Teardrops for Three
by ZoneTheory twt | dsc | fics
Bae gently opened the door to their room. "IRyS…?"
She had found their wing of the council mansion exceptionally quiet. Normally when she would return home from a long stint performing her chairwoman duties, she would be welcomed home with a flurry of joyous emotions, lots of affection and praise, some ribbing and teasing, and maybe eventually some spicy stuff too.
This time it was different though. No nephilim greeted her. She found it disconcerting.
Her worries were put at ease somewhat when she found IRyS in their room, sitting on the edge of the bed, staring down at her hands neatly folded in her lap.
"Oh… Hey, Bae… Welcome back," IRyS greeted her solemnly.
Bae immediately hurried to sit beside her on the bed and ease whatever the issue was. "What’s the matter?"
"Oh, um, it's nothing really! How was work?" IRyS smiled weakly at her, but it didn't reach her eyes.
"IRyS… You can talk to me."
"It's nothing…"
"IRyS…"
"Really, it's nothing." IRyS started to stand but Bae pulled her back down.
"You can't lie to me, IRyS. What's up?"
IRyS took in a weakly measured breath. "I’m scared to say… I’m scared of what will happen."
"Look at me." Bae reached out and gently cupped her wife’s cheek, staring into those watery mismatched eyes. "We’ve been through a lot haven’t we?"
IRyS nodded against her palm.
Bae smiled back at her. "Remember how we prevented World War Three?"
IRyS couldn’t help but release a small chuckle. "Yeah, after you almost caused it! My hope reserves were basically running on empty for a full year!"
"We don’t gotta sweat the details of that particular incident…" Bae replied with a cheeky grin, "Anyway, my point is, unless you are planning to ask for another divorce, I don’t think anything you say could phase me. So, tell me what happened, or what’s going to happen, or just what’s on your mind. Okay?"
"O-okay… I… um… I don’t know where to start, or how to even say this…"
"Start at the beginning."
"I love you, Bae."
"I sure hope so, you did marry me after all."
IRyS turned her head away, letting Bae’s hand finally slide off her cheek. She looked back down at her lap, taking a small moment to collect her thoughts and ready herself for what she was about to say.
"Bae… I can’t stop thinking about her…"
Bae remained silent, her expression unreadable as she allowed IRyS to continue.
"I love you, Bae." Her voice began to crack. "I love you so much, but… I think I love her too…"
"Who?" Bae asked gently.
IRyS raised her head to meet her partner’s gaze. "You already know."
"I want to hear you say it."
"Kronii," IRyS whispered.
Bae exhaled and a tiny smile crossed her face. "Oh, babe…" She pulled IRyS into a gentle embrace.
"Are you mad?" IRyS asked timidly.
"IRyS, sweetheart," Bae gently rubbed her wife's shoulder, "I could never fault you for loving too much, it’s who you are."
"I was so scared, of these feelings, of admitting them, of telling you… It's been eating at me for so long…"
"Have you told her yet?"
"N-no I couldn't, I would never betray you like that."
Bae kissed IRyS on the cheek. "We're immortal gods, all of us, manifestations of concepts, otherworldly mythical creatures, you're literally 'hope'. When you live forever your tastes can shift and change, your desires can wander for the new and exciting."
"But I still love you. With all my heart, that will never change."
"There can still be room in your heart for more, more love to share."
"What should I do? What do you want me to do?"
Bae smiled at her. "What does your heart tell you? Follow your heart, always, and I'll always be happy."
IRyS slammed her hand forward, trapping the trembling warden between herself and the wall.
"IRyS…?" Kronii questioned as she sucked in panicked breaths, her back and head pressed firmly against the wall of the council meeting room as the nephilim encroached deep into her personal space.
"Hey, Kronii~"
"W-w-what’s going on, man, haha. This some kind of prank?" Kronii looked back and forth, as if trying to find help, but it was just the two of them in the room.
IRyS’ face was flushed red and her breathing came out in heavy puffs. She slid her hands down to Kronii's wrists and interlocked their fingers. She raised their arms so she was pinning Kronii’s hands above her head.
"How do you feel about me, Kronii?"
"W-what are you talking about?"
"I’ve noticed the way you sneak glances at me when you think nobody's looking, how you always try and sit next to me, how you're always asking when I’m free to play Minecraft with you, always just the two of us~"
"I-I don’t know what you’re talking about…"
"Hey, Kronii~?" IRyS whisperer, leaning a little bit closer.
"Yeah?"
"If I kissed you right now, would you stop me?"
"B-b-but what about Bae?"
IRyS smirked. "You think I’d be doing this without her permission?"
"W-w-well—"
IRyS sighed. "You’re such a dummy, Kronii." And then she leaned in and kissed her.
