Hawkeye woke up alone and dressed in the solitude of the men’s suite.

When they first arrived at the academy, he and his two brothers had each occupied one of the three bedrooms that surrounded the common living area of the suite.

But, of course, Lobo and then Conan had claimed their mates and moved to private quarters with them.

Now Hawkeye reigned as king in the suite. He could choose the music to play on the radio and leave the windows open all night if he wanted. The first couple of nights had been heaven.

He had never really known the joys of privacy before.

Back in the lab at Stargazer he had been the opposite of alone, living in a large bunk room with many, many brothers. His only times separated from the group had been when the scientists tried to get him to click permanently human without a mate. It was unsuccessful, although quite diverting. However, it hardly counted as real privacy.

And before that, on Aerie, the concept of privacy didn’t exist. He and his brothers and all the occupants of the planet had been gaseous forms, sharing the space equally. They were individual creatures, yet never definably alone.

But here on this planet of fixed objects and physical forms, one was either alone or together.

And there were benefits to being alone.

Unfortunately, his intended mate, the beautiful Trinity, shared his love for solitude.

In his lowest moments, Hawkeye often wondered if this would be the death of their relationship.

Not that he could really call it a relationship. He was certain she was his intended mate, but knew he wasn’t hers.

He wasn’t sure why.

He had caught her gazing hungrily at his physique, which he knew was exceptionally attractive even compared with his brothers’ good looks. He loved that the form he had been given pleased her. He wanted nothing more than to satisfy the craving in those ravenous eyes of hers.

But Trinity herself denied the attraction. Not with words, but with every moment of her slender form, and every exasperated sigh.

She was resigned to help him and she couldn’t resist being kind - that was in her nature.

But Trinity did not want to love him.

It might have hurt his feelings if he hadn’t been half in love with the mystery of it.

He was good-looking, he was kind, he was strong, he was a fast learner, and he cared for her. If the movies had taught him anything, it was that he was the total package.

When he first brought up the problem with his brothers, Lobo had suggested that perhaps she was repulsed by the idea of him being an alien.

Dr. Bhimani had told them this was the likely outcome of a woman finding out their secret and had urged them to be patient.

But there was something else going on - Hawkeye was sure of it. Trinity liked him, and was attracted to him - not repulsed.

His brothers were much luckier in that respect. All of the men of Aerie had acquired special gifts when migrating into their human forms. Lobo could sense feelings. Conan could travel into people’s dreams. Both of these gifts had proven invaluable in the courtships of their intended mates.

Hawkeye looked down at his hands. His gift was a parlor trick compared to them. How was it supposed to help him win the love of his Trinity?

The best he’d managed so for was to keep her computer from overheating. Somehow, he doubted that would be enough.

If it wasn’t a matter of attraction, then there must be something she disliked about the idea of him. And he was determined to get to the bottom of it. Gift or no gift.

Thankfully, he had a good feeling about the day ahead of him.

Until now, Trinity had tolerated his help in her department, and only as unskilled muscle. He had carried hundreds of boxes of files from the admin room of the old academy past the kennels and field and into the admin wing of the new academy.

But today he would be assisting her with scanning and data entry, which meant that instead of spending most of his day on the path between offices, he would spend his whole day by her side.

He checked himself out in the mirror. He had selected the tightest of his t-shirts for the occasion. He noted with satisfaction that it stretched out over his muscles so unsubtly that Trinity could not help but notice.

Invigorated, he took the steps downstairs two at a time and snagged two bottles of mint iced tea from the shelf in the kitchen and threw them in his satchel along with a notebook and pen before heading to the new building, where she had asked him to meet her not before nine.

He smiled at the thought. While all the other women in the household were up at the crack of dawn or before, his sweet Trinity slept until the sun was high in the sky, and napped like a kitten on the sofa in the evenings.

If he could just get his sleepy intended napping in his arms, all would be well with this new world of his.