Titan considered the question. “I am uncertain. I am displeased with how the conversation with my father went, but I am trying to heed everyone’s advice and not let it ‘get to me.’ I will admit, however, that it is not proving to be quite so simple. As I told you, they intend to come to Earth for the hatching despite their great displeasure with us, and I have concerns that this will taint what is meant to be a joyous experience, as they are not coming to celebrate—they are coming in order to be the first to make a statement before the news reaches Darvrok 6 and negative publicity spreads.”
“Yeah, well, maybe seeing their super-cute grandkids will help sway them to our side,” Ezra said, and although his tone was as light and reassuring as it had been all day, Titan’s hand on Ezra’s bare forearm told another story.
He was apprehensive.
Fearful.
Yet he pretended for Titan’s sake to be at ease.
Titan frowned and held him closer, nuzzling the place where Ezra’s neck met his shoulder. “I feel your apprehension,” he admitted quietly. “I have great sorries for not having asked about the emotions in your heart. I hope you do not think that my father’s words have any impact on how I feel about you. He does not despise you—not precisely. Rather, he finds your slut blood unsatisfactory.”
“Yeah, that’s not really better, but thank you. Don’t worry about me, man, I’m fine.”
“Are you being untruthful?”
The sinking feeling Titan was absorbing through his telepathy suggested that he was.
“No. Or like, not exactly. I trust you, don’t worry—I know you’re not planning on leaving me or anything. It’s just… I dunno, I guess it would have been cool to be the type of person someone would be proud to have as a son-in-law.” The way he spoke was casual, but his skin on Titan’s betrayed his pain.
“If they do not feel pride about you, then that is a reflection on them, not you,” Titan said resolutely, and he sensed rather than saw Ezra smile.
“Thanks, babe. The same is true in reverse, too. Just so you know.”
“I suppose so.”
“That settles that, then.” Ezra yawned again, although it seemed a tad exaggerated. “I’m beat. Good night.” He strained to look over his shoulder so that Titan could give him a kiss on the lips, then readjusted to assume a comfortable unconsciousness position and said nothing more.
Titan wanted to believe that his father’s words were really that easy to dismiss, but as he kept his palm pressed on Ezra’s bare arm, he could feel the underlying rejection he was trying to hide. It was there even after he fell into unconsciousness, so deeply ingrained that not even separation from reality could make it go away.
Titan lay awake for over an hour, sensing it, worrying over it, and revisiting his conversation with his father. He had worked so hard to convince Ezra that he was worthy of being loved—that he would never again be abandoned—but could it be that his father’s heartlessness had put them right back at the beginning? What if Ezra’s pain caused him to once more believe commitment was not for him?
The heavy feeling in Titan’s chest from earlier that day returned.
He closed his eyes, but did not sleep.
He spent the night holding Ezra close, hoping his love would outweigh the rest.
34
Ezra
“Maybe it won’t be as bad as you think,” said Jude, who was lounging in the deck chair next to Ezra out on the back patio. They’d wrangled the kids and brought them outside so they could burn off some of their endless energy—energy that was now being spent skittering around the playset at top speed not as children, but as squirrels, while Buttons hunted them for sport. Since it was a sunny day, Ezra had also brought along the eggs. They shared the deck chair with him, warmed by both his body heat and the sunshine. Luckily, they showed no interest in being squirrels, but there was no telling how long that would last. Jude’s eggs had only stayed eggs for three months, and they were creeping up on that three-month mark pretty darn quick. “Mr. and Mrs. Leon are, uh, well… they’re pretty eccentric by human standards, and they certainly haveopinionsabout things, but they’ve loved you since the beginning. Like, way more than they ever liked me. I think they’ll get over the whole ‘slut blood’ thing pretty fast.”
“It’s been like, two months since Titan called to tell them about the eggs, and Mr. Leon is still being a passive-aggressive dick whenever he has to reach out about work stuff. He won’t even talk to me anymore. Pretty sure any hopes that this will be over ‘fast’ died when he hung up a work call because I was the one who answered.”
“Well…”
“Well?”
“I was trying to think of something uplifting to say, but the best I’ve got is at least they’re not a part of your kids’ lives. You won’t have to have any difficult talks about why they can’t see Grandma and Grandpa anymore.”
Ezra wrinkled his nose and drew the eggs closer to his body. “See, that’s the thing. They’re still planning on coming for the hatching. I am obviously not a huge fan of the idea of them being there, but Titan is of the opinion that it would be a way bigger scandal if we refused them their grandchildren. Like, if my ‘slut blood’ is tabloid material, us blocking them from our kids’ lives would be international news. There would be a ripple effect in the government, and apparently it would not be good. I want to be selfish and say that sounds like a them problem, but I don’t know, man. It’s complicated. There’s a chance doing it could come back to bite me and Titan in the ass if it messes with our jobs, and that’s not even taking into consideration that this is Titan’s homeworld, and if it explodes because of us, I’ll be carrying that guilt around for life.”
“I’m sure it won’t actually explode,” Jude said reassuringly.
Ezra flattened his brow. “Titan says the opposition has proposed slicing the planet in half with a giant laser beam so it will be easier to mine for rare minerals, which, according to science, will cause cataclysmic seismic and volcanic activity. Seventy to ninety percent of all life on the planet would be wiped out.”
“I… see.” Jude grimaced. “So it sounds like letting them meet the kids is the lesser of two evils.”
