“Why are you contacting our parents?” he asked instead. “All is well with your clutch, yes?”
“Yes, the offspring are fine.”
“Then is it perhaps a matter of government dealings?”
When Titan shook his head, Al frowned.
“Then it is something else—something worse, perhaps. I admit, I have not initiated contact with our parents recently, so I am unaware of their general well-being. Do they intend to be here for the hatching?”
Titan grimaced.
“I am uncertain if they are… What I mean to say is that we have not solidified…ugh.” He scrubbed his face with both hands, then moved with purpose to join Al. Without waiting for an invitation, he plopped down in the chair beside him and said, “May I make a confession to you?”
The relationship between him and his brother had been… decent, as of late. There had not been any more heart-to-hearts, but Al no longer avoided being in the same room with him, and sometimes would even engage him in casual conversation. Due to parental leave, Titan saw Al and his family more often, and when he was not busy caring for Ezra and the clutch, he did his best to offer assistance with household chores and made himself present as a guardian for his nieces and nephews. Al seemed to react to the latter the best, and would share anecdotes about the offsprings’ antics, or offer advice about what to expect with the impending hatching of Titan’s clutch. One Earth week prior, they had even laughed together when Lucy spent ten minutes very sternly correcting Jude’s long division during homeschooling.
Which was all to say, the tension between them had not dissipated entirely, but it was beginning to erode, and beneath it, a foundation for a close relationship was developing. For this reason, Al did not reject Titan’s request. He nodded his assent, and so Titan confessed.
“I am attempting to contact our parents tonight not to ask when they might come to Earth and be introduced to my clutch… but to tell them about the clutch’s existence in the first place.”
Al’s eyebrows shot to his hairline. “You have not informed them that Ezra bore and delivered your offspring?” When Titan shook his head meekly, he asked, “Do they know anything about your relationship with him?”
“They are aware that we are coworkers and that we occupy the same household.”
“But that is it?”
“That is all.”
“But… why? You don’t feel shame about your love for Ezra.” It wasn’t a question, but rather a statement, which Titan appreciated.
“No I do not, but I have concern that our parents, or… well…”
“Our father,” Al supplied.
“Our father,” Titan agreed, “will have disapproval over the relationship, and this disapproval may negatively affect Ezra. He may ‘go along with the flow,’ as the humans are fond of saying, but he carries deep wounds in his heart from past abandonment and judgment. I fear that, should I ask Father’s permission to bond with Ezra, and he says no, Ezra will refuse to move forward with our relationship as a result.”
“You speak of Ezra’s deep wounds and the way in which Father’s disapproval may affect him, but what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Well…” Al drummed the fingers on his right hand on his armrest and searched Titan’s face. It took everything in Titan’s power not to turn away and blush under the scrutiny. He had the distinct impression that his brother was seeing right through him.
“You do not believe this is about Ezra, do you?” he asked before Al had a chance to say what was on his mind. “You think it is I who does not know how to handle Father’s disappointment.”
“Do you?”
At this, Titan did have to look away. He stared out into the dark, where the light breeze was making the swings on the playset sway lightly. He slumped in his seat, sighing deeply as he went. “I truly don’t have shame about my relationship with Ezra,” he felt the need to clarify, but it was unnecessary.
“I know this,” was Al’s immediate, genuine reply. “But I also know that you have spent your entire life as our parents’ favorite child—Father’s in particular—and as much as they respect Ezra as an honorable ambassador between our two worlds, he is not the type of being they expect you to bond with. If he were purely human, perhaps you would be able to convince them that it would set a positive example of international relations, but with his true heritage known, it will be difficult.”
Titan looked back to Al sharply. “Has Ezra’s true heritage become known among our people in my absence?” he asked, stomach in knots.
Al’s pained smile did not lessen the digestive distress. “Well, as the English saying goes, ‘words travel at exorbitant speeds.’”
“I have heard this, yes,” Titan said with a sigh. He lifted his legs onto the chair and rested his chin on his bent knees. “So they are aware that Ezra is the progeny of the Great Slut?”
“I would feel surprise if they did not. It was of great political news when it became known that the Great Slut had been granted amnesty on the soil of Bumfuck Nowhere, New Mexico, United States, North America, Earth.”
“Unfortunate.”
