1.6 - Exploring His Apartment

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After finally defining their relationship, Cali and Jim were much happier. Having lost their anxieties about pushing away the other, they were able to be much more comfortable with each other.

Jim was happy to go back to his playboy ways, going to bars every once in a while, to pick up random girls, though still a lot less than before he'd gotten with Cali. Of course, he wasn't the only one who had slept with others, Cali having met a nice guy to have a one-nightstands with after being left in the bar one night when Jim left with a girl. Still, they had been on a couple more dates now, very often ending up in one of each other's beds, though more often than not that bed ended up being Jim's.

The first time they'd woken up to find themselves in Cali's apartment rather than Jim's dorm was a weekend a couple of weeks after they had defined their relationship. They'd woken up next to each other at about the same time rather late in the morning, though Jim did stir a minute or two earlier.

Jim was curious about the place since Cali lived in an apartment at the edge of campus rather than in the dorms after having to move out from his shared room with his ex. He looked around curiously when he first stirred, not having got a look at its last night when he had entered, being too focused on his boyfriend leading him to the room and the activities that followed.

He noted that it was filled with rather warm and dark colours unlike the dorms which were bright and cool, often metal like silvers, whites and blues. No, Cali's room was different. The walls were a dark red toned brown with streaks going down them reminiscent of wooden panels, even having odd swirls and imperfections found in wooden floors. A thick orangish-yellow colour carpeted the floor looking untrodden and soft.

The room was furnished completely in wooden furniture that was much lighter than the walls, having an ashy white tone. The wardrobe, small table and bedframe were likely the lightest things in the room. Covering him comfortably was a thin cotton blanket and a much thicker one that looked to be made of fur. The pattern caught Jim's eye as it looked similar to that of an Earth snow leopard but was much too large. Even though it appeared well cared for, the fur also looked well used as if Cali had owned it for many years.

The uncontained window had a thin blue crystal attached to it making the morning light refract and go from its normal orange tone to a soft greenish-blue one. Jim assumed all of it had come from Cali's home planet and made a mental note to ask Cali what animal the fur had come from.

Looking over to his bed companion, he saw that he was still sleeping on his side, his back facing Jim. With the blanket having shifted quite far down him, Cali's back exposed to the morning light and Jim's curious eyes. He had already noted Cali's back tattoo before, back on the first time they had shared a bed and had seen it at a glance a few times since, but Jim had never really looked at it properly. It was an unusual pattern, but the striking cobalt blue colour especially made it stand out despite its simplicity.

Starting from a single point in the very centre of his lower back, the middle line stretched up along his spine to his neck and disappeared behind his hair line. Jim wondered when the line stopped since it wasn't visible at the man's hairline. The middle line also started out quite thick, about two inches wide, but got slightly thinner the higher up his body it went, specifically when a different line split off of the middle one.

The lowest split was just under a quarter of the way up his back, splitting up on both sides to make two very thin lines that curved away and up, ending at little spikes on his sides. The pattern made an elongated and flattened U shape.

The next split happened just under halfway up his back and had the same pattern as the previous, making a similar shape though the lines were thicker this time. Equally, they made the middle one thinner, though affected it slightly more than the previous thinner lines. Shooting up and out two inches before shooting back and reconnecting the middle line to make a slightly elongated diamond shape in the middle of his back with the thin middle line running through it, the third split was very unusual.

The last of the splits curved up wards from the bottom of his backbone up to the tops of his shoulders before they also split making two thin lines go equally as far down his chest and outer arms about four inches. Jim couldn't stop himself from reaching out and tracing the curving blue lines.

It was when he looped the diamond shape that Cali decided to turn around. He had already been stirring when Jim had begun playing with his mark but had let him, enjoying the feeling of his cool hands on his back. As he settled on his other side, he noted Jim looking like a child with their hand caught in the cookie jar and smiled in amusement. "Good morning love." He smiled softly, still slightly sleepy from his gentle wake up.

"Morning angel," Jim replied, still not over hearing Cali's gorgeous morning voice that sent shivers down his spine, "I didn't wake you up did I?"

Shaking his head slightly, Cali smiled brighter, "No love, I was already waking up when you started. But even if I wasn't, it's not a bad way to be woken up. It was quite soothing."

Jim blushed slightly as he smiled with a soft smile. "Sorry, I was just curious about your tattoo, I hadn't really gotten a proper look at it before."

Cali smiled in understanding but still corrected his partner, "It's not a tattoo, it's called a Singularis mark. They're natural makings my species have. Uniquely different for everyone, like human's fingerprints."

