[SE] what keeps you warm at night

even my darkness shines for you

"Hey - look at this!" Ronin's voice is bright and excited (and a little bit muffled) as he swans through Mateo's greenhouse and up the stairs to their apartment. Their son squawks something in the travelling tongue at him from the back room (Remi will recognise it as don't step on those vines, they're delicate!) but is otherwise uninterested by his father's prize. Luckily, Ronin doesn't need him to be.

He emerges into the lounge with his arms full of what looks like a large and ridiculously comfortable blanket, squishy and pristine and soft and squashed under his chin, hence his muffled voice. "Do you want to see it all folded out? I know you want to. I know you want to, Remi."

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i've hidden all my fears in a book for only my eyes to see

Remi glances up, all furrowed eyebrows, forehead lines, and sea glass green eyes. Frowning from behind the book he'd been reading, his eyes move from the blanket in Ronin's hands to the Huntsman's fae-bright eyes, and then back again. Closing his book with a dull but satisfying thrwwwump, he sits up. "Is...that the sex blanket Phoebe made for us..?" He wonders. Phoebe hadn't actually made them a sex blanket perse, but she had pitched the idea of both of them having sex with her that she might bear their child on the same day she'd given them a blanket.

"Because if that's what it is and you are about to suggest anything other than us having sex on it, then no, no I do not."

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even my darkness shines for you

"Nooooo," Ronin says, grinning behind the blanket before spreading it out before them. It really is a work of art; dark, soft material embroidered with beautiful starbursts of stitchwork, creating a dark sky sprayed with constellations.

"I had this commissioned," he continues with a touch of pride, "for Sunjata. On this, the season of giving." It looks like a gift, too, at first. But if Remi peers closely, and if he tilts his head just so, he might notice that the stars might spell out something like fuck you.

"What do you think?" He bobs his eyebrows at the Lullaby, fully expecting him to see the hidden message.

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i've hidden all my fears in a book for only my eyes to see

That it isn't the sex blanket and that Ronin isn't asking him to have sex on it nearly has Remi reopening his book. It's only the sheen of the fabric that catches his eyes, and the strange pattern in the stars...

Where Sunjata's name might otherwise have wiped away any traces of humour from Remi's expression, instead the alchemist grins crookedly. "I think it is an absolutely perfect gift. Thoughtful, meaningful. An apt representation of your friendship." Setting his book down and ruffling a hand through his curls, Remi folds his arms comfortably over his chest. "Is this going to be an anonymous gift, or are you planning on making a house call?"

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even my darkness shines for you

Grinning like a fox among the chickens, Ronin is undoubtedly very pleased that his husband has noticed the nuances of his gift. Because if Remi has, then Sunjata hopefully will as well. "I thought so too," he says. "And I thought I'd send it anonymously. The blanket has enough hints that I think Jata will be able to tell where it came from besides, right?" He shrugs.

"Either way, it should keep him toasty warm for Longnight." Folding the blanket back up and setting it down on one of the armchairs, Ronin moves to slouch down on the sofa with Remi, shifting to lay with his head in the other man's lap. "How's your book?" he wants to know, kicking off his shoes and smiling up at the Lullaby.

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i've hidden all my fears in a book for only my eyes to see

"And if he doesn't? A blanket of stars will remind him of his roots. Where he came from and just how far he's come." This latter sentiment is said with an eye roll and huff. It was both not far at all, and not far enough as far as Remi was concerned.

Shifting to make room for Ronin, Remi offers his husband a feigned look of annoyance as if the Huntsman was very rudely inserting himself where he didn't belong. Nothing could be farther from the truth, though (Ronin always belonged in Remi's lap no matter what the alchemist was doing). "Oh fascinating, you would love it." He says dryly. "It is all about the compositions of various liquids and the reactions they have when blended together in certain ways." Pausing, with a grin, he quickly adds: "And no, that is not a fancy way of saying I am reading about cocktails." That was the book he'd been reading earlier.

"Speaking of gifts..." Flushing and crinkling his nose, Remi reaches onto the table where a poorly wrapped and vaguely spherical object sits. "Flora asked me to give this to you..."

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Ronin can only offer a little grumble at that; he thinks he can remind Sunjata of about his shortcomings in a much better way than a blanket, so this will just have to serve as a backhanded little present. Still, feigned annoyance or not, the Huntsman seems obscenely comfortable in Remi's lap, relaxing and nuzzling obnoxiously at the other man's knee. "Oh, that does sound fascinating," he agrees with a tone that borders on robotic. "Please, do tell me more, I simply must know."

Which is code for please never tell me anything about it at all, of course. "Mm...? She got me a gift?" The fascinating book is entirely forgotten, Ronin opening his hands to accept the poorly wrapped little sphere. "Was she feeling alright?" He attempts to keep things light, knowing the difficulty with the twins at the best of times, and going ahead to open said gift without further ado.

