Chapter Text
Caelus was apparently an interesting creature. At least that’s what everyone told him! Especially Mr. Yang when Caelus was being particularly whimsy. Like when he dumpster dived for random knicknacks. Which wasn’t his fault by the way, people throw away cool stuff all the time!
But still Caelus considers himself a good person, if a little odd. Well, at least he tries to be good. That counts for something, right? Well, he hopes so. And…it's been working so far right? Plus, most people couldn’t say they were gazed upon by five Aeons.
Which by the way, still felt crazy. Like why was he gazed upon by Nanook, Qlipoth, Xipe, Fuli, and Aha? Seriously? Is he that important? If he was that important, he doesn’t remember. Not really. Maybe because he can’t remember. Maybe because he just doesn’t realize it yet.
Moving on before he has the existential crisis of a lifetime.
The Express wasn’t what he expected. Not at first. He could still remember his exact thoughts when he first boarded. He thought that they were a group of super cool people that were super serious and saved worlds all the time.
And don’t get him wrong, they’ve saved plenty of worlds and civilizations—Jarilo-VI, Xianzhou Luofu, Penacony, Amphoreus, and probably Planarcadia. He was still trying to figure out what counted as saving a planet. But…nobody on the Express was super cool and super serious.
Pom-Pom was basically the boss everyone loved because they were always sweet and funny and made sure to take care of everyone.
Himeko was essentially a mom who made radioactive coffee and would absolutely glare at you to clean your room.
Welt was a quiet nerd who loved games too and would listen to anyone talk for ages.
Dan Heng was also a quiet nerd who looked like he’d kill someone but was in reality a sensitive little guy.
March 7th was…well…March 7th. She really was just your average girl who loved rom-coms and hoarded plushies.
The only person who could even remotely be considered super cool and super serious was Sunday. And that was because he was traumatized into being super cool and super serious. As time had gone on, Caelus realized that Sunday was not in fact a Super Cool Guy™ but instead a boy trying to figure out how to love an imperfect version of himself.
And Caelus didn’t consider himself cool either. He was a guy who lost all his memories and decided to start helping people. Maybe some people considered it cool, but for him? It was just…what he was supposed to do. Nothing more, nothing less.
Oh!
And he’s dating three people at once.
Like a love square.
Yeah.
A love square!
That part always threw people off guard. People weren’t surprised by Caelus, Dan Heng, and March being in a relationship, but Sunday’s addition was what threw people off. Mostly because the whole “galactic felon is actually a softie for his three quarters” caught people off guard. And Caelus did get it, but Sunday did not act like a galactic felon. Especially when compared to someone like Boothill.
But he still loved them all with every cell in his body.
Which meant all of them were super close in all different kinds of ways, but Caelus especially had his own way of bonding with everyone in their little love polycule.
Sunday was the one Caelus could dryly joke with yet also have incredibly deep talks with. One time they talked about if Aeons ever got lonely, and both agreed all of them probably did. Except Aha. Cause Aha was fucking weird.
Dan Heng was the one Caelus could just…exist in silence with. And the one he could learn stuff from, or the person he went to when he just needed background noise in his head. Mostly because Dan Heng was always open to just prattle on about his interests even if no one understood him. It was like him being listened to was more important than being understood.
And March was…the one who matched him in energy and shenanigans. No one could leave the both of them alone for more than five seconds because when that happened things like the couch being entrapped in a mix of Six-Phased ice yet simultaneously burning happened. Which definitely did not make Pom-Pom very happy.
Poor Pom-Pom.
Anyway, but yeah. He loved his partners and they loved him. At least he hoped they loved him as much as he loved them. Mostly because being without them made Caelus feel like he would die. And people could very much testify to that. He remembered one time Ashveil complained to Welt that Caelus “constantly whined for his lovers.” Which, uh, rude. But…not entirely wrong.
