“You know I don’t mind,” I huffed before smirking. “How much did you see of our sex toy training session?”
Gabe groaned and laughed self-deprecatingly. “I only hung around for a min’ before I peaced out but, dang… You’re into some freaky shit huh?”
Pot calling the kettle black.
“Whatever, perv,” I cackled, knowing he would never judge my three-pronged tentacle creation. Then, I sobered. “I’m actually calling because I saw the texts you sent Ziggy…”
Gabe sighed. “Yeah, I usually don’t get much of a read on him because, you know, he’s locked down tighter than Fort Knox… But whatever he’s going through made him drop his defenses and… Is heokay,Micah?”
I swallowed thickly. “I-I don’t know. He told me he’s going through some stuff right now but isn’t really elaborating on what’s bothering him.”
Even though I have my suspicions.
I should’ve known something was wrong with the way Ziggy reacted after entering Pedro‘s body—especially since it was rare to see my bad bitch mercenary flustered aboutanything.But then the space dads called with intel on Pedro, and the mission kicked into high gear from there.
If only I’d checked in more…
Ziggyshouldhave been more open and honest with me, but I knew better than most that trauma could make even the simplest conversation seem impossible. While I preferred not to force my squirrely Stellarian out of his comfort zone until he was ready, this was clearly a situation where Dr. Micah needed to step in.
As soon as I feel like talking to him again.
“Do you want me to…” Gabe interrupted my chaotic thoughts, bringing me back to the conversation at hand.
“Yes!“ I blurted out, more than happy to put my personal psychic to work for the greater good. “I mean, if you don’t mind…”
Gabe was silent for a good 30 seconds before he sighed again. “He’s still got his thoughts secured but, sheesh, his anxiety is through the goddamn roof. Are you…” He cleared his throat. “Are yousafewith him, Micah?”
“Of course I am,” I snapped, harsher than I intended. “Ziggy would never hurt me.”
Pedro, on the other hand…
My Earthside bestie chuckled. “Hey, no judgment. Lord knows Theo tried to kill me a couple times before we became official, and he and Dre like to threaten each other as foreplay on the regular. It’s all good.”
No judgment, but… what?
I decided not to touch any ofthathot mess in favor of keeping us on track. “Please don’t worry about us. Even with all the anxiety he’s burying beneath the surface, Ziggy’s still taking good care of me… in his overly protective, emotionally stunted, lizard-brained way.”
Gabe laughed. “Yeah, that tracks—not just with Stellarians, but supes in general. For real, dude, you’re carrying the team here with your emotional IQ.” When I huffed, his voice dropped a few octaves. “That’s good to hear, though. Someone as sweet as you deserves to be treated sweet.”
Omg, staaahp.
“Such a flirt,” I teased, feeling one thousand percent better than before I’d called him.
Some may not understand our polycule situation—hell, we were still figuring it out ourselves—but it worked forus,and that was all that mattered.
Plus, I no longer want to murder Zig.
Win-win!
A knock on the door had me sitting up so fast, Pedro rolled off my chest with an indignant squawk. “Gotta go,” I murmured as Gabe answered with his goodbyes. “Space adventure awaits.”
Along with a good grovel, I hope.
“Micah?” Ziggy called out, earning a few points for not just barging or star hopping in. “We will be arriving on Lacertus in an hour or so, and I would like to… discuss the plan…withyou.”
That poor idiot is trying his best.
I still fully intended to makehim talk, but I also knew Ziggy well enough to understand the reason he hadn’t said anything up until now was because he’d still been working through his issues.