Kronii’s eyes shot up in surprise, while IRyS’ fluttered closed. The nephilim made a gentle noise of contentment and exhaled lightly through her nose.
Eventually, she pulled back, allowing them both some reprieve.
"I thought… because you were married… we couldn’t…"
IRyS let go of Kronii’s hands and backed away, giving Kronii space to breathe. "Me too, but I talked it over with Bae and she’s okay with this. With us."
"So wait, you two are divorcing again?"
"No. I still love her," IRyS answered simply, hopping up to sit on the council’s meeting table.
"But, then what am I? Your side-piece?"
"My girlfriend! If you want, of course…"
"Girlfriend? So I become your girlfriend, and Bae’s still your wife?"
"Exactly." IRyS nodded.
"Then what is Bae to me in this relationship? I don’t like her like that, the way you like her… The way I like you…"
"Nothing has to change between the two of you. Just because I’m married and love her, doesn’t mean that you and I can’t be together. There is no rule that relationships have to be restricted to just a single partner. Like, if you ever want to reignite that old flame you had with Mumei, or maybe mess around with Fauna, I won’t stop you."
"I… I see." Kronii stepped forward, closing in on IRyS. She placed her arms onto the table on either side of the nephilim and leaned forward toward her. "I think I like your offer."
IRyS, wanting to toy with her, started to lean backwards as Kronii closed in for an obvious kiss, forcing Kronii to continue leaning further and further forward until IRyS’ was lying down with Kronii was leaning over her completely.
"Nowhere to run now~" Kronii teased.
IRyS grinned back and brought her legs up to wrap around Kronii’s waist, trapping her in place. "Who’s running?"
Kronii stood in front of her mirror as she finished adjusting her tie, a royal blue to compliment her hair and jetblack suit. She did a quick check of her entire outfit from top to bottom to make sure it was just as perfect as she was.
"You look beautiful, Kronii!~ … Oh thank you, Kronii! You also look beautiful~ … Stop it you’re going to make me blush, teehee~ … No, you stop it, looking all dolled up ready for your first date~ … Oh, you know~"
"Trust me, I know," Bae’s sudden interruption made Kronii jump.
"Gwak!" Kronii turned toward the rat-girl leaning on the door frame of the room. "How did you get in here!?"
"Your door was wide open."
"Oh."
"You look good, I think she’ll love it."
"You do?"
"Trust me, she loves suits, I had to fight her for the right to wear a dress to our wedding. She absolutely wanted me to wear this red suit she found. While it was quite dashing, I’ve always loved the image of getting married in a white wedding dress, you know? We had so many arguments about it…"
"I was at your wedding, you were wearing the red suit."
"Marriage is all about compromise."
Kronii nodded, although she didn’t entirely follow Bae’s point. "Yeah, I guess… uh… listen, Bae, I know we’ve kinda talked around it, but… Is this all okay? I’m literally going on a date with your wife."
Bae smiled lightly at her. "Kronii, it’s fine, really."
"I guess I just don’t understand why you would want to share her, unless… Is this some kind of fetish thing for you? I mean, I guess that’s fine, I won’t kink shame you, it’s just—"
Bae rolled her eyes. "No, it’s not a kink thing, I don’t want to be ‘NTR’d’. What I want is for her to be as happy as she can be."
"Oh."
"When she came to me and told me that she loved you, I would’ve been a monster to say no to that, to make her reject her feelings, because of what? My ego? My desire to keep her to myself? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I caused her pain like that."
"I… I’m happy that you allowed this. I love her too, and it was hard to bottle that up, I had to hide it for all of our sake, but now… I can be with her…"
Bae smiled warmly at her friend. "Just, take good care of her, and don’t make her cry."
"Of course. Any other rules of this relationship sharing I should know about? I’m assuming ‘Monopoly’, as you two call it, is off the table. Anything else?" Kronii smirked. "Have her home before eight?"
"Umm… She’s your girlfriend, right?" Bae blushed a little. "I’m not in charge of what you do with her, or what she does with you."
"Wait… you mean…?"
Bae looked at Kronii with a slight twinkle in her eye. "Whatever makes her happy."
Bae stood in the dark of the hallway, staring out into the dimly lit TV room only illuminated by the flickering flatscreen. Kronii and IRyS were in there now, watching a movie or something, she didn’t know.
Tonight, it was Kronii’s turn with IRyS—which IRyS had told her to stop referring to as such because she didn’t want her partners competing with each other. It didn’t do anything to relieve the pit in her stomach. She actually wasn’t jealous, but she was lonely. Her bed was cold.
Getting up and going out there would be stupid, interupting them like that, but she needed company, and they were her friends, so hopefully they wouldn’t mind her intrusion.
