Guardian

xxiv. moments of importance

"Austin... can I ask you something?"

Austin looks away his activity of feeding the ducks. There stood Zay, looking like he was going through the biggest dilemma of his life. Austin nudges his head towards the bag of sunflower seeds while looking at the boy.

"Help me feed these ducks and we can talk."

It was spring now. Ally was already on her ninth month of pregnancy and she was going to burst any minute. Austin couldn't wait until she gave birth; hormonal Ally was completely something else. He's been forced to sleep on the floor or couch for such minor things that it's ridiculous.

The winter had blew over nice. Only a few blizzards and below-zero temperature drops. Nothing too bad. They only faced two fatalities, which is absolutely amazing for their village. Supplies didn't run short for anyone this year, either. It was the best winter they've had.

Now that it's spring, Austin is just tired of the rain and mud. It's bad environment for shooting arrows and training outdoors. Plus, Ally had discovered the ducks had came out of hibernation, so he had to feed them because her feet were swollen.

Being married to Ally had more ups than downs, so he agreed still.

Zay grabs a few sunflower seeds and sits next to Austin while he held out his hand to a duckling. "Well, I... have a question. About a girl."

"About Hope?" Austin questions, knitting his eyebrows together in confusion.

Zay rapidly shakes his head, eyes darting around. "We don't know who's listening," he whispers quickly. "Let's just say a girl."

Austin chuckles and looks at the boy. "Okay, what about this girl?"

Zay throws the rest of the seeds in his hand into the pond as he confesses, "Well, this girl and I... we've been thinking about... you know, stuff."

"What kind of stuff, Zay?"

"You know..." he trails off, grabbing more seeds to avoid looking at his father figure. "Like... uh, you know... sex."

Austin's eyes and ears perk at the mention of the activity. He turns to Zay with a pointed look, but Zay doesn't reach his eyes. He seemed to be embarrassed to ask him about this, which is strange for Zay. He was always overly confident with everything he did or says.

But then Austin remembers Zay has never really had a fatherly figure in his life until Austin came around. He has never had that conversation about sex, or 'The Talk', you could say. There wasn't anyone around him to give it to him other than Austin. That made him feel a little honored.

Austin tosses the rest of his seeds in the pond as well. He then drapes an arm over Zay's shoulder while he comfortingly rubs his shoulder. "What do you want to know?"

"Like... I don't know. We plan to do it on her sixteenth birthday, but... I don't even know how to plan something like that. I don't even know what I'm supposed to supposed to say, or do, or... anything."

"First and foremost, you'll need a condom," Austin points out, blowing out a breath of air. "I can get you a few. But you're not supposed to really... think about it, you know? You'll psych yourself up, then be disappointed when it's not what you think."

"How did your first time go?" Zay asks, looking over at him. "Did you lose it to Ally? Wait. Should I wait until marriage?!"

Austin chuckles and sends him a shrug. "That's preference between you and Ho— this girl," he corrects himself after Zay gave him a wide-eyed look. "Ally's first time was with me, but my first time was with this girl named Annal."