Vikalos smiled to himself as he headed down to the beach. He had just passed on greeting new arrivals to Phovos and Phovos and had a bit of time on his hands. Of course, Vikalos wanted to spend that time with his… well… his partners… his future husbands.
As the concrete under Vikalos’s feet changed from concrete to pebbles, to dirt, to sand, he pondered that thought. The relationship between him and his darlings had changed. When they first met, Vikalos had been a Justarian Lord. Itaviir and Galyn were cold beings, part of a military sect, destined to die fighting. But all three of them had wanted to escape. Vikalos was sick of being considered a flaming monster, scaring people away, controlling borders and an army of terrified servants. Itaviir wanted some sort of agency, he didn’t want to be a soldier. Galyn was a second-class citizen, borderline a slave, completely trapped in the bowels of Phantai servitude.
Them meeting was pure chance. The Phantai and the Justar didn’t get along. Peace conferences were common. Bids to keep things civil. That particular one, things hadn’t gone particularly well for everyone. Well, everyone but Vikalos, who had met two nice Beh’ens who had a small spark, desperate to be fanned. He hadn’t had high hopes that they’d want to break free, but Galyn had nudged Itaviir and Itaviir had snapped out of his duty-bound ways.
Those early Thantir times were distant memories. Vikalos barely remembered, but he did remember those times of awkward early romance. Itaviir gave Vikalos the skull of a Voidborn as a gift of kindness, Galyn would routinely polish bits of Vikalos’s and Itaviir’s armour. There was one time though, not long after Vikalos started not wearing full armour, that Galyn had caught Vikalos by surprise by suddenly grabbing him and kissing him. He had apologised profusely afterwards, but Vikalos had been secretly proud of Galyn for taking that risk.
Unfortunately, the end of the old Thantir had soured their relationship. They had worked themselves nearly to death. Galyn had literally nearly died. It took some weird Decaylings, potentially the Thantir’s last, to change things around. Now they were back together. It was… secretly what Vikalos wanted. And what Itaviir and Galyn needed.
A voice called out to Vikalos. It came from the beach.
“Vikalos! Are you coming?”
Vikalos went back to smiling as he picked up his pace. He also opened up a portal and pulled out three cold bottles of beer. There was no need for a deck chair though, Itaviir and Galyn were just sitting on the sand. As Vikalos approached, he noticed that Itaviir seemed genuinely happy but Galyn seemed a little out of sorts.
“I am, yes! How are you both? How were your singles’ parties?”
Galyn grunted. “Worrisome.”
“How comes?” Vikalos asked as he plonked himself down and handed his companions the beers.
“Retvik is insane…” Galyn shuddered. “I got kissed by a lot of people. I was also playfully fondled by a Beh’ena.”
“I do not know why you are so upset about that!” Itaviir almost giggled. “You seemed to enjoy it and so did Vret!”
“Yes but Thyel looked at me funny.”
“Thyel was probably thinking about having a threesome with you. After all, Thyel went first and won a kiss!” Itaviir laughed. “I assume he took that kiss?”
“He stole two!” Galyn growled. “And Lightblade kissed me as well! That… that felt far, far more wrong…”
“Hang on… LIGHTBLADE kissed you?” Itaviir’s tone abruptly changed.
“It was a very small kiss.”
“Wow…” Itaviir muttered. “That… that is actually a huge honour.”
“It is?” Vikalos asked.
Itaviir nodded. “Lightblade only ever kisses the best of the best. Both male and female. Him kissing you is genuinely surprising.”
“Huh…” Vikalos trailed off, then shrugged. “I suppose that was probably because of Retvik. You Beh’ens do have superiority issues. Retvik is of a Hidden Trio, and he is also attractive to many Beh’ens, so they will happily do whatever he says to stay on his good side. Did you enjoy yourself though?”
Galyn thought for a moment, then sighed. “I don’t know. I guess I did in the end, when Retvik revealed that no one has hit the target that would drop me into the water, then Retvik offered to sit on the throne and have everyone throw darts to drop him into the water. Ironically, most of us missed.”
“Who dunked Retvik then?”
Galyn snickered slightly. “I did.”
Itaviir suddenly snorted. “That is ironic!”
Vikalos nodded in agreement then turned to Itaviir. “It is. Itaviir, what did you do?”
“We played in Akah and Arkay’s ice slide castle. It was genuinely very gentle and very fun. Akah and Tanos made some amazing ice cream, and we got to play with baby Reksi for a bit too.”
“Aw, that is sweet! I admittedly just spent my time being pampered. Do you like my tail?”
Itaviir and Galyn glanced at Vikalos’s rear end.
“Oh! Braids!” Galyn smiled. “Also, you have a nice butt.”
“Hah! Thank you, my dear. So… are you both ready for tomorrow?”
Galyn fell silent, and Itaviir went rather quiet too.
“Wow. We are getting married tomorrow…” Itaviir eventually muttered.
“We are, yes!” Vikalos beamed. “I am very excited now.”
“I… I am too… But I think Itaviir and I are also a little nervous…”
“Understandable!” Vikalos continued to beam as he got up and sat between Galyn and Itaviir, putting his arms around them both. “It is a rather big day! But I think everything will be fine. We have everything sorted, all the guests are nearly here and Retvik, Litvir and Arkay have everything organised. We just need to stay calm.”
“We should probably also get an early night…” Itaviir suggested. “So we are well rested for tomorrow.”
“Oh, definitely!” Vikalos smiled as he tried to get up. However, Galyn stopped him.
“Can we sleep here, on the beach, together?”
Vikalos inspected his partners, then shrugged and settled back down. “Sure, why not? Sounds wonderful…”