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Rolan lets out the biggest sigh that he has in a while. The warm bath water makes the rest of the world seem cold. Rolan closes his eyes and leans back onto Kian, clicking. Kian lets out a little huff of laughter as she pats the top of Rolan’s head.
Rolan’s skin is uncomfortable. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s really inconvenient when it does: he’s shedding. Usually, the dry skin would peel right off, but this time, it’s stuck to his new skin. He’s tried peeling it off, and he’s tried rubbing it against the walls and various other things, like trees or the carpet (Rand laughed at him when it saw Rolan rolling around on the floor and then initiated a cuddle pile). So now Rolan is in the bath, carefully scrubbing off dry skin with a washcloth.
Kian is also there. Rolan asked him to get his back, since, despite his longer-than-average arms, he cannot reach it. Rand is busy planning their next DnD session, and Kian was free, so now he’s scrubbing off Rolan’s skin with him.
“Crunchy,” Kian says.
“Crunchy?” Rolan makes a face and then scowls. “Ew.”
“Well, how else would you describe it, babes?” Kian carefully pours some water down Rolan’s back. “It’s crunchy.”
“No, not crunchy, crunchy is for… food,” Rolan says, sighing fondly.
“Well, what is it, then?”
“I don’t know, dry? Dead?” Rolan shrugs, then continues to work at the dead exoskeleton on his bug arm.
Kian lifts a piece of Rolan’s dead skin off his back, then pulls.
Rolan yelps. “Careful!”
“Sorry, dude! Thought that would work!”
Rolan huffs. “Use soap.”
“Okay, okay, dude,” Kian pats Rolan’s shoulder, then grabs a bar of soap.
“Not the one I’m allergic to,” Rolan says.
“I know.”
Rolan continues working at his skin, dunking his arm in the water every so often to get the rest of it off. He starts to work on his other, human, arm, working at the hand first. He peels some dry skin off of his palm, then uses the space left to peel it off of his fingers. He dunks his hand in the bathwater to soften the skin, making it easier to take off. The skin also loosens, some of it slipping off. Kian rubs Rolan’s back with soap, working it into his shoulders and upper back. Rolan lets out a long sigh and a series of clicks, closing his eyes. Kian laughs slightly, then scrubs some of the dead skin off.
“It’s not my fault that back rubs feel nice,” Rolan mumbles.
“Wasn’t saying it was, dude,” Kian chuckles. She starts on Rolan’s shoulders.
Rolan scrubs his upper arm now, trying to pour water on it. Nothing happens, and Rolan, confused, looks down.
“Oh.”
He’d forgotten that he has a bug arm.
Kian is surely smiling his goofy smile as she says, “Oh?”
Rolan holds up his arm. “I can’t put water on my shoulder.”
“Oh.”
When Rolan thinks Kian is about to help him, he feels a wave of water hit his back, neck, and head. Rolan freezes, tensing up everything.
“Kian!”
Kian laughs, finally helping him.
“Thank you.” Rolan huffs, pretending to be upset that Kian did that.
But how can he be upset when Kian was laughing like that? She sounds so happy, so pure, and even though he’s behind Rolan, he can picture his smile perfectly. And it’s the best thing he’s ever heard. Apart from Rand’s laugh. They’re equal. Even though Rolan gets drowsy whenever Rand smokes, and even though Rolan’s antennae can’t handle the vibrations Kian’s loud guitar makes sometimes. Rolan loves them both more than anything else in the world.
Rolan smiles as he scrubs his upper arm. Kian starts to scrub Rolan’s neck, and Rolan jumps a bit, then melts into the touch. Rolan’s chest is easier to do. He scoops up some water with his human hand, then brings it up to his collarbone and drops it on his front. He uses his bug arm to gently cut the dead skin, then peels it off.
“Your skin is soft,” Kian mumbles into Rolan’s ear, pressing a kiss behind it.