He couldn’t help it! He loved his partners. What made it really sucky when they couldn’t spend a whole lot of time together because of course the Nameless were being stretched in like a million different directions at once. And being unable to spend time with his partners all together and all at once made him very pouty and whiny.
And Planarcadia made this very much worse. After he and Sunday became Supplicants and then dealing with fuck ass Fulwish, all he wanted to was have some quiet alone time with his partners. But of course, Sunday was usually with Yao Guang, Caelus himself was usually with Ashveil and Sparxie, Dan Heng was with Mr. Yang, and March was on the Express with Pom-Pom. Nobody could see each other for very long unless it was debriefing a new shit-show. And even then, everyone was too tired to genuinely spend time together.
At least until the day right after Fulwish.
All four of them had thankfully managed to get into a little cuddle pile in the hours after because Dan Heng, Sunday, and Caelus were all fucking exhausted after dealing with Fulwish. And they slept for like…eight hours like that. It was probably the first time in a while they had all been together at once. Which was a blessing, because Caelus had missed them all, a lot.
Which eventually led to this. All of them playing some board game, because they don’t know what else to do but everyone collectively agreed to not go outside.
“...Why the hell were you the first one to get Boardwalk??” Caelus huffed, staring down at Dan Heng’s piece, which was the dog, planted firmly on the square.
“...I dunno. But I’m gonna buy it,” Dan Heng mumbled, grabbing the money from his pile and handing it to Sunday, who everyone—except Sunday himself—unanimously decided to make the Banker before they even started the game.
“Why do you always get the good stuff first!” March huffed, staring at her piece—the penguin—that was currently stuck in jail.
“Why do you keep pulling the cards that put you in jail?” Sunday dryly remarked in response, a grin on his face as he did so. Even though Sunday’s piece—the hat—had barely gotten his first hotel in the whole game so far.
“Everyone is losing and I’m winning,” Caelus grinned, as if he hadn’t just paid Dan Heng rent for landing on his property.
“No.” Everyone dryly retorted in sync, staring at Caelus who then made the poutiest pout he could muster up.
“Oh fuck you all” Caelus huffed.
Then very quickly regretted his words.
Because Dan Heng mumbled under his breath, “I thought you liked it the other way around.” Which made everyone else at the table start laughing.
“I hate you all so much.” Caelus huffed again, staring at his piece—the car—still on Dan Heng’s square.
March grinned, “Liar!~” As she took the dice to start her turn.
The game went on for what felt like ages. Because it did. The game took basically the entire day, which wasn’t that bad in Caelus’ eyes. But that might be because he’s a chronically online gamer when they’re not saving worlds every other day. Doing said saving always gets in the way of his daily login streaks. Not that he minds, but sheesh, can’t a guy get his game rewards?
Anyway. The game lasted fucking hours. They would eat every so often and sometimes Mr. Yang or Himeko watched, but they played.
And near the end of the game, everyone was in that state where they wanted to end it so badly but were way too stubborn to cut it short halfway through. What made it even worse was that Dan Heng had clearly started to nod off near the tail end of the game. If the way his head kept leaning on Caelus’ shoulder before correcting himself, or the way Dan Heng’s eyes kept slowly closing then snapping open again, said anything at all.
At some point, March looked up from the board and noticed Dan Heng nodding off again.
“You falling asleep, Dragon Boy?” She asked with a chuckle, because clearly, she found Dan Heng’s sleepy state one of the most adorable things ever. Which Caelus found it hard to disagree with anyways.
It had been a solid eight hours. Yes. Eight hours. When the game finally ended. And in the end somehow March won. Nobody knew how. Caelus wasn’t paying attention enough and was too tired to really think about it.
What made it funnier was that as soon as March started cleaning up the game, Sunday looked up and noticed Dan Heng completely knocked out against Caelus.
“...I believe your ‘Dragon Boy’ has fallen asleep.” Sunday quietly remarked with a grin, moving to help March clean up.
