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At first he was annoyed at the situation. He would leave his house in the morning, come back mid day to do some small task and his bed would be gone. He wasn’t even sentimental about his bed, but it was frustrating to always have them go missing. It was more that lacking a bed left him guessing where he was going to respawn after leaving the End, or in the unlikely case of his death. Taking a man’s bed was also just rude.
He was fairly certain he knew who it was who was taking them early on, but by the time he had addressed it with Pili and it was confirmed he didn’t care anymore. Plus, it was better to put off having a confrontation, and he didn’t exactly want to hear about the ‘whys’ behind their actions. It just wasn’t something he was interested in wasting time on. So when the information had been mentioned to him he accepted it with a roll of his eyes and moved on.
It wasn’t exactly a hardship, since most of the time he had another bed waiting for him when he went back at the end of the night. It was always a different color too, so it wasn’t like it was Pili bringing back the same bed, of course he could have assumed Pili was changing them out on purpose. He was always too tired to question it, and just accepted that maybe he was going crazy, or that someone was trying to make him feel crazy. Either way it was just a bed, and he didn’t think it was all that important. Especially, when Lukey came over.
Pangi had never invited him explicitly, he just showed up sometimes. Lukey kept later hours than he did, and mostly spent it in the lab. Every so often though, he would slip into his house, dragging his feet, strip down out of his armor, and fall into bed. Of course, Pangi always woke up the moment his door opened, so it was never a surprise. Lukey had never just been there when he woke up. And it wasn’t like it was a problem, in fact he liked it. Having company was nice. Both of them were always too tired to do anything more than sleep, but somehow he slept better when Lukey’s head was on his shoulder.
When Lukey slept over he always did him the favor of leaving his house quietly and letting him sleep in. They would meet up somewhere else later on, and this way no one ever saw them leaving his house together. They had never talked about it either except for the first time it happened, now it was just a regular occurance.
The first time Lukey had walked into his house in the middle of the night, he had grabbed his axe thinking it was someone coming to kill him. There had been no time to get his gear or supplies, he didn’t even have his apples on him. When he finally calmed down enough to realize who he was looking at he had been about to take Lukey’s head off his shoulders. “Lukey?” He hissed. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Thought I’d come crash.” Pangi noticed the dark circles under his eyes, and that Lukey was swaying on his feet. “Spent the day doing research, and Bad’s been making me grind until just a moment ago. I don’t think I can make it back to the lab.”
“So you thought you could just ‘crash’ here without asking me?” Pangi demanded, finally lowering the axe.
“Please?” Pangi had to hold him back from immediately giving in to that. “I can sleep on the floor if needed, I just didn’t want to be outside.”
Pangi considered making him go sleep in the Cathedral just on principle, but he couldn’t deny the opportunity was tempting. It wasn’t every day the guy you planned to marry for tax benefits showed up at your door asking, no begging, to sleep with you. He had to admit it was doing a lot for his ego at the moment. “Yea fine. But if you’re going to sleep in my bed, then take off your armor at least.”
“I can sleep in the bed?” Lukey’s half open eyes were full of gratitude. “Wait, that's so kind of you.”
“Of course, what kind of guy would I be if I made you sleep on the floor?” His grin was lost on Lukey who immediately began taking off his armor, letting it drop on the floor in the middle of the room.
Pangi had thought that watching Lukey strip for him would at least be a little bit sexy, but this was a clumsy half asleep attempt to get undressed as quickly as possible. Definitely not sexy. Still, he lifted the covers for Lukey to slip under and when they settled down, Lukey was out in a moment. He stayed up for at least an hour listening to the sound of his bedmate’s breathing, sensitive to every shift. Eventually, he fell asleep and when he did Lukey had very much been on one side of the bed, and he had been on the other.
When he woke up, however, Lukey had been wrapped around him. It was still early enough that it was foggy and grey outside, maybe it had even been raining, that part he couldn’t remember. What stood out in his mind was how lovely and warm Lukey had been. He had wondered in that first morning what it would be like to wake up like that every day. Would there be days when it was pouring rain outside that he would feel inclined to lay in bed with Lukey until they decided they had to actually be productive with their day? Would Lukey always cling to him? Would it ever lead to more?
