the time has stopped

RONIN

the white knight

light is easy to love.

Ronin raises his hands placatingly to Ashe, his grin half amused but also tinged with something like shame. "I'll tell you the whole ugly story one day," he promises, "but not on a happy occasion like tonight. It's the sort of embarrassing that's more cringe-inducing than it is funny, I assure you." The flicker of warmth that radiates out of him even seems to be a touch guilty as the subject rears its ugly head.

Luckily he's got Remi's bashfulness and dimpled smile to bring him out of it, Ronin winking at his husband and stepping in to nudge him gently, as if to tell him he's got no choice but to accept the praise and compliments for the truth they are when they're coming from more than just him. "Definitely danger-prone," he agrees with Ashe through a chuckle. "And very, very unlucky when it comes to vertical descent."

He's about to explain when he feels the squeeze from Remi's hand, his words catching in his throat as he feels the very obvious flush of feeling from the other man - and now it's time for his ears to turn pink. "We can, uh, get brunch in a day or two?" he suggests with an apologetic smile towards Ashe, already able to feel the phantom touch fingers and lips all over his body. "And if you skip town, I'l track you across Caido this time."

show me your darkness.

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ashe

i find myself here alone on this dusty road
waiting for a sign to point me home

I raise a brow at Ronin, arms crossed like I’m some high court judge passing judgment on the tragically clumsy. “Alright,” I mutter, giving a little nod. “Fair enough.” Whatever horror that story holds, it can wait.

But then I swivel that same look onto Remi, and the effect is immediate. My gaze narrows. I’ve seen that grin before. My expression twists into mock disgust just as he leans into Ronin, all eyes and wicked thoughts and very little shame. “Ew,” I say, like I’m being subjected to some horrible performance. “Spare me the details, I beg. You’re my brothers.” I scrunch my nose, throw in a half-smile that’s mostly dry immaturity. “Gross.”

Still, there’s warmth pulsing beneath it all, impossible to hide. I love them. I missed them. And obviously—

“Oh, I’m holding this against both of you for the rest of eternity,” I say, lifting my chin in mock offense. “How dare you take your ten-year anniversary for yourselves.”

But I’m smiling as I say it.

I start to step back, boots shifting softly in the sand. “Brunch, drinks, whatever strikes,” I say lightly, waving a hand. Then my voice softens just a touch, quiet enough for just us. “I’m sticking around. Promise.”

I look between them, letting it sink in. This moment. The weight of it. The light. “I love you both,” I tell them, honest and unguarded.

And then I shift, bones and breath folding into something small and quick, the warmth of my body giving way to feathers and air. A little blue hummingbird flits in my place, wings a blur against the starlit night.

Hold me to it, I murmur into both their minds, the words brushing like wind across water.

Then I zip back toward the beach, toward the last fading glow of the party, wings slicing the air in a swift blur. I’ve got a girl to find and help clean up with—my daughter, my heart—and I don’t want to waste a second more.

FIN

i'll close my eyes and put my feet to the ground
'cause when i'm lost, i don't want to be found