A Seeker Betrayed

5. On Time

A'Gahtay went with Sur'ten and traded back his vest for his regular shirt and jacket. By the time they were ready to leave Shamahan was tapping at him in the obomae. Wait up.

When he finally showed up, Shamahan insisted on getting dinner at the plaza instead of up in the Open Quarters district where their destination was. A'Gahtay was desperate to get up there and he rolled his eyes expressively.

All Shamahan said was, "No. I'm not waiting."

Two seats opened in front of a noodle stall while they stood there and A'Gahtay took a seat while the other two argued over who should stand. Sur'ten prevailed by saying he wasn't eating.

"Well, I'm not eating either," A'Gahtay said.

"What have you eaten today?" Shamahan asked suspiciously.

A'Gahtay listed off all the things and Shamahan said, "That's it? Eat something. Noodles and broth - you'll be starving in the morning if you don't."

"I don't need it," A'Gahtay replied.

"He's in a hurry," Sur'ten chirped, and the younger ken turned to glare.

"That's not-"

"You are," Shamahan said matter-of-factly. "I can feel it."

As Shamahan was ordering Sur'ten leaned over A'Gahtay's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "He told Gamman about last night."

A'Gahtay had been agonizing all day about the night before. He exploded - he half stood, knocking his stool over as he lurched against Shamahan and halfway pushed him off his own stool.

"Why?" he yelled. "I asked you not to - I was going to tell him myself!"

Shamahan dismounted his stool and stood behind it; the surprised look he'd originally had transformed into a wicked smile. "There's nothing wrong with it. With us, I mean. You're mine, he has Sur'ten."

Sur'ten started to say, "Wait-" but A'Gahtay overrode him and angrily said, "But you knew I wanted to tell him myself!"

"And you would have waited until after tonight to tell him, right? Because just now I was thinking you didn't seem like a person getting ready to touch a sore spot."

Sur'ten interjected, "I protest the whole 'belonging to' thing."

Shamahan gave him a funny look and replied, "You know what I meant."

A'Gahtay stomped off and Shamahan yelled after him, "Do you know how that would have felt to him if you'd waited until later, or tomorrow? Or maybe not said anything at all and he heard it later?"

The ken kept on walking and casually flipped him off. He heard Sur'ten padding up behind him and he didn't care. He had tears stinging his eyes.

"Hey," Sur'ten said. "I'm sorry, I should've told him to talk to you about it. When he showed up I realized he hadn't told you he'd told Gamman - I was trying to be funny about it."

A'Gahtay bit his lip and brushed Sur'ten's hand away as he tried to comfort him.

"I'm sorry," Sur'ten repeated.

They walked across the plaza and when A'Gahtay realized he was already on one of the paths that led to the Fountain, he stopped. He wanted to see Gamman as soon as possible, and the journey to Open Quarters would take some time; he didn't want to hang out in the park.

It was unfair. Gamman still did whatever he wanted, with whomever he wanted. They weren't exclusively committed. They had been, but they'd broken up over this very issue - Gamman's eye had strayed. It felt like he had worked so hard to get Gamman's attention and to keep it, but A'Gahtay just didn't have the feeling that he cared. And last night, when Gamman had told him he was busy....

A'Gahtay couldn't trust that he was busy with work. And Shamahan was always close at hand, and comforting. They were together all the time, after all.

"When did he tell Gamman-sie?" A'Gahtay asked.

"Early, before work. Via obomae," Sur'ten said, getting in front of him. "And boy, was he upset. He couldn't let it go. He was a mess all day - you should be happy about that part."

Like a light in a dark room that piece of information lifted A'Gahtay's spirits but it wasn't enough to calm his nerves. "How mad was he? I mean, was he mad, or just...?"

He could see Sur'ten suppressing a smile. "You mean was he mad at you for it?"

Reluctantly, he nodded.

"Well, yes. Much angrier at Shamma though. If he could punish him directly, I am sure he would. Shamma should have turned you down - that is what they agreed to."

That was news. "They did?"

"Yes, silly kitten - look at you, your face just lit up. They did. And it isn't like Gamman was mad enough to cancel on you for tonight; I'm sure he has plans to punish you for it."

Seeing A'Gahtay's reaction, Sur'ten laughed. "Knowing him, the minute he heard about it he already had a fully formed plan of what he was going to do."

"What is he going to do?"

"I don't know, sweetie - he didn't say."

A'Gahtay stood there, wringing his hands, and Sur'ten continued. "But Shamahan is right. Waiting to tell him later wasn't the right thing to do. Ideally, you should have come out early today and made a point of telling him before work. Then he could have stewed about it all day and done the exact same - whatever - he is planning on tonight. Waiting until tonight to say anything.... I guess ideally Shamma should have prodded you along and you both should have come to him and talked about it. What the hell were you thinking, anyway?"

A'Gahtay told him. The craving for his lover's touch, the empty feeling when they weren't together, the fear that Gamman was touching someone else.

He felt better, talking about it to Sur'ten. He seemed understanding, and when he finished the other ken nodded.

"You're not wrong. He's under a lot of pressure, you know? Lately it has been pretty bad. He was actually working last night, but you're right, he does talk about it like it would stress him out more to feel like he had to limit himself to just one person right now."

A'Gahtay started to open his mouth and Shamahan stopped him. "But look, there's no question, he keeps coming back to you. It is a matter of time. You just have to hang on - I've seen this with other couples. The timing isn't right yet. We have an awful lot going on. Sia Geldan isn't well, Sia Aya has a lot of extra work piled up that he can't give to Geldan to do. Hell, that's why Shamma is being dragged into it. Normally in the past it was Gamman making the trips for the inbound product. You're lucky you had plans with Gamman-sie, otherwise you'd be going to Eminence tonight."

A'Gahtay felt a twinge of guilt. When a sia and a ken really were extremely close, they stuck together almost all the time. He felt like he ought to be that way with Shamma, but on the other hand... he wanted to be that way with Gamman.

In the split second it took him to formulate that thought a bright light appeared in the distance, in the trees above the fountain. It shone like an explosion, and then disappeared, and right next to his ear he heard the words, Give up on time.

The voice wasn't from the obomae, and it wasn't his, and it wasn't Sur'ten's. He looked to the side and there was nothing. He suddenly felt frightened and he saw Sur'ten scrutinizing his face.

The other ken said, "What's wrong?"

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"Something spoke, just now."

"I didn't hear anything." After a pause, Sur'ten asked, "What did it say?"

A'Gahtay thought for a moment. The light he had seen - the thought of telling Sur'ten about it made him anxious. His stomach knotted up. It wasn't just anxiety; the idea of telling Sur'ten about the light or the words suddenly made him feel jealous. He shook his head. "I don't know what's wrong with me. Can we just go? Now?"