[SE] late to the party

the things we hold are always the first to go

Here's the thing about the Taliesin men. On the one hand, they don't technically need to sleep much if at all, not with their endurance as high as it is. On the other, should they choose, they don't technically have to wake up much if at all either. Such is the case for the latter part of Deepfrost, Longnight included, and if Ronin had known what he'd missed during the most recent stretch of darkness, he might have felt bad.

Alas, when the sun rises it's to the tangle of two sleeping bodies and a cage of warmth that the Nova is still reluctant to leave. As a ray of light beams into his eyes from a gap in the curtains, he groans and tries to find a part of Remi to hide his face against, despite having been officially forced awake. "Happy Flowerbirth," he rumbles, voice hoarse and muffled.

the lullaby

Over the proceeding days and weeks, the pair haven't been just sleeping. They've created and explored worlds within the Dreaming, had picnics amidst the stars and below the sea, had slain monsters, and had of course taken full advantage of the limitless canvas of the world around them to engage in sexual escapades too impossible for real life.

You might think that when the pair were finally pulled into wakefulness where they had to abide by the laws of physics and the passage of time, that Remi would be grumpy about it, as he was most mornings when he was tugged from sleep. You'd be wrong though. Blinking sleepily, the Lullaby twists just so that he might keep Ronin tucked tightly against him but so that his lips might also find their way to his husband's forehead. The Dreaming lacked one crucial aspect that only reality could afford, namely, it being real.

So, despite having been together the entire time, it was with a flush of lazy but golden joy that Remi wound his arms around the Nova. "Mmmmmm." He hummed, smiling into Ronin's dark mop of hair. "I missed you."

You trace my lines, stirring my soul
shoot sparks at the heart of the world
& I watch it explode

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

The starlit beads on Ronin's bracelet begin to glow faintly.

the things we hold are always the first to go

Ronin's smile is slow and indulgent against Remi's neck, the Nova melting against the other man's grip and letting his own arms twine around him in turn. "I missed you too," he hums, relishing the golden tone of Remi's emotions and finding them warmer than any Flowerbirth sunshine. He doesn't want to slip back into sleep, but that doesn't necessarily mean he wants to be properly awake either. This is enough, for now. It's always been enough.

"Could I interest you in our first coffee of the year?" he asks, letting his fingers spread along Remi's lower back. He doesn't plan to move away from the Lullaby of course - his projection is already stretching and cracking his back across the room - but there's no reason for them to go without. "Oh." Furrowing his brow, the same projection gazes down at his wrist, noticing the glowing, starlit beads. "That's brand new, right? Definitely hasn't been happening this whole time?"

the lullaby

The room is heavy with the smell of sleep and man, but it's easy enough to ignore for now. It would likely have been worse too if Oria and Sugar hadn't opened a window at some point to allow in a bit of fresh air.

"Mmmm, absolutely you can." The Lullaby agrees, stretching slightly before settling back and sinking into the realness of having Ronin's hands properly on him. "Oh?" Remi repeats sleepily, his lips already pressed against the side of the Nova's neck and placing sweet and slow kisses there.

Looking rather skeptically toward the bracelet, Remi frowns doubtfully and shrugs. "I think it was always like that, wasn't it?" It wasn't and they both knew it, but Remi wasn't going to let something like Safrin's impending Armageddon ruin their morning. At least not until he'd had his coffee.

You trace my lines, stirring my soul
shoot sparks at the heart of the world
& I watch it explode

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the things we hold are always the first to go

"That's exactly what I thought," Ronin - the real one - agrees despite knowing the truth, tilting his head to welcome the press of Remi's lips against his throat. His projection meanwhile is pottering about to get their coffee started, allowing the Nova to stretch and fit himself snug against his husband. "I suppose I should contact Deimos about it, though. After coffee. And you." Mainly the latter.

Shifting just enough to let himself sprawl atop the other man, it's easy to forget the urgency of this development with strong hands and sweet lips swarming his skin. "I don't think I've slept that well in a long time," he remarks. "We should make this a Longnight tradition."

Peeping over at the projection and the progress of their coffee, Ronin grumbles his impatience but does nothing to speed things along.

the lullaby

"Correct." Grinning stupidly into the crook of his husband's neck while his fingertips spread across Ronin's bed-warmed skin, Remi has to stop himself from subtly shifting them back into the Dreaming where the only thing he'd change was the glow on his husband's wrist. "Have we ever slept that long before?" Pursing his lips thoughtfully, he sighs softly. "Better knock on wood. If we make it a tradition no doubt something will happen next year to make sure we have to be awake."

