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"4cvit!" 4c nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Mae's voice behind him, looking up quickly from the section of his very work in progress house he'd been busy touching up. There was a bright smile on her face as she touched down next to him. "Is this your house?"
His gaze flicked over to the structure in question. "It will be, eventually. I haven't made that much progress yet, I've been busy with… everything else."
The everything else in question was mostly him hanging out with and annoying the hell out of Katie and Nom, but he decided not to mention that. Even though their little trio made up half of the group that was staying in the tree, he was pretty sure none of the others were aware of the relationship, and he'd really prefer to keep it that way.
"Fishing and stuff, right?" Mae said with a short hum, and he nearly sighed with relief at how she didn't question him at all, nodding silently. "I've been looking everywhere for you, I wanted to talk to you. About stuff. Important stuff."
That probably didn't bode well. He took a deep breath and shoved his tools in his bag, trying to seem as casual as possible as he replied, "Sure, what stuff?"
"Important stuff, like I said." There was still a grin on their face, although their green eyes seemed to sparkle with something. Something that 4c was dreading having to deal with.
"Okay," he muttered, drawing out the kay a bit as he followed her up and deeper into the forest. Was she planning on getting revenge on him for something or other, or had she somehow found out about his various plans he hadn't even told his partners about yet? Whatever the reason, it couldn't possibly be good, and his heart was hammering in his chest as they swerved between the trees.
And then they touched down next to a bush where Nom and Katie were waiting, and 4c instantly knew what was going on. His hands shook as he avoided looking at the two of them; out of the corner of his eye, he could see that both of them looked equally anxious and awkward, Nom especially.
"Okay, so," Mae hummed as she turned to face him again, bright orange wings fluttering behind her, "you three are dating, aren't you?"
For several very long moments, none of them spoke up, all staring at the ground while Mae's eyes flicked around to watch them. Then, finally, Katie mumbled, "Uh… yeah, kind of? Are we?"
"Well, technically none of us have ever… made it official," Nom pointed out, and 4c had to hold in his laughter as his gaze flicked up to him. His arms were crossed over his chest now, a slight pout on his face, although 4c quickly found himself a little distracted at how nice his slim muscles looked when he was standing like that.
"Okay, but-" Mae rolled her eyes as her hands rested on her hips. "You are dating. I saw you three kissing. Unless it was like… platonic making out."
Nom snorted and Katie lifted her hands in defeat. "No, no, it- We are, yeah. Even if 4cvit-"
"That's not important," 4c interrupted immediately, face heating up as he angled his gaze back down toward the ground, far away from where everyone was now staring at him. At the edge of his vision, one of Mae's eyebrows shot up.
"Even if he what?" they questioned, and he couldn't stop himself from groaning as Katie let out a long sigh. Here we go again.
"It was a real struggle for him," she explained with a pointed look directly at him. Trying to keep a hold on his confidence, he crossed his arms, digging his fingers into himself. "He was convinced he was straight for forever. Until Nom got frustrated and kissed him and then he finally admitted that he's not."
"Okay, look, I-" 4c swallowed down the fluttery feeling in his stomach as he remembered the feeling of Nom grabbing his face with that so adorably annoyed expression, kissing him and mumbling about how much of an idiot he was against his lips. The memory was enough to make his face burn impossibly hot. "You have to understand that I'm already dealing with the whole being trans thing and that was a lot to come to terms with, and now I also like guys."
"I never had that problem," Nom proclaimed, and 4c wanted to walk over and smack him on the face. Or maybe kiss him again. Either would work.
Mae, on the other hand, just laughed at them, her thick curls bouncing as she shook her head. "Y'know, I probably could've guessed something like that happened. Why didn't you tell any of us, though? Especially me, I'm like your best friend ever! You could've asked me to join!"
"We didn't want to distract anyone from- What?" Katie cut herself off in the middle of her sentence, her freckled cheeks turning pink as she blinked rapidly at Mae. 4c had a feeling all three of them were trying to figure out the exact same thing as they all stared at the currently pouting fairy standing next to him.
"I said what I said," Mae continued after maybe ten seconds of silence, and 4c noticed the slight redness on their own face. Oh. So they weren't joking. His face felt hotter than it had in a while as he struggled to form any coherent thought, focus zeroed in on the orange-winged woman in front of him like she was the only person in the world at that moment.
Then, before he'd even begun to recollect his composure, there were lips pressing against his own and hands settling on his cheeks, tasting of warm honey that fried his brain even further. An embarrassing little squeak left him as he fumbled to grab onto anything, ending up with one of his hands in their hair and the other resting on their shoulder while his eyes fluttered closed.
The two of them broke apart the second Nom burst out into laughter, Mae giggling while 4c took a few seconds to catch his breath. When he turned to his boyfriend, there was a bright grin on the taller man's face, mismatched eyes shining - Katie stood next to him with a hand over her mouth, soft brown eyes glittering with just as much amusement. In that moment, he wished more than anything that he could simply melt into the ground and disappear forever.
"Katieeee, come here!" Mae then laughed, taking a few steps forward, and now it was 4c's turn to giggle as she yanked Katie's hand away from her face and dragged her into a kiss.
Nom stepped aside and within a moment or two, there was a hand sliding onto the back of 4c's head, the taller man murmuring softly to him in the way that always made his thoughts melt right out of his brain. "You're really cute, you know that, right?"
"I'd have to disagree," he managed breathlessly, and the answer got him exactly what he wanted, Nom pulling him into a deep kiss. He wasn't quite rough, but he was certainly quick and intense, nipping at 4c's bottom lip briefly as he pulled him against his chest. His own hands shot up to tangle in the other's hair as his wings fluttered behind him, until he suddenly felt a pair of very familiar arms snake around his waist.
"Come here," Katie breathed into his ear, giggling as she gently tugged his face away from Nom's. It wasn't exactly that he didn't want to kiss her, but more like he wanted to just kiss both of them at the same time forever, and he supposed Mae now as well; the thought of having another girlfriend made him grin as Katie pressed her lips to his.
As she did, Nom planted a couple kisses on his neck, and he could hear Mae's quiet laughter whenever he squeaked from the teeth grazing his neck. It wasn't his fault that Nom's teeth were so sharp and he seemed to love using them to hurt 4c for no reason. But Mae was quickly pulling Nom into a kiss as well and 4c was saved from further embarrassment, running his hand through Katie's hair and being careful not to knock off the pretty leaves she decorated it with.
"Does this make it official now?" Mae asked, and 4c slowly broke away from Katie, huffing quietly when she peppered his face with a couple more quick kisses as he was trying to turn away. One of her arms hooked around him and held him close to her chest as he faced Mae.
"I'd say so," Nom said with a grin, leaning over to place a kiss on his forehead. Trapped in Katie's tight grip, he couldn't duck away, his nose scrunching up while his face warmed again. "Are Apo and Cherri… suspicious, at all?"
"Oh, no, not at all." Mae laughed, reaching out to intertwine her fingers with Katie's, the other woman giggling and somehow managing to crush 4c in a half-hug even more. "I think they're too busy with actual work."
"Nerds," Nom huffed, rolling his yellow and purple eyes, before leaning over and pressing a kiss to Katie's cheek. 4c ended up with his face somewhat shoved in the other man's chest, although he honestly couldn't say he minded the position all that much.
"Nerds," Mae echoed, dissolving into more laughter, her head falling against the shorter woman's shoulder. Nom glanced down and seemed to realize that he was practically squishing 4c, but instead of moving back to give him space, he just grabbed his chin, tilted his head up, and pulled him into yet another kiss, grinning into it. God, was this wonderful.