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i've hidden all my fears in a book for only my eyes to see

"How about I read it to you later in bed." Remi suggests, and whether or not this is supposed to be a threat or a way to put the Huntsman to sleep is unclear. (Is it unclear? This is Remi after all).

"She said she was out shopping with Maeve of all people and thought of you..." He answers carefully, feeling just as uncertain about the gift as Ronin likely did. Inside was of course, the fabled push-pin mouse. Ronin would feel sand falling off of its faded blue felt-fur (Flora had 'accidentally' dropped it on the beach, where it had 'unintentionally' been kicked into the sea), and would immediately smell the tang of seaweed. Frowning deeply, Remi tilts his head, staring down at the strangely anthropomorphic monster in his husband's hands.

'What...is that.'

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"How about you fuck me to exhaustion instead and never bring that book anywhere near our bedroom," Ronin purrs in response, even if his eyes and attention are wholly on the weird little present. He's covered in a sprinkling of sand as he unwraps the briny smelling gift, and where Remi is befuddled, Ronin is (and you knew he would be) delighted. "It's a little Torchline mouse," he declares with a grin, peering up at Remi and sitting the push-pin in his palm to show the Lullaby properly.

"That's adorable. Do you think she went to a lot of trouble to find it?" Clearly there are presents on the brain at the moment, Ronin relaxing back into Remi's lap and stroking a little felt ear with the tip of his finger. "I feel like I ought to get her something back. Do you know the sort of things she likes now that she's more... grown up?"

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i've hidden all my fears in a book for only my eyes to see

Remi has no witty quip in response to his husband's suggestion. All he has are wide eyes, lips parted in an oval shape, and a fledgling bulge beginning in his pants. "...that...I can do that." He gulps as his mind fills with the taste of sweat and sex.

"A what." Remi replies flatly, knowing his daughter well enough to know that there was no way she saw this and thought of Ronin for any good reason. "No...no I do not think she would have gone to any trouble at all.." He says slowly, eyes on the pushpin as if waiting for it to explode in Ronin's palm. "She likes..." Pulling his eyes away from the mouse (there was something nauseating about seeing Ronin pet it), Remi shakes his head.

"She is living in Torchline now...perhaps you could ask Mateo what sort of plants would grow well there? You know how she likes flowers."

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Smiling sunnily and giving a suggestive lift of his eyebrows, Ronin doesn't do anything further to encourage their bedroom endeavours - not just now, anyway, not when suddenly he's got a Torchline mouse and is thoroughly distracted by it. "Are you sure? She made sure it was all Torchliney and wrapped it up and everything." Reaching out to sit the little felt abomination on the table, Remi will be disheartened to find it in Ronin's pockets at almost every occasion in the future.

"Oh, that is a good idea," he murmurs about flowers in Torchline. "I'm sure I could look for something here as well that she would like. I'll go out tomorrow and take a look." Brushing the sand from his shirt and off his lap, the Huntsman turns sly blue eyes back up at Remi. "Now what was I just saying?"

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i've hidden all my fears in a book for only my eyes to see

Remi watches the mouse move from Ronin's hand to the table, staring it with more attention and caution than he'd give to a Wicker Woman or other suitably dangerous creature. His daughter could be thoughtful and sweet, but not where Ronin was concerned. "Mmmmmm." Remi hums under his breath in response to his own worries, before glancing back at Ronin.

Charmed instantly, Remi relaxes and fixes his husband with an equally wry stare. "Something about being tired? About needing a nap I think?" Reaching for the book, he waggled it suggestively. "You wanted me to read this to you...right?" He asked, schooling his face into as serious of an expression as he could muster. Alas, his eyes sparkled with mischief despite his efforts.

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"Always so suspicious," Ronin teases with a warm grin directed up at his husband, though where Flora is concerned he probably has every right to be. Alas, Ronin is nonetheless charmed by the ugly gift, and Flora will undoubtedly be angry with him for that too. Such is life with a child whose first impressions you have sullied.

No matter how gross ugly disturbing interesting the gift, nothing catches Ronin's attention like the Lullaby, and he tilts his head up at the other man as he picks up the book again. "Remi Taliesin," he says, his voice entirely serious and pitched low, "unless that book is meant for me to bite down on, I will not have it anywhere near our bed. Agreed?"

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i've hidden all my fears in a book for only my eyes to see

"Bite down on?" Remi repeats sounding horrified. Indeed, he hisses in a breath of surprise, fluttering his lashes down at Ronin. "Why ever would you need to bite down on something like a book? In bed no less?" Honestly, Remi could only think of several dozen reasons why the Huntsman might need such a thing, and each and everyone one of them served only to encourage the growing tightness in his pants.

Clearing his throat and letting his book all but fall out of his fingers (where it dropped harmlessly back onto the table), Remi then plunged both hands into Ronin's hair as if he were a cat in need of fuss. "How is the relicing going in Stormbreak?" He asks distractedly as his fingers mark out jagged circles against Ronin's skull.

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