Page 20 of Five to Love Him
The server stopped at our table. I ordered coffee with cashew milk because I’d been woken too early and was feeling fancy. I took the easy option with the pancakes with fruit and homemade compote. The hive ordered a sandwich and a veggie scramble.
“Savory breakfast for you, huh?”
“Oh. We like both. But we heard good things about the sandwiches.”
“Fair. I had their pumpkin soup served in a pumpkin, and that thing slapped. I mean, it was only soup, but I had no idea soup could be so good. So what do I call you? It’s weird not having a name for you. Or would I need a name for each of you?”
“For each…” “We are not singulars. We are one.”
“I count two. Are you aware there are two people here sitting in front of me?”
They let go of their hands as if they’d noticed only now. “Of course we are. But we are not two, we are not distinct.” “We are the same. We would have come here as a whole, but the Moonlight is for mixed company, and we were afraid it would be too much. But while we are here, we are also at home.”
I sat back. “That means you can split into two? Have breakfast and do something else?”
They shook their heads. “No. We do not split. We are the same and we are one, always. We are about to have breakfast with two, and we are also at home with three, but we are all the same.” “To be all of us here would have been our preference. To give you all of our attention.” “We want to do that, give you our attention, all the time.” “Because you gleam, and we can tell that makes you ours.” “And for a name, we aren’t sure, but we understand that you want one, that you need to have a name to make us feel more like a singular to you.” “We just don’t know what to pick.”
I had to look from one to the other, and I could tell their nervousness was growing as they spoke. I couldn’t really blame them. The only reason I was not nervous was because of the lack of sleep, that weird phone call with the headprincipal, and because this idea of being mated still seemed unreal.
“Okay. No names then. I’ll just call you hive I guess?”
They nodded, one of them letting out a breath in relief.
“Thank you, Leopold.”
“Okay, sure. Sure, sure.”
The server delivered blessed coffee and topped off their iced tea. They watched me intently as I dumped some stevia into my coffee and then added the milk.
“We thought you’d understand. Because you were a human in a place not made for humans.” “That’s why we told you about the gleaming right away yesterday.”
“That thing where you said I shine?” I asked, putting my spoon down and lifting the cup to my lips and taking a sip. The coffee here was just as good as the soup had been.
“Yes. We thought being direct would be easy. Maybe we were wrong. Maybe we should have followed you to learn everything about you first.”
I nearly snorted the good coffee all over them and myself.
“Stalking. That’s stalking.”
One of them tilted his head while the other looked out the window then back at me. “Stalking is scary and comes with violent intent. We would never hurt you or allow you to get hurt.” “Never ever.”
“Well, that’s nice. You don’t happen to want to lock me in your basement to make sure I’m safe?”
Both of them narrowed their eyes at me. “We can tell you’re making fun of us, Leo, and we’d never do that.” “We don’t even have a basement.”
It took me a moment, but I grinned at the one on the right. He returned it, and the left one joined in.
“Look, to be upfront, I don’t know shit about dating. Never have. I’m probably not good at it. Probably not a prize either. I dropped out of college because—the reason doesn’t even matter anymore now. I lacked the drive, you could say. In fact, I’m so lacking in drive that I’ve been unemployed since dropping out. I’m living off what my dad and gran left me, and I’m living in my gran’s house. That is literally everything there is to me. I’m sorry to tell you guys, but if you thought I was some sort of great catch then you’re in for one hell of a disappointment.”
Both of them opened their mouths as if to speak. Instead, they reached out, each one taking one of my hands and squeezing gently.
“You are wrong. You are special, and we want you.” “We have waited to find you like all hives wait to find the one who shines for them. We don’t know you yet, but we want to learn everything you love and hate.” “We want you to tell us what is on your mind always.” “Always,” they agreed with themselves, which was confusing.
I said, “Let me at least finish my coffee first, okay?”
Both of them let out a breath in that synchronous way they had, and the one on the right released my hand.
“You’re right-handed. May we keep holding your left?”
