The Lunar Life Ch. 06

That fact, made both men happy inside, even though neither of them voiced this.

Before, both of them had been scared to be who they were, in the back of their mind, seeing that if word were to get out about their orientation, their whole world would have turned upside down and inside out. Now that it was out in the open and they could still behave normally brought them insane amounts of relief.

Of course, that's not to say that everything was as it was before. There were definitely a few distinct differences here and there. One of them, was the fact that both Thane and Will seemed to also be connected at one point or another when they were alone. During breakfast, their legs were intertwined under the table and during the car ride to the hospital, their hands found themselves locked together between them. In a way, it was kind of an addiction on their parts, and who could really blame them. It was only natural that, when tempted for extended periods of time, the desire for said stimuli, only grows stronger. Like hanging a tasty treat in front of an animal, always just out of reach.

But alas, like all addictions, you had to know when to stop. In their case, the public was the intervention in their little addiction. Varek had, with right reason too, told them that it was best not to let their relationship be known to the general public, and that was definitely advice they were going to heed. So when their hovercar pulled into the parking lot at the hospital, their hands finally unclasped each other, not before a quick kiss though.

The pair made their way to the elevator, returning to their mask of colleagues rather than lovers. It wasn't difficult for them too, with almost everyone they passed being too busy being to notice them walking by, let alone notice if they had any sexual tension between them. Well all of them, except one particular elite of course. The only person to even noticed their presence there.

"There you are. For a moment I thought you weren't gonna come." Tracey said in her overly chirpy voice.

"I said I'd be here didn't I?" Thane replied.

"Well I know that, I just...ugh nevermind." She stopped, looking past Thane and looking to Will. "Oh? Who is this? You didn't say you were bringing anyone."

"Oh right. Tracey, this is Will Harrison." Thane stepped aside, introducing us. Will extended his hand and smiled.

"Wait, Will Harrison? As in natal to elite Will?" Tracey asked, looking at Will in surprise. He nodded, feeling a little awkward looking at his outstretched hand, which Tracey had totally ignored. He cleared his throat and slowly lowered his hand.

"So you know about me?" Will asked, trying to dissipate the awkwardness he was feeling.

"Well duh. You're like the hottest elite gossip right now." Tracey said. In Will's mind, he finally had proof of all the stuff that Thane had told him about the girl. She really didn't behave like an elite that's for sure, something that Will wasn't sure how to feel about at the moment. On one hand, it was kind of refreshing but on the other, it just made him feel uncomfortable for some reason. They stood there for a good few seconds not saying anything, simply staring at each other.

"Anyway Trace, my dad's mentoring him and he's busy today, so I've been tasked to brief him on the basics." Thane interjected, sensing the awkward tension emanating off of Will, deciding it was time to bail Will out, even though he was having quite a bit of enjoyment watching Will squirm. He shot a small smirk at Will, and Will immediately got what was running thought Thane's mind, narrowing his eyes at the elite, silently scolding him.

"Ah, well before you do that, we need to discuss something about the project." She said, turning on her heels, the other two following behind.

"I swear I'll hurt you so bad later." Will whispered to Thane.

"I'll hold you to that." Thane whispered back, winking, making another blush creep onto Will's face.

"What are you two whispering about back there?" Tracey asked, turning her head back just enough to glance behind while still seeing her way forward in her peripheral vision.

"Nothing." Both men said simultaneously.

Thane didn't notice but Will did. The slight suspicious glint in Tracey's eyes as she looked at them. Will pretended he didn't notice, taking in his surroundings in an attempt to appear nonchalant. Tracey turned back to face forward, but Will could tell she knew something was up. Turning to Thane, Will motioned to Tracey with his head, silently conveying to him about her suspicions. Thane's head moved to Tracey, before turning back to Will.

'Really?' He mouthed, obviously missing the look that Tracey had given them.

'Looked like it.' Will mouthed back. Thane nodded slowly and slowly drifted slightly further away from Will. Through Thane's reaction, he only now realized that they had been standing a little too close together. He sighed and shook his head, continuing following Tracey.

