Standingon the porch of the compound, Killian glared at the bunch of idiots who got out of the vehicles. His gaze narrowed in on Cyrus and Ender as they neared. Specifically on the small specks of blood on Ender’s white long-sleeve shirt. “What happened?!”
“Ender decided to meet up with Jurosso Condi, followed by us murdering him and a bunch of his Syndicate. And oh, Severo, Seri, Skya, and Avery are now on their way here, as my fucked-up cousin tried to Mind Rape Severo. How’s your day been so far?!” Cyrus huffed as he stormed past him, before disappearing inside.
His eyes flicked to Ender, who’d been behind the man, waddling at a much slower pace. Killian ground out, “Ender.”
The Gorgon smiled innocently. “It’s fine.”
“The hell it is! You, follow me!” he ordered stiffly, before glaring at the others and hissing, “I’ll deal with the rest of you later.”
A few of them gulped, but he ignored them, spinning on his heel as he headed into the compound, with Ender smartly following behind him quietly.
The Gorgon remained quiet the whole way to their shared bedroom. On entering, they found Cyrus pacing the room, his expression all doom and gloom. The man stopped in his tracks on spotting them, in favor of pressing his face and clenched fists against the wall as he let out a clearly frustrated groan.
As the Gorgon walked in behind him, Killian ordered, “Go sit, Ender.”
“No, I think I’ll?—”
“Ender!” he warned.
The Cryptid huffed, “Stop ordering me around, I’m not a child, but I am going to sit because my feet hurt.”
The pregnant man waddled, something he'd been doing a hell of a lot lately, and sat on the bed with a small but very pouty sigh.
Killian sighed in exasperation as he eyed the stubborn snake. “Ender, I know you created, and are the Head of Cryptid Means, and the shit you do is not safe most of the time, but you can’t just run headlong into danger anymore! Not right now! Not when you can barely run to save your life, and your movements are slower.”
“I am not slower! I’m as spry as?—”
“Get off the bed then.”
Ender sputtered, “I-I don’t want to.”
“It’s a simple task, Ender. Get off the bed and prove that you are completely unhindered by your pregnancy. There is no reason not to do it…unless you can’t.”
“I can!” Ender hissed. His face scrunched a bit as the man tried and failed to get up. It took a few more attempts before he was able to heft himself up and onto his feet. It did not help that Ender’s bed was round and extremely plush.
“You were saying?” Killian drawled snidely when the Gorgon plopped back down with an irritated huff, his face as red as can be.
“I’m fine!”
“Ender, it’s not about being fine, it’s about being safe. What you did today not only endangered yourself, but our babies. Your babies.”
“No! I would never endanger them! I wouldn’t do that!” Ender said defensively.
“How didn’t you? It could have gone wrong so fast.”
“We had enough people with us, they were strong enough.”
Cyrus let out a clearly frustrated growl as he spun around from where he was slumped against the wall. “Ender, it doesn’t matter how strong you all are, because training and strength doesn’t mean shit! All it takes is a single stray bullet, a stray beam of a laser, you moving just a hair too slow?—”
“I wouldn’t put them in danger!”
“But that is exactly what you did!” the Fate bellowed.
Ender flinched back.
No… He didn’t… Sure, there was a risk, but it was low! He calculated it! It had been…safe.
“I know w-when I’m unsafe…” he rasped, before hesitantly whispering, “Sometimes,” as doubt started to creep in. Ender swallowed hard, his body tensing as his heartbeat sped up, the sound growing louder in his ears by the second.
