“How do you deal with him?”
Gath stopped gazing off into the sunless distance and glanced down at the little Skyavon standing by his feet. Teekay was by no means a small Skyan, in fact he was taller than most, but to Gath, everyone was small and cute. For he was gigantic.
“How do I deal with Retvik?”
“Yes.”
Teekay was clearly somewhat upset and Gath knew why. He and Retvik had somewhat interrupted a quiet weekend between Teekay and his partner Elkay. It had been unintentional and Elkay had enjoyed seeing his older brother, but the entire time they had been there, Teekay had been visually very nervous and anxious.
“With the same amount of patience you use while dealing with Elkay.”
This Skyan wasn’t very old. He couldn’t have been more than thirty, Gath wasn’t sure. But he seemed old and tired. As if he had done nothing but work hard his entire life, and now he just wanted things to be easy for once.
“I feel like my answer was unsatisfactory.”
“No, it was not helpful in the slightest!” Teekay snapped, then immediately regretted doing so. He stared out into the abyss, before muttering an apology.
Gath sighed. He hadn’t meant to make Teekay upset. After all, he was a fine Skyan and a gracious host. Gath lowered himself down, sitting on the ground so he could be at eye level with Teekay. “Well, what is bothering you?”
“You two being here, for starters. You are nice enough beings but I want my space back.”
“Then why did you not say anything? We cannot read minds.”
“I would have sounded rude.”
Gath smiled ever so slightly. “You are talking to Rethans. You are dating a Rethan. You should know how blunt we are.”
“Elkay… isn’t quite like you two though. And I don’t know whether I should… let him be with me..” Teekay sighed, looking away almost with embarrassment. “Sometimes I feel like I helped ruin his life.”
“That is not true in the slightest, little one!” Gath laughed as he put one of his massive, clawed and armoured hands on Teekay’s shoulder. “If anything, you have improved his life greatly. You protected and looked after him when he was at the lowest point of his life, the same way Retvik protected me when we were younglings and the same way I protected Retvik after his traumas.”
Gath paused for a moment. It occurred to him that he may have been terrifying Teekay slightly. He removed his hand and patted him gently on the head, before realising that this action may have been somewhat terrifying and a little odd at the same time.
“You should have said something. Us Rethavok are not mind-readers the way you are. We can only go on physical cues when discovering that something is wrong.”
The towering Rethan smiled to himself. “You have been a great host. Once you have had some time alone, you should come over to our home so we can host you.”
Teekay shrugged. “That would be nice, I guess. I mean, I… I don’t really know that much about Rethan culture, aside from what Elkay has told me about… And you two are nice as well… I just kinda want the house to myself for a bit.”
“Perfectly understandable!” Gath stood up and started to head back inside. “Do not fret, we will be out of your armour as soon as possible.”
“One last thing…” Teekay muttered.
Gath stopped in his tracks. “Hm?”
“Do you… ever feel… ugly in their presence?”
“All the time. In fact, sometimes I wonder whether Retvik still loves my utterly hideous form.”
“Does he?”
“Of course he does. And of course Elkay loves you too. Because if they did not, they would not be here…”