I woke up the next morning to 1315′s smile, his arms still around me. “Morning, love,” he whispered.
My heart melted, and I kissed him.
The two of us shifted awkwardly, trying to sit up in our tiny cell. As 1315 shuffled over to the toilet, I looked away to give him what privacy I could in such a situation.
Because no matter how happy we were to have found love, we were still prisoners of war stuck on a prison ship on our way to a prison camp.
The robotic guard posted outside our cell opened up a small, rectangular hole in the door, pushing in a pair of bowls of gruel. 1315 and I sat on the bed, our backs to the wall, and ate.
“About our families,” 1315 started. “They’re both gone. I… They never really cared about me, mine, so I don’t mind much they’re gone. You don’t have to say anything about yours if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind. Better to get it out of the way,” I said. “Genna… She was a good woman. I loved her as a friend, sure, but I could never love her as my wife, not like she wanted. Not like I should have…
“The whole thing was an arranged marriage. Back home, we were both from… rather prominent families. I couldn’t exactly say no. We tried to make things work, even if the relationship was somewhat one-sided.”
1315 asked, “But what about your son?”
I replied, “Yes, I’m gay, and no, I wasn’t really that comfortable with myself during the two years Genna and I were married before our son was born. But even with me being who I am, I still wanted to have a family of my own. I was happy to be a father those last couple weeks before my city was invaded and my family was killed.”
“I’m sorry, 118,” whispered 1315.
“It’s alright,” I told him. “Like you said last night, we can be our own family now.”
I hesitated before adding, “We were going to name him Colin.”
“Colin… I like that name,” 1315 said.
I changed the subject. “So, what’s this escape plan of yours?”
“Um…” 1315 said sheepishly. “Well, I don’t actually have one yet…”
Midnight City 