Page 22 of Reformation
Ten was frowning. Cody cut in before ze could say anything to Jack. “Thanks.”
“I’m going to lock the bike,” Ten announced. “Cody, come with me so I can show you the code.”
Cody frowned but followed Ten back to the storage bay of the ship. “There is no code,” he pointed out once they were alone. “It’s DNA keyed; I remember because you pricked my finger for hours before you got it to work right.”
“You’re not going to freak out on me, are you?”
Cody blinked. “What?”
“You aren’t going to suddenly decide that you wish you had been a Drifter all along and dive into assimilating their culture and forgive them for all the awful things they did to you just because you’re lonely and looking for a connection?”
Cody parsed Ten’s breathless question out bit by bit. “Okay, first off, I’m not lonely. I’ve got you.”
Ten rolled hir eyes. “What about when I’m not enough for you?” ze asked snarkily, but the underlying discomfort was real.
Cody actually laughed. “When have you ever not been enough? Do you even remember our time on Perelan? Who was the one who took time out of hir busy schedule to come back inside and do martial arts with me that Iknowyou hated?”
“I don’t hate them, I just find them inefficient,” Ten defended hirself. “There are so many more practical ways to prevent someone from messing with you. Poison comes to mind. Amildpoison,” ze amended when Cody raised his eyebrows. “Just enough to make them fall down and not be able to get up and exact vengeance, which would give you time toreallymake them regret it.”
Well, that sounded disturbing. “Do you actually have something like that?”
“We’re getting way off subject here.”
“Right.” Cody took a breath. “I don’t wish I was still a Drifter. I might sort of wish I’d been able to find a place here when I was a kid, but I didn’t. They didn’t want me, and they didn’t give my dad much of a choice, and we left, and it was the best thing for both of us. I wouldn’t have met Garrett otherwise, which means I wouldn’t have met you, and I can’t imagine my life without either of you.”
Ten looked a bit shocked. “That’s … good.”
“And I do want to assimilate as well as I can while I’m here, but I don’t really give a fuck whether they like me or not as long as they get us where we need to go. My dad is what matters now, not me having a bunch of friends. I don’t need to make friends anyway; I brought my own.”
“Ha,” Ten muttered. “You mean I broughtmyself, that’s what you really mean. And it’s a good thing I did because—”
“I know,” Cody said. “I already know. I always know exactly how lucky I am whenever I’m with you. That’s how I feel, okay? We’re here, and I’m going to be polite, but the only person whose approval I need is yours. Got it?”
Ten’s mouth silently opened and closed a few times, the way it often did when ze was trying to think of a way to be verbally affectionate that didn’t make hir also feel overexposed. Cody took pity on hir.
“Let’s say it’s done and get back out there, okay? We’ve got some meeting and greeting to do, I bet.”
“Right. Yes.” Ten’s hands twitched, but ze kept them at hir side. “You’re still in uniform. We both are. Should we change?”
“Why bother? If they can’t handle us like this, they probably aren’t going to be any better if we’re in civvies.”
“Who would ever have thought that of the two of us, you’d be the one to screw convention?”
Cody took Ten’s hand and smiled. “Can’t have you getting bored. Come on.”
It turned out the termcommitteewas a drastic understatement. There had to be fifty people waiting for them in the little docking bay once they were out of the ship.
Jack swore quietly. “Let me do the talkin’, okay?” he murmured to Cody before stepping forward to face a woman with short, storm-gray hair and a face like an angry walnut.
“Corva, I can explain.”
“Explain a pair of strangers on board my ship?” Her voice was as dry as dust. “I’d hope so.”
“Cody’s no stranger.”
“That boy’s been a stranger since before he was born.” Cody was really glad he was holding Ten’s hand because it was oddly comforting to feel Ten’s nails dig into the back of his palm with barely restrained emotion. It was nice that he wasn’t the only one.
“He’s got news about Pandora. He needed a lift there. Ain’t like we don’t have the space.”
