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”You know, when I said that we needed a holiday, I didn’t expect us to end up here.” The sun doesn’t set over Halo in LongHeat, Ronin is learning, and so when he’s not able to sleep and there’s still twilight shining overhead, it’s the perfect opportunity for a stroll. Well, not a stroll exactly. Ronin is bundled up on his nimbus with Remi against his chest, the Star cold enough to hope that his husband might be able to maintain some semblance of lucidity.

They fly up and along the Citadel walls, golden light beaming over the Tundra. ”It’s quite something, for a place so barren, isn’t it?” he remarks, resting his cheek against Remi’s curls and closing his eyes for a moment. Truthfully he doesn’t give a damn about how Halo looks; not half as much as he cares for the man in his arms.

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"Don't jinx it." Remi says, pulling a blanket closer around him as he both shivers in the cold and broils from the inside-out. Had he the strength he'd have reached out to tap on Ronin's crotch; knocking on wood, and all that. Sadly, his muscles are exhausted from the constant shaking, and it's all he can do to try and keep himself conscious.

"I love you Ronin, but I do not see what you see in this place." The Lullaby mumbles affectionately, nudging himself closer to his husband. "Maybe it's the artist in you and the alchemist in me, but all I see is a lot of unusable water and cold." That Ronin would pick out the golden light against the soft pinks and blues over the Tundra was understandable. Remi could see it too, though he didn't appreciate it the way Ronin apparently did.

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”Sorry,” Ronin mumbles, kissing Remi’s temple and smiling against his hair, eyes fluttering open so he can look at the icy tundra again. ”What I see,” he whispers, rubbing at the other man’s arms to try and help with the shivering, ”is answers. It’s a road across the ice, into the Climb. And that’s how we’re going to cure you - first for just a week maybe, but then for good.”

And honestly, that’s probably why he’s so chipper - that and because he can finally hold a decent conversation with Remi when he isn’t unconscious and crawling out of nightmares. ”And when this is all over, I’m going to keep you up all night long,” He grins. ”Or... maybe I’ll just take you on an old fashioned date. I don’t think you and I have ever had one of those.”

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"And you think it will be found in the water?" Remi asks of the 'cure'. Thinking of the vast spring he's imagining this healing liquid coming from makes him shudder in revulsion. The alchemist doesn't have the optimism his partner does; perhaps it's a bit of a relief that they're so bundled up so that Remi doesn't have to feel the abundance of hope shining off of Ronin. A cure that wasn't a cure. They had no way of knowing Amalia wasn't going to get worse because of this brief respite. They had no way of knowing anything, really.

With a weary laugh, Remi leans the side of his head against Ronin's shoulder. Exhausted as he is, the idea of staying up all night, even knowing what it is the Star is implying, sounds like something he could never manage. "A date? You know, I don't believe we ever did." Frowning, Remi glances down, reaching for one of Ronin's hands beneath the blanket. "Then again, we've had a bunch of almost dates. That they ended chaotically, or with someone almost dying doesn't matter, does it?"

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”I think the water is a very decent start. And I think a few days of you being able to get real rest, and get some strength back, is something I’d do pretty much anything for,” Ronin says softly, radiating starlight unapologetically as they drift further across the citadel walls, before ambling around and back into the city. ”Even if you don’t like the Tundra, Snowcloak is pretty... bracing, right?” He chuckles.

His hand closes around his husband’s and he holds him close, heading slowly back towards the Palace where Morgan has arranged for them to stay. ”Of course it doesn’t matter. But I still want to take you on a real date, after this is all over. I’ll wear a suit, like a regular old Northaven baron. We’ll go to dinner, and I’ll pull out your chair for you and everything.”

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"I'm not so sure." Remi admits through incredibly dry lips. "It's better right now if I'm weaker...Can you imagine trying this even a week ago?" When Remi's body was still full of fight when he might have leaped from the cloud and gone gods knew where? Swallowing hard, the alchemist can't help but feel he's in an impossible position. The chance to feel better is impossibly alluring. But knowing that he'll just be back where he is in a week? Worse off, perhaps? It's hard to stomach.

His lips part but the laugh which leaves him is hollow and small. "You don't even own a suit. I'm fairly certain I tore apart the one you wore to our wedding." Remi reminds the huntsman, before raising a brow. "What were the dates like for you, back in Northaven? Were they all banquets and exquisite balls?"

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”I dealt with you a week ago. I’ll deal with you again,” Ronin says simply, love and warmth all but humming through their Attuned bond. ”Besides, indulge me please. This break isn’t just for you.” The Star is in dire need of recovery as well; even his dreams are not spent resting, and it’s starting to show in his short temper, in his impulsiveness and frustration.

Talk of dates is a good distraction, and he nudges Remi gently as the nimbus circles ruined turrets of ice, a cold breeze ruffling their hair. ”I don’t, anymore. But I could have one made, and surprise the hell out of you with how dashing I still look,” he says, teasing his fingers through Remi’s curls. ”Mm... they were all rather dry,” he admits. ”Formal affairs. Exquisite balls and banquets, yes, but... very dull. Especially given that most were military arranged.”

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That, is more than enough to quiet any and all arguments Remi might make. "No, of course it isn't. You're right." The alchemist says with an easy shake of his head against Ronin's coat. He doesn't bother to apologize, knowing that the words aren't needed. Instead, he just interlocks his fingers through Ronin's, and sighs wearily.

