TW: Drabble, Lalna-centric 

Title: ~Good Things Come In Threes~

Lalna wakes up sandwiched between Xephos and Honeydew. Xephos' face is pressed against his neck, and Honeydew is curled around his side with an arm draped across his stomach.

He lies awake in the pre-dawn light, listening to Honeydew's snoring, feeling the puffs of air against his neck as Xephos exhales, and contemplating how it's possible that he feels so comfortable.

Xephos considers them a family. He says it isn't weird at all on his planet. Of the three of them, he is the most comfortable with displays of affection. He comes from a culture where touch is given freely—except for certain gestures, like bathing and sleeping, which are reserved for family.

Honeydew considers them a family. He says that in Dwarven culture, everyone in a clan eats and sleeps together. Their close ties keep their history and the essence of whom they are alive. There is a huge divide between the way they treat family and the way they treat outsiders.

As far as Lalna can tell, he is the only one with anxieties about it.

It isn't normal for him. He grew up in a culture that told him that a relationship between more than two people is impossible; that three people can never be as close as two.

Xephos and Honeydew had been together long before he had ever shown up. They welcomed him into their family with open arms, but he still worries that they don't really need him to be happy. That they would be just as happy—or happier—as just the two of them.

He sees the glances they share, the gentle touches and kisses... and he worries.

But then those same glances are directed at him. The light touches on his shoulders and arms so he knows they are with him, the kisses on his cheeks when he's least expecting them, the hands pulling off his goggles after a long day of work...

He tells them his fears, and instead of laughing or telling him he's right, they show him that he's wrong. They invited him into their family not out of pity, but because this is where he belongs.

Lalna turns his head to kiss the top of Xephos' head, and wraps his arm around Honeydew.

He loves them both, and he knows they love him too.

They are his family.

~

TW: Agender character, hate make-outs

Title: ~You Build A Fine Shrine In Me~

It was all a game. This seemingly never ending game of push and pull that seems to have been gone back for lifetimes. There was always a god to imprison the monsters, isn't there? The monster who laid waste to the god's domain and like great Zeus who trapped the Titans in Tartarus, so did Kirin trap Lying in their own well.

Does Lying harbor ill feelings? Perish the thought, they would say with a smile full of needle teeth. Perish the idea that they would even consider such a petty thought such as revenge. Revenge was for lesser beings like the players in this game of life, Lying was above such things.

Lying sat pretty in a chair, watching Kirin scamper this way and that like some high powered magical bee. The mere sight of him zipping through rooms at such a high speed was enough to give Lying a headache. They rolled their eyes and audibly scoffed.

Kirin stopped in his tracks, holding some jar full of some liquid, looking a tad offended. "Oh, now what am I doing wrong this time?" He questioned, a little annoyed.

Lying smiled. "Oh, nothing nothing... It's just watching you has given me such a headache. How are you so perfectly fine with moving so fast? Honestly, I can understand a second tier haste effect but you must be on the fourth tier with how fast you go." Lying scoffed again. "Honestly, it's maddening to watch."

"Well," Kirin said as he placed the jar down, an easy smile gracing their face, "you don't have to be here. I didn't even call you out here, you showed up randomly and decided to sit there and judge me." The smile was still on his face. Lying wanted to scratch it off.

"Someone has to keep an eye on you. Su isn't here, she's off somewhere who knows where." Lying flapped a hand out in the air. "Since she's not here, I am here to see to it you're a little more..." They eyed the crystalline antlers on Kirin's head. ".... together."

At the mention of Su, Kirin visibly deflated a little, looking as though he shrunk in size just a tad before puffing back up with a stern, cold stare on his face. Lying resisted grinning. Oh, they knew where Su was and Kirin was none the wiser. Lying stood up and reached up to place a comforting hand on Kirin's shoulder.

"Oh, dear dear Dave." Lying said, lightly trailing a clawed finger over Kirin's jugular. "I'm sure she will be back. For now, I am here." They smiled, teeth perfect and human. "It could be like the good old days..."

Kirin scoffed. "Good old days? When we pranked each other to no end?"

"Well... I don't exactly mean those old days..." Lying looked up into Kirin's eye. Blue met blue and for a second Lying felt the blood drip down their cheek. With a flex of their fingers, the blood righted itself again. Kirin noticed, eyes flicking over Lying's face.

There it was again. That easy, warm smile that graced Kirin's face almost constantly. All good humor and friendly openness even with the third eye and the ashen grey staining his face. Lying forced on a smile, too many teeth that were too sharp, then stepped away.

It was frustrating at times how small they felt next to Kirin, the monstrous beast. Easily a whole foot taller and if Kirin willed it, perhaps some extra inches. Such a mistreatment of his mortal shell, no wonder it's cracking. Lying brushed a hand through their own blond hair, silky to the touch. Kirin reached out and carefully twirled a lock of hair around his finger.

Lying bared their teeth. "What. Are you doing, Dave?" They asked with a hiss.

"Oh, nothing." Kirin teased, that horrid smile on his face. "Just wondering how you keep your hair so nice." With a swift tug, he yanked out a small lock of hair, not enough to cause damage but definitely enough to sting.

Lying jumped back, hissing and tucking their hair away and glaring at Kirin. Kirin said nothing but examine the hair in his hand. Silky, platinum blonde turned wiry and tinged a sickly green. Kirin looked down at Lying, still smiling.

"Impressive." Was all he said.

Lying seethed.

They wanted to tear apart that mortal shell that was already cracking, see how Kirin liked it when someone exposed every awful, terrible thing that was hiding behind that human mask. That human mask Kirindave was trying so hard to keep up even with three eyes and horns bursting from his head, even with cracks in the shell emitting bright blue white, even with the sudden changes in size. How dare he mock Lying, how dare he pick them apart.

How dare he still exist.

Lying grabbed the front of Kirin robes and pulled him down to their level, glaring with teeth bared. "You are the worst thing that happened to me." They hissed between clenched teeth before crashing Kirin's mouth down on their own.

They felt Kirin chuckle against their lips and seethed more, sinking needle teeth into the flesh of his bottom lip. Kirin groaned, deep in his chest and Lying felt such satisfaction. Kirin grasped Lying's slim shoulders gently and slowly reciprocated the kiss, taking his time and deepening it.

Lying pulled away, breathing heavily and wiping the blood from their mouth roughly. Kirin stood up straight, blood on his gently smiling lips. He carefully brought a hand up and entangled his fingers in Lying's hair, effectively cradling the back of their skull, and tilting it back to look them straight in the eye.

"If I'm the worst thing that has ever happened to you... Why do you keep coming back?" He asked.

Lying stared wide eyed. Then glared, clenching their fists in Kirin's robes. "Shut up and kiss me again." They hissed.

Kirin dipped his head down and kissed Lying without saying a word, gently and carefully. Lying bit his lip again.