3 o'clock things

this world is a wasteland where nothing can grow

"Noooooo," Niki says, the word warped by the smile that spreads across his lips. "Me, stubborn? That doesn't sound right at all." Never mind that this response in itself is a stubborn one, the necromancer huffs out a laugh and shrugs his shoulders a bit. "Maybe I'll surprise both of us, who knows?" he mumbles. With whatever hang-ups he's got rendered quiet and unimportant by liquor, he's more open with Sunjata right now than he's been with anyone.

How much of that transfers into sobriety, though, is a mystery that will need to wait until morning. His fingers flinch gently against Sunjata's arm as he realises the other man's thumb is smoothing an affectionate line against his side, though he far from minds it; surprise isn't the same, after all, as objection. "Maybe." He smiles the other man's answer back at him when it comes to sleep, though in response the fireflies slowly start to wink out and the sconces begin to lower. "Only way to find out is to try, huh?"

Niki

i used to have strength but i ran out of hope

relive who i've been at my worst,
every single night, looking for a distraction

“Uh huh.. Riiiiight.” Sunjata mutters, before his gaze edges toward something more amused and sparkling in the dark din of the room. “I’ll look forward to finding out the result.” He muses, smirking playfully up at him. It’ll take him the rest of the night to try and figure out how to make sure Niki doesn’t play it off, and already with the gears working he realizes it’s probably better for him to prove it with body language than his words.

For now, though, they’re in the same boat as he strokes along Niki’s side softly and uses it to try and soothe himself into hunkering down – because with the lowering lights of the room and the siren song of cuddling up against Niki to prevent the bulk of the nightmares, Sunjata thinks it might actually come to him eventually.

The maybe repeated back to him and the test of trying it out has Sunjata shifting in the bed again, rising only slightly to fight with the blankets so that he can cover them both up with them before he’s actually nestling up against the necromancer, arm draped around him like he’s the big spoon. “Goodnight Niki.” He murmurs, closing his eyes to try and catch some sleep.

the flood

waiting for the sun to rise
pretty sight for some hollow eyes

totally sniped from odd ilu

this world is a wasteland where nothing can grow

"Goodnight, Sunjata." Too drunk not to accept the other man's proximity but not drunk enough to avoid blushing about it, as the lights finally dim low enough that the world is difficult to make out, Niki shifts as well to get comfortable. The warmth radiating at his back and the sound of the Heartless's breath is something he tries desperately not to focus on too much, and in the end, blessedly, the alcohol carries him back into slumber before his mind can properly kick into overdrive about it.

He doesn't stir for the rest of the night.

He does, however, wake up early with all the restlessness of the extremely hungover, stirring only enough to know that his mouth is dry, his head is pounding and he appears to have tangled himself to death in the blankets. Only that isn't right at all, because they aren't blankets around him - they're arms.

Niki's breath stutters and freezes in his chest, the necromancer remembering with a combination of mortification and disbelief that the long, drawn out night had not been some drunken fever dream. Sunjata is pressed at his back, his sweater is missing, they'd talked about... about childhood, and scars, and sex, sort of, and he remembers too, the soft heat of the other man's mouth, the way he'd tasted, the way he hadn't wanted to stop there.

The curse dies on Niki's tongue, the necromancer instead trying - as best he can anyway - to start to extricate himself from the bed, hopefully without waking the Heartless.

Niki

i used to have strength but i ran out of hope

relive who i've been at my worst,
every single night, looking for a distraction

Sleep comes to him far easier this time than it had earlier, and with the warmth and comfort of Niki essentially being a cuddle pillow, Sunjata hardly moves throughout the night as well. There’s no nightmares to stir him, no changes and shifts in the room from his mind. In fact, he has a blessed dreamless sleep, empty and void of everything. But it’s deep, too, so much so that when Niki wakes and starts to try and extricate himself, there’s very little argument from the Heartless in the dreamless sleep he’s in.

His fingers twitch against Niki’s side, but with the other man’s persistence, Sunjata rolls slightly onto his back, loosening long and slow breaths as the blankets shift, leaving one leg sticking out of the blankets and proving he’s still wearing pants. His lightning scarred hand settles at his chest, while the other rises to slip up under the pillow as he sleeps the best he has in a few days.

Which means that it’s likely Niki will be able to extricate himself and fully take in the events that had led up to this. For the time being, at least.

the flood

waiting for the sun to rise
pretty sight for some hollow eyes

totally sniped from odd ilu

this world is a wasteland where nothing can grow

Niki is more careful than he needs to be, apparently, the necromancer sitting up just as Sunjata rolls away, leaving him in a small mess of blankets and feeling strangely cold and alone after the night they've apparently spent together. They are both wearing pants, though, so for however much he remembers of the night before (in bits and pieces, certainly up until he'd awoken to the Heartless and his nightmare), it did not progress further than that.

