An Occasional Curveball - 1. An Occasional Curveball

“Can I speak to you for a moment?” Emrys asked. He was wringing his fingers together in small anxious gestures.

Aurek was intently focused on polishing the long blade of his favorite sword. Apollo hovered at his side, watching the other boy’s hands with an entranced expression.

“Is this important?” Apollo asked absently, fixated on watching those fingers work.

Emrys rolled his eyes. “Actually, yes.”

Aurek didn’t take his eyes off the blade. “Is this about your brother getting the new class of starships named after him?”

“It’s about—” Emrys started to say and then stopped, a puzzled frown forming on his face. “Wait, are you serious?”

Aurek finally looked up, studying him carefully. “No?”

The prince scowled. He thought the engineers would go with the name he recommended for the newly commissioned class of science vessels. A Hieronymius-class starship had a certain flair to it. The academy of science obviously didn’t share his sense of style.

“Typical,” Emrys sighed, tugging at the hem of his tunic. “No sense of grandeur.”

“They asked my opinion, and I said your suggestion was terrible,” Apollo said flatly. “I told them Gaius would be flattered if they named the class after him. They jumped right on that.”

“You are a traitor to your status as my closest friend,” said Emrys. “I would like that noted.”

“That lightens my heart.” Apollo laid a hand over his chest, and they shared a smile.

Aurek let out an exaggerated noise of exasperation. He watched them both with a fond expression that belied the noise. “As much as I enjoy your teasing, I believe you had something to say, Emrys. I would like to get back to my weapons maintenance.”

“Yes, I would like that too,” Apollo said huskily, his voice deepening a timbre.

Aurek beamed at him, completely missing the tone. “I’m glad you agree. Having a reliable weapon is important in the field of battle.”

Apollo nodded with a wide and indulgent smile on his face. “Of course.”

Emrys cleared his throat, smothering an amused smirk. “Well, I would like to think what I have to say is more important.” He tugged on his tunic again, the move betraying his nervousness. “I have been keeping something from you all. It only began recently, but I have become involved with someone.”

“A lover?” Apollo asked nonchalant, exchanging a look with Aurek that made Emrys nervous. “This is a first for you. Is this someone that we know?”

A bead of sweat started to form at his brow and Emrys nodded. “Yes,” he replied, still feeling reluctant to announce the identity. “You know this person.”

“Is it a male?” Aurek asked, smirking a little like he was biting back a laugh.

Emrys missed it as he was staring hard at the ground, fidgeting. “Yes.”

Apollo lips twitched. “Is it that nobleman from Lemuria? I saw him admiring you at the solar gala last month.”

“What?” Emrys grimaced, making a disgusted face. “I didn’t know that. No. It’s…It’s Admerion. The man I’ve become involved with is Admerion.”

At the declaration there was a long moment of silence. The boys looked at the prince and he stood frozen, watching their expressions with bated breath. Aurek went back to polishing his sword, and Apollo’s gaze slid automatically to the moving hands. Emrys was completely forgotten.

“Wait!” Emrys shouted, making them both turn back to him. “Well? I tell you I have feelings for Admerion, our teammate, who has been trying to court me for the last six years and this is how you react?”

“I’m sorry,” said Aurek, sounding anything but. “Would you prefer us to act surprised?”

“Yes!” Emrys snapped. Aurek dropped his sword, mouth open in shock and Apollo clutched at his throat dramatically. The entire scene was over-acted and it didn’t soothe his mood.

“I’m so surprised,” Aurek gasped.

It didn’t take but a moment for the prince to figure it out. “You already knew?”

Apollo’s face lit up with a wide smile. “For a while now, actually.”

Aurek nodded. “Admerion wrapped his arms around your waist during a training session, and you didn’t punch him for it, like you normally would have. That was the tip off.”

“For me, it was the love marks on your neck that you tried to cover,” added Apollo. “It was pointless to hide, since the two of you enter the dining hall together looking drunk on love. Or sex, it’s hard to tell really.”

“Do you think we are blind?” asked Aurek, and the question was said in a tone that sounded as if the boy thought Emrys was the one who was blind.

Emrys narrowed his eyes at their grinning faces. He’s starting to think that they’re finding amusement in this. He turned around and left in a huff. As They Above All as his witness, he’s going to find someone to share his news with and they will be surprised, shocked, and completely breathless. Or so help him.

-

The parlor room had soft teal walls with white light from palm sized stones that fitted into the corners. In the center of the room was a hexagon shaped table of gray metal. Above the surface rotated a holo image of a three dimensional structure. It was a mass of buildings, sleek with curving graceful lines, and arches, sitting upon a floating platform. Within the mass of skyscrapers and towers was a massive crystal dome.

