Groveling, Confessions, and a Sealed Deal

“Rina, the problem is, Caisey doesn’t get angry. Never! He’s like the friendliest, most forgiving person ever and we suck so hard that we ended up making him of all people mad at us. Don’t you see that we’re done for? We’ll never be forgiven.”

“Quiet. That’s nonsense. We may suck, but Caisey won’t let us being jerks stop him from loving us... right?!”

“Sorry, girl, but this is new to us, too. We’re just going to have to win him back the hard way. We’ll grovel, hardcore. Don’s a master at groveling, so he’ll show us what to do.”

“Oh, stop, Lis!”

“You stop! You’re the one who got is into this mess.”

“Me?! It was you! Right, Rina?”

“It was all of us in our own stupid ways. Now shut up, he’ll hear us!”

“Yes. Please. Shut up, all of you. ‘He’ has been lying here hearing everything for the past couple of minutes and ‘he’ would like to be left alone. So, go away.”

The trio of guilt-ridden fools hushed to murmurs and the sound of skin slaps and shoves. Caisey furrowed his eyebrows and groaned. Flipping over on his bed back at Rina’s palace, he grabbed a pillow and chucked it blindly into the semi darkness. A slit in the curtain covering the massive window provided an inkling of light and visibility to the room.

“Hey! Why me?! Watch where you’re throwing things, man!” Caisey picked up another pillow and aimed in the same direction. “Dude!”

“Seriously, go away. All of you.” Caisey grumbled, plopping back down on his remaining pillows.

“Even me?”

It was Rina’s voice. Hearing it immediately sent his heart skittering in his chest. This was his first time ever being mad at her, so he was struggling with how to react. He didn’t know if he was being too much.

Maybe he should just forgive her and make the other two grovel like they said?

Or... No. 

He didn’t know.

Therefore, he decided that the best reaction was no reaction.

“Caisey.” Rina said, whining a little as if she were truly sad.

Caisey groaned in response and mumbled, “Yes, you too,” into the bed cushions. Rina made a sad noise and then everything went quiet. For at least twenty-five seconds, Caisey waited for someone to move or to say something, but no one did. The room had just devolved into silence.

What? Did they just…? Maybe… Caisey was starting to feel bad. His previously stubborn mind was beginning to pick up some major emotional interference. Maybe I’m being a little harsh. He thought.

Lifting himself onto all fours, Caisey turned toward the foot of the bed and crawled toward the edge. In the dark with barely any light, Caisey was hardly able to see anything. He squinted his eyes for a better look and leaned farther over the edge to see if he could, at least, make out any shapes.

It was then that everyone's hands wrapped around his neck, shoulders, and both arms and yanked him firmly off the bed. “Aaaarghh!” Caisey cried, crashing headfirst onto a body. He felt softness against where his ear landed, and more softness under his left hand, and his other hand… His mind was going places... And he screamed again, rushing to get off when he realized he must have crushed either his girlfriend or his best friend with his body like a total creep.

“I mean, if you wanted to cop a feel, Case, you could’ve just said so. Jeez.”

Caisey flushed tomato red and shook his head and hands wildly despite no one being able to really see. He was relieved that the words had come from Rina’s mouth, though.

“Y-Y-You caused that! It was totally your fault!” Caisey squeaked.

“Yeah, sure. Whatever you say~” Rina sang in her most alluring voice and Caisey almost wanted to fight her, and Don, and Lisa three-on-one just to get past this embarrassing moment.

“Alright, enough you three. You got me out of bed. Congratulations.” Caisey turned away from them and began climbing back onto the bed, “But go away, now. Really this time. I’m mad at all of you.”

He was stopped by short arms wrapping themselves around him from behind. He peered over his shoulder to find Rina’s face buried in the shirt on his back.

“I’m sorry, Caisey. We’re sorry. At least hear us out. Don’t be mad anymore.”

Caisey wasn’t listening to her anymore. His heart had dismissed itself from his chest and had skedaddled to another dimension in response to the combination of things happening right now. What did I do in my past lives to get THIS lucky? He asked the universe, almost dropping a gracious tear.

He felt most of his anger dissipate, though really the majority of it had gone long ago. Caisey turned to face his favorite, albeit the most annoying, group of people with a lingering scowl on his face. “Fine, then. Lay it on me.”

Caisey sat back on the edge of the bed and fit Rina against his chest, bear hugging her from behind. Rina was so content, she snuggled closer and seemed keen to use Caisey’s arms as a blanket. He could tell she thought she was off the hook, safe from being blamed from anything. 

We'll see about that. Caisey thought, but he secretly thought she might be off the hook, too.

