Souvenirs From Dead Worlds | ✓

Chapter 7

"There, that—" Jules began, then broke off with a startled oof when Sam yanked him away by the back of his shirt.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sam demanded.

Jules stared up at Sam from where he sat on the floor for a couple of surprised seconds before speaking. "Not cool?"

"You don't know anything about his culture or what he's been through or how he feels about being kissed by other guys. No, it's not cool." To be fair, Sam didn't know a hell of a lot about most of those things either, but he also hadn't kissed Kias.

Jules winced. "Sorry, I was just messing around. I thought, you know, since he seems to be cool with you and all..."

"He didn't even know kissing guys was something I did until you kissed me." Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Kias was watching the conversation carefully, his eyebrows drawn together with apprehension. That was a pretty normal expression for him, actually, but right then he looked a bit more worried than he did most of the time.

"Maybe you should go talk to him in our room," Cassie suggested. "Make sure he's all right."

Sam nodded, glad to have someone guiding him because he was no less lost than usual. He stood and held his hand out for Kias, who took it and allowed himself to be pulled up without the slightest sign of trepidation. Mostly he just looked confused. That was definitely normal for him.

#

Kias didn’t know exactly what was going on, but he was fairly sure he'd just seen Sam being possessive of him. When Jules had kissed Sam, Sam had barely responded, but when Jules had then kissed Kias, Sam had yanked Jules away and then snapped at him.

Sam led Kias down a short hallway and then opened a door off of it, switching on the light before leading Kias inside. The few pieces of furniture in the room were all things that were recognisable to Kias, and the large bed made it clear that the room was a bedroom.

Sam still looked riled up, which Kias thought was a bit of an overreaction. Then again, what did Kias know? Sam's culture clearly wasn't his own. Perhaps he'd just witnessed some kind of huge social transgression.

Similarly, he couldn't be sure why Sam had brought him into the bedroom. There were a few potential reasons bobbing around in his mind, the most obvious that Sam's jealousy had been stirred and he now intended to remind Kias who he belonged to, but Kias was beginning to realise the assumptions he made concerning Sam often proved to be false. When Sam gave him no direction, he sat down on the bed.

Sam remained standing and ran a hand through his hair, agitated. "I didn't expect him to do that. I mean, I'm also not surprised he did. He's just affectionate, you know? He didn't realise..."

Kias wasn't sure he understood the problem. Sam obviously wasn't too angry at his friend for what he'd done. "Isn't it okay if it was just a mistake?"

That bordered on questioning Sam's authority, but Sam didn't look angry. "Well. I suppose. You're okay?"

Hearing Sam express concern for his welfare shouldn't have felt as good as it did. Or maybe it was right that it should. After all, who else would keep him safe? Perhaps what truly troubled Kias was that, for a moment, he had considered saying no. Just to see what Sam would do if he said he wasn't okay. After all, most of the time since he'd come to Sam's world he hadn't been sure he was.

He was too cowardly to actually do it in the end, though, and averted his eyes and nodded instead.

"Do you want to stay in here for a while?" Sam asked.

Kias frowned and thought that over. And do what? was the obvious question, but asking would feel like inviting trouble. Would it be better to take his chances in the bedroom or out with Sam's friends?