Bae walked out. Both IRyS and Kronii looked up from their seats on the sofa when she entered.
"Oh, hey," Kronii said with an awkward smile before looking away again.
"Uh, hey guys, sorry um, do you mind if I join you? Couldn't sleep…"
"Oh! It's no problem at all! We're just watching some nature documentaries! Did you know that turtles…" IRyS didn't hesitate to start prattling on, and Bae went over to the armchair and curled herself up into a comfortable position.
She tried to focus on all of the interesting facts about turtles the documentary informed her of, something she knew IRyS as deeply enthralled by, but it just didn't hook her the same way it hooked her wife.
She snuck a glance over to the couple on the couch snuggling together, she watched Kronii plant a light kiss onto IRyS' cheek and an annoying flutter went off in her chest. She wanted to be over there too, but it was their date night, she couldn't just steal IRyS from Kronii. She agreed and even encouraged this whole arrangement.
Bae kept sneaking glances. She thought she was sly like the rat she was, but clearly her wife knew her well enough at this point.
"Bae?" IRyS looked over at her with those beautiful mismatched eyes, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Bae shook her head.
"Come on…" IRyS smiled gently, "You big dummy." She lifted the blanket on the other side of her, motioning for Bae to come over and join her and Kronii on the couch.
"Umm… I'm not sure if I should, it's your date night, I'm already interrupting as is. I should actually just go to bed, I'm feeling sleepy now anyway." Bae stood, ready to leave.
Kronii sturred from her position leaning on IRyS' shoulder. "Mmm, no, come over here, it's fine, as long as you agree to take her devil half…"
"Hey!" IRyS shoved Kronii lightly. "I thought we agreed that I didn't have a devil half!"
Bae smiled and giggled, running over to plop herself down on the sofa beside IRyS, snuggling up close and sandwiching the nephilim between herself and the warden.
"If the horns didn't give it away, I've seen what those teeth can do sweetie," Bae teased, "You aren't fooling anyone."
"I don't bite that hard…" IRyS pouted.
Kronii rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and Bae and I both just really love wearing turtle necks to council meetings."
"Come on, quit making fun of me. You're supposed to be my wife, and you're my girlfriend, you guys shouldn't make fun of me." IRyS crossed her arms.
"On the contrary," Bae gave a light kiss to IRyS' cheek and firmly placed her hand on the nephilim's thigh, "We're the only ones who get to." Bae slowly began to move her hand further up IRyS' leg.
At the same time, IRyS gasped as Kronii latched onto her neck, kissing her and sucking lightly. "Ohhhhh~…"
"We know how to push all your buttons, cutie~"
They moved together, their hands exploring, groping, caressing.
"I-is this okay? We've never done this… like this… with all of us…" IRyS breathed.
"I'm fine with anything, as long as I get to see you squirm." Bae grinned.
"Maybe we should take this to a bedroom," Kronii suggested, voice vibrating deeply against IRyS' neck.
"Mmmmmmm~" Bae purred, "Excellent suggestion, Kronii, let's go have fun with our nephilim~"
IRyS blinked as the morning sun shone in through the window above her bed, hitting her face gently. She stretched her arms out above her head and yawned. She was sore and tired, but despite that, she felt great. She smiled slyly to herself as she began to recall the events of the night before.
Her brain was still fuzzy and her mouth tasted like something died in it, but she remembered Bae and Kronii taking turns having their way with her. They'd been teasing her quite a bit, telling her that she was theirs now and they could do whatever they wanted to her, and that she better like it.
She shook the lewd thoughts from her mind as she felt her partners begin to stir on either side of her.
"Mmmmmm… don’t wanna…" Kronii groaned sleepily.
"Wanna what?" IRyS whispered as she propped herself up on her elbows, looking over into the sleepy face of her blue-haired girlfriend.
"Nnnnnggggghhhhhhh~" Kronii moaned, a little too deeply with her morning voice, it almost sounded… erotic…
"What are you two doing!?" Bae sat upright suddenly.
"Nnnnng shut up." Kronii flailed her arm out and inadvertently slapped IRyS right in the face.
"Ow!" IRyS yelped and threw Kronii's arm away from her.
Bae looked over at the two of them, "Oh… I thought maybe you two were…"
IRyS rolled her eyes and massaged her face. "Why would that be an issue, especially after last night!?"
"I… didn't want to be left out if you were… y'know."
My adorable stupid rat.
"God you just can't keep your hands off me." IRyS smiled, and leaned over to meet Bae, giving her a gentle morning kiss.
"Shut up both of you! I'm trying to sleep!" Kronii gave a half hearted yell, but her voice was so weak from sleep that it sounded almost comical.
Bae giggled and gave IRyS a sly look. "Watch this."