His face had flushed at the thought. That morning he started what would become his post-Lukey routine. He would carefully extract himself from Lukey’s grasp, quietly sneak upstairs to put on his gear and get everything he would need for the day sorted, and then he would fly out the window. Simple, clean, and no awkward mornings.
Sharing a bed didn’t go any further than sleep in all the times that it had happened either. They still hadn’t done more than share a few quick kisses, and their dates had stalled. But Lukey still came to him every few nights. Sometimes he wondered if Lukey purposefully found reasons to show up, and it wasn’t as much of a coincidence as it was the first time. But if that was the case he wondered why it didn’t happen more often. Part of him wanted to ask it to be a nightly thing, but he was held back by everything that was also keeping him from proposing. There was always something going wrong, or some new issue between them.
Usually that issue was Pili. And he had been making more and more trouble recently, specifically about Lukey. Bad was still trying to kill him, and Pangi knew it was because of Pili. Even when Pili tried to pretend he had been joking he knew it was a lie. Still, Pili was useful, but he was less inclined to give Pili the one-on-one time he craved these days, which meant taking Lukey along with him. Lukey was usually game for it, and enjoyed making Pili annoyed with his presence.
The slime farm ended up becoming their only neutral ground they had. Pangi was too nervous taking Lukey into Pili’s base after hearing about the incident with Zam, who knew who else Pili had gotten their claws into. Bad and Zam were two of the strongest in the realm, and he would be lucky if he got away from them, Lukey had no shot. So he demanded meetings be above ground at the farm.
Pili was yapping away, switching between lavishing praise and attention on him and tearing down Lukey, looking for an issue to wedge between them.
“Oh and what were you doing in Pangi’s house a few days ago? I saw you going inside.” Pili snapped.
“In the afternoon?” Lukey asked, seeming confused.
Pili narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know. When else do you leave Pangi’s house?”
Lukey burst into giggles. Pangi sent him a private message to shut up, and not catch Pili’s attention, but it was too late.
“Oh my god, are you like one of those people who secretly live in other people’s houses? You freak!” Pili shouted. It was kind of a ridiculous accusation, and it wasn’t at all where he assumed Pili was going to take that.
“What? No. And I had probably been using the crafting table or getting something out of the chests.” Lukey shrugged. “Why were you there?”
Pili stiffened. “I was collecting something.”
“Oh what? Pangi’s bed.” Lukey snorted.
“Pili, you did admit to me that it was you who was taking them.” Pangi leveled a hard stare at the cat, daring him to lie about it.
“And what? I’m a collector.” Lukey burst into giggles again. “What? You think it’s funny?” Pili growled.
“I do.” Lukey grinned. “Because I’ve been the one replacing the beds. When you saw me that afternoon I had gone in to replace the bed, and then take a little nap.”
“What the fuck?” Pili shouted. “You mean I’ve been collecting Lukey beds this whole time?”
“Most of them, yea, probably.” The casual shrug, and smug demeanor was clearly frustrating Pili.
“Pangi, did you know Lukey was sneaking into your bed?” Pili demanded.
He shrugged. “I assumed it was him, but I didn’t know he was taking naps in the afternoons.” Pangi didn’t know how he felt about that revelation. Why was Lukey regularly taking naps in his bed but not coming back each night? He felt a little cheated, and decided he was going to bring it up with him later.
“Yea, sometimes when I go replace the bed it’s too tempting. Sleeping on a fresh bed, there’s nothing like it.” Lukey chuckled, shooting him a wink.
“And you’re going to let him get away with it?” Pili scoffed.
Lukey threw his hands up. “Why wouldn’t he? I’m doing him the favor of making sure he has a bed to sleep in at night when he gets home!”
“He has a point, Pili.” Pangi sighed, over this particular topic already.
“I bet you wish Pangi was there with you.” Pili spat.
