[SE] sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth

gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer

At least in this state, the rougher the better works just fine for Ronin, despite the way he's forced onto his husband's cock with brutal hands and hips and no regard for breathing or gag reflexes. Feeling a thrill of latent arousal buzz up the length of his spine despite the tears that prick in the corners of his eyes, the Knight lets the sound of Remi's release flood his senses, feral and monstrous as it might be. By the time he's able to sit back, panting heavily and with his head lolling against the inside of the Bastion's thigh, he's lost all control over the wings that drape across the bed behind him, though the shimmering scales are beginning to fade back into his skin.

"Fuck," he whispers, voice rough and low despite the breathless laugh that forces itself between his lips. "Fuck, Remi. Are you alright?" Clearly sense is already beginning to return, even if Ronin is loathe to let his husband out of his sight or to create any amount of distance between them. It takes an extraordinary amount of effort to lift his head enough to gaze at the Bastion up the length of his body, blue eyes still dark with lust and adoration, but with a little more of himself stirring in them.

"I think maybe we spend today at home," he decides, the smallest lick of humour in his tone. It's probably safest for everyone, and it gives them both a chance to recover. (Remi more so, granted).

bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator

RONIN

babylon lovers hanging lifetimes on a vine

For the little that Remi has actually contributed to this most recent round of sexcapades, as his soul settles back into his body, he finds it blissfully useless. His legs and arms feel as though they might have been cemented in place, and despite the way both he and Ronin have shredded their bedding, he doesn't think he's ever been so comfortable before. Only..

Forcing his eyes open at the same time he manages to pull air into his lungs for the first time in what feels like hours, Ronin isn't the only one with tears in the corners of his eyes, though of course Remi's are for an entirely different reason. "No—" He croaks, the word rolling thickly off of his tongue as he strains feebly to pull his husband toward him; should the Knight feel the assistance of tentacles in this endeavour, he can fight Remi about it later. For now, despite the blood he can taste in his mouth and the bruises he knows are already blooming across his neck, he's not okay because Ronin is too far away.

A sob breaks in the back of his throat as his grasping becomes more desperate, and even for Remi this level of post-orgasm sentimentality seems wildly disproportionate. It isn't just affection and sleepy bliss that pours out of him the way it normally does, but a raw and rapidly unspooling maelstrom frustration born out of having never found a satisfactory way of expression just how much Ronin meant to him. "Gods, come here." Silent tears trickled down his cheeks as the Bastion forced life into his weary limbs, no longer wanting to draw his husband against him, but needing to.

it felt like somethin' holy, like souls bleeding

gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer

"No?" Brows furrowing instantly in concern, at first Ronin is worried he's broken something (like Remi's neck or back or ribs, fuck), but as he glances up and the first slosh of emotion breaches his mental walls, it's with a shivery sigh that the Knight nods and obliges his husband. "I'm here," he whispers, voice still rough and breathing still a little ragged as he shifts up the length of the bed to collapse into the sheets, fingers instantly seeking out the other man.

"I love you," he whispers, the scales having shimmered back to life on his skin at the first inkling of Remi's distress, one wing stretching out to blanket them as he pulls the Bastion close. Pressing his lips against impossibly messy curls before letting those kisses migrate down to the tears on Remi's cheeks, Ronin will say it again and again, as many times as it takes for this bout of melancholy to melt away.

bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator

RONIN

babylon lovers hanging lifetimes on a vine

Wrapping his arms tightly around his husband with the sort of fierceness that would have broken the bones of a lesser man, Remi clutches the Knight close as his heart still hammers wildly in his chest. "Gods I love you so much," he manages after a moment, hiccuping in a breath, his words hardly more than a whisper. The sensation that he was going to burst hadn't faded with the force of his orgasm, though it had diminished somewhat. What remained was like hard-packed snow, frozen over time and time again until it was perfectly uniform and utterly unthawable. That was what his love for Ronin was like: something hard and unyielding, beautiful but deadly for anyone else, and much as Remi yearned to give each and every piece of himself to the Knight, his love for the other man would always remain lodged in his chest.

