Hey guys — wanted to let you know that I’m going to be heading on vacation to Japan for a few days. If I can’t make it back by Friday, I’ll be sure to let you know. Love you both.
That’s what the message had read. Ryan read it over a couple of times, frowning a little as he responded. It was a positive response, just a simple ‘Have fun, be careful, bring me something, lol’, but he suspected that there was more to the trip than a simple vacation, especially with it being so sudden. If it was work-related, he couldn’t exactly interfere, and since he suspected that’s what it was, he was leaving it be with just his comment. After some thought, he looked up the other member of the chat, and shot her a text.
Since Nick’s up and being busy again, …should we take the opportunity to get to know each other better?
He pressed send, unsure of whether Alyssa would respond or not. She’d responded to Nick before he had sent the message, and, well…they should get to know each other, right? At least enough to not hate each other. For Nick’s sake, if nothing else, he felt. It took several minutes, but eventually she responded.
Sure, I’m up for it. When are you off of work?
I’m here for a while longer yet. We can meet up after, or you could head here if you wanted. It’s relatively quiet.
Let’s meet after, if you don’t mind. Don’t want anyone overhearing anything sensitive, if you get what I mean.
I hear you. I’m off here in a couple of hours.
Great, we can meet at your place.
…. I’d rather not. My roommate can be…much
Here at the motel then. Didn’t know you had a roommate. I’ll send you the info. Text me when you’re on your way. Bring food.
Ryan made note of the address and assured her he’d text, then spent the empty minutes of the night going over scenarios in his head, which did little to calm his nerves. He and Alyssa got along fine when Nick was around — but how would they react when he wasn’t? He eventually calmed himself down, and when his shift was over he picked up some food, then sent the text that he was on his way.
The motel was on the cheaper end of things, with doors that opened to the outside, rather than be contained on the inside of a building. He knocked at the garishly painted door, taking note of the sign to the place, and that you could rent it by the week. He couldn’t help but wonder if she’d managed to find work yet. Certainly not a place, it seemed. After a moment, she answered the door and invited him in, taking the bag of food from him when offered.
“Thanks.” she said, sitting down and digging into the bag.
“No problem.” he offered, taking up a seat at the small table across from her.
“So let’s cut to it first — what do you think of this… ‘vacation?” she asked.
“I think he’s working, and doesn’t want us to worry. You?” he countered.
“Sounds about right.” she responded, then took a big bite of her burger.
“I know this is supposed to be about us getting to know one another better, but I gotta ask…” he paused, feeling something bump up against his leg. Looking down, he saw a tiny kitten, who looked up at him and mewled. “Well, aren’t you just precious.” he smiled, leaning over to pick it up and place it on the table. The kitten was a soft little black and orange fuzzball, who butted its head against Ryan’s hand for pets, getting a satisfactory amount before trotting over to Alyssa and demanding food.
Alyssa smiled and then got up, collecting a small dish before opening a small can of food for the kitten, and set it down next to a bowl of water. Soon, the kitten was happily eating, and she moved back to the table. “You were saying?” she prompted.
“I was going to ask how you and Nick met, but I’m more interested in the cat. Is he allowed to be here?”
“She.” Alyssa corrected. “I’m not sure if pets are allowed or not, to be honest. But I found her and couldn’t just leave her to fend for herself. I looked — I couldn’t find the mama or any siblings, so I kept her. I’ll take her with me if I manage to find an affordable place.”
“Have you checked the outreach center? I know it was brought up before…but we do have resources to help.” he offered.
She sighed. “No. I guess my pride is keeping me away. I know I have some money, but it’s not going to be enough to last forever. Besides, I need to stay occupied.”
“I’m willing to help, you know. I know we don’t know each other that well yet, but you seem decent.” he said.
“Maybe later. It’d be nice to have someone to support me while I do it, you know? Nick’s been super busy, so I haven’t asked.”
Ryan was quiet, thinking for a minute. “Tell me about yourself?” he asked, sounding a little anxious about asking, since he wasn’t sure how she’d take the question.
She smiled in response, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “There’s not a lot to tell. I grew up in Texas, my family’s from Mexico, but I’m no contact with all of them, except my abuela, who still lives down there. I joined the military because it was the fastest way to get away, and I decided to try and make it a career.” she tossed a fry to the kitten, her face now turned to a look of annoyance. “Fat lot of good that did me.”
“What do you mean?” Ryan asked.
“Well, you might have heard that I got busted down for having a relationship with a lower ranking soldier. But my big oof was stealing from them for that vampire.” she shuddered a little at the thought of Alaric. “Creepy guy. But he offered a lot of money if I could pull it off. I’d be set for life, you know? So I did it, and handed it over.”
“Didn’t get paid?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No, instead he’s lording it over me, saying he’s the one who made sure I didn’t get criminally charged, but can change that in an instant if he wants to. Vampires are fucking evil, man. I don’t know why Nick puts up with them.”
