Chapter 44: Date night

 Darius was setting the table, as the doorbell rang. 

"Dad, go and check it out," Darius said, as he righted the vase with the flowers again for the tenth time. 

"Going," Andiel spoke, and he walked towards the door. 

The elf opened the door, and saw Alek ladened with boxes. 

"Hey, good evening. I didn't know what sort of fruit salad you would prefer, so I brought two variants to share," the Fey said, and looked at Andiel. "May I enter?"

"Of course. Please — hand me one of the boxes," Andiel said, and the Fey gave him the topmost box. 

"I hope you like melon because it is the main ingredient for both of the salads," Alek said, as he walked in. "Nice place. Is your clinic in here, or do you work at the hospital?" 

"Both," Andiel said. "I get called to the hospital from time to time, but mostly I work from home." 

"Say, is the kid trying to hitch us up?" Alek asked, as Andiel sputtered. 

"What got you to this idea?" He asked, and Alek just shrugged. 

"Demons have keen noses. So, is he trying to hitch us up?" Alek asked again. Andiel blushed brightly then. 

"I am not certain if he is right, this time," the elf said, and the Fey smirked at him. 

"Demons are never wrong about such things. So, soulmate, were you going to pretend that you didn't know a thing the entire evening?" Alek leaned in, and their lips nearly brushed. 

"Well, I..." Andiel took a step back. "You are a good man, but my child is my priority." 

"Hey, no hard feelings," Alek said with a shrug. "I get it. If you are not ready, I won't force the issue. I mean, having a soulmate is nice, but I don't put too much stock in that either. Shall we go to the schemer?"

"Right this way," Andiel breathed easier, when the Fey didn't attempt to force a relationship on him. A part of him wondered what it would be like to spend a summer with Alek and Darius. To be a family.

Another part of him remembered the last time he had put his hopes in someone he thought was his soulmate, and his mood turned sour. They found Darius already sitting in his place, kicking his feet. 

"Darius, straighten up," Andiel chastised, and the demon boy did so. He looked at the two boxes that the adults were carrying inside. 

"The fruit salad?" He asked, and Alek nodded. 

"Exhibit A: Melon, strawberries, apricots and caramel sauce," he held up the box he was holding, and watched as the boy's tail began to wag. "Exhibit B: Melon, blueberries, whipped cream and raspberry sauce." 

Alek nodded to the box that Andiel was holding. Darius looked at the two boxes, but then his hunger for caramel won. 

"We can eat Alek's box first," Darius said, and then nodded at the table. "Come on, the table is set, and we need to eat salty food before we eat the sweets." 

"Right you are," Andiel said, and he placed his box on the counter. "Hand me your box, so I can split it in three portions." 

"Here you go," Alek handed the box, and then sat on Darius's other side. When no one told him, he couldn't sit there, he relaxed in his seat. Turning to Darius, he spoke to the boy, while Andiel was placing the salad in plates. 

"So, how was your first visit at the bank?" Alek asked, and the boy scrunched up his nose at him. 

"It was boring. There was something about interests, trust funds, yearly limits, and much more. But it all went over my head. Andy dealt with it all," Darius said, and then looked at his father. "Dad, can you still deal with the bank, when I come back from Orestria Academy?" 

"No way. You will be an adult then. You will need to take some economy courses while you are at the academy. Not just how to bash skulls," Andiel said, and then went and sat on Darius's other side, in his usual spot. 

The chicken roast looked enticing, and Alek wanted to dig in, but he didn't want to start eating before Andiel invited him to. There was silence for a while, during which Darius looked from one adult to the other. The child couldn't keep his secret anymore, so, he blurted it out.  

"You are soulmates," Darius said, his tail wagging. 

"As you have said before," Andiel said with a groan. 

"Look, kiddo, sometimes it is not enough to be someone's soulmate, to end up together with them," Alek told Darius, who tilted his head. 

"In the books that I have read, it is written that soulmates are chosen by Destiny. They must be together," Darius protested, and Alek chuckled. 

"Both your father and I have many years ahead of us," Alek suggested, trying to get the kid off the warpath. 

"No, you don't. You are both a part of the cycle of life," Darius protested. Why couldn't they see that they didn't have all that much time?

 "To someone who will turn into an immortal at 22, hundreds of years might be nothing. But to the two of us, they are enough," Andiel told his son. 

"And you have to spend them alone, is that it?" Darius looked ready to throw a tantrum. Andiel frowned at him. 

"What have I told you about using anger as a means to an end?" Andiel asked, and Darius's tail sagged behind him. His shoulder's slumped, and he looked down at his hands. 

"That it is the mark of the mean people," Darius mumbled, but then he looked up in his father's eyes. His clear blue eyes stared in Andiel's hazel ones with a plea so sincere, that Andiel was taken back. "By this time next year, I will be a grown up, and then you will be living alone again. I will come and visit, help you with the clinic, but I will have my own life, dad." 

"I know you are looking out for me," Andiel said, and then nodded at the food. "Come on, before it gets cold."

With that, the elf thought that the matter was settled, but Darius thought differently.