"The problem with books is that they end." (Caroline Kepnes)

A few years later...

"So, squirrel, tell us again how you met with Harvey" Zephyr asked his mate.

"There was this very old man, sleeping outside on a bench at night..." Fayez started.

He had told this story to his mates countless times. It was about an old man with a green hat and an old, patched coat.

He used to see this old man all the time when he strided through the narrow alleys of the town. At that time, he had just left the ISB, and he had moved to a small city with his mates, in Northern England.

It had been frightening, at the beginning.

After all, just like his family castle, the Institute was a bubble of some sort, keeping him secluded from the oustide world.

Now, here he was, living among humans - weird and fragile little creatures he couldn't really understand.

This had been terrifying.

Of course, he wasn't alone. He had his mates with him. The thing was, his mates had already seen the outside world. They couldn't really understand the turmoil Fayez found himself in.

Soon, his three mates had found jobs and occupations. Zeph worked as a sexual therapist, Akhenaton was a coach in a gym, Ashur was a PHD student in History.

Things weren't so easy for Fayez. Despite his mates'advices and words of encouragements, he still found difficult to meddle with others, let alone human beings.

Job interviews seemed out of reach, as well as meeting up with people in pubs or attending social events. Even the mere idea of it was enough to make him sweat.

That changed the day when he finally talked to the old man for the first time.

He wasn't one to talk to strangers on the street, but the air was teeth-chattering that day, and the old man had looked so cold.

So, Fayez had come closer to the bench where he was sitting, and he had mustered the courage to talk to him.

"What's your name?" he had simply asked.

"I'm Harvey" the old man had replied with some difficulty.

"I'm Fayez. Do you - uh - do you want to go to a coffee shop or something? It's - 'it's on me', as the youngsters say."

Fayez had felt utterly stupid, but thankfully the man hadn't seem to mind. They had gone to a lovely coffee shop, with colourful cushions, children books at every corner and a small fountain in the middle.

It had been incredibly easy to talk to Harvey. They had remained a long time in the coffee shop, talking about everything and nothing.

When it was getting very late, they had decided to do the same thing on the next day and, with time, they had become great friends.

Friendship was the thing the old man lacked the most and having Fayez in his life helped him to socialize again with others.

He eventually decided to get in touch with social services and with Ashur's help, he obtained a place to stay.

He was the one who suggested that Fayez could work in an association doing charity work. He thought it definitely suited Fayez's profile.

That's what Fayez was doing, now. He was doing charity works to help persons of no fixed address.

"You know, this story really made me realize something" Fayez suddenly declared, his voice pensive. "I made a promise to protect human beings at all costs, but I could never become some sort of humanity's saviour."

"You really helped Harvey and other people, though" Zephyr objected.

"That's true", Fayez replied, "but in a way, they help me just as much as I help them. What we all need above all is social interractions - at least a minimum."

"What do you mean?" Akhenaton intervened. "How do these people help you?"

" Well, you see, I feel much better since I started working with this association." Fayez tried to explain. "I don't believe in saviours anymore. People really help themselves when they help others, and I think it's beautiful."

"My baby is becoming so wise" Ashur commented fondly.

Fayez blushed and laid down more comfortably against the cushion. It was Sunday, five in the afternoon. The four of them were in bed, watching Xavier Dolan's movie 'Mummy' and drinking hot chocolate.**

They had been watching this movie since 1pm, as they kept pressing the "pause" button to discuss with each other or to engage into not so innocent activities.

Suddenly, Fayez could no longer see the TV screen, for Akhenaton was looming over him.

"Ake. Move. I can't see anything anymore", he complained, though he secretly enjoyed his mate's close proximity.

"I was just thinking about how I like that you're doing this job at the association" Akhenaton murmured into his ear. "At least, now I don't have to spend all day worrying about your safety."

Fayez nodded, remembering how he used to go to nightly missions with supernatural creatures. That was at the very beginning, when human beings made him uncomfortable.

He had thought at that time that perhaps he ought to stay with his own kind.

Ashur had strictly forbidden him to go with them, arguing that it was too dangerous, but Fayez hadn't listened.

In consequence, he had found himself in the middle of a deadly fight between vampires and witches and had barely managed to escape it.

Needless to say that his mates had been enraged when he had finally arrived at home, his clothes torn and his nose bloody.

He had promised them to never do it again, and he had kept his promise. Still, it had taken a month before his mates had stopped watching his every moves.

"You remember when I used to undress you so that I could check by myself that you weren't hurt anywhere?" Akhenaton continued, his voice becoming slightly breathless.

"Y-yes, I do." Fayez whispered, unable to look away from these lovely gray eyes.

Akhenaton turned him over, so that Fayez was now laying on his mate's hard body.

He moved slightly, and his hard-on rubbed again Akhenaton's, making both men moan.

Fayez then felt big and warm hands easily pulling down his sweatpants, thus exposing his reddish bottom to his mates.

It had been years since they first had sex together, but sometimes he still felt shy being naked around them.

At least, he felt embarrased before pleasure took over. His mates were very talented at making him loose all the inhibitions he had with their clever tongues, fingers and dicks.

"You can still see your handprints on his ass. Good job, Ash" Zephyr murmured in awe.

"I spanked him thirty times this morning, because he was being a real brat" Ashur replied. "Isn't that right, Faye?"

"Y-yeah, I guess" Fayez mumbled.

Ashur frowned and grabbed the abused bottom, making Fayez wince.

"I mean - yes, Ash. I was being a real brat." he corrected himself.

"Good boy" Ashur replied in a satisfied tone. "Ake, how about you apply some more cooling gel on his poor bottom?"

Akhenaton immediatly complied, taking a half empty tube of lotion from the drawer.

Seconds later, Fayez exhaled in relief as the cooling gel was rubbed into the soft skin of his ass.

This relief turned into tensed expectation as a finger was suddenly nudging his entrance.

"Can I?" Akhenaton whispered, as he gave him a ghost of a kiss on his nape. "I won't fuck you, I know you're still sore."

"What are you going to do, then?"

"Cleaning you." Akhenaton explained, as he carefully breached him with his forefinger.

Fayez blushed, as he felt Zephyr's semen flooding out of his well-used opening. Then, he relaxed bit by bit, and by the time Akhenaton was finished with his ministrations, his body had gone laxed.

The four men decided to stop interrupting the movie, which was one of Zephyr's favorites. They watched in a comfortable silence, occasionally kissing and carressing each other.

It had been three years since Fayez last hurted himself.

Three years of love, acceptance and self-discovery.

It didn't mean that he never felt emotional pain again - he did, for instance when he got into an argument with one of his mates (those arguments usually didn't last very long).

He did feel pain, when he had to witness other people's suffering without being able to do anything for them.

On a deeper level, he did feel pain when he thought about his family. His sister had recently reached out, asking him to come and visit her in Canada with his mates.

This was a small progress, but he still wasn't ready for another confrontation with his parents.

Sometimes, he thought about hurting himself again. He didn't know if one day, he would be truly be free from the nagging temptation.

Still, he was very proud of himself for all the times he had managed to turn to his mates to ask for help.

He now realized that he didn't deserve the pain he had been inflicting upon himself for centuries. He never did.

With time, he had learned to give himself love and to accept it from his loved ones. This was a great feeling. The best feeling.

It didn't matter if some days, he thought that he was walking backward on his path to self-recovery.

He was proud of himself for making it this far.

He was a survivor.

Unedited.

**I swear, these guys are always in bed ^^"