Farr’vye
My human was ready.
He glanced up at me, his eyes as green and dewy as the wet grass surrounding us. His gaze was mesmerizing. I could have stared at him forever—and now that we had confessed our love to each other, I had every intention of doing so.
“If you wish to tell me, I am listening,” I promised.
“You’re staring at my freckles,” he said shyly.
“Freckles,” I repeated. “I adore them, just as much as the rest of you.”
His mouth curved into a smile. “Can I be honest?”
“Always.”
He grimaced. “I feel embarrassed for hiding it for so long. My name. It’s not even a big deal.”
I bowed my head to nuzzle his forehead with my snout.
“Do not fret,” I soothed. “Everything has its time. You were not ready before.”
My little human kept pouting. “But you saw my face, and my body, and we had… really hot sex,” he whispered the last words, as if anyone were around to listen. “And I still didn’t tell you my name. Our whole relationship is backward.”
“It suits us. We are backward, are we not?” I teased.
That earned me a bubbly laugh. “Yeah, that’s true.” His smile lit up his whole face, creasing his eyes creased at the corners as he gazed fondly up at me. “Zephanaiah.”
I did not understand the word. “Pardon me?”
“That’s my name.”
It took me a moment to process that. To a Maeleon, with our two-syllable nomenclature, it sounded like two different names.
“It is quite long,” I finally said.
He laughed again, and I was glad he was comfortable enough to do so.
“It is long,” he agreed. “Like, way too long. And do you know how difficult it is for a kid to spell?”
“I cannot even imagine.”
“And it doesn’t even suit me! Do I look like a Zephanaiah?”
I tilted my head, trying to mentally affix the name to his face. “I do not think so.”
“Me neither! Hell, I was glad when Unit 44 gave up trying to pronounce it and just called me Assistant 23 all the time!”
My human huffed and puffed. He was so worked up that he was out of breath, and his adorable cheeks flushed pink from exertion. I brushed them with my hand, enjoying their warmth.
“And another thing,” he ranted while furrowing his brow, “my parents never gave me the courtesy of using a freaking nickname. It was always Zephanaiah this, Zephanaiah that. They always made me introduce myself with all four damned syllables.”
It seemed like a trial from his past that still bothered him to this day.
“If you do not like it, then why did you not change it?” I asked.
He stopped frowning and simply looked confused. Lost. As if he had never given himself permission to desire something different.
“I… I don’t know. It never crossed my mind,” he admitted.
“And what about now?”
He pursed his lips in silence. “It’s weird. I’ve been going by Assistant 23 for so long that it feels more like my name than Zephanaiah ever did. But it’s not right, either. It’s a title. Kind of a condescending one, too.”
“I agree. So, tell me, little human. What name would make you happy?”
He lowered his face so that his curly hair flopped over his forehead. Then he glanced up at me from beneath gorgeous lashes.
“What if… you named me?” he asked softly.
My heart felt full. I could not contain the shock and joy that visibly flooded my feelers, making them float behind me.
“You wish for me to name you?” I clarified.
“Yeah.” He suddenly grimaced as if on the brink of overwhelming embarrassment. “Is that too weird?”
I smiled. “No. Nothing is too weird for us.”
Relief washed over his expression, and he relaxed in my arms with a gentle smile. “Okay. Then that’s what I want.”
“All my knowledge is of Maeleon names. Thus, your name will be one of ours. Is this acceptable?”
My little human’s face softened into pure ease. He looked alleviated, as if unburdened from the rusted old shackles that had tied him down.
“Yeah. I’m okay with that,” he murmured.
The drizzle stopped. I shook the droplets off my face, then raised my head to glimpse the brightening dawn, half gray-blue and half beautiful orange. The darkest of the clouds had dispersed, fracturing the sky wide open.
And from one end of the land to the other sailed a huge arc of all colors.
“Look,” I said.
My human glanced up and gasped. “Oh!”
The rainbow was a rare natural wonder. But when my human’s eyes lit up with amazement, they were the only things I wanted to stare into. While he observed the rainbow, I beheld him: the object of all my desires. My mate. My filum.
My perfect little human.
“It’s really beautiful,” he said quietly.
Without breaking my stare, I replied, “As are you.”
He snorted, but it did not dim his shining gaze. Eventually his gaze slid from the rainbow to me.
“Um…” His cheeks pushed up his eyes as he smiled. “I love you.”
“And I love you.”
“Should we, like, kiss under the rainbow? Is that too tacky?”
I was aware of the human concept of a kiss but had never had the pleasure of indulging my curiosity. Until now.
Grinning, I lowered my face to meet his halfway. “I do not care if it is tacky. I am going to kiss you beneath the rainbow now.”
