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“I honestly couldn’t tell you,” Rusty said flatly.

“Right.” The crests of Gem’s cheeks darkened, and he hunkered down to inspect his progress with Rusty’s foot. “So, you’re not gonna like this, but I think we should take you to an emergency clinic. This is gonna need stitches.”

“No clinics,” Rusty said, chest tightening at the mere prospect of being poked and prodded by someone in a white coat. “No stitches. Just… put a bandage on it.”

“Rus—”

“No clinics, Gem,” he barked, and Gem pressed his lips into a thin line, before he nodded in resignation.

“Okay, fine. I have some medical glue that should work, but the deepest cut is gonna scar.”

Rusty shrugged; he had plenty of those already. “I don’t care about scarring.”

After studying him for a moment, Gem retrieved a small bottle, some winged bandages, and a roll of gauze. “Alright. I’ll need to hold the laceration together until the glue sets, and it won’t feel very good. Sorry.”

With a heavy swallow, Rusty nodded, fisting his paws until the bones strained under his hide.

The gray hand on Rusty’s knee moved to lay over his closed fist and squeezed.

Normally, Rusty would have pushed Gem away, too annoyed or embarrassed to accept the physical comfort.

But the nausea and cold sweats were setting in as Gem prepared the medical glue.

“So you didn’t like med school, huh?” Rusty prompted, and Gem sent him a knowing, almost patronizing smile.

“No. I tried, I really did, but the professors just talked and talked, and it was so boring, and I couldn’t pay attention because my brain is an asshole.

Then I’d get fidgety, and the professors would get annoyed, so then I’d get annoyed.

And after, like, three semesters, I realized I hated my life, and staying in uni for another how-many-years made me wanna scream.

So I decided I wanted to be happy, and I quit.

” Using numerous hands, Gem spread the cuts wide and applied the glue, making Rusty hiss through his teeth at the burn. “Deep breath, babes.”

Rusty barely managed one before Gem was pinching the deepest wound closed and applying more glue. “Son of a bitch!” Without conscious thought, Rusty grabbed Gem’s arm, claws digging in as he snarled through the pain.

“Keep breathing,” Gem coached.

“I am breathing!” Rusty seethed.

A snicker escaped as Gem wrapped his fingers around Rusty’s wrist, thumb rubbing over his pulse point.

“You know, whenever I tell people I didn’t finish uni, they assume I flunked out.

I didn’t, though. My grades were good, all things considered.

I just wasn’t happy. Then I got the job at the cafe, and I loved it.

I get to talk to all kinds of people from all over, every day is different so I don’t get bored, and I’m constantly moving and doing things so my brain doesn’t get too loud. ”

He continued to hold the deepest cut closed while he used several other hands to apply winged bandages.

“And best of all, I get to work with my friends. Sure, some people look at me funny when they hear I’m almost twenty-nine and still working as a barista, but I don’t get why it matters.

As long as I’m happy, who cares, you know? ”

Leaning back, Gem smoothed the adhesive pieces of the bandages flat, then proceeded to add bandages to the other, shallower cuts.

At long last, he wrapped Rusty’s foot in gauze.

Through it all, his lower left hand continued to squeeze Rusty’s wrist, thumb rubbing soothingly.

As his muscles slowly unlocked, Rusty stared at that glitter-painted thumb circling his pulse point.

It made him want to shiver, even though he wasn’t cold.

The striped fur on Gem’s forearm was soft against Rusty’s palm, and for a moment, he sifted his fingers through the downy hairs. They vibrated, emitting a low hum, and it made him want to smile.

He didn’t.

When he glanced Gem’s way, he found the Araknis staring at him with all eight eyes, and he froze.

Then he jerked his hand out of Gem’s grasp and crossed his arms over his chest, avoiding eye contact as he mumbled an apology.

Gem didn’t respond, but Rusty caught the smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Well, that’s the best I can do,” Gem said as he secured the gauze with medical tape. “It’s still my not-so-professional advice to get stitches.”

“I’m good,” Rusty said as he straightened on the couch, inspecting his bandaged foot. “For what it’s worth, you would have made a damn good doctor.”

Gem paused in cleaning up his medical bag and glanced Rusty’s way. His fur vibrated, and he offered the Pyclon a sweet, almost shy smile. “Thanks. I think so too.”

