“Hey, guys, do we have any plans for the next few days?”
Retvik blinked, having just woken up. Sure, he was in a loving relationship with two cute people, but he wasn’t used to spending all night with both of them in a bed that was way too small, and waking up with Arkay sitting on his chest. Really, they needed both a bigger bed and their own, shared but personal bedroom, but no other couple (or throuple?) around here had that, and Retvik liked to make sure everyone was equal among the Thantir.
“No, not really. Normal working hours, I guess…” Litvir answered in Retvik’s place. Retvik had kinda been lying on Litvir, but Litvir clearly didn’t mind. “Is there something you want to do?”
“Well… if my internal clock is correct, which it probably isn’t, because I’m a mess, but it’ll be Smissmas in… 48-ish hours?”
Retvik tried to sit up, but couldn’t because Arkay was still sitting on his chest.
“What the fuck is Smissmas?”
“Uh, it’s our end of year holiday… uh… oh…” Arkay trailed off, then glanced down at his body. “Oh. I… I think… I think I turned back into a Threan-type Rethan in my sleep. And though… uh…” Arkay paused some more, then turned to Litvir. “Firstly, you look squished, Litvir. Secondly, is something wrong with me? I thought I was young and mortal for a moment.”
“Despite all my posturing and pride, I do like being squished!” Litvir smiled as he wriggled out from under Retvik’s arm and tail, then sat up straight. “Is this how you looked as a mortal?”
“Yeah. I think. I don’t really remember.”
“Huh. You look cute. But in all honesty, because of the vast trauma you have been through, on top of nothing really blocking your memories any more, this will happen occasionally. It will pass most likely.”
“You…” Arkay blushed a little. “You think I look cute?”
Litvir tutted. “Dear, I have been trying to get into your armoured crotch for three years now. Of course you look cute. But yes, tell us more about this Smissmas? I assume it was your old universe’s version of our Macromera?”
Arkay thought for a moment, clearly trying to deal with a lot of sudden memories. “Oh. Yeah. Macromera. New universe Rethans and Skyans both celebrate Macromera too. The 26th is Serpents’ Lust Day, which Temthans celebrate. Old old universe Kronospasts had the Day of Uselessness on the 27th which was a gift-giving feast day. I think Lanex had a holiday on the 30th? And it’s the end of the year on the 31st.”
“The end of what year?” Litvir asked, wanting Arkay to talk more. Retvik was clearly just confused, but didn’t want to remove Arkay from his chest, because he thought Arkay looked adorable.
“Uh. The… the year… Whatever year it was in the universe… 2024 I think… I don’t know… My head is a mess…”
Retvik patted Arkay on the shoulder. “It is fine. Did you sleep well?”
“I.., don’t know. Too many weird dreams. I kinda got overheated and slept on Litvir’s tail for a bit then moved to the end of the bed because this bed is clearly way too small for the three of us.”
“Oh I totally agree there!” Litvir gestured around the room. “We are partners, we deserve a partner-sized bed. And maybe a shared room for the three of us.”
“No one else has a shared room though…” Retvik muttered. “Would be unfair.”
“We have plenty of space!” Litvir countered. “If some of our underlings want shared rooms, they can have them. We gave the big three much larger rooms so they could share occasionally. Alternatively, I guess we could just make a sex room or something?”
Retvik grunted. “Would be permanently occupied. Between Elkay and Teekay, Elksia and Tenuk, Eksi and whoever he can get his hands on and now your little brother and my parallel counterpart, that room would be always full, and I am thinking we need to up our budget on protection. Also, Litvir, that idea is stupid. We have bedrooms for that sort of thing.”
“No, no… I think Litvir’s on to something actually… Not a sex room, but a snuggle room. A room with nothing but cushions and pillows and blankets, with a heated floor, looking out into the void…”
Litvir and Retvik glanced at each other.
“Surprisingly, the Great Blades had something like that…” Litvir shrugged. “I like the sound of it.”
“Who are the Great Blades?” Arkay asked.
“The leaders of the Phantai. They are a Trio of Beh’evok.”
“The same race Galyn is?”
Litvir nodded. “Mhm. And I hate to sound mean-spirited, but they are also gay as fuck. Not in the way Vikalos is, but in a “Quick is no one looking? We should rail Psehon while we have five seconds to ourselves” way.”
Arkay blinked in confusion. But he also blinked with a hint of both fear and lust. But he quickly settled back down. “I take it that female Beh’evok are rare.”
“Indeed. We have not seen one yet…” Litvir explained. “We do know they exist though. After we blew up the Diamond and you saved Retvik’s stupid tail, ten Beh’ena kidnapped Galyn and Itaviir and invited them both to an orgy. Vikalos nearly tore the ship in half while looking for them and only calmed down when the couple were teleported back, covered in glitter and slime.”
“Hah,” Arkay snorted. “That’s pretty funny… But… back to what I was saying about holidays…”
“Oh yes!” Litvir perked up. “You were talking about some sort of winter holiday?”
Arkay nodded. “Yeah. My little friends are kinda struggling with the no days or nights thing, and the fact there’s no seasons or anything out here as well, not to mention the fact that we kinda basically ripped them from their lives and universe… I thought maybe we could have some sort of nice, fancy dinner, some gifts and stuff, and maybe drinks and games later in the day?”
“Ooh! Maybe we could send Vikalos to the mall in secret to buy a bunch of little present for everyone?” Litvir suggested. “I would say that we go, but firstly, Retvik and I are poor, and the last time you went to the closest mall, they did not let you in.”
“Oh… Good point… Maybe now that I no longer think I’m a Life Goddess hybrid, I might be alright? But sending Vikalos seems like a good idea.”
“We should send the three of them,” Retvik added. “Let Galyn, Vikalos and Itaviir have some fun together, away from all of us. In the mean time, I could set up a nice fire, we could do some barbecued meat and bits and pieces like that, then set up a large table on the beach and sit down together.”
“Can I make a tree and can we decorate it?” Arkay bounced up and down excitedly. “Also, can we ask Akah to make it snow? I’ve never had a snowy winter holiday!”
Retvik nodded, then lifted Arkay off him and plonked Arkay on Litvir’s lap. “Of course. We shall have ourselves a nice Macromera feast, and maybe we can do some… uh… what did you call it?”
“Smissmas!”
“That… is a weird name…”
Arkay smiled. “It comes from an old Vohran word, ‘smissmo’, which means get drunk and eat tons of food, and ‘mas’, which means ‘our’. But knowing the multiverse, it is also the name of some other holiday somewhere else. Most of these things are.”
“That is often the case. But either way, we should get up and get ourselves sorted out. We have a lot of work to do and we need to, well, get up.”
“Aw, but I want to snuggle more…” Arkay moaned. “Snuggling with you two is weird and I don’t know where to put my arms and stuff but I like it.”
Litvir gave Arkay a little hug, then nudged him off his lap so they could climb out of bed. “We can do more snuggling later. We have a holiday feast to plan!”
Arkay went back to smiling as he floated off the bed. He snapped his fingers and instantly dressed himself. “You’re right. You guys go do your normal work stuff, I’m gonna go and give Vikalos his secret mission. I can act as guard while the big guys are shopping.”
“You do not mind?” Retvik asked.
“It’ll be fun! Plus, it’s been quiet, the last few days.”
Retvik patted Arkay on the head. “Alright, you go do that. Litvir and I need to get changed.”
“Cool! See you later!”
Arkay disappeared in a puff of smoke. Retvik turned to Litvir, who was hiding a smirk.
“He is so happy.”
“He is.”
“I am happy too.”
“Good…” Retvik hugged Litvir. “We deserve to be happy…”