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Titan

There was something wrong with Ezra.

Ever since arriving at Al’s dwelling following the conclusion of their work day, he had been restless.

Unable to sit for more than a few minutes at most, he had paced the floors and wandered aimlessly between rooms, but whenever Titan had stopped him to inquire what was ailing him, he’d brushed him aside, assuring him that all was fine.

But all was not fine. Titan could tell even without his touch telepathy that something was troubling Ezra, and it was raising his anxiety to maximum levels.

Why wouldn’t Ezra just talk to him? Did it have to do with Ezra’s issues around placing trust in others?

If so, that was foolish. Titan was great at being supportive—the greatest at being supportive—and Ezra had no reason to feel uncomfortable being vulnerable with him.

No, that wasn’t right.

Titan sighed and mentally corrected himself.

He was not the best at being supportive—he was still learning how to listen and be there for other beings, and it was okay if Ezra was not fully comfortable with him yet, as Ezra was learning as well.

Even still, true as it may be, it did not free Titan of his worries.

He sat on the living room couch and attempted to do what he had seen other humans do, which was ignore their problems by watching entertainment programs on their televisions, but he could not bring himself to focus on anything.

His thoughts always strayed back to Ezra and his odd behavior.

Could it be that Titan had injured him from the inside?

He had always prided himself on being well endowed even in his base form, but perhaps he had been too generous while creating his human endowment. Ezra had claimed to like it, but perhaps this had been a facade.

Unsettled and unhappy, he flipped mindlessly through the channels until eventually settling on the one that listed all the programs playing on the other channels in an endless loop.

“Master Titan?”

Titan startled, having believed himself alone. He looked over his shoulder to discover Kyle had entered the room, Secretary of Defense Buttons on his heels. Both wore expressions of concern, Kyle’s lips pinched and Secretary of Defense Buttons abnormally tense.

“Hello?” Titan greeted, a bit warily. He was not on unfriendly terms with Kyle, but theirs was still a strained relationship largely due to their history of unbalanced power dynamics. Ergo, it was not common for Kyle to seek him out unless there was some kind of problem that needed to be addressed.

Kyle and Secretary of Defense Buttons approached, Kyle taking the seat beside him, while Secretary of Defense Buttons rubbed her body along Titan’s shins, then jumped up and sat on his lap.

“Is something the matter?” he asked, scratching Secretary of Defense Buttons behind the ear in greeting. She purred.

Kyle twisted his mouth and said, “I am uncertain, Master Titan. I have come to you to see if you have noticed strange behavior coming from Ezra. ”

“So I am not alone in my observations.” Titan simultaneously felt vindicated and even more distressed. If Kyle and Secretary of Defense Buttons were concerned about Ezra, then it was not his imagination. Something was wrong.

“I spoke with him only briefly,” Kyle explained, “but he appeared to have much agitation at the time. He was unable to stand still, and cut our conversation short by abruptly stating that he was going to go take a walk in the yard.” Secretary of Defense Buttons meowed, and Kyle nodded sagely.

“Yes, and Secretary of Defense Buttons has observed that he has not been as affectionate toward her. He barely greeted her upon his return from work earlier this evening.”

Titan sighed.

“This brings me concern,” he said. “He has been behaving strangely since earlier today. We mated in the conference room while you were at lunch?—”

“Yes, I am aware, I smelled this upon my return.”

“—and stated that perhaps my human genitals caused him bodily harm due to their large size.”

“Hmm,” Kyle hummed in thought. “Has injury occurred when you have previously mated?”

“Not as far as I am aware. This is what brings me doubt.”

Secretary of Defense Buttons meowed.

“No, human genitals are not barbed as with the males of your species,” he told her. “At least, I do not believe that is typical, although I will admit that my experience is limited.”

“Huh.” Kyle tilted his head at Titan and looked at him strangely.

“What?”

“It is perhaps of no consequence,” Kyle said. “It is just… I don’t believe I have heard you express a lack of knowledge before.”

