“The idea’s to feel alive—not to get myself killed.”
Luther saw Blaine’s expression change as their eyes met past Marrick’s shoulder.When Blaine would have risen, Marrick caught hold of his arm and stopped him short.
“You’re scared you might really hurt me the way you might have hurt him if Arslan hadn’t been there.I get that.But I’m not asking you to do that.”
Luther saw Blaine look pointedly at the grip on his arm, but Marrick didn’t take the hint and let go of him.
“It’s the difference between going bungee jumping and actually throwing yourself off a bridge.I don’t want to do anything that’s actually going to get me killed.I wouldn’t ask you to do anything that would really hurt me—I wouldn’t ask you to sit back and let me do anything that would really hurt me either.I promise.”
He looked to Luther as he said the last word.
Luther smiled slightly as he saw the acceptance and maybe even the beginning of understanding in their pet’s eyes.
“But you realise that doesn’t mean you can start telling me I can’t even ride a bike around the city, right?”Marrick said, his expression turning ever so slightly wary.
Blaine, as politely as anyone ever could, took his wrist out of Marrick’s grip and reversed the situation, so he was holding onto their pet’s arm instead.That done, he turned his attention back to the conversation.“Falling off your bike hurt you in a way you didn’t enjoy.”
“In a way that left me sore for a few days.It didn’t do me any real harm.”
Blaine looked to Luther for his opinion on the matter.
“You’ll be careful?”Luther asked.
Marrick nodded.“And you’ll let me feel alive?”
Luther and Blaine exchanged another look.When they heard the need for it in their pet’s voice, it was hard to argue with him.“Promise,” Luther whispered.
“Yes.Although I won’t promise to be enthusiastic about it,” Blaine added.
Marrick laughed then.Dipping his head, he let it rest on Blaine’s shoulder.For his part, Blaine managed to keep his posture stiff and his displeasure at the idea obvious for all of a few seconds before he gave in and nuzzled the top of their pet’s head.
Luther smiled at them both.
“I’ve booked to go sky diving this summer.”The way he said it made it sound as if the piece of information was important.Luther looked to Blaine, but Blaine seemed to be as blank as he was.
“You go up in a plane, then you jump out of the plane when it’s still flying.A parachute keeps you safe,” Marrick explained.
Luther pressed his lips together very firmly, just in time to keep back the wordNo!God, but humans had some weird hobbies.“It’s one of the things that makes you feel alive?”he asked, as calmly as he could.
“I’ve never tried it before, but yeah—that’s the idea.”
“You couldn’t…feel alive at ground level?”Luther checked.
Marrick shook his head.Luther had the feeling they were discussing far more than their opinion of him jumping out of a plane.“Any lion who wanted to be your master would have to accept that,” he expanded.
Their pet offered a nod but no words to go with it.
“We’ll go with you,” Blaine decided after a while.
“I’ll go in the plane with you.Blaine will wait on the ground so he will be there when you to land,” Luther specified.He didn’t miss Blaine’s relief at the idea things would work well that way, without the lion who was so scared of heights having to jump out of a plane.
“You don’t have to… I’m not asking you to join in.Just…”
Luther leaned in and pressed a kiss to Marrick temple.
“I’ll do the high ones; Blaine will do the wet ones.We’ll see you’re kept…just safe enough.”
Marrick smiled slightly.