"Don't let this go to your head, but you always surprise me with how dashing you look." Remi murmurs, all boyish adoration as his thumb softly strokes the back of the huntsman's hand. "There isn't a day that goes back that you don't take my breath away. Covered in flour or blood or sand, it doesn't matter." Glancing up with a crooked and almost bashful smile, Remi presses and infinitely soft kiss against Ronin's lips. "You'll always be the most handsome man I've ever seen."

Snorting as he tries to imagine Ronin in a stuffy room of expectant eyes and frowns (it's rather easy to do, actually), Remi just shakes his head. "Sounds like you'd have liked our pace better. Getting drunk if we could afford it, dancing on tables, starlit walks."

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No apology is needed and neither is any forgiveness, Ronin giving his partner’s hand a gentle squeeze and closing his eyes for a moment to enjoy the weightless feeling of drifting down and around the towers. There’s a distant screech that tells of Sugar’s presence, but the Star knows she’s too busy hunting to join them just now. Blinking his attention back, he raises his eyebrows down at Remi, lips parting to speak only to be silenced by the sweetest lips he’s ever known.

”And you,” he murmurs, ”have no right to be saying things like that, looking up at me in that way.” Boyish warmth all but exudes out of the alchemist, and Ronin is always drawn to it. If he’s a Star then Remi is the centre of the galaxy he orbits around, endlessly caught in his wake. ”I definitely prefer your pace. Though when I snuck out of the barracks it was more drinking, gambling and fighting,” he remarks.

”Still, that’s a good idea for our date. We can dress like blue bloods and act like the ruffians we really are. I’ve always wanted to dance on a table with you.” He grins.

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"No? Better that I should say it looking down on you, then?" The alchemist wonders, a spark of heat flaring into his voice for just a moment, before he chuckles. "Ahh right. All those times you were thrown in jail." Remi recalls with a crooked and skeptical slant to his gaze.

"Not enough fighting in the barracks?" The Lullaby wonders, before crinkling his nose. "How about you play you, and I'll play me and we can have the change encounter we never had." Minus all of Remi's sexual repression. Then again...he'd happily re-write history with Ronin breaking his mental shackles in the back room of some seedy bar.

"I'm actually a rather good dancer, I'll have you know."{s/ay} The alchemist adds with a single bounce of his eyebrows.

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”Promises, promises,” Ronin teases, his smile very devilish indeed as he leans in to steal another kiss from his husband’s lips. Just as featherlight, but almost infuriatingly so given what he wants to be doing, he draws back and lets out a cackle of laughter, his nimbus dropping into a dive for a moment. ”All those times, yes. It will never beat the very last time I was in jail, but still.” He grins, winding lazily around towards the window to their room now.

”Oh there was plenty of fighting in the barracks, but I was never drunk enough to enjoy it,” Ronin’s says with an exaggerated sigh, already grinning stupidly at the thought of being able to take Remi on an actual date. So close to their... second wedding anniversary, too! ”That sounds perfect. I’ll even pretend it’s a first meeting, just for you. Though I warn you, it’s bad form to put out on a first date.”

Kissing Remi’s cheek, he flies them in through the window. ”I challenge you to a dance off, in that case, sir.”

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"Was that the time you punched Archebold?" Remi wonders, vaguely recalling the story. Something about Archebold being a creep, and Ronin being drunk.

The alchemist wants to both kiss the smile off of Ronin's lips and simultaneously do everything he can to keep it there forever. Despite the fever and the chills, Remi feels butterflies swarm in his belly at the thought. "Cliche as it might be, I'd really like that." His memories have been messed with enough that he's probably within his rights to re-write a few of them. "Oh is it? I'll have you know I nearly always put out on the first date. Threw them off." Had he a free hand with which to tap his nose, he would have done. Instead, he merely offers a crooked smile to the Star as they return back to the palace.

"What, now? I don't think so. I'm not even sure I can get off of this cloud, much less onto a table."

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”I much prefer the way you tell the story. Yes, let’s say that’s what happened.” Ronin laughs; it was more like was that the time you took a swing at Archie and got your ass handed to you horribly, but Remi’s version is more flattering. ”I don’t think it’s cliche, and I’d really like that too,” he says, letting the nimbus hover next to their bed and carefully extracting himself from around Remi.

”Oh, do you? Perhaps you’ll have to charm my pants off on the first date, then,” he says with a grin, leaning in to scoop Remi off the cloud like he’s a princess being rescued from a tower. ”I warn you, though, you’ll not throw me off. I intend to stay.” Kissing his cheek, he sets the other man down in bed, glancing over his shoulder as Sugar arrives home after them. ”Fine, fine. We can save the dance off for another time.”

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Already the alchemist is imagining what this date might be like, luxuriating in the slow unspooling of heat in his belly that is a far cry from the fevered-warmth he's normally wrapped in. " It doesn't take charm to get you out of your pants, Ronin." Remi points out with a grin. "And I hardly think getting you into bed will convince anyone that I'm straight. Even so, I'm happy to take it as a challenge."

It's a strange and wonderful thing that they're both so strong so as to be able to move one another around as if they weighed nothing at all. Especially now given how weak Remi was. He wasn't entirely sure he could have moved from the nimbus even if he'd focused all of his attention on it. Every muscle in his body felt tightly spooled, trembling traitorously with shivers and heat.

Whistling a note of greeting to Sugar, the Lullaby turns a bemused green stare back to the huntsman. "How very kind of you. Though by all means if you want to hop up on the bed and practice your skills, I'll be happy to give you some pointers."

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