It was Keld’s turn to let sorrow cross his features—a home planet his species had abandoned before he had hatched. Earth was his home planet, technically, but the loss of Usoi was one that spanned generations of Mer.
“You know Miami is also kind of like visiting Usoi,” he pointed out. The plants are mostlyUsoi’nand the sand is a replica of the sand on Usoi too.”
“Yeah, but it’s all humanized,” Grayson said dismissively. “There’re lots of earth plants, the buildings look like the ones on the mainland, and the car roads break up all the nature.”
“Well, I’d love to take you,” Keld said, smiling. “Are you free this weekend?”
Grayson’s face dropped slightly. “I told Jenna I’d go with her to some class… Now I can’t remember what it was… Wait, did she even tell me?”
“We can go any weekend you want, don’t worry.” Keld kissed Grayson’s hair. “Just let me know.”
Grayson leaned on Keld’s shoulder and hooked his arm around Keld’s. They sat together in the pool, watching the plants glow and thekopishwork, until Grayson started shivering.
Keld then underwent a brief yet frantic search for something to dry Grayson off before coming back with a roll of paper towels, fins flat to his head in embarrassment.
“I’ve never had a human in here before,” he muttered, dabbing at Grayson’s skin.
He laughed. “I’m surprised you never brought anyone home from Siren, to be honest.”
Keld half shrugged. “I don’t have the amenities Siren does. And, as you can see, I don’t exactly have a human-friendly home. Otherwise, I’d ask you to sleep over.”
Grayson froze in the midst of tugging his shirt back on. “You want me to stay the night?”
Keld tipped his head. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
Grayson finished dressing himself, mumbling, “We’ve just been keeping this thing so… casual. At the club. I guess I’m just still getting used to you being…”
“Your boyfriend?” Keld supplied. His lips twitched. “You’re the one who set that rule. You told me we should keep it at Siren that very first day. I didn’t want to push you, so I tried to be content with what I had. Obviously that went over perfectly.”
“Shit, I did say that, didn’t I?” Grayson sighed. “Well… Are you sure this is what you want?”
Keld cupped Grayson’s face in his hands and kissed him. “I’m sure. I’m also sure I want to wake up next to you tomorrow morning.”
“That can be arranged.” Grayson stretched up for another kiss. “Come up to my apartment. I’ll wake up and spritz you with a spray bottle every hour.”
Keld barked a laugh, letting his hands fall back to his sides. “I have my own auto-spritzer, I’ll have you know.” He paused. “You don’t have to, if you’d rather take things slow.”
Grayson took his hand. “I want to.”
Chapter 26
Grayson
It turned out that Keld actually did have a device for keeping his scales from drying out. The Mer carried it upstairs amidst Grayson’s teasing with dignity, though Grayson spied the corners of his mouth twitching.
Grayson entered his door code and swung it open. He kicked off his shoes and gestured awkwardly to the space. “So… this is my place.”
“I know,” Keld said with a smirk. “I’ve been here once before, if you recall. Oh wait, you can’t recall because you drank your weight in prosecco.” He leaned in closer. “And by that I mean about two bottles.”
“Shut up, I’m not that scrawny.” Grayson had, in fact, forgotten about that night. “I guess you know where the bedroom is then.”
Keld hoisted the machine higher into his arm and strutted down the hall. Grayson watched him set the humidifier on the far bedside table.
“Is that thing going to make my room damp?”
“No. Probably.”
Grayson heaved a sigh. “I guess that’s the price of having an alien boyfriend.” The word still felt clumsy on his tongue.