She climbed out of the bed, revealing to IRyS that she was still very much naked, and also reminding herself that she was still naked, and that Kronii likely was as well.
Bae grabbed the edge of the comforter, with a swift tug she yanked the sheet off of her wife and her wife's girlfriend, exposing their nude bodies to the open air.
IRyS had some modesty, and attempted to cover herself with her arms. "Bae!"
Kronii took the low road and instead started crying out. "Nooooo! Nooo! Let me go back to sleep, it's too early!"
Bae took on a stern look. "Kronii, it's one PM, we're late to the council meeting by an hour. Fauna and Mumei are probably wondering where we all are."
With a huff, Bae bent down to collect her clothes off the floor. First item she picked up was a pair of black panties, but IRyS stopped her.
"Hey! Those are mine, not yours." IRyS climbed to the edge of the bed and swung her legs off the side.
"What? Don’t you think they’d look good on me?"
IRyS hopped off and walked over to her wife. She swiped the underwear out of her hand. "I think they’d look better on me. Besides, I like how you look better with your clothes off~"
Bae blushed.
Seeing that she got the reaction she was looking for, she continued her testing, "You should attend the council meeting like this, you’d look so cute trying to lead us with your cheeks out bright and early." IRyS gave a punctual spank onto the rat’s ass.
Bae jumped. "Hey!" She scurried away and started collecting her own garments from the floor.
"Mmmm… It would be pretty funny…" Kronii grumbled from the bed.
"Shut up and go back to sleep!" Bae snapped.
Kronii rolled over to face them, and IRyS couldn’t help but take the opportunity to look over the warden's unclothed body again for the millionth time. She almost caught herself instinctively licking her lips.
"You told me to wake up, and now you’re telling me to go back to sleep?" Kronii teased.
Bae pointed accusatorily at Kronii. "She’s my wife, she gets to bully me, not you."
Kronii giggled. "I didn’t realize that when I started dating your wife I lost the ability to make fun of you as the council leader."
"Hey! That’s right, I’m council leader! I order you not to make fun of me!"
"Sorry, you can’t order me around with your tits still hanging out, put some clothes on."
Bae rolled her eyes. "Right back at ya, Kronster."
"Man, I love you guys," IRyS said with a big smile.
"Oh, gimme a break." Bae smiled back. She finished putting her clothes on and walked over to her wife, standing on her tiptoes to give her a small kiss. "You put some clothes on too, or I’m not gonna be able to stop myself from making a repeat of last night."
"Heh, as appealing as that sounds, it already hurts to walk, so I guess I’ll pass on this round."
"Good answer." Bae scooped up Kronii’s clothes from the floor and lobbed them in a perfectly practiced basketball throw, landing them directly onto the warden’s face.
"Hey!" Kronii complained, albeit muffed.
Bae stretched her back. "I’m gonna go apologize to Mumei and Fauna, we’ll start the meeting in ten, get a move on… And don’t try to go for a quickie."
"You think so little of me." IRyS grinned.
"I think everything of you." Bae winked back as she left the room.
Kronii stretched her back as she walked into the kitchen. "Oh, hey, Fauna," she greeted as she spotted the kirin, "Water boiled?"
"Yeah, I was just making some tea, did you want some?"
"Nah, I’m just gonna make a hot chocolate," Kronii answered as she grabbed the powder from the cupboard.
She found a mug for herself and started to mix her drink, she watched Fauna silently prepare her tea as she did. She noticed that the kirin had a certain look on her face, one that she had learned to read after the millenia they had spent as friends.
"What’s up?"
"Huh?" Fauna turned back to look at the warden.
"You have that look on your face, something’s on your mind."
"Oh, it’s nothing…"
"Are you mad that we were late to the meeting?"
Fauna grinned at her. "Mad at you for getting some? Nah." Fauna’s expression changed to an exaggerated pout, but she still had that twinkle in her eye. "Maybe I felt a little bit left out…"
Kronii rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink. "Fauna, you know I’m not interested in starting a polycule."
"Haven’t you already with Bae and IRyS?"
"No, that’s different. I’m not in a relationship with Bae."
"Listen, I’m not one to comment on the thinness of the walls here, but didn’t all of you… y’know… get it on…?"
"You were listening in on us last night?" Kronii accused, "Kinda weird."
It was Fauna's turn to roll her eyes. "You didn't give me much of a choice… Not to mention the other clues, like IRyS' limp, the fact that she can't stop smiling—"
"Alright, I get it." Kronii crossed her arms. "I slept with IRyS, Bae slept with IRyS, it was more like… teamwork, we both… wait why am I telling you this!? Besides, last I checked, you weren’t dating IRyS, so paws off."
"Uuuuu~ why must you make it so hard to get things. If everyone in council would open up, this would make things so much easier."
