“Hello, dear.”
“Hello, Kuta.”
Kuta had clearly finished work early. Their duties were normally rather stressful and regularly Kuta went over their normal shift time. Not because Kuta was overworked, but because they enjoyed their work, they felt like they were genuinely helping others and making sure people were free from the mind control and mental manipulations of others. And Kuta always made sure that their clients were happy and secure, even if it meant finishing work an hour or two late.
But Kuta had finished early. Which was unusual. And Kuta had also brought two plates of pancakes, with syrup and small sprinkle hearts on them. By Kuta’s side were two cans of diet cola, floating in the air via Kuta’s telekinesis.
“Is everything alright, Kuta?” Ret asked as Kuta sat down next to him. “You do not normally bring food. You hardly eat as well, unless I cook you something.”
Kuta sighed, then handed Ret one of the plates. “Nothing is right. I am a mess. I came here to apologise to you.”
Ret shrugged. “You know I forgive you, no matter what, right?”
“Yes, but I need to explain myself. I was incredibly rude and cruel to you. I mistreated you…” Kuta fell silent, sighed, then started explaining, not waiting for Ret to talk. “I should not have been angry at you. When we went to speak to the old Allbirther, she was invasive and cruel to both of us, prodding and poking and examining us. You did not get a chance to consent to that examination and came out of it with horrible jelly on you and the… suggestion that your body, which you have been diligently maintaining for decades, wasn’t good enough to have an egg.
“And instead of comforting you, I took my frustration out on you and, worse, I… I essentially agreed with Sini. I suggested that your body was not good enough either. I suggested that you should change your body in a way that made you feel bad, just so I could put an egg inside you.
“I should not have done that. I should have comforted you, the way you tried to comfort me. I pushed you down. And then I isolated myself and did not talk to you for a few days. I acted incredibly immaturely and, worse, I hurt you. I hurt you emotionally, in a way that is very hard to fix.
“I am deeply sorry, Retvik. I hurt you. And because of that, I cannot rightfully even consider putting either one of us through the stress of having a child in anyway. I am not emotionally mature enough to do so, even if my body is pushing me to procreate. I am not ready. I may not ever be ready. I cannot do this.”
Kuta sniffed, then fell silent. While, externally, they tried to remain calm, they had no idea how Ret would react to their words. Kuta’s nerves were made worse by the fact that Ret was taking a very long time to answer. Partly because Ret was eating a pancake. But once Ret had swallowed and taken a sip of his drink, all Ret seemed to do was shrug.
“Yet.”
“What?”
“We are just not ready yet.”
“Clearly…” Kuta frowned.
“That is not a bad thing though!” Ret was slightly more optimistic. “Yes, physically, our bodies… well, your body more than mine, but mine as well… our bodies are on a time limit, we cannot wait for ever, but we also do not need to have kids right now. We have time to wait until we are ready.”
“So…” Kuta stuttered. “You… you accept my apology?”
“Of course I do. We were both upset. Sini did not treat us nicely. So we… we accidentally took it out on each other, instead of taking our grievances out on Sini. But that is fine. We are normal people, normal people make mistakes and push anger in the wrong way sometimes…”
Ret put his plate of pancakes down, twisted round so he was facing Kuta, then put his hands on Kuta’s shoulders.
“You were angry and sad and you took it out on me, but you are emotionally mature enough to realise that you were wrong to do so, and you came to me to admit your mistakes and apologise. I forgive you, Kuta. Because you are a good person, and I love you. And I am sorry for being upset at you and avoiding you, instead of coming to you and discussing our problems together.”
Kuta blinked, hiding a stray tear. “You have done nothing wrong.”
“I did. We were both a bit silly.”
“If you say so. I forgive you and I am sorry still. Maybe… maybe we are just going too fast.”
“Maybe. But we can always slow down. We have lots of time. If anything, we somewhat rushed getting married, we had only been together for like a year and a half.”
“Feels like we have been together forever…” Kuta muttered. “Still, I am sorry.”
Ret hugged Kuta tight. “I said it was fine. You can stop saying sorry now. Also, you need to tell me how you made those pancakes because they are super fluffy and tasty!”
Kuta blinked some more, and found themselves smiling. “It is my own recipe.”
“Can you teach me?” Ret asked. “Because I can cook, but I have only really ever cooked very basic stuff, enough to keep myself healthy and fed. I remember that time you invited me around and you made those ribs and they were super tasty. You never told me the recipe.”
“I can teach you lots of recipes, if you want!” Kuta smiled properly. “I enjoy cooking.”
“Can we do some cooking now?”
“You have to eat your pancakes first.”
Ret glanced at the plate, picked up the last two pancakes and shoved them into his mouth. He then kissed Kuta playfully before swallowing.
“Done!”
Kuta burst out laughing and hugged Ret tightly. “You are the best person ever.”
“And you are also the best person ever.”
“I love you. I love you so much.”
Ret hugged Kuta back. “I love you too, forever…”