Dying To Bring You Down To Me

NATE

we've been living on a fault line
and for a while you were all mine

Despite it being his suggestion, Nate is surprised by how quickly his husband begins to rise, his body slow and heavy in comparison, just for a moment. Wherever Sunjata goes, he will follow, after all, and if he only needs to get to his feet and down to the kitchen immediately, Nate won’t complain. I think I can manage something fancier than pancakes. Nate laughs, his arm curling around Sunjata to swipe at the now bare porch of his back where wings had once sat.

Nate does his absolute best to not break the kiss between them, and when he fails that he does his best to be a menace, hands wrapping around Sunjata’s hips and along his chest, anything to keep him from getting dressed fully. He fails in the end, and resigns himself to doing the same, smiling at the clothes tossed in his direction. Comfortable shorts, and tank top just a touch too small, in a shade of blue so sun faded it matches his one good eye.

An arm wraps tightly around Sunjata’s hips as they rush down the stairs, Nate taking just enough care to not wake anyone else up yet. The kitchen isn’t exactly bathed in the golden light of morning yet, the sun only just barely a suggestion on the horizon, but it’s all that he needs. “Do you want to help?” Nate asks, like he hasn’t already decided Sunjata will be helping.

The kitchen is one place Nate will accept them to part, if only for safety. Hands fly out while Nate grabs ingredients and supplies, sets up the percolator for the coffee and sets out a bowl filled with a handful of eggs placed in front of Sunjata. “Crack them and beat them all together.” He instructs, dicing vegetables and bacon so close to the attuned that their hips touch.

i've spent a lifetime, giving you my heart
i swear that i'll be yours forever,
'til forever falls apart

SUNJATA

if the tide takes california, i'm so glad i got to hold ya

His stomach already rumbles at the prospect of something fancier than pancakes, but he doesn’t ask what it is. Especially not as he bounds out of bed to slip on clothes, finding it quite difficult with the hands on him as Nate tries his best to make it as difficult of a process as possible. But the Attuned manages to clothe himself, before taking a few and tossing them to his husband, not daring to be a brat about it given the fact that Nate would be completely content not wearing anything if he could. Sunjata doesn’t particularly want to give him a reason, especially when he sees the way the outfit comes together.

Oh, he definitely lets his gaze linger along the slightly too small tank top in his favorite color, drinking it all in.

The trek to the kitchen is easy, comfortable with the weight of Nate’s arm around him, and when they finally reach the kitchen, Sunjata’s stepping into it to try and be useful even if Nate picks out everything and breezes far ahead of him. “I do want to help.” The attuned claims brightly, despite being almost at a loss until the bowl with eggs is set before him and he leans in to press a kiss to Nate’s cheek before the demigod is departing again to dice up the vegetables and bacon.

Sunjata pulls all the eggs out of the bowl and begins to crack them, careful and meticulous about making sure there’s no eggshells in it, when one of the eggs cracks a little too hard and a tiny piece slips into the bowl. “Fuck.” He mutters, lips pursing as he tries to figure out the best way to get the shell out. He shifts his weight, hip bumping into Nate’s as he sticks a finger into the egg mixture to try and drag the eggshell out, only to find it’s far more difficult of a task than he’d anticipated it being. “What the fuck.” He says with a soft air of a laugh, disbelief slipping from him as he grows more focused on his task, leaning down over the bowl to continue the attempts.

and if the sky falls from heaven above
oh i know i had the best time falling into love

NATE

we've been living on a fault line
and for a while you were all mine

No part of Nate was above simply forcing Sunjata to help him, but something about the offer being accepted so easily, so willingly warms the cockles of his unbeating heart. Nate pauses when they reach the kitchen, holographic hands still working around them while he gathers Sunjata's jaw between his palms, fingers stroking gentle lines down along his cheeks. I love you. He purrs through the bond, sealing the words with a long, warm kiss before letting both of them focus on their contributions to breakfast.