"Fauna…" Kronii facepalmed. "This is the most backwards way I’ve ever seen anyone try to get with another person."
"What? I’m talking to you directly." Fauna blinked back confused.
Kronii’s expression softened. "I’m not talking about me…"
"Then…"
"Mumei."
"B-but…"
Kronii took another sip from her drink. "Listen, Mumei and I broke up, you don’t have to worry about making me upset because you want to date her, I’ve seen the way you look at her… And the way she looks at you, you should go for it."
Fauna stared at the ground. "I didn’t want to upset you by dating your ex…"
"So your solution is to start a polycule?"
"I wouldn't be stealing her if everyone had access to her," Fauna noted.
Kronii sighed. "Look, Fauna, I'm not trying to stop you, I think you'd make a great couple… and honestly, I don't care who you date or what happens between you two, as long as you're happy. I know I'm not supposed to leak information to you regarding other timelines when it isn't relevant to the job, but lemme tell you, a lot of those Poly-Council timelines do not work out well."
"Really?"
Kronii pinched the bridge of her nose. "Not to mention the Poly-Myth timelines, I swear every other week there is an Ame in my office asking me to fix all of her girlfriends."
Fauna smirked. "Alright, alright, I get it. Thank you, Kronii."
"Don't mention it." Kronii picked up her mug and started to walk out of the kitchen, but was stopped as Fauna quickly grabbed her shoulder.
"Um…" Fauna looked down sheepishly. "Kronii, in any of the timelines, do you and I…"
"Don't," Kronii spoke sternly, setting her mug back down and turning to Fauna. "I know you want to imagine a perfect timeline where everyone lands in their ideal pairing according to your own judgement, but we're immortal, we're infinitely changing, we are horribly complex, and sometimes we bite a little too much…"
"Bite?" Fauna blinked back in confusion.
"Uh, personal issue. Anyway, my point is, there is no such thing as perfection—myself excluded of course—just… try and find happiness here, don't worry about the ‘could be's’ or ‘will be's’. Mumei’s interested in you. You’re interested in Mumei. That's all you need."
"I… Okay…"
Kronii quickly scanned around the kitchen to confirm that it was just the two of them alone, and quickly pecked Fauna on the cheek. She took her mug and hurried away before she could witness the kirin’s reaction.
"Maybe in a different timeline, Fauna…" Kronii whispered under her breath, unheard by anyone else. Her duty as time warden allowing the forbidden knowledge of unknown futures weigh heavily on her mind.
Bae yelled out, "Yo, IRyS!" She strolled down the hall toward IRyS' office (well, it was really more like her gaming room, but they called it an office). "I'm bored, did you want to go shopping or something?"
She burst inside and was surprised to find that IRyS was all dressed up in a surprisingly nice outfit, distracted by fixing up her reflection in the mirror. She wore an eggshell sweater combined with a pair of tight blue jeans, perfect for a casual date.
"Oh! Hey, Bae!" She turned away from the mirror where she was fixing her hair to face the rat-girl, showing off the purse with a shoulder strap that separated her breasts and made them stand out. "What do you think? Is this outfit cute?"
"I wanna put my face in your tits and die."
IRyS stared back at Bae blankly. "I'm serious, if i'm going out I want to look my best!"
Bae walked over to IRyS, standing on her tiptoes to give her a peck on the cheek. "You always look your best."
IRyS smiled back at her. "You always know what to say, Bae~by"
"Ehehe~"
"I'm sure Kronii will like it too."
"Kronii?"
"Yeah, going on a date, she was bored so she asked if I wanted to go out."
"O-oh…" Bae looked at the ground, dejected.
IRyS realized what the situation was immediately. "Ohh… Bae did you want to… did you come in here to ask me…?"
"No no no, it's fine."
"I can cancel. Wife has priority over the girlfriend?"
Bae shook her head. "Really, no, it's fine. I just didn't realize you made plans, I'll see if any of the other girls want to hang out."
"Are you sure? Maybe we could do another threeway date?"
"IRyS," Bae masked her true emotions behind a stern voice, "Go have fun, you don't have to worry about me. I agreed to this relationship arrangement, remember? I'll take the hits that come with it."
"I didn't want there to be hits… I just wanted everyone to be happy."
"Me too… So go enjoy your date."
IRyS took a step forward, cupping Bae's cheek and raising her head so their eyes met. "You're too good for me," the nephilim whispered, "You're perfect for me and I couldn't be happy having just you, I'm sorry, Bae…"
"IRyS… no that's not…"
"I'm sorry, I should go…" IRyS peeled away and started making for the door.
Bae rushed and grabbed her arm, stopping her. Bae forced her back against the wall in a surprising display of strength considering her smaller stature and pressed their bodies close together. "IRyS… Listen to me."
