“Hey, Retvik, do you like me?”
Retvik turned his attention away from the starry sky and looked over to where Phovos was lying. The Flamebearer had been busy all day, working to keep the Kinigi Oasis safe and secure. Now that he was trying to relax, Phovos was grabbing his attention.
“That is an unusual question. Of course I like you.”
Phovos rolled over in her sun lounger. The nearest star was technically too far away to call Phovos’s seat a ‘sun’ lounger, but the Raptor was feeling comfy and didn’t want to move.
“Yeah but, well, do you ‘like’ like me?”
Retvik grunted. “Of course I like you.”
“Yeah but…” Phovos trailed off, stumbling through what she was going to say next in her head. “Do you like me enough to, uh, touch me?”
“Sorry, I still do not understand. Are you asking me if I am romantically attracted to you?”
Phovos nodded. “Yeah, I am. Can’t bring myself to say it out loud though.”
Retvik grunted, mulling over Phovos’s last sentence. “Are you… Embarrassed to be with me in some why? Am I too clingy or distant?”
Phovos frowned. “I… I…”
“What is wrong?” Retvik asked. “Has someone upset you?”
“I just don’t know what to say or feel…” Phovos sighed. “This whole… scenario thing is, well, stange and weird and I am not sure whether I like it.”
“Do I make you feel weird?”
Phovos didn’t respond immediately. Her emotions were all cluttered up and fighting against each other.
“A little, yeah…” Phovos finally admitted. “Part of me wants to run. Part of me wants to stay. But a third part… wants… more, I guess.”
Retvik shrugged, then went and sat down next to Phovos.
“We can go at whateve pace you like, dear.”
“That’s the thing though!” Phovos exclaimed. “I don’t KNOW what I want! My emotions are all over the damn place! I’m torn, mentally.”
Retvik placed his hand over Phovos’s. “Do you want to temporarily put a halt on our relationship?”
“No. I like you. I just don’t know if I like you romantically or if this is just a very weird friendship.”
Retvik shrugged, smiling a little. “Weird in a good way, I assume?”
“Yeah, kinda. I mean, we can talk and be friends. But, well, I don’t want to hurt your feelings. I’m not a Rethavok after all. Looks bad.”
“No one is looking at us and judging us for being friends…” Retvik paused, then shrugged. “In all honesty, I understand how you feel. It is confusing. But if being with me makes you happy, then we can continue about being friends.””
“But…” Phovos stuttered. “It’s not… Right…”
Retvik paused, then smiled some more. “You are aware that I attempted to have a relationship with not one but two death gods, right? It does not get much weirder than that.”
“Yeah, I guess… Wait, you slept with TWO death gods?”
Retvik chuckled. “Well, I did briefly date Kairos’s friend Seimeni, and I did try and date Arkay, but both of those relationships fell through. In comparisson, dating you is almost natural.”
Phovos blinked. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“It doesn’t matter if I am a Ksithan?”
“Not at all. After all, you are the perfect Ksithan specimen, and I am the perfect Rethan specimen. If anything, we are more connected than we think.”
Phovos fell silent for a moment, before leanin to one side, on Retvik’s arm.
“You’re right. Thank you for listening to me.”
“No worries, my dear. I am always happy to listen to you. No matter what…”