Unsevered Ties

75. Begging Dogs

Chapter 75: Begging Dogs

“I’m sorry to come so late again…can I… Can I come in for a little while?”

Cerise stared aghast at Naki’s face, snotty and running with tears. He didn’t have to think about it, he simply hugged Naki to him, able to do so because of Naki. “What in the hell happened? I came to find you after I got Sega, but you were half conscious. You were sweating and clammy, you still are!”

“Just feeling a little off…” Naki didn’t fight Cerise, steering him to bed. He weakly lifted a hand to greet Liathan, who tried pretending he was a lump in the bed. “Hey, it’s just me. You can come out.”

“Oh thank the Gods, I thought Sega came to check on Cerise again. I’m glad he was tired because I thought I’d never see a specific piece of me again.”

“Fair, knowing that asshole, he’d go for the dick for sure. Make life a lot less joyful.” Naki climbed into the bed ungracefully. “Can I just lay here and get a cuddle pile like old times? I just need the comforting weight. We can add a pillow and pretend it’s Vio.”

“Yeah, of course, get in here, wipe your snot anywhere you want.” Liathan held out his arm so Naki could snuggle against him. 

Cerise slid in to sandwich Naki in, giving him a box of tissues. “What is this? What happened? Why are you sobbing? Where did this come from?”

Naki took a steadying breath, clenching the blanket with both hands. “My life is a flushed toilet. It’s just shit spinning everywhere chaotically. Now it’s clogged and just sitting there and stinking.”

“Okay…so who’s the shit in this scenario?”

“My stepbrother and mate. My fucking *step brother and mate.”

Cerise sucked in a sharp breath, clenching the blanket, which drew Naki’s attention.

“Cerise…no.”

“No wait, okay, I can explain. I only had an epiphany at the time with Nathan in the garden, okay? I promise you I forgot Aiden existed until it made sense as to why Sega would ever, you know, with Aiden. I couldn’t tell you. I thought Aiden would stop being an asshat and tell you! I didn’t know what you three had going on and it felt wrong for me to blurt out something you couldn’t remember. Don’t hate me!” Cerise squeezed Naki’s hand. “Please don’t hate me.”

Naki shook his head, “no I don’t. If you would have told me, I think my reaction would have been a lot more hysterical. I couldn’t be hysterical right now. You shouldn’t even be in the situation. Anyone who had to hide the truth from me was in the situation because he couldn’t speak the truth.”

Cerise hugged Naki. “When did this happen? Just now? Did that idiot tell you when you feel like this? Did he think you were dying and wanted to tell you, just in case?”

“No, your father, that crazed thing, came into my room. Well, I guess it was like a mirage. He showed up with his dramatics and had a grand time telling me. And your Godsdamn brother, why is he so intelligent but just does the dumbest possible things in any romantic sense?! That jackass told Rafeo to leave so he could do his bad intentions! He knew Rafeo would have decked him if I stayed in the Field, fucking lecher.”

Liathan grit his teeth. “Daaamn. I knew he could be conniving, but that was not a cool move. That was not romantic at all. So both of them lied. That’s intense, knowing your mate is your brother’s brother…does it weird you out? Is that the biggest thing here?”

“I…no it’s odd yeah and now it feels awkward, but I get how I can’t really feel weird about it because even with my memories, I still don’t remember Aiden. I don’t really remember anything before, just nice times with my mother. What good would bad memories do for me? And I don’t think I would hate him even still. I love him very, very much, actually.”