Page 45 of Mytho Investigations: Side Stories

“I wish they didn’t.” Adam rested his head on Jake’s shoulder. “I’m not asking for promises about the future, but I need to know if you want to hang out sometimes, or if you only want me to come around for sex?” Adam sounded tentative and unsure about asking.

Jake put his arms around him and breathed in Adam’s scent. He wasn’t ready to give him an answer, so instead he asked, “Why don’t we try the puzzle, order some take out, and see what happens?” With Adam pressed against him, he didn’t want to let him go. And for a heartbeat, it was far too easy to imagine that in another year or two, if the bill passed, it wouldn’t matter if they went out and held hands. He didn’t want that kind of hope because it might be taken away. He gave a fake growl. “I may hate puzzles.”

Adam laughed, and the sound vibrated through Jake’s chest, warming him from the inside. He rolled his eyes, patting Jake’s stomach. “No one hates puzzles.”

They ended up ordering three different curries, two different naan breads, and rice from a nearby Indian restaurant. When it arrived, they were halfway through the puzzle of cats. It wasn’t a big one according to Adam, though it was clearly designed for skinny human fingers. So while Jake didn’t hate it, and he understood why Adam enjoyed putting on a movie and working on a puzzle, picking up the pieces was challenging for him, especially since he now kept two claws on his right hand filed down for Adam. He ended up having to use his left hand to pinch up the pieces.

They sat on the sofa with the much smaller coffee table—one Troy had found, fixed up, and given to him—loaded with plates and take-out tubs. “Sorry, I don’t have anywhere else to sit.”

If his dining table was any bigger, it wouldn’t fit in his apartment.

“It’s fine. I expected the puzzle to fit on the coffee table.” Adam put some more butter chicken on his plate.

Not even the scent of curry hid the fact that Adam hoped for more than putting together a puzzle and eating dinner. They had agreed to meet today as neither of them was working tomorrow. Though Adam needed to be back home by lunchtime because his mom had to go out and someone needed to look after his dad.

Over dinner, Adam told Jake more about his family, growing up, and what the collapse had been like for him. Adam had already been working as a firefighter, so he’d been very involved in the immediate aftermath of the global disaster. He’d spent a week digging people out of rubble. After that, it had become body recovery and cleanup.

They’d compared notes about that night, and the first month post-collapse.

Jake remembered crawling out of rubble with some other werewolves. They recognized each other by smell but not by look. Back home, they were in wolf or human form, and this was neither. They’d tried to dig their own people out. Some had been shot by panicking humans. Some werewolves had also panicked and attacked. He didn’t remember a lot of details, only the turmoil of fear and confusion. They hadn’t spoken the language. They hadn’t understood what anyone was yelling at them.

They hadn’t known what cars and ambulances and fire trucks were. The lights and the sirens had added to the disorientation.

The internment camp had been safe. No one shrieked in horror. He had a place to sleep and food and the chance to learn about the world. That was where he’d met Troy.

Those who were teens in the collapse were old enough to remember Tariko, and young enough to learn the ways of the new world as they became adults. Those who were younger didn’t seem to remember Tariko, and those who were older remembered it too much.

Talking about the collapse with other mythos often reopened wounds which had barely healed, but it was nice to air out the memories, so they didn’t become stale. And when Adam talked about his childhood and his father before he became sick, it seemed like he felt much the same. His parents sounded like good people, and they had raised a good man.

Which didn’t explain why Adam was sitting on the sofa in Jake’s studio apartment eating takeout and drinking beer. It felt as though they should be old friends now. They had shared their painful past and spoken of the future.

Jake hoped the bill passed, and that he was classified as human. He hoped they used the European model, where if the mytho could learn another language, they were designated a “person.”

He didn’t like the way it was so easy for Adam’s hope to rub off on him. But he did like the way Adam rubbed against him, and it seemed he couldn’t have one without the other. He put his plate on the table and turned to Adam, hoping his voice and ears didn’t betray his wants. “Are you going to stay the night?”

“Do you want me to?”

Jake grinned. “We have half a puzzle to finish.”

Although…

He didn’t expect to finish it…

CHAPTER 5

It had been a while since Adam had woken up in a strange bed. He glanced over at the man sleeping next to him. Jake lay on his stomach, eyes closed, mouth parted, slightly revealing his large pointy teeth. His clawed hands rested on the bed.

Adam supposed that for most people, waking up next to a werewolf would invoke fear, not desire. Maybe he was broken, but he’d always liked big, hairy guys, and Jake was exactly that. That he had a tail and claws didn’t bother him.

According to some of the news stories, it should.

But then again, some people always found a reason to hate.

Jake was kind and caring, and he worried about getting by as much as the next person. He worried Adam would get into trouble for seeing him, not from other mythos, but from humans. And while he hoped the passing of the bill would change things, he knew it wouldn’t be immediate. Change took time. Dating Jake was like stepping back into the closet because he wasn’t able to talk about his boyfriend or be seen with him in public. He didn’t keep any photos on his phone, and there were no photos of them together.

Instead, he needed to make the most of every moment he spent there.

He had, however, told Mom he was seeing someone, and that Jake worked at the hospital—she’d already told him to bring Jake around for dinner—but he hadn’t told her Jake was mytho and he didn’t want her to worry about him. And with good reason. A couple of the guys at work weren’t shy about dissing mythos, the same ones still made homophobic jokes. Those people were always going to exist, but the world would be a nicer place if they learned to keep their hate to themselves.