Nate is focused on his own task enough that he doesn't notice Sunjata's struggle right away, though a vaguely glowing hand does appear hovering over the attuned's lower back, then slipping down to squeeze his ass. He glances over as a hip bumps into his, a single brow lifting as he watches his husband struggle for far longer than is really necessary. "Hey, uh... Sunny? Darlin', there's an easier way to do that." There's no small amount of laughter in Nate's voice as he wraps his arm around Sunjata's middle once again, reaching out with his other than to grab a mostly solid piece of shell and scooping the errant fragment out of the mixture. "See?" He hums brightly, an edge of a tease in his voice.

i've spent a lifetime, giving you my heart
i swear that i'll be yours forever,
'til forever falls apart

SUNJATA

if the tide takes california, i'm so glad i got to hold ya

Holographic hands crackle and hold his jaw between the static palms, and Sunjata finds his gaze bright as he peers back at his husband, a small smile creeping on the corners of his mouth with the purred words of love pouring through the bond and the way the kiss is long and warm, everything he’s wanted. I love you too. He rumbles, trying to keep the edge of gushiness from pouring through the bond and instead glimmers the bit of content and happiness that things were right, fully intending on keeping it that way for as long as he can.

But the task is given and Sunjata focuses on the eggs that prove to be far more difficult than he’d anticipated, made more difficult with those glowing, static hands that squeeze his ass that have him snorting and shooting a look back at Nate, interrupting his big egg shell hunt. “That’s not helping.” He manages to feign his upset, his tone a whine that leaves his throat.

He keeps trying to find the eggshell, though, to get it out of the mix, when Nate’s arm wraps around his middle and the demigod clearly shows him up. “Oh, well that’s not fair.” He murmurs, staring after it before his gaze lifts to his husband’s face and a soft sigh passes from his lips, his clean hand reaching up to rub at the stubble on his jaw. “Thank you.” It’s an honest bit of gratitude, before he’s cracking the last egg into the bowl and grabbing the whisk to stir it up, lifting the bowl into his arm and mixing it as his focus shifts to what Nate’s working on. “What’s all that?” He tries to lean over Nate’s shoulder a fraction while he continues to mix, peering down at the chopped vegetables and meat.

and if the sky falls from heaven above
oh i know i had the best time falling into love

NATE

we've been living on a fault line
and for a while you were all mine

Nate does his absolute best to look remorseful in the face of Sunjata’s look, a task thats failed spectacularly by his silent smugness. “Aww, I’m sorry prinses.” The words croon out of Nate, his hand fading away slowly. Leaning in to scoop the bit of shell outNate presses a kiss against his husbands cheek. Anytime darling.

“I have onions, mushroom, those peppers you like, and some smoked ham I picked up in town.” Nate points at each ingredient with the top of his knife while he names then, before scooping them up and depositing them all in the egg mix. All at once, he’s a whirlwind of movement again, grabbing a pan and some oil, checking the oven and adding some more wood to it. Floating back to his husbands side, Nate wraps his arms around Sunjata. “Pour the egg into the pan.” He instructs, waiting for Sunjata to listen before shoving the whole thing into the oven.

Twirling back into Sunjata, Nate smiles, and rests his head on the attuned’s shoulder. I missed this. He says again, still not over the ability to touch again. Warmth and easy joy run through the bond, Nate starting to sway them back and forth.

i've spent a lifetime, giving you my heart
i swear that i'll be yours forever,
'til forever falls apart

SUNJATA

if the tide takes california, i'm so glad i got to hold ya

“Princess?” Sunjata replies swiftly, breaking through the feigned upset for a hint of surprise and hum of laughter as Nate scoops the eggshell out. He has no further retort, though, not wanting to dampen the mood by mentioning how he’d killed his father and how technically by the rules, he’d be a Queen now. Obviously. But in favor of not dredging up those bitter, sad memories, Sunjata leans into his husband, whisking the eggs as he peers at what Nate had chopped up.

The smile that sparks along his face is nothing short of adoration, though, his stormy gaze bright as it lifts to his husband’s face while the Flood extends the bowl for the ingredients to be tossed into. He mixes them together while the Ascended grabs the pan and other items required. “I do like those peppers.” He half mutters, having nearly forgotten given his inability to cook basically anything. But that’s beside the point. He’s been learning, after all.

