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"So this is it, huh?"
A quiet voice behind him, with shafts of sunlight through it. Kind of impressive given it was the middle of the night here, with their lone sun on the other side of the planet. The moon was bright, but there was so much cloud cover it was hard to tell.
Zayto stood up, cleared his throat, and turned, leaning his lower back against the railing instead. Guilt danced through him. He shouldn't be up here. Selfish to take time for himself, when everyone needed him to be well rested. He needed him to be well rested, too. Can't fight if you're exhausted. "Aiyon. Hi. I should be in bed, right?"
Aiyon made a 'come on, it's me' face and walked over to him, making his way between the flower boxes and pinwheels and some strange kind of contraption made out of wires and plastic and a single ostrich egg. Aiyon took up a spot just next to Zayto, and rested his forearms on the railing, looking out over the town. "We both should. But I didn't come here to scold you. Just had a private bet with myself that you had a new spot to brood. Makes sense that it's on top of Buzzblast. It's nice here."
It was indeed nice. Being up above everything hit a good balance with Zayto between being aware of what was going on, feeling protective, and not feeling responsible for every tiny thing. The air was cool, and the wind rustling in the trees almost reminded him of Rafkon, without that cognitive dissonance that would've made him too upset. A little bit of wistful was fine. Getting mired in grief wasn't helpful.
Though maybe he needed to let himself grieve, now and then. A thought for another time.
But - "I do not brood," Zayto said with the greatest of dignity.
Aiyon grinned. "You totally do. There's a superhero I was reading about, Izzy linked me to a website? Damn, what's his name. Guy in dark colours, when he's feeling all edgy he likes to go up high and look out over things. Has a cape."
"There you go. I don't have a cape, and I wear red." Therefore that wasn't him, right? He wasn't a brooder.
"I don't think that's the point, Zayto."
Zayto made a face at him, but he was already feeling a little better. Aiyon could and did get serious, but there were times when Aiyon was especially good at being... light. Easy. Letting things flow. He turned and leaned on the railing again, looking out with Aiyon. This posture was bad for your back after a while, but it was also pleasant to have some help holding yourself up. Just for a little while.
"Then what's this guy's name? Maybe I'll like him."
"Uh," Aiyon shifted closer, and bumped hips with him. He said uncertainly, "Flatman? Catguy? He's got all pointy ears."
"I do like cats," Zayto granted. "Maybe I'd like Catguy."
"I like him a lot," Aiyon said, and there was a particularly earnest note in his voice. "Everyone's gotta do what they gotta do to survive, right? And if Catguy needs to brood, that's okay."
And that was the first reasonably genuine smile that Zayto had managed for the last few hours. It wasn't that everything had gone badly today. It was just that everything in general was so much. He'd woken up from millions of years asleep, and gone straight into a battle, and it just hadn't stopped since. Solon and the others were all wonderful, and Zayto knew his duty. Wasn't like he was going to give up any of it. But it just. Hadn't stopped. Fights, panicky slides into barely managing to protect someone, disagreements between members of his awesome new team, easy decisions that sucked, hard decisions with no obvious answer. Just kept going, on and on and on, and he felt like his inner self was draining away.
Hadn't stopped.
Except for the occasional little moment where he got to try some new bit of Earth culture, or saw one of his new friends smile, or saw a significant piece of his heart revive and join his new team. He still felt like he was limping along sometimes, when other people managed more. Still felt like it was his fault, because he'd made the wrong call on Rafkon and because he was the leader, so everything fell on him.
But in those moments, he felt like he could just be himself.
"Everyone has to do what they have to do," Zayto said softly. "And what about you? What do you need?"
Aiyon's smile turned rueful, and he bumped against Zayto again. An arm went across him so easily, and Zayto once again wondered just how some things were natural to Aiyon. Zayto did okay with reaching out to others, but not like this. Maybe Aiyon'd made more missteps on Earth than Zayto had, but it wasn't for lack of trying.
Aiyon's arm felt so warm around him.
"I need to let my leader know that he's appreciated, and not just for being the leader."
Zayto broke into a smile, and leaned in to press his lips lightly to Aiyon's. He could do it, too, right? He could try for what he wanted?
Aiyon made a surprised noise, and stood up with him, without breaking the kiss. His hands came up to cup Zayto's face, one index finger drawing a little circle on his cheek, and Zayto wanted to laugh with the bubbles of joy rising up through him as his hands found Aiyon's lean hips. Yes, he wanted this, but Aiyon obviously did, too, and it was easy, and natural, and amazing. He found himself sliding into telepathic contact with Aiyon, who sent him cascading images, memories of Zayto with pulses of emotion, how he'd felt when he'd seen Zayto this time or that time. The images sped up. Flick, flick, flick.
Zayto was pretty sure he wasn't that handsome, but it was just so sweet that Aiyon saw him that way.
There was irritation, and amusement, and anger, and happiness. There was attraction. Understanding. Delight, and relaxation, because here was someone who understood Aiyon and wanted both him and his abilities as a knight, and a ranger.
And underneath it all? There was love, love, love, and a deeply rooted, unshakable trust.
Zayto was breathing hard, eyes wet, when they broke into leaning their foreheads against each other.
"Does Catguy have a partner?"
"Some guy called Sparrow," Aiyon said, his voice rough. "They fight together, and help each other a lot, and Catguy broods on rooftops when he needs to - but he's always got company when he wants it."
"Catguy and Sparrow," Zayto murmured. "That sounds perfect."