“Oh, I did not think you would just… instantly arrive…”
Retvik smiled weakly as he picked Kuta up off the floor. As always, his cute little poten-partner had briefly knocked themselves out by shadowjumping to Retvik’s bedroom. But today, Kuta seemed far more tired than normal. They were almost delirious as Retvik placed them gently on the bed.
“Oh. Hello…” Kuta rubbed their eyes, unable to focus on their surroundings. “Kolasi is further than I thought. But also, I do not have long, and I wanted to see you.”
“I am glad to see you too, dear. You look stressed.” Retvik hesitated, then put his arms around Kuta, holding them tightly. He expected Kuta to try and wriggle free, but Kuta just sighed and leaned against Retvik.
“You seem stressed too…” Kuta muttered. “I will be blunt, I have never been a fan of guard work, and the sweltering heat of that stupid abandon-world is not doing me any favours. Admittedly, I am more perturbed by the fact that this massive pink Thraki called me out on delicate matters in front of a data goblin.”
Retvik blinked, not quite processing that last sentence. “A… data goblin?”
“Hah. It is a Below Twenty phrase referring to Skyavok. Even non-A-Class Skyavok tend to ask a lot of questions, I find.”
“What about the Thraki…” Retvik paused. “Oh. You are on Kolasi. You saw Thassalin?”
Kuta also paused, then broke free from Retvik’s hug, looking very concerned. “You know of the colossal Thraki?”
“Yes!” Retvik smiled and nodded. “My team assisted him in killing some corrupted monsters when we went to Kolasi to help one of the Raptor’s friends. We got to stay at a fancy hotel. He claimed to be one of the Allbirther’s lovers or something.”
Kuta frowned. “Well, I suppose at least we now have a secondary verification of that… Either way, Thassalin crushed one of our guard towers by trying to land on it, then immediately called me Decayling Spiritdrainer, which is a name literally only the Allbirther and the Thantophor should be aware of. I am under the impression that Thassalin is an entity that came from outside the universe but is trapped inside it somehow.”
“That would explain why he is pink…” Retvik shrugged. He put an arm around Kuta, then pulled them back, so they were both lying on the bed. However, Kuta sat back up again as they heard movement downstairs.
“You are not alone.”
“Well, no, I live with three other people.”
Retvik grunted, then climbed out of bed. He made his way to the top of the stairs and looked down into the living room. Nyssi was fast asleep on the sofa, but Tenuk and Kayel were both chatting. His presence immediately caught the eye of Kayel, who glanced up at Retvik and waved. Retvik gestured behind him, pointing back at his bedroom. Kayel immediately got what Retvik was hinting at and turned to Tenuk.
“Hey, has your new friend Talok ever been to a mall?” Kayel asked.
Tenuk shrugged. “She’s a Vohra, so probably not.”
“We should take her.”
“Right now?”
“You were just wondering what she’s up to right now. She’s probably staring at a wall or something, she could do with some external stimuli.”
Tenuk shrugged again, then got up. “Yeah, you’re right. You driving?”
“Yeah, I think Talok would be safer in my car.”
“Alright, let me grab my stuff.”
Retvik mouthed a thank you to Kayel, who grinned back at him. He waited until Kayel dragged Tenuk through a shadow to his own apartment, then headed back into his bedroom.
“Your friends are nice…” Kuta sighed as they watched Retvik approach. Retvik closed the bedroom door behind him, then reached for a small remote by the bedside table. He turned on the air con nice and high, because he could tell Kuta was feeling rather warm. Having lived on Portalia most of his life, Retvik had acclimatized to the warm weather, but Kuta had lived on a temperate planet for most of their life and was clearly not used to heat and humidity.
“Hey now, they are your friends too!” Retvik smiled. He sat on the bed next to Kuta, then twisted Kuta to one side, unclipping their cape and taking off the heavy black pauldrons Kuta always wore. “Would you like a massage? You seem tense.”
“I would, yes. But you seem tense too…”
“Only because I nearly drowned myself the other day while practising my swimming before my trip to Thalsa Two.”
Any other being would have been somewhat surprised by that sentence, but considering that Kuta was currently working as a guard for a comatose death god, Kuta didn’t seem that upset or surprised. “You need to be more careful. We are not strong swimmers. I cannot swim very well at all, no matter how hard I try.”
“You and 99% of all other Rethans…” Retvik grunted as he started rubbing Kuta’s shoulders, avoiding their sharp upper-caste plating. “I do not want to go, but the Raptor has assured me that there will not be too much swimming. Apparently she is also supplying me with some lighter armour to wear.”
Kuta glanced towards Retvik’s wardrobes, which, for some reason, were all wide open. They quickly noticed that Retvik both owned a lot of armour and most of it was heavy, metal gear.
“Do you not own ANY plastic plating?”
“No. Nothing but leather or steel. I am a gladiator, I make everyone aware of that at all times. Cannot go around in ceremonial armour, can I?”
“I think you and I both need to go on a shopping trip, because, apart from one set of loose steel, I do not have any casual or plastic plating either…” Kuta muttered. “Maybe when you are back from your trip and my stupid ex wakes up from his stupid coma, we can go out or something.”
Retvik snorted, then continued to massage Kuta’s shoulders, before working his way down to Kuta’s lower back, taking Kuta’s armour off as he did so, but leaving Kuta’s fabric clothing on. Admittedly, because they were heavily armoured brutes, being gentle and intimate was a little tricky, and Retvik knew better than to try and remove another Rethan’s tummy wrap without permission. However, Kuta did slowly begin to relax and allow themselves to open up.
“May I say something awful?” Kuta suddenly asked, breaking the silence. They sat up straight and twisted round so they were directly facing Retvik.
“Uh… I guess?”
“I… I am almost glad that Arkay ditched me. Because then I would not have been able to get close to you. And you are a way better person than, well, anyone.”
“I think you are overselling me somewhat, Kuta. Also, you are clearly swamped in emotions again.”
Kuta frowned. “I am. I very much am. But it takes a certain… something for someone to be rejected by society and still have a desire to treat people better.”
Retvik thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure, I was rejected by one society but I just… joined another. You on the other hand are constantly fighting being pushed out from society and stubbornly refusing to leave. But right now, I do not think either of us need social commentary. We need some intimacy.”
“Hm, you are absolutely right!” Kuta smiled as they pushed Retvik back onto the bed. “We should make the most of this brief respite.”
“We really should, my dear…” Retvik smiled back. “We really should…”