Complex: Too Quiet, part 3
Apr. 3rd, 2017 06:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frogs_of_warOne more to go.
Title: Too quiet, part 3
Side story to: Complex
Length: 2651 words
Summary: Salathiel's trash is the familiar's treasure. And Salathiel and Cunobelinus have a fight.
Master list: lj DW
Steele kissed Dal’s hand as he stepped away. “Would you like me to bring your sewing stuff tonight? You have that shirt you wanted to finish.”
Dal’s eyes twinkled. “Please.”
Steele stepped closer and kissed his husband again.
“You make your own clothes?”
Dal laughed and pushed his husband away. “Go. And don’t forget my scissors.” He turned to Salathiel. “My fathers taught me. How else would I find anything to fit?”
Salathiel couldn’t believe they hadn’t asked Dal. They hurried down to the linen closet and came out with their arms full of cloth. “Jonáš, Aleš, is any of this fit to wear?”
They both took their man forms. Salathiel hurried back to grab more. The closet was full of stuff Salathiel never used. Cunobelinus’s family had given them hundreds of sheets, some of them antiques. Salathiel hadn’t wanted to use sheets used by generations, no matter how soft they were. He also had a set made from the silk of demon-eating Vashoc spiders. Very exclusive because they couldn’t be tamed and the only way to harvest the silk was to bait them with huge Mountain Buffalo. After the buffalo was caught and sucked dry, the harvesters then had to hold off the spiders while they made off with the web sack. Vashoc silk cut off the web sack was not worth as much, even though the threads were each yards long.
Salathiel dug out the silk set and found a thick tablecloth of the same fabric. Where had that come from? A wedding present? Maybe from one of Cunobelinus’s parents friends. Salathiel family couldn’t have afforded a single napkin let alone sixty. A table runner, long enough to lay across a table set for one hundred, might be useful to the familiars. Salathiel was never going to use any of it.
They carried the silks into the living room. “I’m not sure about the color.”
Jonáš smiled. “We know how to fix that.”
Aleš, with a sheet wrapped around him, ran up to Salathiel and hesitantly reach out a hand.
“For you.” Salathiel handed him the table runner.
Aleš ran across the room, trailing the table runner behind him. He wrapped himself and Jonáš and finally Dal before the end of the table runner slid off Salathiel stack. They sat the rest on the floor. “What do you need now?”
“A tape measure and scissors.” Dal shook his head. “So many pretties.”
Aleš squeezed Salathiel’s hand. “Thank you.”
And Salathiel spent the afternoon walking on air.
~~~~~
Cunobelinus came home with a sewing machine. They got hugs and kisses. Steele had come home over lunch with Dal’s sewing kit, so by dinner Jonáš and Aleš had soft linen robes to wear. Jonáš had pointed eyebrows and Aleš Cupid’s bow lips. Aleš also had an old scar on his wrist. Salathiel wanted to kiss it and tell him he never need wish for death again.
Instead he sat by Aleš when they all went to the living room after dinner and took his hand. Aleš smile up at him and shifted the slightest bit closer. Dal marched in. “I can’t stand sitting here when Steele is with Hez. Cunobelinus, can you take me? Send me a note when they get hungry.”
He handed the kittens out. Salathiel and Aleš got the twins. Aleš slid closer to Salathiel as his kitten tried to get to his twin. Salathiel petted the kittens, who’d both made it to his thigh. “It’s weird that they don’t have real names yet.”
Cunobelinus grinned. “You took forever coming up with Hezekiel’s.”
“That’s because I was waiting for you to help me.”
Aleš squeezed Salathiel’s hand. Salathiel kissed Aleš’s soft fingers. “Thank you, but it doesn’t hurt as much as it used to. I always expected to have a house full of children. Once these leave the house will be too quiet.”
“But you only ever wanted two.” Cunobelinus’s voice carried a world of hurt. Jonáš snuggled next to Cunobelinus and purred. The lines on Cunobelinus face relaxed slightly.
“I’m sorry.” Salathiel refused to cry. “I was trying to hurt you. I wanted many. All I could handle was two.”
