Chapter 360: Normal

Chapter 360: Chapter 360: Normal

Liam remained quiet for another minute before deciding that sitting beside Arik was unnecessarily distant.

He shifted without warning, turned, and climbed directly into his husband’s lap.

Arik accepted this development with the ease of a man who had apparently been waiting for Liam to arrive at the correct conclusion.

One arm immediately settled around his waist while the other slid beneath Liam’s thigh, adjusting him until he sat comfortably across Arik’s legs instead of balancing awkwardly against one knee.

Liam narrowed his eyes.

"You look pleased."

"I am."

"That was very easy."

"You climbed onto me voluntarily. Why would I complicate it?"

Liam considered the answer suspiciously reasonable.

The private salon had grown quieter as the morning advanced, the diplomatic staff occupying the lower floors while they were left alone above the river. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows behind Arik, warming the dark upholstery beneath them and catching occasionally against the faint red threaded through his ether whenever it moved beneath his skin.

Liam rested one arm around Arik’s shoulders.

"What do you want to do?"

Arik looked at him.

"With Edrava?"

"No."

"Nuria?"

"No."

Arik’s brows lifted.

Liam played absently with the edge of his husband’s collar.

"With us. When this is actually over."

Something in Arik’s expression softened.

"Our new normal life," Liam added.

Arik studied him for several seconds with such apparent seriousness that Liam expected an answer involving Nurian reconstruction, travel, and perhaps returning to engineering work without ancient metaphysical disasters interrupting every three weeks.

Instead, Arik said, "Sex whenever we feel like it would be nice."

Liam stared at him.

Arik’s mouth curved.

"Especially if you wear the bear-eared sweatshirt."

Liam immediately tried to stand.

Arik tightened both arms around him.

"No."

"Release me."

"You asked."

"I asked what you wanted from our future, not what crimes you planned against my wardrobe."

Liam planted both hands against Arik’s chest and attempted to push himself upright.

Nothing happened.

Arik had always been offensively difficult to move.

"Arik."

"Yes?"

"I am leaving."

"No."

"You cannot simply decide that."

"I believe current evidence suggests otherwise."

Liam gave him a long, unimpressed stare.

Arik kissed his nose.

That did not improve matters.

"I hate you."

"No, you don’t."

"Temporarily."

"Acceptable."

Liam stopped fighting mostly because it was accomplishing nothing and settled back into his lap with as much dignity as the position allowed.

"Anything else?"

Arik thought about it.

Liam immediately regretted asking.

"I want to see you in heat again."

Liam groaned and dropped his forehead onto Arik’s shoulder.

"No."

Arik laughed quietly.

"Absolutely not."

"You asked what I wanted."

"I expected something sentimental."

"That was sentimental."

Liam lifted his head in disbelief.

"You have a defective definition of sentiment."

Arik’s fingers moved slowly along his back.

"You have suppressed every heat since the first one."

"Yes. Intentionally."

"The first was a year and a half ago."

"I remember."

Arik certainly remembered too.

That heat had arrived with almost no warning before either of them properly understood the strength of their compatibility, and Liam had learned several uncomfortable things about himself over the following days.

Most notably that heat turned his ordinarily argumentative personality into something disastrously accommodating.

Docile was the humiliating word.

Arik could have told him to sit somewhere, and Liam probably would have stayed there looking pleased about it.

Liam hated remembering this.

Arik loved remembering it.

"You thought I was cute," Liam accused.

"I did."

"I was suffering."

"You spent most of it wrapped around me."

"That proves my point."

Arik smiled.

Liam groaned again.

The worst part was that he knew exactly why Arik wanted another heat, and it was not primarily sexual.

That would have been easier to object to.

Arik already had Liam willingly in his bed often enough that neither of them required pheromonal biology to improve the arrangement.

No.

His husband wanted access to the version of Liam who accepted affection without suspicion, followed simple requests without immediately asking why, and became embarrassingly content when placed somewhere warm and told to stay.

"You would abuse it," Liam muttered.

Arik’s brows rose.

"I would never."

"You absolutely would."

"How?"

"You would make me wear the sweatshirt."

Arik went silent.

Liam slowly lifted his head.

"You bastard."

Arik started laughing.

"I knew it."

"I said nothing."

"You were thinking it."

"You often accuse me of that without evidence."

"I have evidence now."

Liam pointed at him.

"You want me in heat so you can dress me in ridiculous things and watch me cooperate."

Arik caught the accusing finger and kissed it.

"That is not the only reason."

"It is at least half the reason."

Arik considered.

Liam’s eyes widened.

"Arik."

"Possibly."

"You are terrible."

"I think you would look very comfortable."

"In the bear hoodie."

"Yes."

"And probably those soft trousers."

"Yes."

Liam stared.

Arik looked entirely unashamed.

"You are not even interested in exploiting the sexual part properly."

"I can enjoy that too."

"Not helping."

Arik’s hand settled against the back of Liam’s neck, thumb moving gently beneath his hair.

"But mostly," he admitted, "you stop fighting every kind thing I do for you."

Liam went quiet.

That was unfortunately harder to mock.

Arik continued, his voice softer now.

"You let me carry you without complaining. You sleep whenever you are tired instead of pretending you are not. You eat when I give you food. You ask directly when you want me close."

Liam’s expression flattened.

"That sounds awful."

"You also become very affectionate."

"I am affectionate now."

"You called me irritating seven minutes ago."

"You were being irritating."

Arik kissed the corner of his mouth.

Liam tolerated it.

"And," Arik added, "you like being praised."

Liam immediately covered his mouth with one hand.

Arik laughed beneath it.

"No."

"You do."

"Conversation finished."

"You become pink."

"I am going to kill you."

"You also hide your face against me exactly like you are doing now."

Liam realized belatedly that he had indeed turned his face into Arik’s shoulder.

He sat upright at once.

Arik looked unbearably pleased.

Liam narrowed his eyes.

"If I ever stop suppressing my heats, we establish rules beforehand."

Arik’s amusement faded enough to become attentive.

"Of course."

"No humiliating clothing."

"The sweatshirt is not humiliating."

"Arik."

"Fine. Negotiable."

"No using pheromones to make me agree to anything I already refused while clear-headed."

"Obviously."

"And if I say afterward that something embarrassed me, it never happens again."

Arik nodded without hesitation.

"Agreed."

Liam relaxed slightly.

Then Arik smiled.

"The ears remain under discussion."

Liam attempted to leave his lap again.

Arik caught him.

A moment later Liam was trapped against his chest while Arik laughed into his hair.

Perhaps normal life was going to be deeply irritating.

Liam suspected he would like it anyway.