“The TV? No.”

“I mean, me being here. It’s bothering you, isn’t it?”

“Really? You’re in the hospital and you’re asking me if I’m okay?”

“Well, you’re acting different today. I saw the look on your face when you came in.”

That had been because of the secret superhero identity, but Eric couldn’t exactly say that. It was a useful cover, though. “Okay, yeah. I’m not exactly used to this sort of thing. Raph is a doctor, and Coral sees dead and dying people all the time. I’m just the insurance guy.”

Nathan squeezed his hand. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “The doctors say I will be, and this isn’t the first time I’ve gone through this.”

“And the last?”

“I can’t promise it’ll be the last time,” Nathan said. “I certainly hope it will be, and I will take much better care of myself. But I can’t promise it.”

The way Nathan looked at him, it was as if he expected Eric to break up with him on the spot. And maybe he could. If he told Nathan that he couldn’t handle dating someone who could die at any time, then that wouldn’t look like he was threatened into leaving him. It would solve the problem of dating Enmachina and the problem of backlash on Couronne.

A moment later, he felt awful. Breaking up with him specifically because there was something physically wrong with him? That would be terrible, wouldn’t it? Nathan might feel like he was too broken to find someone else. No, he’d have to come up with something else. Maybe just that his feelings were fading. Eric squeezed Nathan’s hand. “I hope it’ll be the last time, too. So, when you get out, will you need to take it easy for a while?”

“I’ll probably need to wait a week. After that, though…” Nathan glanced at the doorway. “What day are you leaving?”

“Evening of the 16th. We got a red-eye.”

“I think I’ll be good to go on the 15th as long I don’t jog the pacemaker too much.”

Eric reached out and stroked Nathan’s hair. It was the natural thing to do, but also somehow weird now. “I suppose we’ll need to practice some restraint?”

Nathan grinned and pressed his head into Eric’s hand. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

This… was a problem, though. Nathan was a superhero. It was natural that he wouldn’t want to secretly sleep with a supervillain. Arguably, most people wouldn’t want to sleep with a supervillain – or even a superhero, for that matter – but there was a difference between the average person and someone who made a living by arresting supervillains. On the other hand, there was no way he could tell Nathan, not without putting himself and Coral at risk. Even doing something out of the ordinary might put them at risk, really.

There was a knock at the door and Coral’s head poking around the corner. “You two got all the lovey-dovey stuff outta your systems?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Nathan said. Eric withdrew his hand.

Coral sat back down. “So, I had an idea for a surprise for Raph. Hear me out: magnetic gloves.”

“That sounds like it would kill me.”

“No, just for out in public. I mean, think about it…”

Eric sat back and let the two of them bicker over whether it was a good idea. Maybe things would be okay if he ended up staying with Nathan. This didn’t have to mean the end.

In some ways, that just made things more difficult.

***

Nathan arrived at Eric’s place at the appointed date. The new pacemaker still felt a little weird under his skin after going without it for a week, but he was getting used to it far faster than the last one. And he’d done fine with his workout this morning, so he was good.

When he knocked, Coral almost immediately opened the door. “Hi,” Coral said, squeezing past him. “Bye.” Coral was around the corner before he could even see Coral’s bracelet. Well, the door was open at least, so he went inside and shut the door behind him.

Eric was sitting on the couch. Nathan sat down beside him. “Dinner and a movie tonight?” Nathan asked.

“Sounds good,” Eric said. His voice sounded weird today, same as it had in the hospital. Was he still upset about Nathan’s stay there? Hopefully, that would change after Eric’s vacation.

“Or we could just skip straight to the main event,” Nathan suggested.

“Nah, I’m pretty hungry,” Eric said, picking up the phone. “Chinese?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Nathan said.

They didn’t say much after that, at least not until halfway through the movie. “Hey, so I got a weird question,” Eric said. “Coral and I were talking the other day and joking that one of the people they met was a supervillain. So we started wondering about the ethics of that sort of thing. Is it wrong to sleep with someone without telling them that you’re a supervillain?” Eric shrugged. “Or a superhero, since they also have the double life thing going on. Or just anything really big that you’re hiding. I mean, if they wouldn’t sleep with you if they knew, then is it really ethical to sleep with them while keeping that a secret?”

“Huh,” Nathan said. “I never really thought about it.” In fact, that was pretty uncomfortable to think about. Technically speaking, he was lying to Eric. It wasn’t exactly by choice – and given that a supervillain had seen his face, he really needed to think about revealing it – but he’d still decided to get into the relationship knowing he’d have to lie. What if Eric objected to Nathan’s powers, or the dishonesty? Then again, Eric had never expressed anything about superpowers. “I guess, in the case of superheroes or villains, that depends on how you feel about people with powers.”

“Does it?” Eric asked with a shrug. “I mean, even if they’re okay with it, you’re still lying to them about something pretty big.”

That was a good point. Nathan shrugged. “I mean, if they’re not okay with it, then would you want to sleep with them anyway?” If he found out that Eric had problems with superpowers, that would be a major turnoff. It would definitely hurt, but he wouldn’t be jumping to reassure him.

“Yeah, but you don’t always know if someone will turn out to have issues with you. And sometimes, even just asking if they have issues with something will make them wonder, which could be dangerous depending on what it is or who they’re talking to.”

Nathan frowned. “By that logic, people with powers would never be able to date unless they thoroughly vetted everyone beforehand, or they felt like taking their health into their own hands. That hardly seems fair.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Eric said, leaning back. “Some might say that the demands for total transparency are just a way of control. By complaining that someone didn’t tell them, they can make themselves out to be the victims.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far. I mean, honesty is important. But someone’s safety is more important than everything else.” That was pretty much the only reason he still hadn’t told Eric. True, it probably would have been better if he hadn’t gotten involved with Eric in the first place, but they’d started out as friends. Things just happened from there.

“True. But then there are cases where they didn’t know and then later find out.” Eric shrugged. “Is it lying if they realized they had powers after getting in the relationship? Most people would say no, but a bigot might be equally upset whether they knew or not. Even a normal person might be upset. But that’s not lying, or even dishonesty.”