Page 90 of Hummingbird and Kraken

Then, he carried him back to bed.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “It’s… very hard for me to put you down right now.”

Declan squirmed. “Can we sit up so we can see each other? You don’t have to let go. I just think we should talk.”

Geir didn’t like the sound of that. He was probably being too possessive. Declan needed friends and cities and freedom. He didn’t even seem bothered by everything that had happened last night, while Geir was still panicking about losing him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this attached to someone. Maybe never.

Reluctantly, he shifted them both until he was leaning back against the headboard and Declan was straddling his lap.

“Let’s start with where you were for two days.”

Geir winced. This wasn’t going to sound good. He slowly uncoiled his tentacles, not sure if he deserved to hold Declan after what he had done. “I saw you with Rohahen. And I thought you were…” He wasn’t quite sure how to untangle that mess of emotions.

“Flirting with him?”

Geir nodded.

“And it made you jealous?”

Geir nodded again.

“And you didn’t trust me, so you disappeared for two days?”

“I…” he started, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. That was exactly what he’d done. “I didn’t realize what I was doing, until now. I wanted to get away and…” He trailed off. There really wasn’t any justification for it. “I shouldn’t have left.”

“So, from my side of things, there are four problems here.” Declan held up his fingers as he counted them off slowly. “One, Ro and I are way too much alike to be attracted to each other, as you would know if you talked to him for even a minute. Two, I told you that I’m committed to you, and you didn’t trust me. Three, you should have asked me what happened. And four, you didn’t tell me where you were. I couldn’t tell whether you’d been hurt or if you didn’t want me anymore, but either way, I was terrified.”

“You’re right about all of that. I…” He didn’t even know what to say to that mountain of mistakes. He hadn’t even realized what all of them were. “I’m sorry. I’m not very good at stuff like this. But I won’t disappear like that again.”

Declan sighed. “Geir, I know that I seem silly sometimes. Maybe all the time. But I need you to, well… it’s more than just not running away. If something’s not working, I need you to tell me so we can work on it together. I want you to be in charge. And I want you to take care of me. But you have to respect me enough to talk to me like an equal when something’s not working.”

“I will. Every time. I want to be good enough for you.” He hoped Declan could hear how much he meant it, even if he didn’t have all the words right. Whatever Declan needed, he would do it.

Declan smiled at him, and it felt like his chest could finally loosen. “All you have to do to be good enough for me is to communicate and respect me.”

“I will. I do. And I’ll try not to be jealous.”

“Thank you. I’ll hold you to that. And you can be jealous if we’re playing. You just have to charge in and claim me instead of running away.”

Geir didn’t always understand Declan and this was one of those times. His thoughts were just so different from Geir’s. So different from everyone he’d ever met. “So you… want me to be jealous?”

“Only when it’s for fun. What if I actually had been flirting with Ro, because I knew you were watching me. Then, after he left, you had to remind me I belonged to you.” His eyes sparkled.

“Remind you? I… oh.” Remind him. Geir’s mind began to fill with possibilities as he let his tentacles settle around Declan’s waist again. But he was determined to talk it through first. He’d already messed up enough by not talking. “Are you sure you want to belong to me?”

“Geir,” Declan looked serious for once. “You are the one that I want. And this is the type of relationship I’m looking for. I want a Daddy. I want to belong to someone. Not just metaphorically, but all the time. I don’t know if that’s something you want, but it’s seemed like it so far. I want to know that you own me. I want you to remind me of it all the time.”

Geir listened carefully. He wanted to own Declan so much that it burned. But he wanted to do it right. Declan had such different ways of looking at things. Geir just needed to understand it. “What does that mean?”

“It means that I like it when you don’t let me out of your sight. It means that I think it’s really hot when you carry me to the bathroom and hold me while I pee.”

Really? Geir hadn’t been expecting that. Now that he mentioned it, it was… yeah, it was really hot.

“Oh, you like that, too, do you?”

Geir found himself blushing. It was just the idea of taking care of Declan, controlling everything that he did, made something fiery and beautiful flare up inside of him.

“It means,” Declan continued, “that I want you to punish me if I’ve been bad and reward me when I’m good. I want to be taken care of.”