We enjoyed being wrapped in a blanket of silence, my hands on my hips as I looked over the undisturbed water of the marsh. In the distance was more vegetation and more trees, like the marsh’s water crept into the trees and became a full blown swamp if you went deep enough. I didn’t know enough about the wetlands of Piper to know how common they were in these parts, but knowing that even a small city like Piper had this kind of nature near it was somewhat humbling, making the dark parts of my psyche feel like they could be cleansed by the simple beauty of my little slice of the world.
Suddenly, the sound of rushing water filled my ears, both of us looking down at the water in the marsh rippled from movement. Startled, I realized that it wasn’t some fish having a good laugh at our expense, but rather a pair of virces coming up from the depths of the murky water.
Troian and I shared a glance, making me wonder if we should make a run for it or if we should sheepishly introduce ourselves. I wasn’t the biggest expert on Orbs, tending to lean more toward ignorance when it came to what they did and where they resided, but fear crept around my neck like a noose at the idea of us encroaching on their territory or something. I didn’t think that virces were particularly violent. Certainly the ones that had been with Qwill at the club hadn’t been, but that didn’t mean all of them were nice to humans.
Both virces were laughing as they came up out of the water, taking their time in wiping their faces and splashing each other. Their skin was compromised of, frankly, beautiful scales of blue and green, like their skin was similar to a fish when you inspected it up close. They appeared to be men, from what Icould tell, their sculpted upper bodies glistening with their scales, the water making their skin shimmer. Both of them also worse loose shorts around their waists.
They finally turned to notice us, their smiles wavering in the slightest when their eyes combed over the features Troian and I shared. It was only fair that they seemed to be inspecting the pair of humans before them, because I tilted my head as I stared them down. They looked hella familiar.
“Cowboy Connor!” One of them cried, and I could feel the simper Troian was offering me without even having to turn to view it. “Holy shit, there’s two of you!” He laughed, glancing at Troian quickly before giving me another nod. “We met you the other night when we gave our buddy that private dance with you.”
Shit, I thought to myself. Nirvana and Motley Crue. Obviously not their real names, but I definitely recognized them as the bros that had bought Qwill his private dance in suite three that night at Downpour from the band tees they’d been wearing. Seeing them in this more natural setting felt weird. Then again, I’d grown so accustomed to being in nothing but fashioned underwear that normalcy had lost all its meaning.
Suddenly, water thrashed upwards as another virces broke through the surface, another shirtless creature making themselves known. The breath that I hadn’t realized was lodged in the back of my throat caught on my shock as I saw the dark brown hair break through the surface of the water.
It was Qwill.
He was completely shirtless, covered in more of the glittering green and blue scales that littered his face, smothering most of his body. The only article of clothing keeping him modest was the same pair of tattered black cut-off shorts he’d been wearing that same night we’d met at the club.
I hadn't noticed it at first about Qwill's friends, but I couldn't stop staring at the intricately laid gills around their necks,amidst the colorful scales that made up their skin. Of course I'd seen them back at the club, when I'd been innocently thrusting my ass into their friend’s crotch via private lap dance, but I'd forgotten how captivating they were as I focused on Qwill. His gills contracted in tune with his breathing, just like how nostrils reacted. They were beautiful in an otherworldly way that clung to me tighter than the water siding down Qwill's muscled frame.
There was this feeling of guttural something burrowing its way at the bottom of my belly, unable to understand what it was. Doing my best to ignore the hell out of it, I watched as Qwill turned to his friends with a bewildered expression, wiping his face free of the water obscuring his vision.
“Assholes,” Qwill growled, and that feeling in my stomach doubled. “Don't pin me underwater like that again.”
The other two virces cackled wildly, but Qwill careened his head until he saw Troian and I, a double take evident by the way his golden eyes pulsed with awareness.
“Th—I mean, uh, Connor?” My real name died on his tongue, a swivel of his head made back to his friends before he stared at our dueling facades. Troian looked confused, but intrigued. I simply felt my cheeks reddening from the inside out. “What's going on?”
“Cowboy Connor has a twin, bro!” Motley Crue said with a tapered chuckle. “Double the fun for you.”
“Shut up, Teme.” Qwill snarled, but he kept his tone friendly enough that even I could tell he didn't mean it. Or at least, he didn't mean it indefinitely.
“This is so gnarly, man.” The remaining nameless virces snickered, shaking his head in disbelief. “What are the chances ofCowboy Connorshowing up to our favorite swimming spot?”
“Garth Lo, it's fucking fate, dude!” Teme replied, a wide smile brightening his youthful face. “It's, like, written in the stars or whatever.”
“Will you two please go back underwater or something?” Qwill sighed, spreading his hand over his face. “This is embarrassing enough without your commentary.”
Teme and Garth Lo dissolved into hysterics like a pair of hyenas, but ultimately shook their heads, saying they'd let Qwill ‘handle his men’ as they dove back into the murky water and disappeared from view with the sounds of the disturbed water echoing their leave.
Qwill retreated from the water to join us by the hiking trail, revealing the frayed black shorts he'd been wearing that night at the club when I'd first met him. I wondered then if Qwill was the kind of guy that owned the same outfit in multiple pairs and barely strayed from the routine of it all. Something about his easily distrusted demeanor gave me the impression that he liked having control over at least one aspect of his life like that.
He regarded both of us with wildly intense eyes, not that his golden eyes were evernotintense, but then his eyes fell on me after a quick overview of my messy but purposefully styled hair. “You were the one I met at Downpour the other night, right?”
I looked over at my brother who looked endlessly entertained, shifting his feet so he could gawk at me through lidded eyes of scrutiny. I was so fucking toast after this encounter was wrapped up and I already knew that Troian was going to wring me like a sponge until I spilled out every detail of the lap dance I'd given Qwill.
“Yeah,” I said with a nervous laugh, feeling every bit the opposite as I had when I'd first interacted with him. At the club, I was confident because I was in a familiar place, playing a familiar role. But here, out in the real world, Thayer wasn't nearly as recklessly cocky as Connor. “Yeah, it was me.”
Qwill treaded through the water until he was sauntering up the bank to meet us at the edge of the path we were on, giving me a glimpse at the rest of him. His feet were webbed between his scaled but otherwise human feet, but the undersides of hisfeet appeared to just house green skin, making me wonder what other parts of him were void of scales. That burning in my belly came back and I reverted my eyes back to Qwill’s burning golden irises.
“Sorry about Teme and Garth Lo,” Qwill chuckled, giving Troian a knowing glance, as if he didn’t want to ignore his presence but also as if he wasn’t sure if he should just be addressing me. “They’re idiots, but they mean well. Sorry for whatever dumb shit I’m sure they said before I came up.”
“It’s fine.” Troian scoffed, shaking his head with his arms folded over his chest, giving Qwill a knowing look.
Innocently, Qwill just gave him a smile and gave me a nod. “It’s good to see you again. Despite the awkwardness.” His lips twisted in a half-smirk that coiled around my stomach and made me feel a sudden wave of…something I couldn’t place as it washed over me.
I felt Qwill’s stare pass over my body in a way that felt…good? There was something in his eyes that told me he was enjoying the view, but I already knew he was attracted to me. The thing that concerned me was that I was reacting to it with…fuck if I knew. It almost felt like I wanted to, like,preen and posewhile he looked at me.
