Chapter 16 #2
“I had an okay week,” Milo volunteered, when it didn’t seem like Rowan was going to answer. His cheek was so dimpled, it was practically inside out. “I got to see Rowan a lot, which was great, but I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep, so I’m a little tired.”
Ray knew about the anniversary coming up, and he gave them a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. I hope getting out of town this weekend will help?”
Ruben tilted his head at Rowan. “Are you also leaving town?”
“We’re going to the cabin,” Rowan said. “I thought it would be nice to show Milo, but I also want to ride out some of the worst of spring molt.”
“Ah, I got most of mine out by now. Mom said hers is mostly done, too. Good thing, otherwise we’d be covering their house in feathers next weekend.
” Ruben turned to look at Ray. “You should have seen it when we were kids. There would be albatross and hawk feathers all over the house. We’d still be picking them out of the couch come Fall.
It should be fine next weekend, though.”
Rowan’s fingers once again tightened on Milo’s leg. “Is Ray going to the house next weekend?”
“Of course,” Ruben said, his eyes still fixed on Ray’s profile. “How else would I officially introduce him to the family before we mate?”
Rowan’s breath caught, and it took a concerningly long time for him to start breathing again. When he did, he pulled his hand off Milo and wiped it on his pants. “I thought you already did that and have been doing that every day this week in the group chat.”
“We also had a video call with ma and mom,” Ruben said, and Ray blushed happily. “But Ray wanted to meet them in person, too.”
Rowan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed forcefully. “Okay, I can understand that, but…does it have to be next weekend?”
Ruben finally looked away from Ray. “I’m leaving for recruiting the following Sunday. I guess we could go home that Friday, but I wanted to spend some alone time with my mate.”
Rowan’s head fell forward, like his neck couldn’t hold it up anymore. “I see.”
“We don’t have to–” Ray tried to say, but Ruben shook his head.
“It’s fine, darling. If it wasn’t fine, Rowan would say so, right?”
Rowan stared down at the tabletop, and his shoulders collapsed inward.
Out of the corner of their eye, Milo caught Ray staring at them. When they met his gaze, he flicked his eyes to the side once, and then again.
It took Milo an embarrassing two whole seconds to realize what their best friend’s eyeballs were trying to communicate.
Usually, they were much better at this, but the tension rolling off the two brothers was mixing with the fog in their head to create a dizzying mess.
Clearly, something was going on here that Milo wasn’t privy to, and if anyone could fill them in, it would be Ray.
“I forgot to powder my nose,” Milo said, popping up from their seat. “Ray, you’re an expert powder…er. Will you come with me?”
Ray slowly blinked at them, which wasn’t part of their usual signaling, but after a tense beat of silence, he turned and gave Ruben a half-hearted smile before scurrying out from under his arm and towards the bathroom with Milo.
“Powder your nose?” Ray asked, as he threaded his arm with Milo’s.
“I don’t know. I’m…tired,” Milo said, their shoulders sagging. “And something is clearly wrong, but I don’t know what it is, which makes me even more tired.”
“I’m sorry. I think it might be partially my fault,” Ray said, as he used his small shoulder to push the door to the bathroom open. It was single occupancy, and Ray spun on his heel and locked the door.
“What’s going on?” Milo asked, wrapping their arms around their chest to try and stave off the chill of the over-air-conditioned bathroom.
It didn’t help that they were running on very little sleep.
They tended to get cold easily when they were sleep deprived, which only served to make them feel worse.
Anabelle used to say she could always tell when Milo was staying up late playing video games because they would bundle up the next day before school.
They’d been too out of it to grab a jacket that morning.
They actually had the perfect one on their junk chair, a navy blue blazer with pink stripes that Anabelle had loved.
It could have been like Anabelle was there, keeping them warm, but instead they were shivering in a restaurant bathroom, hiding out from the surprisingly tense double date they were on with their fated mate, their best friend, their best friend’s fated mate, who just so happened to be their fated mate’s older brother, who seemed to get under his skin in a way no one and nothing else could, because of course he did, because of course that’s the way things would work out for Milo, and of course Anabelle wasn’t here for them to tell any of this to because she was—
“Milo?” a voice called out to them.
Warm hands cupped their face, and they opened their eyes—when had they closed them?—to find Ray staring up at them, his ears and whiskers out.
“Sorry,” Milo said, pressing their cheek into Ray’s palm. “I…just…”
“Got lost?” Ray whispered, and Milo nearly fell to their knees.