IRyS swallowed. "O-okay."
"I don't blame you for wanting to be with Kronii. You love her don't you?"
"I do… I'm sorry, I shouldn't… I should've known sooner or later this would've hurt one of you, I shouldn't be trying to keep this up. It's selfish." Tears started to build up in the nephilim's mismatched eyes.
"IRyS…" Bae looked back in concerned confusion." Where is this all coming from? Why didn't you talk to me sooner?"
"I… I'm scared… I've been scared…"
"Of what?"
IRyS' voice shrank into her throat, barely audible, "I don't want to lose you. I'm scared that this split relationship was a dumb idea and that you'll leave me over it. I'm scared that Kronii won't be happy with it either. I'm terrified at the thought of either of you leaving me."
Bae leaned up to kiss IRyS on the lips, but she was in too much of a state to reciprocate. Bae continued, kissing all over her cheek, her jaw, and eventually resting her head on her wife’s shoulder.
"You will never," Bae spoke forcefully, clutching onto the soft material of IRyS' sweater, "And I truly mean never lose me. I love you, I love you with all my heart. We could fight, we could break up, we could divorce again. It would all just be a set back, you hear me? Because I love you. You'll never be able to lose me, because I'll never stop chasing you." The words held so much raw emotion that they overwhelmed Bae and silent tears started to stream from her eyes into IRyS' sweater.
"How can you love me when I love someone else too?" IRyS choked out.
"Because it's you! You don't love her because I'm not good enough, you love her because you are just so full of the stuff that you couldn't be content with just one lover! You're 200% love, maybe someday we'll find out that it's more, and I'll share you with more people, because that's who you are. You love, and I love you for it.
"Bae…" IRyS held Bae tightly as she started to cry in earnest. "Bae… Bae…"
"I love you…"
"I love you too."
"Please go enjoy your date."
"I will… I will…"
"Show her your love… for me…"
IRyS was dumb sometimes, even she wouldn’t deny that to herself, but she was smart enough to know that something was up right now. Everyone was avoiding her, not directly, but acting very distant and dismissive whenever she would talk to them, always seeming too busy for her.
It hurt the most from her partners. They were still mostly themselves as she knew them, but she could tell they were hiding something, always being vague when she asked them about their days. Or going missing at the most random times, and she would be unable to find them, none of the council would seem to know where they went either. Everyone knew something she didn't.
She was scared to bring it up to them, on the off chance that she was just overthinking things. A worry lurked in the pit of her stomach, maybe they just didn't want to be around her anymore, maybe another divorce was coming up for her and Bae, and her wife had already talked with the rest of the council about it.
Maybe—
"Hey!" Bae stuck her head into their room.
IRyS looked up from where she sat on their bed. "Oh, hey…"
"Wanna go on a date?"
"Wait, now? Isn’t this a little sudden…" IRyS asked, surprised. She hadn’t been getting many dates out of her partners as of late, and the ones she had managed to wrangle were often lackluster at best.
"Nah."
"You said you had important council work tonight and that you wouldn’t be home," IRyS tested, "What’s going on?"
Bae rolled her eyes. "Gods you are thick… In more ways than one…" she grumbled to herself before speaking up, "Anyway, it actually wasn’t a question. You are going on a date. You aren’t allowed to say no."
"Well, with the way you’ve been acting lately I just might say no! You know what—!"
Bae opened the door fully and stepped into the room, revealing that she was wearing a full tailor-fit, jet-black tuxedo, perfectly accented by a tie-dye tie with a swirling mix of reds, cyans, and oranges.
IRyS gasped when she saw it. The only time’s IRyS had been able to make Bae wear a suit had been their wedding days.
"You… You’re wearing…"
"You wanna keep being mad about something, or did you wanna get yourself dolled up?"
IRyS stood up and walked across the room. She grabbed a hold of Bae’s tie and yanked her forward. A blush rose up Bae’s face as she stared up at her wife, who glared back at her.
Until finally a devilish grin slid onto IRyS’ face. "You look amazing. I cannot wait to tear this off you later tonight."
Bae grinned back, still held in place by IRyS’ grip on her tie. "We’ll see about that. Go get dressed up, cutie~"
IRyS released her grip and Bae scurried out of the room. "Ohhhhh, you damn rat," she cursed under her breath.
This had to be important, Bae would never, ever, wear a suit unless it was important. She knew the rat didn’t like the suit, felt that it made her seem too masculine. But IRyS liked masculine sometimes, and seeing Bae wearing that damn suit made her heart do funny somersaults.
So she picked out her best outfit possible for their date. A long beautiful dress, jet-black to match her wife. It was covered in small reflective specks that caught the light and glimmered over her body like stars, and there was a cut downward at the hip, showing off a slender leg. She was certain this would match the ante that had been set by her wife, it even had a decent cleavage cut, which Bae would appreciate.
