A Fluffy Tale (13 page)

Zachary being Zachary, he insisted on it
being useful too. He’d taken a turn on the crutches, and pushed himself along
in the wheelchair for nearly an hour. But now he was sweating and tired, and
Julian could now easily read the signs that he’d done too much and needed a
break. Sure enough, Linis, who’d been off exploring with Pyon among the
undergrowth, suddenly bounded up and leapt gracefully onto Zachary’s lap. Linis
being an infallible barometer of Zachary’s wellbeing, Julian had learned very
early on to pay close attention to him.

Zachary remained silent as they walked
along the leafy, dapple-shaded path through the little wood, back to where
Julian had parked the car. His hands stroked Linis for a bit but then fell
still, and when Julian checked, he saw Zachary had his eyes closed.

“Tired?” he whispered, not wanting to wake
him up if he had fallen asleep.

But Zachary nodded—so he wasn’t asleep.
“Yes. Quite a bit, I'm afraid.”

“Want to head back?”

“No. We haven’t had lunch, and Leo isn’t
expecting us. Just give me time to catch my breath.”

That suited Julian just fine—he was in no
hurry to go back to the apartment and all his responsibilities. The coming week
would be a busy one—the first consignment of Leo’s possessions was arriving and
would have to be cleared through customs, then inspected before delivery.
Zachary had some intensive therapy sessions to attend, and now they were
getting rid of all attendants, it would mean more little tasks for Julian to
do. Not that he minded, but he was glad he lived so close by. Some nights, he
barely made it through his front door before he collapsed, dead on his feet.

One of the few perks of Zachary being in a
wheelchair was disabled parking spaces, more of a
necessity than a luxury. It had let Julian park not far from a pleasant picnic
area, and since they had come out of season and on a weekday, they had it
mostly to themselves. He installed Zachary at a table in the sun, since Zachary
preferred that, and then fetched the picnic basket, Pyon nosing around
inquisitively.

“Go away, nuisance, you can’t eat this
stuff, you know that.” Pyon chirped and flicked an ear. “I know what you’re
thinking. Don’t be rude,” Julian said, wagging his finger at his naughty kem,
who decided the best way to deal with it was to lick it and bat it with a paw.
Julian laughed and scratched Pyon’s head. “Come on.”

Zachary perked up a little at the sight of
the food—he’d worked up an appetite through all the exercise. Leo had continued
to insist on having everything catered, so the only meal they prepared at all,
was breakfast. Julian almost missed cooking for himself, but he had to admit,
it took a lot of strain off him. If Zachary’d had to allow a stranger to trawl
through his kitchen and cook for him in his own home, it would have sent him
around the twist. He had already started to make noises about making a meal for
them all soon—but it would have to wait until he could stand unaided.

Julian set everything out on the table, but
carefully didn’t serve Zachary so much as a bread roll. As soon as the cast was
off his broken arm, the man had insisted—and pretty damn rudely too—that he
would serve himself from now on, or starve. It was one of the battles not worth
fighting, so no one had bothered to argue with him. Even if he struggled with a
bottle or a can top, Julian just carried on talking to Leo and pretended to
ignore Zachary completely. Zachary, naturally, was far too stubborn to ask for
help but it had done him no real harm beyond not having a favoured food item
now and then.

But Zachary managed just fine nowadays.
He’d been working intensively to regain strength and mobility in his upper
body, and the second the doctors allowed him to bear weight, Julian was sure
he’d be back at the gym, rebuilding his wasted leg muscles. The lack of
exercise made him fret almost more than any other thing he’d suffered over this
mess.

They ate in peaceful silence, the sounds of
the park more than enough entertainment for them. The kems lazed in the sun,
being petted as their hosts ate. It was a day for a beer and a long sleep,
Julian thought regretfully. But he didn’t drink at all these days, not with the
car, and he didn’t dare go to sleep while he had Zachary to look after.

He cleared up and wondered if he should
suggest another walk. But Zachary still looked tired, and was apparently
comfortable. Activity for activity’s sake seemed really pointless, so Julian
just cleared up the picnic, dumped it in the car, then came back and plopped
down beside Zachary on the bench seat. Pyon climbed into his lap and squeaked.

