A Fluffy Tale 2: Warm & Fuzzy (20 page)

Kani ignored him. Daniel shook his head and
went back to surfing the net, looking for statistics on rape cases and the
effects of GHB. Not the happiest topics, but he found it hard to think about
anything else.

The incoming email chime made him jump, but
when he saw it was a reply from Aunt Lisa, a little bit of tension eased. She
was enthusiastic, as he hoped she would be given her grand but unrealistic
offers after the accident, and was offering to pay all the costs of the flights
and expenses while the kids were there. She had even offered to buy whatever
clothes the kids needed for the different season, which was probably
unnecessary, but it meant packing didn’t have to be too stressful. He didn’t
care if such generosity resulted from a guilty conscience or not—all that
mattered was that Dee and Alex would be safely out of harm’s way for nearly two
months. He emailed back to say he was delighted at her offer, and asking how
she wanted them to arrange flight bookings and so on.

Two months in the house alone. It would be
hard, but since he could hardly tell Dee or Alex what was really behind his
insomnia lately, losing their company was less important than ensuring their
safety. He’d just have to cope. There was always....

Except maybe there wouldn’t be Spen. Daniel
hadn’t given him much incentive to put up with his nonsense, and whatever mild
affection Spen felt for him, might already have evaporated now he’d had to deal
with the reality of Daniel’s crazy life.

Kani squeaked. “What’s up, squirt?” Daniel
went to pick him up, but his kem fought furiously to be left alone. “Okay,
okay, calm down. What’s wrong?” Kani squeaked again and pushed something out
from under the notes Daniel had been making. His phone. “It wasn’t lost, Kani.
Thanks for finding it though.”

Kani squeaked again, and stamped on the
phone, actually pushing one of the keys. Fortunately the keypad was locked.
“Stop that,” Daniel said, picking the phone up and putting it on the other side
of the computer. “What’s up with you, hmmm?”

Kani jumped across the keyboard and started
stamping on the phone again, squeaking like a crazy thing. “Bloody hell, what’s
got into you?”

Another stamp. “Is the phone annoying you?
I’ll turn it off.” He went to pick it up but Kani nipped his hand. “Now that’s
really not on, squirt. What?”

Kani walked over to the keyboard and began
banging on it. Daniel was about to lift him off and scold him properly when he
realised what key Kani was hitting. ‘S’.

Daniel stared at his kem in astonishment.
“You’re trying to tell me something?” Kani squeaked, his tail lashing. “‘S’
for...Spen?”

Kani meeped and did a somersault. Daniel
had never seen his kem do anything like it before. “What about Spen?”

Kani jumped back over to the phone and
nudged it towards him. “I can’t, squirt. It’s late.”

Kani put a foot on the phone and squeaked
angrily, his tail erect and stiff with annoyance. “God, you’re persistent. He
doesn’t want to hear from me, and not at this time of night.”

Kani pushed the phone over to Daniel at
such speed he had to catch it before it fell off the edge. “Look, I’ll text
him, okay? Will that suit your highness?” Kani meeped and
nodded. Not for the first time in his life, Daniel wondered just how
damn smart kems really were. Probably a lot more than anyone
gave them credit for.

It was after eleven, and even though it was
a Friday night, calling someone whose routine he barely knew at this time was
not acceptable, whatever tantrum Kani threw. But Spen’s text message tone was
pretty discreet, Daniel recalled. It was unlikely to wake him up, so he could
risk that, he supposed.

But what to say? “Sorry for being a dickhead?” Or maybe, “Thanks for suggesting the
thing about my aunt?”

Neither was the kind of thing
which justified a late night text. Or, for that
matter, Kani’s weird behaviour.

His kem watched him intently with bright,
mischievous eyes. He stamped his foot again as if to say, “Get on with it.”

“You’re a pain, you know that?”

Kani lay down, head resting on his paws,
like butter wouldn’t melt in his terribly maligned mouth. “You’re not fooling
anyone.” Kani’s tail flicked disdainfully.