"Gods Ronin, I can't.." Something like grief clawed at the back of the Bastion's throat, but it wasn't sadness which motivated the emotion, but the worry that Ronin would never know just how truly he was loved. "..you're everything to me." Anyone listening in might have thought Remi was apologizing for some serious wrongdoing given the way tears continued to track down his cheeks and how his voice had been made rough not just by the strain he'd put on his vocal cords as Ronin made him cum, but by emotion as well.

"You know that, don't you?"

it felt like somethin' holy, like souls bleeding

gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer

Were Ronin not accustomed to these sorts of outbursts he might have been convinced that he'd done something wrong or that Remi had a dark secret to confess. Luckily for the Taliesins, this is almost expected by now; add in the Knight's currently possessive protective nature towards his husband, and Remi couldn't have found a more understanding partner. "Of course I know that," he whispers back, his wing flexing further across them and his fingers carefully continuing to wipe the tears from the Bastion's cheeks.

"I know it every time you touch me, every time you look at me. How could I not? I only hope you realise how loved you are by me." Not one for these sorts of emotional upheavals (not unless something has gone very and seriously awry), Ronin whispers his promises into the other man's soft curls, practically crushed into his arms, but happily so. "I love you," he whispers again, letting the fingers stroking against Remi's cheek begin to trickle around to the back of his neck and down his spine.

bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator

RONIN

babylon lovers hanging lifetimes on a vine

It takes what feels like a heroic effort not to shred his husband's wings given the way Remi wants to plunge his fingers down directly into Ronin's muscles, as if letting his palm sweep across the Knight's skin wasn't enough. Drawing his claws back and forcing himself to be content with an embrace that wasn't bone-deep, the Bastion sighs heavily into the space beneath Ronin's jaw.

'You say that, but...gods it feels like there's so much more." He murmurs, and had his arms not been twined around Ronin's body, he'd have gestured toward his chest where more than just the Knight's weight seemed to rest. "It's like..with every breath, with everything I do..." Helplessly he shakes his head, tilting his head back into his husband's touch. "..gods, it's just always you." Stretching up in order to claim a kiss from his husband's lips, Remi's own are decadently soft. Reverant, almost, though the way he feels about his husband is far from holy.

Fumbling for words they both knew he'd never find, Remi flushes a touch boyishly as he settles back against their pillows. "It always hits me more just after...when I have you or you have me, especially like that, even being away from you this much makes me think of what it would be like to be without you."

it felt like somethin' holy, like souls bleeding

gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer

Mentally applauding the effort he knows is going into keeping Remi's claws from writing love notes against his bones, Ronin's own touches continue to be silk soft and gentle, especially after the bruising claims he'd spent the past few minutes leaving all over his husband's body. Letting his hand drift down further until it can rest on the shadow of bruises in the same shape against his husband's hips, as the Bastion leans up for a kiss, Ronin is all too eager to deliver.

I love it when you wax lyrical, he purrs through the bond as his lips part to deepen the kiss. The words are accompanied by a flush of purest gold and shining garnet, and if Ronin could flood his husband's body with the feeling forever, he would with every pulse of his heartbeat. Parting to let Remi slouch back against their pillows, Ronin shifts just enough to half blanket the other man with his body, allowing the delicate membrane of his wing to shield him further.

"I suppose it's worse because you have been without me," he whispers, leaning in to kiss the other man's cheek. "I think we can safely say we've done everything possible to avoid that situation, though."

bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator

RONIN

babylon lovers hanging lifetimes on a vine

I am not trying to, Remi protests weakly even as his lips part further to allow Ronin's. For a moment the Knight is able to swamp Remi's emotions with his such that as they part, a long and shuddering sigh leaves the Bastion's lips that feels as though it's finally made air in his lungs for him to take a proper breath.

