“Yes!” Brad shouted, and Gem took a half-step back.
“Um, okay. There’s no need to get snippy.” He sent Rusty acan-you-believe-this-guylook. Instead of immediately validating him, Rusty just blinked, and Gem pouted. “Okay, well,Brad, again, a thousand apologies, but I really do need you to get dressed and vacate my flat. My friend is about to bleed out.”
“It’s not that serious,” Rusty grumbled, and Gem told him not so subtly with his eyes to shut the fuck up. The Pyclon huffed but heeded the wordless command.
“Unbelievable,” Brad—okay, but for real, he didnotlook like a Brad—grumbled under his breath as he dressed.
Since Rusty was still dripping blood and rain onto his floor, Gem rushed to the bathroom and grabbed a fresh towel. Upon his return, he handed it to Rusty, who took it with a soft, “Thanks.”
Now dressed, Brad stomped to the entry and snatched his shoes from the shoe rack, not bothering to put them on. Gem followed him, feeling a tad awkward as he watched the Lupyn yank the door open with a furious grunt.
“Thank you for your understanding,” Gem said, and Brad glared at him.
“It’s not like you were that good anyway,” he spat out, and Gem’s jaw dropped in offense.
“Excuse you? I had you begging like a bitch not five minutes ago.”
“I’ve had better mouths on my dick,” he said, and Gem made a rude noise.
“Well, I’ve had better dicks in my mouth!”
“I don’t want that rain check.”
“Good, because I’m taking the rain check back.”
“Good,” the Lupyn snarled as he stalked out of the flat.
“Good!” Gem slammed the door with a frustrated cry. “Can you believe him? What an asshole.” Rusty’s fuzzy, mauve eyebrow arched, and Gem waved his hand, as if to erase the last few minutes from his memory. “Right. Medical emergency. Sorry.” Gathering the clothes he’d discarded when Brad had first arrived, he fought a blush as he motioned for Rusty to sit. “I’m gonna get you some dry clothes and my med kit. And now that I’m thinking about it, I should probably put on pants.”
Rusty’s pale eyes lowered to Gem’s bare legs, and he looked away with a strained cough, his ears twitching. Seeing as Rusty had seen him in less before, Gem didn’t even bother with shame or embarrassment. If anything, Rusty’s reaction made him snicker.
“Sorry for messing up your date,” Rusty murmured, and Gem scoffed.
“Oh no, that was not a date. That was a straight-up booty call. And clearly”—Gem waved a hand in a flourish—“he was a douchebag. So really, you did me a favor. I don’t want a douche in my ass.” The moment the words left his mouth, he cringed. “Uh, that’s not what I meant. I always keep a douche on hand, just in case. But I eat a pretty fibrous diet, so I don’t always need one. Not that I don’t take hygiene or bottom-prep seriously. I do! But I also acknowledge that, sometimes, shit happens, and it’s not necessarily anyone’s fault.
“Though, I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you,” he said with a manic titter. “You know what I’m talking about ’cause you’ve done butt stuff.”
“Oh my gods,” Rusty groaned, and Gem worried his left fang with his tongue.
“Sorry, was that TMI?”
The Pyclon’s shoulders slumped in resignation as he said, almost mournfully, “At this point, I don’t know if TMIcanexist between us.”
Oddly touched, Gem pressed a hand to his chest and smiled. “Aw, is it weird that I love that for us?”
“Gem!”
“Shit, you’re still bleeding. Sorry, I’m just all discombobulated.” He patted the back of the couch. “Sit down before you pass out, andI’ll—”
“I’m not sitting there. Your booty call’s naked ass was there,” Rusty said, horrified.
“Oh for deities’ sake, he had, like, so much fur.”
“Yeah, and I don’t know where that fur’s been.”
Somehow even more offended, Gem gasped theatrically. “Excuse me, are you insinuating that I bring dirty-furred people into my house?”
“How am I supposed to know? You didn’t even know his name.”