Aleš blinked. “Two?”
Cunobelinus smiled, but it didn’t get to their eyes. “I’m just a big baby.”
“I love you.” Salathiel wiped a tear away.
“I know and that makes it worse.” Cunobelinus turned to Jonáš. “Ever thought about another kitten of your own?”
Jonáš licked his lips. “We dreamed of it. Once we were free.”
“You are free now.” Salathiel pushed their sadness away. “And we can easily expand if you end up with a big litter.” Or two, or even three.
Aleš leaned closer against them and the couch shifted, sending the kittens tumbling into the lap of Aleš’s robe. They protested the movement then settled into sleep.
Dal came back out of Hezekiel’s room. “Cunobelinus? I’m ready.”
Cunobelinus settled Jonáš beside Salathiel and put the other two kittens on his lap. Then kissed Salathiel before they left.
Jonáš leaned against Salathiel. “What was it like raising a demon child?”
And once Salathiel got started telling of his trials and tribulations, they couldn’t stop. Finally, when Cunobelinus came back, Salathiel made themself changed the subject. “And I couldn’t even tell my family because they’d warned me but I hadn’t listened to them. But still raising Dal must have been worse.”
Aleš just shook his head against Salathiel’s arm. Jonáš touched his neck. “Aleš can’t talk about it yet. We were scared all the time. We hadn’t even known each other before I got him with Aleš. We were catnipped up when we met. The master was so disappointed that we only had one—which was good because we were both just children ourselves—we knew he had plans for our child. From the day Dal was born we were trying to get him out.”
Aleš burst into tears. Salathiel held him close. “My sweet kitten.”
They were ready to take the kittens should Aleš take his cat form, but instead Aleš crawled into their lap, kittens and all.
Salathiel petted his hair and kissed the top of his head and did and said all the things that had made Hezekiel calm down as a child. But beautiful Aleš wasn’t a child and his life had been so hard.
A wave of emotion crashed over Salathiel: hurt, sorrow, pain. Unbelievable pain. Salathiel held Aleš tight. “Cunobelinus, the kittens.” Salathiel was surprised they weren’t mewing in distressed. Cunobelinus scooped all the kittens onto Jonáš’s lap and carried the whole lot over to the big chair. Salathiel tucked Aleš under their chin. “Nothing like that is ever going to happen to you again.”
Aleš tears were hot on Salathiel chest.
“Nothing. You’re safe. I’ll keep you safe. Your body's safe. Your kittens are safe. Should danger some near, I will stand against it.” Then their wings came out. “I am an angel of Retribution. None who hurt me or mine will fail to be punished for their crime.”
They wrapped their wings around themself and Aleš. Jonáš crept close and held out a hand, but didn’t quite touch. “Feathers.”
Salathiel tilted his shoulder into Jonáš small hand sunk into Salathiel’s feathers.
“The most beautiful feathers of all the angels on the most beautiful one among them.” Cunobelinus sighed. “I saw Salathiel for the first time and knew. I was too far away to catch their scent or hear their voice, but I was in love. Took me weeks of pursuit to convince Salathiel I was serious. Weeks more for them to agree they felt the same.”
Salathiel looked out their wings at their husband.
Cunobelinus smiled. “Worth every minute even on the worst days. Salathiel, I love you.”
Salathiel blew them a kiss, and after Dal returned and everyone went to bed, Salathiel reminded Cunobelinus of the best days.
~~~~~~
Clothes meant Jonáš and Aleš could travel. Cunobelinus took them to the best shops to get anything they wanted. They got kisses for that and more after Cunobelinus and Salathiel finally convinced the familiars that they didn’t care what they wore. The cloth and patterns and buttons and dye were for their own pleasure, not that of their hosts.
Salathiel had had to cry in the shower again after that.
