For forever and a day

sam So please please please, let me get what I want this time Any sweet words from Remi, or indeed Remi himself, faded from Sam's mind as he stared directly into the face of his nightmare. His father had become an almost ghoulish figure in his life now that he was no longer a daily reality, his abuse becoming a legend Sam used to scare himself in the dark of night. The yelling reduced him to a shaking wreck almost instantly, (which would not at all help in the face of his father's rage) Sam unable to even put the arm across Remi that he wanted to, unable to say anything like what he wanted to. His mind was entirely blank of things to say back. "I...I..." He said, shaking his head and hoping it would just be over soon. Suddenly he was a child again, stood in the corner watching Evie heaped with praise while he stammered and struggled his way through one reading to the mirth of his family.

Sam's father watched with an intense frown as Sam stuttered through a non-response to his questions, then stood up and threw his hands in the air. "Nothing to say? What a goddamn surprise. This is why you could never be head of the family. Anything happens and you'd be a statue."

Something not unlike wicked glee crossed his face suddenly and he turned to Remi. "Hey. I don't know who you are Outlander, and frankly I don't care. But you're hanging around with Samuel, so tell me: Is he still complaining about the best thing we ever did for him? Not that it did anything, but Ascension should of have least made him a little tougher."

laughing like children, living like lovers & I guess that's why they call it the blues. Only once had Remi ever been openly defiant and he’d nearly been thrown in jail for what was a relatively small transgression. He’d torn down a poster the Launceleyn’s had put up as some sort of smear campaign against Northaven’s Master Chief. For the rest of his simple life, Remi had submitted to, bowed before, and yielded to all those who were above him. Which was just to say, everyone. But for all that Jigano had said that the alchemist did not want to believe, in this he thought that the bard might be right. Outlander he might be, if he was lesser because of anything, it was not that. With a steel rarely seen in Remi’s pale gaze, the alchemist narrowed his eyes, a raw and cold chuckle on his lips. “If you do not know who I am then I do not think it is Samuel who needs to get out more.” He said with a charming grin, though his accented voice had somehow smoothed itself sounding far less melodic. Glancing towards Sam, Remi’s gaze instantly softened, his lips twitching gently at the sides. He very much wanted to wink, or to lean forwards and kiss the tremble on his friend’s lips, but instead he just turned politely back to the man’s father. “Hmmmm,, complained you say?” Remi hummed with a twinkle in his eyes. He thought of how Sam had looked in the cave, begging to be normal. Of the upgrade Remi had procured and all the things Sam had experienced already because of it.. “Complained?” Remi repeated again. “He has been far too busy with his various accomplishments—defeating a wizard become dragon, rescuing a number of lost civilians lost in sentient books, helping to start a guild, opening a new shop, and saving my life from a mutant bear—to have time for much complaining.” The alchemist waved his hand casually, as if the list of Sam’s accomplishments was simply too long to continue, he shakily pushed himself up off of the bench, a hand going immediately to his side to brace against his ribs. His eyes never left Sam’s father though. “—all that and yet he never mentioned you at all.” Remi finished, a warm smile on his lips that was not evident in his voice. Indeed a predatory gold began to bleed in from the edges of his pale irises as his smile widened. “I am Remi Abruzzo. And you are?”

sam So please please please, let me get what I want this time The only parts of Sam to move were his shaking hands and darting eyes as he watched his father speak then turn to Remi; his hand moved forward as if to protect the other man but he could not find it in him to move all the right muscles. But then, to his absolute shock and amazement...Remi spoke back. He watched with a panicked, wide eyed expression as Remi did what he had never dared to. Remi lied about what he'd accomplished, made it sound as good as it could do, but Sam couldn't help the little twitch of his lips as they tried to make a smile at the sound of it. As Remi stood up he leaned forward to try and hold his back, just something to try and make him more stable. Sam would not want to see him fall forward into his father, give the man any excuse to make things physical. But other than that he did nothing; transfixed by the scene and curious to see what would happen beneath his fear.

