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Zebulon, for his own part, was just going through the normal motions of the preparation for the beginning of the semester. He couldn't believe that was already the beginning of ******** August. It made sense, his birthday had just passed maybe don't remind him, but the fact that the summer was disappearing was a little sad. That was his favourite season, after all.

Especially up north here where everything in the winter was annoyingly cold. It wasn't even like it was cold, Diryas and Teegan would probably remind him–

Needless to say, the text was a welcome distraction.

One that caused his lips to curve into a smirk.



Now to prep for some boy drama…

It would take a little bit for him to get there, but he was gay. Being fashionably late was just kind of par for the course, wasn't it? Being fashionably late with some drinks and snacks tucked into his subspace was even better.

“Nikki!” was the jovial announcement as a stronger aura approached than she might've been used to.

Considerably stronger.

“Definitely got the dressed warm message. Do you want one of these coats? I think I have a few extra.” Emain Ablach honestly hadn't let him hear the end of it when he had powered up, but he would get his revenge.

Winter was coming.

And Promethei even eagerly accepted that full speed hug, taking a moment to lift her up off the ground. He could do that! Put her down soon enough. Of course, he was delighted in how excited she was to see him as a knight. And honestly, he was excited too! Felt like an honest to goodness badass. Didn't even need a proper weapon to feel like it.

… Now it wasn't like he would say no to–

“Ha, right? Feel like a ******** badass now. Not that I didn't before but,” he clicked his tongue and winked, doing a small spin to give her a full view of what his uniform looked like now. It was true, the leopard print he loved actually made it onto his uniform. Perhaps he had always loved it for a reason. More of those clothes and glows that Mercurians were known for seemed to be ever present, and he was certainly very blue.

He liked it.

And he outright laughed when she said it was mid-August so of course she didn't want a coat. He followed that up with, “I mean, it is hotter than the devil's d**k out here.” He paused, cleared his throat, and then followed up with, “That is to say it's extremely hot. But no, go right ahead. Please, pet it. It's very soft.”

Honestly, all three of his husbands had already asked to do so.

He leaned over to let her do the same.

“Hey, hey, that's a phrase I heard people say back in San–,” wait, “Texas!” Better. Just in case anyone was eavesdropping somehow. Not that he thought anyone was. He couldn't really feel any other auras other than the two of them. …Better to be paranoid than dead though.

She was back to smiles and he was snickering soon enough though, both because she was enjoying the feel of the fluff that he indeed had all around his neck and because he was amused by the concept of her nickname for him. If she wanted to follow through on that, he couldn't say he would necessarily be mad. He would deserve it! He would deserve it for multiple reasons! “Right? Honestly, can tell the Mercurians had good taste in fluffy stuff–”

He let her pet it as long as she wanted to before the conversation veered hard left back into the drama pile.

Wait.

“What? Hang on.” Promethei wasn't going to take it weird like Encke would, sure, but he was certainly surprised. “Dumped? Who the ******** would dump you? You're a ******** catch.” How hard she was willing to fight for everyone she was attached to alone was enough to tell him that. He could have told anyone that before they had even gotten closer. There was a reason why Teegan liked her so much.

Teegan had good taste in people. Always had. There was a reason why he had decided he liked Diryas and Tobias so quickly, he was fairly sure.

Not that he minded standing where they were, but he had a feeling there was a lot of tea here. “Want to go back to the bench? Got more than just the popcorn. Like some actual tea. Some coke.” He paused. “This magic subspace s**t is real useful.”

The aforementioned Coca-Cola was produced as quickly as they made it back to the bench, along with a couple red solo cups. He poured her out some and handed the cup to her as she worked out her own junk food. For himself? Well.

He may have gone for the popcorn he had brought with himself.

What? It was drama, and he always loved some good drama–

Promethei had the gall to look offended when she dared to say that she wasn't a good catch. He didn't want to interrupt her story, but he did say, “We're coming back to that,” when she said she didn't know about that. He wasn't taking her lack of self-confidence today. He could understand a breakup doing some bad things of self-confidence. He knew the effects it had on other people around him. That didn't mean he was going to let it fly.

If someone she was trying to get to purify was being a b***h, didn't mean she deserved to lose her bad b***h energy–

He nodded when appropriate, offered correct one-liners, popped popcorn into his mouth, gasped in shock when she said he teleported away of all things, looked concerned when she mentioned a third– there were definitely some questions that had piled up after the retelling and he had to hold back his tendency to interrupt the retelling with questions of his own.

“So lemme get this as straight as I can,” Promethei snickered at his own joke, “so someone you were trying to get to purify who had shown an active interest in you ghosted you and then finally decided to show up, with both of y'all's third, and then teleported away on both of y'all instead of just being honest?”

He leaned back, taking a sip of the coke he had poured for himself. “Damn, that's cold. Definitely not doing poly right.” There were multiple things about this situation that were catching his attention. “Has he been seeing the third?”

Speaking of the third…

“Also, tell me more about your third. Get the sense they're a key here.”

And by a key, he partially meant more gossip.