Unsure if he feels relieved or sad about it, Niki summons his cane and quickly gets himself on his feet, grabbing his sweater and heading immediately for a bathroom that has spontaneously appeared through the Greatwood's forestry. He'll deal with his knee brace later; for now, the faint sound of the shower echoes shortly after, as if the necromancer is certain he might be able to scrub away both the hangover and the events of the night before.

He's wrong on both counts, but at the very least he's clean and dressed when he emerges, dark hair tousled and damp, eyes drawn immediately once again to the bed where Sunjata is splayed out. And if he looks (dis)respectfully, well, sue him; it isn't often that he gets to enjoy a show like this.

Niki

i used to have strength but i ran out of hope

relive who i've been at my worst,
every single night, looking for a distraction

Unaware of the time taken that Niki’s gone to shower and clean up, he just ends up splaying more in the bed as if he’s subconsciously trying to seek out the heat of the necromancer that’s no longer there in the bed. Such that when Niki returns, he’ll see Sunjata fully sprawled out, his hand twitching across the covers as if searching for someone, but he doesn’t fully start to wake until the scent of clean starts to hit him.

He stirs a little, leading up to the quiet bleary blinking of his eyes to see the canopy of the Greatwood staring back at him. He reaches up to rub at his eyes, before he glances sideways to look at the mess of the blankets and the very obvious shape of someone missing, and by the time he finally has the mind to look around, it’s a little less bleary and tired, like he’s slowly pulling himself together piece by piece.

He spies Niki after a moment, though, and he’s still tired enough that he doesn’t realize the way he relaxes upon seeing the necromancer. “G’morning.” He murmurs, all deep accent and throat hoarse from sleep while he tries to sit up.

the flood

waiting for the sun to rise
pretty sight for some hollow eyes

totally sniped from odd ilu

this world is a wasteland where nothing can grow

Niki hasn't been caught staring but it sure does feel like it, the necromancer flushing immediately and clearing his throat as he hurries back towards the bed, stooping to retrieve his brace from the ground. "Good morning," he offers in return, his own accent back in full force, voice roughened by sleep and his hangover. Sunjata has absolutely no right to look and sound the way he does within seconds of waking up, and Niki forces himself to focus on the task at hand to try and tempt his mind out of the gutter.

"Did you sleep well this time?" he manages at least, easing himself down onto a chair so he can work the buckles on the brace. He'd say so, if he had to guess, and based on the way the Heartless seemed to be searching for him someone in his sleep, if Niki hadn't left he'd have very likely stayed that way for longer.

Niki

i used to have strength but i ran out of hope

relive who i've been at my worst,
every single night, looking for a distraction

The flush isn’t a surprise, given what had happened the night before. And as he notices it, he realizes that it’s likely Niki does remember what happened last night and that already takes some of the work out of him trying to figure out how to explain it. He sits up and rests against the headboard, and while Niki rushes forward to stoop and snag his knee brace, Sunjata ruffles his hands in his hair to untangle it and get it somewhat presentable.

“Much better this time, yeah.” He says softly, shooting Niki a lopsided smile before he’s scooting to the edge of the bed, legs finding the floor and his arms braced on the bed on either side of him, watching Niki slip the brace on. “Did you sleep well? How’re you feeling?” He asks, trying to get a read on just how hungover the necromancer is.

the flood

waiting for the sun to rise
pretty sight for some hollow eyes

totally sniped from odd ilu

this world is a wasteland where nothing can grow

"Glad to hear it," Niki says, and though it sounds perfunctory, the warmth in his voice is as genuine as the smile he flashes across to the demigod. It might be that he needs to go home and hole up and try to pick apart every single second of the previous night that he can remember, but for right now it's enough to realise that whatever demons had been plaguing Sunjata in the middle of the night, they'd left him well enough alone until morning.

"I think so," he says of his own sleep, considering making a joke about not being able to get up and walk around while being pinned down by the Heartless, but promptly deciding against it. As for how he's feeling, he does scoff out a laugh at that. "A little rough," he admits. "But it could be worse. I will live." And listen, for a man whose body fails him on the regular, he really could be a lot worse this morning.

Finishing with the brace and tugging habitually at the leather to ensure it's comfortable but tight enough, Niki settles in the chair at last. "At least you got one of Frey's asks out of the way for your quest. And I learned what I prefer to drink." Among other things.

Niki

i used to have strength but i ran out of hope

relive who i've been at my worst,
every single night, looking for a distraction

The bright smile that greets him bolsters any lingering concerns that the Heartless has over the night before, temporarily at least, and he watches quietly as Niki says he thinks he slept well. And while he isn’t as hungover as he probably was the night of the Blue Torcher affairs, Sunjata’s glad to know it wasn’t worse from the amount of shots and drinks he’d had slammed the day before. “I’d hope so.” Sunjata says with a sleep induced hoarse laugh. He hopes Niki lives through the hangover, otherwise he’d have to do some very intensive inventory adjustments.