“Yes, yes, cuddles coming up.” He picked his
kem up and hugged him, rubbing his chin on Pyon’s head. “Greedy little thing.
You should go to Zachary, he gives good cuddles.” He dropped Pyon onto
Zachary’s lap, which made the man lift an eyebrow. “‘m
tired. You look after him.”

“How irresponsible of you, Mr Godwin.”
Julian just raised a finger at him. “Oh, charming.”

“I'm
tired
.
You like petting him. Off you go.”

Pyon was more than happy to, and after
shaking his head in disgust at Julian’s laziness,
Zachary was perfectly content to have two kems on his lap.

Julian stretched back on the seat and tried
not to show how nice it felt when Zachary stroked Pyon’s fur. It was a bit
like…a feather, being dusted lightly down his skin, with a faint sense of
contentment that was pure kem underneath it. Normally he didn’t notice it that
much, especially when he was doing other things, but when he relaxed and
concentrated, he could let himself drift along with it quite nicely. It had
become his secret delight, a little treat he allowed himself, usually after dinner,
just before he and Pyon had to haul themselves home. Zachary always seemed to
end up with two or even all three of the kems on his lap or his shoulder, and
of course, he was never too tired to pat and play with them. After a long day,
for Julian, it was nearly as good as a hot bath.

Suddenly Linis yawned, stood up and
stretched, then picked his way carefully over to Julian, pausing only to
exchange a quick lick and chirp with Pyon who stayed exactly where he was.
“What’s this all about…Linis?” The big kem plonked himself down on Julian’s lap
and stared up at him with his saucer-like eyes. “Zachary, what’s he doing?”

“I guess he thought you weren’t doing
enough work,” Zachary said, his expression going a little stiff. “Linis, leave
him be. He’s done a lot today.”

But Linis merely yawned again and then made
himself quite comfortable on Julian’s stomach. “I tried,” Zachary said.

“Huh.” Julian scratched Linis under his
fluffy chin. “No one in your family will leave me alone for a second,” he
grumbled, stroking the soft, black-tipped fur carefully, occasionally brushing
it back to reveal the pale cream underfur. Linis was the handsomest kem he’d
ever seen, and definitely the biggest. He was simply gorgeous to pet.

Zachary said nothing for a bit, apparently
absorbed in combing his fingers through Pyon’s admittedly less luxuriant fur.
But just as Julian had lost himself in the delightful feel of Linis’s pelt, the
man said something in a quiet voice.

“Huh? I didn’t catch—“

“I asked, do you
want us to?”

“Want you to what?”

“Leave you alone.”

“Don’t be an arse. It was just a joke.”

“I know. I just…Leo and I have completely
monopolised you for over two months. When was the last time you saw one of your
friends? Even spoke to them?”

“Right now. You’re a friend.” Julian glared
at his companion. “What are you getting at?”

“Nothing. Don’t get angry, but I’ve just
been…you look tired. Not just now but…even Leo mentioned it to me last night.”

“I'm fine. No one’s forcing me to do this,
you know that.”

“No, I know. It’s all been a bit of an
accident, in more ways than one.”

Julian shrugged. “That’s how life works.
I'm happy, Zachary. I’d tell you if I wasn’t.”

“Of course. I…would you mind giving Linis
back?”

Julian frowned, but obeyed, much to the
kem’s displeasure. Zachary handed Pyon over with almost indecent haste.

“No need to be jealous—he still loves you
best.”

“It’s not…”

Zachary didn’t seem angry, as such, but his
face had gone rather red.

“Something wrong? Are you okay?”

“I'm f-fine.”

The stutter meant that was a flat out lie.
“Are you sure? I wasn’t hurting him, you know th—”

“C-can we not talk about this?”

Pyon whined miserably. Linis got off
Zachary’s lap again and came over to lick him. “Linis!” Zachary snapped. “Come
back.” His kem turned around and gave him a dirty look. “Linis!”

That was two firsts—Linis disobeying
Zachary, and Zachary actually being sharp with his beloved companion.

“Damn it, Zachary,” Julian said, beginning
to be a little worried by all this, “calm down. It’s not like he’s going to run
off. Linis, go back, he’s upset.” Linis yawned and ignored him. Julian,
flummoxed by this uncharacteristic reaction, gave Zachary an appeasing smile.
“He’s just in a funny mood. Maybe you should ask him to go inside for a bit.”

