Sui Generis – 60

 

Tentatively, Lew walked toward him, stopping just close enough so that he could reach out and take his hand. "Am I that easy to read?"

Randulf smiled. "Sometimes. Not often, but yes—sometimes."

"I guess I'll have to work on that."

"Which way? To hide your feelings or let them show?"

"With you," Lew replied, "let them show. Then perhaps we can make this work."

"I'll have to do that, too."

Lew nodded. "It might help. You're pretty good at bottling things up and then exploding when they get too much for you."

"Bad habit," Randulf admitted.

"Very."

"I'll try to do better." Randulf tugged gently on Lew's hand.

Lew allowed himself to be pulled closer. "Do you think we stand a chance?"

"Yeah, I do. Besides which—" Randulf grinned "—we don't want Mag pissed at us so, we'd better give it a try. Right?"

"Right. Pissed off humans are a pain in the ass."

"Definitely."

Lew hesitated, his gaze searching Randulf's face. "May I?"

"I'll be upset if you don't."

"And I don't want that, so…" Sliding his hand behind Randulf's neck, Lew kissed him.

*****

Mag was grinning ear to ear when Brand finally got home from his training.

"Glad to see me?" Brand asked, a bit puzzled since Mag had been less than happy when they'd parted earlier.

"Always." Mag proved it by giving him a very enthusiastic welcome home kiss.

"Okay. That was nice but…" He quirked an eyebrow in question.

"I got my studying done, so we have the rest of the night to ourselves."

"After class," Brand pointed out.

"Well, yeah." Mag was still grinning.

"All right, do you want to fill me in on what's got you looking like a loon?"

"It worked."

"Mag…" Brand sighed, flopping down on the sofa. "What worked?"

"I guess I will have to fill you in."

Brand chuckled. "That would be nice."

"When I got home, guess who was here?"

It took Brand a second before he replied, "Lew? This is where he came to hide out?"

Mag nodded, sitting down beside him. "It is, though I forgot to ask why, but he was here and I had a long talk with him and then I got sneaky. Well, not sneaky, because he knew what I was doing but I sort of tricked Randulf into showing up, which he did and…" Mag took a deep breath. "They worked things out."

"Sweet, but… Don't tell me you were eavesdropping."

"Nope. I was good and went upstairs but before they left Lew made me come down so they could thank me. Trust me, the way they were looking at each other, their next stop was the nearest bed."

Brand laughed happily. "So your mission was successful. I bet there will be a few surprised Enforcers when the others find out."

"And maybe," Mag said seriously, "they'll stop disliking Lew so much. Of course, that's up to him and if he can tamp down on his ego. But I bet Randulf will see that he does. Or more, because they're together again, Lew won't feel like he has to be cock-of-the-walk just to impress them."

"And he really didn't impress them all that much. They used him because he's good at what he does, not because they liked him."

"As I said, maybe that'll change now."

"I hope so, for both their sakes." Brand hugged Mag. "You done good."

Crossing his fingers, Mag said, "I hope it works. I think it will."

Brand chuckled. "And if it looks like it's not, you'll have another long talk with them and make them see that it has to."

"Well, it does. They're meant for each other."

"Yes, Mr. Matchmaker, it does, and I suspect it will. But right now, I should go change. We do have school and…"

"Then you patrol for a while, and then…"

"We spend the rest of the night proving we belong together, too."

"Which we do," Mag said softly.

"Now and forever," Brand agreed, kissing him gently.

Mag returned the kiss with feeling. Maybe not forever, but for as long as I'm alive. And I guess that's all either of us can hope for.   

                                                   The End