Chapter Text
When Kevin Kaslana closed his eyes, he hadn't expected to be able to open them again.
There were few things he committed to memory before resigning himself to eternal sleep, the soft expression on his wife's face, the warmth and softness of her hands, and the gentle breeze that carried the faint scent of grass and wildflowers. Ah, if only Su were once again by his side, his old friend would have loved this sight dearly-
When he opened his eyes again, he wasn't in that field of grass and wildflowers with Mei by his side. He found himself in a quiet library, the gentle light from the glass lamps on the wall the only light visible. The sound of paper being crumbled caught his attention, and he looked to one darkened corner of the unfamiliar room and found- "Su?"
The man he had address as Su stilled in the middle of rolling up what he could see to be a scroll, before turning to face him with a single piercing pink and gray eye. "Did you say something?"
He gulped as he took into the man's form, his long mint-colored hair, that gray and pink-pupiled eye, and the black and teal suit (uniform) he was wearing. The more Kevin's eyes traced his form, the more he could see the tiny little differences that made it clear this wasn't Su that was in front of him. Well, not his Su from his world anyway. Su had told him about the myriad worlds and how he had found alternate versions of him, or Kevin, of Mei and all their colleagues in them. If he had fallen into eternal slumber a moment before, then perhaps this was fate granting his soul peace by meeting with one of the myriad Su's in the myriad worlds. Perhaps even one who was missing his Kevin, as he was missing his Su. "Su," he repeated with a nod of his head, certain of his logic. "It is good to see you again old friend."
This version of Su narrowed his eyes before setting the scroll in his hands aside with a heavy toss. Kevin felt his mouth go dry as the man stalked towards him with all the grace of a natural predator, something dark and dangerous in his eyes. (Su was always a beautiful man, he would have been blind not to notice it, but like this-) "I think you may have mistaken me for someone, stranger. My name is Anaxagoras, please do not shorten it to Anaxa-"
"-Su," he said again, dumbly.
"-and please do not interrupt me like those imbeciles I have the pleasure of teaching and calling colleagues." Su Anaxa affixed him with a considering glare. The gloved hand reached under his chin to turn his head this way and that before releasing it before Kevin could stop him. "You do look an awful lot like Phainon, but that must be due to your unique phenotype-" Phainon, he stored that name away for later, that must be this Su's Anaxa's version of Kevin. "-very rarely do we see people with blue eyes and white hair around here, but, no, you are clearly older than that pup and-" Here the man paused with a perplexed expression. "-your body temperature is much lower than any normal human's and, now that I think on it, the air around you is several degrees colder than normal. Fascinating." The man turned and stepped away from him. "Anyway, I can say for certain that we have never met before and I certainly am not your old fri-"
Kevin found himself grabbing onto the man's upper arm and dragging him into his embrace. "Su," his whispered against soft strands of light green hair. "I know you are not him but you are a version of him," he continued when the man began to protest. "I missed you, Su," he said as he pressed a kiss against the man's crown. "At the end, when it was just Mei and I, I wished to see you one last time." He spun the man around so they were facing each other, breaths intermingling in the chilly air and chests pressed tightly against one another. "I always wondered if you were okay after I tossed you out of that bubble universe, and to know that you, or a version of you, is still alive is all I could ask for." He leaned his head closer to the other man's. "I missed you, Su." He claimed the other man's lips and was please to note he wasn't immediately rejected. When he managed to pull a shocked gasp from his partner, and hesitant lips began to move against his, he began to move them out of the library.
...
The rest they, say, is history, but it was rather fortunate that Anaxa's room was close to the room he had initially found himself in.
...
Once upon a time there was a blue eyed samoyed puppy.
He lived alone until he chanced upon the grove of scholars and one, a lonely man with soft mint-colored hair that he loved to play with, took him in. The man gave him a bath so that his muddy fur shone a soft white, gave him many delicious puppy treats so that his body filled out and he no longer looked emaciated, and even taught the puppy the gift of language so that he could make friends with the other scholars and people in of the grove.
The samoyed puppy loved his owner, the man who taken a dirty, starving puppy into his home and cared for him when few others did, dearly, and he always remembered the man even when it was time for grown puppies to leave their homes to seek their destiny elsewhere.
In the big city outside the grove, he met a brave lion cub, a shy butterfly, and a trio of children who laughed and played with him. And, yet, whenever he found himself alone, he found himself missing the man who had given him so much at a time he had so little.
So every once in a while, when no one was looking, he would undertake the dangerous journey from the big city back to the grove so that he tell the scholar about all the wonderful adventures he had had, and his new friends. (And, also, to indulge in a nice bath, and delicious food, and snuggles with his owner.)
On this day, he traveled back to the grove with a new set of tales to tell his scholar only to find in the scholar's comfortable little nook-
...
There was a man in Professor Anaxa's bed.
Rage bloomed on Phainon's face as he took in the sight, the basket of treats he had brought from Castorice and Mydei dropping to the ground with a heavy thud.
There was a man on Professor Anaxa's bed, and he was naked.
Beneath the man, he heard the soft that could only come from Professor Anaxa and that's when he noticed his professor crushed under the man's solid form. (His professor was naked too.)
He stormed forward before he could even realize what he was doing.
...
-there was a white wolf sleeping in his usual place by the scholar's side.
...
Kevin Kaslana woke to someone yanking the sheets off of him and trying to drag him out of bed. Confused by the sudden action, he blinked up to look at someone wearing his own face. (Or his own face if he were younger and his irises were not quite normal.) "Wha-" The young man punched him as hard as he could in the face only to yelp as his fist came into contact with his subzero temperature skin. Still, the doppelganger had quite the punch on him and he held his hand up to his cheek with a wince. Somewhere beneath, and off to his side, his bed companion began to rouse.
"What's going on," the mint haired man who looked so much like Su slurred out.
"Professor! There's a strange man in your bed!" Ignoring the doppelganger, Kevin looked over at his companion with a soft gaze and leaned over to press a kiss just above his ear. "Did he hurt you at all! I swear if it-"
"-I went to bed with him," S- Anaxagoras said as he let his eyes fall closed and his head drift back to the pillow. Kevin gave the other version of him one flat look before turning to curl up against his bed companion. "It was consensual." Anaxagoras giggled as he nuzzled his neck, he made a mental note that his companion was ticklish there, and he settled down for a nice nap while completely ignoring the raging fury of the younger alternate version of himself behind them. (It was too early for this, couldn't they discuss this in another hour when they were more awake.)
...
And try as the samoyed puppy might, he could not dislodge the white wolf from the scholar's side.
The End.(?)