Vick had meant to just sigh as he flipped the sign on the pub door, indicating that the place was now closed, but what came out instead was a massive yawn.
“Blimey, I didn’t know I was so tired!” Vick yawned a few more times. Once he had settled down, he made his way back to the bar proper to get a cloth to start wiping tables down.
“Well, we did have a busy day!” Letharus beamed from the kitchen. He was currently loading a dishwasher with his telekinesis. “A lot of people came by. Even a Life Goddess visited. We seem to very rarely see those, apart from when the two Raptors pop by to check in on us.”
“Yeah, it was weirdly busy today. But at the same time, not many folks were drinking. It was mostly just soft drinks and snacks I was selling. In fact, I might need to order in more stock a day early. Doubly so if I am inviting my old friends here at some point.”
Vick sighed to himself, then started cleaning things up. Letharus noticed that Vick didn’t seem right and decided to finish what he was doing then go and assist Vick.
“You seem unsettled, dear.”
More sighs. “Eh… It’s been a weird few days. Mostly because I’ve been chatting with my old little buddies. It’s all unlocking memories and things like that, and I’m perturbed about how… how we’re all alive still. It also kinda makes me… sad…”
Letharus took the cloth from Vick’s hand, then led him to a chair and sat him down. “Sad? How comes?”
“Well… it’s a lot of things. There is definitely a hint of “I just run a pub and the other three are big and important” but there’s also a regret that only a handful of us made it. Me, my team and a bunch of people called Teekay, it seems.”
Letharus shrugged. “Well, two of little Arkay’s siblings also survived. But also, those are just the beings that we know of. Your universe was large, yes? There may be others out there.”
Vick grunted. “I doubt it. The only reason Elksos and I made it out is because Tenuk saved us. I doubt he managed to save many other people.”
“Better than saving no one…” Letharus paused. “Did Tenuk not save Arkay?”
“No. Arkay was… ugh… I don’t…” Vick struggled with his words briefly, before settling down. “That poor little fucker. He went through hell and back multiple times. Always felt like the universe was picking on him, and it turned out, it was.”
“I… do not follow.”
Vick closed his eyes, then sighed. “I first met Arkay when he was 11 years old. He’d already been working a full time job since he was five. As far as I recall, his family was all sorts of messed up, and bad things just kept on happening to him. Constantly one bad thing after another. To the point that some asshole murdered him in an alleyway, and instead of Arkay just… dying and finding peace, he was tortured by the Life Goddess of our old universe.”
Letharus still didn’t quite understand. “Bad things happened to the poor guy, but he seems happy now.”
“Yeah, I think he is doing better. But I messaged him the other day and he was busy. And I messaged him later and he said he was working. He always, always seems to be busy working. But he never got to be a proper kid or anything. He was never a child, always an adult with permanent responsibilities. And since I’ve been talking to him? It bothers me. It genuinely makes me sad that the poor little guy that I wanted to have as my child never actually got to be a child, to be cute and innocent and pure.”
“Have you mentioned this to Arkay?”
“Not really. I don’t know how to approach the subject. Arkay is… a bit all over the place. And always busy. He has more important things to worry about. Plus, I have my own stuff going on. And I have you to look after now.”
Letharus snorted. “I do not need looking after. I am perfectly fine. In fact, I am better than ever, ever since I met you. But you feel sad because you are concerned about someone you care about, so you ought to speak to that person, tell them how you feel and then work together to fix those feelings.”
Vick frowned. “Arkay is now incredibly old. Far older than I am. He’s moved on with his life.”
“That does not mean that Arkay has moved on from you. You said it yourself, you and Arkay have an unusual relationship. It is possible that Arkay would like to refresh that relationship. But also, Arkay might also like an opportunity to be a cute little kid again. Was Arkay a cute kid?”
“Yeah. He was. Tiny little yellow thing. He’s taller now, much taller. Muscular too. The poor bugger literally grew up alongside me. I mean, we spent eleven years fighting through hell together.”
“Did Arkay have any sort of childhood at all?”
Vick thought for a moment, then went back to frowning. “No. Not at all. He was a Ksa, basically a genetically modified child soldier. That’s why it hurts so much, that he never got to have a childhood. He’s like, billions of years old now.”
Letharus smiled, then put an arm around Vick. “All the more reason to take the time to speak to Arkay. Discuss your feelings, then invite him to a day out where he gets to be a child and you get to be the mother or father you always wanted to be.”
Vick was about to nod in agreement, but paused. “That… is… Alright, now I am having other thoughts. I wonder if I could even ever have a kid. Again.”
“Again?”
“I remember I had a kid and a husband. They are gone now. I don’t think we are compatible though.”
Letharus blinked, then shrugged, altering the subject. “That is a… an experiment for another time. Talk to Arkay, arrange something and be happy. Then we can talk about… actual kids… Alright?”
Vick finally smiled as well. “You are absolutely right, dear. Anyway, we should get back to work. The bar won’t clean itself!”