On one hand, maybe the chaos poisoning made the whole thing kind of complicated. He could respect that. On the other hand, this … Fulgurite? Fulg? That was the name she was using for him. Still didn't change the fact that he was a b***h, and that seemed to be something she was acknowledging too. Which was good. He wanted to see her own the fact that he was a b***h to her.

“Still an a*****e move,” he agreed, while noting that he might have had a few words of his own to say if he ran into him. He was definitely sharing this news with Emain Ablach if Nectaris hadn't done so on her own. He might be livid.

No one hurt Livie–

Something changed about her mannerisms when she talked about the third, and it was enough that made him think that maybe the third was the primary at this point. To be fair, he would be the primary. It seemed like the other one had just broken up with both of them, even if Cryolite had been the one to talk Fulgurite out of ghosting. “Honestly, it does sound like he understands what goes into relationships and especially poly relationships the best. Communication is key. He talked him out of ghosting, even if Fulg freaked out and ran the ******** away on both of you. ******** coward.”

He sipped at his coke again.

Something sounded familiar about Cryolite, but he couldn't quite place what … maybe it was the ice magic bit. “What level is he? Just curious.” Maybe that'd help him double-check a few mental notes. “But he sounds sweet. I'm sorry his attempt to patch things up turned into such a disaster honestly – but it sounds like he's sticking around?”

Though maybe she got someone who was going to stick out of it, and maybe that was for the best?

“Is he planning on joining us over here?”

It's alright to be upset about it. Honestly, you're okay to stay upset about it. It's up to you how you want to approach it if he ever comes around.” Chaos poisoning was its own animal. He had fairly minimal experience with it, but he did have enough to tell him that going deep into chaos wasn't necessarily good. For ******** sake, it had convinced couldn't hurt a fly Teegan that draining people's energy against their consent was actually a good idea–

Well. Regardless.

He'd support her if she stayed mad forever. He'd also support her if she wanted to figure it out. This Fulg would have work of his own to do, though.

Cryolite was a super with ice powers. Bookish. That was definitely worth keeping track of. It wasn't enough to tell him if it was somebody he knew, but it was worth noting that it seemed similar enough to something that tracked with what he had run into recently. At least, it tracked with somebody who had launched icy magic at him in an attraction he was fairly sure would only attract college students or at least people that age.

Nikki's age.

“If he's asking you to find a princess, definitely a good sign. That was about what locked Emain Ablach in.” Well, and being locked in the bathroom. They weren't going to talk about that part. “That being said, I'm surprised he's still going for it with the whole,” he gestured flippantly, “Fulg situation. How close were the two of them? I imagine with them being on the same side, they probably saw each other a lot more regularly than you two were even capable of. Do ya’ like, need more people to check in on him? Next semester doesn't start for like–”

Well, his birthday passed about a week ago. And he was working on lesson plans. Diryas was too…

“Guay de mi. Three weeks?”

That was an interesting rub – that he hadn't asked for a princess until after the Fulg situation. Was it because he knew there would be nothing left? Or was he hoping that securing a princess would make the whole thing easier? Or was there something else to it? Promethei was instinctually trying to figure out if there was something else behind it, but of course, it was just a combination of him being the scientist that he was with the general gossip that he was.

Maybe it was something that he would be able to figure out by digging further into the situation.

“I'll definitely be curious to see if he keeps up with the princess thing as time goes on. I hope he does! And I hope he does get through to Fulg.” He knit his brows. “I'm honestly not sure how to deal with chaos digging that deep.” And he also wasn't sure how much of that was actually just Fulg himself. Was it just highlighting how much of a douchebag he actually was? Maybe they should just stay away from him in the first place.

Hard to say.

Of course, he did also know a bit better than that. Teegan wasn't the type to go against someone's boundaries in any normal situation. Chaos was its own animal.

More to think about. “Well, hit me up if you need me. Know where to find me.” And maybe it would help him resolve if he already knew this Cryolite…

His expression shifted from pensive to a bit more delighted when she brought up poly dynamics. This was in his wheelhouse, easily. It was also an especially interesting one; they were talking about a triad. “Ah, the short answer is no, unless you're in a hierarchical arrangement where their relationship takes priority over yours. Longer answer is … well, still no.” Promethei snorted. “But you're in a triad, from the sounds of it. A triad isn't just one big relationship. It is one big relationship, but it's also three independent relationships. In theory, you and Fulg, him and Fulg, and you and him.”

Promethei popped some of the popcorn in his mouth. “It's actually why triads–and quads, like what I'm in, technically–take a lot of work and tend to be some of the rarer arrangements. Lots of relationships to equally manage.” It was why he spent a lot of time going on independent outings with Tobias and Elliot Teegan when he realized he was catching feelings, and honestly still did when they had the time. “But a part of the triad falling apart doesn't mean the whole thing has to. You and Fulg breaking up doesn't mean you and Cryo have to if it doesn't make you uncomfortable. Independent relationship. Honestly, he could become a hinge of a V arrangement!”

Or they could just be a poly-open couple, for now. That seemed more likely with Fulgurite opting to ******** off.