“To be fair, I guess they’re like humans, in that some are ok, and some aren’t. I mean, I only know a couple, and as far as I know them, they seem decent. The ones I know, I mean. Charles especially.” he said.
“Charles I don’t know, but maybe you’re right. I know Brandon’s been ok with me, but look at what he did to Nick.” she said grumpily. “So what’s your story?” she asked, turning back to her food.
“Mine? Well…I mean, I guess I grew up ok. My parents were that conservative religious type, so they never knew I was gay. Never found the right time to tell them. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t stressful or difficult. I couldn’t do some things, and had to hide some of my interests.” he said.
“Was?” she asked.
“My parents died a couple years back. Never ended up telling them.” he admitted. “Why no contact?” he prodded, figuring asking was fair game.
“Kind of the same as you. Catholic household, into the traditional gender roles, and I wasn’t about that. They fought me about it all the time. My abuela is the only one to have encouraged me, so that’s why I only talk to her. The rest of my family doesn’t even know where I am. What interests?” she fired back.
“I’m pretty much a nerd. Geek. Not sure what term you’d use. But I like comics, superheroes, that sort of thing. I’m in nerd heaven with the MCU, for example.” he replied.
“Nerd.” she teased. “That’s ok, I’m half a geek myself. I’m a gamer – well, tabletop, not video games. I’m a casual at video games.”
“So, like D&D?” he asked.
She wrinkled her nose. “Eww, no. More like Shadowrun. Which, I guess could be called futuristic D&D. Not really into that high fantasy stuff – I find it kind of boring, to be honest. Tried watching Lord of the Rings, and fell asleep. That’s not to say I don’t like some fantasy. It just really depends, I guess. Oh, and Star Trek.”
“Kirk or Picard?” he asked with a grin.
“Locutus.” she said with a laugh. “Marvel or DC?”
“Marvel. DC just seems repetitive a lot of the time. To me anyway, though I won’t say there isn’t some good stuff.” he said.
“Good boy.” she smiled. “Hey, want to catch a movie? I think there’s a new MCU out?”
“Shang-chi, yea. And Eternals next month. I’d love to.” he said, feeling giddy.
“We can talk more after. Maybe get to that how we hooked up with Nick stuff.” she said with a smile.
“Sounds good.”
Alyssa got up, and made sure that the kitten would have fresh water for while she was gone, then grabbed the key to her hotel room. “Let’s go.” she said, smiling.
They headed out, with Alyssa locking up before getting into Ryan’s car. It took a bit, but eventually they found a cinema that had available tickets for the movie. For the duration of the movie, they were quiet, only commenting about something that happened in the film. Afterward, they talked over the movie for a while, before grabbing something to share for dessert and going back to the motel.
“So…Nick.” she began. “How’d you meet, how’d you hook up…you know… the juicy stuff.” she grinned.
“Well, we met in middle school. He, Rick and Ned took me into their friend group as a way to defend against people picking on me, and we just…we were friends first. Didn’t figure out I was into him until I was 14, and didn’t get the courage to let him know for another year. We started dating.” he chuckled. “It was so funny seeing the look on his face when I let him know.”
“How’d you let him know?” she asked.
“I kissed him. He had that stunned look on his face. You know it?” he asked.
“I think so. I didn’t see much of it.” she responded. “So, what was your relationship like?”
“Great. We were lucky – his family accepted us, and so did our close friends, but apart from that we kept our relationship quiet. I think it bothered him a bit, but he put up with it for my sake because of my parents.” he sighed. “At least until the end of our senior year.”
“That when he decided to join up?” she asked, a little quiet.
“Yea. We fought a lot. He wanted to do something he felt was right. I was terrified I was going to lose him.” he sighed a little. “Hell, I still am, what with all the vampires, and him being a magic guy and all. It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around.”
“He’s done things more dangerous, and survived.” she reminded him. “He’s nearly died at least twice, but was really lucky both times.”
“He has?” Ryan said, looking up from where he’d been petting the kitten.
“Hasn’t he told you?” she asked. Ryan shook his head, so she continued. “The shrapnel that shredded his knee…other pieces of it grazed him, but it very easily could have killed him. He was incredibly lucky. There was another time, though, when he got buried under a bunch of rubble. It took what felt like forever to dig him out, and we could barely hear his shouts…but we got him out. I think that’s why he wouldn’t go into the cave on the camping trip.”
“Damn… I had no idea.” he said. “Do you think he’s safe? I mean, with all this vampire stuff.”
“As far as I know, he hasn’t been hurt, unless you count that Brandon thing, which I still want to kick his ass for.” she said. “But it’s my turn to say how we met, isn’t it?”
“Oh…yeah, right. Distraction from the heavy topic is appreciated.” he said, picking the kitten up to pet.
“I happened to be on leave, and he was too. This was before shipping out from here for Afghanistan. We were at a bar, and he got into a bar fight. I don’t remember the reason, but he damn near hit me. It was interesting that he had the balls to even try, and it had to have been my gender that stopped him, because he seemed genuinely shocked when a few months later, he learned I outranked him. As for what attracted me to him…well, you know, his good qualities.