But a day came when Cunobelinus was at work and Aleš needed one last thing to finish an outfit, so Salathiel put on their happy face and took the two out. The three together got treated a little worse than Salathiel did alone. Salathiel could deal with it, but Aleš and Jonáš were looking more and more scared. When one idiot touched Aleš hair, Salathiel lost it, spread his wings and used his angel voice on the reprobate causing the demon to melt into the floor, which all would have been embarrassing if they hadn’t been so angry.
They whisk the familiars home and had to pace the hall until they got themself under control. Then they went to see if their guests were all right.
Jonáš blinked. Why don’t you defend yourself?
Salathiel just shook their head. Time to make lunch.
You could, you know.
“It isn’t worth it.”
If it isn’t worth it to save yourself, why save us?
Because of what happened to us? Aleš’s voice was so soft.
“No.” Salathiel sat on the kitchen floor. “Were you anyone I cared for as much as I care for you two, I would save you.”
And the demon… who melted? Jonáš jumped into Salathiel’s lap.
“They’ll be able to reconstitute themself, eventually. It wasn’t permanent. But they’ll never forget it.”
Jonáš and Aleš cuddled in their lap and talk turned to nicer things. They still hadn’t got what Aleš was after, so Salathiel sent them off with Cunobelinus. They came back with beautiful buttons and talked over themselves about a new spell Cunobelinus was working on which would enable a familiar to be clothed while in human form, unencumbered with them while in animal form, and clothed again when changing back.
Cunobelinus was not so happy. They waited until Jonáš and Aleš had run off to the guest room to finish their sewing, then fixed Salathiel with a glare. “Why didn’t you tell me people were rude to you?”
Salathiel shrugged and went back to cooking dinner. “Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters.” Cunobelinus leaned their back against the counter and crossed their arms. “Why wouldn’t it matter?”
“You were the one who moved me here. With so many demon realms and all the places in this one, you moved me to a place where I can go years—decades without seeing another angel.”
“What?”
“Look around, when was the last angel you saw?”
“Today, at work. I have three in my office.”
Salathiel carefully set the knife down and covered their face. They took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. “Really?”
They picked up the knife again and finished chopping the potatoes. They were a stranger in their home, but comfort seemed only a commute away. “So why did you move us here?”
“I grew up here.”
Salathiel leveled a stare at them.
Cunobelinus sighed. “You wouldn’t have wanted to live in that old neighborhood.”
Cunobelinus family had gone through ups and downs over the millennia, but any family that old had class. They couldn’t help themselves. “So this was the only option?”
“What’s wrong with it here? Besides lack of angels.”
Salathiel knew Cunobelinus didn’t see angels as any different from other demons, which was an accomplishment considering the environment he was raised in. “You really don’t see it, do you?”
“See what?”
Salathiel stepped away from the counter. “How many times have I had to come ask you to pay for something?”
“You don’t like to pay.”
“They won’t take my money! ‘Does your spouse know you’re buying that?’ ‘Where does someone like you get that kind of money?’ ‘Let me call Cunobelinus and see if they’re all right spending their money like that.’”
“No.”
Salathiel took in a deep breath and counted to ten as they breathed out. “That’s why I leave the paying to you. Remember our first anniversary where you knew what my gift was before you even got home? That’s why all your anniversary gifts are now shipped here.”
“You’re an angel of retribution. Why do you put up with that?”
“At home.” Salathiel took satisfaction in Cunobelinus flinch. “It’s considered rude to use one’s powers against something as low as an insult. Otherwise I’d have my wings out all the time.”
Cunobelinus bit his lips. Now was the time to stop and let Cunobelinus think, but Salathiel just couldn’t help themself. “And it’s not like I could melt your parents into the floor.”
“My parents?” Cunobelinus frowned, then he shed his human skin. “My parents have done nothing to you!”
“Exactly.” Salathiel smiled. He loved Cunobelinus, but right now he loved hurting him more. Just a piece, a small piece of how Salathiel felt. “They don’t talk to me unless you’re standing right there. And I’ve been to all your siblings’ wedding. I’ve seen what your parents gave them. We got the weird colored stuff no one wanted.”
