Thirteen

Khush

It'd been ten days since I went to Dustin's place, which meant that today was the day he'd move in with me.

I'd spent the last two days helping him pack up all his stuff, and we'd already moved most of the boxes to my newly refurbished cabin.

Headmaster Morrigan had created a temporary portal between Dustin's place and mine so the whole process could go smoothly, and I'd never been more grateful for the existence of magic.

"Okay, that's all of it," Dustin said as Silas picked up the last two boxes. Giving Dustin a salute—and showing off his troll strength by holding both boxes with only one arm—Silas walked through the portal, leaving Dustin, Scrappy, and me alone in the empty apartment.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly, unable to read the look on Dustin's face. Did he regret agreeing to move in with me?

"Yeah, I'm just gonna miss this place. This was the first place where I could live as I wanted to, you know. It was the first place I lived in after I came out, and it's got a lot of memories attached to it," Dustin said, and I wrapped my arm around him, pulling him into my side.

"I'm sorry you have to leave," I murmured, and he smiled over at me.

"I'm not. I'm looking forward to making new memories in a new home. And I'm excited to make a home with you."

"Me too." I pressed a kiss against his temple, and he smiled as Scrappy scratched at her crate. Dustin had locked her in when we started moving things so she wouldn't get lost in the confusion, and she was clearly ready to get out.

"Shall we?" I asked, loosening my hold around Dustin and offering him my hand instead. He took it with a smile, and I picked up Scrappy's crate with my other hand before walking through the portal with Dustin at my side.

On the other end, the headmaster was waiting for us, and he smiled at us as we stepped through.

"Welcome to the Sanctuary, Dustin," he said, and Dustin smiled right back, dropping my hand so he could shake the headmaster's.

"Thanks, Mr. Morrigan. Or should I call you Headmaster Morrigan?" he asked, and the headmaster shook his head rather insistently.

"Please, call me Zephyr. I have no idea how the headmaster thing started, and I've been trying to get these people to call me by my very nice name," he said, shaking his head sadly. I rolled my eyes at his dramatics, very distinctly remembering that Headmaster Zephyr Morrigan was exactly how he'd introduced himself to my parents and me when we first met.

"Zephyr it is," Dustin agreed with a chuckle.

Headmaster Morrigan stayed long enough to close the portal, before leaving us to our devices.

Dustin let Scrappy out, and the cat instantly started exploring the place.

"Your cabin is pretty cool. It smells kinda new," Dustin commented as he looked around the place, and I smiled sheepishly.

"I didn't really use it much before, and we did some renovations too."

"Oh!" Dustin exclaimed, looking surprised. We were in the living room, and most of it was currently hidden from view by stacks of boxes.

"We should go grab some lunch before we think about unpacking all of this," I said, glancing at the clock that I could see just enough of past some boxes.

"Sounds good!" Dustin said, and we left Scrappy to explore the cabin, closing the door to make sure she wouldn't escape. Dustin wanted her to get used to the cabin first.

"Uh, do the others know I moved in?" Dustin asked hesitantly as we were walking down the path toward the door, and I smiled over at him.

"They do. I told everyone a few days ago. Don't worry. They're mostly okay with it. Touya and Bellamy made things easier for us," I said with a smile. I'd told Dustin before that most supes at the Sanctuary weren't the biggest fans of humans, and he'd clearly remembered that.

While that hadn't changed, the rule didn't seem to apply to humans who were mated to supes, because that automatically made them family to most of us.

The dining room was as crowded as ever, and as if in a choreographed move, all eyes turned on us the moment we stepped through the doors. There was a beat of silence before Keoni came clattering through, grabbing Dustin's hands the moment he was close enough.

"Dustin! You're here! Are you all moved in? Come join us at our table!"

I almost lost track of my mate as Keoni dragged him away, introducing him to people as he went.

Keoni was the baby of the Sanctuary, so I knew Dustin was safe with him. Leaving them to chat, I decided to go grab some food for us instead.

"How did you end up with someone as stunning as him?" Jacinta teased when I approached the counter, and I rolled my eyes at them.

"Ha ha. Very funny," I deadpanned as they filled my plates with food, making a smaller portion for Dustin than they did for me. By now, they were as used to feeding humans as they were to feeding supes.

"Take care of him, okay?" they said before I could leave, and I nodded seriously. There was no way I'd let anyone or anything hurt Dustin.

I made my way to our usual table, and found Dustin engaged in a conversation with Keoni and Silas. At first, I didn't pay much attention to it as I placed Dustin's plate in front of him and settled in to eat beside him.

But then I realized that Keoni and Silas were telling him stories. About me. About the stupid shit I'd done as a kid, and some not as a kid.

"Okay, that's enough of that!" I interrupted before Silas could tell Dustin about the embarrassing things I did the first time I got drunk. Some things were better left in the past, and that was one of them.

Dustin

After lunch, we returned to Khush's cabin—our cabin now, I supposed—and spent the rest of the day unpacking. Khush's friends offered to help us unpack, but I wanted to do this part with just Khush. And Scrappy, of course.

