wonderland

say it's here where our pieces fall in place

Ambling home with most of the wine still in the bottle he'd brought—his mind having been buzzed enough with Phoebe's words alone—Remi heaved open the door to the guildhouse with a stifled sigh. Setting the bottle down onto the table, Remi tugged in a breath and held it. He could feel Ronin's rhythmic heart beating, but couldn't hear much from within the guildhall itself. Cocking his head to the side (and considering very strongly in that moment putting some sort of way-finder in their rings as well), the alchemist ruffled a hand through his curls. Not wanting to call out for risk of waking Aoife if she was asleep, Remi decided to try the places he thought he'd most likely find Ronin first: either by the fire, or in bed.

Though he hadn't wanted to comment, the alchemist wasn't ignorant of the changes taking over Ronin. He seemed more easily fatigued and sometimes his fingers shook. There was a darkness that settled over him like a shadow (perhaps noticed all the more keenly by the alchemist given his strange new sight), both in appearance and in mood. Still, there was no one Remi wanted to see more or to talk about his oh-so strange day with.

RONIN

Neither of them wanted to comment, but that didn't mean it was any less real. Still, Ronin was a seasoned expert in putting on a brave face and smiling through it, so he napped when he got tired and he played off his tremors as nothing. His mood, though, was not so easy to lift - luckily enough, by the time Remi meandered into the bedroom the guildmaster was just about awake, smiling adoringly over at his husband and lifting the blankets so he could sneak in and join him.

"Did you have fun at your picnic?" he wanted to know, his hair an utter mess and his blue eyes still a bit unfocused. "Aoife is napping, so I thought I would join in. It's only fair."

don't close your eyes
something beautiful is still alive

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say it's here where our pieces fall in place

"Fair." Remi repeated with an adoring smile. Rather than slinking in between the sheets however, the alchemist collapsed wearily on top of his husband, an arm strewn over his shoulder so that Remi could bury his face in the crook of Ronin's neck. It was the best place to release the heavy and dramatic sigh that had been building in his chest ever since he'd arrived home.

"You will never guess what Phoebe's wedding present to us is." He mumbled against Ronin's skin with a stifled groan. Already feeling the heat radiating off of his husband (two men in a bed did indeed a furnace make), Remi rolled onto his back folding one arm beneath his head so that he could look lazily over at the hunter, his shattered stare amused and yet somehow put-off at the same time.

RONIN

Ronin made a weak (and unconvincing) noise of protest as Remi flopped on top of him, the hunter laughing and wiggling his arms free so he could fuss over the other man. His hands wound gently through the alchemist's curls before trailing down over his back, only to finally release him as he rolled onto his back. Shoving the blankets away and flashing Remi a still-sleepy smile, he had the decency to look at least a bit puzzled at his question.

"From that tone I feel like it's not something we can eat?" he said, unable not to sound a little disappointed. "Is it... matching shirts? Or...?" He trailed off, laughing softly and shrugging as if to say he was out of ideas.

don't close your eyes
something beautiful is still alive

Coding base by Sky!

say it's here where our pieces fall in place

Remi snorted, his expression blissfully easy for just a moment before the actual content of the gift filtered back in his mind. Wincing boyishly, Remi scrunched his nose and his eyes tightly, biting his lip and doing his very best to communicate without words the horribly awkward and uncomfortable thing he was going to have to say.

"Unfortunately no." The alchemist managed at last, opening his eyes and gazing softly at Ronin, wanting nothing more than to tell him to forget it all, and couldn't they just go to sleep? But now that he'd mentioned it, he doubted very much if his husband would so much as let him close his eyes without spilling the goods.

"So..." He tried, tugging in a breath and holding it. "She—" He exhaled sharply. "Gods Ronin, it is just so.."

Remi trailed off, face both colouring, heating, and somehow growing pale as well.

RONIN

Ronin couldn't help but frown, both amused and puzzled as he watched his husband turn an apparent rainbow of colours and shades of emotion. Levering himself up on one elbow to gaze down at Remi, Ronin reached out and ruffled up his curls. "How bad could it be?" He chuckled. "Spit it out, Remi. It's not like she offered to have sex with us, is it?"

don't close your eyes
something beautiful is still alive

Coding base by Sky!

say it's here where our pieces fall in place

There went the colour in his face.

Gaping up at Ronin, his face an entirely comical cringy-expression that tried on a crooked smile before immediately deciding that was a mistake. The ring on Ronin's finger would be pounding by now.

"Mm..hmm.."

He all but wheezed, gazing uncertainly up at Ronin, wanting to laugh and throw up. "She...it was for a baby. Or..is for a baby, if we wanted one. Another one. It.." The world was spinning, and Remi felt more uncomfortable than he could ever remember having felt. "Ronin—" The alchemist whined playfully, reaching up to pull the ex-captain against him. The smell of man, of his husband, was calming, But it couldn't' quite dampen the thoughts Phoebe had put in his head.

"There is even an orgasm quota for this whole thing to work.."

RONIN

For a second, with Remi's pulse drumming at his fingertips, Ronin thought Phoebe had offered something truly, actually horrific as a wedding gift. So to learn that it actually was sex - the hunter's jaw dropped in a mix of utter confusion (and a little bit of pride at getting it right), and he was putty in Remi's hands as he was pulled against the other man. His arms moved easily around him, of course, Ronin still trying to wrap his head around this apparent news as he dropped a gentle kiss on top of Remi's head.

