Page 56 of Sidhe
Nathan realized that he had just been given the closest thing to a ‘thank you’ this guy was probably capable of. So he grinned at Solrin, took the chance of patting him on the back a moment, and said, “Hey, man, any time. Always safer to hunt together.”
It surprised Nathan that Solrin reacted more favorably to his antics this time, not exactly smiling in reply, but not dismissing Nathan either.
As they began their search, Nathan pressed Solrin for details on nachs since he hadn’t heard of that particular brand of zombie before today. He discovered that if they found it, the nach would most likely be ‘sleeping’ since it was still light out. Daylight wouldn’t kill or even hurt it, but nachs preferred darkness overall and needed to spend a little time in the earth each day.
They checked through a few old buildings. There was a surprising amount of them, but then it was a tiny little town in the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere, so there was bound to be places left behind from people moving away.
About the time they were checking out an old barn that they actually had to make a pretty good trek to get to, Nathan started feeling antsy that Solrin wasn’t talking. Nathan couldn’t think of anything else to ask about nachs so the conversation had lulled some time ago. He really hated long awkward silences.
“So, uhh…” he started in, surprised when Solrin suddenly turned to him.
“Nathan, may I…” He trailed, realizing he had spoken over the top of Nathan’s words. “Sorry, you were going to say something?”
“Nah,” Nathan smiled crookedly, “I was just gonna small-talk, man. What were you gonna ask?”
Solrin nodded, more to himself, which he seemed to do a lot whenever he was unsure of what to say, which also seemed to be often. “Oh, I…I was just…wondering.” He paused there, as if that was a suitable place for his sentence to stop, just staring at Nathan again. Then he bit his lip and turned around to continue searching the barn. “Never mind.”
“Whoa, wait.” Nathan walked after him, reaching a hand to grab Solrin’s shoulder before thinking better of it. “If you wanna ask something, shoot. Is it case-related or personal?” Frankly, Nathan didn’t care either way since he just wanted to get Solrin talking more in general. They would never win this guy over if they finished the hunt in silence.
Slowing as he neared an aged ladder leading up to the loft above, Solrin turned back to Nathan. His face would have almost been impassive if he wasn’t frowning. When he finally replied, his words were blunt.
“You do not come across as homosexual.”
Nathan choked, “Uhhh…okay,” not really sure how to respond to that, “…thanks?”
Solrin’s frown deepened. “I only mean…” He trailed again, searching for the right words.
“Nah, I think I get it,” Nathan held up a hand so Solrin wouldn’t sprain something trying to think of a better way to word that, “and you’re not all that wrong either. See…Sasha’s the first and so far only time I’ve ever been interested in another guy. Took me by surprise, that’s for sure. I don’t even really think about it anymore. Stopped being weird to me a long time ago.”
Something sparked in that green eye for a moment and for the first time Nathan felt like Solrin was actually looking at him instead of through him. “You have been together a long time?” he asked.
Nathan considered that. What was long? It sure seemed long to him, the longest relationship he had ever had, to be honest, even though it hadn’t been a year yet. “I don’t know,” he said, “a few months? Feels longer. In a good way,” he put in quickly, despite thinking briefly of the Veil. “I was a little resistant at first, but Sasha’s more persistent than I am stubborn, and that’s saying something. It all worked out.”
Solrin nodded, as if Nathan had just explained a very profound paradox, which Nathan supposed his relationship with Sasha sort of was. “And your brother had no problem with this?”
Nathan snorted. “I’d almost bet that if I hadn’t wised up when I did, Jim would have been the one pushing me Sasha’s direction.”
“I see. I do not suppose…” he began carefully, head bowing for the first time in a while as he looked away from Nathan, “that you and your brother are not fully blood related?”
Nathan’s first thought was, ‘huh?’ followed by a swift ‘oh shit’ if that question meant Solrin could in any way sense the fae blood in Jim’s veins. “Dude, fully and completely. Why do you ask?”
There was no doubt that Solrin wanted to be honest with Nathan, but he pulled back anyway, said, “No reason,” and turned to climb up the rickety ladder.
Nathan knew he would have to get Solrin to come back to that subject eventually, but not yet. “Wouldn’t the nach hide out closer to the ground?” he asked, mainly because he didn’t really want to climb that thing.
“We should look everywhere. The other creature may have left clues as well.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure. Is that thing even safe?” He looked up the ladder at Solrin, who was halfway to the top by now. Nathan tried to tell himself that after flying with Sasha, and after facing far worse fears inthe Veilof all places, heights should not besomething that still tripped him up. But this barn was huge and that was a really high loft.
“I doubt we would hurt ourselves too severely if we fell,” Solrin said, whichsowasn’t comforting. Of course Nathan couldn’t just let the guy go up there all alone. If he did then it was almost certain that the nach, incubus, or both would be up there. Fate was always a bitch like that.
Nathan steeled himself as he gripped the ladder and began climbing. “So…” he talked to calm his nerves, “why the sudden interest in my love-life? Disappointed this sexy guy is taken?” He smirked to himself as he said it, even though it was a pretty ballsy thing to joke about when Solrin had the advantage of getting to the top of the ladder first.
It wasn’t an angry look that stared down at Nathan though, more incredulous as if he might, just might smile. “Why are you always trying to make me laugh?” Solrin shook his head before finishing his climb up over the top of the ladder.
“I don’t know,” Nathan shrugged, “might be nice to know if you can.”
Hearing Nathan say that seemed to spur on the very opposite reaction; Solrin immediately frowned. “I do not have…a lover, or…family to accompany me,” he said haltingly. “Less to laugh about, I suppose.” His gaze caught Nathan by surprise again, piecing and right on him. Nathan thought maybe part of that look was envy.