“I—“ Zachary’s mouth snapped shut. “He can
do what he likes.”

His hands were grasped
tightly in his lap, his cheeks
still bright red. Julian suddenly realised what was going on. Zachary
was
aroused
. Because Linis—

Oops.
It didn’t have that effect on Julian but then Pyon was smaller and…
He picked his kem up and dropped him on Zachary’s stomach, then nudged Linis
over to him as well.

“I'm just going to the loo. Mind them, will
you? Pyon, stay with Zachary. Linis, you stay too. I really don’t need you to
watch me pee.”

Zachary blushed even harder. Julian walked
away quickly before he made it all so much worse by laughing.

“Oh boy,” he said to himself as he hid
behind the rather ugly toilet block and gave Zachary—and everything else—time
to settle down. The man didn’t like being touched, and Julian had been sitting
there virtually giving him a hand job. He hadn’t
meant
to, but Linis was irresistibly touchable. The irony was that
Julian had to stop himself touching Linis’s host about a dozen times a day
because it came naturally to him, and because in his own prickly way, Zachary
was pretty damn touchable too.

All he could do now was pretend nothing had
happened—and keep his hands off Zachary’s kem, or at least keep them off when
Zachary wasn’t concentrating on anything else. Zachary had the worst personal
space issues of anyone Julian had ever met. He’d probably never let anyone else
close enough to pet Linis before but Julian sure as hell wasn’t going to be the
one to explain how this kem touching thing worked. That was what Leo was for.

He stayed long enough to make it credible
that he’d been caught short, and then walked slowly back. Both kems were
sitting on Zachary now, and to Julian’s relief, Linis showed no further sign of
making advances on him. What had got into the big guy’s head? Kems were so damn
weird sometimes.

Zachary wouldn’t quite meet his eye.
“Sorry,” Julian said, faking cheerfulness. “I think Leo needs to stop buying so
much good food.”

“If you’re feeling unwell, perhaps we
should go back.”

“I'm fine—how are you? What would you like
to do?”

“I…”

“Another walk?”

Zachary nodded, so Julian set up the
wheelchair again, Zachary transferred from the bench to the chair and off they
went, in a different direction from the morning. The kems soon rushed off to play,
leaving the humans to walk along in uncomfortable silence. Not for the first
time, Julian reflected on the fact that Zachary was a really poor
conversationalist. He would never talk about anything remotely personal, and
while he’d readily offer his opinion on other matters, particularly kems, or
any subject which didn’t touch him directly, he
wouldn’t express his thoughts about what he liked or disliked unless he was
pressed. Even then, it was like pulling teeth.

Julian figured it was as good a day as any
to learn a little more about his companion. “So,” he asked eventually, after
they’d walked for half an hour or so. “Let’s play a little game. You can ask me
any three questions you like and I have to answer them truthfully, and then I
get to ask you three.”

“Why?”

“Is that one of the three questions?”

“I don’t like this game. Why do you want
to?”

“Because I’ve spent all this time with you
and I don’t even know stuff like when you first kissed a girl, or what was your
favourite subject at school, or even your favourite colour.”

“None of that’s important.”

“Yes, it is. It’s about you, who you are,
what made you. Come on, Zachary, you owe me. Don’t be such a tight arse.”

He looked down and saw a muscle working
hard in Zachary’s long jaw. “And don’t get mad with me. It’s
just conversation.”

“Exactly. Trivial
nonsense to while away the time. What’s wrong with silence? What’s wrong
with solitude? I think I miss that more than anything else, the chance to just
get the hell away from other people and have some privacy. And you want
this…this…experience to be even more invasive of my privacy?”

Julian stopped and walked around in front
of the chair. “Hey! None of this has been set up to invade anything. I thought
we were friends now.”

Zachary pursed his lips. “I suppose we
are.”

“‘Suppose’? You’re cold.”

“People don’t interest me. You already know
this about me. What else could anyone need to know?”

“I think you’re a damn liar.”

Zachary’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Perhaps we should just go back.”

“I want to go to the lake. We’ve walked
this far, why should I miss out because you’re a misanthropic prick?”

“This isn’t new information. I don’t need
you to keep repeating it. I already know what people think of me.”