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“You don’t like my mate?” I ask through gritted teeth, not wanting to have to kill my older brother, but I will if he says anything against her.
“No, man. God, no, I meant what I said.” He turns to face me, leaning his hip against the balustrade. “I guess I never thought you’d settle.”
“Settle?” I’m not sure what he means.
He sighs. “Yeah, man, for a woman only.”
Suddenly it all clicks. Poor Malik hasn’t left Fluxx, so of course he’s been subjected to all of our traditional ideas, no matter how my parents have encouraged him to seek more.
“Mal, it’s not like that. Yes, my kraken mated Lila, but I’m not settling. Lila is Skarrian and polyamorous, so she has other mates.”
“Yeah, lucky her, but where does that leave you?” Malik grumbles grumpily on my behalf.
“Lila doesn’t mind if I play with her other mates. In fact, she loves the idea.”
His mouth drops open in shock, and he stutters, “But… She… Huh?”
“Mal, as much as I love Mom, Dad, and Fluxx, I would never return here to live full time. There is still so much stigma for same sex or bisexual couples. So much is placed on the idea that you can’t be happy unless you mate someone of the other sex and have babies. Being out in the galaxy and working for the circus where there are so many different races taught me that Fluxx really is a little backwards. I mean, mating outside of the same species was only really accepted in the last fifty or so years. That was very taboo previously.”
He looks like I smacked him over the head with a rock.
“Sure, there are still lots of planets who aren’t so tolerant of differences—the lightning cats being a perfect example—but I think that’s going to change soon. Races need to learn to adapt and change, or they risk falling into extinction.”
“So you’re not settling?”
“Nah, man, far from it. I have a warlock, a cyborg, and a Vilaxian, all of whom I’m fairly certain will happily tug my tentacles if I ask them to.”
“Wow.” He tries to put on a happy face for me, but I can tell he’s forcing it. Why didn’t I notice how sad my big brother is before?
“Hey, why don’t you come and work for the circus for a little while? With the babies coming, I’m not sure how much time I’m going to be able to devote to the act. Lila will be taking over the role of ringmaster one day, and someone is going to have to look after our children. I can’t expect Link and Xavier to do it every time, though I’m sure they would be thrilled to. You could take over my spot in the show when I can’t do it, and I’m sure we can find you something else to do when I am.”
My mind is racing with possibilities, and I feel excited about being able to help my big brother.
“I don’t know,” he hedges, and I roll my eyes.
“What do you have that’s keeping you here? You’re too scared to form a relationship with more than one person, so you don’t have any at all, and you just have meaningless one-night stands. Am I right?”
He nods sheepishly, taking a big sip of his drink.
“And you’re working with Mom and Dad, harvesting the moss. They won’t care if you decide to try something new for a while. In fact, I’m almost certain they would be thrilled. They probably know how unhappy you are.”
“Yeah, I haven’t exactly made it a secret.”
“No, you haven’t, and we would be more than ecstatic if you took your brother’s offer.” Our dad pokes his head out from inside where he has obviously been eavesdropping.
That’s the only downside of the barrier—we can’t see in because it’s designed to reflect the sun, so it’s mirrored. My whole family could have been standing there, and we never would have known.
He steps out onto the deck carrying his own bottle of beer. “I knew this was going to be a serious conversation when I saw that you started drinking so early, so I grabbed one for myself.”
“Will you and Mom be okay if I leave? There’s another harvest coming up,” Malik reminds my dad, who takes a seat at the table on the deck. He gestures to two other chairs, so we move over and join him.
“Your mother and I will be fine. I was just chatting with Neri and Felix earlier. They implied that they’d like to move back to this side of the planet. They want their children to grow up around the rest of their cousins. Felix’s extended family isn’t close, and his parents weren’t happy when he mated a kraken. They thought he should have mated a wolf, and his only sibling, who also mated a non-wolf, lives on this side too, so he would be closer to them as well. Both of them would be happy to join the family business.”
The table is quiet as Malik mulls over what Dad said, but I can’t hide my excitement. “See? Now there is no reason to say no,” I tell him as he drains the remainder of his drink.
He blows out a breath before standing up and taking his empty bottle with him. “Give me a little while to think about it,” he says, and I quickly agree.
“Okay, but Lila and I plan to head to Skarr first thing in the morning. You can come with us then if you want, or you can wait until the circus returns, which will be after the babies are born, so that would give you a little more time to think it over.” I offer the last bit somewhat reluctantly, but my brother has always been more cautious. He may need that time to convince himself it’s what he wants—or for Mom to convince him it’s what he needs.