“Of all the—”
“And Hezekiel’s graduation. My parents rearranged their vacations to be there, but yours couldn’t find the time. Not that I expected it because they hadn’t found the time for any of his birthdays.”
“They were at his first.”
“That’s because you held it at their house.”
Cunobelinus bit their lips again. They held up a hand. “Your parents don’t always come either.”
“My parents both have jobs, whereas yours just have hobbies and don’t tell me I’m wrong because I’ve heard them gloat about it before.”
“They weren’t gloating.”
Salathiel patted Cunobelinus’s arm. “Think whatever makes you feel better. My parents have never once forgotten Hezekiel’s birthday.”
“My parents took him for a whole month. He loved it there.”
“And he came home with a gender and several other bad habits that took me months to break him of.”
“Gender isn’t a bad habit.”
Salathiel went back to cooking. “Would you like a discussion about why there is a gender disparity in a land where genders can be chosen, where among a people who can chose what their bodies look like, most of them chose the same one? Or would you like to set the table?”
Cunobelinus set the table. Aleš came in and showed off his finished outfit, which was a loose tunic with frog closures going up the right side and looser trousers. The fabric had started out a funky orange, but with the help of dye and bleach the color moved from red to orange to yellow, like a Phoenix.
Salathiel pulled him close and kissed him without really thinking about it. Then Jonáš was in his arms, all in shades of blue. After a kiss, Salathiel stepped back and walked around him. “What did you make that out of?”
It was a robe of some kind, tight and loose, skimming his body in a way that both concealed and revealed everything. “It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
Jonáš smirked at them. “You like it?”
He swayed side to side. That robe had a life of its own.
“I made it out of that table runner.” Jonáš lifted the hem and held it up to Salathiel. Salathiel got on his knees to take it. It was many tiny shapes, all different colors of blue, sewn together into magic. Salathiel also got quite the view of Jonáš pretty ankles and they were magic as well.
They stood up, ignoring the tent in their pants. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
Jonáš rubbed up against them. “I sure am hungry.”
They stepped away. “Food first.”
Jonáš laughed. And when the four sat down to dinner, everyone was laughing and joking with each other, the earlier argument forgotten.
Title: Too quiet, part 3
Side story to: Complex
Length: 2651 words
Summary: Salathiel's trash is the familiar's treasure. And Salathiel and Cunobelinus have a fight.
Master list: lj DW
Steele kissed Dal’s hand as he stepped away. “Would you like me to bring your sewing stuff tonight? You have that shirt you wanted to finish.”
Dal’s eyes twinkled. “Please.”
Steele stepped closer and kissed his husband again.
“You make your own clothes?”
Dal laughed and pushed his husband away. “Go. And don’t forget my scissors.” He turned to Salathiel. “My fathers taught me. How else would I find anything to fit?”
Salathiel couldn’t believe they hadn’t asked Dal. They hurried down to the linen closet and came out with their arms full of cloth. “Jonáš, Aleš, is any of this fit to wear?”
They both took their man forms. Salathiel hurried back to grab more. The closet was full of stuff Salathiel never used. Cunobelinus’s family had given them hundreds of sheets, some of them antiques. Salathiel hadn’t wanted to use sheets used by generations, no matter how soft they were. He also had a set made from the silk of demon-eating Vashoc spiders. Very exclusive because they couldn’t be tamed and the only way to harvest the silk was to bait them with huge Mountain Buffalo. After the buffalo was caught and sucked dry, the harvesters then had to hold off the spiders while they made off with the web sack. Vashoc silk cut off the web sack was not worth as much, even though the threads were each yards long.
Salathiel dug out the silk set and found a thick tablecloth of the same fabric. Where had that come from? A wedding present? Maybe from one of Cunobelinus’s parents friends. Salathiel family couldn’t have afforded a single napkin let alone sixty. A table runner, long enough to lay across a table set for one hundred, might be useful to the familiars. Salathiel was never going to use any of it.
They carried the silks into the living room. “I’m not sure about the color.”
Jonáš smiled. “We know how to fix that.”
Aleš, with a sheet wrapped around him, ran up to Salathiel and hesitantly reach out a hand.