He braced himself for Lukey to tell Pili that they had shared a bed together several times before, giving away their secret, which would give Pili an excuse to have a meltdown that would probably end their alliance. Sometimes Lukey was good with words, but sometimes he got ahead of himself.
Instead Lukey laughed. “Pangi probably snores.”
“Hey-” He protests, but neither one is paying him any attention.
“That isn’t a denial.” Pili points out.
“What do you want me to say, Pili? That I yearn for Pangi to come join me in bed so he can disrupt my sleep with his snores, and probably elbow me in the stomach while he tosses and turns.” Lukey rolls his eyes.
“Wow. You going to let this guy keep napping in your bed after that?” Pili finally acknowledges him.
“It’s hard to tell him no when he’s the one providing the bed.” Pangi gives Pili a pointed look.
The cat rolls his eyes. “Whatever, I’m out of here.”
“Well that was annoying.” Lukey groans, his tone completely different now that Pili is gone.
“Yea?” Pangi isn’t sure what to say. He doesn’t want to talk about them out in the open like this but he’s also dying to know if there's any truth to what Lukey said about him. Does he snore? Has he ever hurt Lukey in his sleep? That could be why he didn’t come over all the time.
“Yea. I bet he’s going to go take your bed, he was flying off in that direction.” Lukey huffed. “Any color preference this time?”
“I have options?” Pangi raised a brow.
“I keep a shulker full of white wool, wood and a few dyes. I don’t think I have any more black though, but I can get some if you’d like.”
For some reason the offer makes him feel embarrassed. “No it’s fine you can pick whatever color you want.”
Lukey grins. “Alright then. I’ll wait until later to replace it. I’m going to go on another mining trip. I’ll see you later, yea?”
“Sure man. See you.” Pangi watches Lukey fly off and out of sight.
He decides that they’ll speak tonight when Lukey comes to bed. It makes sense that he would confirm they would see each other later. Lukey probably wanted to talk about what happened himself.
That night he takes extra care in getting ready, he notes the bed is white, probably more a slight to Pili than anything. It was like staking his claim. It was bold, and kind of hot if he was being honest with himself. It was definitely going to get into Pili’s head. He settled in for the night, but kept himself away, watching the time. The hours moved from ‘late’ to ‘early’ but Lukey hadn’t shown up yet.
Had he maybe fallen asleep at the lab? Pangi groaned. It could have been by accident, or maybe Lukey had gotten it in his head that Pangi wouldn’t want him to come tonight.
After freaking out about it for another half an hour he decided it was definitely the latter, which meant he had a choice. He could stay where he was, and get some sleep, or he could head to the lab and crash with Lukey instead.
The choice was easy enough. He slipped back into his armor, and grabbed all the supplies he would need for the next day and took the short flight to the lab. Everything was still once he got inside, despite the ambient noises of water gurgling, and armadillos making their little noises it was also mostly quiet. After orienting himself he quickly made his way to Lukey’s bed in the room they had their date in. He quietly took his armor off at the bottom of the stairs, and set it down next to the rest of his belongings, and his ender chest. Lukey hadn’t stirred. There was a book on the floor that looked like it had fallen out of Lukey’s hand after he had fallen asleep reading it. And the man himself was on his stomach with one arm hanging off the edge.
Fucking adorable little bookworm. Is this what Lukey’s nights looked like when he went to bed alone? He made a note to himself to ask along with all the other questions he had. In the morning though. .
He had to slowly pull the covers out from under Lukey so he could get under them and cover them both up. It was weird being in such an open place to sleep. His eyes kept shifting over to the giant window where the mineshaft was. He knew it wasn’t dangerous at the moment, but it still made him a little nervous. In order to calm down he tried to just listen to Lukey’s breathing, and it must have worked because the next thing he knew he was waking up to that familiar cozy feeling.
It took him a moment to register that his shoulder was being shaken, and his name was being called. “Pangi. Pangi. Pangi! What the fuck.” Lukey’s whining voice filled his ears.
“Shut up. I’m sleeping.” He groaned, turning away from the noise.
“Yes. But why here?”
