"Your castle is so cool!" Kibitoshin said as he continued to gaze in awe at the aquarium. "Everything's so…posh."

"Yeah, well, it is my planet you're stood on. Anyway, you're early."

"We never said a time, so I just turned up when I was ready. You didn't have to rush, I've been having a great time just looking at everything."

"Haven't you been here before?" Beerus asked, trying to remember.

"Shin came here a couple of times, but not for long, and usually on business. He didn't have time to look at it all."

Beerus wondered if it was mainly Kibito talking now. He was starting to pick up on the times Kibitoshin recalled past events and whether he used first or third person when talking about them. "So what's your favourite thing about my humble abode?"

"Well at first I thought it was the shape of your planet. Then I thought it was your castle built into the tree, but now I'm thinking I should get a tank like this installed in the temple."

"It spans three floors, you know."

Kibitoshin pressed his face to the glass and looked up and down, trying to gauge the size more accurately. "Wow…"

"So, why did you want to come here? Just to check out my sick surroundings?"

"No. We're hanging out. Except not at mine. Maybe we can go for a dip in your lake – I noticed you had one."

"Yeah, let's not. I have things living in there, having a good time without us disturbing them."

"Oh, cool! Let's go and see then."

"It's really not that interesting. Are you telling me you didn't have anything in mind before you got here?"

Kibitoshin shrugged. "No. But it's fun doing stuff together, right? Say, where's Whis? He's fun too."

"Mmm, isn't he just? So fun that he's gone off to Earth for a lunch date with a human."

"A date? That's not with you?"

It was Beerus's turn to shrug. "Yeah. Apparently Whis has to go and taste-test first so I don't get mad if I don't like it. Well, that's the bullshit Whis tried to feed me. I reckon the humans are scared of me. Then why invite Whis at all? Why not just forget about us? They're up to something…"

"Goku's not scared of you, surely?"

"I doubt it, but the others? You bet your ass they are. I bet they're trying to sweeten us up or something."

"Well, it doesn't matter. I'm glad I finally have you alone." Kibitoshin's smile was closer to a smirk and it made Beerus wonder if he'd been taken in by the sweet exterior he'd seen so far.

"Why'd you need me alone? We've been alone before – by the lake, under your tree…"

"Not really alone. Always someone not too far away…" Kibitoshin was rather close now, and Beerus stepped back, finding himself pressed up against the table. "But now…"

"I have an oracle fish that lives here too!" Beerus said a little too loudly, but the fish in question didn't come running, nor did that seem to deter the kai.

"That sounds quite useful. I wonder if I could ask it some questions about the future… But you've never mentioned it before, whereas you and Whis… Never apart."

"He literally exists to keep me on the straight and narrow."

"I know, but tell me…" Kibitoshin put a hand on top of Beerus's which was gripping the table behind him.

"Alright, enough!" Beerus pushed the kai away. "Have you fucking forgotten what personal space is? Has your sudden growth spurt made you lose all sense of THAT'S TOO FUCKING CLOSE?" Beerus took a deep breath and ran a hand over his head. This is the one person he needed to not lose his cool with.

"Sorry, I didn't realise how touchy – well, how not touchy you are. We've never really been close enough for me to know. But I assumed it was alright after watching you and Whis."

"Bad assumption; you're not Whis." Beerus stood there, arms folded. Kibitoshin worried his plan wasn't going to pan out.

"So, you and Whis…?"

"What? Just spit it out." His tone was harsh.

"Are you an item?"

Beerus squinted at the kai. God he wished Whis was here so they could exchange some kind of bemused glance. "What's it to you?"

"I, uh…" Ah, no, he wasn't meant to be the one blushing. "Obviously I didn't want to…to intrude."

"You're being so weird. I think I preferred it when you were just here to have fun."

"Hey, it's not like you're completely innocent either."

Beerus was now really confused. "What…? You're really confusing me now. Are you having parts of this conversation internally or something?"

Kibitoshin frowned and then drew himself up to full height and reclosed the gap between them. His confidence left him at the last moment and he chose to press his lips against Beerus's cheek rather than his lips as planned. As soon as it was over his legs felt like jelly and he moved away quickly, worried he'd receive a blow from one of Beerus's limbs.

Beerus's frown deepened and his brow furrowed as he stared across the space at the kai. What? Where had this come from? Had he missed something? Had he been completely oblivious to signals in their previous meetings?

So this is why Kibishin was suddenly so interested in him? Was this a result of the fusion? Was it one or both that liked him a bit more than they should? Wait. Did the kai want more? What did the kai want? Why? I mean, of course he thought himself a hot piece of ass, but there hadn't been anything to suggest…had there?

"Say something…" Kibitoshin whispered. The silent stare was killing him.

"The fuck?" It's not like he had a problem with his kai wanting to kiss him – it was quite flattering to know. But he just couldn't understand why.

Wait. What if Kibishin thought he was interested too? That's what he'd meant by 'not being innocent either,' right? He had been the one touching Kibishin's muscles and staring at him for long periods, saying nothing. Maybe it had all been misinterpreted.

As Beerus's thoughts fizzled out, he realised that he was waiting for Kibishin to explain himself. But at the same time, the kai was waiting for more from Beerus. The kai certainly handled the silence well, and Beerus wondered if his thoughts were keeping him as well occupied.

"Alright, I'll start," Beerus said. "Why did you do that?"

"Because…I felt like it."

Beerus wanted to grab the kai and shake him for that ridiculous answer. "No. You're going to answer my question properly."

Kibitoshin looked up and caught the glare Beerus was directing at him. "Y-yes! I like you… Shin's always liked you… But I never had the courage to do anything, but now I'm me… Well, I thought I'd just give it a go!"