A vein began to stand on Sam's father's face as Remi stood up and began to speak. He clearly had not been expecting the intrusion, and much like Sam stared agape at the Alchemist. Immediately discounting the tales Remi gave him of Sam's accomplishments as fiction, he waved a hand.

"I'm his father, boy. So I have much more reason to tell him how he is than you do. Who are you, the boyfriend?" The last word was said with a sneering sarcasm, the man wrinkling up his nose and looking Remi up and down.

From behind him, Sam's mother walked forward and tried to hold his arm, pull him away - but Sam's father shook his arm and waited for Remi to answer.

laughing like children, living like lovers & I guess that's why they call it the blues. Remi's smile grew all the warmer and wider as Sam's father seemed to seethe beneath his gaze. Had the alchemist known that neither of the men with him believed the sincerity of his words, he would have done more to defend Sam. That his friend's father waived away his words was not so surprising, but without being able to see Sam, Remi had no idea that he felt the same. "If you know so much about him, I would have thought you would have known the answer to that." Remi replied sunnily, his pale eyes immediately shifting to Sam's mother as she tried to quietly intervene. Bowing forward from the hips—an act that caused rivulets of pain to screech through his torso—he straightened with a smile. "My lady." He greeted despite wanting to gasp for a breath.

Something about Remi turning to talk to his wife made Sam's father frown and step back, looking between Remi and Sam for a moment before simply shaking his head and walking off into the infirmary.

As he reached the door, he turned around. "Samuel. Don't be here when I come out. I don't want people to think you're here with us."

laughing like children, living like lovers & I guess that's why they call it the blues. "Given I am a patient here—as I said your son did indeed save my life—we probably will still be here. The fresh air is good for me." The alchemist sang sunnily, the lilt of his accent having returned to his voice. Trying to stifle a moan of pain, Remi sat back down next to Sam, trying to keep the smile on his face as breezy as possible as he watched Sam's mother and father walk into the infirmary. Clenching his jaw slightly until they were gone from view, Remi painstakingly turned himself back towards Sam with a raised and amused brow. The two of them certainly had horrific father's in common, but at least Remi's own more or less left him to his own devices. He was too busy whoring and thieving to worry much about his offspring. Sam's though seemed to go out of his way to make his child miserable. Reaching for his friend's hand, Remi exhaled a relieved stream of air and shook his head slightly. "I am sorry if I should have...remained silent." He said in a low voice, an apologetic smile on his lips.

sam So please please please, let me get what I want this time His father asked if Remi were his boyfriend and the question was dodged with an expert swiftness; Sam would be lying if he said he wasn't the slightest bit excited for the answer to that one. But that aside, Remi was defiant and brave where he had never been, a complete hero now in Sam's eyes. As soon as his family walked towards the infirmary he stood up to help Remi back down, glancing towards the door when spoken to and nodding with a grim expression on his face. But then he looked at Remi and his eyes softened, his whole face turning to adoration and pride. "R...Remi. No one...I....you're so b-brave..I'm sorry...I'm..." Oh no. His bout of positive emotions swiftly became overrun with ones of panic and dread as residual fear rushed over him, and tears fell down Sam's cheeks. "S-sorry. Sorry. I'm an ad-adult, I shouldn't...b-be so..." He still reached with shaking hands to guide Remi back down to the bench, but then crumpled down and held his head in his hands.

laughing like children, living like lovers & I guess that's why they call it the blues. Remi's smile was adoring and gentle until tears splashed down his friend's cheeks. "Sam." He whispered softly, shaking his head at the word adult if that at all had anything to do with what it was like to be cast away by a parent, as if age somehow helped. Biting the inside of his cheek as he shifted, his lip snarling slightly as his body did its best to thwart his efforts at consolation, Remi slid an arm around Sam's shoulders, extending the blanket as if it were some sort of wing to cover the man. "You are not the man he thinks he sees, Sam." Remi whispered. He was close enough that he didn't have to speak loudly, but even so, loud words hardly lent themselves to the rather soothing intimacy he was leaning towards. "You are so, so very much more."