Realizing it was useless and that they should probably talk, he turned back over. Lukey was sitting up, with sleep still in his eyes and his hair was a mess. If he hadn’t woken him up, Pangi might have considered him cute at that moment. “You didn’t come to bed.” He said quietly.
Lukey grimaced. “I thought it would be better not to. I assumed Pili might come check on you in the middle of the night to see if you were alone.”
“You care about that?” Pangi frowned.
“Kind of.” Lukey admitted shyly. “I just don’t want everyone in the realm knowing about it. They tease us enough as it is. Do you care?”
He considered saying no, but that wouldn’t be honest. It was a valid point, once people knew they would be annoying about it, and the jokes would never end. “I guess I do, but that doesn’t mean I want to sleep alone.”
Lukey chuckled. “Well we don’t share a bed together every night, it’s only when I’m too tired to get back to the lab.”
“Is it?” He challenged. “You seem to not be able to make it to the lab pretty often.”
Lukey’s face reddened. “It just works out that way.”
“You would think if it was that big of an issue you would have made yourself a house.”
Lukey chuckles. “Well why would I when I can just crash with you?”
For some reason that statement hurts. “So I’m just a convenience to you?”
“What? No! That’s not what I’m saying at all.”
“Then what are you saying Lukey?” He crosses his arms, feeling defensive.
They stared at each other in silence for several moments while Lukey tried to figure out what he wanted to say, but there was nothing. Pangi could see that Lukey was too hung up on his words, trying to craft the perfect message.
“You can’t even say what you think.” Pangi shook his head, and sat up.
“Well then you tell me what you think if it’s so easy for you.” Lukey snapped. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I want you to be honest with me.” Pangi insists.
“About what?” Lukey shouted.
“About what this is. Why did you start? Why do you keep showing up? Why don’t you come every night?” He shouts back angrily.
“Because I didn’t want to be a bother. And sometimes I’m here in the lab working until the early morning and I can’t make it to you, okay.” They’re both quiet for a moment, the room suddenly feeling heavier.
“Oh…” He hadn’t considered that. “Why did you do it the first time?”
Lukey looked away from him for a moment and chuckled nervously. “The first time I actually was exhausted. The first few times actually. And I figured you were the only person I could crash with, and since you let me use your bed the first time I thought it would be alright the next few times.”
“And after those first few times?” Pangi pressed.
Lukey blushed bright red. “I umm… I enjoyed it. I prefer sleeping at your house.”
“You like sleeping at my house, or you like sharing my bed?” He grinned, enjoying the way Lukey ducked his head from embarrassment.
“I don’t know. I didn’t really get the full effect of getting to share a bed with you last night because you snuck in.”
Pangi sighed. “You know you can just admit you like sleeping with me.”
“Can you not say it like that?” Lukey groaned.
“I like sleeping with you.” He grinned.
“Wait, you do? I’m not a bother or anything?” Lukey asked, surprised.
“No. I like it a lot. You’re cute when you’re asleep. And you always find a way to cling on to me.” Pangi chuckled.
“Well you’re warm, and I like being warm. It’s chilly here in the lab.”
Pangi thought it was adorable that Lukey was trying to justify it. “I can keep you warm if you need. Are you cold now?”
“A little.” Lukey admits quietly.
“Come here.” Pangi lays back down and holds an arm out.
Lukey eyes him, uncertain. “Are we cuddling then?”
Leave it to Lukey to be nervous about this now. “Dude, you do this every morning, you’re just always asleep for it. Get over here!”
“Fine.” Lukey tentatively moved closer and laid down so his head was resting on his arm.
Pangi rolled his eyes. He had to do everything. “No.”
“No?” He wrapped one arm around Lukey’s shoulders, and the other around his waist and pulled them together so Lukey was nearly on top of him. “Pangi wait, what are you doing?” Lukey squirmed.
“Just relax. I’m helping you warm up.” It was kind of funny that Lukey could be so comfortable with him in his sleep, but now that he was awake he was freaking out. “You know I wake up to you like this almost every time.”
“Really?” Lukey sounded skeptical. “I wake up alone.”
