“He means sex,” Tria’s girlfriend—Rusty couldn’t remember her name—added unhelpfully.
“I love that we’re talking so openly about this,” Gem tittered, pushing on Rusty’s shoulder. “It’s so great and wonderful and great. We’re gonna go somewhere else now. M’kay, buh-bye.”
Since he and Gem were the last to arrive, lunch was already set out on the table. Rusty sat between Gem and a little Araknis girl who barely acknowledged him and avoided eye contact. Which was honestly fine by him.
While everyone talked in Arakni around him, Rusty hunkered low and focused on the food, which was delicious. He hadn’t had a home-cooked meal like this in a while, and he fought the instinct to scarf it down as quickly as possible. Reminding himself that no one was going to try to steal his plate, he remembered the manners his mama had taught him.
Gem chatted animatedly with anyone within earshot, one arm draped over the back of Rusty’s chair. His hand drifted absently over Rusty’s neck every once in a while, like it was instinct, not conscious choice on Gem’s part. His lowest left hand rested on Rusty’s knee under the table, thumb rubbing soothingly, and it settled him.
“So, Rusty,” Hyl addressed him in Hellia, and Rusty tried not to curl in on himself as the attention of numerous people turned to him, “you’ve worked with Gem for several years now, right?”
“Um, yeah, six years about.”
“Long time,” one of the brothers commented, and Rusty nodded.
“I guess.”
“Are you from around these parts?” Mal asked.
“I grew up at The Point. Well, before it was… you know,” Rusty said, and the adults nodded.
“He showed me a few months back. Like, where his house was and stuff,” Gem said around his bite of mashed gidym root. “The desert was beautiful. It was practically his backyard growing up. How awesome is that?”
Rusty ducked his head, wishing they’d change the subject. Everyone—except the young kids—knew what The Point used to be. Gem didn’t have to sugarcoat it.
“The desert is beautiful,” Bryn agreed. “I bet you and your siblings had a lot of space to play.”
“It was just me. Well, I had two older siblings, but they took off when I was still young. Never really knew them.” Rusty pushed his food around his plate. “But yeah, I liked to play in the dunes.”
“Didn’t you get lonely?” the little girl beside him asked, head turned in his direction but still not looking at him. “All by yourself?”
The table had fallen silent at the sound of the girl’s voice, and for a moment, she withered in her chair, like she hated the attention as much Rusty did. In an attempt to divert focus, he quickly said, “Not really. I had my mom, so I didn’t get lonely much.”
“Had. Past tense,” she said, several fingers tapping the table top. “You don’t have her anymore.”
“Ryni,” Gem cautioned, but Rusty squeezed the hand on his knee to quiet him.
“No, I don’t,” Rusty answered, even though she hadn’t technically asked a question, simply made an observation. “She died when I was fifteen.”
The girl—Ryni—frowned at that, tapping fingers stilling. “That makes me sad.”
“It makes me sad too, sometimes,” Rusty admitted, and Ryni nodded. Just once.
“Were you lonely then? After she died?”
Gem inhaled sharply, like he was going to intervene, but Rusty spoke first. “Yeah, I was lonely for a long time. But I’m not anymore.”
Ryni glanced under the table at Rusty and Gem’s twined hands. “’Cause of Gem?”
Gem was practically vibrating beside him, but Rusty pushed through the embarrassment and said, “Yeah, Gem’s good at that kind of thing.”
That must have been the right answer, because Ryni looked away with a satisfied nod. She started eating again, like the entire exchange had never taken place, and Rusty exhaled slowly as he focused back on his own plate.
Several loaded moments of silence passed before everyone seemed to start talking at once, like they were overcompensating for the awkwardness. Rusty glanced at Gem who was misty-eyed and smiling. Before he could ask if he’d done something wrong, Gem leaned in and touched his nose to Rusty’s.
“You don’t ever have to be lonely again,” he whispered, and Rusty’s whiskers twitched, fingers tightening their grip on Gem’s.
“I know.”
