Sy suddenly burst from the water behind the Unicorn in a spray of seawater. He leaped on Quin's back, dunking himself and the big man under the water. Sy came up with a laugh, wiping water from his eyes.

Quin sputtered out water but was too relieved to care.

"I was worried, Sy!" He chastised as he walked them over to shore and sharply pinched the teenager's thigh. "Don't disappear like that again." He knelt onto the sand and looped Sy around until he straddled his lap.

"I'm sorry," the little Nightmare peeped. "I was just playing." He hunched his shoulders. "I shouldn't have. I messed up again." He threaded his fingers through his dark silvery hair and tugged hard. "Fuck!"

"Hey, it's ok." Quin said in a calmer tone of voice, taking hold of the Nightmare's face in both his hands. "I'm still going to take you swimming later, and this changes nothing. I just...I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Bad things happen," Sy said softly. "You can't stop that." The Nightmare shook his head sadly. "This thing with the maiden will be resolved one way or another. I know I probably won't convince him to choose me. Then you'll move on and I'll go back to where I was. I'll look for a maiden for as long as I can. I'll hold out until I can't anymore." Sy shrugged. His eyes seemed flat, the varied colors no longer shifting like sunshine on a peacock feather. "Then I'll go back to where I was and I'll stay there. I'll make the best I can of the whole thing until I die."

Quin knew that look. He recognized it immediately. It was the look of numbness that once even made its way onto his own face in the past. "If a maiden is what you want so badly, then I'll help you obtain one." He insisted. "You're already on your way, aren't you? You've never dream traveled before this and look at where you are." He tugged him into a tight hug, one of his hands cradling the back of Sy's head while the other wrapped around his back. "But, I'll be damned if I ever let you go back to wherever you were before this. I refuse to let you go. You can go anywhere else but there."

"Don't make such promises." Sy rested his head on Quin's shoulder, suddenly tired. "I'm not your responsibility. I refuse to weigh you down that way. If I don't find a maiden to love me, that's on me, not you. You have your own shit to deal with. You don't need mine, as well." The Nightmare released a shuddering sigh. "I would hold you back, hold you down. Eventually, you'll tire of me or resent me and things will get ugly and bad."

"Then let them get ugly and bad," Quin said with finality, and he brought them back to the physical world. He kept the Nightmare close, positioning Sy between his legs and pressing his back to the blond's chest as they traveled back. "I only hope that, in the absence of a suitable maiden, you'd choose me."

“Wh-what?” Sy turned to look at the Unicorn, confusion painting his face. “What are you talking about?”

"I've decided." Quin told him sincerely. "Should Finian not choose either of us, I would like you to be my mate."

"You can't do that..." Sy stammered. "How could you possibly want to be my mate? I offer nothing to you. I bring nothing of value to the mating." His brows drew together. "Are you mad?"

"We could teach each other! I could teach you everything I've learned in my studies thus far, and you could teach me how to view everything through new eyes again." Quin insisted. "We could go to many different places in the future. In the meantime, you are more than welcome to see those places in my dreams."

"We should go." Sy stood, stumbling backwards, nearly tripping over his own boots paired next to the bed. "It will take a few minutes to walk to the crossing point."

The Nightmare kept his eyes averted from Quin as he tugged on his boots. Sy felt like his heart was being crushed in his chest. He heard the Unicorn's words and knew what they were. They were either some kind of terrible pity or an attempt to gain total control over Synan. Neither option was acceptable.

Sy knew that Quin was likely, given enough time, to find a chaste maiden for himself. The Unicorn was strong, tall, intelligent, and beautiful. Quin was educated and going places. Synan couldn't see how he could fit anywhere in that.

The Nightmare wrapped his arms around himself as he headed for the door.

The Unicorn felt the sting of rejection, so he let the Nightmare walk on ahead. He had hoped the teenager would feel the same, that he'd understand how they should both forget about the maiden and form a bond together. The man took a moment to steel himself before heading toward the boundary and caught up with the short teen. When they crossed over, Finian had left the back door open, so they let themselves in.

"Finian?" Quin called out.

"In the kitchen!" Fin responded. He had ordered enough Chinese food for four people, just in case they showed up. He figured that if they didn't, he could save the food for the following day.

"Let me help," Sy said quietly, pulling a cardboard carton out of the paper bag.

Sy was almost unrecognizable from the person Fin had first met. The wild, confident flirting was gone, replaced by a quiet, withdrawn demeanor. Shoulders hunched, he seemed to want to disappear, brushing longer hair out of his eyes instead of spiking it into a faux hawk.

"Thanks," Fin replied with a slight frown. For a moment, he hadn't even recognized the Nightmare. "Sy? Is everything alright?" He asked.

"What?" The Nightmare looked up from putting a spoon in the rice. "Oh, everything is...I'm just tired." His eyes flicked to Quin. "I'm getting used to a new mattress, but I think I'm going to have to go back to the old one."

"You are not going back to the old one," Quin insisted as Fin set a plate in front of him. "And if you do, I’m coming with you."

Fin looked from the Unicorn to the Nightmare and sat down after serving Sy and himself. "Did something happen between you two since yesterday?" He asked.

"Quin thinks my old mattress is a crime, even though he doesn’t know its story." The spark returned to Sy’s eyes. "He wants me to keep the new one, either because he pities me or wants to control my bedding! He’d make me sleep on satin sheets, even if I hate them!" Sy slammed down a carton, Mongolian sauce splattering his fingers, which he sucked clean.