His heart dropped. He had never thought about it like that before. “Does that bother you?” Pangi asked. Now that he thought about it, it would probably bother him to wake up alone every morning. It might even make him wonder if the other person was ashamed of him.
“Sometimes. I understand why you leave. It makes it easier to hide it from everyone else.” Lukey finally finds the spot on his shoulder that he favors in his sleep, and begins to relax.
“I thought it would be easier, and that I was doing us both a favor. It was mostly to avoid us having to talk about it.” Pangi admits.
“What, like we are now?” Lukey scoffs. He can hear the bitter tone in his voice still.
Pangi can’t help but feel ashamed. “Yea, it feels kind of silly now. I thought about staying a lot though. Especially when I would wake up and it was raining.”
“But you put on your armor instead and went out into the rain?” Pangi can’t tell what the emotion is in Lukey’s voice, but it makes him sad.
“Yea, I did.” And for the life of him, he can’t imagine why he had. Why would he trade going out in the cold for this? Lukey is warm and soft, and just being near him like this makes him want to fall back to sleep. He catches himself tracing patterns on Lukey’s skin, and tilting his head so he can feel Lukey’s hair on his face. It feels peaceful. Did he really give up all those peaceful mornings because he was too nervous to talk to Lukey about it? Fuck he was stupid.
“Do you think you’ll stay now that we’ve talked?” Lukey asks cautiously. He can feel the slight tremble in Lukey’s voice, and it pains him to think that Lukey might have been hurting all this time.
“It hurt you, didn’t it?” Pangi asks bluntly.
“Oh… I don-” He doesn’t let Lukey finish whatever lie he was spinning.
“I need to know, tell me the truth.” He feels Lukey try to pull away from him, but he holds on, not letting the smaller man out of his grasp.
“Pangi-”
“Please. Just… I can deal with it if it’s bad, ok. I want to know.” Lukey groans in frustration and turns his face into his neck. Pangi wraps his arms around Lukey in response. The answer is mumbled against his skin, Lukey’s lips tickling his neck, making him shiver.
“You’re going to need to say that again.” He says softly.
Lukey turns his head. “Yes, it hurt. It felt lonely and horrible, and maybe that’s why I didn’t come to yours every night.”
Pangi felt the wave of guilt crash into him, fuck he really was an ass. “I’m sorry.” He whispers.
“No it’s ok…” Lukey tries to say but Pangi quiets him with his fingers against Lukey’s lips. Feeling impulsive, and knowing there was no way he could express just how remorseful he was with words, he trails his finger down under Lukey’s chin and tilts his head up.
“I’m sorry…” He murmurs then gently presses their lips together in a kiss. It’s soft and short, but completely different from the quick pecks he had given Lukey before. He was trying to be sweet, and show Lukey that he hadn’t meant to hurt him, and he hoped that was coming through. For good measure he kissed Lukey a second time pressing their lips together more firmly, lingering longer. The deep inhale of breath from Lukey made him feel like he should take more, but he knew this wasn’t the time.
Pangi knew he could get used to this though, addicted to it. He could spend whole days laying in bed together trading small kisses, and never regret it. But to have it he would have to ask, and he would have to prove that he was worthy of that chance. Pangi would have to be honest about what he wanted. “I’ll stay.” He whispered, pulling away.
“Stay?” Lukey furrowed his brow in confusion.
“When we share a bed in the future I promise I’ll stay. You won’t wake up alone.” Lukey flinches at the word ‘promise’.
“Are you sure you want to commit to that? It seems like a lot.” Lukey looks away. “What if there is an emergency or something?”
Pangi thought about it for a moment. “What if I leave you something then? Like a note or a flower for you to wake up to? So if I don’t leave myself behind at least you’ll have something. Would that help?”
“We can try.” Lukey shrugged.
“Then I promise to spend as many mornings with you as I can, and if I can’t for some reason I’lll always leave you something so you have a piece of me when you wake up.” Pangi seals the promise with one last small peck on Lukey’s cheek.
“You know how I feel about promises.” Lukey sighs. “But… thank you, Pangi.”
