Good for Once

Kuta couldn’t help but smile to themselves.

Not too long ago, things had not been great. In fact, things had been very bad. They had been lonely and overworked and miserable. And then briefly homeless. And also had both their legs broken. But now things were awesome. Kuta had a new home, a new job with better benefits and a poten-partner, a girl/boyfriend. And Kuta’s insurance money had come in, meaning they could finally buy themselves some new belongings, clothing in particular. An earthquake had completely destroyed Kuta’s old home, but they had just been given the keys to a new larger home with an extra bedroom and an open living area. They currently only had a sofa, a bed and a TV though, as well as some very basic kitchenware. Really, Kuta needed to do a lot of shopping, but they had been busy.

Sure, today had been busy, but it hadn’t been too bad. Kuta had promoted one of their captains, Ritlir Psykolakos, to the rank of General, taking Kuta’s place as General of Hidden Affairs, and Kuta themselves had been technically promoted to a better job, now working as General of Deitic Affairs, running a small Legion that dealt with anything related to the deities of the universe, while also coordinating with similar departments among the Rethavok’s allied races. There was still a lot of work to do, especially over the next couple of weeks, but things had gone smoothly so far, and Kuta had their three favourite captains, Taliv, Letyros and Nyseer, to help them. The only problem would be setting up connections with the Banikans, but Kuta had already spoken to some of their Skyavok contacts who had offered to assist Kuta in their work.

Now though, Kuta could relax in their new home. A proper home. A familiar one and a half floors, with the two bedrooms and bathroom on a half-floor that covered the kitchen, office and storage room, while the living area was nice and open. The place was pretty bare, Kuta had very few belongings now to put in their new home, but their old captains which had been moved to the 10th Legion had clubbed together and bought Kuta a gift, a large waterfall water fountain, as a thank you for being a fair and kind General to them. Kuta adored this gift, it gave their home a much-needed ambience, one Kuta could use to more easily meditate.

Really, the gift had surprised Kuta. Kuta had been under the impression that their captains and underlings had never really liked them. Most Below Twenty Generals were very friendly with their captains, but Kuta had always just let their soldiers get on with their work, regardless of rank, while also never, ever bothering them when they were not on duty. It seemed that Kuta’s underlings had very much appreciated Kuta’s more hands-off methods, and many of their captains were genuinely upset that Kuta was moving to new duties themselves.

That being said, the newly moved 10th Legion were glad that one of their own had been promoted to General, rather than having an already existing General move in to take Kuta’s place. It had been difficult choosing someone to promote to replace Kuta, and Kuta had not been given much time to make a decision, made worse by the fact that the Master of Generals had insisted that, should Kuta not pick someone swiftly, then either General Vaksavar or High General Rethais would made a decision for Kuta. However, Kuta did manage to narrow things down quickly. They were torn between their dedicated captain Taliv and the hard-working Ritlir, and Kuta had sat down with both of them to discuss things. In the end, Taliv admitted that they didn’t want the responsibilities of being a General, but Ritlir was happy to put in the extra work, as long as Kuta was willing to assist them should they need it.

Kuta switched on their new water fountain, then wandered around, not really sure what to do with themselves. They were hungry, they had not had a chance to eat all day, but there was little in the fridge aside from a bottle of aged mead and a box of chocolates, a gift from Kuta’s poten-partner. Someone Kuta had not seen as much as they should.

Although, really, that was to be expected. Most Rethans dated beings they lived alongside. Co-workers, neighbours, soldiers in their own legion. They would see their partners, potential or otherwise, almost constantly. However, Kuta’s poten-partner was, somehow, Arkay, the God of Death.