The blond nearly made a noise as he openly stared at the intense sucking of fingers in a half-aroused manner. "F-First of all, I don't pity you, I only wanted to help you get on even ground with me." He countered. "And all of my sheets are high thread count cotton! They're not slippery at all!"

The human let out a small sigh, sensing another quibble about to occur between his guests.

"Fine!" Sy snatched up the chopsticks. "Maybe you don’t pity me, but when I start bringing in my own quilts and throw pillows, you’ll hate it. Your style is high thread count cotton, I’m secondhand burlap! That’ll drive you nuts until you burn the whole bedroom set!" He hurled the chopsticks at Quin’s chest, frustration boiling over.

Quin caught the chopsticks and set them down hard, rising to his feet. "The only thing that gets to me is you not seeing that I care: childishness, stubbornness, all of it. I don’t care what you bring; I’d burn the whole bedroom set if it meant you’d accept me."

"Stop." Sy’s fingers twisted in his hair. "You don’t get it. You don’t know me—you’re throwing everything away. I’m no chaste maiden. That’s what you should have! Someone to lift you up, not drag you down like an anchor." He paused, then turned to Fin with sudden sweetness: "Do you have a spoon for this?"

Finian shakily handed the spoon to the Nightmare, but Quin quickly reached forward to take the spoon out of his hands, setting it down on the table next to the chopsticks.

"Forgive me, Finian. Please do not take offense to this, but I don't want you for my mate," Quin confessed. "No. I want a short, stubborn, sultry, and scared Nightmare by the name of Sy as my mate." He continued as he focused his gaze on a set of peacock topaz-hued eyes. "And, in spite of what he thinks of himself, I would much rather have him by my side than the most chaste maiden in the human world!"  

Sy grabbed the spoon, stabbed it into the carton, then lunged at Quin, clapping his hands over the Unicorn’s mouth.

"Stop!" Sy snapped, stomping his foot. "Stop saying these things—you’ll break my heart!" He stepped back, arms wrapped around himself. "If I have to go back to the Elders, I’ll survive. But if you do this, I won’t be able to spin it positive this time. I’ll break."

Finian kept quiet and still as he watched the argument unfold. He didn't care about the food getting cold, as he could always microwave it afterward.

"What do I have to do to convince you that you will never go anywhere near an Elder ever again?" The Unicorn countered. "I won't allow it. I want you to be mine, Sy. It's a decision you have to make yourself. If you allow me to, I would be yours to do with as you please, as well!" Quin admitted. "If all of this means that I have to break your heart, then so be it. I will shatter it into a million pieces and then I will piece it back together stronger than it has ever been before."

"Stop, please..." Sy slid to the floor, fingers tangled in his hair as he fought for breath. "I just don’t want... Please." He squeezed his eyes shut, staving off tears.

By that point, Fin's heart went out to both his new friends. Apparently, something had happened between them for them to be suffering so much. He quietly went back to the kitchen to make a few batches of hot cocoa for the three of them. They seemed to need it.

Quin knelt beside Sy and wrapped him in a tight hug. "You’ve given me so much. I owe you everything I am, and I’ll give it all to you, Sy."

"Please, don't break me," the teenager begged. "Please."

"Let me in, little one," Quin whispered softly. "Let me into your heart and I will love you until our bodies become dust in the ground. Put your trust in me."

"O-Okay." Sy nodded shakily. "Just know that when you tire of me... I'll die."

Quin’s heart skipped. He kissed Sy hard and shifted into his faun form, horn emerging, legs transforming. "I declare you, Sy, to be my mate."

Sy shifted as smoothly as Quin. A triple spiral crest marked his forehead, then transformed into a horn that looked carved from peacock topaz, shimmering with colors. The tips of his ears grew more pointed than in his human form. His legs curved and shifted, ebony hooves replacing feet, and soft pewter fur covered his lower body. A long, pewter tail streaked with green, blue, purple, and turquoise sprang out behind him, matching his hair and ankle tufts.

"I-I declare you, Quin, to be my mate." Sy's voice shook as he stepped forward to allow their horns to touch. There was a blinding flash of light that filled the room. When he could see again, Sy pressed his palm to the front of Quin's hip just above where his wheat-gold fur began. When he lifted his hand, a perfect replica of Sy's triskelion crest was visible on Quin's hip.

Quin placed his palm on the side of the Nightmare's neck and transferred his Pisces crest there. He had never felt happier or stronger in his life. The magic bond between mates surged between them. The blond pressed a tender kiss to Sy's lips, deepening it until his tongue slipped inside to taste him.

Finian sensed something strange in the air and rushed back, catching both friends aglow in half-form as light flared between them. Was that all part of the mating? He hurried to the kitchen when his microwave chimed, poured hot chocolate into three mugs, and returned with the tray, only to find Quin and Sy making out, hands wandering boldly.

"A-hem!" The human cleared his throat loudly. "Guys?"

"Sorry," Sy blinked dazedly at Finian as Quin kissed and nibbled his neck. "We’re neglecting you, and we used your home for a mating ceremony without asking…"

Quin sighed, reluctantly pulling away just enough to speak. "If anyone should be asking forgiveness, it’s me, maiden. We meant no disrespect." He stood, gently lifting Sy with him.