’re an idiot.”
“Assume it’s the former. I’ve had too much expensive schooling to be the latter.”
Mal snorted. “I… care about you.”
“Do you really? Because it sounds like that was closer to a question than an answer.”
“Well,excuse meif I’m not used to this,” Mal waved a hand back and forth between them. “Caring isn’t part of my wheelhouse.”
“So it’s fine for you not to know what’s going on, but if I’m confused, I’m an idiot?” Clayton crossed his arms in front of him and rolled his eyes. “Men. So typical.” He shared a glance with Elena, and she nodded in solidarity.
“I’m trying, okay?”
“I’ve got a great idea,” Naerith cut in. “How about you two both try later. Like after we’ve escaped this maze, killed a few demons, and rescued your kids?”
Oops.
“Sorry. This is new to me,” Mal admitted.
“S-same.” Clayton pulled free of Mal and stared sheepishly at a cluster of rocks. “So about killing two demons… What’s your plan, Mal? I assume you have one?”
“It’s simple. I’ll eat them.”
“I beg your pardon. You’ll what?”
“Eat them.” Mal enunciated both words to be an asshole.
“Sure, why not? Go ahead and have a nice little snack, and we’ll just pop over and finish off the kidnappers, shall we?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Naerith said, and Elena nodded in agreement.
“I’m sorry, are we all living in the same moment right now? Mal, are you seriously planning on eating two demons by yourself?”
“What, like it’s hard?” If nightmares were afraid of Mal, demons were terrified. The stronger the monsters were, the more fuel Mal had to defeat them. The upcoming fight was going to be epic. “Just trust me, okay? Keep the kidnappers occupied while I take care of the demons. I’d have to kill all of them at once if I did it alone, and I want at least one kidnapper alive for questioning to find out where the other kids are, okay?”
Clayton nodded dumbly.
“You’ll trust me?” Mal didn’t need to hear Clayton say it out loud, but he wanted it.
Clayton took a deep breath and said, “I do. I trust you. Let’s go.”
Relief flooded through Mal, and a tension he didn’t know he was holding fell away.
His lover trusted him. He’d have to make sure to keep that trust.
They continued through the cavern with only a few mishaps. Mostly falling rocks, but there was one notable time where a chasm formed under Clayton and Elena, and he’d snatched her up and leaped away to stable ground.
He was beaming with pride and ran up to Mal, “Did you see that?!”
“Nice job, Red.” Mal gave him a congratulatory ass squeeze. Clayton squeaked and let the matter drop.
Mal wasn’t sure if he should tell Clayton his hypothesis about Clayton’s terrible luck now or later. It seemed pretty important, but it didn’t feel like the right time. If he did tell him, then he’d have to go into the part about who Mal thought his parents were, and then they’d be standing around arguing in hostile territory again.
