The hivemind is conquering for me?

”No, I’m being serious, please do not take it to heart. Orchid just hates everyone, it is her thing. She even hates our other family members and trust me, that is actually a big deal. Hey, if she didn’t like me, she probably would have eaten me by now...”

Hailey laughed at my ’joke’ as I proceeded to pour more sparkling wine into her glass. ”Ok, I know you said you wanted to keep your mind off your other women since this is our date, but considering the prospects of our future relationship, I have to ask. With your sibling-like relationship, how did you two... You know. Begin fucking. I tried asking her back when you were sick, but she just ignored me.”

I leant back on the blanket and looked up at the stars above. ”Orchid and I, for a very long time, were the only company we had. We have always been inseparable since the day her family saved me. In fact, my first coherent memory of her was her straight up telling me that we were going to be together in a romantic way. Sure at first I was a little creeped out, but honestly? its for the best. I have a lot of love to give and Orchid deserves it. Most people just see her standoffish cold, everyone is the enemy and I hate everything, personality, but I have the honour and luxury of seeing her at her cutest and that is just... Everything to me.”

Hailey then proceeded to just look at me with a soft smile, prompting me to add. ”Sorry, I probably shouldn’t be professing my love for another woman on our first date, but I-”

Hailey then leaned forward and kissed me again, it was short and sweet, but the plumpness of her lips left a lingering impression. She smiled at me before taking my hand and followed up by saying. ”Don’t be sorry Apollo, I know what I am getting myself into here. I grew up around Archons and Lochagos’, I’m not foreign to the concept of sharing love. I am still just incredibly surprised at how well you balance everything. I digress though. You mentioned you had more family? Where were they when the two of you were on your own?”

”Oh, well my family is actually quite large, but they are always on missions for Jewel, collecting resources and materials that she needs for her work and the rest of the family. Because of this they don’t come home much. When I do see them, it is so special to me, but for the most part it is just Orchid and I.”

”Hmm.” Hailey hummed in surprise before following up. ”And are you on any missions for your teacher? You don’t have to tell me, I understand she values her privacy. I just want to know you better.”

I reached over and placed my hand atop Hailey’s. ”I appreciate you saying that, but no I am not on a mission from Jewel. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. From sixteen till pretty much when I met you for the first time, I felt myself stagnating. I was struggling to... Stimulate my Psionics into getting stronger.

After coming from the outer rim to here, I have been receiving constant new stimulation and because of it, I have experienced a serious growth spurt. Honestly, if Jewel was less benevolent, I probably would never have been given the opportunity to leave, but she is a very kind woman and another I love dearly.”

Hailey took a sip of her drink before smiling at me. ”I see, well I hope to meet the woman one day. The way you talk about her, she must truly be something special.”

I did not reply to that one, I simply smiled and nodded my head. Talking about the hive was risky, but I didn’t feel the need to lie about it, especially not to someone I was dating. All I had to do was speak the truth while omitting the fact that my ’teacher’ wasn’t human, but an extra galactic sexy Hive queen.

Still, I understood why she was asking, we were on a date, we were getting to know one another and my family is an important part of my life. But with that said.

”So, what about your family? I know about your father of course, but what about your mother? I know her name was Bellona and that she has passed, but tell me about her through your eyes.”

Hailey’s face turned sombre the moment I brought up her mother, making me feel incredibly guilty. ”Sorry, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Hailey’s sombre expression vanished as I said this and looked at me sweetly. ”Apollo, you have told me about your family, it is only fair I tell you about mine, it’s just a lot of sadness is mixed in with my feeling of my mother, it leaves me upset, but you are my boyfriend, you deserve to know about her.”

Hailey then put her drink to one side and surprised me as she placed her head on my lap and proceeded to look up at me. I then instinctually began stroking her hair, prompting her to smile softly before she began.

”My mother was Bellona Athena. She was smart, kind, caring and loved me very much. My mother didn’t talk much, she was quite depressed about her life. But not about me and that poured out of her. Growing up we were inseparable and we would spend a lot of our time in her garden. My childhood was practically perfect until her assassination...”

I could see Hailey begin to tear up so I shushed silently and began to stroke her hair in a softer rhythm. ”It is ok, you don’t need to continue. I can see this is very raw for you and I am touched you shared what you did. Should we go back to a more date-appropriate subject? Like how beautiful I think you look tonight?”

Hailey shuddered in delight hearing that. Her man was so kind and understanding. She was going to omit the big secret about her mother, but knowing the kind of man he was. If anyone deserved to know, it was him. He cared for her in a way no one else could. She felt for him in a way she would no other. It was already eating at her insides keeping the truth about Gabrielle from him, revealing one of her biggest secrets felt only fair.

”Apollo, can we go back to your place?” Hailey suddenly asked me after going quiet for a moment.

”Huh? Oh sure, sorry if you wanted to end early because of me. I understand.” I said, promptly getting a swat to my stomach. ”Will you stop apologising? You have done nothing wrong. Apollo, this has been one of the greatest nights of my life despite the recent awkwardness of my feelings. I just want to take advantage of your pulsar to tell you a secret is all. You are my boyfriend and deserve to know it after all, but know by knowing it, it puts you in great harm.”

My hand went from her hair and I slowly caressed the side of Hailey’s face. She seemed surprised by my intimate touch and looked up at me with a soft expression. ”I will let you in on a little secret myself first in that case. As you know, I didn’t harbour feelings for you previously because of the way I am, but after just one date, I know that I want you to be my girlfriend. And I protect my girlfriends, even if they don’t need that protection. That protection extends to their feelings, so if you need to tell me a secret, but it puts me in great harm, I will gladly shoulder that weight with a smile, if it means I can alleviate some of that burden off of you.”

I watched as Hailey’s eyes began to flood with tears. For once, I could tell that the tears were not sad, but happy, so I pulled her up to my chest and simply hugged her, allowing her to cry herself out for a moment.

I think she attempted to say some stuff to me, but through her crying, all I heard was gibberish. While I continued to console her and despite her saying otherwise, I could not help thinking.

’Man, I really hope I didn’t fuck up this date. There have been way too many tears and emotional fluctuations tonight. Though I suppose there was a lot of laughter earlier when we were bantering, before family was brought up.’

After letting Hailey wind down her emotions, I helped her stand up and while doing so I looked around. Sapphire was still not back, I had expected her to pop into my Mindspace at some point during the date, but I guess she went against my wishes and went for quite the exploration.

It was fine though, she was immortal, she could afford to get into trouble.

’Though I doubt she would go as far as making trouble. My chonk is a lazy one.’