[Klayko]

He listened to the male talk only after he had explained his own situation. Nowadays, he hardly thought of Cassandra. Frankly, he hardly thought of much other than his work. It had replaced the urge to want to do anything else. Well, mostly everything else. There was that hidden desire that wasn’t a hidden surprise after all: Wanting companionship with the male he took into his house.

“That’s good you have somebody out here caring for you,” he said. “Not everyone is like that in the town. Though, I have to inquire. What’s weird about me?”

Navana made that sound like it was a bad thing. Ryan didn’t see much of an issue, but then again, it was only because he wasn’t exactly clear of mind.

“Having kids isn’t exactly a bad or weird thing,” he continued. “One might argue you’re the weird one with all this babble of referring to others as being too happy or valuing some form of commitment. I mean, by all intent, you’re basically living under a stranger’s roof for the next five years until you either A, get up on your own feet, or B, make the right choice.”

He wish he could tell the male how he truly felt. That wasn’t easy though, not when his glossed blue eyes were seeing the male before him as a potential husband. It was good to see him enjoy the meal, the dessert especially though. Navana could get used to it.

“It's unfortunate that you've been shipped around place to place. If it's any consolation, you're welcome to stay here if you decide to leave after our arrangement is over. In case you hadn't noticed, the place is a little too big for just one man.”

That was when he explained something to Navana that he wouldn't know. Judging from Ryan’s physique, from the muscle build to scruffy appearance, he clearly wasn't someone to do things on a more feminine basis.

“I used to be a Marine,” he explained. “Me and my friends used to be, in fact, but being here made us realize it was a good thing to leave it behind us.”

Navana probably didn't put two and two together instantly, but what he said from that alone was a major red flag, one being the male could end up having a crime against him for desertion. That was if they didn't rule him and his buddies were lost at sea from the ship’s debris.

“Ever since Cassandra left, it just gave me nothing but time here. So, I started learning how to farm and put my mind in architecture to good use and now here we are, a house of my own design out in the suburbs near the town.”

They were one a nice sized farm, which Ryan mostly tended to. “The crops and produce take care of themselves mostly. It's how I'm affording a stable income. I guess another thing is that I'm from a place called New York.”

Another red flag: He was indeed from said state, but why was it his voice had quite the southern drawl to it?

“And while you wouldn't assume so,” he said. “I actually have a game room you could be playing your video games at. After all, I'm not too old to know my way around a PlayStation or Xbox.”

He chuckled. “So is there anything about you I should know about?”