Rolan’s antenna twitches, and he blushes. “That’s because it’s new. It’ll get like the old stuff after a month or two.”
“Hm.” Kian runs a hand through Rolan’s hair, making sure to avoid the antennae.
Rolan leans back and dunks his head underwater, combing through his hair. He comes back up and realizes his face is still covered in dry skin.
“I found a word that could describe this stuff better,” Kian says, smirking.
Rolan turns around to face her and rolls his eyes. “What?”
Kian snickers. “Crispy, dude.”
“Ew! That’s worse!” Rolan gags.
“No it’s not! Look, man, you’re crispy!”
Rolan sticks his tongue out. Kian laughs, then leans forward and grabs Rolan’s face.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Rolan asks, scowling.
“You still have crispy skin on your face.” Kian rubs the dry skin off of Rolan’s cheeks with his thumbs.
Rolan blushes, then looks away.
“All better?” Kian asks.
“Yeah.” Rolan nods.
Rolan pats himself down with a towel after their bath, smiling at the softness of his new skin. He then grabs the pile of clean clothes he set out for himself. Rolan sighs with content when he feels the clean cotton hit his skin, and smiles wider when he puts on his shirt. He looks over at his girlfriend, then realizes that Kian forgot his clothes.
“I’ll just grab them later. Our room is just down the hall,” Kian says, smiling and shrugging off the problem.
Rolan shrugs, then follows her out. Kian dashes down the hallway, bursting into their bedroom. Rand looks up, mouth open with a greeting on his lips.
“Woah!” Rand shuts its eyes and covers them. “Get some clothes on, man!”
“Stop being dramatic, babes!” Kian snickers. “You’ve seen it all already!”
Rand blushes. “Shut up! I wasn’t ready for it!”
Rolan laughs slightly as he watches the playful argument in front of him. Eventually, Rand uncovers its eyes and looks back down at its DnD notes. Rolan sits beside him, making sure not to look over its shoulder at its notebook.
“At least you put on clothes, man,” Rand mutters, scribbling something out violently.
“I have clothes on now,” Kian says, “what are you talking about?”
Rand rolls its eyes and smiles, not looking up from his notes as it beckons Kian over.
“C’mere, man. Kiss.” Rand looks up as Kian crawls onto the bed. “Hey!”
Kian snickers. “What?”
“That’s my shirt!”
“My drawer was too far away,” Kian explains.
“Your drawer is
a foot away
from mine!”
Kian smashes her lips against Rand’s before he can let out that exasperated sigh that it always does. Rolan fiddles with his fingers, looking around the room.
Rand is bright red when he breaks away. Kian smirks at Rolan.
“Come here,” she says. “Kiss time.”
Rolan blushes and smiles as he leans in. Kian grabs his cheeks and presses their lips together, then breaks away smiling and blushing herself.
“My turn, I wanna kiss the bug,” Rand says, leaning forward.
Rolan rolls his eyes, but still leans in and pecks Rand on the lips. Rand smiles afterwards, then goes back to its notes. Kian turns the light off.
“Hey! I’m using that!” Rand whisper-yells.
“No you’re not, you’re cuddling with us,” Kian says, yawning. He grabs Rolan by the waist and pulls him under the covers, then beckons Rand over as well.
Rand sighs. “Fine, I guess…”
It crawls under the blankets and nuzzles into Rolan’s neck. Rolan, between the two of them, begins to click softly as they settle. The blankets are soft and warm, and Rolan sighs with content at the feeling of Rand's warm body and Kian’s cold hands. Their legs end up tangled together, and Rand’s face gets smushed a bit as Rolan moves around. Rand whispers a complaint about Kian’s hands being cold, and Kian begins to snore. But Rolan wouldn’t have it any other way.
He’s relishing in the feeling of comfortable sheets, a partner on either side of him, and new, soft skin. Rolan clicks softly, and Rand whispers, “Not you, too,” quietly as they all fall asleep.