"...the important thing is," said Io, to no one in particular, "the important thing is... is cost-benefit analysis. Where or... whether or not the thing you want is want what... worth what you pay for it." He hiccuped, blinked a few times, and said, "Excuse me. What was I sayin'?"

"Dunno," said Ryuu cheerfully. He looked at Akoya. "What was he talkin' about? Wasn't listening."

Akoya only shrugged and snuggled down more comfortably into the heap of pillows, feeling content and delightfully decadent, and really in no mood to do much moving or thinking. Io and Ryuu had done a very fine job setting up this little party. Io had supplied the food, setting up a miniature version of the scene at the dessert shop in his own home. Then he'd created a cozy little place for the three of them to enjoy it in, rearranging one of the mountains of satin and velvet cushions that were strewn around his house to create a sort of pillow-valley with their picnic arranged at the center. Ryuu had produced several bottles of wine from somewhere. Even Io didn't seem to know where he'd gotten them - his only comment on the subject was that Ryuu had a knack for finding the best. The end result had been one of the most delightful meals Akoya had ever eaten, even if the conversation had become rather disjointed at some point.

"You should listen to me," said Io indistinctly. "I'm talkin' about very important... stuff." He attempted to refill his glass, missed, and splashed wine onto the floor. He glared at it, and it obligingly peeled itself off the carpet and dropped into his glass with a plop.

Ryuu laughed. "Oh, sure, do it the hard way."

He picked up his own bottle, made an effort to align it with his glass, then gave up with a shrug. He raised the bottle to his lips and tipped it back to swig the last few gulps. The movement made him overbalance, and he toppled backwards onto the pillows with a laugh and an exclamation of "Whee!" The bottle rolled out of his hand to rest near several other similarly empty bottles scattered on the floor around them. Akoya regarded him with detachment.

"You," he said, "are drunk."

Ryuu laughed again. "Well, yeah. What d'you think I was tryin' to do?"

Akoya did not bother to dignify that with a reply. Instead, he gazed thoughtfully at the nearly empty plate in front of him. He had taken a particular liking to a confection that Io had told him was called a macaron - colorful meringues filled with buttercream or jam in a variety of flavors. As soon as his companions had realized his preference, they'd willingly turned the plate of them over to him as his sole property, obligingly confining themselves to their own favorite treats. There was only one macaron left on the tray now, and he wondered if he wanted it. On the one hand, it was a shame to waste it, and he was supposed to be indulging himself. On the other hand, he already felt rather as if he'd bleed buttercream if someone cut him. Although, he reflected dreamily, he had no idea if gods even had blood. He'd never seen anyone cut one of them. He wasn't really sure what was beneath his skin anymore. Buttercream seemed as likely as anything. The idea of gods walking around with sugary fillings struck him as tremendously funny, and he began to giggle. Io and Ryuu looked at him quizzically.

"What's funny?" Io asked.

"I'm a macaron," Akoya explained.

"Ah." Io nodded as if this were a perfectly reasonable idea.

"That's okay," said Ryuu dreamily. "You can be a macaron if you want to. I'll still love you. I love everybody." He flung his arms out wide, as if to embrace the whole world, and narrowly missed smacking Io. Io gave him an accusatory look.

"You're not supposed to love everyone," he said. "What about me?"

"Love you too," said Ryuu, and proceeded to prove it by grabbing the front of Io's robes and pulling him down for a prolonged and enthusiastic kiss. Akoya watched, frowning slightly. The two of them didn't seem inclined to come up for air any time soon.

"Stop ingnor... ingning..." His tongue got tangled, and he backed up and tried again. "Pay 'tention to me!"

Ryuu pulled away from his partner and looked at Akoya as if he'd momentarily forgotten he was there. Then his expression cleared, and he smiled that world-brightening smile. He held out his hand in an obvious invitation. Without thinking, Akoya stood to accept it.

And immediately realized that this had been a bad idea. His legs were simply refusing to hold him up, never mind the dangers inherent in crossing the obstacle course of empty plates and half-eaten cakes in front of him. He stumbled and began to fall, but Ryuu and Io reached up to catch him, so that instead of falling on his face, he was lowered more or less gently to settle onto the pillows between them. That was fine by him. He was quite comfortable where he was, supported by soft cushions and warm bodies. Ryuu tugged him close and kissed him with lips that were still sticky with wine and cherries. The first time they had kissed, he had been holding back, keeping himself reined in. Now he was too far gone to remember to control himself, but Akoya's nerves were dulled enough by the alcohol that the sensation was enjoyable without being overwhelming. He closed his eyes and made a little noise of contentment. Io draped an arm around his waist and began drowsily nuzzling his neck. He turned towards the touch and began to return the favor. Io smelled nice, he thought, like sandalwood and amber. Ryuu always smelled sweet, like cherries and roses. He didn't even need to open his eyes to tell them apart anymore. That was nice. He didn't want to open his eyes. He just wanted to lie there, enjoying the sense of their presence - Ryuu's warm and vibrant, Io's steady and reassuring. It was so nice just to be close to them, to have them holding and protecting him. He'd have happily stayed there forever if he could.