She hurried out of the room and was surprised to come face to face with a giant LED arrow stuck to the hallway wall. Its bright flashes were powerful enough to illuminate the space. The whole thing was outlandish, even by Bae’s standards, and it grew even more so as she went the direction the arrow was pointed and found several more of them, guiding her through the council mansion until she was led to an oft-forgotten side exit and stepped outside into the cool night air.
The path before her was illuminated by intermittently placed lanterns, showing her the way forward. Bae had really pulled out all the stops for this. She followed the trail to a side road by the mansion where a car waited for her, it was black with tinted windows, standing outside the vehicle but the side door was Bae grinned back at her, showing off her sharp teeth.
"Ready for the night of your life?"
IRyS put on her best attempt at a scowl and sour voice. "You think this is enough to impress me?"
Bae just rolled her eyes. "You’re a bad actor."
IRyS stuck her tongue out at Bae.
Bae ignored her and opened the back door. "For you, ma’am."
"I’d prefer to sit up front, you know? This just feels like an Uber."
"Can you just get in the damn car?"
"Fine, fine," IRyS acquiesced and walked to the side of the car, taking Bae’s offered hand and climbing inside.
She was shocked to find that there was someone inside already.
Her girlfriend Kronii was sitting with her in the back, and oh man was she dressed up. She wore what basically amounted to a whole-ass military uniform, a near-black blue suit, complete with golden pocket chains, a massive overcoat, and leather gloves.
"Kronii? What are you doing here? And that outfit…"
Kronii grinned slyly back. "What do you mean? I’m here for our date!"
"Our… but I thought… Bae…"
"You mean our chauffeur?"
"Chau— what!?"
Bae climbed into the driver's seat and turned to the couple in the back. "Where to, ladies?"
"Wait so…" IRyS slowly turned toward Kronii. "You set this all up!?"
Kronii kept her head forward and spoke to Bae, "You know where we are going."
Bae rolled her eyes. "Can you just stick to the script?"
Kronii huffed and pulled a note from inside her jacket pocket before passing it to Bae. IRyS grinned at the length of the theatrics the two had orchestrated.
Bae quickly glanced at the note before kicking the car into drive and set off.
"You planned all this, Kronii!?" IRyS repeated. "What’s the occasion?"
"It’s… I just wanted to treat my girlfriend to a good night."
IRyS crossed her arms. "If you wanted ‘a good night’ we could’ve done that with the three of us in my bedroom. You’re up to something," she accused.
Her girlfriend just grinned back. "Is it so obvious?"
Kronii and the rest of council had put some serious work into planning out the date. Obviously, the first person she discussed her initial idea with was Bae, she knew IRyS the best after-all. After giving her the most basic outline, the rat-girl kinda took control over the whole operation, helping her to facilitate it all and coordinating with the others to make everything happen.
The first stage of the date was dinner, it had to be special. Fauna and Mumei helped to arrange it. They rented out an incredibly fancy outdoor restaurant, one where you got to sit outside in a beautiful cherry blossom garden beside a lake. Kronii was skeptical at first when Fauna suggested it, but she showed her the reviews and all the fancy rich people who could afford this kind of thing seemed to like it, so she decided it would suit her ramen-guzzling girlfriend just fine.
Kronii loved watching IRyS’ face light up when they arrived. Her eyes twinkled, reflecting the lanterns hung from the trees and the stars in the sky. She was breathtaking. It caused that feeling in Kronii’s chest to see her like this. It reminded her of the first time she had this feeling, not just the feeling of being in love, but the feeling of having it reciprocated, back when IRyS forced her back against that wall and laid everything bare.
Bae served as their waiter, much to the amusement of the nephilim, who got some kind of perverse joy out of teasing the rat-girl as much as physically possible. Mumei assisted the chefs with preparing their orders; the owl knew exactly what subtle modifications would have to be made to the orders to perfectly match the oral palettes of their patrons. Other than her nudges though, she let the master-class chefs handle everything.
Food was just the start though. The next part was where Kronii flipped the script on the elegant and glamorous first-class style date night. She took IRyS to a movie theatre—also rented out so that the venue would be completely empty. Bae manned the concessions and got the couple their popcorn and drinks and then bolted over to the ticket stand to direct them to their theatre room (entirely unnecessarily of course, it was just for the spectacle of it).
Kronii knew exactly what IRyS would want to see more than anything, not some silly romance, or pumped up action movie. No, if their was one thing IRyS would want to see more than anything else it was a gundam anime with male characters that were ‘totally-not-gay-I-swear-it’s-just-bromance-come-on-guys-you-gotta-believe-me’. Bae did some work behind the scenes to get them early access to the brand new gundam anime that hadn’t hit the market yet.