Laying his head softly down, Remi's sea-glass eyes still shine with unshed tears as he gazes adoringly at Ronin. "With everything going on...it's like it has become easier and easier to imagine something going wrong." The Rapier not working against the dragon. Dahlia appearing again. Pierce killing Ronin. "Before with the war it felt like there was just this one dangerous thing we had to do, and now..." Not wanting to part even an inch, Remi rolls his wrist against Ronin's side where it's come to rest. "..it feels like every other day." Gods, they couldn't even run away to the Cordilerra anymore. Not even that was safe.

Swallowing, Remi's eyes slowly trace a few scattered motes of light as they rise and fall, buffeted by the heat rolling off of his husband's body before scattering like bits of gold dust into his dark hair. "I'm sorry." Blinking himself into the moment again as his eyes find Ronin's, the Bastion offers his husband a crooked and bashful smile.

it felt like somethin' holy, like souls bleeding

gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer

That's what makes me love it so much, Ronin replies, smiling against Remi's lips and continuing to let his hands wander, wanting to catalogue every mark he'd left for later persual (and so he might kiss apologies to each bruise and scratch delivered). Relaxing enough at last to gaze at his husband, the glittering scales on his skin finally smooth away, his eyes the blue of a deep, calm ocean rather than fey and wild. 

"Ugh. You're not wrong, and I hate it," he admits with a scrunch of his nose; as pillow talk goes, he wishes the subject of the world's impending doom was a rare one. Alas, it is not. "Don't you dare apologise, though." Smiling and leaning in for another kiss, Ronin clasps the other man close as if he might be able to protect him from even the thought of grief and loss.

"You're Mort's demigod. I'm Vi's. I like our chances," he says slowly. "And we know, at least, that at the end of it all, you and I are going to the same place - forever. I'm never going anywhere without you."

bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator

RONIN

babylon lovers hanging lifetimes on a vine

Remi's lips and tongue continue to make feeble attempts at conveying what it was he felt so strongly for the Knight, apologizing for the inadequacy with which he felt he showed it. "I don't mean to get like this...after.." He murmurs gently against Ronin's lips as they part. What had started out as nothing more than a strong desire to cuddle had turned into this, and gods only knew how Ronin put up with it after so many years. "I blame my magic." He adds with a crooked smile, his eyes half rolling as he too adjusts in order to more comfortably remain at his husband's side.

Reaching out to trace a sunbeam that intersected perfectly with Ronin's shoulder, the Bastion inhales slowly through his nose as he considers. "I think I would like our chances more if we were Frey or Rae demigods, actually." He points out, and, thanks to this bit of banter, the talons of his melancholy and grief begin to release. "You never really see them doing much, you know?" Sure, Sunjata had come with them to Starfall, but in all the battles and in the big scheme of things, it just wasn't the sort of thing that Frey seemed to be ordering them to do.

"Together." Remi agrees, his palm sliding from the jut of Ronin's shoulder toward his cheek, resting softly there. Though the pair have talked around it before, it's the first time, for Remi at least, that he's thought properly about what he would do if Ronin were to die. If he was taken, as he once had been, it no longer seemed like some distant possibility that Remi would find the quickest way to join his husband. It'd have to be Isla, probably. He couldn't ask that of his children, but...

Swallowing, Remi blinks a few times, eyes refocusing. "Do you think Mort and Vi ever watch us, the way Safrin used to watch you?" Raising a brow, he hazards a glance down the length of their tangled bodies, and smirks. "And wonder what is the matter with us?"

it felt like somethin' holy, like souls bleeding

gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer

"I wouldn't mind even if you were doing it intentionally," Ronin murmurs, a smile playing over his lips as he turns his head to lean in and kiss his husband's fingers where they caress the sunbeam on his shoulder. "I'm more than happy to blame your magic, though. It's at least half to blame." Besides, if they're blaming Remi's abilities for his behaviour, they can continue to blame Ronin's for his.

Scoffing out a surprised laugh to hear the shade thrown at their fellow non-life or death demigods, Ronin raises his eyebrows but inclines his head in slow agreement, reluctant though it might be. "Our fault for getting involved with the deities who play the high stakes games, I suppose," he says, leaning into the hand that comes to cup his cheek. 