"Are you really going to marry me?" he asked drowsily.

"Sure," Ryuu murmured in his ear. "Whatever you want."

"You promise?" Akoya asked.

"Whatever you want," Ryuu said again.

"Oh," said Akoya. He nestled down a little more comfortably. "That's good."

Then he slept.

When he at last awoke, he found himself alone, and was not certain at all if that was a disappointment or not. He was still lying in his nest of pillows, but someone had tucked an embroidered counterpane over him. It smelled faintly of Io's amber and sandalwood presence. Akoya pulled it more snugly over himself and gave himself over to some serious thinking.

Ryuu and Io had been right about one thing, anyway: the excesses of the previous night did not seem to have taken any particular toll on him. He felt a little groggy, but no more than he might have felt if he'd stayed up too late and overslept. It was the sort of grogginess that could be cleared away easily enough just by getting up and moving around, and perhaps splashing some cold water on his face. Physically, he felt perfectly fine.

Mentally was another story. Looking back at the previous night was enough to make him feel profoundly uncomfortable. What had he been thinking? He simply did not behave like that. He had lived his whole life endlessly watching himself, making certain of every move, never allowing himself to show his true feelings or do anything that might give anyone any sort of power over him. He never did anything that would embarrass himself, or do anything that could be seen as less than elegant and gracious. He did not gorge himself on sugar, or get falling-down drunk, or fall asleep in the arms of other men. He should have been horrified at the very idea, and yet he'd done it all without the slightest hesitation, only the gleeful anticipation of someone offered a normally forbidden treat. Why hadn't he balked? Why hadn't he made some excuse and found a way out of it? Surely if he'd merely wanted to experiment with such things, he could have done it all just as easily in the privacy and comfort of his own room.

No matter how he turned the matter over in his own mind, there was really only one conclusion: because he trusted Io and Ryuu. It had never once crossed his mind that they would think less of him for his behavior. It had never occurred to him that they might use those unguarded moments to take advantage of him. He was reasonably certain that if he'd been at the point where he'd been matter-of-factly declaring himself to be a bakery product, they could have easily done anything they wanted with him without his being able to put up much of a fight. All they would have had to do was to pretend to drunkenness instead of actually becoming so, and he would have been at their mercy. And that last conversation...

Whatever you want.

Even in the depths of an alcohol-fueled haze, Akoya hadn't sunk so far as to blurt out a proposal, but it had been a very near thing. He had no doubt that if they had cared to take the matter to Aurite, he would have said that Akoya's question came close enough to count and he was going to have to go through with it now. Maybe they were off telling him about it at this very minute, but somehow, Akoya didn't think so. No matter how far gone he'd been last night, they hadn't laid hands on him in any way he hadn't invited, and when he'd made his poorly-considered remark, the only answer he'd gotten was a reassurance that it was all up to him. They had never treated him like a thing they could take. Even when he was at his most vulnerable, they had always treated him with kindness and respect.

I trust them. What a strange thought. He'd never trusted anyone before. He never would have let it happen, if he'd known where all this was leading. So much safer to be self-contained and self-reliant, to never give anyone a chance to hurt him. Yes, and so exhausting to never be able to let down his guard even for a moment...

Still in a pensive mood, he reluctantly pushed the blanket aside and took stock of his surroundings. The mess of the previous night had been cleared away, and all the pillows except for the ones he'd been lying on had been put back in their original configuration. There was now a little lacquered end table sitting a few feet away from him, with a folded sheet of paper on it. The sight of it gave him a little flicker of apprehension, but he pushed it down. Now was not the time to start imagining scenarios of the sort where the people he'd been hesitantly coming to trust had decided they no longer wanted to see any more of him and couldn't even stand to look him in the face long enough to tell him so. He picked up the note and read it.

The note, written in an exuberant handwriting that he guessed was Ryuu's, said that he and Io were sorry to have missed him but had been called away on business - something about a pair of star-crossed lovers whose reunion in the afterlife needed overseeing - but that the gifts they'd given him had already been bundled up and sent back to his suite, and there was breakfast on the kitchen table if he wanted it. It went on further to reassure him that they had both thoroughly enjoyed themselves last night and hoped that they would be spending time with him again soon. He relaxed. Apparently whatever they remembered of last night, it was nothing that would stop them from thinking well of him. He folded the note and tucked it in a pocket. He was sorry to leave, but he knew it was time to go. He had some serious thinking to do.