“Hey, I don’t say it often enough, but you’re important to me, and I don’t want you to be upset because I run off in the mornings. I’ll make whatever promises and show you I can keep them if that's what it takes to show you that.” To Pangi’s relief, Lukey rested his head back on his shoulder and settled back down.
For a moment it’s quiet, and all Pangi can hear is the soft sounds of the carts running on their rails on the other side of the glass. Lukey is warm, and the bed is comfortable. For a moment he thinks he can drift back off to sleep. But he hears the sound of Lukey clearing his throat, signalling that their talk isn’t over yet. “It’s more than just you leaving while I’m still asleep that upsets me if I’m being honest. It’s more the sneaking around bit. Aimsey openly speaks about how she spends his nights with Ros. Why can’t we be honest like that? Everyone thinks we’re doing more anyway.”
“Isn’t that the problem? If we admit we are sleeping in bed together they’ll assume we’re having sex. And they’ll talk about it all the time. ” Pangi tried to relax by tracing shapes on Lukey’s back with his finger. While he understood the necessity of the conversation it didn’t mean he wasn’t a little anxious about it.
“Well we could always just have sex.” Pangi was stunned into silence, until Lukey started laughing. “Oh my god you should have seen your face.” Pangi let himself breath while Lukey cackled against him. “But no really, if we’re going to be sharing a bed more often we might as well.”
“Well I’m saving myself for marriage.” He tried to say with a straight face.
“We’re getting married anyway.” Lukey countered.
“But not yet.” Pangi shot back. “So let's take it slow, okay. Let me prove to you that I can sleep in with you in the mornings.”
Lukey taps a little rhythm on his chest with two of his fingers while he contemplates his answer. “We can go slowly. I don’t mind, it’s probably good for us to get used to sharing a bed more often first, right?”
“Exactly. You did accuse me of snoring and elbowing you. “ Pangi scoffed.
Lukey giggled. “You would never. I made all that up to throw Pili off.”
“And what about you, do you read in bed often?” Pangi asked.
“Sometimes. It’s a bad habit, I take my work to bed with me. Maybe because I don’t have a Pangolin to take to bed instead.” Pangi chuckles. “Do you have any bad habits? I never get to see you when you first go to bed.”
“Of course not, I’m perfect.” Pangi scoffs.
And he swears he can hear Lukey roll his eyes. “Yes I’m sure that spending a full night with you will be flawless from start to finish.”
“What if we hate it?” He says as a joke.
“What if your breath stinks?” Lukey fake gasped. “What if you talk in your sleep?” Lukey starts laughing. “Or no… what if you do snore, and I’ve slept through it all these times because I fall asleep first?”
Pangi knew that Lukey was joking, but he was also wanting to get out of this conversation and get his day started now that they had mostly settled things. He could tell that the serious part was over now that Lukey was acting like an idiot about it, so he didn’t feel guilty over wanting to leave. “That’s it. Cuddle time, over.” Pangi shoved Lukey off him and stood up.
“Wait… my warmth… come back.” Lukey whined, but then burst into laughter.
“Serves you right. Next time be nice.” Pangi walked down the stairs and began getting ready. His annoyance had simmered out but he was refusing to look at Lukey for the bit.
“Wait before you go…” Lukey called. “Where are we sleeping tonight? Yours or here?”
Pangi knew Lukey had him with that question, he wasn’t going to be able to storm out without saying something, but he decided to hold out until he was ready to leave to give the answer. He took some time sorting his shulker boxes, and getting what he needed to head over to ‘the fog’ purposely drawing it out to be annoying.
“Hey.” Lukey’s voice was much closer, and glancing up, he saw him on the bottom step, wrapped in the black comforter from the bed. “Where are we sleeping tonight?”
“I guess here works.” Pangi shrugged.
Lukey bit his lip, drawing Pangi’s attention. Of course he wasn’t able to do anything about it at the moment, but he filed it away for later. “How about I go to yours, I can make sure we have a fresh new bed and everything. I’m sure Pili is still going to collect them just to mess with you.”