“Ah.” Titan’s shoulders slumped, and the feeling he now recognized as shame washed over him. He had not informed Kyle of the work he had been doing to become, as Ezra would say, “less of a pretentious dickhead,” but it still disheartened him to know that this was how Kyle viewed him.

“Perhaps,” Titan said slowly, “my inability to acknowledge my flaws was a flaw in and of itself.” He looked up at Kyle earnestly. “Ezra has helped me come to understand this.”

Kyle appeared contemplative.

“I’ve always felt sympathy for you, ?.Λ.yz’Ο,” he said in their native tongue, forgoing the title of “master” as he addressed him. Titan furrowed his brow.

“Sympathy?” he asked, also switching over to Darvrokian. “I’m starting to understand just how spoiled I’ve been my whole life—why would that make you feel sympathy for me?”

“Because with that spoiling came expectations that no child should ever have to shoulder,” Kyle explained, voice soft and kind in a way it had never been before.

It reminded Titan of the way Kyle spoke to Al.

“Your parents—your father, especially—have had your entire life mapped out for you since the day you hatched. You’ve always seen yourself as great, but that’s because you’ve never been allowed to be anything but great.

I didn’t like seeing that when you were little, and I still don’t like it now.

” He smiled wistfully. “I’m glad that you have Ezra in your life to help you discover who you are without your parents’ expectations. ”

Secretary of Defense Buttons jumped off Titan’s lap and meandered out of the room without a goodbye, but Titan did not pay her any mind. He shifted to face Kyle more fully. He said, in English this time, “I must give sorries to you.”

“Sorries? For what?”

“I have mistreated you in the past. I have treated you solely as a servant to our family, rather than a member of it. I have been envious of your close relationship with my siblings, particularly with Al, but I believe I am beginning to understand that it is my own actions that have prevented us from having a more familial rapport. You mean a great deal to me, and I hope that you will accept my sorries for my behavior. ”

Kyle smiled warmly. He touched his two index fingers together in front of himself—a symbol of generosity in their culture—and Titan mirrored the gesture.

“I have helped to raise you through many revolutions of our suns. I care for you as much as I care for your siblings. You need not have sorries, but if you insist on offering them, then I accept them.”

Titan lowered his hands to his lap, warmth spreading through him at Kyle’s words.

Part of him wanted to lament the time they had lost, but he knew it was a fruitless endeavor.

Lament would never change the past, and only action could change the future.

With that in mind, he decided it was best to be grateful.

He had made amends with first Al, and now Kyle, and all because of Ezra.

The love he felt for the human in that increment was immense.

“Have you spoken with your father recently?” Kyle asked then, and any good feelings Titan had were outweighed by a thick wave of dread.

As much love as he had for his parents, he could no longer deny that his father had caused harm to him.

Kyle had even said so. All his life he had never done anything but attempt to appease his father’s wishes—and had never once thought to question them—but as his self-awareness grew, so did his resentment.

His emotions toward his father were suddenly quite complicated in a way they had never been before.

“Not directly,” he said flatly. If Kyle noticed his abrupt change in demeanor, he did not mention it. “It… is possible that I have yet to mention my situation with Ezra to my parents.”

Kyle raised his eyebrows in surprise. “They do not know that you are to become a father? Ezra could deliver your clutch at any time. When are you planning to tell them?”

To be clear, he was not, in any way, shape, or form, ashamed of his relationship—whatever that relationship was—with Ezra.

On the contrary, Ezra was the brightest star in his life.

That being said, he had to admit that he did not relish the inevitable conversation he would need to have with hi s parents.

They respected Ezra and thought of him as an honorable human, but as was the case for all facets of Titan’s life, they had certain expectations when it came to his future bondmate and offspring.

Expectations that would not be met when they discovered the truth: that Ezra was an offspring of the reproductive criminal known as the Great Slut.

Titan opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to think of how best to explain this to Kyle, but he gratefully came to the conclusion on his own, saying, “Ah. You are concerned that your father will disapprove of your union with Ezra. You think that he will not believe him adequate, as he is not of noble birth.”