He did not go straight back to his rooms, not even to make sure that his parcels were where they were supposed to be. If Ryuu said they were there, they were there, and he had other things on his mind. Instead, he simply walked the streets of the Heavenly City, charting a random course through garden paths and tree-shaded boulevards, scarcely paying attention to his surroundings. No matter how glorious the city might be, it couldn't distract him from his thoughts.

It was almost an anticlimax when he rounded a corner and nearly walked into Aurite.

"There you are," said Aurite sharply. "Where have you been? You didn't go back to your rooms last night. Do you realize you're overdue for your two-week appointment?"

"My..." Akoya began. It took him a few seconds to remember what Aurite was talking about. Two weeks. He was supposed to report in every two weeks to tell him which names to eliminate from his list of potential suitors. "Oh. Yes. Of course. My apologies. I'm afraid I went to visit someone and our visit ran longer than anticipated."

Aurite raised an eyebrow, indicating that this was not an acceptable excuse. "I see. I hope you are ready to have our meeting now?"

"Yes. I mean, no," said Akoya. He took a breath and said, "Actually, I've made up my mind. I know who I'm going to choose."

Aurite looked a bit mollified at that. "Have you? That's good. I'm glad to hear it. Who are the lucky suitors?"

"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd prefer not to say," said Akoya. "I haven't properly asked them yet, and I would like them to be the first ones to know."

"I see," said Aurite. He didn't look entirely happy about this, but it was a reasonable request and he obviously wasn't going to object to it. "Well, don't put it off too long."

"No, of course not," said Akoya. "I'll do it today, definitely."

Aurite appeared satisfied with that. He wished Akoya a good morning and disappeared again, leaving Akoya to deal with his nerves alone.

Well, that's really done it now. What a fool I must be.

He sat down on the nearest bench and settled in to consider just how much of a fool he was. His ultimate conclusion was that yes, he was a fool, and not just for what he'd said to Aurite. All this time, he'd been telling himself he was putting off his engagement because he didn't want to make the wrong choice and find himself shackled to someone unworthy of him, but that had stopped being true a long time ago, if it had ever been true at all. Just when, he wondered, had he gone and fallen in love? Had it been the first time he'd woken up and found himself mesmerized by Io's eyes? The first time Ryuu had smiled his world-brightening smile at him? Had it been when Io had offered to be his friend without asking anything in return, and when Ryuu had shown him how easily it was possible to love someone even when they weren't perfect? Io had seen him sobbing his heart out, Ryuu had seen him too inebriated to stand up, and somehow his failings didn't seem to matter to them. There had never been a time when he hadn't wanted to be with them. There had only been doubt that they would want anything to do with him.

Why would they? What have I got to offer that they can't get from each other?

He spent a long time mulling over that question without coming to any solid conclusions. All he could say for certain was that he did want to do something for them. He wanted to make them happy. He had once thought that happiness was something like money, or any other possession - the best circumstances were those when people were giving you as much as possible while you gave back as little as you could manage in return. It was his work among the humans in his capacity as a god that had taught him that there was enjoyment to be had in making other people happy, even with no expectation of being repaid. Thinking of that gave him the first inkling of an idea. He considered it, tested it, and decided it was the best idea he was going to come up with on a deadline. Feeling more settled, he returned to his rooms to begin writing some messages.

About two hours later, Ryuu and Io arrived outside his rooms. Akoya had spent the intervening time bathing, changing into fresh clothes, and generally putting himself in order. He'd also been trying not to fret, and not doing very well at it. Still, he had a lifetime of experience in hiding his true thoughts to draw on, so when he opened his door, it was with a serene expression that betrayed nothing of his feelings.

"Hey," Ryuu greeted cheerfully. "We got your message. You wanted to see us?"

"Yes," he said. "I was hoping that you would be willing to join me for a walk. There's something I'd like to show you."

Io smiled. "How mysterious."

"All right. We have time," said Ryuu. "Where are we going?"

"Down to earth," said Akoya. "There's a project I've been working on. I would value your opinions."

"Let's go, then," said Ryuu.

Akoya nodded. "Follow me, then."

They left his rooms, and reappeared at the edge of Akoya's little hidden valley. He was rather pleased to see that it was drawing near sunset. After all the work he'd done, the valley was beautiful at any time of day, but he thought it displayed particularly well at sunset. The stones reflected the colors of the sky, making them gleam in pinks and golds, and the waterfalls sparkled with particularly vivid highlights. The fans of light that fell through the tree branches were especially dramatic, full of warm glows and soft shadows. He'd poured everything he had into this place, making it into something he could be proud of.

