He waited until it was late to visit William's room in the medical bay. He probably should've let him sleep. Put it off until the next day.

...But he wanted to see if he was really the same person.

William was propped up in bed, thumbing through a book and eating chocolate. His leg was held up in some kind of medical contraption Nova couldn't make heads or tails of. It wasn't like Starka needed such things.

" Oh, Nova. It's rather late, isn't it? I'm surprised you're visiting. Shouldn't you go retrieve Lyeha-Lesa? And this is normally the time of day you retreat to go listen to your music..." He rambled amiably, carefree.

The fact that he seemed the exact same as he always did was so strange that what he was saying almost didn't register properly.

" Lyeha will be brought to us in a week, DASS time," Nova answered, staring at him.

With all the medical equipment crammed into the small room, with his leg slung up in a cast, with all of Diurn's blood rinsed from his body- with all this, he looked small and completely harmless again.

" Can Starka have chocolate? I can't remember. I'd offer some, if it's no offense," he said, popping another little square into his perfectly intact and actually very pretty mouth.

...Nova had not intended to think that.

He had not intended to think of him that way at all.

" I appreciate the offer, but I must respectfully decline," he said stiffly.

" Aren't you glad I didn't die?" William asked nonchalantly. " You kicked up such a fuss about it. I guess my ankle is going to be a hassle to fix. You should've been in here earlier when Kirie was lecturing me. Saying I take too many risks and all..."

He reached over to get his glass of water, and instead accidentally knocked it over.

" Shit-!"

Nova didn't realize until after it had fallen, busting on the white tile, that he could've caught it. The water had splashed across the front of his kita. It was cold.

" I should've caught that," he said out loud, a moment too late.

" I'm the clumsy one, it's fine," William assured him.

A beat.

" Why'd you wait until it was so late to come, anyway?" William asked.

" So that it'd be quieter."

William smiled, like he found it funny.

" You waited until everyone else had left, so you could have me for yourself?"

" Spare me your licentious drivel, Masterson. When have I ever acted untoward towards you?"

William shrugged.

" I was considering the possibility, is all."

" I'm tempted to break your other ankle," Nova deadpanned.

" Is that all? I thought you'd have something more exciting planned for me," William teased.

" I'm not taking my chances with a feral animal," Nova said to him flatly. " I mistook you for human right up until the point you scaled my brother like a tree and stabbed him fifteen times in the face."

William flopped back on his pillow, pouting.

" I didn't want you to go home," he complained.

" Really? So what do you want from me, then?" Nova asked, crossing his arms.

He seemed to consider it in his usual lighthearted way for a moment.

" I'm somewhat irritated by you," he said. " But I've been thinking about it recently, and I would like you to do any number of unholy things to my body as you please. To put it politely. Or I suppose I have what other people might call romantic feelings towards you. It's hard to know. I've never felt this way before."

Nova stared at him, taken completely off-guard by how blatant he'd been about his feelings.

" I've always factored sex into my life as a strategic advantage I could hold over others when it suited me, with only nominal attention paid to attraction. But somehow, I think, I've realized that I'm very fond of you. More than I should be. I like you quite a bit. It's... the first time I've ever felt like this? About anyone..."

His voice trailed off on that note, face reddening more from the confession than any of the other incredibly worrying things he'd said.

" William, do you realize that you sound insane?" Nova asked him.

William just smiled, as though pleased.

" You've called me by my first name," he said.

" What about it?" Nova huffed defensively.

" You've never done that before," William pointed out, eyes narrowing slightly. He ate another chocolate.

" Yes I have," Nova argued, standoffish.

" I don't remember when, you'll have to remind me," William said, like it was amusing to him.

" Does it really matter so much? Your stupid human name is hard to pronounce, anyway," Nova replied, doing his very best not to appear flustered.

" Oh? Is it? I don't mind if you give me a lovey-dovey nickname, then," William said.

" I'm not giving you a 'lovey-dovey' nickname," Nova stated.

William laughed, and Nova flattened his ears back.

" What's so funny?" he asked.

" You're so... you're so cute," William said. " How is it possible for a Starka prince to be so cute?"

...An odd feeling.

" And you're a menace to society," Nova snapped at him.

" Oh? I'm a menace? I'm just stating the truth," William said. " I like you, Nova. You're cute."

Nova bristled. He huffed and looked away from him.

" Quit trying to embarrass me," he said stiffly. " Your raging xenophilic lust is completely unrequited."

William sat forward, a mischievous grin on his face.

"'You can't tell me you're not curious," he said, tipping his head. " You don't even want to try?"

Nova summoned up all of his willpower, trying to maintain his expression, but still felt his face grow hot.

" I don't want to be responsible for killing an injured man," he said.

" So I'd better recover fast, then," William said.

" I'm not- You're jumping to conclusions!" Nova protested. He covered his face with his hands, exasperated. " Masterson, you would snap like a goddamn toothpick."

" Try me," William challenged.

" God, I wish Diurn had killed you," Nova complained. " Then I wouldn't have to put up with this."

He went to leave.

" What, leaving so soon? Without even doing an-"

Nova grabbed him by the collar of his hospital shirt, dragging him up, and pressed their lips together, teeth clacking.

He had had enough of it.

He felt William's hand on his chest, and he tasted the bitter sweetness of chocolate, the strange coppery tinge of human blood. He wrapped his arms around his waist, holding him close; did not let him pull away or try to speak.

What a wreck his life had become.

Because, in the short span of two months, he really had fallen for William Masterson completely; a human man, from the DASS, the one who had wrecked his army and stolen victory from his empire.

Such was how raelis went, he supposed. Striking in the most unexpected of places.

Return......Next