When he finally settles, Sunjata’s looking away now – glancing around the bed for wherever his shirt had gone. He finds it under the covers and off to the side of the opposite end of the bed, reaching and stretching over to snag it as he listens to Niki’s explanation. And while yes, that was the bare bones of what had happened, Sunjata settles back and unrolls his shirt, uncaring of the wrinkles stuck in the fabric. “Double win.” He pauses, shooting Niki a playful smirk. “Do you.. remember what happened last night?” He asks, letting the smirk vanish to watch for his reaction.

the flood

waiting for the sun to rise
pretty sight for some hollow eyes

totally sniped from odd ilu

this world is a wasteland where nothing can grow

"You and me both," Niki agrees with a smirk. Having lived through this much hardship in his comparatively short life just to be ended by a bad hangover would be embarrassing to say the least. And while Sunjata stretches across the bed for his shirt he has to keep himself from letting his eyes wander - a difficult job when the other man is the only thing of real interest in the room and also happens to have a physique that belongs on the cover of a fitness magazine.

Biting the inside of his cheek and focusing instead on tugging down the sleeves of his sweater, he glances abruptly up with a hm? as the Heartless cuts to the core of the matter. Feeling his mouth go a little dry, Niki nevertheless offers a somewhat wary shrug of his shoulders. "There was a lot of last night," he points out. "I remember everything up to the bottom of the stairs... and everything after you woke up in the middle of the night."

So blurs in his memory, certainly, but he has a feeling it's a particular part of the night that Sunjata is asking after. "So if you are referring to what happened between the two of us... yes. I remember." He nods.

Niki

i used to have strength but i ran out of hope

relive who i've been at my worst,
every single night, looking for a distraction

He listens, quietly captivated for the potential play by play that Niki offers – the everything up to the bottom of the stairs snagging his attention. Because if he didn’t remember anything after that… well, there’d be a lot of explaining to do. But the necromancer isn’t done and Sunjata sits there with his shirt in his hands as he finishes the thought to say that he does remember everything after he’d woken him up.

And while his nightmare hadn’t been intentional, he is glad that it happened, because he’s not sure he would have had the guts in him to pull it otherwise. But Niki continues about what happened between them and that he does remember, the corner of Sunjata’s lips tug up in a small smile. “Good.” Sunjata murmurs, pausing to slip his shirt on, hiding the scars and the tattoos beneath the fabric.

He stands once his shirt is on, tugging it down to try and smooth out some wrinkles. “Then this won’t be a surprise.” He murmurs, crossing the distance between them to the chair Niki’s settled in. His hand braces against the back of it as he leans down to claim another kiss, just to prove the point to the necromancer that it hadn’t just been something to share in the dark of night when secrets and nightmares had shaken reality.

the flood

waiting for the sun to rise
pretty sight for some hollow eyes

totally sniped from odd ilu

this world is a wasteland where nothing can grow

Good isn't the response he expects, truthfully, though Niki certainly agrees with the assessment. It had been good, more than good, and the memory of it will carry him through more than one dark night in future, rest assured. It's enough that he manages a small smile back at Sunjata, that he thinks nothing of the other man pulling his shirt back over his head and rising to his feet. Only as the Heartless speaks again does the first hint of confusion - suspicion, even - start to spark in the necromancer's mind, and by then it's far too late for him to do anything about it.

The what? barely has a chance to form on his lips before Sunjata is leaning in to claim them entirely, Niki's eyes flickering shut without any instruction from his brain. He can feel the other man braced against the back of his chair, can sense the shape of him caging him in, the heat rolling off his body, and a hand comes up to clasp his cheek as if to claim some part of this in return.

He's half sitting up before he's even aware of it, and though there isn't far for him to go, closer appears to be his only goal.

Niki

i used to have strength but i ran out of hope

relive who i've been at my worst,
every single night, looking for a distraction

It isn’t hesitant this time, the way it had been the night before for the first kiss. And he’s even more bolstered that it was well reciprocated when Niki’s hand rises and crosses the slight distance between them to cup his cheek. He can feel the way Niki seems to bend toward him, like a sunflower to the sun, and he dives into the kiss with a little more vigor than he’d been able to manage the night before.

It doesn’t last, though, because Sunjata withdraws just enough to pant slightly in the space between them, his steel gaze bright where he scans Niki’s face when they part, a small smile tugging on his face. “Still alright?” He asks, a touch breathless and looking every inch like he couldn’t be more pleased to be right where he is.

the flood

waiting for the sun to rise
pretty sight for some hollow eyes

totally sniped from odd ilu