Pangi sighed. “You’re probably right about that. Sure, sounds great.” He grabbed the last of his things and collected his ender chest. He shuffled over to Lukey, not exactly sure how to leave this time. Usually he left unobserved. “Then I’ll see you tonight at my house. And I’ll see you later I guess?”
Lukey nodded. “I’m going to get a little more sleep, I think. Thanks for coming, and thanks for the talk. I feel much better.”
“I’m glad. Alright. Well I’m going to go then.” He said awkwardly.
Lukey rolled his eyes, then leaned in and pressed a small kiss on his lips. “Have a good day. I’ll be out later.”
Pangi was floored. He hadn’t been expecting that, and now he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave, but Lukey was already walking up the steps back to bed and he was ready to leave. “Bye.” He called softly, and with a final wave from Lukey he left.
He had to admit, he felt like a weight had been lifted off of him. That conversation had been a long time coming, and now that they had made a decision together, it felt good. They were on the same page about what they wanted, and even if it took a little compromise it was worth it in the end.
His day continued to go well through the morning and early afternoon, as he was able to make a good bit of progress with ‘the fog.’ But after a few hours of work he was called back to spawn to hang out. Aimsey, Oli, Water, and Lukey were all hanging out at the fishing dock when he joined them.
“Hey pal, I think you have a cat in your house.” Aimsey called out before he landed. “It’s Pili, by the way. Just thought you should know.”
“Yea? Probably taking my bed again.” Pangi laughed, trying to brush it off.
“No, he’s fully camped out there waiting.” Oli said, clearly amused by the situation. “It’s kind of silly.”
“I keep saying that we should all go over and confront him together, but I was told to wait for you. So can we go?” Water huffed, putting away her fishing rod.
“I think that’s up to Pangi.” Aimsey said pointedly. The whole group looked to him for an answer.
Lukey hadn’t said a word yet, and was just quietly observing, meaning he didn’t want to influence his decision. He probably wanted to see what he would do. That was just like Lukey. This was also typical of Pili. Leave it to him to force a confrontation about the beds the literal day after. Well if that was how Pili wanted to do things then he supposed letting everyone come was the way to go about it, they were going to follow and listen in any way.
“Sure. Let's all go over and see what he wants.” Pangi declared, which seemed to go over well with everyone, but his eyes zeroed in on Lukey, who was giving him an approving look. At least he had done that right.
“Everyone, so we’re clear, we’re going to let Pangi go in first and then we can go in after.” Aimsey instructed.
“Oh! Can I go in the other door? Or block it off?” Oli offered.
“That’s a great idea.” Water giggled. “Actually, maybe Lukey and Aimsey should go in after Pangi, and Oli and I can go in the back.”
They all agreed and flew over the short distance, Pangi went in first, like they had planned and found Pili sitting in a chair he didn’t recognize in the middle of his house. The white bed he had laid in the night before was still there, the sheets still a mess. “Hey Pili. What's going on?”
“Where were you last night?” Pili asked, and going by his tone, he was clearly upset with him. At that moment everyone else came in, and Pili jumped up out of the chair defensively. “Whoa, what the hell is everyone doing here?”
“They just wanted to know what’s going on, just like me.” Pangi shrugged.
“Pili, no one has seen you around here in weeks, and suddenly you’re sat in Pangi’s house? It’s a little weird.” Aimsey pointed out gently.
“I just came to check on Pangi last night, and he wasn’t here, so I was worried and wondered where he was.” Pili insisted. “So I decided to stick around for him to see what was up.”
Water snorted. “That doesn’t make any sense at all. Why wouldn’t you just send him a message?”
“And why were you checking on him in the middle of the night? Did you think something was wrong?” Oli asked.
“What even is this? Why am I the one being interrogated?” Pili spat. “Pangi was the one gone all night.”
“Because you’re just hanging out in my house like a weirdo.” Pangi countered. “And this isn’t the only place I sleep. I just ended up there last night.”