He’s cute, he’s devoted, he’s just a great guy, better than anyone else who’s been interested in me. So we tried a few dates, discreetly. That was before I ended up in command of his unit. After that happened, we got more involved, and kept things as discreet as possible.”
“How’d you get found out? You said you got busted for it.” Ryan asked
“In the hospital after he was recovering from the shrapnel wounds. I had been worried about him, and we were more intimate than we should have been. A couple people saw us. Since he was getting medically discharged anyway, nothing happened to him, but I got busted down.”
“That sucks.” he said. “But at least it sounds like we both had good times with him. So why’d you guys ever split?”
“Long distance. It was just too difficult on us. You?” she asked.
“The fight about him joining. Like I said, I was scared for him, and he was stubborn.” he sighed.
“Well, we shouldn’t worry too much if we can help it. I think he’ll be alright, especially with our support.” she said with a smile, then coaxed the kitten over. The kitten ignored her, hopping from Ryan’s arms to the bed, curled up, and went to sleep.
“Well, what about this throuple thing?” Ryan asked. “What are your thoughts?”
Alyssa tilted her head and thought. “I mean…I already said I’d be willing to give it a try, for his sake.” she said, referencing Nick.
“I more meant what kind of expectations do we have? We haven’t discussed that yet. I figured if maybe we can lay the ground rules, then we can tell him our thoughts.” he stated.
“I want Nick to be happy. I want to be with Nick.” she shrugged. “It’s that simple. I mean…Nick’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I mean that literally. As for what’s expected…well, en open relationship was mentioned, right?” Ryan nodded, and she continued. “So to me, logic says that if we want to have a one night stand, or date someone else, we should bring it up to each other first – not spring it on us later.”
“Bit bitter about that?” Ryan asked.
“No. I mean, the way Nick described his time with Brandon, it didn’t really seem like he had much of a choice, so I’m not holding that one against him. As for threesomes…” she trailed off, thinking again. “I’m not saying I’m against that – just that I’m not ready, or even how it would work between the three of us.”
Ryan nodded. “I pretty much agree with you on all points, just so you know. Nobody’s pushing a threesome, so don’t worry about it. If it happens, it happens. As for logistics…well, I guess we’ll figure that one out.”
“About this dinner Friday…if it’s still happening…what should I expect from Nick’s family? I mean, I’ve met his sister a little, but not much, and I don’t know anything about his parents.” she looked a little anxious at the thought.
“Kevin and Amber are great people. I wish so bad that my parents had been like them. They’re open-minded, welcoming, and respect you so long as you respect them. They love their kids, but I’m pretty sure they each have their favorites. Liv is, I think, Kevin’s favorite, and Amber has been having a hard time with Nick not being around. That started after he shipped off, and from what Liv has told me, got worse after he was injured. Now she worries about him that much more. I’m sure they’ll like you fine.” he reassured her. “Just try not to be rude.”
“What do you think Nick’s gotten himself into?” she asked quietly.
“I don’t know. I know he’s been to see Charles for therapy a lot. I mean…normally someone sees their therapist every couple of weeks at most, you know? But I think Nick has had at least a couple month’s worth of visits in the span of a week. I don’t know about what – Nick hasn’t exactly said, and Charles wouldn’t tell due to confidentiality. It worries me he’s been to see him so much. Why does anyone need to do that?” he expressed.
“I don’t know, but it worries me too. I’m worried about him getting in too deep with the vampires, and never being able to make his way out. I’m worried he won’t ever ask for help if he needs it.” she said.
“We should talk to Nick and ask him to keep us in the know, I think.” Ryan said. “Right now I think he’s keeping us at arm’s length so as not to hurt us.”
Alyssa nodded in agreement. “Those other friends of his might know something, but they also work for the vampire, so I’m not sure how forthcoming they’d be, you know?”
“Yea. I get tempted sometimes to ask Charles if Nick is ok, especially now with Nick jetting off to Japan tomorrow.” he answered.
“It’s pretty abrupt, that’s for sure.” she agreed.
They were both quiet a moment. “Well, why not?” Alyssa said.
“Why not what?” Ryan asked.
“Why not try to pester Charles about Nick?” she said, her smile slowly turning to a grin.
Ryan looked conflicted. “On the one hand, I’m all for it. On the other hand…he’s my boss, and I just got a paid job over there.”
Alyssa patted him on the shoulder. “I doubt you’re going to lose your job over concern for your boyfriend. Besides…we can always talk to him about our concerns if we want, right?”
“That’s true.” he said.
“Then it’s settled. Let’s go!” she said, grabbing his hand.
“Now?!” he said, stumbling a little as she pulled him up.
“Of course now. He won’t be awake during the day.” she replied.
“Okay okay…let me grab my keys.” he said. She dropped his hand so he could do so. “Alright, let’s go.”
As Alyssa reached for her room key, a loud knock sounded. “Who the hell…?” she wondered aloud. Ryan quickly moved the kitten as she headed to the door, just in case.