17. Love is Kind #2
I bit my lip. Zach was absolutely the golden boy, but I understood where he was coming from. “Zach, no one expects you to be sure every second of every day,” I said, and then I thought of the town. “At least, not here.”
“Kais and Stavros—”
“Kais and Stavros might like to believe you’re not struggling, but they would absolutely want to be the ones to support you when you did,” I said quickly, watching that frown melt a little bit.
The anger started to fade, but the shame replaced it quickly.
“I’m sorry if I...interrupted something I shouldn’t have yesterday, by the way,” I said softly, testing the waters.
Red flooded Zach’s cheeks and his jaw clenched. “No, you were right. I was in a weak moment and I would’ve regretted giving into—I should’ve known an angel wouldn’t—” His hands clenched to fists on his lap and I cracked, reaching over and taking one in mine.
“That’s not what I meant, look...I...I know I’m probably not the authority on the subject that you’re looking for, but—”
The door opened and Stavros paused in its frame. “Oh, shit. Sorry, I can—”
“No, I should go,” Zach said on a gasp, rising up from the bed, his shoulders up to his ears.
“Wait, no, both of you stay!” I said, jumping up and dashing between them.
I raised one hand to hold Zach in place and used the other to tug Stavros inside.
“Okay, listen. We’re gonna rip the band-aid off on this one, alright?
Zach, it is not a sin to be bisexual, or gay, or just anything other than hetero.
Stav, back me up on this, cause I know it’s kind of weird to take seriously coming from a succubus. ”
Stavros blinked and I glared at him. “Oh, well, yeah. I’m bi. I don’t really advertise it because...you know, priest. I should. It should be talked about more. Zach, really, you’ve been worried about being gay?”
“I’m not gay,” Zach spat out and then groaned, turning his back on us, and covering his face with his hands. “I’m not gay. I just haven’t ever been with a woman, or anything.”
Stavros’ eyebrows jumped. “Wait? You’ve been with a man?”
“No. No, not like that. It was...we were messing around. We got caught,” Zach squeezed out, head still shaking. “I begged God for forgiveness and I swore it would never happen again and then yesterday, that fucking angel… Fuck!”
“Whoa! Whoa, okay.”
I backed up as Stavros headed for Zach, his hands settling on the younger man’s shoulders, turning him and pulling him easily into his chest. Zach shuddered, growing smaller against Stavros, and I bit my lip at the pair of them wrapped up together like that.
It was sweet, and heartbreaking too, and I held still so I wouldn’t remind them that I was here, watching.
Zach was soaking up comfort from Stavros like a sponge, so easily I wasn’t sure he even realized it, and Stavros was as steady as a rock, something similar to what he’d felt with me warming the air, but deeper, a love that was more than new and blooming, but had already weathered some storms together.
“Who caught you?” Stavros asked.
“Father Montgomery,” Zach whispered, muffled against Stavros’ chest. “When I was at the rectory.”
“Lemme guess, real old school fuck? The kind that cracked knuckles on Sunday school kids and talked about hell more than heaven?” Stavros asked.
Zach shrugged his arms off, his face pale and eyes red, and he nodded, gaze glancing in my direction but then right back to Stavros.
“Come on, Zach, is that the kind of leader you want to be? Scaring kids out of their dignity and sense of self over some genuine feelings for each other?” Stavros asked.
“Of course not, but—”
“I know homophobia wasn’t about to be solved in the Catholic church before the Rising or anything, but that’s some bullshit, and a lot of the church was learning to say so.
Fuck that guy. Fuck how he made you feel,” Stavros said softly, still holding Zach’s shoulders and his eyes.
“Look, I know I’m probably not the man you’d ask about piety and purity, alright, but Kais would gladly tell you the same.
You’re a good priest, and it’s not because you’re resisting any sexual urges for men, or for women for that matter.
It’s because you care about people and you believe in them and you uplift them.
You remind them of their duties of kindness to each other and to themselves. Remind yourself too, Zach.”
Maybe I should’ve interrupted them, because Stavros didn’t know the effect his speech was having on Zach, too caught up in his worry over how his friend, his family, was tearing himself up inside.
But I knew. I knew the moment it was all too much for Zach, and that twisted, knotted, mass inside of him was ready to explode.
I opened my mouth, but it was too late.
Zach grabbed Stavros’ face in both hands, surging up and slanting his mouth against the other man’s, deep and aggressive and desperate, his fingers digging into Stavros’ hair and holding him in that endless, violent kiss.
Fuuuuuck was it hot.