"Together," he agrees through a whisper, though it isn't as though either of their death clauses are particularly easy to fulfil. He doesn't know who he'd ask to grant him the ability to join his husband in Mort's realm, truthfully. (Then again, he doesn't yet know about Vesper, so that might be an answer).

"Hm...?" Tugging himself out of his reverie, Ronin scrunches his nose and grins. "As a demigod, I have to say of course not," he says haughtily. "But as your husband? I think Mort definitely keeps an eye on us, and then tells everything to Vi. I doubt they think anything is the matter with us, though." Given their own tangled love story.

bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator

RONIN

babylon lovers hanging lifetimes on a vine

"I know you wouldn't. That is what makes it impossible not to love you." Remi agrees, allowing his fingers to still against his husband's skin as the Knight's lips gently interfere with their ministrations.

"Mmmm. To think that if we'd done a bit more reading about the gods, we could have ended up tending to flowers all day or teaching about orgasms." That was what the Phoebe's and Hotaru's of the world did, right? Letting this thumb brush against Ronin's cheekbone, Remi sighs softly, trying to relax down into their bed all the more despite how tightly bunched some of his muscles still insisted on being.

"Why as a demigod?" Remi wants to know, his eyebrows playfully lifting up towards his curls. "And I am not so sure. You think of Mort saw what we just did he would think everything was fine?" Certainly it was the roughest they'd ever been with one another in bed, though perhaps knowing what he did, Mort would simply shrug it off as a culmination of Leafchange instincts and the weight of responsibility finally come to a head.

it felt like somethin' holy, like souls bleeding

gladiator, picked a fight with the gods, i'm a giant slayer

"Oho? And which would you have been, do you think?" Ronin grins, already knowing that the Remi of the Hollowed Grounds would have blushed to the very tips of his ears having to teach people (aka men) about orgasms. Conversely, he can absolutely see him tending gardens all day, possibly one attached to his Artisan's Guild. The Knight's smile has grown softer at the mere thought of it, and he leans in suddenly for a sweet, soft kiss to the other man's lips.

"Because as a demigod, I am very serious about my devotion to the God of Life," he informs him breezily, brushing his nose against Remi's and shifting back enough to finally stretch his wings one last time before shrugging them away back where they belong. "And I could never associate him with being a peeping Tom."

As for Mort and what he would think, Ronin can only shrug and offer his husband a self-deprecating wince. "You'd hope he's also seen us in our sweeter moments, if that's the case. Proof it all balances out."

bone shaker, dominator, freight train, wreckin' ball, i'm the gladiator

RONIN

babylon lovers hanging lifetimes on a vine

Knowing precisely what his husband was getting at, the Bastion can only chuckle under his breath. "Back then I could have given a very informative course on how to fake being straight, I think." He'd passed well enough back in Northaven after all. "Though I suppose that skill would not have been looked kindly on by Frey." In short, yes, he would have been the botanist one, and Ronin would have been the sex one. "If that was the case, I am not sure you and I would have ever gotten together." Said a touch mischievously -- Remi was quite certain that in any life and in any timeline he'd find his way into the Knight's life one way or another -- it's still rather amusing to imagine Ronin swanning about in silken robes giving lectures on the finer points of blowjobs while Remi toiled about in a greenhouse.

"Oh I see." Grinning, Remi groans his disappointment to see his husband's wings disappear, immediately chasing the appendages with a hand as if he might catch them. Smoothing his palm across the Knight's back and the few lingering scales, Remi chuckles. "I think you are just saying that in case he is listening right now." Bouncing his eyebrows, Remi stretches out an arm beneath the pillow Ronin's head was resting on, in order to draw the Knight even closer.

"How do you feel about staying in bed for, oh I don't know, a few days? I have absolutely no interest in seeing anyone who isn't you, or moving more than an arm's length away from you."

it felt like somethin' holy, like souls bleeding