“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.”

Angelica’s wife, Mary, would probably disagree. But then, Mary was a very disagreeable person in general. “Well, yeah. Ideally, it would be better if you disclosed stuff ahead of time, but that’s not always possible. And in the case of a superhero, that could put people at risk of violence. Honestly, that’s true for everyone with powers. And another thing,” he said, as the thought occurred to him, “there are lots of things people might have problems with. Like, if you don’t want to sleep with a smoker. Does someone have to disclose everything that people might object to?”

“If someone doesn’t want to sleep with a smoker, then they should probably ask whether the person smokes before sleeping with them.”

“Exactly!” Nathan said. “Why is someone with powers blamed if they don’t tell someone about their powers? The other person didn’t ask. If they outright lied when asked, that’s another matter, but not telling because they didn’t know it was important to the other person isn’t necessarily wrong. Especially when telling is a risk.” He shrugged. “So I guess I don’t really blame someone for not telling their partner until they’re sure or they feel safe.”

Eric nodded. “So if someone doesn’t feel safe telling you something, then you wouldn’t be upset with them for sleeping with you without telling you?”

“Yeah, I guess. As long as it isn’t something that could hurt me, like an STD.” Nathan paused. This could be bad, but he had to ask. “What about you?”

“I think we agree on that, actually.” That was a relief. If he had to tell Eric, then he didn’t want to implode the relationship.

After that, they settled down, finishing the movie and the food, and then headed off to the bedroom. Nathan took off his shirt and got on the bed while Eric pulled out the handcuffs. Without a word, Nathan put his arms up and Eric snapped the cuffs around his wrists and around the bedpost. He tried, experimentally, to get free, but he couldn’t.

It was freeing, in a way. He didn’t have to do anything. In fact, he couldn’t. After the whole Convert debacle, that was something he desperately needed. No worries about Convert, who was going to prison. Nothing about Couronne, who hadn’t made a move since rescuing him. No obligations, no duties, just him and someone he trusted to take care of him.