Half a broken Wing - 7. Chapter 7

~Riley~

Fine nausea crept through Riley's stomach. For hours he and Cedric had talked about details, details of the marriage contract, details of their supposed relationship. But what had really triggered the queasiness was the ease with which Cedric juggled large sums of money.

“Five hundred thousand for an amicable divorce, if all the points listed are confirmed or negated by both parties. Cedric, are you sure?”

“Is five hundred thousand doubloons too little? I thought one hundred for every year...”

Life wasn't fair, Riley thought with a sigh. Some families had so much money they completely lost touch with it on a day-to-day basis, and some went hungry by the last week of the month at the latest, often despite being supported by welfare. But that wasn't Cedric's fault.

With another sigh and the thought that Cedric's over-eagerness and concern to give Riley a good deal was almost cute, he landed. The green neon sign of the pharmacy he was headed to glowed uncomfortably bright, the flickering of the a hurt his eyes.

A heavy click half behind half above him made him pause in his stride. From the group of garbage cans he had just passed, a head-sized spider scurried out hissing - the things usually didn't let anything bother them.

Uncertain - especially as another click sounded - Riley spread his wings halfway and then spun around as the heavy clicking became a staccato. With a squeak, he stumbled back.

A giant police spider struggled to keep its balance, the cop on its back- a wasp- grinned at Riley. “Sorry, son, Edwin here is still learning. Good boy.” The cop patted the young spider bull and tossed him a treat.

Riley inclined his head in a polite greeting and then turned away, shuddering. He hated spiders. Although only combative species such as wasps or hornets were assigned to spider patrols, every aspiring police officer had to accompany such a patrol for at least one semester during their time at the academy. He was almost glad that he had been spared that.

The pharmacy was large, freshly renovated and open continuously. In contrast to the lettering outside, the lights here were almost completely dimmed and Riley nodded briefly to Carl, the owner, before stepping up to a counter.

Jenny, Carl's wife, smiled warmly. “Hello, Riley, the usual?”

“Yes. What else?” He returned the smile and slid his card across the counter. He'd been coming here for years, had searched with Carl for alternatives to his medication - in vain, of course. When Andrew had helped him out by arranging a place for him at med school, he hadn't cared about the specialty. When he came here, he sometimes wondered if he would have been as content as a pharmacist as he was as a lab technician.

A young woman joined them at the terminal and looked over Jenny's shoulder. Riley knew the dark butterfly by sight, but since her sign only said 'Trainee, 3rd year' (or had previously said 2nd and 1st year), he didn't know her name. He wasn't interested enough to ask, or in other words, he didn't want to give the impression that he was interested.

“You see,” Jenny mumbled to her, “there's the symbol that the product is replaced from the top.”

“Excuse me?” Riley said, puzzled.

“Ah, you don't know yet? The blood pills you're taking are being replaced by double capsules. But I can't tell you exactly when the system will spit out the new version for you.” Jenny shrugged.

Riley raised a brow. “What are double capsules? Those giant two-toned things?”

“Oh, no.” Jenny shook her head, her dark curls flying. “It's a dual system, actually a triple, if you like. There's blood incorporated into the shell, then there's a layer of blood jelly and a hard core. The capsule decomposes more slowly and is designed to reduce the patient's blood requirement.”

“Ah.” Riley said skeptically. “And how am I supposed to know how much I should reduce my rations by?” Because he was stressed, pushing himself on all levels and not eating or sleeping enough in return, his need for blood was quite high; since he refused fresh blood, the pills were the solution.

The young woman made a soft noise and after Jenny nodded to her, she said: “For the average blood moth, the replacement is one to two. One capsule replaces two normal pills. There's a table in the packet that you can use to calculate deviations. These can be caused by diseases of the gastrointestinal tract or your own blood formation, for example.”

Riley nodded a little reluctantly, but there was no stopping the flow of words. Because Jenny was smiling proudly, he didn't dare to interrupt what she was saying. Only when the end came on its own did he remark, surprised but actually impressed: “You know quite a lot about blood moths.”

Flattered, she stroked an antenna. “My annual essay is about the known differences in the immune systems of blood moths. I have to finish it next week, for the exams. And, well, I think if we took a closer look at these differences, we could learn a lot from them for the general public.”

For the general public, not: for the minority of blood moths. But hey.

“Your word in the bosses' ear,” Riley returned with a forced smile, finally collecting his blood pills and turning to leave after nodding to Jenny.

Outside, he immediately took to the air. He was late for his shift.

But when his eyes fell on the CP - tower, he stumbled in his mind. Cedric was one of the bosses who could decide on research. If his soon-to-be-husband felt like it, he could order his research department to develop a substance that turned blood green.

Or he could give money to an external research group. Just as The Hospital had been financed: by various companies, a government fund and the Moon knew what. Had Cartwright Pharmaceuticals helped fund the project back then?

Riley shuddered, and it wasn't because of the faint wind. Sure, he could ask Cedric about it, but did he really want to know this when he was going to become a Cartwright in a few weeks?