“For you.” Salathiel handed him the table runner.
Aleš ran across the room, trailing the table runner behind him. He wrapped himself and Jonáš and finally Dal before the end of the table runner slid off Salathiel stack. They sat the rest on the floor. “What do you need now?”
“A tape measure and scissors.” Dal shook his head. “So many pretties.”
Aleš squeezed Salathiel’s hand. “Thank you.”
And Salathiel spent the afternoon walking on air.
~~~~~
Cunobelinus came home with a sewing machine. They got hugs and kisses. Steele had come home over lunch with Dal’s sewing kit, so by dinner Jonáš and Aleš had soft linen robes to wear. Jonáš had pointed eyebrows and Aleš Cupid’s bow lips. Aleš also had an old scar on his wrist. Salathiel wanted to kiss it and tell him he never need wish for death again.
Instead he sat by Aleš when they all went to the living room after dinner and took his hand. Aleš smile up at him and shifted the slightest bit closer. Dal marched in. “I can’t stand sitting here when Steele is with Hez. Cunobelinus, can you take me? Send me a note when they get hungry.”
He handed the kittens out. Salathiel and Aleš got the twins. Aleš slid closer to Salathiel as his kitten tried to get to his twin. Salathiel petted the kittens, who’d both made it to his thigh. “It’s weird that they don’t have real names yet.”
Cunobelinus grinned. “You took forever coming up with Hezekiel’s.”
“That’s because I was waiting for you to help me.”
Aleš squeezed Salathiel’s hand. Salathiel kissed Aleš’s soft fingers. “Thank you, but it doesn’t hurt as much as it used to. I always expected to have a house full of children. Once these leave the house will be too quiet.”
“But you only ever wanted two.” Cunobelinus’s voice carried a world of hurt. Jonáš snuggled next to Cunobelinus and purred. The lines on Cunobelinus face relaxed slightly.
“I’m sorry.” Salathiel refused to cry. “I was trying to hurt you. I wanted many. All I could handle was two.”
Aleš blinked. “Two?”
Cunobelinus smiled, but it didn’t get to their eyes. “I’m just a big baby.”
“I love you.” Salathiel wiped a tear away.
“I know and that makes it worse.” Cunobelinus turned to Jonáš. “Ever thought about another kitten of your own?”
Jonáš licked his lips. “We dreamed of it. Once we were free.”
“You are free now.” Salathiel pushed their sadness away. “And we can easily expand if you end up with a big litter.” Or two, or even three.
Aleš leaned closer against them and the couch shifted, sending the kittens tumbling into the lap of Aleš’s robe. They protested the movement then settled into sleep.
Dal came back out of Hezekiel’s room. “Cunobelinus? I’m ready.”
Cunobelinus settled Jonáš beside Salathiel and put the other two kittens on his lap. Then kissed Salathiel before they left.
Jonáš leaned against Salathiel. “What was it like raising a demon child?”
And once Salathiel got started telling of his trials and tribulations, they couldn’t stop. Finally, when Cunobelinus came back, Salathiel made themself changed the subject. “And I couldn’t even tell my family because they’d warned me but I hadn’t listened to them. But still raising Dal must have been worse.”
Aleš just shook his head against Salathiel’s arm. Jonáš touched his neck. “Aleš can’t talk about it yet. We were scared all the time. We hadn’t even known each other before I got him with Aleš. We were catnipped up when we met. The master was so disappointed that we only had one—which was good because we were both just children ourselves—we knew he had plans for our child. From the day Dal was born we were trying to get him out.”
Aleš burst into tears. Salathiel held him close. “My sweet kitten.”
They were ready to take the kittens should Aleš take his cat form, but instead Aleš crawled into their lap, kittens and all.
Salathiel petted his hair and kissed the top of his head and did and said all the things that had made Hezekiel calm down as a child. But beautiful Aleš wasn’t a child and his life had been so hard.
