Gravity (Male x Male)

Chapter 13 - The Vacillator

Keleon smiled and started walking back towards the space craft, and, on autopilot, I followed him.

Oblivious to my confused state, Keleon started telling me about the meeting with Aryk. He told me what the bowing meant, how Aryk seemed happy with the offer that was made and other details that I wasn't really paying too much attention to. The walk back to the craft felt surreal, like I was thinking too much, but at the same time I wasn't really thinking at all. I could hear the words Keleon was saying, but they sounded distant and flowed past me like a river, disappearing into the distance without me really hearing them. I couldn't tell whether the walk back to the craft was fast or slow, because time felt a little meaningless, like I was in a trance.

When we arrived in the cockpit, Keleon offered me the pilot's chair, but I shook my head and slipped into the co-pilot's seat. I couldn't focus properly, so there was no way I'd be able to concentrate on getting a space-craft out of the atmosphere.

I buckled up, and, as Keleon did the same and started the engine, the question that had been in the forefront of my mind, made its way to the front and out from my mouth.

"What was the holographic thing you did back there?"

"What holographic thing?"

"To give you blue skin. To make you look like one of them."

Keleon was acting like it was no big deal. He continued working on take-off like I'd asked nothing of consequence. I felt the craft rise into the air as he spoke.

"There was no technology involved, Damon." He pulled the controls and pushed the necessary buttons, while observing our surroundings with the monitor. "I'd forgotten you hadn't seen me shift before."

He smiled lightly in my direction before continuing with his navigation.

Keleon continued to make sure we were clear of the atmosphere and went about setting a course back to Epsilon 4.

Meanwhile, my body felt like a plethora of contradictions. I was too hot but had cold shivers running through every part of me. I sat rigidly but could still feel myself shaking. Time was moving too fast and too slow simultaneously. I felt like I was feeling every possible emotion at the same time as nothing at all.

All the time I was thinking. About all the strange things Keleon had ever said. About the way he needed explanations for things that I took for granted. About how it felt like we kept talking at cross-purposes when we first met. About the things he hadn't understood or taken literally along the way.

Oh God, I'd been so blind. What kind of childhood leads you to a place where you've never seen a kiss before? A childhood where you've never seen a film involving a kiss, or never seen your friends or your parents kiss?

I knew the truth before the words had finished forming on my tongue, and it turned my stomach.

"You're not human." It wasn't a question.

"Correct."

My stomach constricted so tightly that I felt compelled to double over to try to stop the pain. With my elbows on my knees, my palms pushed against my forehead as I tried to prevent the contents of my stomach emptying out. I felt my whole body trembling, and I wasn't sure whether it was coming from me or from the craft.

"Oh, God. You're not human," I repeated, processing the information more fully this time.

"We established that already," Keleon replied casually.

In that moment, my heart shattered into a million pieces. Confirmation that he wasn't what I had thought he was seeped through me. All those experiences we'd had together suddenly all felt fake. It was like I'd been punched in the gut. With hurt and anger battling for dominance, my vision became blurry. I blinked and felt my cheeks get wet.