bone tired

there is always hope

Ronin had expected some witticism or joke, or some casual jibe at his not understanding the mysteries of Remi's magic. Talk of another promise had him raising an eyebrow, though he was of course all ears for Remi, and the small smile that flickered across his face said just that. The sudden hint of tears, though, wiped it straight away again, Ronin moving as if to get up but finding that his head hurt far too much, and his body very much wanted to stay in its seat.

So instead he softly brushed a hand across Remi's cheek, along the line of his jaw to the carefree curls that begged his fingers to run through them. Blame the concussion, or blame the fact that he was so comfortable with the alchemist that the promise came so easily - Remi barely had to ask it of him.

Ronin would have said as much if the other man hadn't punctuated it with a question he very much did not expect, Ronin's hand freezing, his blue eyes wide with surprise. Being proposed to hadn't really been on his list of life goals, and yet... yet, here they were.

Briefly he thought of Vanya, about the future they had and hadn't lived together, about Aoife and how she would never know her mother... and then, with a heart lighter than he ever imagined it could be... he let her go. She watched them from the night sky, the past that had led to his present. But she couldn't be his future anymore. That future stretched out before him, and it had sea-glass green eyes.

A boyish grin spread across his face, Ronin sitting quite comfortably in his seat.

"If I could get up right now without throwing up," he said softly, "I'd have you naked and over this table in seconds. Yes, I'll marry you. Now c'mere and let me pretend to be a big strong man for a bit - I'm delicate."

bring back the water, let your ships roll in

Remi too, had thought of Vanya. Had thought of Aoife. He had thought there would be time for rings and stupidly romantic speeches. A picnic beneath the stars, Aoife between them. Kneeling on the ground of their kitchen with Ronin's blood on his fingers and grit from the Spire spread between them while the ex-captain muddled through consciousness with a concussion, had not, in any way, been in his plans. But it was like Vai said; time ran short, especially with Ronin. And, grime, blood, concussion and the rest of it, Remi didn't want to wait a second longer.

Remi's lips mischievously fell open at the beginning of Ronin's acceptance? feeling his cheeks at once flush and an additional emotion lodge itself in his throat (quickly though it moved lower). He would quite literally never stop wanting Ronin, inappropriate moments be damned.

Feeling joy radiating out into what felt like the muscles of his jaw making it impossible to do anything other than smile, Remi swept upwards, laughing rather breathlessly as he sealed his incredibly unprepared (and yet accepted) marriage proposal, with a kiss.

"Yes, yes. Delicate, damsel, I get it." Remi agreed with a laugh, slinking an arm around Ronin to encourage him to stand. To this he added a pulse of telekinesis to take some of the effort of walking away from his friend.

And to make him feel like he was walking on air. One should feel that way after a proposal, after all. "Come on then. There is a bed upstairs with your name on it." Remi said, unable to hide the boyish delight in his eyes, but still well aware of Ronin's current state of health.

there is always hope

"You are not helping me feel any more like a big strong man," Ronin protested through a grin, managing to work an arm around Remi to hold him close as he surged upwards for a kiss - one that the hunter met readily and willingly. He was reluctant, in fact, to part from Remi, and only the encouragement onto his feet made him concentrate enough to rethink his plans. (His plans being to kiss Remi until he passed out, obviously).

Humming a happy agreement and moving out of the kitchen with the help of the alchemist and his magic, Ronin leant in to press a kiss to Remi's curls. "A bed with my name on it? I hope yours is on it too," he said quietly. "I love you, Remi. I know it hardly needs saying right now, but I do."

bring back the water, let your ships roll in

"My sincerest apologies. I am sure you will find a way for me to make up for it." Remi managed after finding his breath (and at least some of his senses) again.

"Of course my name is on it." Remi agreed with about as much haughtiness as he could muster (read: not a lot). "I am the only one with legible handwriting in this house anyways." He added with altogether adorably smug grin. Hearing I love you come from Ronin's lips made everything in Remi happen all at once. His heart sped and slowed, his breath caught and yet raced, he imaged futures and saw flashes of their past, and it both strengthened and humbled him right to his core. "It might not need saying, but gods I hope you never stop." The alchemist moaned with an adoring smile.

