Arkay had sensed Litvir approaching in a myriad of ways. Scent, time powers, telepathy and general intuition all warned him that Litvir was about to jump him, but Arkay knew that Litvir just wanted to be a little silly. So he continued to walk by that one shadow between the offices and the canteen area. As Arkay did so, he felt those familiar dark tugs, and allowed himself to be pulled through the shadow to a new location.
In an instant, Arkay was no longer upright or outdoors. He was lying on a bed, with his favourite vampire buddy standing over him, pinning him down.
“Hey, babe!” Arkay smiled. “What’s up?”
Litvir smiled back, gently nuzzled Arkay then sighed. “I am feeling selfish right now.”
“Oh? How so?”
There was a bit of hesitation. Litvir stopped smiling, then got up off Arkay and sat on the bed next to him.
“Nothing wrong with being selfish occasionally!” Arkay continued to smile, before pausing to think briefly. “Oh! It’s your hatch day! That’s the perfect time to be selfish.”
Litvir glanced at Arkay. “How did you know that it is my 102nd birthday today?”
“Well, I am an all-knowing deity. But also, I got a telepathic glimpse of Ret a few rooms away putting on his BDSM gear and getting a cake ready to surprise Kuta. Still, you seem like you want something and can’t get the words out.”
Litvir frowned some more, then twiddled his thumbs. “I feel selfish because I only want to spend time with you today.”
“How is that selfish?”
“I do not want to spend time with Retvik today. He is playing with baby Reksi and thinking about kids again. Not openly, just in a ‘I would like a kid’ way. I do not want to think about kids. And I want to spend some sexy time with the person I do not need to worry about kids with. I do not think Retvik even knows today is my hatch day, but he will work it out and he may feel bad.”
“Well, let’s be fair, Kuta forgot too. Ret remembered because he has timers on his communicator for everything. But there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to spend some time with someone. We are complicated people with complicated needs, sometimes we just need something specific.”
“I know, but I do not want Retvik to feel bad…” Litvir suddenly fell silent. “It is depressing that, just over half a decade ago, I did not care about… anyone. Well, I cared a little, but now I have fully defined emotions and am no longer a complete asshole.”
“Yeah, it’s called growth. It’s something we are all capable of, if we allow ourselves to do so. You may have been a monster but you are unique in that you did allow yourself to grow, you allowed yourself to change and you became a better person for it.”
“I guess…” Litvir sighed, but did little else.
Arkay allowed Litvir to sit in silence for a moment, then scooted over and put an arm around him.
“Was there something in particular that you wanted to do today?”
“Not in particular. I mostly just wanted sex, snuggles and junk food.”
“I mean, I am always up for those things. Although we never got around to making that heated snuggle room that the Great Blade guys have.”
“That was a stupid mission…” Litvir tutted.
“Oh, totally, but it definitely turned out alright in the end. And we made some nice memories together afterwards. That being said, pretty sure our next trip will be to the Justarian Circle.”
“What makes you think that?” Litvir asked.
“Uh…” Arkay stuttered briefly. “Well… I kinda accidentally made a group chat with my… original Dessaron guys…”
“One does not ‘accidentally’ make a chat group.”
“Alright, fair. But either way, I made a chat group with Vick, old old Tenuk and Elksos and Elksos heavily hinted that stuff is going down in the Justarian Circle, especially since Elksos survived an assassination attempt.”
“And you think… you think Deathven will send us there to sort things out?”
“Probably. We are the local bunch of idiots who always manage to fix things.”
Litvir shrugged, then sighed some more. “That is annoyingly true. However, I do not want to think about work right now. I set the schedule to have today free to do… birthday things. But I am too preoccupied with leaving Retvik out.”
Arkay went back to smiling, even more so as he got up and started massaging Litvir’s neck and shoulders, since he knew that always calmed Litvir down.
“You know, there’s a really easy solution to this.”
“There is?”
“Yep. You hatched on the 29th, yes?”
“Annoyingly, yes.”
“Well, today is… the 28th, technically. Tomorrow would be… I don’t know if it’s a leap year, but there is a 3/4 chance it isn’t, so tomorrow would be the 1st. You technically haven’t celebrated your birthday yet! Or, better yet, since you can’t celebrate your birthday, you’re having two birthdays. And because you are having two birthdays, you are spending your first birthday with me and your second birthday with Retvik. That way you don’t need to feel bad about not spending time with him today.”
Litvir thought for a moment, then shrugged. “That is actually a good idea. A bit greedy of me, but still a good idea.”
“See, told you the solution was easy!” Arkay beamed as he continued to massage Litvir. Litvir definitely seemed to be settling down.
“You are a good person, Arkay.”
“Heh, you are too!” Arkay playfully patted Litvir on the head, then sat by Litvir’s side, holding his hand. “So, birthday boy, what do you want to do today?”
“Hm…” Litvir fell silent, closing his eyes for a bit. “I… have some ideas… May I seductively whisper them to you?”
“Yeah, sure, I guess?”
All of a sudden, Litvir span around and pushed Arkay down on the bed, before lying on top of him. He leaned over, got far, far to close to Arkay and delicately whispered what he wanted to do.
“Yeah, we can do that!” Arkay snickered. “We can do everything you want…”
“Wonderful!” Litvir smiled properly. “Thank you.”
“No worries, babe. Happy birthday.”