“Man,” Kawe groaned as we stood in front of his tiny blue house together, debris covering the front yard, his windows now nothing more than tree trunks, “I just fixed the windows. This is crap.”

“You aren’t the only one,” I pointed to the houses along the beach, “all of us lost windows.”

“Not you.”

“I count the citizens as my family now. You know that. We should start cleaning. My house is fine, thanks to the hard work you put into it. Let me help. We spent three days in that bunker, and my legs are fine. You can get about two hours' worth of work out of me until I need to sit.”

“Are you sure?” Kawe blinked in confusion.

“Positive.”

“Can you gather up the small branches, anything like that, and throw them into the green bin then? I’ll get you a treat when we’re done.”

“Can you even stay here with your house in this condition?” I poked at a branch hanging from his roof.

“Nope. But Aata will let me crash there while I fix things up. No big deal.”

“I have five bedrooms. Stay with me,” I smiled, pulling a leaf from the branch, handing it to him, “You can easily get here instead of going through the entire village. You’ll be busy Fire Chief. Do you want to travel just to fix things up when I live two minutes away on foot?”

“Asher,” he whispered, spinning the leaf through his fingers, “Are you sure?”

“Duh. Of course I am. Besides, your cousin keeps calling me from various numbers. I could use you to scare Felix away.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I don’t know…”

“Don’t hide things from me,” he poked my nose with a smile, “I’ll go inside and get a few things. No, you cannot follow.”

“Why? Got any juicy secrets to hide from me?” I teased.

“God no. The floor is unstable, and I have a tree in my living room. I can handle falling through into the sand if the slats give out. You really can’t. We don’t have a hospital here, just a doctor. I don’t want to put you on a plane two hours away from me if you get injured.”

“Away from you?”

“Away from me,” he repeated with a nod, “promise me to stay right here.”

“Fine,” I murmured, and he handed his radio over, “huh?”

“In case I actually do fall through the floor or get hurt, hold the button on the side, identify yourself, and say code 10-78. I’m being cautious.”

“10-78. Got it. Is that for injured firefighters?”

“Nope. Need assistance. Then you can tell them I’m hurt.”

“Okay, but try not to get hurt, I don’t want to do that.”

“No promises,” Kawe snorted and climbed over the tree poking from his front door, “Oh my god! There’s another one in here!” he yelled, making me laugh loudly, “it’s an entire family!”

“At least we’ll have wood to fix things up!” I called back.

“My living room is made of sand! I love the beach, but this is a bit much.”

“Kawe,” I snorted, gripping my side as I tried to stop laughing, “Get your shit and let’s go.”

“I’m trying! The trees had a baby that’s blocking the entrance to my room. They procreate fast, good lord. I’m not ready to be a grandparent to a sapling, I don’t even have human children.”

“He’s an idiot,” I whispered to myself, “himbo through and through.”

“I can hear you! I’m not a himbo!”

“Yes, you are! Hurry up, I’m melting in the sun!”

“Oh. Oh fuck!”

“Kawe? Kawe!” I yelled, rushing to try and see through the windows, “What is it?”

“Um. Well, it was a sevengill. It’s now a dead sevengill lying in my bed.”

“I’m sorry, are you telling me that the cyclone blew a fucking shark into your bed!”

“Yes. We’re friends now. I’ll name him Bloaty. Ew… he’s nasty already. The heat is starting to rot him. I’ll have to buy a new bed. He brought a few salmon, a bluefin, and a couple of man-of-war jellyfish. What a storm it must have been.”

“I did throw a few dead bluebottles back into the water from my deck.”

“Don’t touch jellyfish without gloves!” Kawe screeched, “What were you thinking?”

“I had on gloves, you worrywart. I know how to handle myself, thank you very much. Don’t baby me!”

“I like babying you,” he poked his head out of the window, leaves stuck in his curls, “Do you wanna see Bloaty? I can bring him over. You can give him a little kiss goodbye.”

“I will bury you in his carcass and sleep well if you do that.”

“You’re no fun,” Kawe pouted, and I flicked his forehead, “Ow!”

“That didn’t hurt. Are you done in there? I feel like I’m stuck with a wildman.”

“Because you are, dork,” he shimmed through the window, pulling a bag behind him, “I grew up on this island. I didn’t wear shoes unless I was in school. I swam naked in the shallow waters and climbed the trees and hills around us. Rolled through the dunes, coming home covered in sticky sand. My parents would toss me back into the ocean to clean me off with a smile. I’m absolutely feral, even if I’m a 26-year-old firefighter. Hell, I only used a ladder to fix your house because you would have freaked out if I jumped from your roof.”

“Yeah, that’s probably true. Jesus, how did I end up with you?” Sighing, I started the walk home, Kawe happily following me.

