Exploring Titan

~18~

"Please."

"No."

"Please!"

"No."

"PLEASE!!"

"Fuck no!"

Leo was on his hand and knees begging while I stood there vehemently refusing his offer.

Dion had been ominously standing in the corner of the room with his arms folded as he watched the whole ordeal unfold with a near-blank and bored expression.

But after I said my last 'no' he dramatically rolled his eyes and walked forth to pick up Leo from his shirt collar thing, (are they even technically wearing clothes???), and hoisted him into the air.

"I do not remember your mother raising you to nag women," Dion flatly points out to Leo.

"BUT!-" Leo furiously tries to protest.

"She said no." Dion cuts off. "As much as I don't like it either, we're just going to have to accept it."

The look of pain and betrayal on Leo's face could almost be considered comical under any other given context. Certainly not this one.

I pinch the bridge of my nose as I tried to get my frustration and temper in check.

"So let me get this straight, you don't want me to leave Titan just yet, but you also won't tell me WHY I should stay!?" My voice pitches and cracks at the incredulity of everything. "Now how is THAT fair!?"

Leo squirms a bit at my words, his whole-body language seeming to agree with my statement. But it was Dion who counters.

"We know we're coming off as very...cryptid?" Dion asks.

"Cryptic," Leo corrects him.

"Cryptic!" Dion repeats enthusiastically, an appreciative smile spreading across and brightening his face. "But we promise we do not have any nefarious intentions." He concludes.

"Don't you trust us?" Leo then asks next, his voice completely encapsulating and conveying the level of hurt he was feeling.

I suck in a swift breath at that.

"Uuuurrgh!" I let out a frustrated sigh and walk up to him, pushing myself off the chair that I'd been sitting on the entire time.

I stand in front of Leo with a serious deadpan expression, then look up at Dion who still held his partner by the collar.

"Oh, oops!" Dion says and let's go of him.

Once Leo's two feet finally touch the ground, I capture his face in both my hands and force him to look at me.

His grasp of the English language was something that didn't go unnoticed by me. However he learned it, he did so faster than Dion.

I won't go so far as to say it unnerved me, but clearly, they did so for my benefit. So I can understand them better.

And I cannot ignore the fact that they've basically saved my life at least 3 and a half times now.

"Listen," I say, making sure all the seriousness in the world leaked out into my tone. "I do not doubt for a second that you guys are out to protect me and have done everything in your power to keep me alive."

The grasp of my hand on his head loosens a bit, I lift up one palm to place on Dion's chest (for non-nefarious reasons, of course) to emphasize my point and so as to also not leave him out.

"But I also cannot ignore the fact of the near truckload of red flags you both are displaying," I retreat my hands from contact with them and tuck them both back into my body in a meek and protective stance. "For all I know, you could be saving me for some cosmic space sacrifice, and you keeping me alive for this long is so I can still be added to the ritual!"

"Oh, damn, she's on to us!" Leo says.

My heart sinks.

He bursts out laughing and I see Dion struggle, and fail, to suppress a snicker.

"Oh, you've got jokes?" I punch Leo in the arm, and I see him immediately go down.

"AAAaaargh!" He withers in pain.

"OH MY GOD!!" I cry in shock, fearing I'd just killed an alien race on camera.

Yes, I was livestreaming everything.

Also yes, Carol was on mute.

"Don't worry, he's fine." Dion says, wholly looking uninterested in the state of his friend. "It's just, your physique is a lot more...solid, than ours. So things about you can hurt more."

Leo tries to assure me he's fine, but the wobble of his tone worried me nonetheless.

[Oh no, Mel, YOU'VE KILLED HIM!!]

[Now look what you've done!!]

[We're witnessing genocide in real time, ladies, gentlemen, and dignified enbies.]

[How weak is he? She barely grazed him! What a pussy.]

"Shut up," I coldly told the chat, and put them on mute-timeout for 5 minutes.

They severely were not going to like that. But better to put harsh boundaries now, than live to regret it later.

I may get a few dozen angry messages later, or for the next few days, but what's the worst they could do? Leave?

I think they'd be missing out on that last part more than me.

Once Leo gets back on their feet, I make them a proposition with a defeated sigh.

"I'm willing to extend my stay on Titan under one condition," I put my hands on my hips and angle it and my entire stance as I look back and forth between them. "You're lucky you're cute, both of you," I made an emphasis to look at Dion as well after Leo gets caught off guard by my statement, Dion also flinches in shock, "Otherwise this offer wouldn't exist."

"You think we're cu-" Leo gets cut off by Dion putting a hand over his mouth.

"What is your condition?" He clearly wanted to stay focused on the topic and not get frivolously distracted.

I like him.

But I also liked Leo's flustered expression as it was clear where his whole attention lay in this conversation.

My heart thumped at the idea of liking the two of them. They were both so cute and hot with intriguing and unique personalities-

Oh god, that's right, I was asked a question.

"S-show..." My voice cracked.

I pounded my chest once to clear my pathways and tried to speak again.

"Ahem!" I cough, "Show me."

Dion and Leo share a confused look.

"Show you what?" They both surprisingly say in unison.

"Show me how non-threatening it is. Show me howsafe things can be." I say next. "Take me under the water and show meeverything. Let me truly explore Titan."