insist on your cup of stars

Everest

Everest nods as Isla speaks, the decision about his parents settling easily into place, familiar and solid in a way that makes it one less thing to worry about. When she mentions Remi, there is the barest flicker of tension through him, a brief, instinctive flinch that carries the ghost of salt air and the sharp pinch of being tackled along the coast be cleansed once upon a time, but it passes just as quickly. He exhales softly, shoulders easing again, and gives another small nod to show he’s with her.

"And Mateo," he echoes, the corner of his mouth lifting into a boyish grin despite himself. "I think he’s going to be...very excited, actually." The understatement feels deliberate, his eyes warming at the thought of his best friend’s inevitable reaction.

He looks down at Isla then, really looks at her, and reaches up to gently brush a loose strand of her fair hair back from her face, the touch careful and familiar. "I won’t," he says quietly, in answer to her concern. "I promise. And the same goes for you. You don’t have to hold any of it in, either." Leaning in, he presses a soft kiss to her forehead. When he pulls back, his voice is steady, unguarded. " love you."

I was a dead man walking,
with bloodshot eyes—right place, wrong time.

Isla

"Yeah?" Isla finds herself smiling despite herself at that, as if having never considered that other people would be excited for the prospect of their growing family. She can almost see the botanist's reaction, and her mind goes to how Remi might react as well, how Flora might, or Ronin or Sunjata or any of their other friends. "You'll have to remind him, though, that toxic flowers aren't a suitable gift for a baby who will inevitably want to put the petals in their mouth." Her tone makes it clear that it's a joke, though she feels as though Ever will probably give the warning anyway.

Leaning into Ever's hand as it brushes through her hair, the Remedy's smile softens into something quiet and soft, and she nods ready agreement. "I won't," she echoes, "I promise. And I love you too." Closing her eyes to properly enjoy the warmth of his lips against her forehead, Isla seems to relax at long last, feeling simultaneously exhausted and also too restless to commit to sleeping. "I suppose," she says, "we should pack for a little trip up to Stormbreak, shouldn't we?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

Everest

Everest smiles and nods at her joke, the image of Mateo enthusiastically presenting something deeply inappropriate for an infant flickering through his mind with surprising clarity. "I will," he says sincerely, but even as she teases, his thoughts have already begun to spiral outward, touching on sharp edges, toxins, open flames, crowded streets, and all the unseen hazards of a world that has never had to be baby-proofed for someone who matters this much. The list forms instinctively, not as panic but as preparation, and he quietly accepts that this, too, will become part of his mental landscape.

He settles back into simply holding her for a moment, content with the weight of her against him, the shared warmth anchoring everything that threatens to tip too far ahead. When she mentions Stormbreak, he exhales softly and nods, already adjusting timelines and routes in his head. After a brief pause, he adds, careful and practical rather than anxious, "We could stop at the market first, if you want. In case the nausea gets worse. Flying might...exacerbate it." His hand shifts almost without thought, resting gently over her stomach, the contact tentative but intentional, and he leans in to press a quiet kiss to her temple.

For a long moment after, he stays there, breathing her in, the future looming and unknowable and frightening in ways he cannot yet catalogue, but no longer unthinkable.

~FIN

I was a dead man walking,
with bloodshot eyes—right place, wrong time.