Her new cat tree delighted Scrappy, and when I told Khush he hadn't had to get anything for her, he'd said she was his baby now too, wasn't she? And that made me happy.

We couldn't unpack everything by dinnertime, but all my clothes were in the closet beside Khush's, and Scrappy had her little nook all set up in the living room. At Khush's insistence, I'd claimed the spare bedroom downstairs as my 'office,' and set up my computer there.

When we went to the dining room for dinner, Khush brought over my box of utensils so we could hand them over to the 'chef squad' as he liked to call them. The kitchen in the cabin really wasn't meant for cooking, so there was no point in me keeping them there. I made a mental note to ask about helping with the cooking later, but for now I enjoyed another meal with Khush, Silas, Touya, and Keoni. I was surprised to realize I didn't feel like an outsider around them, and I found myself easily swept up in the conversations.

We stayed for a while after dinner, and it was only when we were walking back to the cabin that I started thinking about the big elephant in the room. Or rather, the king-sized bed on the roof. Khush had shown me around earlier, and I had to admit that the whole roof setup was pretty ingenious, especially because from outside the second floor looked completely covered, offering us privacy without triggering Khush's claustrophobia.

Sleeping on the roof wasn't the issue, though. The fact was that we'd be sharing a bed when we'd only had a few short makeout sessions before. I felt like we'd skipped a few steps in between, and we'd also never had a conversation about sex before. That was something we should've talked about, especially since my sexuality tended to be a bit all over the place on most days.

Deciding now was better than never, I took Khush's hand in mine before leading him toward the couch. While Khush could sit literally anywhere, he looked kind of cute when he sat on the couch with his long, scaly tail hanging over the edge. I settled on his other side, still keeping a tight hold on his hand.

"Everything okay?" Khush asked, and I smiled at him, giving his hand a comforting squeeze.

"I'm okay. I really like your friends. They're welcoming," I said as I gathered up my wits, and Khush smiled.

"They like you too."

Smiling, I turned my eyes to our joined hands. "About sleeping together…" I started, and Khush cleared his throat.

"Um, if you'd rather not sleep together, there's a bed down here in the old bedroom."

I glanced up at him, slightly surprised by his words. "You wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all. I mean, I'd love to snooze all snuggled up, but I'm realistic enough to understand we might not be close enough for that just yet. I want you to feel comfortable."

I met Khush's eyes, trying to determine if he was saying it just to appease me, if he was ignoring his own wants to take care of me. But I couldn't find any hesitation in his eyes, and that made me feel a little better.

"Um, how about we try it tonight, and if it doesn't feel right, I'll come sleep downstairs?" I suggested, and he smiled, nodding quickly.

"That sounds fair."

"I'm not ready to do anything just yet," I said, then grinned. "Well, maybe some more kissing."

Khush chuckled softly, then gripped my chin with his free hand, nudging my face up so he could press his lips against mine in a way-too-short kiss.

"Sounds good to me," he murmured against my lips before pulling back, and I gazed up at him, stunned. How was it possible he got hotter the longer I knew him?

"Uh, also," I started to say before trailing off, and Khush met my eyes, silently encouraging me with his yellow-brown gaze. I'd always thought snakes' eyes were pretty expressive, but I hadn't realized just how expressive until I met this particular naga. (Google told me naga means snake in Hindi, and the nagas are considered a deity in Hindu mythology, which meant I was basically falling for a descendent of a God. How wild was that?)

Khush squeezed my hand, and I finally found my voice. "Well, I tend to dress more comfortably at home, which means no chest binder. I always put it on when I go out because I don't want to be misgendered, but at home…"

"Dustin," Khush said, taking both my hands in his and squeezing them as he gazed into my eyes and made me feel like he was staring right at my soul. "I'm not going to act like I know the struggles you've faced so far, or how having your identity questioned or invalidated makes you feel, but I promise you I'm going to do my best to learn. I like you a lot, Dustin. You're my mate, and you're the most stunning, the sassiest, the smartest man I've ever met, and nothing will change the way I see you. I want you to feel comfortable in our home, and I want you to feel comfortable with me. So if I ever do anything or say anything that makes you feel otherwise, tell me, and I promise I'll do better. Okay?"

I stared at him, wondering if maybe I'd started dreaming at some point. Maybe this had all been a dream and magic didn't exist after all.

I'd had conversations similar to this with other men before, and no one had ever replied the way Khush did. They weren't all bad, but even the best of them could not understand how I could feel comfortable as a man when I had breasts, or how they could see me as a man with them. I felt comfortable in my skin, but I still wore the binder outside to avoid being misgendered because it made life easier, and one didn't cancel out the other.

"Dustin?" Khush murmured, and I realized I hadn't said anything for a few minutes at least.

Shaking my head wryly, I smiled at him, then leaned forward to press my lips to his in a soft, grateful kiss. "Thank you."

When I pulled back, Khush gave me a puzzled look, and my smile widened. Fuck, I'd lucked out so good with this man.