Two

Khush

I stared at the text I'd just sent, and scowled. What the fuck was I blabbering for? Of course Dustin would remember who I was. We met just this morning!

"Stop being so awkward, Khush," I muttered to myself, then almost fell off the branch I was lounging on when my phone buzzed.

Dustin : Hey, Khush! I wasn't sure you'd text me

Khush : Did you want me to call?

Dustin : lol, not at all. Did you have a good day after I left?

Khush : Oh yeah. It was my first time out and I really enjoyed it

I sent the text before I realized exactly what I'd said, and my eyes widened as I scrambled to correct my error.

Khush : First time in a while, I mean

Dustin : Oh? Do you not get out often?

Why did I have to open this can of worms so soon?

Khush : Um, yes. Because of the wheelchair and all.

Dustin : That sucks :/

Khush : It's not so bad. Anyway, enough about me. Tell me about you.

Dustin : Well, I work from home. I have a cat. Oh, and I'm trans.

Luckily, Touya—who, other than being my best friend's mate, was also the only other human who lived at the Sanctuary—had educated me and the others a lot over the past few months, and I knew what being trans meant. At least, I had a general idea. Touya had also said that every person's experience was different, and that there was no one way to be trans.

Dustin : Did I scare you off?

Somehow, I could sense the apprehension behind that text, and I quickly typed out a reply.

Khush : Not at all. I just don't talk to new people very often, so my people skills are rusty, and I didn't want to accidentally say something offensive.

Dustin : lol, that's okay. How about this? I'll give you one free pass. One chance to get away with saying something rude.

Khush : That's very gracious of you, but I hope I won't have to use it

Dustin : Me too.

The conversation fell silent, and I realized I had no idea what to say next. How did people do this? I didn't want to fail, not when Dustin was… I swallowed hard. Mate. He was my mate.

How lucky had I been to run into him the first time I went outside? I couldn't squander this chance, not when I had no idea if it would be the only chance I got.

I needed assistance. Assistance of someone who was well-versed in texting with new people but who would also keep their trap shut.

Silas and Touya were as clueless as me, so they were out. Bellamy…yeah, I didn't think the ex-criminal had ever flirted with someone online.

Jacinta would just spread the news everywhere, gossip geek that they were. They were a cecaelia, the best damned cook we had at the Sanctuary, and the person to go to when you needed information on anyone at the place.

Which, unfortunately, left me with only one option.

Wrapping my tail tightly around the branch I'd been sitting on, I slid off it, hanging upside down from the tree. As much as I'd enjoyed going out, it felt great to finally be free of the wheelchair and able to stretch my tail a little.

"Keoni!" I shouted, throwing my voice as far as I could. "Keoni, you here?"

The familiar sound of clacking hooves and clattering wheels preceded Keoni's arrival as the teenage centaur stopped under my tree. With the way I was hanging upside down, Keoni and I were face-to-face, and if Haruto was here—a jorogumo and a somewhat solitary resident of the Sanctuary—he'd comment on the scene resembling a certain favorite comic book of his, not that there was anything resembling chemistry between us.

"What do you want?" Keoni asked, his blond ringlets flying about in the gentle breeze, then poked my nose. I smacked his hand away.

"I need your help."

Keoni's brows shot up, his baby blues instantly full of curiosity. " You need my help?"

"Yes," I answered curtly, and then rolled my eyes as a wide grin spread across his face.

"What is it? Tell me!"

"First, promise me you won't tell anyone. Not Silas or Touya, and especially not Jacinta."

Keoni's eyes brightened. "Oooh, interesting. I promise, I promise."

"You can't tell the headmaster either."

"What? Not even Zephyr? You aren't doing anything illegal, are you?"

I knew I'd have to inform the man who ran the Sanctuary about Dustin at some point, but I'd rather not just yet. While I adored and respected Headmaster Zephyr Morrigan, we didn't really have the kind of relationship where I'd tell him something like this, at least not until Dustin and I actually had something between us.

"No! Of course not! What do you take me for?" I scowled at Keoni, and he chuckled.

"Fine, fine. Now tell me. I won't tell anyone, I promise."

I watched him for a long moment before exhaling loudly.

"Okay. You know how I went out this morning?"

"Yeah, with Silas and Bellamy, right?"

I nodded, then chewed on my lip a little. Why was this so difficult to get out?

"Well, I met someone."

Keoni's eyes widened. "Oh my God. Khush, do you have a crush on someone? On a human?" he demanded, his voice going up.

"Shhh! Shut up!" I hissed—and it was a real, 100 percent Naga hiss, not the paltry human excuse of the sound—covering his mouth with my hand. His eyes twinkled at me, and he patted my hand.

"Sorry," he mumbled under my palm, then proceeded to lick it. I made a face as I jerked my hand back, then wiped it on his shirt. "So, you like a human."

"It's...a bit more complicated than that," I said, and he raised a brow, waiting for more. "Dustin...is my mate."

Keoni's eyes widened, and he skittered a step back. "What? Are you sure?"

I nodded. I'd known it the moment our hands touched. Of course, I'd been too shocked to react in any normal way until we got back to the Sanctuary.

The Sanctuary was my home, my safe space, and it was only when we were inside that I'd felt relaxed enough to deal with the fact that I'd found my mate. That my mate was a spunky little human.

"Wow, that's incredible. I mean, what are the chances of you two crossing paths on your first visit to the human world?"

"Yeah, I know."

"So what exactly did you need help with?"

"Well, he gave me his number, and I texted him, and now we're talking, but I don't know exactly what to say. I want to know more about him, but I don't want to scare him off, you know?"

