“You were not joking when you said you lived somewhere poor…”
Kuta found themselves ducking under the doorway as they entered the Thantophor’s home. The place looked almost exactly like a typical one bedroom rented apartment for a single, low-wage Skyavok, because that was what it was. The only real thing that made this place different from such a place was the massive collection of weapons in one corner, how dark everything was and the fact that the whole apartment looked like a whirlwind had blown through it. Even with the main light on, there were plenty of dark shadows in every room, which Kuta assumed Arkay regularly used to travel around.
“You can say it, everyone else says it…” Arkay muttered as he started picking stuff up off the ground.
“Say what?”
“That it looks like a shithole. I think the only person who hasn’t said or thought that was Kayel, and that’s because Kayel lives in a place almost identical to this…” Arkay paused for a moment, shook his head then went back to tidying up. “Although I’ll be honest, I thought Kairos was done with the constant trashing of my place. I think this is the eleventh time? Or did I just not bother cleaning up after the tenth time? I don’t remember, but it’s pissing me off.”
With a shrug, Kuta started helping Arkay pick things up, but they didn’t really know where everything went, so they just held on to everything. “I assume, if you were a Skyavok working a basic job, this would be perfectly suitable. It is only weird because you are the God of Death, and I know for a fact that your fellow God of Time lives in a vast, crystal palace.”
“He has eight crystal palaces scattered across the universe. Sini has sixteen different labs dotted around. Epani has three palaces, the castle at the centre of the universe and four asteroid fields that she likes to play in. I’m not allowed to own property inside this universe, it’s one of Epani’s bullshit ways of weakening me.”
Arkay went back to cleaning, while Kuta decided to have a look around. There wasn’t really much to see and it quickly became clear that Arkay only really slept here most of the time, hence why the only thing present that was a decent size was the large bed that barely fit. However, as Kuta stepped into the bedroom, they noticed something on the floor, which had clearly been knocked off a nearby shelf. It was some sort of model, made out of a popular toy building brand for kids and younglings. Weirdly, it was both Kuta-coloured and Kuta-shaped, and even had a handmade black fabric cape, despite being mechanical.
The Thantophor wandered into his bedroom, carrying some stuff that needed to be put away, saw Kuta and froze completely.
“Oh… that… is the other reason I… I don’t really bring people here…”
“You make weird, mechanical models of people?” Kuta asked. Admittedly, they were somewhat impressed. The model even had Kuta’s overly long fangs.
“Uh… no… just… just people I like… like a lot…” Arkay was clearly embarrassed and was unable to hide it. He disappeared back into the other room and went back to cleaning up.
With Arkay no longer around, Kuta took a moment to have a closer look at everything. There were quite a few models, some of which Kuta recognized. Four of them, lined up together on a shelf but all having been tipped to one side, were definitely the members of Xeno Dessaron One. However, the collection of eight models that had all fallen over, Kuta had no idea who they were, although one of them may have been a Lanex and another was a Vohra with a stupidly large shield attached to it. There were also three very large models, all of whom had fallen over, and the middle green one did vaguely remind Kuta of the grumpy old armoured being that had originally signed Kuta up as a Decayling, based on their weird, out-of-time memories. On the highest shelf though was a space for three models, although only two were present, the third had fallen off and disappeared down the back. These two, Kuta both did and didn’t recognize.
“Arkay, may I ask a question?”
Arkay hesitantly made his way back into his own bedroom. “You can always ask me questions, Kuta.”
“Hmph…” Kuta shrugged, then pointed at the two models. “Are those representations of my brother and of Retvik?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“They are pretty good models. While yes, it is somewhat weird that you make weird mechanical models of your friends, I am glad you have some sort of hobby other than sleeping, eating, watching movies with me and murdering strangers in my living room.”
Arkay tutted. “I’m sorry about that.”
Kuta waved their hand dismissively. “It is fine. I am playing.”
“Yeah, but still…” Once again, Arkay went back to cleaning. “This is really embarrassing. Not only do I bring you to my embarrassingly small place, but you find out about my embarrassing hobby and the place is an embarrassing mess because the other gods enjoy embarrassing me…”
“You are not to blame for your fellow deities and their asshole ways.”
Kuta decided to let Arkay continue tidying up. They did offer to help, but Arkay wouldn’t let them. After all, Kuta was a guest. With a tut, Kuta sat down and fiddled with their communicator. To their surprise, they had a message, on the weird new app Arkay had set up for them. It was mostly so that they and Arkay could securely chat whenever they wanted, but Kuta had a handful of other contacts as well. Mostly just his long distance twin sibling, Litvir. That was who the message was from.
Souldrainer: Hello, brother. Arkay is not online, but could you wish him a happy hatch day from Retvik and myself, please?
Kuta hesitated, then typed a reply, as discreetly as they could.
Spiritdrainer: I can do that, yes. How old is Arkay? And should I get him a gift?
Souldrainer: He never really accepted gifts, even before the Decayling stuff, according to Retvik. And no, I have no idea how old Arkay is. My best approximate is about 16 billion years old, but time is not consistent between us.
Spiritdrainer: That is quite an age. How do you know today is his hatch day if Arkay is that old?
Souldrainer: I just have an alarm set on my personal devices that goes off once every 8765 hours, which is approximately one year back in our old universe.
Kuta thought to themselves, then smiled slyly.
Spiritdrainer: No worries. I will tell Arkay that you wish him a happy hatch day.
Souldrainer: Thank you, dear.
Arkay had thankfully just finished up, and everything did look clean and tidy now. At the very least, the strange layer of blue dust that had covered everything was gone, and the empty drinks cans were back in the bin where they belonged.
“You did not mention that today is your birthday!” Kuta smiled some more as they stood up.
“It’s my birthday?” Arkay looked somewhat blank. “Wait, what’s the date?”
“You do not know?”
Arkay closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m a busy deity. Days tend to merge together when you’re both immortal and almost always working…”
Kuta glanced back at their communicator. “Hmph. Today is the first of the fourth.”
“Oh… So… technically it IS my birthday…” Arkay sniffed awkwardly. He was still embarrassed.
Kuta looked Arkay up and down, then carefully considered their next actions. After a moment of thought though, Kuta just shrugged to themselves and decided to go for it. The Thantophor was already embarrassed and depressed, how much worse could things get?
With a smirk, Kuta approached Arkay, then took him by the hand and pulled him through the nearest shadow, onto the bed in the other room. They then pinned Arkay down on the bed, still smirking.
“Uh, Kuta, what are you doing?” Arkay was admittedly too stunned by Kuta’s sudden actions and insane confidence to do much else but lie there, doubly so as Kuta started removing their armour.
“What do you think I am doing?”
“If we weren’t dating, I’d say that you were trying to commit suicide in the worst way possible.”
Kuta laughed as they chucked their armour to one side. “Hah! No, of course not, silly! I am giving you a birthday present. The birthday present that you deserve. And, admittedly, the only birthday present I can give you, since deities are hard to get gifts for.”
Arkay blinked, then slowly began to relax, to the point that he stopped squirming and allowed Kuta to remain on top of him.
“I must admit, I am rather inexperienced at this, but I think we both are…” Kuta whispered as they leaned forward and licked Arkay across the cheek. “Let me make you feel wanted, the same way you make me feel wanted. After all, you deserve love, just like everyone else…”