“The city is currently at twenty percent completion. The neutrino-ion shield generators are being installed and will begin stage five testing in two weeks. Zero point crystals are functioning up to parameters and there should be no problems meeting the power target the crown has outlined for civil use as well as defensive and offensive requirements.”

The holographic AI of the Atlantis core mainframe turned to the two men in the room expectantly. King Oriens arched an eyebrow, surveying the rotating hologram of the incomplete city.

“Has security been maintained?” the King of Atlantis asked the AI. “I want this to remain classified. No one can know of this be they civilians, the faeries, and especially the Lords in Shadow.”

The AI nodded his head, a serious expression on his face. “Avalon remains rotated ninety one degrees out of phase with reality. Even then, its weapon arrays can easily destroy an Orion-class cruiser with ease if an enemy strike force determines its location upon Luna.”

Nat’ahn circled the table, eyeing the hologram evenly. “Hmm… it will be an impressive city once completed and everything is brought online. I particularly like the crystal dome at the city’s core. It’s perfect for the senate and coliseum.” He grinned at King Oriens. “I like it.”

“It has claws and teeth.” said the King, blue eyes twinkling. “Yet it’s a city of beauty and exudes peace. It will quiet some of the grumblings from the Beta Quadrant. I can see their viewpoint, but it still unnerves me they think I’m a dictator. I only want to bring sectors out of war and the darkness. Not conquer the galaxy.”

“You forget they think the Chosen are your foot soldiers and royal assassins,” Nat’ahn smiled slyly. “As public relationship achievements go, this will be exemplary. Avalon will be an excellent seat of power for your so—”

The doors slid open and the holo image vanished from the table’s surface. Emrys entered the room and smiled at his father. He received an answering smile in return.

Emrys stopped in his footsteps and nodded at Nat’ahn in greeting. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“No, we were just discussing department projects,” said Oriens, secreting a look at his advisor.

Nat’ahn turned to the AI. “Lan, thank you. Do me a favor and tell your dear creator that bears your face that I expect to see him in the dining hall for dinner. Or I will go to his lab and drag him out if he forgets sustenance is importance as reconfiguring the city’s databanks.”

Lan’s lips twitched and he dipped his head. “I will see to your command, Advisor Nat’ahn.”

He blinked out and Nat’ahn leaned against the table as the king lead his youngest son by the wrist to a couch.

“Tell me what has you looking so nervous, Leto?”

Emrys teasingly rolled his eyes at the private name. Leto, the ‘All-Hope’ was the name that his father had been calling him since he was baby. He was all his mother hoped he would be. He often complained that it was childish, but they both knew it was a lie. Anything of his mother was kept close and cherished. The name was one of those precious things.

“I have something to tell you,” said Emrys. “Tell you both actually.”

Nat’ahn stiffened. “Has something happened to the team?”

Emrys shook his head. “No. It’s nothing like that.”

“Is this about Gaius getting the new class of ships named after him?” the King asked, studying his face earnestly. “Listen, son, while your suggestion was unique—“

“No, I already knew about that,” said Emrys quickly, and then stopped. “Did you tell them that my suggestion was terrible, too?”

“Too?”

“Well, Apollo told them that and now you too.” He eyed his father critically. “I hope you are aware that you’re very difficult to love.”

Oriens smiled brilliantly. “You’re breaking my heart.”

They shared a grin, then Emrys' face fell and he swallowed thickly. “Listen, what I’m going to say will be difficult to process. It may sound unbelievable, but I have entered a relationship.”

“That reminds me,” said Oriens. “Be sure and tell Admerion that if he wants to propose that I fully expect him to ask me for your hand first.”

“No!” Emrys shouted rising to his feet, staring at his father’s growing bafflement. “Impossible.”

Nat’ahn cleared his throat, trading a look with Oriens. “I know marriage is scary, my prince...”

“Did he already ask you, is that it?” Oriens asked, sounding completely delighted.

Emrys eye twitched. “You already know?”

King Oriens blinked. “Know what?”

“You already know that Admerion and I are together,” the Prince explained faintly. “You know that we are in a relationship.”

“Oh, dear,” the King gasped, looking stricken. “Was it a secret?”

“I don’t see how,” Nat’ahn said. “They enter the dining hall looking refreshed every day.”

The prince’s cheeks went pink and he felt light headed. “So everybody knew that Admerion and I were together, but us?”

“It was bound to happen.” Oriens was smirking again. “Your souls are perfectly in pitch with one another. I can see the bond that link you shine brighter than the morning dawn. It really is quite extraordinary.”

Emrys' jaw dropped, awe shone in his eyes. “Are you saying Admerion is my soulmate?”

“Yes.”

“What?” Emrys was still reeling and finally connecting the dots. “You never said anything.”

Oriens looked at him like he was trying to judge the best way to answer. Then he slowly said, “I thought it was obvious.”

