His mother and father, his husband, his children, their faces flashed through his mind again. “Ma, Pa… Coop…” He rubbed his face as a sob slipped out. “Oh, Goddess, why did you take them? Kovo, Nyla…my babies…please…I miss you…”
Killian stared blanklyas he sat at a table in the cafeteria alone, his tray full in front of him. It was likely going cold while he continued struggling to answer the question Cyrus had asked him the day before. The Fate himself was off at an early morning meeting, but it wasn’t as if the man had been much help to him in answering the question so far, so it was pretty much time for him to figure it the fuck out on his own.
The problem was, he wasn’t surehowhe felt about the possibility of sleeping with Ender.
His gaze flicked to the Gorgon in question. The man was limping slightly, as he walked through the food line, with Sorenright behind him as always. That the Cryptids were both here told him that the meeting Cyrus was in was just with the crew he had brought with him.
It wasn’t like Ender was bad looking. He was in fact handsome, and his body was muscular in a runner-type way. At the same time, Killian had never even thought about being with someone other than Cyrus.
Hell, before Cyrus, Killian hadn’t even thought about being with anyone, aside from when he thought in dread about his future death by pregnancy growing up…
They’d both been fourteen when they’d met, and as much as his mother had warned him against falling in love, against emotions…well…
Killian smiled softly as he thought about the first moment he saw Cyrus.
Curledup at the bottom of the lake, Killian’s eyes snapped open when he felt the vibration of running feet above. He slowly floated upward, cautious but curious as someone above started to scream. The person sounded young, but also more hurt and frustrated than scared. He flinched back as a rock broke the surface.
Killian waited for a moment longer, not moving in fear more rocks would come, but when the scream stopped, and he heard other noises, he let himself break the surface and peeked out.
Killian’s eyes widened as he took in the young man, flat on his back on the grass. He had short, curly brown hair, tawny-brown skin, and a lean build. The teen’s eyes were closed, and he looked to be his age, but maybe not, as he seemed tall even while lying down. Killian’s head tilted slightly as he squinted in an effort to see the other’s face. It was hard to examine himfrom this angle and he, for some reason, really wanted to see him more clearly.
His eyes…Killian had this odd need to see the boy’s eyes. He shouldn’t… But what would be the harm? He could just hide! Killian had found numerous hidey holes in the surprisingly deep lake…the boy wouldn’t be able to follow him, and even if he could, not for too long.
His heart picked up pace as a bit of fear rose alongside his confusion at his own interest. Wait—No! There was nothing to fear! This meant nothing. He wasn’t attracted to the teen. He wasn’t breaking his mother’s rules, he was just curious. There was nothing wrong with him being curious.
Smiling, he bit his lip, hesitating for a moment more, before flicking his tail and making a splash. The boy heard it, just as he intended him to, and he finally got a full, clear look at the teenager’s face. It was more handsome than he’d imagined, and Killian gave himself only a few seconds to look before forcing himself to dive back down.
“WAIT!”
Killian frowned, the surprisingly deep voice making him pause. He listened as the teenager drew closer to the water’s edge. Close enough to be dragged inside, which was a dangerous thing to do when a Siren was nearby.
Pushing away all of the reasons why he shouldn’t, Killian broke through the surface again, just barely holding back his laugh when the kid squeaked and tumbled back onto his ass. Those eyes he so wanted to see were now wide as can be.
Staring into the odd reddish-purple gaze, a color he’d never seen before in another’s eyes, Killian slowly rose high in the water. Swimming right to the edge, he rested his arms on shore, and with his head tilted slightly, he smiled, curious to see what the Cryptid—for he was sure the boy wasn’t human—would do.
It was clear the teenager had been crying, yet he didn’t seem upset now. A slow smile spread across the boy’s face, his canines clearly fangs. Which didn’t tell him much about what the Cryptid was.
“You’re so…pretty,” the teen said, almost in a daze.
Killian blinked, frowning slightly. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but an awkward compliment wasn’t it…
The boy sputtered, his face turning a dark red. “I-I mean…I…um…I’m Cyrus! Y-you’re a S-Siren, right?! I’ve never…never read—” Cyrus shook his head. “—No, I mean, I’ve read about you, just never seen one in person! AH! I see you’re about to flee, but I-I’m not going to do anything to you, and um… You’re really pretty. That makes me feel slightly nervous. You also happen to be in my family’s lake, but um…you don’t have to go! Ahah, I’d really like to stop talking now, as I feel like I’m about to pass out.” The boy seemed to fizzle out, wheezing a bit as he finished babbling.
Killian covered his mouth as he let out an unflattering snort on attempting to stop the laugh that tried to bubble out, but burst into giggles when Cyrus took another wheezing breath while blinking at him awkwardly.
Killian giggled softlyas he remembered just how awkward Cyrus was when they were younger. Though, the Fate still was when he was unsure and nervous. Either way, the teenager’s babbling had stopped him from swimming away at the mention of what he was.
To be honest, he’d been drawn to Cyrus from that first moment. Both to his looks and him… While they’d both been fourteen when they’d met, Cyrus was almost a year older than him, with the Fate turning fifteen only a few months later. Ha, it took the silly teenager months to realize that Killian had in factnot been sneaking onto the property, but was actually living in the lake.
Killian’s smile faltered slightly. He’d made Cyrus wait for him for so long. His fears had kept them apart, but even so, there had never been anyone else in Killian’s mind. From fourteen onward, it had always been Cyrus. Oddly, even before they had gotten together, it rarely crossed his mind that Cyrus could decide to be with someone else.
Perhaps part of that was arrogance, not being able to consider that Cyrus would choose someone else over him, even if he never took that last step. But even when they did finally start dating, jealousy never really had a foothold in their relationship.
They’d always been able to acknowledge when others were attractive, without accusing one another of sleeping around, or wanting to sleep around. And since Ender was attractive, Killian couldn’t think it would be a hardship to sleep with the Gorgon, but how exactly did he feel about them doing…that…?
He glanced back to Ender, frowning when the man limped over to a table and sat. There were bags under his eyes, and his mouth was pressed into a firm line.
Cyrus was right, the Gorgon looked exhausted, and stressed, more so than when he’d caught glimpses of the Cryptid the day before.