Daniel stared at his phone. The only thing
he really wanted to say to Spen was the one thing that would probably drive him
away. Maybe he should say it anyway, get it over with. Better now than when he
had come to rely even more on Spen. When losing Spen’s friendship would become
a wound too great to bear.

~~~~~~~~

Spen was staring at the ceiling, trying to
stop his busy brain from cycling over the events of the day and the last week,
when his phone gave a quiet ‘tink’. He was tempted to ignore it, but Myko
reached over from the pillow and batted the phone with his paw. Spen had to
catch it to stop it falling on the ground, and the screen told him the incoming
message was from “Danny”.

He opened it. All it said was, “I don’t
want to wait.”

The kid had to be awake. Spen called his
number.

“Hey. I thought you’d be asleep.” Daniel
sounded completely alert.

“I’d like to be, but my brain has other
ideas. Um...Danny, I don’t want to wait either.”

A pause, then Daniel said slowly. “So what
about the trial?”

“I was over at Julian’s tonight, and I
asked Zachary about what would happen if—in theory—our relationship
changed before the trial started. He said so long as I was sure none of my actions
were motivated by or appeared to be motivated by
malice, and I told the exact truth in court, it should be okay. I should tell
Inspector Shah too, in case he needs to know. He also said that so far as he
could tell, my evidence was a very minor part of the case.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. So I don’t want to wait, and
I don’t need to wait. The only question left is...what do you want?”

“You,” Daniel breathed into the phone, and
Spen smiled, his heart lighter than it had been all day. “Is that all right?”

“Better than, Danny boy. How are you doing?
How did it go with Dee and Alex?”

“Okay. They accepted the story. Oh, and my
aunt is happy to take them over the holidays. We just have some details to sort
out and then they can fly out.”

“Oh that’s great. Uh...but that means
you’ll be on your own.”

“Will I?”

“Only if you want to be.”

“I don’t want to be.”

“See, that was easy.” He heard Daniel
laugh. “Want me to come over now?”

“Um, yeah, I do, but it’s not a good idea.
Dee will wonder and I don’t want to distract her. But if you’re not busy
tomorrow, I said I’d take Alex down to the skate park, and then out for lunch,
so Dee can have peace and quiet.”

“I’d love to come. But will you sleep
tonight?”

“Hang on.” He heard the phone being set
down, and the distant sound of Kani chirping. A few more seconds, then Daniel
was back on the line. “Okay, I’m in bed now. Can we talk until I’m sleepy?”

“Sure. Unless I fall asleep first.”

“Myko can turn the phone off.”

“Kems can’t use phones, Danny.”

“Don’t you be too sure about that....”

~~~~~~~~

The kids greeted the news that the trip was
on with shouts and hugs, but almost immediately, Dee began to fret.
“Visas—”

“Electronic and already applied for. Your
passports are up to date, and you don’t need vaccinations or anything like
that.”

“I won’t have time to pack!”

“Yes you will, I promise. You just take
what clothes you have, your normal toiletries and stuff, and Aunt Lisa will buy
anything else when you get there.”

“But—”

“Nope, you’re not going to let this
distract you from your prep. Leave it to me. I promise it’ll be fine.”

“Don’t worry, DeeDee,” Alex said. “Me and
Daniel will sort it out. Trust us.”

Dee smiled ruefully. “Okay. I don’t have a
choice. Oh this is going to be wonderful! I wish you were coming along,
Daniel.”

“Me too, Dee, but there’ll be other
chances. Oh, by the way, Alex, Spen’s coming with us today. Is that okay?”

“Sure! That’ll be great.”

“And me stuck revising.” Dee’s mouth
twisted miserably. “I like Spen too.”

“Well, he’s going to stay over tonight and
help me cook one of his mum’s recipes, so you can take the night off and relax.
You need that too.”

Her expression changed in a flash. “Yay! I
love his mum’s food. But hang on....”

Oh, so she had noticed. “What?”

“He’s staying over? Why?”

“Because I want him to.”

“Daniel, are you going
out
with Spencer?”

“I just told you, DeeDee, he’s going out
with Alex and me this morning.” Daniel ate his toast and tried to keep an
innocent expression on his face. Lili looked at Kani, and the two kems chirped
knowingly.

Dee punched his arm. “You know what I mean.
Is he your boyfriend?”

“We’re...working on it. Do you mind?”

“Are you kidding? I
love
Spen.”

Alex nodded. “He’s really cool. And tall. I like tall people.”

Daniel grinned. “He’s definitely tall. So,
you’re okay with it? Good, because I really like him. Please don’t tease him.”

