“I know, right? Nah, he was a good boyfriend, and I know I loved him.” Another long silence descended as Bryce studied Zef intensely. “What about you? You ever been in love?”
That was an easy answer. They shook their head. “No, not like that.”
“You want to? Fall in love?”
That was a less easy answer, so they wiggled their shoulders noncommittally. “Perhaps. Love seems a wondrous thing, and I do hope for more permanent companionship one day. But I am not lacking without it.”
“Nothing about you is lacking,” Bryce said, and the way the gray in his eyes rolled like thunderclouds had those tingles on the back of Zef’s neck returning with a vengeance.
“I know,” they said, pressing their lower hands to their flip-flopping stomach under the table. To escape the new and frightening feelings, they infused their tone with levity as they said, “Though, I will be honest, I do not ever want to call anyone Mr. Cow or request that they make my ass their bitch.”
Startled by the unexpected shift in tone and conversation, Bryce barked a noise of surprise followed by loud guffaws. Zef joined him, laughing into a top hand. They laughed until Bryce was wiping tears from his eyes, and Zef’s lungs protested.
“Good Lord, we can’t ever tell them we know,” he said as he used his napkin to dry the corners of his eyes.
“We must take it to the grave,” they agreed readily.
“I’d shake on that,” he said with a sigh, and before Zef could overthink it, they extended their hand across the table, letting it hover in the middle. Bryce froze, stare jumping between their hand and their face, and his lips moved wordlessly for several seconds before he managed to croak out, “Have I earned it this time?”
It took them a second to understand what he meant, but then they recalled their conversation on the day he had moved in. Antennas wriggling in amusement, they dipped their chin. “Yes.”
Slowly, as if he was giving Zef time to reconsider, Bryce reached out and loosely clasped their hand, palms barely grazing. His callouses were rough,his skin dry, and his fingers were thick and strong. Their hand looked fragile and delicate, swallowed by his, but he was so warm.
“To never speaking of it again,” he whispered as he directed their clasped hands up, then down, then back again.
And Zef laughed, the sound weak and full of delightful nerves. “To never speaking of it again.”
Chapter fourteen
The Mantodea Colony
Bryce
As they rode thetram across Envy district to the Mantodea Colony, Bryce’s leg bounced with nerves. He hadn’t even realized he was doing it until the pressure of a feather-light hand came to rest on his thigh, right above his knee. Zef’s top left hand. Holy cow, they were touching him again.
The touch stilled the bouncing, but it sent his nerves swarming from his chest down to his stomach. From the corner of his eye, he peeked at the Mantodea beside him. Zef was looking out the window, their chin resting in their top right hand, their lower hands clasped in their lap. And they were touching him. Like it was nothing.
Sure, it was only the pads of their fingers above his knee, but it was still happening! Which meant something, right? It had to mean something. Bryce just wasn’t sure what.
According to their agreement for transparency, he should tell Zef what he was thinking. Or at least, ask them whattheywere thinking. But thatwould lead to them removing their hand from his leg, and he didn’t want that. He liked the subtle, innocent affection, and he didn’t want to waste the moment by overanalyzing. Zef was comfortable enough with him to touch him, however brief or small, and that could be enough.
For now, at least.
Their hand moved away after nearly a full minute, and while Bryce mourned the loss, he didn’t let it show on his face.
“You could start bouncing your leg again,” his traitorous brain suggested, and no lie, he considered it.
Before he could make a choice, one way or the other, the tram pulled to a stop, and Zef stood, urging Bryce to do the same. They stepped onto the sidewalk and into the chilly, early-April wind. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected from the Mantodea Colony, but he was still surprised to see an open entrance, barred only by boom-barriers.
They were raised up, allowing vehicles and pedestrians to pass through unimpeded, but he imagined they lowered at night for security. A small guard post was stationed to the right of the entrance, but it was unmanned. This, too, Bryce assumed would be occupied during the nighttime hours.
He followed Zef through the entrance, doing his best tonotlook like a tourist as he absorbed everything happening around him.
At first, it looked like every other neighborhood, houses of varying sizes with lawns and gardens in the front. Children ran around outside, playing and laughing as their little Mantodea wings fluttered behind their backs. He spotted a few other species, most of them Insektyds like Zef. There were Rhopas with their colorful butterfly wings, and Coccyns with their red and black polka dot skin patterns, so similar to ladybugs.
A Lepid with their dusty moth wings chased a group of hatchlings, speaking in Hellia as the kids shrieked in laughter. Families and friendsgathered on porches and stopped in the street to chat. A community filled with species so unlike Bryce, yet so familiar.
Some people greeted Zef in passing, with a wave or a word, and they would return it, dipping their chin in deference. Few people stopped them to engage in conversations full of clicking and chirping sounds, but when it happened, Zef indulged them.