Arms wrap around him and Sunjata does as is asked, pouring the mixture into the pan, stepping to the side as Nate places the pan in the oven, and with his arms free he can wrap them around Nate tightly, snugly, wherever he wants without hurting him, and it’s a blessing. Me too. He hums before the swaying sparks an idea, and his arms are loosening around Nate’s middle as he nudges his husband to look at him, a pulse of mischief crossing through the bond. “Care for a dance?” He asks with a crooked smile, barely giving Nate any time to refuse if he does, before he’s pushing back against his husband, readjusting Nate’s arms as he does so, lacing his fingers with one hand while he adjusts the other to rest around his hip while his free hand does the same. “Follow my lead, Skatjie.” He straightens his posture a fraction, humming a very distinctly Korofi tune under his breath as he begins to take Nate with him on this impulsive dance, knowing that Nate likely hadn’t been exposed with any sort of ballroom dance. But that’s fine, it’s easy to figure out in a slow dance like this, and Sunjata’s always been quite good at guiding his partners through it.

and if the sky falls from heaven above
oh i know i had the best time falling into love

NATE

we've been living on a fault line
and for a while you were all mine

“Mmhmm.” Nate hums easily, a hand coming to rest on his husband ass, squeezing as his next words coo out of him, the korofi heavier on his tongue than anything else would be. “My prinses.” Whatever argument is brewing behind. Sunjata’s face isn’t voiced, which makes it easy for Nate to ignore, his mental presence warm and comforting, not prying.

All that’s left to do for breakfast is wait, eggs and bacon and those tasty peppers cooking away in the warmth of their oven while Nate settles in to the warmth his husband seems to exude, a barely there sensation that he hadn’t realized he’d missed until it was gone. Sunjata was so cold through blankets, or on the other side of the couch or bed.

“A dance?” Nate makes a show of wrinkling his nose. Do I look like one of your fancy suitors? He teases easily, letting himself be dragged along into the steps, as they were. It’s only a touch more complicated than their swaying had been, Nate just following his husbands lead. And running his thumb along the warm skin of his hand. And... imagining a suit to go along with the slow stiff dance and the slow stuff tune, sending over the imagined outfit as soon as it’s locked down, a grin on his lips.

It only takes a moment before Nate steps just a little too close, still following his husbands lead, but pressed together now, too close for the balls he knows of, and almost certainly too close for the Korofi ones they’re copying. Hey, sonskyn?

i've spent a lifetime, giving you my heart
i swear that i'll be yours forever,
'til forever falls apart

SUNJATA

if the tide takes california, i'm so glad i got to hold ya

The confirmation of being Nate’s princess, has him unable to keep the amusement from his face – one that breaks through his feigned upset. It cuts like a hot knife through butter for any following arguments he might have under the term, pushing it aside for how Nate simply leans into him while they wait for breakfast to be cooked, Sunjata winding his arms around his husband, gentle and sweet, before he’s deciding on a dance and already forcing Nate into partaking.

The easy tease has the grin sparking up again, tugging at the scar that spans his face as he meets his husband’s single blue gaze. “No.” He replies audibly, keeping that grin there. You look better than any of the fancy suitors I had. He purrs, moving them from a sway into an easy slow dance, until Nate manages to get the hang of it and then he’s adding a few extra steps in it. The idea of the suit that would go along with it that Nate sends over is met with a snort, a bob of his head, an agreement.

So of course he sends his own image back, not of a suit, but a dark, beautiful ballroom of just the two of them and candles sprinkled throughout as Nate drifts closer and Sunjata’s arm winds around from his hip to the small of his back, the hand in Nate’s giving his a squeeze. He can’t help but to lean in and press himself closer, to press his forehead against his husband’s as he stops the humming song under his breath. Yes, Skatjie? There’s no underlying worry or fear that he’s about to get something dropped on him, just pure innocent curiosity and an intense amount of attention for what Nate wants to say.

and if the sky falls from heaven above
oh i know i had the best time falling into love

NATE

we've been living on a fault line
and for a while you were all mine

A place just for them. Nate can’t help but to add his own fingerprints into this scene of intimacy, the smell of salt on a warm breeze, the radiant smiles on their faces. Fuck, you’re some kind of romantic, aren’t you? Leaning in, Nate brushes his smile over his husbands cheeks, not even pausing to press it into a proper kiss, not until he finds Sunjata’s lips.