But now, as Io and Ryuu took their first steps into this private place of his, he felt a sudden qualm. It had all been fine when he was the only one here to see it, but now, imagining how it must look through someone else's eyes, he was sure he had been deluding himself. There was nothing to see here. This was an empty patch of weeds and rocks with a muddy creek in the middle. What possible interest could it hold to either of these two people? Io was the master of a land where the trees themselves grew jewels and the very paving stones were gems, the owner of a treasure trove that would have made mortal kings weep with envy. Ryuu's interests were in human beauty. What would he want with something like this? Any second now, they were going to turn and ask him where the surprise was, and he was going to have to try to explain, and they would listen so politely. It was going to be awful. He should never even have bothered to try...

"Wow," said Ryuu, turning in a little circle to take in the entire panorama. "Did you make this? It's amazing. Just look at this place!"

"It's enchanting," Io agreed softly. He knelt to admire a lacy-petaled flower, and laughed as a spray of sleeping butterflies emerged from the grass around him, whirling in a multicolored cloud before fluttering off to find somewhere more peaceful to rest.

Akoya felt himself glowing with pride and pleasure. "This is my place... my workroom, my studio. It's where I come to practice. I've been working on it for weeks. Do you really like it?"

"It's fantastic," Ryuu assured him. "I didn't think anything like this could even exist on earth."

"It must be very special to you," said Io. "Thank you for bringing us here."

"I wanted you to see it," said Akoya. He looked at both of them, and they looked back at him with matching expressions of admiration and pride. They weren't looking at him like a thing they thought they could win and claim. They were proud of him, proud to know someone who could do such a thing, proud to be entrusted by such a gift. No one had ever looked at him that way before. Quickly, before he could lose his nerve, he blurted, "I wanted to do something for you, because I think I'm in love with you, and I want to marry you."

They looked surprised. He felt surprised. He almost hadn't believed that he would have the nerve to ask. He watched as the two of them looked inquiringly at each other, wordlessly asking for the other's opinion.

"Please?" Akoya offered.

Ryuu laughed. "Don't look at us like that. Of course we're going to marry you! We've just been waiting for you to ask."

For a moment, Akoya couldn't say anything, couldn't do anything but stare at them. Had it really been that easy? But then they were rushing towards him, pulling him into a two-sided embrace, and it began to sink in for him that he had just asked them to marry him, that they had said yes, and that he was happy.

"How soon?" he asked. Any thoughts of putting things off any longer seemed ridiculous. It seemed to him that he'd already dragged things out for far too long.

"Right this minute, if you want," said Ryuu. "This would be the perfect place for it."

Akoya pulled away a little in surprise. "Really? Right now?"

"Why not?" asked Io, sounding amused. "Best not to waste time, yes?"

Ryuu nodded. "I am the god of love. If I say someone is married, they're married, and nobody can argue. You can have a big fancy ceremony later if you want, but all it takes to make it official is my say-so."

"Then do it now," said Akoya. "I don't want to wait a minute longer."

Ryuu laughed. "That eager? Well, I don't blame you."

He released his hold on Akoya and stepped back. He reached out one hand to take one of Io's, and held Akoya's with the other. Io reached out to take Akoya's free hand in his. A hush seemed to fall over the little valley. Ryuu raised his head, eyes bright, and Akoya thought he could see a glimpse of the true power that lay behind his easygoing facade.

"By my name and my power," he said, his voice ringing out in the still air, "I make us one - three minds, three names, but one heart. We are bound by a devotion that will not falter, a desire that will not fade, a love that will not end. This is our choice. So will it be."

He spoke the words with the cadence of some ancient ritual, something old and powerful. Akoya felt it take. A moment ago, he had been a single man; now that was over. He was part of a unit, and he would never be alone again - solitary, perhaps, but never lonely. The thought filled him with joy. There would be no more uncertainty, no more endless streams of people clamoring for his attention, only the love and companionship of the two people he had chosen above all others, and would have chosen had he been given all of time and space to choose from.

Then they both kissed him, each in turn, and that gave him something else more pressing to think about for a while.

"Hadn't we better tell Aurite about this?" asked Io at last, sounding a bit breathless.

"He already knows," said Akoya. He ran a hand through his hair, which had somehow gotten a bit disheveled in the last few minutes. "That is, I told him I would make my choice today. We can assume he knows I've kept my word, if not all the details. I'm sure it will be fine if we fill him in tomorrow." He cast a coy look at Ryuu. "I assume that at this point, the 'only one kiss' rule has been abandoned?"

Ryuu smiled, and this time, it was no longer a message to the world. It was directed just at him, and made Akoya feel warm down to the tips of his toes.

"You'd better believe it doesn't," he said. "You're absolutely right. Aurite can wait until tomorrow morning."

As it transpired, it was much later than that when they finally got around to telling Aurite anything. Fortunately for everyone, Aurite never bothered even trying to come ask them.

To Be Continued...