As Gem rose and carried his medical bag back into the bathroom, Rusty set his foot down and tested it, adding pressure.

It ached, but he’d be able to walk on it.

He eyed his heap of soaking clothes and grimaced.

He didn’t want to walk home in them, but there was no way, in this life or any other, that he was stepping one claw out of Gem’s flat wearing shorts with juicy scrawled across the ass.

“Hey, can I use your phone?” Rusty called as Gem waltzed out of the bathroom, robe hanging mostly open over his bare chest and capri sweats. Rusty tried not to stare at the lean lines of his long body, but it was near impossible not to. Gem was annoyingly beautiful.

It had bugged Rusty in the beginning, when he’d first met the bubbly Araknis.

To be honest, everything about Gem had bugged him, from his cavalier, manically cheery demeanor to his gorgeous face and killer body.

The way he could move through the world wielding his pretty privilege to get away with shit Rusty never could.

At first, Rusty had assumed Gem was stuck up, because how could he not be looking like he did.

It had taken a while, but Rusty had finally put aside his bitterness and jealousy and admitted that Gem’s confidence wasn’t born of arrogance.

Gem was confident because he, more than anyone Rusty had ever met, knew exactly who he was and never apologized for it.

And yeah, Rusty had been envious of that too.

But regardless of the way Rusty had treated Gem—and everyone at the cafe, honestly—like shit, Gem had been nothing but kind and supportive.

He’d accepted Rusty with all his defenses and baggage, extending patience and kindness when all Rusty did was ridicule him.

Why Gem wanted to be his friend, Rusty would never know.

All he did know was that Gem deserved better friends than Rusty could ever be.

“You hungry?” Gem asked, jarring Rusty from his thoughts. “I have some leftovers I can heat up for you. ”

Without awaiting an answer, Gem opened his fridge and pulled out several to-go containers from an Araknis takeaway Rusty frequented. He had already eaten dinner, but his mouth watered as the scents of Araknis-styled noodles and marinated meat assaulted him.

Against his instincts, Rusty shook his head. “I should call a car, but I need to use your phone.” He held up his cracked cell when Gem cocked his head in question. “Mine’s busted.”

“First off, you’re not going anywhere. It’s too late for that, and I want to make sure the glue holds and you don’t bleed through your bandages.

You’re sleeping here tonight, and I’m not taking no for an answer.

Secondly, if it’s just your phone screen that’s busted, I can fix it for you.

Thirdly”—Gem pointed at the food he’d set on the counter—“are you sure you don’t want some ’cause I’m feeling peckish. ”

Rusty’s traitorous stomach rumbled, and he grudgingly shrugged. “I could eat, I guess.”

With a knowing grin, Gem shoved the food into his microwave, then breezed past Rusty and rummaged around in his bedroom behind the partition. “What kind of phone do you have?”

Rusty couldn’t remember. He’d bought it because it was the cheapest version that still offered the features he needed to run his online forum.

But since he didn’t want to get into any of that with Gem, Rusty just offered the broken phone to him when he returned to the living room carrying a box full of wires, cords, tools, and other various electronic supplies.

As Gem sat down on the couch and started pilfering through the box, Rusty slowly lowered himself back to his spot, curling his good foot underneath his ass. Gem inspected Rusty’s phone while his lower hands spread supplies and tools out on the coffee table.

“What are you doing?” Rusty asked .

Without looking his way, Gem said, “Making sure I have the right size of screen to replace this one.”

“Did you also study tech in uni?”

Snorting, Gem shot him a wry smile. “No, I just like this kind of shit.”

“Broken shit?”

“Sure,” Gem said, leveling several small eyes on Rusty. “Broken things can be fixed.”

“Not everything,” Rusty countered, and Gem’s hands faltered for a moment. “Some things are just broken.”

After an uncomfortably long pause, Gem nodded noncommittally.

“Maybe, but I think most things are repairable, given enough time and effort.” He angled his head, all eight eyes falling on Rusty, and for some reason, Rusty didn’t think they were talking about cracked phones anymore.

He squirmed under the unblinking attention as the Araknis added, voice soft and lovely, “And even if they’re not, there’s nothing wrong with broken things. ”