I know I’m playing with fire, but staring at him in his shirtless Titan form isn’t easy when I want to know what he feels like. I get up and walk up to his bed. Cautiously, I take a seat beside him. “And you can hold your form if you think about it?”
“It takes the majority of my effort.” Evo’s pale blue eyes dance over my face as I brace a hand on the bed and lean closer. “W-what are you doing?”
“Studying you. Is that not allowed?” I ask, catching the lightly sweet and metallic scent of space in the air around him.
His shoulders rise and fall with a heavy breath. “I’m nothing special.”
“Evo.” I give him a knowing look. “We’ve both established that is not true. Normally, I would hug someone who had saved my life. And I can’t even touch you.”
He pushes up in the bed like he’s uncomfortable being so close to me. “I’m just…not worthy after what I’ve done.”
“I care only about what you choose to do, not things you were forced to do in your past.” Scooting closer, I lean toward his rugged face, wishing I could throttle back how I feel for him, but it’s an unusual connection, a curious attraction that makes me want a taste. “Can you hold it?”
Evo’s cybernetic occuli burn like blue halos as he scours my face like he doesn’t know what to expect. “For the moment.”
A rumble in his chest grows like the sound of a revving motor. His breath quickens, and I think I better make it short. There’s no telling what will happen when I take what I have wanted since the moment I saw him looking down at me from inside his ship.
Sliding a hand over his jaw, I admire the smooth firmness of his synthflesh and the engineering that went into building such a magnificent creature. I know, deep inside his core, he’s still human. His essence, his soul, is like mine, he just has a different body now. But that doesn’t mean that his spiritual needs are any different from mine. Titans crave a sense of belonging, importance, and love the same as any member of my colony.
But this Titan understands how I feel because he’s enduring a similar sense of isolation from his kind, like I am. We’re treated differently. And all we want is to be normal.
Evo’s synthskin holds its metallic sheen, so I crane up to his mouth and capture it with mine. His taste is a bit like his scent, but the softness of his lips surprises me. The heat of his breath is evidence of the stars burning inside him.
He lets out a pained rasp. A hand slides hesitantly up my arm.
I brush my nose over his as I pull back. “Just wanted to say thanks for saving me.”
His eyes open lazily. A hesitant laugh escapes. Then Evo’s eyes widen. His lips lighten and take on my human skin tone. It spreads over his face from where I’ve kissed him and outward from where my fingers brace his jaw.
“Shit, shit.Shit!” Evo jerks forward and rips the nanotoner filtration tubes out of his back and just below his digibadge, then slaps the machine off and leans back.
Seconds later, a Titan rushes into the room. “Evo, I got your emergency ping, Brother. Are you okay?”
Evo rubs his forehead as my human tone fades from his skin and he returns to his usual stardust.
Jackwalks up to us, assesses the situation, hums a note to himself, and grins. “Okay, you two. No funny business during treatment.”
“It’s my fault,” I admit. “But I do not regret it.”
Jack touches Evo’s shoulder, turning him back into a Titan, and proceeds to reconnect Evo to the filtration system. He motions me back to the other bed. I oblige, even if I don’t like it. He and Evo nod to each other like they’re talking in their heads again, then Jack leaves.
“I’m sorry, Aera.” Evo looks hopelessly up at the ceiling. “I am still learning to hold a given shift. I spent too many years ina reactionary mode, finding things with properties I wanted to emulate, and I just moved from one thing to the next. I’ve never really had anything stable.”
I smile and take his gloved hand in mine. “Then we keep trying until you can hold it longer and longer.”
Evo looks at me like I’m suddenly his lifeline. “I’d like that. More than you know.”
Lotus’ voice comes over the speaker system. “All available mission-capable Titans, soldiers, and civilians are requested in the main hangar in one hour to receive assignments for new mission: infiltration and salvage of Solcruean battle cruiser.”
“Guess they came up with a plan,” I remark.
“They did.” Evo’s eyes shimmer with received data. “Why don’t you rest for the next hour? I will watch.”
“That isn’t fair,” I say. “I know you’re tired.”
His eyes find mine, still filled with streams of data. “It is practical, Aera. We must be practical if we are to survive long enough to have what we want.”
I lie back on the bed, tuck an arm under my head and roll onto my side so I can stare at him and his hunky body. “What does a sexy Titan made of stardust dream of?”
