Cautiously, they reached out and pressed two fingers to his left butt cheek. He watched them, shaking with laughter, and they grimaced.
“Good or bad?” he asked between chuckles.
“Bad, I think. It is… hmm… I do not know. It is your backside.”
“Yup,” he said.
“It is strange,” they said.
“Okay,” he said.
“Do you want to touch my backside?” they asked curiously, and his crooked grin they had come to adore sharpened into the flirtatious smile that made them tingle in all the good ways.
“I most certainly do.”
Somehow, they had not expected that answer, and they squeaked, jaw dropping. He winked at them, and their body flushed hot under their skin.
“You absolute brute,” they said, but he only laughed.
He had not touched their backside. Not yet. But he had touched them in other places. When he passed them by the stove, a palm on the small of their back. Hands on their hips to move them aside so he could grab something from a cupboard they were blocking. Fingers foxtrotting down their chest when they lay on the couch with their head in his lap.
On some level, it frightened them how quickly they adjusted to the physical intimacy. If they were a good Mantodea, they would slow things down, but perhaps they were not a good Mantodea, after all. Maybe they never had been.
Though, Bryce seemed to like them just as they were, and they liked him so very much.
They liked him so much, in fact, that they had even started hugging, and Zef discovered that they liked hugging very much. The first time had been when Bryce officially asked them for courtship. It was a Friday after a particularly hectic week at work because Rusty and Gem were on vacation and their newest hire, an Ophys named Abi, was still in training, so Zef had been sent to Greed to support Oliver.
Working the register was not their strong suit, and they were in a cramped foreign space, surrounded by demanding corporate customers in suits. How they had made it through the week without a meltdown couldonly be attributed to their poise and grace. And Oliver, who was genuinely a lovely and supportive coworker.
After closing the Greed location at three, Zef had never been more grateful to take refuge at home. They immediately showered and donned their muumuu, then turned on their newest fixation series,How It’s Made, as they ate the last slice of the last cake left from their fertility cycle.
It was on the stale side, but they did not care. They wanted the sugar rush.
Which was how Bryce found them an hour later.
“Hey, baby, how was work?” he asked as he passed behind them, giving their ponytail a tug.
“Terrible, but I have survived it because I, according to Nan, am a strong and independent woman,” they deadpanned, and Bryce chortled. “I may not be a woman, but I connect with the sentiment. Would you like to watch how springs are made? It is utterly fascinating.”
“I’m gonna shower, so knock yourself out.”
“I have never understood that saying,” they called as the bathroom door shut. “Why would knocking myself unconscious ever be good advice?”
Since Bryce was already in the shower, he did not answer, and Zef focused back on their show.
When he joined them on the couch a half hour later, he smelled strongly of their homemade soap and the musky deodorant he used. He paused their show, and they shot him a glare.
“I was watching that.”
“I know, but I have something important to ask you,” he said, hands fidgeting with a small box.
“Can it not wait until the episode is over?” they asked, and he scowled at them.
“I promise this’ll be quick,” he said flatly, and Zef sighed but turned to face him on the couch. He handed them the box, and they took it. “This is for you.”
The sound of many small objects rattled inside, and Zef unwrapped the packaging warily. “It is not my hatchday.”
“I know,” Bryce said as he reached behind the couch armrest to grab something out of sight. As he settled back on the cushion, he was holding a manilla folder and a small pot with a pinkvivarynplant, and Zef froze.