"Good. And what were you expecting?"

"Well, you haven't hit me yet, so that's good."

Was that so? This was a new level of bravery then. Or perhaps he was now smart enough to realise Beerus wouldn't dare raise a hand against his kai in anything other than a joking manner.

"Could I trouble you for your thoughts, Lord Beerus?"

"You intrigue me, kai."

"Is that all?" Kibitoshin asked when he realised he wasn't getting more. "Why are you so cryptic?"

"Excuse me for taking a bit of time to figure out what the fuck to say or do next." People didn't come on to the God of Destruction like this. At least, not people he actually had to see again. It had been many, many moons since anyone had made any kind of move like this with him. He certainly didn't try and find himself in such situations, and even when he suspected someone was looking at him in any way other than in fear, he made sure to radiate his most repulsive aura.

But Kibishin was an exception. A very unexpected exception.

"Look, maybe we should just keep this professional," Beerus said at long last.

Kibitoshin sighed, loud enough that it couldn't be missed. "No more hanging out then?"

"We can still 'hang out' if you want. I guess it must be kind of annoying to only have that old bastard back on your planet. I never could stand him either."

The other was smiling once more. "Oh good! But maybe I will think more about unfusing. It's not proving to be as useful as we thought."

"You've been together for like a day," Beerus exaggerated, "I haven't finished having my fun with you."

Ooo

"You wanted to see the lake, right?"

"I thought you said it wasn't interesting."

Beerus began to walk in that direction. "Well I thought about it a bit more and realised that maybe it would be to you. Creation gods like creatures, right? You'll love the lake then. Just watch out for the water dragon."

Kibitoshin was surprised by how still the lake was despite what was said to be living in it. Did Beerus's presence make the creatures stop in fear? Would they all surface if he'd come with Whis instead? He wondered if Whis fed them or if they lived off each other – it wasn't a large lake after all.

"I'm not getting in this time," Beerus said, making a point of sitting on a tree stump not too far away, but far enough that there was no way he could be pulled in.

"Is there a reason?" Kibitoshin began to undress, and Beerus was surprised once again by how confidently he did so.

"I don't like getting wet unless it's for bathing purposes, that's all."

Kibitoshin slipped in and stood stiff as a board in the shallow end. "It's freezing!"

"Don't know what you expected. Water's cold. Even more reason why I had no interest in joining you. I like my baths hot."

"I'll adjust." He moved his legs to get the blood pumping again. Then he went for it, submerging the rest of his body as he began to swim out into the centre of the lake.

Clearly the creatures of this lake preferred to live below the surface, or perhaps they were not fond of intruders. He had to dive under to see any of the fish that inhabited it.

"There are silver fish!" he called out. "They catch the light nicely!"

Beerus wondered if Kibishin believed he didn't know what was in the lake. Of course he'd put all the species in there. Suddenly the kai was pulled under the water and Beerus almost moved from his seat before realising that it was probably the dragon having a bit of fun. But Kibishin didn't resurface and Beerus found himself getting a little worried. The kai could breathe under water, right? Actually, that was a fact he didn't know. He'd never asked, he'd never needed to know.

He shot over to the spot where Kibishin had gone under, but the water was too dark to see anything not immediately under the surface. So he stuck an arm in – nothing. Beerus groaned, wishing Whis was around to send in and do his dirty work. He dived in, creating a ball of energy to light his way. More balls of energy, lighting the whole lake as he went so he could locate his kai quicker. He zoomed around until he spotted the lavender man, coming out of a small cave he hadn't known existed. The kai had a bubble of air around his head and Beerus exhaled what was left in his lungs, quickly rushing to the surface. Kibishin joined him moments later.

"I thought you weren't getting in?"

"You were under for too long. I thought you might have been drowning!"

Kibitoshin laughed at the idea. "It'd take a lot to drown me in this lake. That dragon of yours knows all the good places. It has quite a collection of random things that have fallen into the lake over the years."

Beerus huffed and ascended out of the water, immediately pulling off his shoes – how had he not thought to at least take them off?

"Aw, you really were worried about me, huh?" Kibitoshin was swimming back with him, the fun clearly over now.

"Look at it this way, if you had drowned in my lake I would have been the laughing stock of all the universes. So yeah, I was worried about you – a bit! But mainly about my image."

"It's okay to admit you were worried."

"Whatever. I'm going to get changed." He flew off at speed.

Kibitoshin gathered his clothes before flying after him.

While Beerus disappeared off to his room, Kibitoshin gave the plants on the balcony a water by wringing out his hair and sash on them. He materialised a bush and began to comb out the knots in his hair, regretting that he hadn't tied it up before diving in.

"D'you want some help?" Beerus asked as he walked through the doors no longer looking like a wet cat.

"Oh… If you want to, that is…"

Beerus pulled up a chair next to him and put out a hand. Kibitoshin created a second brush which Beerus immediately put to use on the hair that hadn't yet been seen to.

"Is this okay?" Beerus asked as he went through a particularly difficult knot.

"Yes, you're being more delicate than I thought you would."

"I wouldn't want to rip this beautiful hair out." Truthfully he didn't have a reference for how much force he should be putting into this, seeing as he'd never owned a head of hair, but he knew all too well how easy it was to rip the stuff off someone else's head.

"Beautiful?"

"So fluffy – when it's dry. And so much of it. I'll admit I've thought it would make a good place to curl up and nap."

"You – you can if you want."

"Yeah, well you've got a lot of drying to do before that happens."

"Whis will be back with lunch soon, right?"

As if on command Beerus's stomach rumbled. "God I hope so."