Ciaran, eyes alight with humour, smirked at the wall. “Uh... I am not at liberty to say.”
“Hey, I thought we had no secrets.”
He laughed then and put his hands up. “I... ugh. I cannot...”
Sawyer could feel the anguish twisting through Ciaran. He wanted to say something but couldn’t?
Like there was a pact he couldn’t divulge, not even to Sawyer. A secret that was not his to tell, some nonhuman treaty...
Sawyer grabbed the keys to the cruiser and stood up. “Well, would you look at the time.”
Ciaran blinked at him, confused. “What? Time for what?”
“Time you and I went and paid Mr Brown another visit.”
Drivingout of town and into the mountains was different this time. Sure, the misty rain and the low cloud cover was the same, but now he had Ciaran beside him.
Admittedly, Sawyer couldn’t come up here without Ciaran. Well, not without feeling as if he’d had his heart ripped out. They’d be working on their time apart for a while yet, Sawyer reasoned.
But not today.
He didn’t want to be anywhere else but with Ciaran. Was it absurd? Yes. Did he give a fuck?
Not when he got to see Ciaran sitting beside him in the front of his cruiser with a huge grin on his face, his excitement palpable and adorable.
Not ever.
“Don’t get to ride in a car very often? Is this a new experience for you?”
He snorted. “You mean going for a drive with my boyfriend like it’s the most human thing I could ever do? Yes, this is a new experience for me.”
Sawyer laughed and, reaching over, took Ciaran’s hand so he could bring it up to his lips. He kissed his knuckles. “Boyfriend.”
Ciaran shrugged, trying to appear indifferent but not pulling it off. “Yes. A fitting human qualifier, is it not?”
“Well, it’s not wrong. Just grossly inadequate.”
“Agreed.”
“What’s the cephamorph equivalent?” Sawyer asked. “If boyfriend is the human term.”
“Mates. Bonded pair.” He sniffed and looked out the window. “Husbands.”
Sawyer’s foot slid off the foot pedal, and the cruiser jolted. “Husbands,” he repeated, stunned, yes, but damn if it didn’t feel right.
“Well... well, yes.” Ciaran looked at him then, affronted. Offended? “Is that not what you would call us?”
Sawyer blinked quickly. “Yes. I guess. In the sense that we’re sworn to each other. But we’re not married?—”
Ciaran surprised him by laughing. “Oh, you humans are so weird with your religious beliefs.”
“I’m not religious?—”
Ciaran tilted his head. “But you believe in a church ceremony and a contract that is simply a legally binding document?”
“It’s not simply a legally binding document,” Sawyer mumbled.
“Human religious constructs are so fascinating to me,” he mused. “But, my love, if you want a wedding ceremony, I will be more than happy to stand in front of everyone and say, ‘I do.’”