Because they had the place rented out, IRyS was free to let out all of her reactions, screaming and crying at every moment, even jumping up and down and running up to the screen with tears in her eyes at the big explosive finale. It was hilarious, it was beautiful, it was her.
That pang again, that feeling of love, this time from a distance. This time it was more like when she had just started to develop these feelings, when she would sneak glances at the nephilim from afar and curse the way her heart fluttered.
She didn’t curse it anymore, instead she put a hand to her chest and let those fuzzy feelings flow through her, ignoring how red she felt her cheeks turning and the giddy smile she knew was dumbly plastered onto her face as IRyS wept in front of a projector screen because her favourite character just died.
To be honest Kronii hardly paid attention to the show, instead she just focused on IRyS and her excitement. That was entertainment enough.
The final leg of the date was a tricky one. They needed a view, the best view they could possibly get in this city. Unwilling to let Kronii settle for less, Mumei sat on the phone for hours bouncing between different executives and business people to convince them to allow her to rent out the entirety of the tallest tower in the city for the evening. Now, they didn’t actually need to do that, they could’ve just asked for permission to get on the roof, but Mumei was extra, and so the entire building they had.
Up on that roof they watched the fireworks show that Bae, Mumei, and Fauna all orchestrated. The view was amazing, it felt like she could see the almost the entire world. Kronii looked down at the nephilim who was clutching her tightly… Maybe she could see the entire world.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Kronii prodded.
IRyS shivered against her. “It’s, uh, it’s incredible.”
“You cold?” Kronii asked, she did have to admit that it was a little chilly at this altitude, but she wasn’t shivering herself and usually the nephilim wasn’t such a weakling to the elements.
“Um, kinda a little, but uh… Don’t you think we’re a bit high up?”
“Yeah! It’s the best possible view I could find!”
“Yeah, I know, you told me all about how Mumei rented the building.
“She’s a dumbass, right?”
“Hehe, yeah. Umm, Kronii, I’m sorry but… could we maybe… take a few steps back, I, uh… I think I might pass out if I have to keep looking over the edge…”
Kronii’s heart burst. “Of course! I’m sorry! I should’ve realized this was a dumb idea…”
“Nonono, it’s fine,” IRyS clutched onto Kronii’s jacket tighter as they shuffled backward together. “I’m just a bit of a baby is all.”
Kronii leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “You’re my baby.”
She felt IRyS’ legs trembling so she helped the pair of them sit down together. Kronii sat cross-legged and IRyS laid her head carefully into the warden’s lap, careful with her horns not to stab anything. The two sat wordlessly for a while, watching the sparkling light-show being blasted into the sky.
Kronii ran her fingers through the nephilim’s hair easing her earlier height anxiety. IRyS shifted back to nuzzle closer into the warden, but hesitated when her horn audibly tapped against something in her girlfriend’s pocket.
“Hm?” IRyS pondered, and swiftly reached up and into Kronii’s pocket to pull out the offending item, “What’s this?”
It was a small box, one that Kronii had gotten so swept up in the details of the night she had almost forgotten it was there. Realizing that IRyS was now holding it caused her to panic, she hurriedly swept her hand out to snatch it back.
The nephilim was too quick for her and moved it out of reach. IRyS spun the item in her hands, it was smooth with a simple navy blue velvet finish and a clam shell design.
It was obvious what this box was. IRyS now realized it too.
A blank expression crossed her face. “Kronii… What is this?”
“It’s… uh… it’s…
“Kronii…” IRyS whispered, “All this… was… this whole night…”
“Yeah…” Kronii choked back.
IRyS sat up and moved to sit in front of Kronii, she took the warden’s hands and slipped the box into them.
“IRyS, I’m sor—”
“Say it.”
“What?”
IRyS’ hands still clutched Kronii’s, the warden could feel her trembling as she looked down, unable to make their eyes meet.
“Say it, Kronii, please. I need to hear you say it.”
Kronii was trembling just as much. “IRyS… I… I love you. I love you more than you could ever know. I want to stop time, so we could add infinite forever’s onto our infinities. I want to spend forever with you. I want—”
“—Stop.”
Kronii froze. This was it.
IRyS looked up at her with tears in her eyes and a silly grin on her face. “Just say the damn line, Kronii.”
Kronii couldn’t help but smile back. This was it. “IRyS, will you marry me?”
IRyS dove into her, forcing her down and sitting herself on the warden’s waist. She grabbed Kronii by the collar of her jacket and pulled her up. “Yes!” She mashed their lips together in a furious passion. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” And again and again she kissed her as rainbow lights exploded in the night sky all around them.
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