Emrys gaped at his father and then Nat’ahn, who had at some point tuned them out and was working on performance evaluations, and then back to his father. He closed his eyes and then squared his shoulders.

He faced his father, pulling on a determined expression. “I know you’re shocked but I love him. Please don’t try and change my mind. I am happy and he means so much to me. I will leave you with time to think through your shock.”

With that, he turned on his heel and quickly left the room. There was silence in the room for a still moment.

“He does love his dramatic exits,” said Nat’ahn, glancing at the door.

Oriens smiled. “He gets it from his mother.”

 -

Emrys exited the transport that deposited him in the hall that contained the apartments for the royal family. He took a breath and walked through the automatic doors into his brother’s room.

Prince Gaius looked up from the data crystal in his hand and took in the sight of Emrys. The perfect prince as the people called Emrys, just as lofty as his own title as the people’s prince, stood in the center of the room with his shoulders squared and his face set in a hard line. He looked like he was ready to do battle.

Gaius arched his eyebrow. “Is something bothering you, little brother?”

“Yes, well— no,” he corrected himself. “I have something to tell you.”

The Crown Prince sighed, hanging his head. “I told the engineers at the academy that I didn’t need a new class of ships named after me. Then they told me your suggestion…”

Emrys’ eyes narrowed. “What was wrong it?”

“It was…unsuitable,” Gaius settled with after careful deliberation.

There was a moment of silence.

“We are getting off the topic of discussion.” Emrys rolled his eyes. “I do have something to say. It has to do with a more personal matter, however.” He ran his fidgeting fingers over his tunic to calm his nerves. “You know how Admerion has been in love with me?” He took a breath and continued, unwavering, “The feeling is mutual. I love him—I’m in love with him.”

Gaius stared.

Something like elation swept across Emrys’ face. “Yes!” He barely resisted clapping his hands in joy. “I know the shock will wear off soon and this may come as a surprise to you—”

“I’m not in shock,” Gaius said, interrupting him.

Emrys froze. “What? But you looked...”

“I was waiting on you to tell me something I didn’t already know,” said Gaius. He cocked his head, curiously. “Wait—or was that it?”

Emrys’ face fell and his eye twitched. “How did you already know?”

“I have eyes,” said Gaius, like Emrys was a small child. He pointed to the younger boy, “Plus you have bite marks on your neck.”

A sigh left Emrys’ mouth and he stared at the ground, glowering. “Further embarrassment.”

At that, he was out of the door before the Crown Prince could utter another word. His apartment was across the hall and he was stalking through the doors before they slid all the way open.

He stopped in the middle of the room, listening. A voice, soft and warm like a summer wind, floated through the air singing a sweet melody that pierced through his black mood.

The balcony doors that led to the terrace were open and he followed the soothing song to its source. Admerion stood backlit against the rays of the setting sun. He was lit up glowing bright, violet and yellow and orange against the kaleidoscope of colors that was the twilight sky.

“Stars are fading but hope prevails,” Admerion sang softly, back facing the prince, as he stared at the luminescent orb that was the moon. “Chase back this endless dark and despair…”

Emrys felt his cheeks go warm at the sound. It sent shivers racing through his spine. Maybe, he thought, this was heaven. He could go on forever with only hearing this voice. Every day, now and to the day he died.

He walked forward and was at Admerion’s back before he could give it thought. Emrys’ slipped his arms around the taller man, and he smiled as Amderion didn’t even tense up. His body recognized him without sight, leaning back into Emrys’ chest, palms sliding down to rest on top of the hands caressing his stomach.

”Hmm,” Amderion murmured with a contented sigh. “Hello, princeling.”

Emrys placed a gentle kiss against Admerion’s neck, soft hair tickling his nose and making him smile. “I love when you sing. It’s my favorite sound.”

“I will sing for you every day, then,” Admerion promised, “And every day of forever. This I swear to you.”

“Charmer.” Emrys grazed his lips against the smooth skin at the nape of Admerion’s neck. “So I told everyone that we’re in a relationship.”

Admerion turned around in the circle of arms holding him, so he was facing the prince. He looked down and brushed their noses together and traced small kisses against Emrys’ eyelids. “How did they take it?”

Momentarily distracted by the tiny kisses, Emrys swallowed and said, “It seems we weren’t as covert as we thought. Everyone already knew. Everyone.”

They both laughed.

“Well, technically,” Admerion said, pressing their foreheads together. His lips were quirked in a tiny smile that was just shy of a smirk. “You have been mine since we were children.” The smile turned into a full blown smirk, then. “You were just the last one to realize it.”

Emrys gave him a mocking scowl and reached out to push at Admerion’s shoulder. Admerion let out a happy laugh and grabbed at the hand, pulling him forward until their lips met.

The kiss was slow, careful and soft. It was the sum of them and everything they felt, getting from there to here, all wrapped up. It was like tasting destiny.