Introspect [The Mating Games #3]

WENDELL ZERONE

With all the arguing and walking that they had done earlier, they had managed to work themselves up quite an appetite. And for that reason, Wendell and Troy found themselves in the best diner in the city for lunch.

The fact that his aunt owned and ran the place didn’t sway his opinion any. Or rather, that was what he told people when he told them of this place.

“How’s the beef here?” Troy asked as they sat down at a booth, the both of them glancing down on the menu in front of them. “The quarter pounder burger sounds pretty good to me.”

“It’s great,” Wendell hummed, still staring down at the menu even though by this point, he knew the whole thing off by heart. “I would recommend getting it with cheese. It tastes so much better that way.”

“I would but my lactose intolerance wouldn’t be a fan of it,” Troy chuckled as he closed up his menu and glanced up at him.

“You’re lactose intolerant?” Wendell asked curiously, making a mental note of this little titbit for the future.

“Not insanely so but too much diary makes me sick and that’s not a very pleasant sight,” he chuckled, not the least bit embarrassed of mentioning to his mate that if he wasn’t careful, his lactose intolerance would land him on the toilet. As it should be.

“What are you getting?” Troy asked and when Wendell looked up, he realised that his mate had been watching him this whole time.

“I usually get the steak,” he shrugged as he closed up his menu. “I think I’ll just go for that again.”

“So, I take it you’re not a vegetarian then?”

“Nope.”

“Good, me neither,” Troy chuckled, leaning back in the booth. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re clearly able to talk to each other so I don’t understand why we’re not able to talk about the elephant in the room,” Troy said, gesturing to the space between the both of them – the invisible elephant that was keeping them from being honest with each other.

“You’re quite confrontational, aren’t you?”

“And you appear to have a habit of trying to avoid conflict. Why is that?”

“I don’t usually avoid conflict,” Wendell admitted after a few moments, his lips pinched at the corners. “Usually, I’m one of the first to run toward it.”

“So, you’re a fan of drama as long as it doesn’t involve you?” Troy countered, quirking a questioning brow in his direction.

“It sounds bad when you say it like that, but yes,” he sighed, struggling with the feeling of shame and embarrassment that was quickly consuming him. “This situation has really thrown me off,” he admitted. “None of this is making any sense to me.”

“If you talk to me about it, maybe I can help,” Troy prompted, only pushing lightly. It was evident that Troy didn’t want to push him over the edge by probing too deep and for that, Wendell was appreciative. However, he couldn’t keep taking the easy way out.

Not when his future was staring him right in the face. Not when he was currently at risk of losing his feature.

And all because he was scared of facing the truth.

“Like I said earlier, I’ve never felt attracted to a man before,” Wendell began. When Troy didn’t interrupt him, silently prompting him to continue, he inhaled deeply before forcing himself to continue. “I’ve never thought of myself as possibly being gay before so this has come as quite a shock to me. It’s proving to be far more difficult to deal with than I imagined.”

“Do you have an issue with being gay?” Troy asked directly, choosing to avoid beating around the bush when the truth was within the grasp of his fingertips.

“I don’t have an issue with people being gay.”

“But you have an issue with being gay yourself,” Troy said, and the fact that it sounded more like a statement than a question both bothered and concerned Wendell in a way that he couldn’t quite formulate. “Isn’t that you just contradicting yourself?”

“It’s more of a confusion on my part than an actual issue,” Wendell was quick to correct his mate, not wishing to make an issue out of something that didn’t exist.

He was already struggling with the issues of his that did currently exist.

“Give me a moment and I’ll tell you all about it,” Wendell gulped, staring his friend directly in the eye. “I’m struggling to come to terms coming to terms with what I’m feeling right now, let alone explain it to someone,” he paused with a sigh. Briefly, he reached a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration, giving himself what he hoped to be an effective mental pep talk.

It’s now or never, his wolf tried to convince himself. You either speak now, or hold your tongue for the rest of your life.

This isn’t my wedding vows, he snorted at his wolf.

And with the way you’re going, you might never be able to recite your wedding vows to him.