“Hey, you act like you didn’t just ask me to stay with you!”

“I feel like I adopted an overly excited Golden Retriever.”

“I won’t bite you nearly as much as a puppy would.”

“Kawe!” I stammered, my face burning, “My heart can’t take much of that!”

“Flirting?”

“Is that what you call it?”

“Well… it’s fun for me to do. But you uh… you’re better off picking… I mean, Nikau is a little smitten. He’ll be really good to you…”

“Yeah. You never fail to remind me.”

Opening the front door to my house, I kicked my sandals off and went to wash my hands with a yawn. Kawe rushed off to pick a room, and I stood there for a moment, my thoughts scattered. I was failing at keeping my feelings in check, knowing that being attracted to Kawe was wrong due to Felix being his cousin. Rationally, it was best to end things here, to be his friend and be happy with that. But emotions aren’t rational, and I could feel my resolve lessen the more time I spent with him.

“But how does he feel for me?” I whispered, grateful the sink was on, and muffled my voice, “I’m not doing this anymore.”

“Doing what?” Kawe came from one of the guest rooms, Simon riding on his shoulders.

“I have plans tonight, can you take care of Simon?”

“Oh. Yeah, of course. I… hope you have fun,” he nodded, chewing his lip, “I…”

“Thank you,” I shoved past him, rushing to my room to change, “Crap. I…”

I was lying, of course, there were no plans, but I wanted to see how Kawe would react. I was disappointed, thinking that he didn’t care, and decided to go to the one pub on the island alone and have a drink because I knew it was still open.

Putting on my favorite jeans and a white sweater with green sleeves, I pulled up my hair and slid on my sandals before checking I had what I needed in my satchel and moving back to the living room. Kawe was sitting on the couch, staring at the wall, and I grabbed my house keys without a word.

“Asher?” he called, and I looked over my shoulder, innocently batting my eyelashes, “You look nice. I hope you have fun with… whoever you go with. I hope that they’re good to you. Be careful, okay?”

“Um. Yeah. Okay. Thank you,” I nodded, my heart low as I left the house, leaning on my cane, “Idiot. I’m an idiot.”

I managed to get to the pub, my right knee screaming, and took a seat at the bar. Mika smiled as she was the bartender and made me a pina colada before serving other people sitting around.

“You’re out and about,” Nikau smiled, sitting next to me, “I could have sworn you never went anywhere.”

“Oh, I normally don’t,” shrugging, I took a long drink, “but I felt stupid and wanted to get away for a bit. My plans backfired. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be delivering the mail, rain, shine, or cyclone?”

“The post office is closed until tomorrow. The plane can’t get through just yet. Can I buy you another?”

“No. I don’t want to get drunk.”

“Can I ask you something then?” he turned, his hands wrapped around his bottle of beer, and I nodded, taking another sip, “Um… I…”

“Nikau, I know,” shrugging, I made eye contact, “and I think you’re sweet. It’s not you, it’s just… I can’t let myself be with any of you. Felix is your cousin.”

“Not by blood,” he shook his head, and I gasped, “Felix isn’t blood-related to us. I think Kawe often forgets that Uncle Nikau wasn’t Felix’s bio dad. It was a tourist. We called him family because Uncle Nikau raised Felix, but he isn’t related to us, and with everything he’s done, we can’t call him family anymore.”

“Oh.”

“Thank you, by the way. For letting me down gently. But why do you… Oh shit,” Nikau gasped and I slowly nodded, “You have feelings for Kawe.”

“Mhm. I do. I didn’t want to.”

“Yeah. Felix kind of ruined that, didn’t he?”

“Yep, and your brother has been trying to convince me to date you since I moved here.”

“Because Kawe would rather spend the rest of his life alone if Noemh and I were happy. He can’t see anything good about himself. I think it’s middle-child syndrome. He feels invisible. Plus, Kawe is a people pleaser to a fault. If you made it even seem like you were interested in me, one of two things would happen. He’ll either back off, at which point you’ll have to hunt him down and force honesty out of him. Or, he’ll beg you not to go for me.”

“Which do you think is more likely?”

“Well,” Nikau leaned closer, “Don’t move. I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable. Kawe is here. He’s staring at us in confusion. I’m trying to get him angry. Can I touch your thigh?”

“Nikau,” I whispered back.

“I’m doing this for you. I want you to be happy. You’ve earned it and even if Kawe is a fucking idiot and can’t see it, he will make you happier than anyone could. I won’t take advantage of it. One hand on your thigh, the other on the back of your chair. Press your left cheek to my right, it’ll look like you're kissing my cheek or neck because my hair will be in the way. Then make me laugh by blowing. I’m super ticklish. It’s going to piss him off and he’ll storm out. At which point…”

“I follow him,” I gasped, and Nikau smiled, “Go ahead then. I trust you.”

