The Man With The Gloves (mxmxmxm)

33. Alleviating the burden

"What happens when people open their hearts?"
"They get better."
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

TW for this chapter: SELF-HARM

"There's somethinge else we need to discuss. Something less pleasant."

Zeph said they needed to talk, and everyone knows that if your loved one says you need to talk, shit's about to go down.

Fayez blinked a few times, before examining his mates one by one, as if the questions he had in his head could be answered simply by looking at their faces. 

"Does it have to do with any of you?" he inquired with a shaking voice. "Is one of you sick? Or hurt? Did something happen while I was in coma?"

"The three of us are fine" Ashur was prompt to reassure him, causing Fayez's shoulders to slump in relief. 

His mates did look fine - hell, they looked much more than just fine. Too bad they wanted to have a serious talk right now,  because Fayez was definitely in the mood for a different kind of activity. 

Ugh. Adulthood. I always thought that it would involve lots of sex and money. I couldn't have been more wrong. 

"If it doesn't concern any of you" Fayez resumed, "then it cannot be that bad. Come on, dudes, no need for the long faces."

His mates didn't even make an attempt at smiling, making their fourth mate even more confused. Ashur had just claimed that they were fine, so why did they look so down?

"I just called you dudes and you're not putting me on your lap?" he tried again, tugging at the handcuff to force Akhenaton to react. "Are you sure you're really my mates, and not some clones sent to Earth to abduct me?"

Still nothing. He was starting to feel stupid, now. Here he was, the 300 years old virgin making lame sexual jokes, while it was obvious that nobody in the room was in the mood for them. Even Zephyr didn't crack up one bit. 

"What about you?" Akhenaton abruptly asked. "What if you're the one concerned?" 

"I don't give a shit about myself" Fayez replied truthfully, laughing a bit at the weird question. 

"Maybe that's the problem", Zephyr intervened for the first time, as he looked at him with a troubled expression. 

Fayez frowned. He had missed his mates. For God knows how long, he had only been able to hear their voices. It must have been as hard for them as it had been for him, but now he was back. He wanted to feel their arms around him, wanted to have long, mindless talks with them. He wanted to see their faces when he woke up at dawn, wanted to learn everything there was to learn about each of them. 

Now was supposed to be a time for love, joy and celebration, but apparently, his mates had decided to be freaking killjoys. 

"What is it?" he asked a bit more aggressively than he had intended. "If you have something you want to tell me, just fucking do it. Enough with the riddles."

Akhenaton narrowed his eyes at him, but didn't say anything. It was Ashur who replied to him:

"I'm sorry, Faye. I know it's unpleasant for you, but there are some things that need to be confronted. We would like you to tell us..."

The sight of Ashur struggling to come up with the right words made Fayez widen his eyes in disbelief. The prefect was always so quiet, so confident about everything but mostly about himself.