BISEXUAL'S FOLLY

Zanya, heavy sleeper, usually means that unfortunately unless Malavai actually bolts upwards or physically moves around, he probably won’t immediately wake unless he’s on the edge of a REM cycle already. Still, if he does, he does the same thing he does to Theron. Asks him what he was dreaming about, what managed to get him, why he was scared. Malavai is equally cagey about this, and probably a little ashamed he woke her, but sometimes shares. Sometimes doesn’t, and reassures her he’ll be fine. She doesn’t always believe him, but lets him doze back off once his heart rate has calmed down a little. Theron tends to be a far lighter sleeper in comparison, so if Malavai wakes, he’s probably also up. True terror is not common place on the Major, so more often than not he’s already trying to doze back off by the time Theron gets his bearings. If it is that bad though, he usually goes for reassuring him. He’s fine. Whatever happened there, he’s here with them and they’ll be fine. He’s one of the few people that’s ever seen those piercing blue eyes soften so much around the edges searching his face for truth, and watching them flutter close once he seems satisfied by what Theron’s said to him.

As for the flip side, Malavai had quite a while before the expacs to learn Zanya’s tells. If he’s having a nightmare, it’s obvious enough, and he wakes to catch him just before he falls out of it. He knows Zanya is a very physical person, so usually, if he can get him to listen at first, they’ll cycle through a breathing exercise or two until his eyes glaze back over into reality. If not, he just holds him very close until he’s calmed down some, letting himself be used as an anchor point. In Theron’s case, he’s more likely to just hear him out. Sometimes that’s all he needs, to be able to hear out loud what happened, and the fact that it either hasn’t come to pass, will not come to pass, or already has. Logic doesn’t often rule over these two, but if he’s truly that scared, Malavai will help him remember rather kindly that it wasn’t real. That he’s okay, and that he’s here for him.

👀 Who gets jealous more easily & how obvious are they about it?

I want to say that jealousy is in pretty short supply considering they’re relatively stable later on, that and everyone involved is well into adulthood with far bigger problems to deal with than getting bothered by anyone who looks even in the vicinity of their partner. They trust each other, and have no intentions of upending that trust. It isn’t very often that jealousy crops up at all, in that case, because they have very little to worry about in the sense that someone might come between them. They’ve been through too much together to even consider it.

… I’d say that if everyone involved weren’t also wildly petty at times. Zanya is overtly petty, Malavai and Theron are a little more subtle about it. Specifically just pettiness, not insecurity in their relationship. If someone gets a little too close to their lover, then you can see the cogs start turning on how to get back at the offender. There has been many a function that Cele has been requested to hold a drink by his brother or Lana has realized Theron is gone before she turns around again. Par for the course unfortunately.

This is never annoyance back towards the partner who got hit on, but moreso that if they can reasonably, they’ll marginally ruin someone else’s day if it bothers them enough.

Zanya in particular has been known before to perhaps advise interested parties in leaving his partners alone, lest they want a reprisal from the Alliance — and his expression is usually enough to convince them. He’s … a little bit (HA!) possessive and isn’t exactly afraid to show it or all that ashamed of his actions. He’s scary to encounter when he puts himself between someone who hits on Malavai or Theron, and it’s pretty hard for anyone else to get a word in edgewise once he lays down the law.

Malavai weighs his options usually, whether it’s worth getting involved if someone has their eye on Zanya or Theron. Most of the time it isn’t, especially if it’s innocent or that person simply didn’t know they were spoken for. Sussing someone out isn’t that hard in that case, and he’s pretty decent at reading people. He’ll stay his hand, and wander a little closer to be in a polite distance of them just in case. But the older (and bolder) he gets (especially after he’s married), if someone is clearly attempting to get under their skin after being rebuffed, he’ll neatly set himself at their side and be overly polite to them. Overly cordial. Overly courteous. Overly obvious about who he is to them. And if that doesn’t work; well he has enough lingering knowledge on most Imperial leaders to have very particular threats at his disposal, as well as an ability to get certain people … removed from their positions if necessary. They’ll catch the hint, even if it smacks them clean like a brick only after they walk away.

Theron certainly is the one who doesn’t immediately jump to presumptions of guilt, but he’s also very observant. He’ll pick up on the fact Zanya is being flirted with or that Malavai has an admirer or two long before they do. He’s more obvious than Malavai, particularly quick to take their hand or put himself in their personal space to get someone else to back off. If they don’t, he tends to make use of more tech-related consequences … and perhaps runs his mouth a little if they really step to him. He’s not exactly above a few well-places insults if he feels they’re necessary. And really, he could probably take someone if they decided to get physical. Most of the time, someone’s red in the face for being called out first and simply leaves on their own.

As for the scale on who gets more jealous, it goes Zanya - Theron - Malavai and the gap between Zanya and his husbands is far larger than between them. Not that he’s exactly proud of it and the trait is enigmatic to him, he feels weird about it when he’s someone that gets rather ruffled whenever someone insinuates he belongs to them. But he likes belonging with Theron and Malavai, which is the only way he can explain that reaction. He didn’t survive all this to have someone get a bright idea about his lovers and then do nothing about it. Zanya also just … is like that. If he feels slighted he will act upon it, stars help him.

🍳 Who cooks & who sets off the smoke alarm trying to help?

Cooking skills go Malavai - Theron - Zanya.

Malavai I think can cook just fine. He learned to while he was in Imperial military training, can make anything from basic MREs to rather complex dishes as long as he has a recipe. He learned out of necessity as a young adult, it meant that he was fully independent and capable, nowadays he’s able to do it for amusement. It’s a lot nicer when he’s not cooking a lonely dinner for one between deployments, and instead is pondering just how much cheese he could theoretically get away with for his husbands instead. The answer is quite a lot, if you were curious.

Theron I think can cook, just has an attention problem (handshaking him). Like he needed to know how to cook, again out of necessity, but he never really got around to learning anything beyond the basics when he was younger. He eats a lot of takeout when things get really busy, but probably also is more than happy to sustain himself on easy staples too. He just also only knows how to multitask, so often his food is the victim of hours of spontaneous work. He’s probably eaten some cold rice or stew or soup before because he forgot about it, and stars knows his apartment is probably a gravesite of quite a few mugs of cold caf. But he can do it. If he’s not pulled away for something else first.

Zanya can’t really cook. He never learned how to, and never needed to know how to. The Baize family had servants and also droids to do that kind of work, so he never set foot in the kitchens. The little blade of Lioran’s had bigger things to learn about. Not that he’s particularly clueless, Zanya can learn anything as long as he has instructions, but man. Is he bad at math. I don’t think the man should ever bake, considering he takes most recipes as vague suggestions rather than hard and fast rules. He knows what he likes to eat and has an okay understanding of the end product, and presumes he can just do whatever to get to said end product.

Cue the fire alarm.