After Nyx had dressed, his wings small enough to fit under the hoodie, Zain had prepared some dinner. He hadn’t had anything beside a croissant for lunch and Nyx hadn’t eaten in ages, so the two were now sitting in Zain's living room. He had calmed down significantly in the meantime, because Nyx was real real.

“Hm, I haven’t had this stuff in ages! It’s delicious!” The alicorn exclaimed after putting a spoonful in his mouth.

“It’s just soup, nothing to get excited about.”

Nyx pouted. “You don’t know what you’re missing until you can’t have it anymore. I’m grateful, take the compliment already.”

Zain chuckled, pouting Nyx was cute. The man, despite his badboy first impression, was actually a softie at heart. All the more a mystery why he had been forced to haunt the appartment until maybe someone would free him.

“Anyway, tell me how you ended up in here,” Zain asked after he had gotten more comfortable in the company of the alicorn.

“Want the full version or the shortened version?”

The redhead squinted his eyes. “Depends on how long the full version will be.”

“I can leave out some of the raunchy details,” Nyx shrugged.

“Leave out all the raunchy details, please.”

The winged unicorn snorted and threw up his hands, surrendering. “Fine.”

Zain picked up their empty bowls and brought them to the kitchen, he would do the dishes later. After raiding the fridge for two cups of tiramisu dessert and two spoons, he strolled back over to his black velvet couch, and sat down next to his guest.

Scooping up the first bite of sweetness, Nyx started telling his story.

“The man who locked me up in here, is also the man who summoned me into this realm. Twelve years ago, on a cold day just like today, I was pulled from the Silver Garden, my original home. I was angry at first, obviously, but soon I found myself in love with the man.”

To hear Nyx was pulled from his home without having a say in it, made Zain sad. He couldn’t imagine what that would be like.

“Couldn’t you go back?”

“To Silver Garden? Unfortunately not. He tried at first, reading book after book for a spell that could send me back, but to no avail. It appeared to be a one way street only.”

Zain gripped the alicorn’s hands, careful not to make him drop his dessert, and looked up and stared into those magnificent black orbs of him. “Nyx, I’ll promise you, I’ll get you back someway, someday.”

“Really? Would you do that? For me?”

The redhead nodded, wiping away a stray tear that had rolled down the other’s pretty face. “Nobody deserves to be pulled from their home like that, not without reason. That’s not fair.”

Nyx hugged the shorter man, still with his spoon and cup in hands. Zain laughed at the awkward position they were in and then blushed as he suddenly felt the alicorn’s lips pressed against his cheek.

“I love you, Zain.”

The words swirled around in his head, not expecting them to have so much impact on him. It was one thing to hear it from your parents, but completely different when someone else said it. And Nyx was genuine too.

“Anyway, I’m glad to be free again, so thank you for that.”

“No problem. But why were you locked up in here anyway when you said you had fallen in love? It makes no sense. Did he not accept you?”

The dark-haired man finished the last bite and then set down the cup and spoon on the glass cofee table.

“He did at first. When I first confessed to him, he accepted me, telling me he felt the same. We were happy together, enjoyed our time together. Everything was perfect until the first full moon.”

“What happened?”

“I… I haven’t been totally honest about what I am, Zain. I’m... partially incubus," Nyx confessed, "My mother is a succubus-angel hybrid."

Zain frowned. “But what has that to do with the moon?”

The alicorn sighed. He was already in too deep to stop now, even though everything in his body kept screaming at him that he should keep his mouth shut, afraid he would be rejected, again.

“I change into an uncontrolable beast during the night of a full moon. It’s horrible, Zain. Elrick couldn’t handle me, not like that.”

Zain felt a pang of anger at hearing the man’s name who had hurt Nyx. And yet, he also felt pity.

“We’ll find a way to get you through the night.”

“Really?”

“Really. Maybe there’s something in the book we can use. Elrick did after all write a spell to release you, so maybe he also figured out a spell to counter your incubus urges.”

Nyx smiled at him and Zain couldn’t help but smile back. He had known the man for only a few hours, yet he felt like they had been together for ages already. He knew he wouldn’t abandon him, no matter what, and he would figure it out. Everything for Nyx.