Beneath the Waves

Kin

Ria spent what felt like hours with Armin and Appo, listening to their stories, and telling them about her predicament. It was like meeting an old relative. They were like her cute gay dragon grandads and she had never been happier. They talked about what it was like to be different in more ways than one. How they had to live in secret, (Appo and Armin in more ways than one). Then, of course, they talked about Chris. The Chayal.

Appo was very apprehensive about the whole idea of them existing and being together. He called it shitty luck to be in love with your enemy in the first place. Ria joked about having shitty luck anyway and that it didn't surprise her at this point.

It was at that moment, all three of them laughing, that Ria's phone rang. She looked down at the screen and seeing that it was Chris she looked at the two old men opposite her and raised her brows,

"Speak of the devil" she said "Hi love, I was just talking about you"

"Oh... that sounds like a boring conversation" came Chris' response

"Nothing about you is boring, we were just gossiping" she laughed

"We...?" Chris asked

"Yeah... we...Why don't you come and join us. I'd love for you to meet my new friends" she said, looking up to see a nod of approval from Armin and a vigorous head shake and hand-waving from Appo.

"Remember that store where we got the Painite?"

"Apophis'?"

"Yeah that's the one, I'm there... or here... just get over here as soon as you can"

"You sound weird, is everything okay?" came Chris' reply

"Yeah I'm great... like actually great. Just move your ass and get over here, you'll understand soon," said Ria excitedly

"Alright, I'll see you soon then. I'm leaving now"

"See you soon," she said hanging up the phone. She barely put it back in her pocket when Appo chimed up

"Now why would you tell a damn Chayal to come into my store"

"She's my girlfriend. She's lovely, you'll see"

"No Chayal could be lovely. Hmpf. I don't like this, I don't like it one bit," he said grumpily

"You don't like meeting anyone, Chayal or not" laughed Armin.

Appo gently nudged Armin as to scold him for saying that, a smirk on his lips.

Ria loved watching the way they interacted. Like they were extensions of each other. They almost moved as one unit, each filling the other's negative space. This is probably what people meant when they said 'you complete me' and this is exactly what she felt when she was with Chris. They were just going to have to somehow make this work. They were strong enough, and their love was strong enough to help them through it. They had already become so much stronger and closer in these short few months. It felt like a lifetime ago that they celebrated their 4 year anniversary. So much had happened in that time that it almost felt surreal. It kind of was surreal... they had to make peace with a whole new world existing.

It was while she was sitting, watching the two old men interact having a conversation about what to have for dinner or something that they heard the store bell ding.

"That's probably Chris, she doesn't live too far away from here," said Ria standing up "I'll go get her".

As she walked out she heard Armin whisper (not very quietly) to Appo to "be nice". Ria appreciated that because in all honesty she had no idea how this meeting was going to go or if it was even a good idea to bring Chris here. But after spending the afternoon with these two old dragons, seeing the love between them, all she wanted was to put her arms around her girlfriend.