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Twice a week Karkat would wake up surrounded on all sides by pure cold.
He didn't mind, not at all – especially not when the rising equinox heat and his own body temperature were working in close cahoots to utterly bake him alive. Waking up between two soft, cool seadwellers was something akin to a treat.
Outside, chirping insects signalled the coming of dusk and thus the time when he should rightfully be waking up. But the siren's call of his sleeping platform and the two purring trolls that had officially sandwiched him was far too much for him to resist and he rolled over, nuzzling into one soft chest. Its owner shifted to wrap an arm around him and he knew at that moment that both of them were awake, having waited for him to wake up.
“Didn’t get here very long ago, then,” He mumbled, still half-asleep.
Both of them share a look over his head (he’s admittedly short, but he’s also curled up, dammit) and chuckle softly.
“About an hour ago,” One murmurs, a wavy sort of quality to his regal voice. Feferi and Eridan move closer to him in tandem and he realizes they’re both just as naked as he’d been when he fell asleep. He wasn’t sure if this was to mimic his state of dress or to simply cool him off faster, but either way, it’s much appreciated. Karkat mushes his face into Feferi’s breasts with a muffled groan at the feeling of her cool skin against his face and neck. His fingers bury themselves in the ruffles of her fancy-ass gills that make his own underdeveloped ones clap shut in jealousy.
“What about me, huh,” Eridan mumbles, and Karkat snorts quietly. Feferi’s giggles bubble up from her chest and he’ll never get over how he can feel them when he leans his head against her skin.
“Fussyfins.” Feferi murmurs, reaching out to pap him softly. It’s too early in the evening for him to be properly grumpy and so he accepts the gentle pap, leaning into her skin with nothing more than a low grumble.
Karkat watches them with a sleep-hazed expression but something warm blossoms in his chest. It’s peaceful; for once. Things are as they should be. They’re his mates; they both share his heart and treat it as delicately as they would a glass sculpture. In return, he soothes their bumpy black-pale leanings. They’re moirails, of their own sort, with the occasional flip. It’s Karkat’s job to sort them out and he gladly does so, in a rather...unconventional sense.
But then again, when had anything about the three of them been conventional.
Eridan took Feferi’s hand and kissed it softly, making her blush. Her fins fluttered and Karkat looked up at them with something akin to wonder in his newly-reddened eyes. He reached up, playing with them, and Feferi caught his hand. She smiled sweetly at him.
“Careful,” She said with a playful wink. “You don’t wanna start somefin, do you?”
“Maybe I do,” Karkat murmured, but his voice was still far too dozy to be taken seriously.
Eridan and Feferi laughed softly and he reveled in the differences; Eridan’s voice was low and gravelly, made for sharp commands and hissing insults. Feferi’s was sweet and bouncy, and if Karkat could describe it he’d almost say it wasn’t so much bubbly as it was in and of itself a bubble. They were so dissimilar, and yet, Karkat loved them both the same.
He would blissfully wake up to marvel at them every morning, if he could; the moonlight streaming in through his window, casting an iridescent glow on the both of them. Their soft, tender smiles cast in his direction, the warmth and gentle haze of the air around him as if the world itself wanted to lull him back to sleep, surrounded by the soft touch of his lovers, their beautiful forms encompassing his.
But alas, Orphaning and being an Empress were both very difficult jobs that demanded much of his mates’ time and he didn’t fault them for it. It only made these stolen moments all the sweeter.
Karkat yawned. Eridan leaned in and pressed soft, cool lips against his pulse that made him chirp quietly and press back against the seadweller. Eridan gently soothed his want with a soft pap to the cheek, his hand lingering for a moment to stroke Karkat’s small, filmy fins.
“Hush, love.” He whispered, quiet and warm as the summer air. “Not yet.”
“Soon,” Feferi added, her voice full of soothing promise as she glided her hands along Karkat’s hips.
Karkat gave a quiet, annoyed little chirr that was too tired to be of any threat whatsoever. He curled up between them. “It’s not fair,” He mumbled. “Waking me up and riling me just to send me back to fucking sleep. You’re dicks.”
Feferi laughed, high and sweet, and Eridan chuckled. “You’ll love us later.” She said, and Eridan nodded against the crook of Karkat’s neck.
“Promise?” He asked, tongue thick with sleep and heat.
They both nodded.
“Promise,” Eridan repeated.
Karkat nodded his approval and closed his eyes.