Leading them to a quiet room, she stopped and turned, all the while going on about the details of the project to Thane. Every few seconds, her eyes would dart to Will for a split second before returning to Thane. This detail wasn't lost on either of them and nerves definitely started to act up, not only in Will but Thane as well. What bothered them most was not the fact that Tracey suspected something, but that they didn't know what it was she suspected. She could suspect that Will was a robot for all they cared, as long as it didn't involve them being in a relationship.

Tracey's lack of subtlety didn't add any sense of security whatsoever, what with her shifty eyes. The drastic change in her behavior didn't seem to be a coincidence either. Thane was used to her being an annoying, overly peppy girl but the quiet, contemplating girl was something that threw him off on so many levels. You could almost see the wheels turning in her head.

Eventually, Will turned to the cabinet located within the room, anything to keep his attention off Tracey, who was making him a nervous wreck. Picking up a book from the cabinet, he flipped through the pages but didn't take in anything of what it was about, his brain fretting too much over the female elite a few feet from him.

Unable to be in the same room any longer, Will had to excuse himself. He had to leave to try and compose himself. Thane clearly noticed everything too, but he seemed a lot better at keeping himself in check. "Excuse me while I go to the bathroom." Will said, leaving the room before anyone else could so much as utter a word in reply.

Exiting the room brought immediate relief to Will, no longer feeling so suffocated in the tense environment, but everything wasn't fine and dandy just yet. Feeling better, yes, but still not good enough to function properly. Swiftly swerving in and out of the various hospital staff, he made his way to the nearest bathroom, entering to find that, to his relief, it was empty.

Taking deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down as he supported himself against the sink, continuously rationalizing in his mind, that there was no way Tracey could know anything. There was no way. But then again, what else would she be suspecting. Paranoia dominated his being, constantly telling him that, yes she knew and she was going to do something to ruin everything. She was going to tell everyone and then life would definitely change.

The splash of cold water against his face helped knocked these thoughts from his head however. He needed to think logically and being paranoid wasn't helping him one bit. There was no point in fretting so much. Part of him suddenly wondered, if it was so bad if it got out. I mean sure Varek said it was best to keep it under wraps, but if it managed to slip out, he wondered if it would actually be as bad as he envisioned. Of course, he didn't know the answer to that. No one did, because as far as he knew, nothing like this had been documented thus far.

Still, Will had every right to panic, even if just a little. He had just been given something that he had never thought was never even a possibility, let alone achievable. He had Thane and, at least at Helios Grove, could fully and wholeheartedly be who he was. Suddenly, one appearance in public with each other, and already something was going wrong. It was enough to make anyone paranoid, let alone someone who was still trying to fit into this new lifestyle of being elite.

"Calm yourself Harrison. It's nothing." Will said to himself, as he looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. Smoothing his hair back, he took one last deep breath and sighed on the exhale. Shaking whatever bad thoughts from his head, he straightened up and marched out of the bathroom.

He took his time making his way back to the room though. Sure he felt better and he put away those thoughts, but he didn't have to torture himself longer than was necessary. He walked past nurses, dressed in the uniform he was so used to seeing, his own mother coming home many days still wearing it. No one paid him any mind, simply going about their own business and it calmed Will even further.

Maybe it was just Tracey being her nosey self. If you spent so much time being obsessed with other people's business, you just grew sensitive to it, and maybe that's why Tracey was being so suspicious about them; It wasn't that they were obvious or careless about the whole situation. At least that was what Will told himself in his mind. He counted himself lucky, since mind reading was not a trait possessed by elites.

Feeling a whole lot better than he was just minutes before, he stopped at the door he had barged out of a few moments earlier. His hand was already on the handle, about to enter when a voice stopped him.

"Will?" Will turned towards the familiar voice, silently cursing the odds. So much for not meeting anyone who could read his mind, he had to bump into the one person who could.

"Hi Mom."