Pili’s eyes shifted to the bed, and back to him. He could tell Pili didn’t buy it. “Fine whatever, sorry for caring. But after the conversation we had yesterday I just wanted to check in.” Pili said slyly.
Pangi narrowed his eyes. He should have known Pili would have no problems bringing that up with everyone around.
“Wait, what conversation?” Aimsey asked, and he knew everyone else would want to know as well. There was really no avoiding it.
“We were talking with Pili yesterday, Lukey and me, and it came up how Pili has been stealing my beds.” He was trying to skip over some of the details to avoid everyone knowing the whole story, but Pili wasn’t having it.
“And then we found out that Lukey has been the one replacing those beds, and then he sleeps there too.” Pili announced.
Water shrugged. “They’re boyfriends, I would assume Lukey sleeps in his bed.” Pili shot her a glare.
“I take naps there in the afternoon after I replace the bed. And I don’t even do it all the time.” Lukey scoffed.
“Pili, nothing about this is suspicious.” Aimsey said, crossing his arms. “What are you really doing here?”
“I was checking on something. See Lukey made an odd comment in our conversation and it made me suspicious…”
“What? That he holds Pangi’s hand too?” Water snorted.
“No. When I told Lukey I had seen him entering Pangi’s house he asked me when, as in what time. Which makes me think he’s coming to visit Pangi at odd hours.” Pili shot a glare over to where Lukey was standing by the window.
“Did you really come check to see if Lukey and Pangi were what? Sleeping together?” Oli snickered.
“Yes, but I found Pangi’s bed empty.” Pili frowned.
“He obviously went to sleep somewhere else like he said.” Aimsey shrugged.
“With Lukey?” Pili made direct eye contact with him.
He could lie. He could deny it, but Pili was pissing him off so much at that point he didn’t care. “Yes, with Lukey. Pili, you’re being ridiculous. And yes, Lukey comes and sleeps over here too sometimes. So what?”
The room is silent for a moment, but then Water sighs. “I mean obviously. They’re boyfriends. Pili I don’t know you well, but I can already tell you’re not the brightest. I’m going back to the docks, you should stop being weird.” Water and heads out the back door, and Oli shrugs, flying after her.
“Do you feel good about this, Pili?” Aimsey scolds him, stepping in between the two of them.
“No.” Pili spits the word out harshly, not able to meet anyone’s eyes.
“Here, why don’t you and I go have a nice chat about this, and you leave these two alone. No more bed stealing, or late night visits.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t be coming here anymore.” Pili growls.
“Ok buddy. Very good, let's go.” Aimsey guides Pili out of his house, and walks with him in the direction of the docks.
Lukey pushes off from the window and approaches. “I’m still inclined to replace the bed.”
“Burn it. Who knows what he did to it.” Pangi sighs, rubbing his temples. He had a headache forming partly from knowing how much more annoying things are about to be.
Lukey has the bed gone and replaced with a brand new one with orange sheets in no time. “Care to break it in with me?”
“Maybe later.” Pangi grumbles.
“Oh come on. Take a victory nap with me.” Lukey says while he starts to take his armor off.
“Victory? You call this a victory?” Pangi asks, flatly.
“Of course. I’ve been working on this since I discovered it was Pili who was taking your beds in the first place. And now everyone thinks he’s crazy, and he's been embarrassed enough that he won’t dare come back.” Lukey smirks. “I couldn’t have asked for a better ending.”
Pangi shook his head. “You’re an idiot.” Still, the freshly made bed did look tempting, and seeing Lukey without his armor made him worry what could happen to him now that it was common knowledge that he took naps here. He guessed he was going to have to. “I suppose it's been a while since I was able to take a nap.”
Lukey grinned. “Exactly.”
They got into bed together a few moments later, and after a little bit of adjustment they were able to fall asleep. When they woke up an hour later Pangi was wonderfully sleep-warm. The afternoon sun was shining through the window still, and while it wasn’t raining the air was still cool.
“You stayed.” Lukey mumbled.
Pangi wrapped his arms around him and pulled him a little closer, putting a kiss on his forehead. “Of course.” He was going to keep his promise even if it killed him.