#oh and for extra context seren is playing rdo in the beginning :)

[sennamybeloved]

getting ready for bed.

✨ — ship: senna x lucian x seren (s/i)

✨ — cw: a very brief mention of weed.

✨ — summary: a polyamorous triad's antics as they get ready for bed. nothing too special.

✨ — from @timothymcgees’ drabblecember prompt list :) i really like this challenge and i plan on doing a few of these. this is way longer than a drabble is supposed to be, but that's... fine. reblogs are appreciated as always!

Seren always draws out her gaming sessions into the late hours of the evening—or all the way into the early hours of the morning if she can manage it. Even when she’s exhausted, demotivated and annoyed, she can’t bring herself to put the controller down.

This only becomes a problem when it’s very late and she has somewhere to be in the morning. She knows she needs to sleep, but five more minutes wouldn’t hurt, right? She just wants to take this bounty, or grab this last collectible, or buy a new saddle and maybe a new horse too. Then she’ll go to bed, she swears!

But alas, it’s never that simple. Her partners have to pry her away from the screen almost every single night.

Tonight, she predicts them. She’s mindlessly tapping away at her controller, slumped over in that old, dusty beanbag chair of hers when she hears Senna and Lucian begin to move around upstairs. She glances over at her phone, which sits on the floor beside her, to check the time. 11:20 PM. Yeah, okay. She needs to get off her ass and get ready for bed.

Senna, who’s already in her pajamas—a black tank top paired with colorful, fluffy pajama pants that have stars on them—comes down to the living room to collect her phone charger. As she passes Seren, she taps her on the shoulder, “C’mon. It’s time for bed.”

Seren groans in childlike annoyance, yet she’s very quick to stop what she’s doing and close out of the game. She’s exhausted, that much is obvious; she can barely keep her eyes open.

“When do we have to get up tomorrow?” She calls over her shoulder. She knows they have to go grocery shopping in the morning, so she knows the answer is early, but how early, exactly? She wants to gauge how screwed she is.

“Uhhh… like, eight.” She calls back, already on her way back up the staircase.

Okay. That’s not too bad. That’s like, uhm… more than 5 hours of sleep, she thinks.

Seren sighs through her nose. The end of her tail flicks against the ground in overtired agitation as she shuts her PlayStation down for good. It takes her several long moments of silent encouragement to will herself to her feet. She grabs her phone and her blanket—a thin Dollar Store blanket with a fox printed on it—and begins the long trek upstairs.

All the lights are on. The bright, yellowed light strains Seren’s eyes, despite having spent the previous hours staring at an even brighter screen.

Lucian and Senna are going about their nightly routines, darting between the bathroom and the bedroom, washing their faces and changing into clean, comfy clothes. Seren doesn’t have a nightly routine. She simply collapses into bed and passes out for ten, sometimes twelve hours. She wants to do that now, but the only thing that stops her is a hand grasping forearm, yanking her towards the bathroom.

“C’mon.” It’s Lucian’s voice, deep and gravely and commanding. “Brush your teeth.”

Seren grumbles as she’s crammed into their very small upstairs bathroom with the pair of them and practically shoved against the sink. With a defeated sigh, she drops her fox blanket on the floor and snatches her toothbrush- no, wait, that’s Senna’s toothbrush. She grabs her toothbrush and smears a glob of toothpaste on it, holding it under the running facet for a little too long before sticking it in her mouth.

Lucian mirrors Seren, moving much less lazily than her. No one in this house had a history of great self-care, but Lucian and Senna have a history of being motivated to take action long before Seren is, so as they assume better habits, they force her to as well. She’s grateful for this.

“Do we have a shopping list?” Asks Senna, who’s sitting on the edge of the bathtub, tucking her curls into a satin bonnet. "I know we need eggs, bread, uh, cereal... but what else?"

Lucian spits out a mouthful of toothpaste before replying. "I wrote a list. Don't worry."

“Don’t we-” Seren tries to speak into her toothbrush, but she stops herself. She, too, spits out a mouthful of toothpaste and wipes off her mouth before starting over. “Don’t we have to meet Akshan for something too?”

