Kev finished his coffee, the last biscuit a sweet, crumbly punctuation to Cindy's parting words. She was probably right. He shouldn't care if Fang was working; he just wanted to be with him. And if being with Fang meant sleeping during the day... would it really be so hard to adapt?
After cleaning away the remnants of his light breakfast with Cindy, he decided to change into his swim trunks. The sun was up now and the air was quickly warming. Then, towel in hand, he left his apartment and decided to head straight to Talon and Sabrina's. He felt a bit bad, not talking with Talon more after they left the club last night, but his mind had been elsewhere, a chaotic swirl of Lanon's accusations and Fang's retreat.
Before he knew it, he was standing in the familiar hallway, knocking on their door.
Talon was shirtless and rubbing his eyes when he opened the door. "Mr. Kev, good morning."
"I hope I didn't wake you," Kev said.
Talon yawned, his beak opening wide. "You didn't. Come in."
Kev walked in, the morning sun pouring through the balcony doors, making him squint. "Wow, that's bright."
"It's like coffee," Talon said, moving to the kitchen. "You don't mind if I make some breakfast before we go swimming, do you?"
"I'm in no rush," Kev said, tossing his towel on the back of one of Talon's armchairs.
"Sister is still sleeping, so try not to wake her," Talon said with a nod to her bedroom door.
Kev sat on the couch and watched Talon's attempts at making breakfast. The eagleman's usual precise grace seemed to evaporate the moment he entered the kitchen. He turned the gas on the stove too high, and when he struck the match, a loud whoosh and a flash of fire erupted from the burner, making him stumble backwards, his wings flaring in alarm. Recovering, he grabbed a few eggs from the ice box. With a look of intense concentration he aimed it at the counter to crack it but when he squeezed his powerful grip instantly crushed the shell, a gooey mess of yolk and white dripping between his fingers. He hissed in frustration, dropped the mess into the sink, and tried again. The second egg met the same unfortunate fate. Finally, on the third try, he managed to crack an egg on the counter, only to forget to put butter in the pan. The egg hit the hot surface with an immediate, angry sizzle, sticking instantly. He poked at it with a fork, scraping furiously, before remembering he didn't even know where Sabrina kept the plates. By the time he located one in a low cupboard, his breakfast was a sad pile of crispy, blackened bits.
Talon walked over to the coffee table and looked down at his culinary misfortune.
"Uhh, I've got some bagels back in my room if you want one," Kev offered.
Talon picked at his crispy black egg bits and said, his voice a low, defeated rasp, "There is no protein in bagels."
"I'm not sure if there's any protein in that egg anymore," Kev said with a grin.
Talon tried a few bites, his beak making a faint crunching sound against the burnt offering, then he put the plate in the sink with a sigh. "I think a bagel would be nice."
"Wait here, I'll be back in a couple of minutes," Kev said, "as long as you don't mind me using your kitchen when I get back."
"It doesn't bother me," Talon replied, already moving to the couch to sit.
Kev's trip back and forth was quick. He used one of the grocery bags from Horns's food deliveries to bring back an assortment of ingredients. Talon seemed more than happy to watch as Kev efficiently put together a trio of toasted bagel sandwiches, layering cheese, some cut-up dried sausage, and even a handful of spinach. He even brought some ground coffee beans and a filter.
He was not quick enough to stop the kettle from whistling though, and with its piercing shriek came a muffled shout from Sabrina's bedroom door. "Brother, shut the hell up! It's before noon! How rude are you?!"
"Sorry, Sabrina!" Kev yelled back. "You can go back to sleep if you don't want any coffee!"
"Why are you here so early?!" she yelled back through the door. "Come to brag about being ravaged by hot tiger guy?! Not that I'd be jealous or anything!"
Kev poured the boiling water over the coffee grounds, the rich aroma filling the kitchen. "Oh, you'd never guess what happened with Rex last night!"
"Well, tell me!" she yelled. "Don't be a tease!"
"Then get out here!" Kev yelled back, his voice echoing in the sunny apartment. "I'm not gonna stand here and yell at you through this door all day!"
"I forget how delicate you are!" she shouted back. "This had better be good!"
Kev shook his head, a smile playing on his lips, and passed Talon a sandwich and a cup of coffee.
"Thank you," Talon said, accepting the food. He paused, looking at his sandwich, then met Kev's gaze. "And thank you," he added, his voice a low, serious rasp, "for talking with Fang last night."
Kev, a bit surprised by the sudden shift in tone, sat in the armchair opposite Talon, holding his own sandwich and coffee. "I meant to talk with you about it last night when we got back to the second floor," Kev said, "but I was a bit preoccupied."
"It is me who should have thanked you sooner," Talon said, still looking at his sandwich. "I think, if you had not been the one to tell him, then I would have been... reprimanded."
