Kuta watched from the sleeping quarters, a good distance away, as Ret was clearly setting up a picnic on the beach. The eight new Decaylings currently were on break, having finished study time, and as soon as they’d finished, they’d all somewhat gone their separate ways for a bit. But Kuta had been asked to assist Litvir and Eksi in some Life Goddess influence removal, and this had clearly distracted them.
A heavy hand on Kuta’s shoulder also distracted them, making them glance up.
“Good work today, little sibling!” Litvir smiled.
“Thank you…” Kuta muttered, a lot of unease in their voice. Kuta was admittedly glad that everyone was fine with them being non-binary, and Litvir in particular had accepted Kuta’s choice of pronouns with glee, but it was a little odd suddenly being the only Rethan around who didn’t gender themselves male. Litvir however did immediately pick up on Kuta’s uneasiness.
“What is wrong, Kuta?”
Kuta sighed. Mostly because it was weird that Litvir was being nice to them. For years, they hated each other, for a painfully long and admittedly insane list of reasons, but Litvir had forgiven Kuta a long time ago, and Kuta had recently forgiven Litvir back.
“I am concerned that Retvik is going to ask me some awkward things.”
“Like what?” Litvir had an inkling already, but he knew it was better for Kuta to try and talk through things themselves.
“Well…”
“Yes?”
“It is awkward.”
Litvir laughed. “Kuta, have you SEEN the two hot messes I am dating? I am sure whatever is happening between you and Ret is not that bad.”
“Good point. I… I am concerned that Retvik is going to ask me about kids or ask me about marriage when I am not ready for either of them.”
“Understandable. Especially with all the recent chaos. But Ret does not know that, and the only way to get past this is to outright tell him. Do not do what I did with my literally-on-fire boyfriend and hesitate and put things off. Ret is a very sweet guy, he will understand.”
“You… you think?”
“Of course. Go on. Go over and see what he is doing.”
Litvir patted Kuta on the shoulder, then backed off. Kuta sighed again, then headed over where Ret was setting up a small fire with a pot hanging over it. Kuta noticed that Kayel suddenly popped out of a nearby shadow, lit the fire then disappeared again, without either of them saying anything. The pot seemed to be filled with cheese, and there was a selection of sausages and crackers laid out on the blanket.
“Kuta!” Ret beamed as he used his newfound gravity-altering powers to make a can of fizzy drink float into Kuta’s hand. “How are you? How did the… uh… thing go?”
“The thing?”
“The thing you did with Kyr Litvir!”
Kuta shrugged. “It was nothing too important. Helped someone sort out a few mental blocks, that was all.”
Ret continued to smile. “Downplaying your selflessness again, I see?”
“I guess. I have more power than Litvir but far less control. But either way, what are you doing?”
“Setting up a picnic for our anniversary!” Ret’s smile only got bigger. He got up, threw his arms around Kuta then sat them down on the blanket.
“Anniversary?”
“Yes! Six months! Already!” Retvik nudged a plate and several skewers towards Kuta. “I wanted to celebrate with a quiet meal out here, away from everyone else. I did want to cook a meal, but the kitchen does not have much room, the magic food vendors take up all the space and I could not find a proper fondue pot so I asked the little blue robot to make me one.”
“The little blue robot has a name, Retvik.”
“I know, but it is a one syllable name and I can never remember which one is which. But anyway! Kuta!” Retvik immediately changed the subject. “It is our anniversary and I cooked you cheese fondue because I did not know what else to do that felt fancy and home-cooked. Enjoy!”
Kuta hesitated a little, then helped themselves to a cracker, which they dipped into the cheese pot. It was gloriously warm and tasty. But that warmth and all the effort Retvik had put into all of this just made Kuta feel bad.
“Thank you, Retvik. I… I am sorry about…”
“Kuta, we already discussed this. Accidents happen. I told you I was not angry, I told you I still am not angry. I… I can tell you are anxious about something, but I did genuinely just wanted to sit here and eat melted cheese with you to celebrate us surviving together for six months!”
Kuta blinked. “Oh. I thought you were doing all of this to tell me you wanted to have kids or you wanted to marry me.”
Retvik paused. “Uh… Do you… not… want to? I mean… I did want to ask about that at some point, but we have only been together for six months and… You… uh…”
Realizing they had said completely the wrong thing in completely the wrong tone, Kuta swiftly tried to correct course. “I am sorry, Retvik, I… I did not realize you just wanted to celebrate us being together.”
“From your tone-”
“Retvik, please, do not get the wrong idea! I do want to be with you, I do want to marry you, and I do want kids at some point… but I have… things I need to sort out first.”
“Ah…” Retvik immediately settled down. “I am sorry, I think I overreacted for a moment and imagined bad words coming out of your mouth.”
“No, no, I did not use my words right. And I was… flummoxed by all of this. Mostly the fact that we have been together for six months and somehow you know how long we have been together since there are no more days or nights here.”
Retvik gestured at his wristband. “I have a clock on here.”
“You do not use automatic time and date settings?”
“No. But I do not know if my wristband’s clock is still accurate. For all I know, we have only been out here for a few hours but it feels like… like weeks. Like we have been here forever.”
Kuta nodded in agreement. “It is weird being… out here again.”
“Again? Oh. Yes. You…” Retvik trailed off, then decided to stuff his face with some cheese.
“I am genuinely sorry, Retvik. You wanted to have a romantic moment, and I am certain I ruined it.”
“It is fine, Kuta. Things are weird. Really, really weird. We are all a bit of a mess right now. But I would like to just sit here and feed you melted cheese. And then, after I have filled you with cheese, maybe we could retire to your bedroom, put that little waterfall thing on for some ambience and just snuggle for a bit. And maybe I could… fill you with other things.”
Kuta suddenly giggled. “Hah! That sounds wonderful! I would like that very much.”
Retvik leaned forward and fed Kuta some more cheese-covered crackers. “So we are in agreement? About everything?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”