Wait— A voice suddenly interrupted Remi's thoughts, and the alchemist tightened his grip around Ronin as he turned over his shoulder. There, moving towards them on hooves made silent by some of the rugs he'd made, was Isla. Call this a proposal-gift. Isla thought towards Remi, her pebble-blue stare bright with amusement as she neared the pair. Placing her horn against Ronin, the tip glowed bright blue for a moment. Her magic racing through the ex-captain to un-rattle what had been rattled, making his concussion ebb away.

Have a good night you two. I plan to be far, far away. She said pointedly, though there was laughter in her voice as she purposefully departed.

there is always hope

"Oh, that's rich. I was a baron, you know." Ronin grinned, joining Remi with his haughty tone, lifting his chin as if to show just how sophisticated he was. (It hurt to do, though, so he stopped again).

A soft smile tugged at his lips at the reaction his admission of love brought out in Remi, the hunter giving him a gentle nudge. "I won't, I promise you that much," he said. Ronin was just trying to figure out if he could handle the stairs when Isla apparently got Remi's attention, and he paused alongside the other man to turn and face the unicorn.

Swallowing hard as the sharp point of the horn was directed at him, Ronin opened his mouth to question it before suddenly things became a great deal clearer, and much less painful. "The Spire," he called after Isla. "Amalia and some others went exploring down there. Might want to let the infirmary know."

Ronin should have, really, but now that he felt capable again he had other things on his mind. Things like pulling Remi against his chest and leaning in to steal a lusty kiss from his lips, fully intent on celebrating their engagement properly.

bring back the water, let your ships roll in

The unicorn tipped a tulip-shaped ear back to catch Ronin's words. And just how would she let them know? By scratching out a warning with her horn? She was still a healer to be sure, but no longer was she the woman who ran the infirmary. No longer was she a woman at all.

Blushing a deep and charming crimson as Isla mentioned that she was planning on being out of mental ear-shot, Remi turned towards Ronin to express the unicorn's sentiment when he found lips pressed against his that possessed decidedly more energy (and better aim), than they had in the kitchen. Forgetting entirely what he was going to say, instead Remi moaned eagerly and happily into the feeling of Ronin against him.

His fiance. Though, even in his mind that sounded strange. He hadn't proposed for the title, to lock the ex-captain down or anything of that nature. He simply wanted to promise that, for Remi at least, this was it. So much the better that Ronin had agreed.

The stronger of the pair (for the time being), Remi didn't bother to hide the way he hungrily moved back against Ronin, how his hand tried to brace itself against the man's lower back to press them together as his body impatiently decided that at least for now, the stairs were a perfectly fine place to stop. Trying to lean forward and guide Ronin downwards onto the stairs (his mind sending magic outwards to help should Ronin follow his lead, damsels and need for the hunter to feel like the stronger of them be damned), Remi half growled from low in his throat at the same time as a distracted smile manged to find its way onto his lips.

"I want you now." Remi added, as if his pressing weight, the urgency and insatiable nature of his tongue and lips and teeth hadn't already voiced that quite clearly.

there is always hope

Ronin might have engaged with Isla further if he could... y'know, speak to her. And if he wasn't suddenly and terribly distracted by the man in his arms, the taste of his lips and the press of his hands. He stumbled a little, at first, as Remi urged him down onto the stairs, Ronin laughing softly into their kiss and slumping down obediently, his fingers twining through the alchemist's curls.

Fire curled low and hungry in his belly at those words - I want you now - Ronin drawing back enough to smile mischievously up at Remi. "Well I'm glad," he said, "because you just asked to have me forever, and I said yes." Reaching up, Ronin grasped the front of Remi's shirt and pulled him down into another kiss, his tongue managing to express more without words for once.

bring back the water, let your ships roll in

Remi yielded more than willingly as he was tugged down. The feeling of even this little amount of force—of presumable want from Ronin—made his bones itch with desire. The tenuous tug of willpower it took to hold off from dissolving their clothes as he had done before made his toes curls with delicious agony as his tongue and lips hungrily took from Ronin's the silent outpouring of all the hunter wasn't saying.