"Really?" Jim asked in fascination, looking at Cali's shoulder to see the little ends of the final splits.

"Yeah." Cali confirmed softly before looking down, as if at himself, in thought, "I've never really liked my one. It's so boring compared to my siblings. Some of them have ones so intricate and large that they cover their entire backs like murals."

Looking at Cali's shoulder again, Jim tried to imagine it but could only see messy scribbles like that of a tantuming toddler, "I'm sure they're pretty."

"Yeah, they're enchanting." Cali replied dreamily with a tone of discontent for his own mark.

"But. I love your one." He admitted softly with a smile making Cali look up and meet his eyes with slight shock and confusion, "It's all yours and its beautiful." Cali smiled brightly, even bigger than his usual warm one making Jim's eyes draw to his lips. Without thinking, as if drunk on his boyfriend's beauty, he moved his hand and cupped Cali's cheek, "And I love your smile."

Completely thrown off guard, Cali's smile was so wide it hurt. He managed to whisper out "I love you too," but couldn't say another word, completely overwhelmed with affection.

The two continued to lie in bed, just soaking up the other's company for another half an hour before Cali's noon alarm went off. Agreeing that they should finally get out of bed, Cali offered to make lunch while Jim made himself at home.

While Cali was in the kitchen, Jim decided to look around the living room. He noted that the rest of the apartment looked a lot more modern that his bedroom had, though he did note that the kitchen was still very 22nd century.

The main room of the place was an open plan room with the living room area being closest to the bedroom and bathroom while the kitchen was at the back wall furthest from the rest. There was a corner sofa facing away from where he stood in the doorway of the bedroom and towards a large open window that he could see the campus out of. He also noted that the window, which reached from the floor to the ceiling, had a sliding door that led onto a small balcony large enough for a comfy seat and tiny table. Leant against the window was a projection screen placed on a long thin metal stand. Between the sofa was a large metal table that was obviously the dining table despite it being too low to eat directly off of. He had a very casual living style apparently.

He noted that there were a couple of tall shelves against the wall next to the door that had some of Cali's stuff on it but what caught his interest was something on a small table in the corner of the room next to the bathroom door and window.

Approaching to get a closer look, he saw it was some kind of alter. There were three carved statues of differing sizes and types of materials set carefully with the tallest stood respectfully behind the smaller two.

The back one, that Jim wanted to guess was The Elder, looked to be made of an old dark brown wood. It depicted an older person wearing a cloak, hood up to hide their face. The material in combination with their design looked very dull in comparison to the two smaller statues making it blend into the background despite its larger size.

The smaller one to the left was made out of a sea coloured crystal-like stone, lots of tones of greens and blues mixing together beautifully. It was obviously a child, wearing a large carefree smile with a curious look in its carved eyes. Jim was fairly confident in naming it Partum.

The last one, that appeared to be the smallest, was sat cross-legged to the right of the other child, and was made out of a similar crystal, this time a mix of dark purples and light blues. It looked forward with a small content smile and held in its lap appeared to be a tome or scroll. If he was right about the other one, then this was Salutem.

Surrounding the carvings were several different items. In front of the children was a small whiskey glass with what looked like alcohol in it, a small simple bouquet of flowers hanging out. Behind the tallest one was a tall unlit candle inside and surrounded by a taller glass, most likely to keep the fire safe when it was lit.

"That's the gods." Jim turned around quickly at the sudden voice to see a smiling Cali stood behind him and two plates of food on the table in front of the sofa. "Which reminds me..." he trailed off, picking up a match from the table that Jim hadn't noticed and carefully lighting the candle behind the back statue.

"What's that for?" Jim asked as he watched curiously as Cali blew out the match and threw it to the side.

"Offerings to appease them and gain their favours." Cali answered simply but saw as Jim nodded in interest for him to go on, "The Twins are quite easy to appease, as children are, just some food or flowers, but the Elder takes more effort. They have to look after The Twins and so you have to do a lot more to get their attention to gain help. Another reason people often don't bother with them and focus on The Twins. But I respect the Elder and so I put the effort in to light a candle every day, replace it when it runs out, and burn a small bit of food each night before bed."

Jim looked at him in slight amazement. He'd long given up on religion a long time ago, not really seeing the point in it, especially in modern times when there was so much scientific evidence to dismiss the idea of God. But Cali was here with his three gods completely respecting them, even the one others of his people didn't. It made him fall for the man just a little bit more.

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Translations:

Singularis means singular / unique.