Meanwhile, as Lisa got up to open the curtains, Caisey was slowly beginning to dance in his thoughts as his focus changed. Her hair smells good… Why have I never noticed before? Transfixed, he pinched some strands between thumb and forefinger and enjoyed how soft and thick Rina's hair was. 

Even her hair... I'm a sap... He was thinking. I even love this girl's hair, and he raked the strands through with his fingers the way a child would be put to sleep at night. He did so for so long, he didn’t notice the attention in the room had shifted to him.

“Ah-hem!” Someone loudly cleared their throat, snapping Caisey from whatever trance he was in.

He smiled sheepishly and was about to drop his fingers from Rina’s hair until she gave him the most venomous glare out the side of her eye. Caisey froze… but his hand seemingly found its way back to her hair on its own.

Then, Wait. Aren’t I supposed to be the demanding one, right now? Caisey thought and assertively brought up the problem at hand.

While diligently playing with Rina’s hair.

Don went first, starting with, “So what had happened was…” and Caisey already didn’t believe him. “This crazy aggressive god came by—”

“More like beautiful and righteous.” Lisa cut in, to which Don responded, “Don’t get me started, Lis!” with an eye roll.

Caisey almost laughed at their usual jealous banter, but he held it together so Don could continue. “Anyways, Mr. ‘Righteous and Beautiful’ came by demanding that I compete in a contest with him to claim Lisa! To claim her! So, of course I had to accep—”

“Hold up,” Caisey interrupted, “if Mr. Righteous is so, well, righteous, why would he just challenge you…? Something’s not right here. Start from the beginning. And it better be good, because none of you heathens know what I went through in that palace for you. I ought to have you scraping scum off my shoe.”

“Wow… I don’t like this side of Caisey,” Don said with Lisa nodding in agreement. They both stopped when Caisey heaved a sigh. “Okay, okay. Here's what really happened.

“So, after you went inside that creepy house of eyeball horror, we waited outside on the corner for a while. Like, a while, and you know me, I get bored! And we were in this cool alley between light and dark so of course I would wanna go explore. Totally thought we’d be back by time you got out of there. Promise we didn’t mean to leave you high and dry.”

“Totally,” Lisa agreed.

“Scout’s honor,” Rina chimed in. Caisey spared a second to wonder who had taught her that phrase as Don continued.

“And so, as we’re rounding a corner, we see this cherub being stomped on by this buff god-slash-animal-body guy. Hardcore. Like, "Undertaker" owning this kid, and Rina’s all—”

“Me?!” Rina protested.

“I mean…” came a drawn-out hum. This was Lisa, which made Rina gasp and Caisey bite back an amused smile.

Don continued, “Rina runs in there ready to whoop some a—”

“And that’s when Don goes all bat shit crazy thinking he could do something to a god, screaming, ‘That’s my sis-in-law, you mother—”

“Bro~!” Caisey interrupted in appreciation, sticking his fist out.

Don leaned forward to tap their fists together and responded in kind with, “Bro~.”

Rina rolled her eyes and Lisa continued this time. “So, then I’m screaming at Don not to get involved when this Adonis—”

“Not Adonis. The god you met is Lord Baldr.” Rina informed plainly.

Don choked on laughter and got his head slapped by Lisa who clarified. “N-No, that’s a saying in the Mortal Realm for an impossibly attractive man.”

“Oh…?” Rina replied, confused. Caisey thought she was cute and nuzzled his face in her hair until she giggled.

“Okay, so Lord Baldr came and…?” Caisey urged after several seconds had passed while no one stopped him from teasing Rina.

“Nothing super spectacular, actually! He said Don seemed rash and idiotic and that I’d be better off with someone calm and just like him," Lisa said, "so he formally issued a duel against Don.”

A deep silence followed Lisa’s last statement and Caisey watched their faces, waiting for more. When more details were never offered, he swiped his hands across the air like scissors and asked, “Cut? End of story?”

“Yup.” They all three said in unison, and Caisey frowned.

They're all surprisingly dumb if they think I won't find that quick answer suspicious. He then thought about the goblets of drink they had been pouring out when he’d discovered them. It sent him reeling back to how betrayed he'd felt at that moment and he said, "Alright. 

“You’re all liars and I want you out now.”

“Nooo, alright, alright! We’ll tell you.” Rina exclaimed hastily. “It’s all Lisa’s fault.”

“What?!” Lisa cried as Don burst out laughing and Rina continued.

“She told Lord Baldr they couldn’t have a battle now because they’d be returning to the Mortal Realm shortly, so YOU could be the one to compete in Don’s place, as his best friend! And since the battle couldn’t happen right away, he just, sort of, gave us drinks to… seal the deal…and we drank them?”

The rage Caisey had worked so hard to quell exploded out of him like a rush of hot lava. He felt this one in his bones.

“WHAAAT?!” He roared.