Page 54 of The Naga

I glanced up at Dustin to find him watching me with a surprised look on his face, his blue eyes wide.

Silas and Touya, on the other hand, quickly and quietly snuck away, clearly not wanting to be a part of this drama. I wished I could run away with them too.

"Um, Khush?" Dustin asked, his voice full of questions, and I sighed.

"It was before I met you. I stumbled upon Quest's channel and I thought he looked nice, and I liked the things he talked about. It was just a crush," I said, peering up at Dustin. I'd hate for him to think I still felt anything for Quest, but at the same time I didn't want to hurt Quest by sounding too harsh. He was Dustin's closest friend, and I'd kill myself before I damaged their relationship.

"Well, that's true. He stopped replying to me weeks ago after giving me a polite excuse," Quest said, and I sighed. I was glad he wasn't making it out to be anything bigger than what it was.

"Wait. When did I ever directly talk to you?" I asked, shooting Quest a confused look, and he gave us a sheepish smile.

"I have this throwaway account I use to snoop on the chat server."

"Oh. You're IndieGamer," I realized, feeling a little unsettled. It felt like I'd been tricked somehow, and I didn't like it.

"You talked to him using a fake profile? After you knew he was into you?" Dustin demanded, and Quest ducked his head, looking a little ashamed.

"I just wanted to know if his crush had anything more to it than just, you know, fan stuff," Quest said in a low voice, and I relaxed a little. In a way, I understood what he meant. Being a public figure must be difficult. It would give anyone trust issues.

"It's okay," I said, mostly to Dustin. Reaching out, I took his hand in mine, and he glanced over at me, his eyes still troubled. "He was just looking out for himself. It's okay. If it was anyone else, you'd have told him to do exactly that, and you know it."

Dustin opened his mouth, as if to argue, then snapped it shut with a sigh. "Yeah, you're right."

"Okay, so can we all sit and have a few drinks now?" Quest asked, and Dustin nodded quickly.

"Did someone say drinks?" Silas asked, as always appearing from thin air. Touya was right by his side, and they both placed trays full of drinks on the table.

"Shots?" Dustin asked with a raised brow, and I shrugged before downing one. While I didn't drink often, I had a high tolerance for them like most supes.

As the night progressed, we somehow ended up in a drinking competition. Dustin was on refill duty since he'd declared himself the designated driver, so it was just Touya, Silas, Quest, and me.

Touya called it after six shots, and then Quest after eleven, which was pretty damned impressive for a human.

Silas and I, though? We kept going until Dustin declared there were no more drinks, which had to be a lie, but I was buzzed enough to not notice right then.

Touya dragged Silas onto the dance floor, and then I told Dustin to go dance with Quest. I didn't want him to not have fun because of me, and we could always dance together at home where I wasn't disguising myself.

We ended up staying until last call, and despite the rough start to our evening, we ended up having a lot of fun.

Dustin drove on our way back to the Sanctuary, and Touya sat with him in the front while Silas took the back with me. He was a little drunker than me, probably because he was half-human, and he spent the whole drive singing, his voice loud and slurry and very entertaining.

I wasn't drunk enough to miss the opportunity to catch him on video, and I saved the file for a rainy day, knowing sooner or later, I'd find the perfect use for it.

Once we reached the Sanctuary, I had to help Touya carry Silas home since he kept tumbling about, and his poor human mate just wasn't built to support a drunk troll, especially whenhe'd shifted into his troll form as soon as we stepped into the Sanctuary.

After dropping Silas off, Dustin and I made our way home, our arms linked together as I swayed gently into him.

"About what Quest said," I started to say as we stepped into our cabin, and Dustin shushed me, placing his palm on my mouth.

"You don't have to worry, Khush. Like you said, it was before we met, and it's not like you guys did anything. Quest is an amazing person, and so are you. There's a very good chance the two of you could have ended up together."

"Maybe that's why Fate sent you to me the first time I stepped outside the Sanctuary," I said, meeting his gaze as I slowly led him into the downstairs bedroom so we could change out of our outside clothes. "Because she knew Quest and I weren't the right match, and she didn't want us to get our hearts broken."

"Yeah. If you'd dated Quest, I could've never dated you. You know, bros before hos and all that," Dustin said with a smirk, and I chuckled softly.

I'd always wondered what had made me lucky enough to find Dustin so quickly, but I felt like this truly was the answer. Fate had seen our paths crossing in the wrong way, and she'd corrected the course. I was glad she had. The other route would've just caused everyone so much pain.

After I helped Dustin change into his sleepwear, which was basically just a really old, really big hoodie, we made our way upstairs and slid under the covers, leaving the door open for Scrappy.

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