Other Side

Chapter 11: Hinges

Ari watched the King's son leave, glad that he was gone. The king's son was weird and demanding. He asked so many questions without regard to the travel Ari had taken unless that was seen as normal. Did he miss that much, a whole world to travel to and he slept through it? And the heartache that echoed when he looked at the king's son, so far from him, made him ill. Uncomfortable in the way that Ari wanted to hug the strange man, but Ari didn't want to hug anyone. That mixed with the constant questions gave him a headache.

The only reason he really touched Leander is that he didn't have much of a choice. Leander was a doctor and was going to anyway to make sure Ari was all right, the least Ari could do is not fight the help. It was easier than being held down, at least this way if he was too far in his thoughts, he'd be able to leave without a struggle. Yet so far, they haven't done anything too outrageous other than support him while he walked and he had to admit it was fun to not have to when they allowed him to ride on their back. Now that the King's son was gone though, a new man was here to replace him anyway, so Ari remained just as uncomfortable, especially as Leander didn't look that confident anymore.

He curled more into the blankets, at Leander's twitchy smile as he faced the new man. His eyes were soft still in their glance, not scared like Ari imagined himself to look as the cotton green fell over his eyes. Footsteps sounded as the man entered further into the house allowing the door to clasp shut and as Leander approached him. His head immediately fell to the man's chest and Ari could just barely make out the movement of his lips as he whispered something unheard.

Ari flipped the blanket further off his head as Leander pushed from the man to face him again. "Randy, this is Ari." He waved to the blanket piled on the couch, "Ari, this my destined, Randolph."

Ari couldn't tell what Randolph was thinking as the man looked at him. He couldn't tell what would go through the man's head at a random human child from a different land, which somehow appeared in his living room. He had been through foster homes where one of the parents didn't inform the other before Ari showed up on their doorstep and that distinct feeling of knowing there was someone who didn't want him in the household was a great predictor of his time there. It was never good. He had a vague understanding that destined, was a mate for the elven, but that didn't mean anything to Ari.

The man looked away from him, "Leander could we talk privately?" Those were the magic words that meant Ari was being sent back to the orphanage in the morning. Though this was a vastly different case as Ari had come from another place entirely, one of which Leander said was hard to return him to had he ever wanted. Still, the probability Ari would be chosen over this life partner was negligible.

"Umm, yeah." Leander's head flicked between the two, "Umm, Ari how about we get you washed up, I'll grab you some clothes?" He pulled Ari up from the couch and led him around the corner. He sat Ari in the bathroom and returned a few moments later with some pants, another hoodie, and a shirt.

"So," He went to the glass sliding door of the shower, "If you push this nozzle down here into the will, that will start the water. On the wall, there are these little dials that are marked cold or warm so you can change the degree of water if you want." He checked the door, "I'll grab you some more clothes too, we can go out tomorrow and get some of your own tomorrow."

Ari watched as the water beat against the tile floor inside the glass, chewing his lip as he nodded his head. He barely listened to Leander as he realized just what position he was in. A topic of interest to a prince of a species he didn't believe existed until they literally saved his life. A species that may consider him a prize of their success against the werewolves and whose prince may have exceeding interest in, the summarization of every tragic love story that Ari wanted no part of. Now it seemed as though he wouldn't have to worry because the second parent of the house didn't seem to want him. The potential be left to the prince general life an ocean away from the society he knew was rattling heavily in his head.