sam So please please please, let me get what I want this time As soon as he felt the warmth of an arm on his shoulders, Sam leaned in and rested his head on Remi, in a spot where there were no bandages (and therefore, he hoped, less pain). It took a while for his tears and panicked, empty gasps with no air to fade into a silence, his hands searching for Remi's. The comforting words were appreciated, sentiments he wasn't used to and which made his heart flip in several directions at once. "...Th...thank you." He finally whispered, turning to press a sweet kiss against Remi's shoulder then another on his cheek. "You are...s-so good to me. I don't...de-deserve you, Remi. B...but I hope I can. Sh-show you that. I am..." Sam paused for a moment and looked about, trying to think of the phrase he wanted while his mind still swam in the remains of panic. "The man that y-you want to see." With that said, the danger was not over yet; he glanced to the temple door then back. "...We...really sho-should hide though. Until they're g-gone."

laughing like children, living like lovers & I guess that's why they call it the blues. Remi's fingers gently curved around Sam's shoulder, drawing him closer. The pain was manageable and despite how bright it was in his mind, Sam's obvious need was so much brighter. Pressing his lips against Sam's bowed head, Remi hummed a note of support against his hair, immediately and comfortably linking his fingers between Sam's searching ones. Retracting himself slightly if only so that he could look down at Sam as he pressed a kiss against the cloth of Remi's shoulder and then his cheek (Remi's lashes fluttered closed, and he sighed into the oh-so sweetly gentle feeling of it). The alchemist's brows crumpled slightly as he shook his head with immediate disagreement. "No.." Remi said, eyes searching Sam's upturned face. There was something pained hidden in Remi's expression, something unsure. Still, his boyish and radiant affect bled away whatever it might have been, as he pressed his lips softly against Sam's temple. "I have never wanted you to be anything more than you are." He whispered, feeling a cold stab of guilt running up his spine. Remi thought his words were true, wanted them to be true, yet he couldn't shake off Jigano's not to subtle accusations and questions of his motives. Glancing towards the door as well, Remi shrugged easily. "Whatever you like. I may be injured, but I will not let harm come to you Sam." That being said, of course Remi knew better than most that avoiding the issue rather than forcing it was sometimes the better option. "Although..." Leaning forward with a grin on his lips, he whispered against Sam's ear: "We could always become lions and chase them down the street. Or hawks, and drop snow on their heads from above." Pulling back there was a mischievous sparkle in his eyes as he laughed.

sam So please please please, let me get what I want this time I have never wanted you to be anything more than you are. The words were so simple but they rang out in Sam's head like a chanted prayer, a blessing, a hope; a chance that began with Remi and ended with him happy and whole again. He was overcome with the urge to kiss him and so he did, only gently and softly, his fingers tapping out a non-distinct pattern on Remi's jaw. Despite everything, despite the pain in his chest and the pounding in his head, he laughed at Remi's joke, imagining what he said. "I don't th-think chasing them as l-lions would help." He said, chuckling his way through the words with a hand over his mouth. He tried to think about where they could go that might hide them and not be too far for Remi to travel. "...Perhaps...d-do you think you're we-well enough to travel to the R..Rathskeller?" He asked.

laughing like children, living like lovers & I guess that's why they call it the blues. Remi smiled against Sam's lips, the ascended's gentle caressing doing much to soothe the raucous neediness suddenly rampant inside of Remi's soul, but not quieting it all the way. The alchemist was distinctly aware of Sam's lack of breath and for the first time he idly wondered what then was the fluid he felt on Sam's lips, if not saliva? Then, with a mental shake, he tried to deter his mind from thoughts of other various fluids as gently nudged the tip of Sam's nose with his own. "No? You think your father would still have time to be so rude while two lions trailed behind him?" He asked, pulling back with a grin. "I think so." Remi said, his hand reaching for the walking stick he'd brought. "Though can we walk the outside route? I know it is longer, but I really have missed breathing fresh air."