It was weird, sharing a bed with someone again.
Kuta glanced to their right, where Retvik had been sleeping, but he had clearly gotten up, possibly to go to the bathroom. The bed was empty right now aside from Kuta, but it was temporary. It made a change.
Kuta hadn’t been living in this half-house apartment for long. A hideous earthquake back in April had destroyed the tower of flats Kuta had been living in, and it had taken a while for new housing to be built. In the mean time, Kuta had been all over the place. Emergency housing at the edge of the Rethan capital, a pleasant villa in Palaestra, simple barracks in the wilderness of Kolasi, a hotel room and hospital on Threa Three, a hidden lab on Torr 9-6. It had all been an utter roller coaster.
But things were beginning to settle down. Kuta had a new job as General of Deitic Affairs, tracking the whereabouts of deities, informing other races if the gods were angry or destructive, warning people to keep away. Sure, it wasn’t as glorious as their old job as General of Hidden Internal Affairs, but it was cosier. And, theoretically, safer. Outside of the time spent on Kolasi, Kuta’s most recent problems were caused by mortals, not deities. Kuta was very glad they were no longer doing 10th Legion (formerly 11th) or 606th Legion work.
These thoughts were bothering Kuta. They bothered Kuta more than the alarm they just turned off. It was 6am, Kuta needed to be at work at 8am. They had a lot of catching up to do. Mostly emails and reports. After all, Kuta needed to finish up a report about an incident between the Thantophor and the Panelix, and the KD-Subclass were pestering them about the Allbirther being spotted near their homeworld.
Still, Kuta had time. They could lie there for another ten minutes or so. After years of doing nothing but working, Kuta was slowly learning that they had time to stop and smell the roses. In fact, that was what Kuta had been doing much more of lately. Sure, they had work to do, but Kuta had taken the time off to help Retvik’s little friend Tenuk, and, rather than hiding away in their office, Kuta had shown Retvik and Tenuk around and even accepted an invite from the High General to join them for a pleasant evening of drinks and food. It turned out that the High General didn’t hate Kuta, they just didn’t know Kuta very well in a personal manner, and Kuta had only recently begun to open up a little.
In fact, they’d had a lovely evening. Kuta eventually took Tenuk home, but Retvik insisted that he stay the night, in Kuta’s bed. He wanted to spend more time among his fellow Rethans, especially since he was now famous, and he definitely wanted to spend more time by his little sibling Relkr’s side. After all, Retvik had given up his life and gone into exile for Relkir, and now he had been repatriated, they both wanted to make up for lost time. Kuta had noticed though that Retvik had quickly started referring to himself as ‘they’ the same way most other Rethans did, and Kuta wasn’t sure if Retvik was doing it on purpose or not.
Kuta’s snooze alarm went off, prompting them to sigh and climb out of bed. Kuta realized that Retvik had been gone for a while. At least twenty minutes. Maybe he was drunk or something and was in the bathroom. Or maybe he’d fallen asleep on the sofa or something. Kuta was pretty sure they had woken up Retvik once, because Kuta was a rather light sleeper who moved around a lot.
With a shrug, Kuta didn’t bother putting any armour on. Sure, Kuta thought they were rather ugly, but they didn’t mind being essentially naked (with just a stomach wrap and loincloth on) with Retvik around. Retvik thought Kuta was cute. Kuta liked that.
As Kuta left their bedroom though, they noticed that Retvik was neither in the bathroom, nor had he wandered into the office, which Kuta always left open. In fact, as Kuta made their way downstairs, they realized that Retvik… wasn’t around at all. He wasn’t in the apartment. But where did Retvik go?
Eventually, Kuta notice that the front door was unlocked. Closed but unlocked, and the key still in the lock. The door could only be opened from the outside with the key, so it was clear Retvik had gone outside or something, closed the door behind him and locked himself out. But why had Retvik gone outside? Did he need air? Sure, Kuta’s home didn’t have many windows, but the bedroom window had been open the entire time while they slept, and the apartment overall was relatively cool.
Before Kuta could ponder things further, there was a knock on the front door. Kuta would have panicked, but their telepathy told them it was just Retvik. Maybe Kuta’s hypothesis was correct, Retvik had just gone out for air and locked himself out.
As Kuta opened the door though, they found Retvik standing there, holding two boxes and a drinks holder with two cups of fresh orange juice in them.
“Happy anniversary!” Retvik beamed.
“Happy what now?” Kuta blinked. They stepped to one side so that Retvik could enter. He placed everything down on the coffee table, then hugged Kuta tightly.
“It is our three month anniversary! We have been together for three months now, and I wanted to celebrate!”
Kuta blinked some more. “Three months… as in… three months as poten-partners?”
“Yes!” Retvik let go and patted Kuta on the head. “Admittedly, we have been very busy, but I did not forget. I know that we do not normally celebrate three months, but I felt I had to, since, to me, this is significant. Also I know you have work today, but I went out and got some pancakes and syrup and some fresh juice for breakfast. And I thought we could go somewhere nice for dinner after work or something? I admittedly do not know anywhere nice though. This city is huge and confusing.”
Kuta looked up at Retvik, then paused and rubbed their eyes. “Wow… this is… the longest relationship I have ever had.”
“Well, yes, but…” Retvik hesitated. “Well… I want it to continue being your longest relationship. You make me very happy, Kuta.”
“You make me unbelievably happy too, Retvik. I am… I am so thankful for you. In every single way…” Kuta stuttered, trying to hide their emotions and failing miserably. “You have always gone above and beyond for me.”
Retvik smiled. “As you deserve! I love you very much, Kuta, and I am glad you love me back. Despite all the silliness we have been through lately. I hope we will be together for a long, long time.”
Kuta rubbed their eyes some more, then wrapped their arms around Retvik. “You are the best, Retvik.”
“Heh, I have been told that a lot, lately. Come on, now, let us have some breakfast and relax a little bit before you go to work. Maybe we can snuggle a little too.”
“I… I would like that…” Kuta smiled between tears. “We could look up places to eat as well. The area by the space port has some nice exotic restaurants we could visit.”
The happy couple sat down on the sofa. Retvik handed Kuta a box of pancakes and an orange juice, then scooted up next to them.
“Happy three months, Kuta,” Retvik grinned as he tapped his drink to Kuta’s.
“Heh, happy anniversary to you too, Retvik!” Kuta smiled back.