With weary steps, Riley wandered through the changing room, away from his male colleagues. He always took locker number 18 which was in a side corridor on the far left of the room, away from the crowd, hardly anyone ever came here.

Monty's voice echoed through the room, distorted and drowned out, Mario grumbled something back.

But Riley no longer had the nerve. It had been a shitty shift, he was tired, Cedric and this completely crazy situation were also robbing him of sleep and composure. He didn't want to have to resort to sleeping pills, but maybe he had no other choice. He needed sleep.

Leaning his forehead against the locker, Riley peeled himself out of his lab coat and shook out his wings, then just stood there and breathed.

Footsteps approached, coming uncomfortably close, and then he lifted his head, surprised to see Alex turn a corner. Riley's face probably wore the same exhausted expression as the butterfly's and Alex also dropped his head against the locker.

“Hey.” Alex made as if they hadn't just spent eight and a half hours together.

“What a shitty night,” Riley returned, shaking his lab shoes off his feet. A crate had fallen on his foot earlier when they'd been sorting through one of the cold stores - just one of today's disasters - and his left big toe was still protesting. It didn't get any better when he slipped into his normal shoes.

As he straightened up he caught a glimpse of Alex's phone. “Is that your shift plan? It looks horrible.”

Alex grunted. “Not everyone has Sky Day off all the time... And hey, I'm a twilight butterfly, you can do anything with them...”

Riley grunted back. “Do you know what kind of begging that was? I had to haul tons of my mom, grandma and brother's medical records to the docs. Besides, I'm the one getting all the shit now. This great beta test, for example.”

Alex, his coat in hand, paused. “The beta test? That was Messmer's responsibility, wasn't it?”

“Because she volunteered,” Riley replied, then rolled his eyes. “But who was allowed to take over after she got sick? Who was allowed to spend the whole week tidying up the cold stores and taking stock while the system was running?” Matching Alex's disgruntled noise, he nodded and then paused as Alex shook out his wings.

Such beautiful wings... Alex's skin was a very similar shade of dark blue as Riley's, so was his fur, but his hair was bright yellow and there were cute turquoise speckles on his cheeks. But the wings were a masterpiece of white and dark blue and black, decorated with the same bright yellow and turquoise.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

Riley blinked frantically, feeling caught in the act. “I wanted to ask you something too, but you first.” He forced himself to smile, feeling rather idiotic about it.

“Okay.” Alex smiled back, his head half-lowered. He looked unusually shy. “So... do you want to have dinner together soon?”

Slightly confused, Riley frowned. As a group of colleagues, they occasionally went out for a bite or cocktail after work, or rather the others did, and he usually said no, but this... His stomach did a flip. “What do you mean?” he wanted to know carefully before he said the wrong thing.

“Well... you and me.” Alex shrugged. He certainly didn't miss the way Riley's antennae curled up, and his smile took on a teasing quality. “A date.”

Riley swallowed. When he'd started at med school, Alex had started his senior year there. They'd been assigned neighboring lockers and that alone had led to a tentative friendship, with Alex leaving Riley old school supplies and giving him advice while Riley developed a hardcore crush. What exactly had kept them in touch after Alex had passed his exams, Riley couldn't say, but Alex had probably put in a good word for him later, because normally, entry-level employees didn't get a chance at Cartwright Pharmaceuticals, at least not outside the humble office. Being colleagues hadn't eased the crush, even if Riley really didn't have a positive attitude towards workplace relationships after what he'd seen on the subject already at school. Alex's constant jokes in the bi direction hadn't helped either, even if he'd never officially confirmed it.

It wasn't until the beginning of this year, when Alex had raved about how serious he was about his girlfriend, that Riley had started to bury the silliness. The heartache had since subsided. And now this. Couldn't the question have come two weeks earlier?

“I'll... take that as a no,” Alex mumbled, openly disappointed.

“What, no. No, I- well, yes, no-” Riley stammered, squeezing his eyes shut as Alex looked at him in confusion. “Merciful Moon.” He rubbed his eyes and tried to uncurl his antennae, but they were downright cramped. “What happened to your girlfriend?” he asked, trying to buy himself some time.

With a hiss, Alex took a breath, then grimaced. “It came to an inglorious end. Embarrassing. So I didn't want to say much about it.”

Riley nodded. Thought about Cedric. About Troy and his mom. “I... I was actually going to ask you if you'd be my second best man.” Plain and straightforward. It felt better than saying no, because after all, he didn't want to say no.

Alex's eyes almost seemed to pop out of his head and he leaned heavily against the locker. “Sun, moon and stars! Riley Goswick, the declared single, wants to get married?” He sounded as incredulous as Riley had felt after Cedric's offer.

Biting his lower lip, he shrugged. “We kept it a secret...”

“I see...” Alex nodded, completely caught off guard. “Why do you need two best men?”

“He's a diurnal butterfly...”

“Wow...” Alex nodded again, then smiled wryly. “Well, I mean, sure. That's... a little weird, admittedly, but... sure, if you ask me, I'll take the honor.” He chuckled. “I'm eager to meet the lucky one.”