“We won’t,” Dee said, pouring herself tea and sipping it demurely. “We’ll tease you
instead.” She ducked his mock-smack and danced away from the table. “Got study
to do. See ya!”

Daniel shook his head, though secretly he
was delighted at how well his brother and sister had taken his news. If they’d
objected—not that he’d expected them to—there would be no future
with Spen. No way would he put anyone before Dee and Alex, no matter what he
felt about them.

But he didn’t have to worry now. Alex leapt
on Spen as he came through the door. “Hello, Daniel’s new boyfriend!”

Daniel hid his face in his hands. “Shoot me
now.”

“It’s okay, Danny,” Spen’s voice was full
of amusement, not irritation, fortunately. “Alex, you’re embarrassing the life
out of your brother.”

“Yeah, isn’t it great? Are you going to
kiss?”

Daniel put his hand on his brother’s head
and forced him to face the wall. “Yes, and you’re not looking.”

Spen, grinning so wide his face looked about
to split, bent and dropped a kiss on Daniel’s cheek. Daniel, still making Alex
look away, raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?”

“No.” Spen took him into a hug, and kissed
him on the mouth, long and deep. Daniel rose up on his toes to meet the
embrace, and didn’t mind that releasing his grip on his annoying brat of a
brother meant Alex could turn around, fold his arms and watch them, grinning in
satisfaction.

“Enjoy the show?” Spen asked over Daniel’s
head, still holding him in a hug.

“Dee is going to be so jealous.”

“Keep this up and it’s a Saturday morning
in front of the cartoons for you,” Daniel threatened.

“You promised!”

“That was before you started being a royal
nuisance. Scoot. Skateboard, helmet and guards, or we’re not going.”

Alex thundered off up the stairs to his
bedroom, leaving Daniel blissfully alone with Spen. “Sorry about that. They
were pleased when I told them, but you know what kids are like.”

“Don’t worry. If I can survive Luke and the
others, Alex is no challenge.” He stroked the hair off Daniel’s face. “How are
you? Sleep well?”

“I did, and in my bed too. Thank you. Did
you?” Spen didn’t look as tired as he had done lately. Daniel realised rather
guiltily that he’d been so absorbed in his own misery that he’d been oblivious
to Spen’s feelings.

“Better. Wish I’d been with you. Are they
okay with me staying over tonight?”

“Are you kidding? Dee practically sent up
fireworks. Um, you might have to play up to expectations. She deserves a nice
night off.”

“No problem. I like her, and I want to help.
I might be
slightly
fonder of her
brother, though.”

Daniel hugged him again and claimed another
kiss. God, holding him, being with him, was sweet. “Good. Is that your pack?
Just dump it in the living room. I promised Dee we’d cook that pork and apple
thing your mum makes. We can pick up the makings on the way home.”

“Fine by me. I’m just happy to be with
you.” Spen looked into Daniel’s eyes. “I’m glad you sent that text. I was
bloody miserable before that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, Danny. It all came
right in the end. Where’s that brother of yours?”

“Alex! Hurry up or we’ll go without you!”

Alex’s answer came floating down the
stairs. “You’re a mean sod, Daniel!”

“Mind your language, or I’ll hide your
skateboard!”

A few seconds later, Daniel’s phone told
him he had a text. From Alex. “(_*_) <--Daniel”

“Well, that’s a new one on me,” Spen said,
struggling not to grin.

“I should make him stay home for that.
Where does he pick up this kind of thing?”

“Relax, Danny. The longer he takes, the
more kissing time I get with you.”

“Well, now you mention it....”

~~~~~~~~

The weather was as dry and bright as anyone
could want, after weeks of on and off rain and showers. The skate park was full
of kids, and Alex quickly hooked up with his friends. Spen spotted a seat under
a tree where he and Daniel could keep an eye on Alex, without hovering too
close and making Alex look ‘uncool’ to his crowd. The shade was important
because Daniel was the whitest white person Spen had ever seen, and less than
ten minutes in full sun turned him bright pink. Their kems took off to play
with the leaf litter, apparently deciding their humans could be trusted not to
mess things up again.

“What would you be doing if you weren’t
here?” Daniel asked. He’d cuddled right up to Spen’s side and taken his hand as
soon as they sat down. He was a lovely weight against Spen, fitting perfectly.
He and Rob had been great together in bed, but Rob hadn’t been much for public
cuddling. Shame, really.