Placing his knees astride Ronin's hips, Remi's hands wandered down his sides with one trailing lower towards the ex-captain's lower back. Grinding his hips downwards as he encouraged Ronin's to rise and meet his, Remi moaned a breathless note of excruciating pleasure. The need to breathe tried to combat against the alchemist's need to have and taste and devour the hunter's lips, resulting in hasty sips of air. "I want you always." Remi panted distractedly, pulling back slightly to regard Ronin with lust-filled eyes and coral cheeks. "Right now though," Remi continued, leaning down to gently (and then not so gently) nibble against Ronin's ear, his erection pressed unapologetically against him. "I want you to take the energy Isla gave you back, and I want you to fuck me." He whispered against Ronin, his back arcing downwards to eliminate all space between their bodies.

That was the thing about promising forever. It was a dichotomy of having, and be had. And while Remi now had Ronin in one sense, he wanted to be had by the man in the other. He burned with it, his entire body screaming out in silent iterations of thrusts and small moans, wandering fingers and needy looks.

there is always hope

Remi might not have been dissolving their clothes, but that didn't mean they couldn't come off. Ronin had to pull away to breathlessly tug his shirt over his head, clasping Remi's cheeks and drawing him back in for another kiss the moment he was done. He wasn't rushing, not exactly, but there was a definite enthusiasm to his movements that suggested he wasn't wasting time either.

His hips arced up to meet the alchemist's, Ronin moaning into Remi's mouth and grinding against him, lacing an arm around his waist so he could press him closer still. The same hand soon wandered down to squeeze Remi's ass, whilst the other tangled in soft curls and tugged playfully.

"Mm..." was pretty much the only coherent sound Remi would get out of Ronin, the hunter tilting his head obediently to the side to allow the other man to nip and nibble at his ear. Whilst his body paid no heed to the words being said - he was somewhat preoccupied with the hard length of Remi's cock pressed insistently against him - that didn't mean they didn't filter through.

Heat pulsed low and hard through Ronin's belly, and with a groan of something unintelligible he fumbled to unbutton Remi's pants, a wicked grin on his face as he stole a glance up at the other man. "Get up," he mumbled.

bring back the water, let your ships roll in

With a growl Remi let himself be temporarily pried away from Ronin as the ex-captain slipped his shirt over his head. The alchemist let his fingers reacquaint themselves with the hunter's sides anew, relishing the soft and unmarked skin. For a moment Remi's teeth ground against one another as his head tipped back, the feeling of mounting need temporarily drowning out his rational thoughts. He wanted to ravage, and take, and have, and be had, but there was something just as satisfying about delaying.

Dizzy with lust, Remi's fingers somehow found the edge of one of the stairs, pushing himself back. The world seemed to swim and pulse, and in the center of it, holding him steady and constant and hard was Ronin. Exhaling an almost confused puff of air as rationality crashed back onto him, the alchemist pushed himself slightly back off of the stairs (and subsequently Ronin, hard as that was to do), and remove his own shirt.

For a moment he merely panted, eyes cast down at the ex-captain who was in dazzling technicolor compared to the stairs. "Ronin.." He all but whined as the man's fingers came to the fastening of his pants.

there is always hope

Seated on the stairs between Remi's legs, Ronin somehow felt like he was exactly where he was supposed to be. Perhaps it was the way his name fell from Remi's lips (it definitely helped), or the rock hard arousal making it difficult to unfasten the other man's pants; either way, whilst he had no intention of leaving Remi wanting (fuck me, the alchemist had said, and his cock twitched at the mere thought of it), there was no reason not to have a little fun first.

"Remi," he murmured in reply, smirking up at the alchemist as he finally freed him from the tight confines of his pants. Rather than a whine, however, there was something infinitely wicked in Ronin's tone. His hands running up the back of Remi's thighs to grab his ass, the hunter wasted little time, tilting his hips forward and guiding the full length of him into a hot and waiting mouth.

bring back the water, let your ships roll in

Hearing his name from Ronin's lips made something inside of his belly coil, and heat, and then somehow also expand. It made the back of his legs tense as he tried to remain where he was and not simply thrust himself down upon the ex-captain in a movement of pure need and want.

That was before, of course, Ronin took him into his mouth.

"G-h-hhh-" Remi whined distantly, all sorts of words and demands and pleas combining into one incoherent sound. One of his hands tangled against Ronin's head, unapologetically gripping the dark mop of hair encouraging the movements—to his detriment though they might have been.