“You better. I’m probably going to be your brother-in-law.”

Nikau did exactly as he said, making me giggle as he made weird noises to stop me from panicking. His hair tickled as I pressed my cheek against his and gently blew on his earlobe. Nikau laughed softly, the movement making it seem as if I was truly kissing him, and I heard a loud huff, the door slamming closed.

“And there we go. You better hope he’s not far,” Nikau leaned back, clinking his glass on mine, “I’ll cover your drink. Go get that idiot.”

“Nikau… you’re a good man for willingly doing this when you have feelings for me.”

“Unreciprocated feelings mean nothing. If you can’t see me with Kawe around, then you never will, and I can accept it. Friends?”

“We already were. Thank you.”

I grabbed my cane and rushed outside, where I found Kawe walking toward my house, angrily muttering under his breath. I never caught up, unable to, and decided to simply follow him. We ended up on the beach behind my home, and Kawe started stacking driftwood, clearly trying to keep busy. I came over and grabbed a small one, moving into his eyeline and dropping it into his hands.

“Why are you here?” Kawe gasped.

“I mean, this is my house.”

“But… you were on a date with Nikau.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“You kissed him!” Kawe dropped the driftwood, his eyes damp.

“No, I didn’t,” I took a small step closer, “I didn’t kiss him, Kawe. But even if I did, why do you care? You wanted me to date him. Why are you angry about us sharing an unplanned drink?”

“Un… planned? No, you were clearly on a date. He was… he was touching you.”

“Where?”

“Here,” he leaned down and gripped my thigh, shivers flooding through me, “his other arm was,” he wrapped his free hand around my back, pulling me close to him, “and you…”

“Did this,” I whispered, pressing my cheek against his, “to make you jealous. Because you refuse to be honest about your feelings, Kawe. But so have I.”

“What… you… lied to me? Tricked me?”

“Sorry. I didn’t know what else to do. You constantly shove me away. I don’t know if I can be close to you. Felix was your family. It feels… I just…” I whispered in his ear, tangling my hand in his hair, “Isn’t it wrong? To have feelings for you? To get excited when I see you smile? I shouldn’t… I can’t… not you or Nikau. It’s so…”

“It’s not wrong,” he rubbed my inner thigh with his thumb, and I felt my legs shake, “Felix isn’t family anymore, and he used you. He didn’t love you, Asher. Please tell me you know that.”

“Of course I do,” I sniffled, “but I…”

“You're shaking,” he looked into my eyes, “why?”

“My legs are sore. I’ve walked too much. Plus your grip… It’s nice.”

Kawe helped me to sit in the sand, kneeling in front of me, his hands on my knees, “Why me?”

“You’re funny. Sweet. A little stupid, but it’s charming. Gentle. Caring to a fault. We both love the color purple, watching the sunrise, and working with our hands to make beautiful things. You appreciate me and my cooking and look after me when you never once were required to do that. I don’t want to feel like this, Kawe. I’m terrified.”

“I… I know,” he hummed, cupping my cheek, “I can see it in your eyes whenever I get too close. Whenever I try and tell you… that I adore you, Asher. I want to take care of you for as long as you’ll let me. I want to make you happier than you knew possible, but I can’t give up being a firefighter for you, and it feels selfish of me. I could die. I realistically could die even on an island this small, where we never really have emergencies. Something could happen that steals me away from you. You’ve already been used and hurt. Now you’ll have to worry that…”

“I’d rather worry that something was going to happen to you when you get a call than not have you at all, Kawe,” I whispered, steeling my nerves, “Please. Tell me this isn’t wrong. That it would be okay for me to be with you.”

“Of course it would be. Why do you doubt so much?”

“I… Felix always… I know he lies, but he told me… that by being with him before you, your family will never welcome me into your life. They would never accept us being together.”

“Asher,” he laughed, “honey… he lied. Of course, he said that. It keeps us apart if you think my parents would be against us. But that’s not true. They adore you. My mom is begging me to bring you back for dinner. You know that they care about you. They want you to be happy, and it would make them happiest to see us together.”

“But… What if my body is too messed up after everything to give you a child? It's clearly important to you.”

“Huh? I mean that’s a distant talk, but yes, you can. We can use a surrogate or adopt if not. Silly,” he laughed again, pressing his forehead to mine, “You want this? To be with me?”

“It’s all I’ve thought about for months. I liked you the minute you smiled at me the first time, and it confused me half to death.”

“I want you too,” he whispered, the sun starting to settle against the horizon, bathing us in a soft orange glow, “you’re all I want. I think about you all day.”

“Then what do we do?”

“I pick you. Pick me back.”

“Of course. Absolutely.”

“Then… let me kiss you. To seal it.”