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Little things matter

Summary:

After a moment with Kay-Ren, Lyner begins feeling.. off.

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“Why is he cooking? He doesn’t eat solids.” Kay-ren asked Jet as she easily pulled herself up on top of the counter despite it being nearly two feet taller than her. The taller man simply shrugged, looking up from a book he was reading and taking the moment so he could take a swig of a bottle nearby. Lyner was busy in the kitchen, a rare sight considering all he’d consume is juices and smoothies, but he seemed to be doing well, stirring a pot and flipping a few things in a pan. His movements weren’t as smooth as Jet’s, especially with the knife, which now he had gotten stuck in the cutting board.

“Mir wanted dinner, I guess he just wanted to be extra special tonight. So I’m here to make sure he doesn’t burn the entire place down.” Jet rolled his eyes at the thought of such sappy romance, but he couldn’t deny it was a little wholesome to see what Lyner would do to make his boyfriend happy, it reminded him of his old life. Kay-Ren meanwhile was just staring at the little voxelle trying his best, chuckling to herself when she saw him getting flustered as something started to burn.

“I can hear! It’s just pasta, I can’t set it on fire, after all it uses water to boil the noodles, you can’t burn water.” Lyner turned around, showing off a pink apron that matched his fluffy hair. Well, it was assumed to be pink, but the stains made it hard to tell from the front, multi-colored splotches from things that absolutely should not be in pasta were spread around the piece of cloth. The two adults exchanged a look, silently agreeing to not even try and talk him out of whatever he was really cooking, not unless they wanted to be forced to have a taste.

As lyner turned to go back to his work, he took a sniff of the air and suddenly panicked, grabbing a cup of water. As he moved on, Kay-Ren noticed exactly what was wrong, and she rushed down off the counter to grab a lid out of a pile of dishes. A large grease fire had sprung up in the little time that Lyner had been distracted, making Jet let out a disgruntled sigh as he grabbed the prince, pulling him away so he wouldn’t cause any more problems or get hurt.

When she finally found a lid, Kay-Ren nonchalantly walked over to the raging flames that could easily burn the entire place to a crisp and merely.. Covered it. The fire went out in less than a minute, making everyone sigh in relief. Kay snatched the water filled cup out of lyner’s hand, chugging it down.

“Don’t use water on grease fires, it’ll make it spread. Come, I’ll teach you myself.” She led him back over to the stove, she could feel the nervousness he was experiencing but ignored it, after all only practice would help with this. She shot Jet a look when he tried opening his mouth to protest her teaching him, and knowing better he backed off. It had been a while since she had last worked in the kitchen, so it was a nice change of pace to do this, even if it was just to teach an airheaded teen. She began showing him some simple tricks and knowledge that frankly, most people should know by his age, but she couldn’t judge him too harshly.

“Did you do this with your family?” Lyner looked over from some veggies he was chopping as he began to notice how swiftly Kay-ren was moving, as if she had some practice. The question made her slow down, taking a deep breath so she could steady herself as memories flashed in her head. Kind but chaotic moments with her wife and child in this same position as they just appreciated each other’s company without any burdens. She was brought back to reality with a poke from Lyner, who was clearly concerned from her lack of response for a good minute.

“You remind me of them. Let’s just finish.” She wanted to say the bare minimum, and much to her relief the prince didn’t press any further, but the look on his face made her regret her choice of words. Concern was clearly painted all over his face, mixed with a dozen other emotions that she didn’t exactly want to think about, but considering Lyner was never good at hiding his emotions it was fairly easy to recognize some.

It was a good thing the pasta was ready before they could talk about it more.

 

Mir was unsurprisingly thankful for the meal Lyner brought him as he worked on a diagram of his boyfriend’s insides, organizing the info he had learned from their many “dates”. He would do another soon, but perhaps on a more sanitary and easier to clean surface, since the look kay-ren gave Mir when he brought the sheets out to clean was a sign he may have gone too far. It was a nice break from work, eating with his boyfriend in front of the large windows that lined the room so they could have a nice view of the sunset.

“You took a while, I was starting to get worried up here.” The scientist chuckled, running his hand through the voxelle’s soft hair, only to stop when he noticed the worry lines on his face. It wasn’t exactly like his boyfriend to look like that, his light hearted nature typically overshadowing his anxieties. It was even more odd that when he asked about it, all he got was a shrug and a sudden change of conversation about the colors of the sky that day.

“Hey, come on, you know a sudden conversation switch isn’t going to stop me from figuring out what’s wrong.” He interrupted whatever mindless chatter was going to come from lyner’s mouth by cupping his head between his hands, stroking one of his cheeks with a thumb.

