Ray wasn’t sure if that was an issue, since he seemed to use his personal phone for work.
When he was bored enough, he went to the living room to listen to the news while he flipped through the library books he’d taken from his work desk searching for… anything. One seemed to be a very dry early state history. Maybe it had been for Cal, forgotten in Ray’s desk.
Ray skimmed census data and crop statistics from the 1800s for a while, got angry over the history of water rights, got angrier when he got to the robber barons and their hold over the cities, and was somewhere in a report about the abuses of those same robber barons in the sugar industry when he opened his eyes to find Cal peering down at him.
Ray rubbed his eyes before peering back, only to realize he had been asleep, or close to it, while sitting up on the couch. The book had fallen to the floor.
“Are you all right?” Cal picked up the book and set it aside without taking his eyes off Ray.
Ray was about to dismiss the question when he then realized how far he’d sunk down into the cushions and how dark the sky had gotten outside.
“I accidentally hit a button on the remote and the volume went way up,” Cal informed him, chewing his lip. “You didn’t even flinch.”
“Oh,” Ray heard himself answer, and looked around again, for what, he had no idea. The TV was off now. Cal was still worrying his bottom lip. Ray pushed himself more upright. “I’m fine. I’m just tired.”
“Tired.“ Cal exhaled. “How tired? Enough to sleep through sudden, loud noises and me talking to you? You never sleep through me talking to you. If I say your name, you usually respond, even if it takes you a while.”
Ray looked at him, his mouth empty of any good responses.
Cal narrowed his eyes. “What else? What else have you been hiding? Your head still hurts, doesn’t it?”
“I wasn’t hiding that,” Ray protested.
“Raymond.“ Cal crossed his arms. “Tell me.”
“I’m tired. This is probably just how it feels. I don’t know. I don’t have a human around to ask.” He raised a hand, trying to placate Cal and his furiously buzzing wings. Ray had been tired before, of course. Staying up for several days for work, that sort of thing. Even weres needed rest.
This wasn’t at all like that. Sleep hadn’t done anything for it.
Cal waited, impatient and probably worried, making the room sound like it was full of bees, or just one very large, angry bee.
Ray looked out the window. “The amount of coffee Penn bought for me today would have murdered a human. It hurts behind my eyes, at the back of my skull, no matter what I do. Right now, I… it’s like there’s lead in my bones.” He turned back at Cal. “I’m tired.Fatiguedis what a human might say, I don’t know. Food helps for a while.Youhelp for a while. Then I’m tired again, sometimes more than before. It doesn’t do anything to say this.”
“Fuck you,” Cal said distinctly, then sniffled. “Yes, it does. It might. We’ll tell Cassandra it’s not getting better. This could be physical, but also emotional. So talking about it might help and—focus, Cal. It takes a lot make you tired, Ray. Last time it was this serious, it was years of you denying yourself access to your—to me.Years. This has beentwo days.“ He fluttered forward, into Ray’s lap again, burrowing his face into the crook where Ray’s neck met his shoulder.
“So, it’s not fine,” Ray replied dryly after a while.
Cal didn’t laugh. “What if it starts to slow your healing like it did then? What if it already is? What if…” He stopped. “You should sleep. I can… I can stay with you, but you should sleep. Properly. In bed. Not in your clothes. Come on.” He shuffled to his feet and held out a hand as if he could ever support Ray’s weight while Ray got to his feet. Ray used the arm of the couch instead, gritting his teeth when the movement made his head throb.
Cal followed him to the bedroom, continuing to flutter while Ray stripped out of everything but his boxers and undershirt. He kneeled on the edge of the bed while Ray peeled back the covers and got in and sat against the headboard instead of lying down.
“I wish I knew what to do,” Cat fretted aloud. “There’s no research, not by humans. No one for me to ask. Even your mother doesn’t know much about ma.. this subject.” Cal turned his head. “If I were a wolf, I would know,” he muttered. “I used to think, if I were a wolf like you, you wouldn’t have hesitated.”
“If you were a wolf,” Ray echoed in astonishment.
Cal gave him a cutting glance, clearly stung. “I know it’s silly.”
Ray shook his head, then sighed at being forced to use words again. “I’ve never been much of a werewolf,” he explained and put his head back.
“I’m sorry,what?“ Cal made a rude sound that made Ray lower his head again to look at him.
“Raised around humans. Live in the city. Not even with the other beings. Alone.” He assumed Cal would understand what he wasn’t saying.
Cal was wide, swirling eyes and stuttering wings. “What? I mean—you have a pack, first of all. Well… sort of two packs. The city altogether—the people in it—and thenus. I’ve heard you say so—to another were, in fact. I know you do, or did, or whatever. You thought of the force as family. At some point, you did, but you have us. Me and my dad. Penn and Benny. And we’re better than them,“ he snarled, or tried to.
He was adorable, this half-fairy attempting to be ferocious for him.
“Maybe a werewolf wouldn’t want me,” Ray admitted quietly, while Cal’s snarl faded into soft confusion. “Maybe I’m… surprised that you do. I never thought about a fairy, or a half-fairy. I was never around them, really. There were none in my town. Then I came here and the higher-ups wouldn’t let me near the village when I was a street officer. Only for special events. I was never sure if they didn’t want me siding with other beings, or if they were worried their wolf might get out of control around all those fairies.”
