Elkay sighed to himself as he stood in front of the mirror. Everyone had mirrors in their bedrooms, but Elkay had requested a tall mirror, floor to ceiling. The reasoning he had given was that he wanted the mirror for practising his shapeshifting and form-changing. That wasn’t the whole truth though. Elkay routinely would stand in front of his mirror and take photos of himself, to make sure that his shape was stable.
Normally, Elkay was stable. He would occasionally have to tweak things here and there, mostly making his wings less ugly and altering his armour, so it was both not too sharp nor too smooth. The last few evs though, ever since Teekay had gone and met all those Teekays at the mall, ever since Helkas had appeared, Elkay hadn’t been quite right. He had been… He didn’t want to call it “regressing” or anything too awkward, but he was definitely not quite right. He was more… Synaisthyn-y.
What that meant, Elkay wasn’t sure. But it did mess with how Elkay felt and how he looked, ever so slightly. His plating was smoother. His wings were sharper. His claws were sharper. He’d always had slightly enlarged canines, but he kept on having to make them shorter, he didn’t like it when those fangs stuck out from his mouth. Worse, whenever he got too Synaisthyn-y, those fangs would become venomous and dangerous.
With a bit of concentration, Elkay turned himself back into his more Rethan self. The way he used to look, before he was taken by multiple deities, twisted, torn apart then put back together. He didn’t really want to be particularly Rethan today, but he needed a stable shape right now.
A knock on the door distracted Elkay. He turned away from the mirror but didn’t answer straight away.
“Elkay, babe, you alright?”
That voice belonged to Teekay. Elkay’s beloved partner. The person he promised to spend all of time and existence with. But also the person Elkay promised to protect forever, no matter what. Or something like that. Elkay routinely wondered if the promises he had made to Teekay over the years would come back to haunt him in the distant future, but at the same time, he often noted how his promise to be by Teekay’s side and protect him forever meant that Teekay was theoretically now a very long-lived person. But in all honesty, Teekay didn’t need much protecting.
More knocking. Elkay realised he hadn’t answered.
“Elkay? You there?”
“I am, yes…” Elkay muttered.
“Is something wrong? May I come in?”
“I guess…”
The door was locked, but Teekay did have his own key. That being said, Teekay always asked permission before entering. Teekay respected boundaries. He did also use that key of his to enter, but he quickly closed the door behind him. Hanging from his arm though was a white plastic bag full of… stuff. Elkay wasn’t sure what.
“You look glum. Been staring at the mirror again?”
“I have, yes.”
“You picking and preening at every little inconsistency again because you feel weird or not quite true to yourself?”
Elkay frowned, then nodded. Teekay knew him too well.
“You know I love you no matter what, no matter how you look, right?” Teekay smiled. “I married you for what was inside your head, not for your body. Sure, your perfect body does make you even more attractive, but we fell in love over common experiences, over how we think and feel about and with each other.”
“But I am-”
“A permanently shifting mess. Yeah, I know!” Teekay put an arm around Elkay, then sat him down on the bed. “You say that a lot about yourself. You’re really not that bad though. You know who you are and who you love. Sometimes your body just doesn’t comply with what your brain thinks. It’s fine though. We’re all slightly shifting messes. And you’re far better than a certain other permanently shifting mess. You’re better than the new permanently shifting mess as well, just so you know.”
Elkay grunted. “I am glad Arkay is mostly dealing with Helkas outside of his Decayling lessons. Helkas routinely looks at me funny.”
“Because Helkas is a horny teenager.”
“True…”
Teekay gave Elkay a little hug. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re feeling uneasy and hating yourself because of it. But you shouldn’t hate yourself. And if you do? Well, I love you anyway. And I know you love me too… Anyway!” Teekay suddenly perked up and changed the subject. “We’re lingering on piss that makes you sad for way too long. Let’s talk about something else! I got a bunch of stuff when we were at the mall.”
“You did not mention that!” Elkay smiled weakly, glad that Teekay had changed the subject. He was right, they were lingering a bit. “You barely talked about your trip.”
“To be fair, I was nearly blind drunk. We got ice cream, then got drunk, then went around buying things while drinking. But I think, when you flew us all back here, some of us Teekays got our stuff mixed up.”
“How so?” Elkay asked.
“Ksar Teekay had a bag of stuff I bought alongside the fucktons of stuff he bought. We did all just throw everything into one of the observatories, after all!” Teekay smiled. “Anyway, want to see what I got?”
Elkay hesitated briefly. “Oh no. You went to… that shop again.”
“I did, yes. I think I nearly pissed myself laughing while Ksar Teekay and Pentathax Teekay inspected all the butt plugs. But I bought a few things for us!”
Teekay reached into the bag. Elkay worried for a brief moment, but quickly calmed down as Teekay found what he wanted.
“I found that really nice butterscotch lube and those unbreakable condoms. But I also got something else…” Finally, Teekay found what he was looking for. He pulled out several pouches and showed them to Elkay. “I found these really nice self-heating massage gels. Do you want a super nice, super warm massage?”
Elkay smiled, properly this time. “I would, yes.”
“Wonderful!” Teekay beamed as he pushed Elkay back. “I love you, babe. And you don’t need to tell me you love me back. Because I know you do…”