“Retvik?”
Something hissed in the living area as Gath opened the curtains.
“Retvik.”
“What?” Retvik rolled over in his nest, grunting and growling. “What do you want?”
“We need to talk…” Gath sighed as he brought in a stool from the kitchen and sat down. “We need to talk about you.”
“I am fine!” Retvik snapped, sitting up, glaring at Gath.
“Really?”
Retvik grunted. He stopped staring at Gath and looked away, in the direction of his precious egg.
“Dear, you have been indoors, huddled around our unborn kid since, well, since… Since forever. You have been sitting here in the dark. You have hardly eaten. You have been living off water and nothing else. You have not even washed. I can smell you from here.”
“I need to protect our kid.”
“Every second of every hour of every day?”
“Yes.”
“To the point where you kill yourself?”
Retvik growled. “I am fine. Perfectly fine.”
“You stink of body odour, unwashed sheets and urine. Are you even getting up to go to the bathroom?”
“Of course I am!” Retvik snapped again. “I am not that fucking disgusting!”
“So why are you acting so disgusting in every other way?” Gath snapped back. “You are destroying yourself to protect an unborn kid. When that thing hatches, you will be too ill to take care of it!”
Retvik calmed down. He knew Gath was right. He knew he was wrong. He just needed that kick in the teeth to realise how insane Retvik had been acting.
“Sorry…” Retvik whispered.
“What was that?”
“I am sorry!” Retvik shouted. “I… Oh Light. I am sorry. My emotions are all over the place. I am taking it out on you. I am not being a good vok.”
Gath got up off his stool and sat down next to Retvik, putting an arm on his shoulder.
“I understand. And perhaps I should have stepped in earlier. After all, I have seen all of this before, last year. This all happened to me, the wanting to stay close, the flailing emotions, all of that. I should have seen the signs and told you.”
“No…” Retvik sighed. “I should have known better as well…”
Gath pulled Retvik close, hugging him tightly.
“I am sorry…”
“I am sorry too…”
Retvik hugged Gath back.
After a while, the two Rethans let go, both sighing. Retvik picked himself up and headed upstairs to the bathroom, pausing only to grab a towel from the bedroom.
“I assume there is hot water?”
“There is plenty of hot water, dear… But before you go…”
Retvik hesitated. “Yes, Gath?”
“We should arrange to go out. Go somewhere nice. Maybe a restaurant or something.”
“But what about the kid?”
“We will lock the house up, and cover up your nest so that no one can see it, even if they broke in. But no one will break in. Not with everything that is going on in the city currently. We will be fine.”
“Yes…” Retvik shrugged. “We will be fine. Perhaps, after I am done in the shower, we could plan something for tonight?”
Gath grinned, then rushed upstairs, also grabbing a towel. “Maybe we could discuss our plans in the shower together?”
The two Rethans grinned and embraced each other.
“That, my dear, is a lovely idea…”