Despite his judgement, Remi's hips moved forwards at opposite motions of his hand, encouraging the hunter along as his breathing came in shallow and desperate pants. All he wants in that moment was to fuck Ronin in whatever capacity, as hard as he could. Despite the alchemist's good and altruistic nature, he might well have suffocated the man he'd just pledged his life to, so overwhelmingly pleasurable were his lips.

"Nn-n--n-" Remi started to say, eyelids slipping shut as his head leaned back. His hips jutted forward, and all he wanted was to thrust and feel Ronin's tongue against him.

But no. There was something he wanted more.

Something he'd never had.

Claws appeared at the ends of his fingers as his hand moved from Ronin's hair to his chest. The snarl on Remi's lips was predatory and primal, the height of his willpower. "No—" Remi breathed through teeth turned sharp. "—now—I have never been...I..." His mind was almost gone. Every fibre of his being screamed for Ronin's touch, and though he had it in one capacity, he needed more.

There was a soft pleading in the glassy-gaze that was beginning to be lined with gold. A predatory hunger, a primal need, a human desperation.

the things we hold are always the first to go

Ronin worshipped Remi with his tongue. Hands still pressed against the other man's backside (to guide as well as restrain, if that was even possible) as he devoured him, groaning low in his throat at the fingers in his hair that came to aid in the act. Breathing became something controlled more by willpower now than anything else, Ronin drawing in quick sips of air wherever he was able, and he was urged on by the fractured beginnings of words, the moans of pleasure and the enthusiastic rock of Remi's hips.

When he forced himself to draw back Ronin was left panting softly, eyes burning like blue fire as he gazed up at the man he'd agreed to be his forever, a roguish smile starting to pull at the corners of his lips.

Whether the hunter moved slowly on purpose, to tease, was anyone's guess, but against Remi's frenetic need the hunter was all cool assertiveness. He guided the alchemist back a few steps, that he might rise to his feet as well, and the obvious tent in his pants told that Remi was not alone in his wants, his needs, his nows and not a moment laters.

Still, Ronin leant in and pressed his lips to Remi's, exploring his mouth with a slow and deep satisfaction, hands gliding over a body now more scarred than his own, Remi's erection pressed insistently against his belly. "I don't want to hurt you," he murmured into the kiss; a subtle nudge that Remi was the one with the creation magic, and the ability to make this all the more comfortable for both of them.

bring back the water, let your ships roll in

There was a time Remi thought that Ronin's experience might have intimidated him. Not out of jealousy, but out of a need to please, to be enough, to satisfy. Now though, he simply basked in the way Ronin was able to pull himself back, to offer an easy smile that took Remi's breath away, and to above all, know what to do next.

The alchemist was absolutely innocent in his need, yielding and submissive in a way that did not hearken back to his commoner-upbringing. Stepping back a few steps, his erection proudly demarcating the distance between the two, Remi was utterly breathless and silent, lost in the moments between when Ronin's hands were on him, and when they would bea gain.

Nearly collapsing into the kiss, Remi's brows came together in an expression of something like pain and distraction. He felt the feline-urge inside of him wanting to devour Ronin in some unnamed capacity, and indeed rather than feathers now, tufts of gold began to spread through his curls as a hand punctuated by claws drew the ex-captain further against him.

You won't bubbled on his lips, but of course...that wasn't necessarily true. Like the ex-captain was in just about every other aspect, his cock was just as impressive. Almost begrudgingly, if only because it took proper effort and forced Remi's mind off of Ronin's lips and the feel of him against him,   the alchemist's forehead dropped against Ronin's shoulder as he took a few hasty sips of air. With claws rather than magic now, Remi loosened his lover's pants from around his waist. Part of him wanted to drop to his knees, to take Ronin into his mouth and return both the favour and the torment that had been bestowed upon him. The rest of him though, a much larger part of him than he would have ever guessed, was growing insistent. The lubricant the ex-captain had hinted at suddenly appeared in Remi's hand. Biting against one of Ronin's collarbones, he tried to slow his mind enough to make the application therein enjoyable for his counterpart, rather than the hasty motion his body wanted it to be. "Ronin—" Remi murmured against his skin, one hand applying the lube insistently but with clear aim for pleasure against Ronin's own erection, while his free hand roamed lowered, cupping Ronin's ass to force his cock further forward into a waiting, but impatient hand.