He knew then, and even knew now, that the thoughts he’d had were ridiculous. Cyrus had left to hunt people, not go on a secret romantic rendezvous. Yet, at the time, his mind kept pushing the idea that just because the Fate was there to hunt, it didn’t mean he wasn’t seeing other people out there in the world, away from him. It had been the one and only time he’d ever felt insecure about Cyrus. Which was why he’d sometimes purposely start fights with the man.
It had been wrong of him, but yeah, repressed emotions could make one do stupid shit.
It was soon after Severo joined… Wait, no…twenty-eight years after, and exactly one hundred years from the moment Cyrus had first asked him out at nineteen, that he and the Fate finally started dating. That same year, Cyrus had takenover from his cousin as the Director of the North American Headquarters, becoming the youngest Grimm to do so. Cyrus had been so proud at the time…
What was his poor man supposed to do now that his dream job was gone?
Killian jumped when the door opened and Ender walked in. “Hard at work, I see,” the Gorgon drawled with a smirk.
He winced when the Cryptid closed the door behind him, right in Cyrus’ face, leaving the Fate outside the room.
“Is there a reason you are locking him out again?”
“Mmm, I’m sure he’s tired of staring at me. And more importantly, I’m tired of being stared at.”
“Ah…”
Ender’s smile remained even as Killian started to frown. Ah, he had upset the pretty Siren.
Tsking, he pulled out his desk chair, and slowly lowered himself into it with a groan.
“You okay?” The Cryptid’s brows were pulled together now, clearly in concern.
“I’m fine. Carrying around two watermelons tends to make sitting a workout.”
“I imagine,” Killian said slowly, eyeing him as if he was prepared to rush him to the doctors at any second. Which he knew the man was. Ender had learned to avoid exaggerating around the Siren, as the worrywart tended to freak out easily when it came to his pregnancy.
“So, tell me, what job would be better for your looming hardheaded man than stalking me all day? Because this is obviously not working.”
“I…don’t know, Ender.” The Siren grimaced. “It was all he wanted to do.”
“What specifically did he like about it? The bureaucracy? The paperwork? The criminals? The headache-inducing red tape he had to follow?”
“He—” Killian smiled. “—liked helping people.”
Ender scoffed. “Seriously?”
“Yes. He enjoyed working within the rules, to solve the problems Cryptids faced, by helping create programs that made the world a better place for our kind as a whole. He saw the restrictions and the laws his own family had placed on his world as a challenge. As things that he had to find a solution around and within.”
“I imagine being a bodyguard, especially when the person he is following is mostly in a safe underground compound, does not even come close to being as challenging as any of that.”
“No, it doesn’t, not to him. Even when he was a field agent, he still found more purpose. This is too mind-numbing.” The Siren sighed. “He quit so easily. It’s a bit concerning that I didn’t find that off at the time, but we did just find out you were pregnant. I don’t know, I could be wrong, but maybe it was already on his mind…quitting… And I think not being able to see is affecting him more than he’s letting on.”
Ender frowned. “Not being able to ‘see’?”
Killian wrinkled his nose. “Right…um, well, you know about Fates and their threads?”
“I wish I knew less, but yes.”
“They aren’t answering him. He can see them, but they won’t tell him anything.”
His eyes widened slightly, as his brow raised. “They aren’t? Why wouldn’t they? Or haven’t y’all figured that out yet?”
Killian shrugged. “The issue started after he changed my fate. When he looks, he can barely follow or see anything. And when they do share, or tell him stuff, it’s either jumbled or a barely-there clip, and it's hard to dig further.”
“That’s…odd. Has he asked his parents about it?”
The Siren laughed hesitantly. “Yeah, I don’t think he’s said a word about it to them.”