While Caelus was stuck with Dan Heng leaning against him completely asleep. Which, how did he never notice that Dan Heng only looked truly relaxed when he was sleeping? It made Caelus a little sad. But, maybe that was a conversation for when Dan Heng was awake.
“...Where should I move him?” Caelus whispered, looking up at the other two.
“...Maybe the Archives.” Sunday shrugged, which immediately made March gasp.
“Archives sleepover?” March whispered, a smile as bright as the sun plastered on her face.
And Caelus wanted to say no, he really did. He wanted Dan Heng to get some good rest. But also he wouldn’t mind another cuddle session. And Sunday agreed, not verbally, but Caelus could clearly see the way his eyes brightened at March’s suggestion.
“...Fine.” Caelus huffed, which earned a quiet celebration from March and a clearly thankful look from Sunday.
He moved Dan Heng into a bridal hold, making sure he was still comfortable as Caelus moved him. And not even a minute later, Caelus looked up to see the board game already tucked away and Sunday and March quietly talking to each other about some new book March was recommending Sunday.
With a small shrug, Caelus started on his way to the Archives, the other pair following close behind him.
By the time they reached the Archvices, Caelus’ arms were starting to hurt a little. Because despite the fact that Dan Heng was about the same size as Caelus, Dan Heng had so much more muscle than Caelus. It confused him so bad sometimes.
Nonetheless, Caelus got Dan Heng comfortable on the floor, and almost immediately, March flopped beside Dan Heng with a small huff. And Caelus did so right after because man, he was tired too. Somehow.
Sunday clearly paused for a little, hesitation briefly flickering on his slightly red face. But before Caelus could start gently coaxing him, Sunday quickly removed Dan Heng’s shoes before moving to get comfortable between everyone.
“...Remove your shoes, I do not want to get his…makeshift bed dirty.” Sunday whispered, giving Caelus and March a sharp look. Well, it was supposed to be sharp. But to Caelus, it just looked like a quiet ‘please.’
“Fine, fine. Always so considerate, Sunny” March groaned, removing her heels. Caelus followed suit. Mostly because he would feel bad if he made Sunday sad.
Sunday huffed, “It is not ‘considerate’ to try and not dirty someone else’s space, it is basic decency.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Sunny” Caelus chimed in with a grin, but all that earned him was a mouthful of feathers as Sunday smacked him with one of his head wings.
“Hush, feather brain.” Sunday smirked, adjusting to get himself more comfortable on the bed. Mostly because for all the comforts they had on the Express…the four of them often ended up on floors because most beds didn’t fit them all at once.
They settled into soft silence again, Sunday and March slowly nodding off. Except Caelus didn’t. Mostly because he was thinking. And thinking was a dangerous thing to do for him.
He didn’t really…understand how he got here. How he went from a vessel for a thing that could destroy worlds to being a guy who had a mini harem and saved worlds before breakfast. It boggled his mind sometimes. Yet despite that…
He couldn’t help but not care about how he got to this point.
Because here, surrounded by the soft breathing and love of his partners. He felt less like a vessel and more of a person.
Maybe he wasn’t a person. He wasn’t sure. But if he wasn’t, he sure as hell felt like one. Because Svarog didn’t feel things like this, Caelus was sure the big robot didn’t feel love or affection like he did. Caelus was sure the robot didn’t cry when it found out it couldn’t go back home to Rivet Town.
“I can hear you thinking from here.” Sunday mumbled sleepily, derailing Caelus’ line of thought.
All Caelus could do was quietly laugh, moving to wrap one arm around Sunday, as the other one was pinned under Dan Heng already.
“Fine, I’ll get some sleep,” Caelus softly smiled, moving to squeeze Sunday a little.
All Sunday did in response was smile, still not opening his eyes, “Good, I would hate for you to revive once more with no energy left in your system.”
And as Caelus’ eyes started shutting, it felt like he wasn’t a vessel at all.
Maybe…maybe a guy learning how to live was a more accurate term.
Yeah…
That sounded a little better.