When he saw me, the tight frown on his face fell and he grinned big and wide, and I swear I could almost sense just by seeing his smile why he was kicked out of the colony for being ‘maliciously mischievous’ – his smile was big and playful, but there was a very clear meanness to it, razor sharp and dangerous. “Laurie?” He called as he quickened his pace, his voice playful but deep, deceptively boyish.

I smiled back and nodded. “Hello, Gideon.” He offered his hand as he approached and I took it, shaking it briefly, “Thank you so much for meeting me – you look great!” I gave him a quick one over. Gideon was less discrete in how his gaze dragged down my body, and I hoped he liked what he saw as much as I did.

He laughed. “Thanks, I borrowed some of my…” He paused, seemingly thinking on that. “Cousin’s husband’s brother’s clothes.” He said carefully with a bright gaze directed upward, looking back down to me then. “Yeah, I think that’s right!” He laughed. “Sorry I’m late, I’m fucking late to everything. It’s genetic, I think.”

“Actually, you’re just in time.” I said with a smile, Gideon’s grin widening as he tilted his head back a little, “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah sure, I could eat,” He said, his dark gaze dragging over me again. “This is fucking wild. I can’t believe I’m on a date with a man.” He mumbled as I led him toward one of the most popular restaurants, one style after those in Nippon with lots of small private rooms for eating.

I inhaled deeply through my nose, taking in his scent as I opened the door to the restaurant for him, my body shaking from the adrenaline of being near something as magnificent as Gideon, perfectly compatible. “Homosexual relationships aren’t allowed in the colony, are they?” I asked lightly as I signaled to the hostess at the greeting desk. I quickly signed that I had a reservation, what our number was, and she nodded before waving for us to follow her.

“For sure no – you even say something even relatively homo near where I was raised, and you’d be gone quicker than you could say ‘joking’!” He laughed, though it lacked any humor to it. “I’ve always said a lot of stupid shit off the cuff, but even I knew not to tempt fate like that-” He turned to walk backward suddenly, looking around. “This place is neat!” He said brightly, quickly twisting back to walk straight again, giving me a big grin. “Good choice!”

“Thanks! Everyone I talked to suggested it.” I said as the hostess came to a stop at a doorway, stepping back so we could enter.

It was a small room inside, a table with just two seats facing each other, flowers in the two back corner, the ceiling covered in branches with pink blossoms and small lanterns that gave the small room a soft glow.

It was romantic, intimate, and just very, very nice.

There was a split second where I struggled with whether or not Gideon wanted his seat pulled back for him, but Gideon quickly yanked a seat out for me with a cat like grin and I took it, thanking him before I sat down.

The hostess talked about what was being served today and we had a brief discussion about what we’d have before Gideon asked for ‘whatever was the most popular’, his big tight grin sharpening to something a bit dirtier when she left and slid closed the glass door fashioned to look like a paper one.

“So tell me about yourself – I was told you were from River colony?” I said as I pulled a napkin into my lap, smoothing my sweaty palms over it as I gave Gideon and his grin a polite smile. “I’d love to hear about that and your family.”

“Yeah, yeah - Amberhill, so a pretty good sized city in the colony. My Mom is the our matriarch’s favorite descendant, my dad is a carpenter. Um, I have just one sibling – I mean, I had. I had a younger brother that died at birth.” I softly apologized, but he shrugged, his smile twisting into something a little rueful, “My parents didn’t have any other kids...there was a bit of an age gap between us. He was ten years younger. He would have been fifteen this year...it really fucked up our family when we lost him. He was badly wanted by all of us.” He said shortly, drumming his fingers against the table as his gaze jumped around briefly, then cutting back to me, my mouth in particular. His smile softened to something more friendly. “So yeah, it was just me growing up. No other siblings.”

My lips pulled into a little smile. “That’s unusual for the colony, isn’t it?”

“Yeah...but Dad…” He hesitated, squirming a little, “I mean, he can probably have more kids, but he’s kind of lost the will, if you get my drift. He had depression pretty bad, on and off. I guess my parents marriage was arranged, and he was always one to think back on ‘what could have been’.” He said with a little laugh. “My parents have to go talk to doctors like every four months, but I think they’re resigned to the fact that they aren’t going to have any kids…” He frowned, “I-I don’t know if they’ll let them stay in the colony anymore since I’m not there to, you know, pull my colonial duties. I guess the hope was I’d marry and have a shit ton of kids to make up for them just having me, but oops!” He sucked on his teeth. “Or maybe they’ll have a better chance at staying in the colony since I’m not there to fuck it up for them.” He shrugged, but I could tell he was upset and trying to hid it.

“Well if they are pulled out of the colony, they can always come and stay with us, that wouldn’t be a problem.”