A wave of emotion crashed over Salathiel: hurt, sorrow, pain. Unbelievable pain. Salathiel held Aleš tight. “Cunobelinus, the kittens.” Salathiel was surprised they weren’t mewing in distressed. Cunobelinus scooped all the kittens onto Jonáš’s lap and carried the whole lot over to the big chair. Salathiel tucked Aleš under their chin. “Nothing like that is ever going to happen to you again.”
Aleš tears were hot on Salathiel chest.
“Nothing. You’re safe. I’ll keep you safe. Your body's safe. Your kittens are safe. Should danger some near, I will stand against it.” Then their wings came out. “I am an angel of Retribution. None who hurt me or mine will fail to be punished for their crime.”
They wrapped their wings around themself and Aleš. Jonáš crept close and held out a hand, but didn’t quite touch. “Feathers.”
Salathiel tilted his shoulder into Jonáš small hand sunk into Salathiel’s feathers.
“The most beautiful feathers of all the angels on the most beautiful one among them.” Cunobelinus sighed. “I saw Salathiel for the first time and knew. I was too far away to catch their scent or hear their voice, but I was in love. Took me weeks of pursuit to convince Salathiel I was serious. Weeks more for them to agree they felt the same.”
Salathiel looked out their wings at their husband.
Cunobelinus smiled. “Worth every minute even on the worst days. Salathiel, I love you.”
Salathiel blew them a kiss, and after Dal returned and everyone went to bed, Salathiel reminded Cunobelinus of the best days.
~~~~~~
Clothes meant Jonáš and Aleš could travel. Cunobelinus took them to the best shops to get anything they wanted. They got kisses for that and more after Cunobelinus and Salathiel finally convinced the familiars that they didn’t care what they wore. The cloth and patterns and buttons and dye were for their own pleasure, not that of their hosts.
Salathiel had had to cry in the shower again after that.
But a day came when Cunobelinus was at work and Aleš needed one last thing to finish an outfit, so Salathiel put on their happy face and took the two out. The three together got treated a little worse than Salathiel did alone. Salathiel could deal with it, but Aleš and Jonáš were looking more and more scared. When one idiot touched Aleš hair, Salathiel lost it, spread his wings and used his angel voice on the reprobate causing the demon to melt into the floor, which all would have been embarrassing if they hadn’t been so angry.
They whisk the familiars home and had to pace the hall until they got themself under control. Then they went to see if their guests were all right.
Jonáš blinked. Why don’t you defend yourself?
Salathiel just shook their head. Time to make lunch.
You could, you know.
“It isn’t worth it.”
If it isn’t worth it to save yourself, why save us?
Because of what happened to us? Aleš’s voice was so soft.
“No.” Salathiel sat on the kitchen floor. “Were you anyone I cared for as much as I care for you two, I would save you.”
And the demon… who melted? Jonáš jumped into Salathiel’s lap.
“They’ll be able to reconstitute themself, eventually. It wasn’t permanent. But they’ll never forget it.”
Jonáš and Aleš cuddled in their lap and talk turned to nicer things. They still hadn’t got what Aleš was after, so Salathiel sent them off with Cunobelinus. They came back with beautiful buttons and talked over themselves about a new spell Cunobelinus was working on which would enable a familiar to be clothed while in human form, unencumbered with them while in animal form, and clothed again when changing back.
Cunobelinus was not so happy. They waited until Jonáš and Aleš had run off to the guest room to finish their sewing, then fixed Salathiel with a glare. “Why didn’t you tell me people were rude to you?”
Salathiel shrugged and went back to cooking dinner. “Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters.” Cunobelinus leaned their back against the counter and crossed their arms. “Why wouldn’t it matter?”
“You were the one who moved me here. With so many demon realms and all the places in this one, you moved me to a place where I can go years—decades without seeing another angel.”
“What?”
“Look around, when was the last angel you saw?”
“Today, at work. I have three in my office.”
Salathiel carefully set the knife down and covered their face. They took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. “Really?”
They picked up the knife again and finished chopping the potatoes. They were a stranger in their home, but comfort seemed only a commute away. “So why did you move us here?”
“I grew up here.”