"Hang on-- what? A baby? We have a baby," he started, before Remi said the words orgasm quota and the hunter lost it in a fit of snorts and laughter. "She offered us... a baby? I... well, I mean, I'm glad to hear she has high expectations with the orgasms, but I don't think that's really a gift."

don't close your eyes
something beautiful is still alive

Coding base by Sky!

say it's here where our pieces fall in place

"Ronin." Remi scolded as if he was at all surprised by his husband's jovial reaction. "And I know we do. I did mention that." He added with a grunt, wanting to simply cover himself with Ronin like a blanket and ignore the world forever.

"Apparently she went to Frey..and we..well." Remi swallowed, not wanting to say it out loud, must less continue to endure the images flashing in his mind. "..a threesome. With, yes, an orgasm requirement. One from each of us in.." He adored Phoebe, he did, but he couldn't help tensing and shuttering slightly as he continued. "..her. And then we would each have to make her cum once as..payment, I suppose."

Alright. So maybe it was a bit hysterical.

Wrapping a hand around Ronin's lower back and sighing with a huff, Remi shrugged. "I mean..I do think she meant it as a gift...babies being so important to her, given her line of work, but.." The alchemist shook his head helplessly.

RONIN

The scolding only had Ronin grinning more, the hunter all but giggling against Remi's shoulder as he shifted to get more thoroughly tangled up in the other man. Still, if there was anything that could drop cold water on the fun of the situation, it was the mention of Frey. Pulling in a deep breath, Ronin frowned and reached out to smooth Remi's curls from his face, checking he was actually alright talking about it.

He arched a very skeptical eyebrow at the, ah, details of the situation that came tumbling out, Ronin relaxing into the pillows and giving a puzzled sort of frown when he was done. "...I mean. Do you want a baby?" he asked, never really having considered or thought about it. He'd seen Aoife as Remi's since he'd gone to the stars with Vanya, but he realised he'd never asked the alchemist his thoughts.

don't close your eyes
something beautiful is still alive

Coding base by Sky!

say it's here where our pieces fall in place

As Ronin settled into the pillows, the alchemist immediately followed. Not overly needy (at least he didn't think so) the urge to keep the hunter quite close given the context of their conversation was all Remi's fingers were interested in. Placing a hand on his partners hip and laying his face down on the pillow next to Ronin's, Remi merely shrugged.

"It is like you said, we already have a baby." Nibbling the inside of his lip, having never given it any proper thought, for a moment Remi merely let himself still in the familiar blue depths of Ronin's gaze. "All the family I have, I am not related to by blood. I suppose until Phoebe mentioned having a child that was us—my eyes, your hair—" he mumbled, repeating what the midwife had said, "I had never thought about it. But, if I ever did want another child, it certainly would not be because I did not think Aoife was mine. " This he said with as much conviction as he could in the face of orgasms and threesomes, but his gaze was no less sincere for it.

And perhaps just as importantly..."She said there was..something we could drink. To make it easier I suppose." (Harder he might have said, under different circumstances). "But I honestly cannot see a situation where I could do it."

RONIN

Smiling as Remi kept himself close, Ronin settled amongst the pillows and wound his arm around the other man to strum featherlight fingers across his back. Nodding slowly as the alchemist spoke but feeling as though there was more to come, he kept quiet to hear him out properly. A child with both of their traits? It was... well, it was something, but... he hadn't married Remi under the impression that they would grow their family any further.

"To make it easier, huh," he muttered, wrinkling his nose. "It sounds pretty... unreal." He meant it literally; forced passion to create life? It wasn't his thing, he didn't think. "Me neither. I'm happy as we are, Remi. I've got more than I thought I ever would, so..." He shrugged, smiling. "Aoife's enough trouble as it is anyway."

don't close your eyes
something beautiful is still alive

Coding base by Sky!

say it's here where our pieces fall in place

"It sounds.." But there weren't really any words for what Remi thought it sounded like. Not quite rape, really, but perhaps a very distant relative. Afterall, if you needed something to blur your mind enough to make something like this seem okay, glossing over it hardly seemed the solution. "...like Frey." Remi sighed lamely.

Laughing, and hearing basically the words he said to Phoebe repeated to him by his partner, Remi beamed across the pillow. "Nor me. I never thought I would have any of this. And not only is Aoife a handful, she is enough. All of this...it is all enough for me."

RONIN

"It does sound like Frey," Ronin agreed with a deep sigh, frowning and wrinkling his nose as he gazed somewhere over Remi's shoulder towards the door. His attention was drawn back at the sound of his husband's laughter, Ronin grinning and nudging Remi gently. "And for me," he agreed, leaning in to steal a soft kiss from his lover's lips. "But you just tell me if it ever isn't enough, and we'll talk about it before we go drugging ourselves to get a baby from Phoebe."

And it sounded just as ridiculous out loud as it had in his head, and Ronin found himself laughing all over again. He shook his head. "Sorry, I know she meant well... but I just... it's not exactly a typical present is it?"

don't close your eyes
something beautiful is still alive

Coding base by Sky!