I love you. He says easily, remembering when it had felt like pulling teeth to say. I... I am in love with you. Nate offers this as if it means something different, offers it because it is something different. Hopelessly, hopelessly in love. An echo in his mind, while he steels himself for what he wants to say next. You make me fuckin’ stupid, sonskyn. Here’s he’s looped back around to pulling teeth, shyness not something that often graces Nate. It stops his mental words in a tangle of emotional burrs.

i've spent a lifetime, giving you my heart
i swear that i'll be yours forever,
'til forever falls apart

SUNJATA

if the tide takes california, i'm so glad i got to hold ya

Of course I am. Sunjata sends back, relishing in the sensation of a sea breeze, a warmth that seems to be not only from the room they find themselves in but also their happiness. He feels the stretch of the smile that crosses Nate’s face as he leans into the kiss when it reaches him, slowing the sway a bit, but it still manages to take them across the kitchen with the way Sunjata steps and brings Nate along with him.

There’s relief and a sensation of a golden thread that seems to find its way over the attuned bond toward Nate, pulling away as the truth of what Nate says, the honesty within it, the way he feels it back seems to suddenly smack him in the face and he can’t keep the kiss going for the burn that creeps through the bridge of his nose toward his eyes. So he nestles his cheek against Nate’s, pressing his face against his husband’s sharp jawbone and holds him closer. I am so hopelessly in love with you too. He says back through a mental voice that’s surprisingly tight, breathless and dripping with warmth. You are my everything.

A shaky inhale of breath meets him, filling his chest, his steps slowing as he almost seems to forget that they’re dancing. He’s careful about what he wants to say, keeping it on the backburner for now, not wanting to detract from what Nate wanted to say in the first place. So he nuzzles his face into the crook of Nate’s neck, pressing a kiss against the column of it. What did you want to say?

and if the sky falls from heaven above
oh i know i had the best time falling into love

NATE

we've been living on a fault line
and for a while you were all mine

A smile follows the path of Sunjata’s flush, curling Nate’s lips up as he basks in the warm reciprocation cloying the bond. Gods, how has he ever thought taking off this blessed ring was a good idea? Words, real emotional words, were not something that sprang easily to his lips, silver tongue ashen when it came to honesty, but feelings? Raw feelings? Fuck, Nate could drown in them, and did, often.

There is a sudden swell in Nate, an emotion breaking its chains and running into the open, sickly, possessive joy aching in his jaw suddenly, making every moment spent not pressing his lips against his husband feel like a wasted one. A waste he puts a stop to immediately, his head shifting ever so slightly. To be so loved, despite everything he was, to be someone’s everything. Gods, the things he would do for Sunjata, just to really deserve that.

Slowing naturally, Nate forgets everything that isn’t holding Sunjata, a hand rising to cradle the back of his head, the attuned wordlessly precious. Nate realizes quite suddenly that his eyes are wet, in spite of how tightly he has them closed. There’s a pause, a moment that would have been a breath of he could remember the trick of it, and then words, the first few faltering drops of a storm. I... want us to have more. I want a, his mental voice falters, memories rising up from a place deep in Nate labeled Do Not Open, things that even now have his body tightening, bracing, a family. More of a... with, with both of us.

i've spent a lifetime, giving you my heart
i swear that i'll be yours forever,
'til forever falls apart

SUNJATA

if the tide takes california, i'm so glad i got to hold ya

They’ve never been good at their words. The things they want to say would always trap themselves in their throats – coated with glue, stuck to the side, pressed and repressed down far enough away that they didn’t have to look at it, even if they wanted to. Sunjata, himself, often battled with the idea of speaking his mind, the sharp-edged voice of his father cutting through his words, reminding him how soft he had once been, how vulnerable sharing ones feelings were. But with Nate? It doesn’t apply. He’s still terrible at piecing together the words, but feelings? Feelings were something he could do. Through touch, through the attuned bond, it was his lifeline – a life spent touch starved and reprimanded from it often made him overexert with it.

Nate’s never minded it, though. And it’s part of the reason Sunjata loved him so much.

But he never expects this question, not as he leans into Nate’s touch – relishing in it, thriving in it. Like a plant that’s gone without water for too long, suddenly getting that drop of relief to spread through his roots. He presses the side of his face against Nate’s, awaiting the question with bated breath, a pause, ensuring that he’s not looking at the demigod, nor that the demigod is looking at him. He knows well enough by now that they’d never get anywhere staring at one another.

