Heart of Glass [manxman]

Chapter Twelve

So, you're available later today?

Yes, I replied, sending the text to Louis, glancing over at the clock. There was only fifteen minutes of lunch left and he was interrupting the little bit of midday Monday peace I had left.

I need you to come with me to speak with the survivor we discussed Friday. Everyone else is booked, and I think it would be beneficial to have more than me there.

I sighed. At least that outing would have to be work related, instead of the mess dinner had been. Okay. When do you want to go?

What time are your classes over today?

15:30.

Would you be able to meet me at 15:45 in my office to leave?

Sure. I'll see you then.

I put my phone away, only to get out the burner to find more messages from Louis. He'd asked how my day was going, how my wrist felt, how my ribs felt... It was amazing how I could provoke such drastically different responses from him. One was short, professional, and to the point—at least, it typically was; the recent shift was abnormal—and the other was loving, kind, funny, everything most people would kill to have in a perfect mate.

If he ever knew... Gods, he'd be furious. While he wasn't short-tempered, he had a handful of buttons that could set him off if they were so much as looked at too hard. Alexei Rivian just so happened to be one of those buttons, as he was frustrating and argumentative and disrespectful, things Louis had never handled well, even a century ago.

Things had just been so different back then. I never thought I'd been drastically different then, maybe a little happier, more talkative and sociable, but other than that, I'd argue with anything anyone said, including Louis. I walked all over anyone I didn't respect, and earning my respect was something that not many people had ever managed to do, even back then. Something Louis said during his conversation with Remy, Meredith, and Abigail had been correct, though—we'd never argued like we do as Alexei and Louis. I wasn't sure what made it so different, but it was. Maybe, in the beginning, we were meaner, because we didn't know that we were soulmates, but I remembered a few arguments from a century ago that had Louis and I past the point of throwing punches.

On the other hand, I could've been completely wrong, and perhaps I'd changed more than I thought. A lot of my old life had been stowed away, so why not some personality aspects? Pushing people away had become more common than it used to be, so that could be an issue. Not to mention, I was more cynical, quicker to anger.

All of those were things I used as Alexei, but when I was wearing the mask, being the Glass Hunter, I spoke. Perhaps I didn't speak as much as I used to, but I spoke more than I did as Alexei. I didn't close myself off from Louis like I did as Alexei. I actively tried to avoid arguing with him, because I knew the chances of getting swept up in it were too high to risk.

It didn't really feel right that I was more or less putting on a front for Louis, but without that, I didn't know how else I would keep my identity intact, as well as things sailing smoothly. In time, it really wouldn't matter, because I would leave as soon as I could, but for the time that we were together, it felt shitty. For as amazing of a man he was, it was shit that the universe couldn't give him a better soulmate than me. He deserved a whole hell of a lot better.

Maybe after the Aquireign was defeated again and I was long gone, Louis left alone, he would realize that. He would move on, meet a good person, maybe a counselor or a teacher, retired from Hunting, but used to Hunt and knew enough about it to discuss it. Someone that would take care of him, cook for him, make sure he was sleeping and eating. Someone that would make him laugh every day. Someone that would wake up at 4 in the morning just to sit up, drink tea, and watch the sunrise with him after stargazing until midnight before falling back to sleep, wrapped up in one another, not a care in the world. Someone that would spar with him, challenge him physically and intellectually, and keep him on his toes, because they knew how easily he grew bored. Someone that would be as fiercely loyal, kind, and selfless to him as he was to them.