When the prince leaned into the touch, Mir’s once serious face turned to a small but affectionate smirk, if there was anything he loved about his boyfriend, it was the small moments like these where the world stopped rotating and the brightest star in all the cosmos was right in his hands. So when he saw his ear twitch in what almost looked like annoyance and his little galaxy pulled back again, he frowned.

“Thinking about things, that’s it.” Lyner looked out the windows, the night sky a perfect reflection in those eyes that Mir could drown in for eons. But now they were filled with concern, like when he had to witness Mir’s trial to become his guard, much to his horror. The bodyguard stared at his prosthetic arm, moving the fingers that he could never quite get used to and call his own, even if they looked almost identical to the rest of that side of his body. He was called back to reality by his boyfriend getting underneath the covers, patting the other side of the bed. “Bedtime!”

When he got under the soft blanket, he felt the heavy weight of the day’s activities melt away in this once forbidden chamber that he wouldn’t have ever thought about entering. Mir wished he could’ve stayed awake longer, but as soon as the prince wrapped his arm around him, he was out like a light, letting sleep take over him. But Lyner was still wide awake, staring at the now resting form next to him and thinking about earlier. He should have known that the warrior’s family must’ve been a touchy subject, after all kay-ren wouldn’t have just chosen to work for his mom willingly, but he didn’t expect her to say that he reminded him of them. It was surprising, but not entirely unwelcome for him, especially considering all she had done for him for all this time. Still, it got him worked up since most likely, it was his family’s fault that she couldn’t see her own real son for years, the guilt beginning to eat away at him.

He figured a walk in the cold air would help him, so he got up as softly as he could and gently took the glasses off of Mir, shaking his head in amusement since the man was constantly forgetting to take them off before resting. When he snuck out of the room, he took a deep breath, relaxing as the cold shook his body awake and aware as he began to wander the palace. He narrowly avoided being seen by Eddie, who was carrying some of his mother’s paperwork to her office, which sprung an idea in his head. He began following the man, having near misses where he would almost be seen, but the curiosity got the better of him as he tried getting a better look at what he was carrying.

He couldn’t get close enough to spot what the papers were before he heard someone else’s running footsteps from behind, and he turned around, squinting in the darkness to try and make out who it was. The sound was familiar enough, especially when the person seemingly yelled in surprise, and his eyes widened when he realized it was Mir, internally scolding himself for not being careful enough and accidentally waking him up. He didn’t have much time to open his mouth and explain before he heard the whooshing sound of a portal being open, especially when a small knife came down and stabbed through his shirt, pinning him to the ground.

“Wait! Wait, it's just me!” He called out, holding his hands up as if to surrender as he let out a sigh of relief when he felt the blade let go of his clothes, allowing him to stand up. It wasn’t even a second before he felt Mir grab him in a hug, even picking him up slightly from the sheer strength he was using, trying to show how sorry he was for mistaking his own boyfriend for an intruder.

“In my defense, your eyes are so spooky in the dark.. But what were you doing awake? Did I do something? Was it anyone else? You could’ve just woken me up if you were going to wander off-” Before Mir could finish his rambling, Lyner quieted him down with a soft kiss, leaving him blushing and slightly flustered. He grabbed his hand and started leading him back to his room, silently praying that Eddie hadn’t heard them, but knew better than to assume they were entirely going to go consequence free for sneaking out late.

“I just wanted to get some air, I’m fine. But now that we’re both here, let's get some rest together.” His smile may have shown off the razor sharp teeth that the voxelle were known for, but it warmed Mir to the core as he slipped under the blankets for the second time that night, especially when he saw his boyfriend joining him. Hand in hand, they both started to drift into that blissful darkness that was sleep, holding each other close as their worries were pushed to the backs of their minds.

 

Far from the resting couple, lightyears away, Nyx was staring out the large windows of his ship’s viewing deck into the void of space. His eyes rested on the little area of the universe where his planet, his people, once lived in before that disgusting queen decided that their lives were worthless. He ignored the tears threatening to spill as he took a deep gulp from a goblet filled with whatever fancy alcohol he had randomly picked out in his haze, burning his throat as it went down. Before he could turn to leave, the door to the deck opened, and a familiar face poked through the frame, carrying a tray of some food he couldn’t name.

“Hey! I brought dinner, it's something from my planet, I’m sure you’ll love it.” Wiatt walked in without even asking permission, sitting on the floor next to Nyx as he offered him the meal. A plant filled with something he couldn’t exactly remember, but it didn’t matter much to him as he snatched it out of his partner’s hand and bit into it. The silence was comfortable as they both indulged themselves, staring out at the sea of stars in front of them.

“So, do you really have to kill the kid? It’s not like its his fault..” The man looked at Nyx, he may have agreed to come along, but the thought of killing a kid was a bit out of his comfort zone. He gnawed on his meal as he waited for some response, a justification maybe, or a secret confession that he didn’t want to do it. Instead, all he got was..

“Yes.”

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