“Uhuh. That’s why we’re going so early. He couldn’t meet us later, for whatever reason.” Senna responds, the annoyance in her voice very clear.

It feels like they're always meeting Akshan for something. No one but the person who orchestrated the meeting knows for what. It's usually for something really stupid, too. Once, it was for a giant variety pack of Monster Energy. Around this time last year, it was for marijuana seedlings Senna had offered to pay for. Those really got them through those late winter months. Seren hopes that's what it's for this time.

“Huh,” She shrugs, wearing a sarcastic smile on her face. “Busy man.”

Senna hums. “I doubt it.”

Lucian splashes cold water onto his face, drying himself off with a very old and overused hand towel. He tosses it aside into the overflowing dirty laundry basket afterward.

Someone should do that laundry, Seren thinks. It's not gonna be her, though.

Pulling away from the sink, Seren goes to leave the bathroom. However, she's quickly grabbed up by Lucian, who takes hold of her face this time.

"Wait," he says. "You still have makeup on."

"Uhg..." Seren groans, halfheartedly struggling against his firm-yet-gentle grip on her jaw as he reaches onto a low-sitting shelf, pulling a single makeup wipe out of a dispenser and bringing it up to Seren's face. It feels cold and wet against her skin, making her groan and grumble some more. He wipes off a layer of foundation, concealer, and powder she's had caked to her face since early this morning, as well as faded eyeshadow and black eyeliner. One makeup wipe was hardly enough for the. job, but Lucian made it work.

"There. Don't that feel better?" He says in a half-teasing, almost patronizing way, and Seren glares at him. While doing her best not to get caught in the crossfire, Senna takes the filthy makeup wipe out of his hand and places it in the trash.

"I'm going to bed," She announces pushes her way past the two of them.

"Uh, I am too!” Seren pulls away from Lucian's grip, who lets her go without a fuss since he's done with her anyway. She scoops her blanket up off the floor and practically skips out of the bathroom, towards the bedroom, and into bed. She collapses onto the mattress and worms her way under the covers before Senna even has the chance to get comfy.

Seren hears Senna laugh; a warm, melodic sound that warms her heart and clears her head of worry. "I thought you didn't wanna go to bed," She comments, slinging an arm around the vastaya's body.

Seren snuggles closer to her in response. "I never said that." She speaks into her skin, face nuzzling against her shoulder.

One by one, the lights flick off. First, the bathroom, then the hallway, then the bedroom room, leaving only the dim light of their lamp. It's enough to illuminate Lucian. He slips off his shirt—a big, black t-shirt that's even too big for him, the six-and-a-half-foot giant he is—and crawls into bed with them. He, too, huddles up to Seren's side, effectively sandwiching her between the pair of them.

Seren feels her face grow warm. The feeling of laying between them, their skin touching hers, their hands dancing over her body so lovingly, still proves to be too much for her after all these years.

"I love you guys." She blurts out. She couldn't have stopped the words from leaving her mouth if she wanted to.

She's always worried they find her flirtations incessant, meaningless, annoying or boring, but they smile bashfully and reflect the energy nearly every time.

"We love you too, Seren," Lucian says. He brings his hand up to caress Seren's face; a much gentler touch than the one she'd felt mere minutes before. Callused fingertips dance over her freckled skin, carefully tilting her head towards him. He leans down and kisses her on the bridge of her nose. His fingers lace into her hair as her face—her entire face—rests comfortably in his palm.

Seren feels Senna's arms snake around her waist. She cuddles up to her back, pressing a kiss between her shoulder blades before resting her head there.

Seren sighs, long and heavy, her entire body melting into the bed, and into their touches.

Without disturbing the embrace too much, Lucian is able to flick off the lamp with an outstretched arm. He then readjusts himself, wriggling deeper into the nest of blankets, wrapping his big, strong arms around both his partners, but mostly Seren—she feels like the most important person in the whole world right now. She feels like a king or a queen or a god. She cannot imagine a better feeling than this, not even worship.

It doesn't take long for her eyes to drift shut. She falls asleep peacefully in the arms of her lovers.