Instead of investigating the hygiene standards of the restaurant bathroom from close up, they wrapped their arms around Ray’s shoulders. Ray shifted his hands, hugging Milo around the neck.
“I guess you could say that, yeah. I got lost thinking about…stuff.”
Ray nodded, nuzzling the side of his head and one of his ears against Milo’s neck. “Anabelle?”
“I don’t…really want to talk about it right now, if that’s okay.”
Ray squeezed them tighter but nodded, the fur on his ear tickling Milo’s chin. “Of course it’s okay. But if you ever do want to talk about it, I’m here. And I don’t mind if you get lost along the way.”
Milo squeezed their eyes shut and didn’t stop squeezing until their vision went red and spotty. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” Ray said, dropping his nose to Milo’s scent gland.
They didn’t scent each other often, showing their love in other ways, but the comforting scent of Ray’s face and whiskers was somehow exactly what Milo needed.
Except…
“You smell different,” Milo said, opening their eyes and pulling back a half step. “Sort of like Rowan, actually. But different.”
Ray’s smile was small, but happy. “I bet I smell like Ruben. You smell like him, but different, which I’m assuming is what Rowan smells like.”
“Speaking of which,” Milo said, dropping their hands to Ray’s waist but not letting go. “What might be partially your fault?”
Ray tucked his chin and pressed his forehead against Milo’s collarbone. “So…I didn’t want to say anything in case Rowan was having his own conversations with you, but he hasn’t told his family about you yet.”
“I know,” Milo said, reaching up to pet one of Ray’s ears. “Because they’re out of town.”
“Right, well, it seems like Rowan had hoped they could tell the family together, but before he could tell Ruben that, Ruben texted the family group chat about me.”
Oh boy.
“Ruben felt really bad, and apparently, he’s tried texting and calling Rowan to talk about it, but he hasn’t responded.
” Ray’s ears drooped. “I didn’t know any of this when I asked Ruben if we could meet his family in person before mating.
We’re, uh, obviously not going to meet mine before then, so I thought it would be nice to have at least one family’s blessing.
Going off of context clues, though, I think Rowan might have been planning on going home to tell his family next weekend, and so we just messed up his plans… again.”
Godsdamnit. Maybe Milo should have dealt with this pesky familial tension and brotherly strife on Saturday instead of worrying about kissing Rowan.
“He hasn’t said anything about going home, but he was definitely planning on telling them next weekend, so that checks out,” Milo said, tipping his head back to stare at the needlessly ornate lamp on the ceiling.
The entire bathroom was needlessly ornate. Who needed not one, but two velvet chaise lounges? Admittedly, Milo could really use one of them right now, but two?
Milo walked backward, pulling Ray with them until the backs of their knees hit the seat. They sat down with a huff, and Ray practically collapsed on top of them.
“Do you think they’re out there discussing this like mature adults? Or just sitting in awkward silence?” Ray mused, squirming around until he was neatly tucked onto Milo’s lap.
“Definitely the second one.” Milo tightened their arms around Ray’s back. “Can’t they just roll around in the dirt for a little while and get it out of their system? Isn’t that what brothers are supposed to do?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
Unfortunately, they were both only children. How was Milo supposed to help their fated mate navigate tense family dynamics when the last remaining member of their family was—
Milo sighed and buried their face in Ray’s hair.
“Maybe Ruben and Rowan should go to the cabin this weekend. I bet there’s lots of dirt up there for them to roll around in,” Ray said.
“Is that really what you want? To give up one of your weekends with Ruben?”
That was so very unlike Ray. He usually clung to every second he could get with a significant other.
Ray sighed. “I mean, not really, but short of that, I’m not really sure what to suggest.”
Admittedly, Milo didn’t want to give up their weekend with Rowan, either. They really needed the chance to get away from the city, where every street corner and quiet park reminded them of Anabelle.
“Maybe they’ll have totally figured it out by the time we get back out there, and we can enjoy a nice, fun dinner,” Milo said, rubbing their cheek against Ray’s ear.
Milo’s pony snorted, and Milo was glad they weren’t the only one too tired to deal with this today.
Ray cupped Milo’s cheek again, tilting their head down so they were practically eye-to-eye. “Well, regardless of what they do, you and I can still have a nice dinner. We can even go to a different table, and I’m sure they would still pay for it.”
Milo let out a tired laugh. “They probably would.”