He chuckled. “Wait, do you even know how?”
“Does it involve me parting my jaws and placing my entire mouth over your head?” I teased.
He laughed louder. “No! Don’t eat my head! Here, do it like this.”
I experienced a moment of pure bliss as my fantasies came to life.
My human grasped the sides of my face and pulled me closer. His eyes fluttered shut as he angled his head to one side and parted his lips. I paid close attention as his tongue darted out, dragging a soft wet line along my mouth.
It sent me into an instant state of desire.
“Like that,” he said hoarsely as he pulled away. His cheeks were flushed, and his hair was slightly puffed up from the humidity. I wanted to ravage him right there in the middle of the village.
“I will try now,” I said, then dove in for a second round.
My tongue was longer and stronger than his, so I restrained myself from shoving the entire thing down his throat.
Instead, I gently licked along his plush lips with the tip of my tongue.
I knew I was doing a decent job by the way he whimpered and moaned.
Those sounds ignited my own lust, which now smoldered below my belly.
He pulled away first, sucking in deep gulps of air. “Um. Wow. You’re really good at that.” He squinted suspiciously. “Are you sure you’ve never kissed another human before?”
His jealous comment startled me. I barked out a laugh.
“Absolutely not,” I assured him. “You are the only human for me, and you are mine.” I gripped him harder. “Forever.”
He relaxed into my possessive grasp, and his mouth sloped into a grin. “Okay, good.”
I was seized by the temptation to kiss him again, and so I did. We kissed beneath the rainbow, basking in each other’s warmth, presence and love. When I stopped, it was only out of necessity. I would have no choice but to fuck him on the spot if we continued.
“Ze’farr,” I said.
My human blinked. The meaning seemed to dawn on him. “Is that… what you’re naming me?”
“Only if you approve.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “Is that the Maeleon word for rainbow?”
“Nothing so serendipitous,” I replied with a chuckle. “It is part of your original name, and part of mine. Because you are mine. And I do not want anybody to forget that.”
He shuddered, his eyes blazing with emotion.
“Wow,” he croaked. “That’s hotter than it should be.”
I stroked his cheek affectionately. “Then you approve?”
“Ze’farr…” He repeated the name quietly under his breath a few times, trying it out on his tongue. “Yeah. Yeah! I like that!”
His giddy expression matched his upbeat tone, so I knew his reaction was earnest. My feelers pulsated with bright rings of joy.
He accepted the name I had bestowed upon him, and he had accepted me.
There was nothing that could bring me deeper happiness.
Overcome with fondness, I kissed him again as the rainbow glittered above us.
“Hey! Are you guys okay?”
My ear twitched as I recognized Paz’s voice, but I did not break the kiss until I was satisfied. My human—Ze’farr—let out a warbling sound of pleasure as we parted.
“Huh?” he mumbled, limply turning his head toward the sound.
The other three humans were gathered at the base of the hill. Their faces were scrunched up in various states of concern and confusion.
Levi squinted and pointed at the human in my arms. “Who the hell is that?” he asked Jaeyoung, who sighed at his hopeless former captain.
“Seriously, Levi? You can’t figure it out?” Jaeyoung replied.
Paz raced up the slope. He was so exuberant that he clambered up on all fours until he reached the summit. “Dude! Assistant 23? Is that really you?”
I placed my human on the ground so he could speak with the others at eye level. He brushed himself off and replied, “Yeah, it’s me.”
“Whoa! You’re a redhead!” Paz cried. “Guys, check it out, Assistant 23’s a redhead! And we both have curly hair. You’re like my curly haired brother from another mother.”
My human smiled. It looked genuine.
“Actually, I don’t want to be called Assistant 23 anymore,” he began.
Levi and Jaeyoung, who had caught up with Paz on the hill, paused. They listened intently.
My mate cleared his throat. “By the way, you all know Farr’vye, right? It’s probably obvious by now that we’re… together.”
Levi was the only man who looked dumbfounded, but that was normal for him.
“He’s helped me. A lot. As you can see,” my human continued, gesturing to his openly displayed face and lack of a hazmat suit. “And I… I love him.”
My feelers flashed with pinks and reds of every shade. I was so proud of him.
“Aww,” Paz cooed.
“That’s wonderful,” Jaeyoung agreed, giving both of us a warm smile. “So, what would you prefer to be called?”
“Ze’farr,” he said without a hint of hesitation.
“A Maeleon name?” Jaeyoung asked approvingly.
“Yeah. It’s a mix of both our names.”
Levi was still catching up. “Then your old name was Zeke?”
“No,” Ze’farr said bluntly.
“Zeyad?”
“No.”
Levi frowned. “Zebedee?”