Always Be You (A Chameleon Moon Short Story)

By RoAnna Sylver

Eight years before the events of Chameleon Moon, Book 1, Regan was just beginning to feel secure in his new life. He doesn't know many things for certain, even his place in Parole as it hangs in a fragile balance far above an ever-burning fire. But he has no doubts about how he feels about Rowan (who appears in the short story The Library Ghost in the collection Life Within Parole, and will again in Book 2: The Lifeline Signal).

Trust and intimacy like this is hard to find, and their connection quickly becomes one of the sweetest and most reassuring parts of his strange life. So far, sexuality hasn't been part of it, not for either of them. But like many things in Parole and beyond, attraction/sexuality/sensuality are more complicated than they first appear.

This is a story about an asexual couple navigating consent, sorting out sometimes-confusing layers of attraction, and discovering new things about themselves and one another - like the fact that their orientations don't entirely match up. But even if their sexualities are farther apart than they realized, it doesn't mean they have to be anything but close.

• Language: English
• Publisher: RoAnna Sylver
• Release date: Aug 31, 2017

RoAnna Sylver

RoAnna Sylver is passionate about stories that give hope, healing and even fun for queer, disabled and other marginalized people, and thinks we need a lot more. Aside from writing oddly optimistic dystopia and vampire books, RoAnna is a blogger, singer, and artist. RoAnna lives with family near Portland OR, and probably spends too much time playing videogames. The next adventure they would like is a nap in a pile of bunnies.

Book preview

ALWAYS BE YOU

Warm. Quiet. Dark. One of Regan's favorite times of the day: late, after Library closing hours, but not so late that it was time to slip through shadows or run through crumbling streets. One of his favorite places: the secret, secure, safe back room filled with books and jars and his soft beanbag-chair nest and pile of blankets.

And one of his favorite people. His fingers moved through Rowan's soft, curly hair, hand coming to rest on the back of their neck, using the slight pressure to kiss them more deeply. Their quiet sigh and way they seemed to further melt in his arms told him he was doing it right. Getting better at this.

The two of them had already been here for some time. They usually were. They were never in a hurry to reach their limits and fall asleep, because that meant an end to their time together that night, time that