Keoni was watching me with a weird smile on his face, and I stopped talking.

"What?" I asked a touch warily.

"Nothing. I just didn't think you could look so...cute."

I scowled. "I'm not cute ," I spat out, reaching for him. He ducked away from me, then took a few steps back, the cart supporting his back half rolling back. It was one of Draven's—our resident dwarf tinkerer—many inventions, and it made it possible for Keoni to run all over the Sanctuary without the use of his paralyzed back legs. His legs were the reason he'd been cut out of his centaur family, but they were also the reason he'd become our family.

"Do you want my help or not?"

Sighing, I stopped trying to attack him. "Yes, please."

"So cute ."

"On second thought, I don't need your help after all."

Dustin

Khush and I chatted for a while yesterday evening. While I'd given him my number because I'd felt a spark between us, I was starting to discover he was a genuinely nice man. He could be gruff sometimes, and his knowledge of pop culture was abysmal—which I could totally remedy, starting with a playlist of my favorite music—but he was a fun person, and I'd enjoyed talking to him.

He hadn't asked me out last night, so I decided that if he didn't do it by tonight, I would. Sure, I'd put myself out there first by giving him my number, but that didn't mean I was going to wait around for him to ask me because of some abstract dating rules that I was pretty sure he didn't even know existed.

While Khush looked to be in his mid-twenties and sometimes sounded like he'd lived for much longer—judging by my assessment of a one-day interaction—I got the feeling that he was still inexperienced in some areas, namely flirting and dating. I didn't want to make assumptions, but every flirty text I'd sent yesterday was taken literally by him. What else was I supposed to think?

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I ended the chat with the customer, after helping them out with their problem, before checking it.

Khush : What's your favorite animal?

Well, that was an interesting non-sequitur.

Me : Hmmm, I guess my absolute favorite would be a cat. (I have to say that or Scrappy will kill me)

Khush : I'm guessing Scrappy is your cat.

Me : Yep. Wbu? What's your favorite animal?

Khush : Elephants. They're huge, and they have trunks. They're also very smart.

I chuckled at his answer, then had to answer another customer query. I heard my phone buzz with another incoming message, but I didn't check it until I'd finished my conversation with the customer.

Khush : Since Scrappy won't allow you to answer any other way, how about your second-favorite animal?

Smiling, I took a glance at my computer screen, and when I saw no new open chats, I quickly sent him a reply.

Me : You'll think I'm weird if I tell you. Most people do.

Khush : I'm not like most people. Try me.

Oh, as if I hadn't heard that before. Still, I answered his question, but then I had to handle another customer support request, and this one took longer than the last one.

When I finally got a chance to look at my phone, I found a text from Khush waiting.

Khush : Really? You like snakes??

Me : Yeah, yeah. I know it's weird, but I think they're cute. They're also very adaptable. Did you know there are snakes on all continents except Antarctica? How cool is that?

Me : There are like more than 4000 species of snake!

I dropped my phone onto my desk before I bombarded Khush with snake facts, then shook my head at myself. I had a habit of getting unnecessarily passionate when talking about snakes, and I needed to get myself under control before I scared him off.

My phone was silent for a while, and I managed to deal with a total of five customers—and successfully freak out about scaring the hottest man alive away—before my phone buzzed again.

Khush : Sorry, I had to take care of something. Oh, did you know snakes swallow their food? They don't chew at all!

I chuckled. Maybe I wasn't the only one with an interest in snakes. What were the chances of two snake-lovers like us bumping into each other? Someone up there really must be looking out for me.

I didn't believe in God per se, but I liked to think there was something bigger than us, some universal power that kept the world going. It could be science, or some mythical being, or magic, but I was sure there was something .

Me : I know! Their stomach does all the work. I wish I could do that sometimes. Then I'd stuff all my food in within minutes and spend the rest of my lunch break taking a well-deserved nap.

Khush : Sounds like an apt use of the ability :p

I smiled, and I was just about to put my phone away to answer another customer query when it buzzed again.

Khush : Hey, Dustin, would you like to go out with me sometime?

I blinked at Khush's text, then smiled widely. I might've squealed a little. It was certainly loud enough to startle Scrappy, who shot to her feet, then jumped off her cardboard tree, shot me a lethal look, and stalked off to go nap somewhere else. Probably at her perch by the window.

Me : Yes! I'd love to!

My phone was silent for a while, and I took the chance to help the customer, my ears firmly focused on my phone.

When it buzzed again, I groaned softly as my fingers flew over the keyboard, wishing the customer would hurry up. Were they typing slowly just to torture me?

The chat finally ended after what felt like hours, and I almost dropped my phone in my hurry to check Khush's text.

Khush : Okay, I have a confession to make. I haven't really been out much. Like, at all. Would it be too much trouble to ask you to plan where we go and what we do?

Another message came in as I was reading the first one, and I could almost feel Khush's nerves through it.

Khush : Dustin? Was that too much to ask?

I hurried to reply, not wanting him to think I wasn't interested.

Me : No, not at all! That's completely fine. Maybe we could watch a movie? There's this new rom-com I've been planning to go see.

Khush : Sounds good. It's actually on my list. But I can't get out of my wheelchair (I have to be properly strapped in and it's too much trouble to do it again and again. It's a whole thing) so would that work?

Me : Don't worry, I'll figure everything out. How does tomorrow evening sound?

I made a mental note to ask him about that list later, figuring I should leave some topics for our date night.

Khush : It sounds perfect.

I held myself together until it was lunch time, and then I grabbed Scrappy, gave her a tight, definitely non-consensual hug, and squealed so loudly I was sure the whole block heard me. I had a date with Khush!