The question is aired and Nate’s holding him so tightly, that the thought of what Nate means by it has his heart aching. It aches because it swells and he doesn’t know what to do with the sudden burst that stabs through his heart like the arrow tattooed to his chest. But he’s terrible with words, and it takes him a moment to wrap his mind around it, to form the words without growing absolutely speechless. So his arms tighten, one around Nate’s middle, the other around his back, and his head angles into Nate’s neck and buries itself there, wondering if Nate could feel the hot pulse of tears that slip from his eyes clamped so tightly shut.

Nate… He pauses, squeezing his husband tighter. I want that too. Gods, I’ve never wanted something more. It’s different this time around, Sunjata realizing that he actually did make a decent father with being thrown face first into raising Kamaria – but there’s one thread that links the child of his and Safrin's to this new potential growth of their family.

Nate.

It’s always been Nate.

It always will be Nate.

and if the sky falls from heaven above
oh i know i had the best time falling into love

NATE

we've been living on a fault line
and for a while you were all mine

Right here, right now, it feels right. Feels like what he’s always been meant to do, even if Nate had never once been able to imagine a future like this for himself. Holding Sunjata in this moment feels for a moment like the only thing he’s ever done right, though as soon as the thought creeps through his mind Nate is arguing with it. It can’t be the only thing, he’s held the attuned before this, will hold him again after this. No, it’s a feeling closer to acceptance; standing on the edge of a cliff wrapped up in each other’s arms, and not afraid to leap off so long as they leap together.

And leap they do.

A sound hiccups from his throat, jagged and awkward and even Nate can’t tell if it’s laughter or a sob. Even he can’t make sense of the swirl of emotions in him, the ache to have a beating heart just the feel the thrum of it hammering against his ribs. He tries to live through the warmth at his throat, tries to pull Sunjata close enough that they are one thing with one heartbeat, instead of two things with one heartbeat.

Ever eager to prove himself right, words fail Nate, sound fails Nate, even emotion nearly fails him. There is no way to describe the swell that pours from him as anything other than a flood, sweeping away everything that came before it with a scouring light and heat. He thinks okay and he thinks thank you and he thinks I adore you and never once does a true word actually leave him. Arms grow tighter around Sunjata as Nate seems to sway, sending them tumbling backwards in a slow, almost controlled fall.

A fall that has Nate pulling his husband into his lap and bundling him up in his arms and the bow of his legs, Sunjata’s face left pressed against his neck. Leaning back against the cupboards, Nate draws in a deep breath, his nose still pressed into Sunjata’s hair, and tries to ground himself. Tries to force words out, in any way, and can’t manage anything more than the liquid shifting of his hand, swiping a hand flush with stolen warmth across the attuned’s shoulders. Maybe it was sort of the same thing.

i've spent a lifetime, giving you my heart
i swear that i'll be yours forever,
'til forever falls apart

SUNJATA

if the tide takes california, i'm so glad i got to hold ya

He melts into Nate, leaning so heavily that he nearly forgets that the two are even dancing. The steps slow and Sunjata hides his face away, buried within his husband’s neck, buried into warmth that he knows is simply his own reflected back at him, and perhaps that’s a bit more poetic than anything he could think of. How instead of being able to meld into each other to become one, there’s the bits and pieces that are absorbed, reflected, brought into one another as both new and old.

Kindred souls.

The hiccup of a sound is met with the Flood simply burying his face in deeper, sucking down a sharp breath and holding onto it because it’s easier than trying to fight his own breathing, especially when Nate begins to move and it’s a tumble down once again – different this time yet similar to the fall from when he’d returned from the watery almost grave. This time, it’s more hopeful, more lively, vibrant and colorful and harboring not even a whisper of sorrow.

He’s wrapped up and he nestles in against Nate, reaching up around the arm of Nate that wraps around him so tightly to wipe at his face. He leans in, recovering enough to press a kiss against the Ascended’s skin, before he presses his face a bit harder against his neck, hard enough that perhaps Nate would be able to feel it more than otherwise. I have… A hard time imagining a future, Nate. But with you it’s easy. You make it easy. He sends over through the attuned bond because he still can’t find it in him to speak aloud until the end of it. “I love you. So much.” It’s hoarse and throaty, breathy and muffled against Nate’s neck, but he wouldn’t change a thing about it.

and if the sky falls from heaven above
oh i know i had the best time falling into love