"Yeah, but if I wasn't..." Kev closed his eyes tight for a moment, steeling himself, before looking at Talon. "I know this is going to sound crazy, but I need to tell you something, Talon."
Talon lowered the sandwich from his beak and put it back on his plate. "Of course, Mr. Kev," he said, his gaze steady and serious. "You say things that sound crazy every once in a while."
"Please, I should have told you this sooner, but... the reason Fang and Rex have been on high alert since the night Perry got attacked, it's because..." Kev swallowed, the words catching in his throat. I'm... He couldn't get it out. He couldn't say "alien." It was too stupid, so incredibly crazy-sounding that Talon would basically be forced to laugh.
Kev took a deep breath and started again. "When I told you I'm not from around here, I left out something really important."
Talon's expression was unreadable. "Are you an endangered species?" he asked, his voice a simple, direct question.
"What? No, uh..." Kev was thrown completely off track. That's what Horns had said. "I'm not sure what you mean by 'endangered species,' I guess," Kev stammered, "but... I'm not from around here. And I guess I don't actually know where I'm from."
Talon nodded knowingly. "Amnesia. I understand."
Kev shook his head, frustration mounting. "Listen, Talon, I don't have amnesia. I know who I am, but I just..."
"You can tell me, Kev," Talon said, his voice calm and steady.
Kev closed his eyes and managed a wry smile. "Listen, Talon," he began, "all I can say is, up until I woke up here during my own audition, I came from a place where there were only other humans. I don't have amnesia. I remember growing up and going to school and getting a job and everything else up until... I woke up here."
Talon's brow was furrowed in concentration, his sharp eyes searching Kev's face, not for lies, but for logic, for some framework to place this impossible information.
"Maybe there's some other mental disorder that plants false memories or changes them somehow," Kev offered, grasping at straws, "but the important thing, security-wise," he said, trying to toss Talon something concrete he could understand, "is I'm not in the city's databases. That's probably what Abe was going to talk about last night."
Talon slowly nodded, the pieces finally clicking into place from a security perspective. "Abe did not have the chance to say much."
"No, but it would have been nice if we could have found out what he was going to say," Kev sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Talon. I know this probably makes your job harder."
Talon picked up his sandwich. "No," he said, his gaze meeting Kev's, his expression serious but not accusatory. "It is much better to know the stakes." He bit into his sandwich, chewed thoughtfully, and then added, a hint of surprise in his voice, "Hmm. Bagels aren't so bad."
Kev grinned and picked up his own sandwich, a wave of relief washing over him. That talk went much better than he thought. Talon hadn't seemed fussed about it at all, more... appreciative. The eagleman was a professional, and for him, information, no matter how outlandish, was just another variable to factor into his calculations.
"I smell coffee!" Sabrina's door slammed open. She was in another large and brightly colored tee-shirt, the fabric so oversized it looked more like a poncho on her slender frame. She rolled to the kitchen and, with a practiced swipe, scooped up the sandwich and cup that waited on the counter.
"Good morning, sister," Talon said between bites.
"Oh, I didn't see you there, brother. You are just so very quiet and boring," Sabrina declared. She parked herself next to Kev, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. "But you," she said, leaning in conspiratorially, "you have a story for me about hot tiger guy. Tell me! Oh, those shoulders, ughhhh. He can do like, infinity push-ups, right? I bet he could go for so long. Oh my god, just tell me already!"
"SABRINA!" Talon squawked, his usual calm demeanor cracking for a moment.
"TALON!" Sabrina mimicked back, unfazed. "What do you expect? I'm 20, and you have taken me away from my love, the internet! Now the only juicy gossip I can get is through him!" She pointed a feathered finger dramatically at Kev.
Kev grinned and said loudly, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Oh Sabrina, Rex has the stamina of a god. Hours and hours."
Talon let out a low groan and put his face in his hands.
"Holy shit," Sabrina said, her voice a reverent whisper. "I knew it. What about his glutes? Were they as good out of the jeans as in them? Sometimes tight jeans make a flabby butt look better than it is."
"What?" Kev said, his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.
Sabrina raised her arms in exasperation. "You didn't get to see his butt?! That's like, a sin or something!"
"I think you misunderstand," Kev said, the laugh finally breaking through. "He was... dancing. All night long."
"What?" Sabrina's sandwich slipped from her grasp and landed with a soft splat on the floor.
"Oh," Kev stifled another wave of laughter. "Hey, do you want me to put another sandwich together for you?"
Sabrina turned to Kev, her eyes hard, her earlier amusement completely gone. "Hot tiger guy was dancing all night," she said, her voice dangerously quiet, "and no one came and got me."
Kev was a bit stunned by the ferocity in her voice. "Oh, sorry Sabrina. I didn't even know he was dancing until right before I went to bed."
Sabrina turned on Talon and yelled, "Why didn't you wake me up, brother?!"