Page 45 of The Jorogumo

Liam

After dinner, we stayed there talking for a while, until we were shooed out of the kitchen by the cleanup team, which looked to be from the Desert area, judging by the hard scales lining the backs of the arms of the person who carried the trays of dirty dishes into the back. Not to mention their slitted eyes with vertical pupils.

We walked as a group to the Forest, but once inside, people drifted off in pairs and on their own until it was just Haruto and I.

Haruto clasped his hand around mine, then gave me a smile, and I smiled back at him. We walked back to his house in silence, and my cheeks heated up once more when I remembered what I'd said to him before ending our call.

We'd basically told each other "I love you" without using those words, and I didn't know how to act now.

I knew this was too fast, at least by human standards, but I'd been talking to Dustin, and he said it was par for the course when it came to supernaturals. Actually, he'd said Khush and him had been even faster, while Silas and Touya had taken longer.

Conclusion: There was no 'right speed' to dating a supe. Things happened when things happened.

"Come on in," Haruto murmured, and I realized I'd just been standing there while he held the door open.

Sure my face looked like a tomato at this point, I stepped inside.

Making my way deeper into the house, I settled on one of the seats, and Haruto stopped in front of me, head tilted curiously.

"Are you okay?"

I sighed, then rubbed my palm over my face. I was anxious, but I couldn't quite decide what exactly I was anxious about. Was I worried about my store, or the fact that I'd practically told him I loved him?

After he said it to you first, my subconscious reminded me, and yeah, that helped a little.

"I'm okay. Just a little worried about the store thing."

Haruto was silent for a long moment, but then he lowered himself in front of me with his crazy, stretchy spider legs.

He cupped my jaw with his right hand, tilting my face up, and I exhaled shakily as I met his gaze.

"You will be an amazing owner, Liam."

"I think you're a little biased."

Haruto rolled his eyes, and I gave a very manly shriek when he leaned down and picked me up like I weighed nothing.

Walking over to his hammock, he sat me down before settling beside me, and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me as close as physically possible.

"The first time I came to your store, I was so damned nervous. I hadn't been out and about in the human world for quite a few years at that point."

I glanced over at him, surprised. Whatever I'd been expecting him to say, it wasn't this.

"Dustin had told me about you, about the store, but of course, he'd skipped how good-looking you are. Or how big." He shot me a smile, pressing a kiss on my cheek. "Don't get me wrong—I wasn't scared of you. You're human, after all. But I'm not good with people, and I was worried about saying stupid things or just generally doing something wrong."

I hummed to tell him I was listening, my chest all warm and gooey with the knowledge that even when he didn't know me,Haruto hadn't been afraid of me. I'd rather be a weak human in his eyes than someone to be afraid of.

"But then you smiled," Haruto said, his voice warm and ringing with a smile of his own. "And suddenly, I could relax. You answered my questions. You helped me find the comics I was looking for. You made socializingeasy." The way he said it implied he'd considered that to be an impossibility.

"I was just doing my job," I said with an awkward shrug, and he shot me a grin.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. You did your job, and you were great at it. When you saw I had to get someone else to open the door for me, you quietly made adjustments without ever mentioning it. You help Diego shop even though he doesn't actually buy anything from you."

I shrugged, swallowing hard. All this praise was making me uncomfortable, and my cheeks felt like they were permanently red.

"Your store isn't just a store, Liam. It's a safe place for all the geeks, misfits, socially awkward comic lovers, and everyone in between. You're the one who did that. You're the one who turned a simple store into so much more. And I know you'll continue to do even better things when you have full ownership and control of the place, like that comic-themed get-together we talked about before."

Haruto sounded so sure, so confident in my abilities, and I glanced over at him. How could he have so much faith in me when I didn't?

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