He didn’t.
“Thank you for telling me about her,” Gem said, and Rusty’s shoulders slumped, his hands pausing in the soapy water. “I wish I could have met her.”
With the ghost of a smile in his voice, Rusty said, “She would have liked you. She liked happy people.” Gem grinned at that, his chest warming, even as Rusty added, “Never knew why, though.”
Cautiously, giving Rusty time to rebuff him if he chose, Gem looped his arms around the Pyclon’s body. His upper arms circled Rusty’s neck as his lower sets of arms hooked around his torso. Burying his face in the thick fur of Rusty’s neck, Gem breathed in the spices of his tobacco, musk, and something else. Something wild and a little feral.
Rusty didn’t hug him back. In fact, he didn’t move at all save for the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. But he didn’t push Gem away. They stood like that for a long time.
Chapter eight
Gem’s Neighbor’s Balls
Rusty
After Rusty finished washingthe dishes, Gem dried them and put them away in the cabinet Rusty couldn’t reach. Neither of them addressed the embrace or the embarrassing way Rusty had almost burst into tears in Gem’s living room, for which Rusty was grateful. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d talked about his mother to anyone, and the sudden grief that had surged up his throat had taken him off guard.
But grief was funny like that. His mom was dead and buried nearly ten years, and yet, the pain in his chest was still raw. The wound scabbed over but still tender. Maybe some wounds never fully healed.
Humming off key under his breath, Gem wiped down the counter as Rusty sprayed the sink clear of suds. He felt the Araknis’s gaze on him, but he ignored it. The vulnerability exchanged between them had left him unsteady, and if he met Gem’s eyes, he’d know it too. Rusty didn’t think he was ready for what that meant.
“I’ll head out,” Rusty said as he dried his hands, squeezing the water out of the fur of his wrists as best he could. “Get some sleep tonight, Gem.”
“Wait, you’re leaving?” Gem asked, sounding both surprised and disappointed.
Rusty’s tail flicked. “Uh, yeah. Figured you’d wanna rest.”
“It’s still early.” Gem pointed out the window, to the twilight settling over Lust. “Why don’t you stay a little? We could watch anime.”
His expression was so hopeful, and guilt infiltrated Rusty’s chest, weakening his resolve. “I should… get back.”
“Right.” Gem deflated, tucking his hands into his hoodie. “Okay. Well, thanks for the soup.”
Gem’s disappointment thickened the guilt, and Rusty huffed in annoyance. “I guess I could… stay. For a bit.”
Eight intense eyes scrutinized him. “Really?”
Rusty nodded. “Sure.”
With a wiggle of excitement and a hum from his arm and leg fur, Gem beamed at him. “Cool.”
While Gem fiddled with the TV remote, Rusty ducked into the bathroom and used the toilet. He washed his hands and caught his own gaze in the mirror. The Pyclon looking back at him had a judgmental look on his face, and Rusty scowled.
“We’re friends. Friends hang out,” he muttered defensively.
“Sure,”his brain replied.
“Shut up!” he snapped back, fleeing the bathroom and his reflection.
Already on the couch, bundled up in that ginormous hoodie, Gem smiled up at him, and Rusty’s stomach somersaulted. Fuck, he should leave. He was coming down with something. An illness, probably contagious! And Gem was immunocompromisedright now.
Yeah, he really had to leave. Before he could open his mouth to say this, Gem’s phone rang, and he dug it out of his pocket.
“It’s Ollie,” he announced. “He went home with Liel, right?”
“Uh, I think so,” Rusty said, and Gem squealed as he brought the phone to his ear.
“You better be calling me to spill the fucking tea!” he said, and Rusty hesitantly lowered himself onto the other end of the couch, ear swiveling so he could pick up Oliver’s response.
