Kayel beamed with joy as the two bowl of food arrived and were politely placed in front of him and his dear partner Veeyel. They had been planning a night to themselves for weeks now, but recent political events had meant that they were up to their necks in extra security. Everything from extra guards to more security checks to the stupid little “god detector” things that beeped constantly. It had taken Kayel far too long to manage to convince the guardian K-Class Skyans to actually give him and Veeyel twenty minutes alone in a restaurant, and Kayel was determined to make the most of it.
Right now, aside from a waiter and one guard at the door, it was just Kayel and Veeyel. He wanted the waiter and the guard to go away, but well, Kayel couldn’t have everything.
“This is nice!” Veeyel smiled at Kayel, delicately picking up his spoon, ready to taste the mystery meal in front of him. “Thank you for bringing me to this nice place, dear!”
Kayel nodded his head. “Thank you for putting up with me! All this stupid over the top exo-political stuff has made me a real grump lately.”
“It’s fine. You’re stressed. We’re all stressed. Totally get why. Not every day that a god comes down, points at someone and goes “mine now”! No one expects it! Especially them Rethans!”
Kayel sighed, picking up his own spoon and pushing around the contents of his bowl. It was a soup of some sort, with wrapped dumplings in it. Quite a creamy soup though, which he knew Veeyel liked.
“You alright, dear?” Veeyel asked, slowly getting up from his chair. “Do you need a hug?”
“I would love a hug!” Kayel perked up, getting out of his own chair and making his way over to Veeyel. “Please, don’t get up.”
“I want to get up though.”
“Oh?”
Veeyel’s smile grew. A lot. A big toothy grin. “I want to get up and give you a hug. And I wanted to show you the cool stripes I painted on my new leg braces.”
“You painted your braces?” Kayel asked, leaning over. Veeyel smiled some more and slowly moved his left leg, which was wrapped in a metal frame and attached to his hip, waist and back. He pointed at the panel covering where his old leg plating used to be.
“I did! Look at my awesome black and silver stripes! Bow down to my ability to paint straight lines! Without using masking tape!”
“That’s actually really fucking impressive!” Kayel found himself grinning like a lunatic. Just like the lunatic he was standing with. “I couldn’t draw a straight line if you gave me a pencil and a ruler.”
Veeyel awkwardly sat himself down again, still admiring his handiwork. “You just need to take your time. Go too fast and you fuck it up.”
“Oof…” Kayel stared briefly at Veeyel, then sat back down in his own seat. “Yeah… talk about going fast… I have been rushing around like, well, a rushy aroundy thing. I feel like I’m kinda neglecting you.”
Veeyel shrugged. “Didn’t we both agree it’d be like this? I mean, you’re everyone’s sweetheart, you got a hell of a job looking after us all, not just me!”
“Yeah but you’re my sweetheart and you need looking after most of all.”
With a flick of his wrist, Veeyel laughed. “I’m not a baby! Sure my legs don’t work right but I’m fine! Heck, I am better than ever! I mean, you’re stressed, but I’m not!” Veeyel chuckled, then turned back to his food. “We should actually eat before this gets cold.”
“That reminds me!” Kayel suddenly blinked in confusion. “What IS this?”
Veeyel shrugged. “No idea. I just asked them to bring whatever was the tastiest thing on the menu. You want some wine?”
“Yeah, sure, I’m sure it will go nicely with our mystery meal!”