I hate that you’ve actually got a point, Wendell sighed but before he could continue asking his wolf for wisdom and advice, Troy called out to him.

“You don’t have to talk about it right now if you don’t want it.”

“Trust me. I want to,” Wendell chuckled but the sound was far from natural. On the contrary, it was so forced that he was barely able to recognise himself. “I always thought I would be mated to a she-wolf, you know?”

“I don’t,” Troy denied, shaking his head gently. “I officially came out when I was a teenager but I’d know that I was gay for at least a year before then.”

“I wish that could have happened to me,” he exhaled deeply. “I wouldn’t be having all of these issues right now.”

“I’m a firm believer that everyone has their own journey and this one, finding out that your mate is male at the Mating Games, is yours,” Troy told him, his words more encouraging than he could begin to imagine.

“I just wish things weren’t so complicated, you know?”

“Let’s try talking about these complications.”

“I’ll try,” Wendell promised with a small smile. “Up until earlier today, I think I was still a little confused over the fact that before meeting you, I thought your sister was my mate.”

“You thought Rain was your mate?” Troy chuckled, looking more amused than Wendell thought he would be.

“I thought I felt this connection to her,” his lips curled up slightly at the corners, semi-matching the expression on Troy’s face but not quite to the same magnitude. “Or rather, I did until I met you.”

“I’m glad you felt the connection,” Troy said, a serious expression on his face as he stared intently at him.

“Even with the scent masking spray in place, I could feel the strong connection between us. It would be criminal of me to try and deny it,” Wendell said and when Troy couldn’t bring himself to respond, seemingly rendered speechless by Wendell’s sudden admission, he took that as his cue to continue.

With the roll that he was on now, it would be stupid not to.

“I feel like my whole world has turned upside down and everything is still spinning. Albeit, not as fast as yesterday but still spinning nonetheless,” Wendell told his mate, inching his hand further up the table to rest in the middle. “I’m still coming to terms that I’m not who I used to be a few days before. While I as a person hasn’t changed, the way that I view myself has.”

“That doesn’t necessary have to be a bad thing.”

“Yes, that’s the way I’m choosing to look at it,” Wendell nodded his head. “Slowly but surely, I’m coming to terms with the fact that my mate is a male,” he said and this time when he smiled, it wasn’t forced.

However, the waiter had very impeccable timing. Or rather unfortunate, depending on the way that you chose to look at it.

Their conversation came to a momentary pause when one of the waiters dropped by to take their orders. As they handed in their menu and he then returned with their drinks order, they both watched as he walked away; returning to them the privacy that they needed to be able to get through this conversation.

“I’m sorry for walking out on you like that yesterday when you wanted to talk,” Wendell apologised, turning his hand over in the centre of the table; palm up. When Troy didn’t hesitate in taking the open invitation, his smile only grew larger in size. “I can’t promise that it’s going to be smooth sailing from here, but what I can promise is that I’m willing to try.”

“So am I,” Troy grinned back at him, his eyes all but sparkling. “I’m sorry for pushing you.”

“Don’t be. This is the push that I needed.”

“I promise you that we’ll take this slow,” he squeezed his hand, the touch gentle and reassuring; promising.

“There’s probably be a few stumbles along the way,” Wendell teased, a light-hearted grin on his face.

“Then I’ll be there to catch you at every single one.”

At that, a comfortable silence washed over them. After everything that they had just said, that they had just promised each other, they didn’t need to say anything further.

It was only when the waiter with the impeccable timing returned with their food that the silence was broken. As they tucked into their food, they fell into an easy conversation; nowhere near as heavy as everything that they had already discussed.

The rest of the day passed by in a breeze. They didn’t do anything mor memorable than simply talking and spending time with each other but at the end of the day, Wendell was happier and content than he ever remembered feeling.

Even though he had felt greatly uncomfortable throughout most of the conversation and several times throughout it he had wished for the ground to open up and swallow him whole…now that it was over, he was glad that they were able to talk.

At least this way, they were able to air their dirty laundry before things got too messy.

-

Layla Knight

14.06.2021