He grinned at me, “Cool.” His smile twitched. “My mom’s a total cow though, so I’d just want my Dad with us. My mom can go live in an outside shed or something.”

I let out a short, surprised laugh because I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. “I-I just wanted to say I can only wonder how awful it must have been for you to have your entire world taken from you, and how sorry I am that you got pulled from the colony.” I said gently.

“I’m not.” He said simply, looking me dead in the eye. “I finally get to fuck some men.”

I let out another short, shocked laugh, Gideon’s eyes dancing with amusement as he watched me. I grinned at him then. “There are advantages to being here, and that is one of them.” He gave a short nod, his smile falling when there was a curt knock, the screen sliding to reveal our hostess, bringing in a tray with our food. She started explaining what was in the food, but Gideon got glossy eyed quickly and after she gave me a glance and I nodded, letting her know it was okay to leave us.

She bowed briefly before she stepped back out of the room, sliding the door closed.

I licked my lips and sat up, leaning over my plate to take in the delicately arranged dish. It was artfully done and smelt delicious, the entire presentation the sort you’d see in magazines. I eagerly looked up to Gideon to see a bewildered look on his face.

My smile fell off my face.

He hated it. I could tell.

My stomach tightened and I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I frantically looked over our meals to find something to say to fix his mood.

Gideon reached out and limply picked up one of the delicately arranged items, the bits of petals and fruit falling off the top before he dropped the entire thing back to the plate with a wet, quiet thud.

I grew nervous instantly. “I’m sorry – I wasn’t sure what kind of restaurant you would have liked,” I rambled, “We can go to a different one-”

He waved a hand, cutting me off. “Whatever fine. I’m not a foody.” He frowned, picking up a piece of steak to pop it into his mouth, chewing it with a thoughtful look before he bobbed his head. “It’s fine.” He said with another wave of his hand.

“Tell me what you do enjoy.” I said as I poured him his drink from the little set of that came with the tray, sliding the glass toward him.

“Uh, well I loved to race horses,” He said with a bob of his head as he smiled at me. “I like going really fast and hard.” He said before he took a sip of his drink, keeping out gazes locked.

“Have you gotten the chance to ride any horses since you left the colony?”

“Nah – this is the first time I left Greater Lakes since coming out of the colony, and they don’t have many horses there.” He frowned hard, his gaze cutting down to his plate to pick up his fork and stab a vegetable, grinning as he glanced back up to me with a bright, excited gaze. “But there’s a lot of motorcycles – I was never into riding bikes, but holy shit, I was brought back from the station by Greater Lake’s FAN and rode with her on her motorcycle and now I want one so bad, but I guess you need a license or something!” He laughed, and it sounded forced and annoyed, “That’s so stupid, how much different can it be than riding a bike?!”

“Well it’s a little different,” I said with a chuckle, lifting my glass, “But if you know how to ride a bike, then you’ll probably get a grasp of motorcycles.” I took a quick sip. It was non alcoholic, but was some type of juice I knew was meant to bring out the more savory tastes in the steak, but I don’t think that mattered much to Gideon, who took a long drink and then quickly speared the remaining three piece of meat on his plate to eat them in one go. He then quickly did the same to the rest on his plate, grabbing my fork to stab through my dish before handing me my fork and insisting I eat. “My brother Roy had one that he used to go and pick up his mate when she was training to be a peacekeeper,” I said after I swallowed the forkful, chuckling when Gideon quickly stabbed through the rest of my plate and handed it to me, “And I used it a few times to get to class over the years. I’d be happy to take you to a course to show you how to ride.”

“That’s be awesome! Yeah!” He laughed, clapping his hands like a little kid. I laughed and he laughed as well, suddenly leaning forward. “So...do we get to have sex now?” He whispered around his big grin. “Like, we get to do that here in Liliport, right? You and me? Two men?”

I laughed a little, amused at his eagerness.

That explain why he just tore through his meal like he had been starving and insist I go through my plate just as quickly.

He wanted to speed run through the meal so we could get to dessert.

There were many ways one could court a sapien.

Some sapiens wanted a long, romantic relationship that slowly built up a partnership. Some wanted it to be all legal and strictly bound by the boundaries of a marriage contract.

And then there were those looking for a sexual relationship.

There was really no wrong way as long as it led to a loyal, long term partnership.

I gave a short nod, smiling. “We can- yes! Yes. Men can have sex with other men here, that is absolutely allowed.” I laughed as he squealed, clapping his hands. “We can go back to my place if you’d li-”

“YES, yes!” Gideon laughed loudly, “Holy SHIT, we get to fuck!”

I nodded with a smile. “I’ll alert the hostess then and we’ll head out.”

I pulled out my comm and messaged the hostess for the check, and ten minutes later, we were out of the restaurant.

Two minute later we hurried back in so Gideon could vomit in the bathroom.