Calming A Racing Heart

Chapter Twenty Six

          Joshua led Larcin out to the living room, sitting them both down on the couch. Larcin pulled himself into Joshua's lap. He fell asleep with his head on Joshua's chest. Joshua was content to just hold him. He did spend some time indulging in fantasies of mangling Desalle, even if he couldn't act on them. Eventually he nodded off too, finding the couch much more comfortable now than it was the night before. Hours later they were awakened by the chime of a call coming in on Larcin's comm. It was Silka.

          "Hey big brother. I'm back on Casentell. Once I get my quarters settled, why don't we all go get some dinner together?"

          "Sure," Larcin told him. "You know where we are. Come up when you get settled."

          "You sure? Everything ok there?" From the comm video Silka could see Larcin's eyes were red and slightly swollen.

         "It's fine. We'll talk when you get here."

          "Are you going to tell him what happened?" Joshua asked. He was in the kitchen area fixing them each a cold drink.

          "He needs to know. He's friends with Desalle too. I'm sure he's going to get some fall out from this."

          When Silka arrived, he took one look at Larcin and turned on Joshua.

          "What did you do to make my brother cry? If you've hurt him..."

          "It wasn't him, Silka," Larcin told him, getting in between the two. "It was Desalle. Last night I told him about Joshua and me. I didn't know he'd turn out to be Zesdica."

           "Oh Janx," Silka replied.

          "What's a Zesdica?" Joshua asked.

          "They are the most vocal opponents of same sex pairings on our world." Silka told him. "Most of them are  religious zealots, real haters. I can't believe Desalle would be one of them. That couldn't have been good.""

           "It wasn't." Joshua told him as the three took seats in the living room. He did most of the talking, filling Silka in on what had happened.

          "You guys going to be ok?" Silka was concerned at how quiet his brother was being.

           "We'll get through this," Larcin assured him giving Joshua a shy smile. "So, who's up for dinner? I'm about to starve."

          They decided to eat outside the enclave. None of them were ready to face the crowds in the local cafeterias. Silka couldn't help but notice the looks they were getting as they headed to the security building to get fitted with their monitors before leaving. It infuriated him to see the effect it had on his brothers. Both of them put on brave faces but the tension and sadness were obvious. He started to pick an argument with a group who were being particularly vocal in their disapproval but Larcin stopped him. It wasn't until they were outside that any of them could relax. At dinner Silka tried to lighten the mood by regaling them with stores of his recent trips. He didn't think very highly of the other navigators he'd worked with.

           "Working with Zaver Nil was a nightmare. He's so ham fisted with the A.I.s he scared them back into their circuits. I spent most of my time coaxing the poor things back online. I will be so glad to be working with you again," he told Larcin. "That run to Densen tomorrow should be super easy."

          "Tomorrow? You're leaving tomorrow?" Joshua couldn't believe he would be leaving so soon after everything that had happened.

          "I was going to tell you tonight. It's just a short run. We'll be back in two days. Nothing big." At least Larcin had the grace to look embarrassed by his omission.