The Skyavok called them the Silent Blade, the Banikans called them Sotanaht, the Ksithans called them the Ice Wolf. The Rethavok however, they had had started calling Arkay the Oath Keeper, due to Arkay’s dedication to his promises to make things better for everyone, despite his domain of death and decay. The Rethavok had only recently accepted Arkay as their new matron deity, but he had already proved that he cared and wanted to help. Not only had Arkay assisted in repairs after their previous matron deity, the Lady of Light, had abandoned them, but he had also helped remove laws that were preventing the Rethavok from expanding their duties and had stopped them from using the natural resources within their own territories.

Yes, Kuta was dating a deity. And that meant Kuta could not see him as much as they liked. Still, Arkay had done his best to try and be normal. It was pretty clear that Arkay didn’t really understand normal relationships. Kuta had not really ever had a relationship that lasted more than a few weeks (mostly because Kuta was unattractive and freakish by Rethan standards), but they at least knew how to act in a relationship. Their dates had been weirdly normal, but the intimacy was off. It was often very hard to initiate or do much aside from snuggling and nuzzling. On the plus side, Arkay was very good when it came to snuggles. Which was extra weird considering he was the God of Death.

A beep interrupted Kuta’s trail of thought. A message from a specific app. Kuta stopped wandering around and headed to their work bag, which they had left on the sofa. They rummaged around for their communicator, then checked the app in question. Kuta immediately knew who the message was from, because the app in question was apparently only usable by deities. Deities and Kuta. The weirdest thing about dating the God of Death was that Arkay always seemed to message Kuta whenever Kuta was thinking about him. Was it coincidence? Kuta was not sure. There was no way of knowing.

Deathbringer: Hey, Kuta, you busy?

Kuta typed a reply.

Spiritdrainer: Oh no, not at all! Just wandering around my new home!

Deathbringer: Awesome. Can I join you? I got a bag of cold energy drinks.

Spiritdrainer: Of course!

Deathbringer: Alright. You somewhere clear so I can teleport in?

Kuta glanced around their empty home then shrugged and sat down on the lone sofa.

Spiritdrainer: Place is empty, go ahead.

Something flashed next to Kuta. Arkay abruptly appeared, carrying a large bag of cold energy drinks, as promised. Arkay often too many forms, but today he was just plain, oddly tall, yellow-plated Skyavok. Arkay immediately sat down next to Kuta and put an arm around them, even if he was currently physically a bit too small to do so.

“Nice place!” Arkay beamed. “So this is your new home?”

“Indeed. I still need to buy new belongings, but at least I have somewhere to put stuff now.”

Arkay spotted the waterfall fountain. “I like that. Very atmospheric.”

“My captains got it for me as a parting gift as they were moved to the 10th Legion.”

“That’s very kind of them! You… wanna watch a movie or something?”

Kuta tutted. “The television has not been set up yet.”

“No worries!” Arkay beamed as he patted Kuta on the shoulder. “I’ll set it up for you!”

With a grin, Arkay leaped off the sofa, then wandered over to a nearby shadow. He stuck his hand through the shadow as if he was rummaging around in a bag, then pulled out a tiny laptop and a long cable. Kuta couldn’t help but stare as Arkay cheerfully did as he said he would, setting up the TV, his tail swishing from side to side. Kuta wasn’t sure why, but they found Arkay almost as attractive as a Skyavok as he did when Arkay made himself look like a Rethavok. However, in Arkay’s Skyan form, he was far softer, far less… deadly, Kuta assumed.

“So what do you want to watch?” Arkay asked as he worked. Kuta was a little too distracted to answer.

“Oh, I do not mind. Could just watch some arena stuff, I guess…” Kuta trailed off. They were staring at Arkay’s tail, which was still swishing from side to side and was oddly a little too long. Kuta was not sure why. To break away from the distraction, Kuta reached for the bag of drinks and opened one.

After an oddly silent minute, Arkay finished what he was doing, and had set up a stream. He planted himself next to Kuta, grinning like a lunatic and snuggling up next to them.

“You seem happy.”

“I’m always happy to see you, Kuta. Even happier now you have your own place again.”

Kuta smiled back and settled down. “Yes. Things are good for once. And I hope it stays like that…”