Salathiel leveled a stare at them.
Cunobelinus sighed. “You wouldn’t have wanted to live in that old neighborhood.”
Cunobelinus family had gone through ups and downs over the millennia, but any family that old had class. They couldn’t help themselves. “So this was the only option?”
“What’s wrong with it here? Besides lack of angels.”
Salathiel knew Cunobelinus didn’t see angels as any different from other demons, which was an accomplishment considering the environment he was raised in. “You really don’t see it, do you?”
“See what?”
Salathiel stepped away from the counter. “How many times have I had to come ask you to pay for something?”
“You don’t like to pay.”
“They won’t take my money! ‘Does your spouse know you’re buying that?’ ‘Where does someone like you get that kind of money?’ ‘Let me call Cunobelinus and see if they’re all right spending their money like that.’”
“No.”
Salathiel took in a deep breath and counted to ten as they breathed out. “That’s why I leave the paying to you. Remember our first anniversary where you knew what my gift was before you even got home? That’s why all your anniversary gifts are now shipped here.”
“You’re an angel of retribution. Why do you put up with that?”
“At home.” Salathiel took satisfaction in Cunobelinus flinch. “It’s considered rude to use one’s powers against something as low as an insult. Otherwise I’d have my wings out all the time.”
Cunobelinus bit his lips. Now was the time to stop and let Cunobelinus think, but Salathiel just couldn’t help themself. “And it’s not like I could melt your parents into the floor.”
“My parents?” Cunobelinus frowned, then he shed his human skin. “My parents have done nothing to you!”
“Exactly.” Salathiel smiled. He loved Cunobelinus, but right now he loved hurting him more. Just a piece, a small piece of how Salathiel felt. “They don’t talk to me unless you’re standing right there. And I’ve been to all your siblings’ wedding. I’ve seen what your parents gave them. We got the weird colored stuff no one wanted.”
“Of all the—”
“And Hezekiel’s graduation. My parents rearranged their vacations to be there, but yours couldn’t find the time. Not that I expected it because they hadn’t found the time for any of his birthdays.”
“They were at his first.”
“That’s because you held it at their house.”
Cunobelinus bit their lips again. They held up a hand. “Your parents don’t always come either.”
“My parents both have jobs, whereas yours just have hobbies and don’t tell me I’m wrong because I’ve heard them gloat about it before.”
“They weren’t gloating.”
Salathiel patted Cunobelinus’s arm. “Think whatever makes you feel better. My parents have never once forgotten Hezekiel’s birthday.”
“My parents took him for a whole month. He loved it there.”
“And he came home with a gender and several other bad habits that took me months to break him of.”
“Gender isn’t a bad habit.”
Salathiel went back to cooking. “Would you like a discussion about why there is a gender disparity in a land where genders can be chosen, where among a people who can chose what their bodies look like, most of them chose the same one? Or would you like to set the table?”
Cunobelinus set the table. Aleš came in and showed off his finished outfit, which was a loose tunic with frog closures going up the right side and looser trousers. The fabric had started out a funky orange, but with the help of dye and bleach the color moved from red to orange to yellow, like a Phoenix.
Salathiel pulled him close and kissed him without really thinking about it. Then Jonáš was in his arms, all in shades of blue. After a kiss, Salathiel stepped back and walked around him. “What did you make that out of?”
It was a robe of some kind, tight and loose, skimming his body in a way that both concealed and revealed everything. “It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
Jonáš smirked at them. “You like it?”
He swayed side to side. That robe had a life of its own.
“I made it out of that table runner.” Jonáš lifted the hem and held it up to Salathiel. Salathiel got on his knees to take it. It was many tiny shapes, all different colors of blue, sewn together into magic. Salathiel also got quite the view of Jonáš pretty ankles and they were magic as well.
They stood up, ignoring the tent in their pants. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
Jonáš rubbed up against them. “I sure am hungry.”
They stepped away. “Food first.”
Jonáš laughed. And when the four sat down to dinner, everyone was laughing and joking with each other, the earlier argument forgotten.
