Kayel was sitting on the beach on his own again. He didn’t have much on his mind, he was just relaxing and having some quiet time. But he was unaware that he was partially being watched. On patrolling guard duty right now was Arkay, the deity Kayel once worshiped when he was in the Phantasma cult. And every time Arkay passed the beach, he would steal glances of the cute little new-universe Skyan.
“You are thinking thoughts, my dear.”
That voice belonged to Litvir, but only Arkay heard it. Being a powerful psion, Litvir always kept a close eye on both Arkay and their partner Retvik. And Litvir would also occasionally telepathically whisper to his eternal companions if he could tell they were at unease.
“Yeah, I am…” Arkay replied, using Litvir’s telepathic channels, so no one could hear them. “Can’t help it.”
“You like Kayel. You like him a lot.”
Arkay grunted. “Of course I do. He risked his life to give me back mine. And he’s cute as fuck. You can talk. You’ve fucked more than one Skyan yourself.”
“Well, two in total, if I include you. I would not mind increasing the number to three or four if the chance popped up. You are thinking more than that though.”
Arkay snorted, then rolled his eyes. “You really are a horny one, Litvir. But with Kayel, it’s complicated. After my mess with being in a coma, after returning to the status quo, after I went cold and lost my memories, Sini gave Kayel a mission to help me warm up again. And Kayel went the extra mile for a fucked up, mentally enslaved death god.”
“You feel like you owe Kayel.”
“There’s definitely feelings of love. Had Ephanophovon not attacked my universe, had I not been suddenly thrust back out here and back into yours and Retvik’s arms, I’d probably be by Kayel’s side. Sure, he knew about you two, sure, he accepts that you two were my destined partners, but… well…”
“Understandable. You can go and spend some time with Kayel, if you wish.”
“Retvik would be annoyed.”
“I doubt it, let me invite him in.”
There was an odd grunt in the back of Arkay’s head. While Retvik was good at receiving telepathy, he was bad at actually using it.
“Hello.”
“Retvik, my dear! Arkay wants to spend some time with Kayel. Is that alright with you?”
Another grunt. “Yes, but I want Arkay for our time off at the end of the ev.”
“Deal. Anyway, Retvik, you have finished work, come join me.”
“Of course.”
Before Arkay could say anything, he heard an “oof” sound as Litvir had grabbed Retvik from wherever he was and dragged him through a shadow back to his bedroom, then cut off the telepathic link, leaving Arkay on his own.
Since the coast was now clear, Arkay decided to finish up as well. He only had ten minutes of guard duty left, and he used that time to continue his patrol and stop by the canteen. He grabbed some drinks, put them in one of his hammerspaces, then, once his patrol was done, he let Tenuk take over. Amusingly, Tenuk was carrying baby Reksi around in a wrap around his chest. The baby wanted to go outside, apparently.
Either way, Arkay was now free to go and chat with Kayel, who hadn’t noticed him approach.
“Hi.”
“Oh!” Kayel exclaimed with joy. “Arkay! What’s up?”
Arkay shrugged. He opened his hammerspace and handed a diet cola to Kayel. It was nice and cold. “Saw you here on your own, thought you might like some company from an old friend.”
Kayel smiled. “I’ve always enjoyed your company. Don’t get much of it now you got your two Rethan hunks.”
“Yeah…” Arkay’s smile flickered a bit. “I do feel bad about kinda ditching you.”
“Eh, I knew that was gonna happen!” Kayel waved his hand dismissively, then sipped his drink. “I’m fine with it. We were only ever going to be friends with benefits anyway. Thanks for the drink, by the way.”
“I know, but I still feel bad. I thought I’d get to spend more time with just you lot, and then suddenly that corrupted cunt attacked it… Still feels… weird, being out here sometimes. Considering how close I got…”
Kayel’s smile also faded briefly. “I really gotta shut my mouth and stop reminding you of bad stuff. But also? Nyssi and I were chatting with Thassalin and Elksia earlier, and Elksia was saying that looking at the stuff that didn’t happen is always bad. And often not true, because of something she called the “greener grass paradox”. Not sure why it’s called that. Didn’t get it myself.”
“I can see where Elksia is coming from. No matter how good a future you try to speculate about, you always end up speculating about better and better futures, until you end up utterly distraught. I’ve done that to myself a few times.”
Kayel eyed Arkay with curiosity. “What… What did you speculate about?”
“When I was first… enslaved by Kinisis, I had a very brief chance to escape. I borrowed Thassalin’s powers to see what would have happened and ended up glimpsing into a future where I escaped, got recruited into the Phantai and died in Galyn’s arms.”
“Yeah, I… I definitely need to-”
“It’s not you!” Arkay protested. “I’m an ancient, cursed being, this happens pretty much everyone I talk to… Sorry, I came here to cheer you up and suggest fun things and ended up dragging us both down.”
Kayel was confused now. “I… I didn’t need cheering up though. I’m fine.”
“Oh…” Arkay trailed off. “Well… Do you want to do fun things anyway?”
“I thought you were going to spend time with your hunks?”
“Retvik’s fine with it, as long as I do nice things to him this weekend. Litvir suggested I do some… fulfillment of needs…”
“Oh… Oooooh…” Kayel immediately perked up. “So, is it time for naked snuggles?”
“If that is what you want, then sure.”
“That is what I want.”
Arkay smiled, then climbed to his feet and held a hand out to Kayel. “Then that is what you shall get…”