"What?"
It doesn't sound eloquent, or even intelligent for that matter, but he can't quite wrap his head around what his boss - and, over the past couple of years, his mentor - just asked him.
"You heard me, Taskin," Lucius leans back, resting an elbow on the arm of his chair and using the attached hand to prop up his head.
He did, of course, but he'd thought maybe he'd misheard. Now, with Lucius' steady gaze on him, he knows that he didn't.
"But…I mean…me?"
"Well, you and Kevian together, though you'd be on your own any time he was traveling."
Taskin is quite sure that his mentor is cheerfully misinterpreting his question on purpose. He frowns at him. "Why us, though?"
"Why not?" Lucius raises a single eyebrow. "You're both successful individuals with plenty of time and affection to offer a child and in a stable, happy relationship. Exactly what we're looking for in cohort parents."
He considers that, but it still feels as if a piece is missing; he and Kev have been all of those things since they arrived three years ago, so… "Why now?"
Lucius's eyes sharpen, and then his lips curve into a smile that tells Taskin he's finally asked the right question. The Head of school is like that - he prefers to gently lead you to the correct answer, not to offer it freely, but he's always pleased when his pupils arrive there, however long it takes.
"First, it's clear to me that you've settled well into your responsibilities as a teacher here. I would not have asked you to lead a cohort right away; that would have been overwhelming for anyone."
Taskin nods - that makes sense. Things were much different here, teaching all ages, than they'd been teaching the university students. And he'd had a lot of studying to do to feel comfortable teaching the comportment class. Not to mention the adjustment of living and working at the Temple; he's come to love Lastar with all of its idiosyncrasies, but it had been a rough adjustment to trust his new colleagues and neighbors not to be cut of the same bigoted, close-minded cloth as some of the other Eschiens he had encountered before they found safe harbor here.
"Secondly…" Lucius leans back in his chair a moment, considering Taskin, before he continues. "I was ready to give you a passel of our youngsters to raise after your first semester, son, but…you're young, and your partner is younger." His eyes crinkle, the smile he gives Taskin now unbearably fond. Taskin has to duck his head. "It took me some time to convince the council that the two of you are as stable and mature as some couples I've met who were well into their second century."
He wonders idly whether Lucius would feel the same if he knew that Taskin stays emotionally stable in part because his husband is always ready and willing to take him across his knee, for stress relief and for discipline.
"Though with that in mind, I need you to know that this is by no means an order. This is a request, and one that will carry no personal or professional repercussions between us if you say no. I do faintly remember what it was like to be young - if you and Kevian don't want to do this, for any reason, you can say no." Taskin's nod seems not to satisfy him because he says, "Look at me, son."
He drags his eyes up.
"I want your promise that the two of you will say no if you want to. This is not a job to take on out of obligation."
Taskin starts to nod, but when the man's frown and his eyes sharpen, he quickly changes to vocalization. "I understand, I do. I promise we won't make a hasty decision."
"Very good. Well, I happen to know your young man is due home today, so I am sure I am cramping your style. Off with you, and I don't want to see the two of you at supper. Order to your rooms, for once." Despite Taskin's spluttering, embarrassed objection at that, he finds himself hustled out the door.
-------------------------
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
Stepping up behind his partner, who hadn't seemed to notice his arrival, Kevian rests his hand on the back of Taskin's neck. Taskin leans back into his touch with a sigh. Looking past him, Kevian tries to guess what it is they're looking at that has him so out of sorts.
What they're looking at is obvious enough; they're standing just inside the door to their new quarters, looking into the rather spacious living area that they've spent all of their spare time in the last two weeks furnishing and decorating. And good thing it's spacious, since it's meant to function as a home base for six to twelve adolescents.
Kevian just isn't sure why they're looking at it right now.
"Are we doing the right thing?" Taskin glances up at him over his shoulder before turning his scowl back to the room at large. "What business do I have, acting as anyone's parent?"
Turning around to face Kevian, he continues, "I didn't have younger brothers or sisters, and I've never had a child of my own. I'm not even from here - what do I know about raising Eschien children? We're just asking for trouble. Some noble parent is going to send their kid here, find out I'm in charge of them, and throw a fit! We'll have to upend our entire lives again. I should go tell Lucius I've changed my mind-"
"Take a breath." Kevian places a hand on either side of his husband's face, holding him still, and waits until he complies, ignoring the attitude behind the huff. "Taskin, dearheart, Lucius picked you - picked us - for a reason. And that reason is because you care so deeply about all of your students. You're already de facto parent and mentor to more than a few. Children don't need someone who is perfect - they need someone to guide them, to support them, to hold them accountable, and most of all to love them unconditionally. There is no one better suited to that than you."
His husband blinks, still frowning. "Those things were all true in Mythlight, too," he says. "And I still ended up with someone trying to have me assassinated!"
"Are we in Mythlight, my heart?"
"No, but-"
"No, we aren't." Kevian doesn't let him make excuses. "Parents who send their students to Lastar are well aware of the Temple and School philosophies." Taskin opens his mouth, and he can see the argument still in the older man's eyes, so he continues firmly, "and on the off chance there was a family of concern, Lucius would never assign their student to you."
His husband sighs and then scowls up at him. "Why do you always have to be so…so optimistic?" The word falls from Taskin's tongue like he's revolted by it, and Kevian can't help but want to laugh at him, but he swallows it and presses a kiss to his forehead instead to hide the way he's sure his eyes have crinkled in humor.
"Just the way I've always been, I'm afraid."
"As long as you keep in mind that this is your mess now, too, sunshine."
"All of your messes are my messes," Kevian reminds him, "and my messes are your messes. That's how this works." He pauses a moment and holds Taskin's gaze. "But we've also already had this conversation, at length. I thought we'd already dispelled these pervasive worries. Which means this is just stress. Do you need my help to settle?"
"We don't have time," Taskin says, looking away. "They'll be here any time."
"If you need something, my heart, we will make time," he says calmly, not moving his hands from his husband's face or allowing him to squirm away. "Better a little spanking now than a big one later, perhaps?"
"Ugh," his tribesman groans, quiet for a moment as he stares at the ground and then finally, slowly, meets his eyes again. "No. I'm fine."
He doesn't look fine - his brows still furrowed, tension in every line of his body. Kevian is seriously weighing whether he should push more or wait for him to admit he's not doing well, when there is a knock on the door, and he's out of time. Ah, well, if he has to turn his lover over his knee later, it will be no hardship. As Taskin pulls away, he releases him easily. He doesn't follow him to the door, because he doesn't want to loom.
Taskin takes a deep breath - deep enough to be visible - and then squares his shoulders before he swings the door open, and when he speaks, it's all friendly and bright, no trace of his earlier gloom. "Welcome, come in!"
"Their things will be brought up shortly," the Head of School says to Taskin. "As will supper for the six of you, so you have time to get everyone settled." He waits only a moment, surveying them all with a fond smile that Taskin misses but makes Kevian grin.
The four students Lucius herds into their new quarters - all newly arrived to Lastar today - look as nervous as he knows his husband feels, but as they settle them into seats to start a first cohort meeting, Kevian has the utmost faith that all will be well.