Riley's teeth ached at the thought of what Alex and his other colleagues would have to say about it, if he had to be honest, but he didn't want to think about that right now. Instead, he put on a smile. “I didn't realize you were into men too...” he deflected the topic away from himself.

“Oh, well, I'm not bi. Not really. I'm not usually interested in men. Only sometimes, there's a guy who is...” Alex waggled his eyebrows tellingly.

Ah, one of that sort, Riley thought a little bitterly, but before his newly flaring crush could cool down again, he met Alex's almost hungry gaze. His stomach was on a rollercoaster.

~Cedric~

A long, exhausting week lay behind him. There were no official announcements, but the most senior members of staff still knew roughly what was going on. Despite Simona and Carl, Cedric felt like he was suffocating from the sudden flood of emails, calls and responsibilities.

And that was exactly why he wanted to get out of his uncomfortable suit, take a long moment for himself and then eat in very comfortable clothes some of the stew which was waiting for him in the kitchen.

He had just fluffed up his chest fur, postponing the plan to brush it thoroughly until later, and had reached for the button on his trousers when there was a knock. But before he could open his mouth in surprise - his brothers weren't home - the door opened.

“Hey, Ced.” Cyril.

“What are you doing here?” Stunned, Cedric stared at him, Cyril grinned cheerfully back.

“Dropped Josh off. And apart from that: half of the apartment is mine.”

Withholding a comment on that, Cedric simply said: “Ah.” He nodded and indicated a shrug. Then he added: “This is my room. And normally you wait until you're invited in.”

Cyril's grin widened even more, taking on something mocking- or dirty? “We're identical twins. You don't have anything I haven't seen before.”

Riley's support for Cedric's new underwear was one thing, but he didn't want to show Cyril the lace thong in sky blue at all. “Don't you have any shame?”

“At least I have news,” Cyril replied, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded. It looked quite provocative and if Cedric hadn't been wearing the aforementioned lace thong, he would have simply changed his clothes.

“Namely?” He crossed his arms too.

“We're all officially invited to lunch on Sun Day, by Grandfather himself.” That sounded ominous. But that might just be because Cyril broke the news.

“Ah.” Cedric raised a brow. He would call Felicitas later to confirm this, but there was something about Cyril that bothered him. Apart from his presence.

“Oh, don't make such a face,” Cyril reprimanded, his face still mocking. “I'm really looking forward to hearing more from your fiancé. Josh has fallen from the clouds.”

Cedric bit his lower lip a little guiltily.

“I see.” Cyril winked at him. “Well, maybe it'll cheer everyone up to meet my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” Cedric almost choked on the word. “You? Don't make me laugh!”

“I've had girlfriends before.”

“Of course you have. Your little flings just got the title afterwards to give it a halfway respectable coating.” Cedric snorted, but at least Cyril had lost his grin. “None of them have been in your bed more than four or five times.”

“How would you know that, huh?”

“You've been all about sex since we were teenagers.”

“That's what the right guy says! Who here pays a slut to go on so-called dates? Oh, and trust me, Ced, when you bring that little bitch in as a betrothed-”

“Shut up, Cyril!”

“Why? Did I accidentally hit the truth? How embarrassing!”

Cedric had to hold onto himself to keep from raising his voice. “I don't believe in your girlfriend. How long has this been going on? A week? Two?” he said as calmly as possible.

“And I don't believe in your fiancé.” Cyril shrugged. His antennae had gone rigid with anger, even if his face looked relaxed. “We haven't been a couple for long, I'll admit, but I talked to Nolan and then threw out my plans to take it slow.”

That raised the question of what Nolan had told Cyril. If their grandfather was so secretive about his will that he didn't even tell his wife, he would hardly reveal it to Cyril on the spur of the moment if he had put conditions on the inheritance. So had Cyril only drawn half-right conclusions from the fact that Cedric had pulled a fiancé out of the shadows to match Nolan's sudden illness?

No, Cedric didn't believe in a girlfriend at all. He couldn't blame Cyril for not believing him either, after all, he was right about Cedric having paid for an escort service. He wasn't sure if Riley knew about it, but to work it into their relationship story... ugh.

“Are you going to propose a double wedding now?” asked Cedric slightly delayed- and mildly horrified at the idea that Cyril might say yes- but Cyril's grunt of disapproval said enough.

“Certainly not.”

The pause in conversation dragged on uncomfortably until Cyril simply left after a jerky nod- and left the door open.

Cedric took a deep breath, then stepped to the door, but didn't close it until he heard Cyril leave the apartment. And then he turned the key. Pushed the thought of Rico to the side.

Instead, he finally took off his trousers and socks and growled softly as the entire pile of clothes slid off the clothes butler with a rustle. But that could wait.

He would much rather take a look in the mirror. Sky blue looked good on him, even if a darker shade would perhaps contrast better with the pale yellow of his skin. He liked the way the fine lace emphasized the curve of his penis, nestled against his slender hips and disappeared promisingly between his buttocks.

Perhaps, he mused as his fingertips skimmed over the fabric, on his next online shopping trip he should also buy the panties with a hole in the right place.