Using the heels of his hand to try and smooth out any muscles made tense by having slept for days on end, Remi waits until he hears the sounds of percolation begin to trail off before letting his fingertips pitter-patter softly against Ronin's shoulders. Shifting to sit up in advance of Ronin's projection bringing them their coffee (likely with no milk owing to the fact it would have spoiled, what a shame), Remi rubs a bit of sleep from his eye with the back of his hand.

"Do you want to talk about it?' He asks, eyeing Ronin's wrist over the top of his coffee.

You trace my lines, stirring my soul
shoot sparks at the heart of the world
& I watch it explode

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the things we hold are always the first to go

"I don't think so. A day or two before, probably, but never this long," Ronin murmurs, pressing himself both into and away from the heels of Remi's questing hands, humming his delight at the attention. As it's suggested that he knock on wood, though, of course he reaches between them where the most obvious wood is available for knocking. (Gently, of course, he isn't a monster).

Groaning as he's forced to sit up, his dark hair impossibly tousled from days of bedhead, Ronin stifles a wide yawn behind his hand and thanks himself(?) for the coffee he's passed. Dismissing the projection with a pulse of willpower, he makes himself comfortable in the mess of covers and closes his eyes to savour a very well earned drink.

"I want to fuck you," he admits, the words murmured over the rim of his coffee mug. "And then maybe I want to talk about it. But I'm not sure I'm capable of either until I finish this." He smirks.

the lullaby

Having more or less expected precisely that reaction from his husband, it's still with a gasp of surprise and delight that he acknowledges Ronin's hand between their bodies. Tugging at the blankets in order to keep them snug even as they sit up, it's lucky that Remi is warming his hands on his coffee mug; anything less and he might have dropped it.

"Oh." Looking properly twitterpated as if this was the morning after a first date instead of his husband of (how many?) years, the Lullaby swallows hard as if the sudden flush to his cheeks was something to be ashamed of. "I..erm...cheers, then." The urge to down his coffee immediately no matter what burns his tongue might receive was one Remi had to actively swallow back.

Rather shyly, the Lullaby stole a few fleeting glances at Ronin over the rim of his mug, blowing on the coffee before taking a small sip.

You trace my lines, stirring my soul
shoot sparks at the heart of the world
& I watch it explode

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the things we hold are always the first to go

Ronin will never tire of successfully flustering his husband, especially given that any comments like this might be equally received with carnal need just as often as they are with boyish nerves. Smiling into his coffee, he raises his mug to gently clink it against Remi's, murmuring a cheers as well. "And after all the things we got up to in our dreams," he whispers affectionately.

The coffee is far too hot to chug, so it's a wonderfully tense few minutes where every accidental touch feels more than, where every sip of his drink is as necessary as it is utterly irrelevant, and Ronin is just considerig twisting the knife by suggesting they have a second cup when he realises he absolutely doesn't have the self-control for it.

"What was it I was planning to do, again?" he asks, just to be a shit about it as he sets his mug down and stretches an arm around his husband.

the lullaby

"Yes, well." Feathering his jaw in an effort to keep his smile from running away with him, Remi tilts his head from side to side. "Nothing quite like the real thing." He whispers softly, taking a far larger sip than the temperature of the coffee suggests is wise.

Tugging inconspicuously at the blankets so that they covered his lap, Remi whittled away the minutes sneaking glances at the Nova (and certainly not trying to gage how much coffee was left in his mug with every stare), and trying to casually comb his fingers through his curls. Ronin managed bedhead far better than he did (wink wonk), and after having tossed and turned in bed for a number of days, his curls were unmanageable to say the least. Still, by the time Ronin finally set his mug down, the Lullaby had managed to tease the worst of the tangles out.

"Me." Remi answered perhaps too eagerly, but gods he absolutely didn't care. With nothing left in his mug, it was with fingers suddenly far too long and covered in suckers that he set it down on the floor before turning properly into Ronin's embrace. "You were going to do me." He said again, just in case Ronin hadn't heard the first time.

You trace my lines, stirring my soul
shoot sparks at the heart of the world
& I watch it explode

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the things we hold are always the first to go

"Ah, yes," Ronin murmurs, pretending not to notice the chaotic morph of Remi's fingers in lieu of pressing coffee-warmed lips to the space just behind his ear. "That's right, I was." And as the Lullaby turns to embrace him properly, it's with a kiss slow and hungry enough to put any dream to shame that he captures his lips.

Humming a note of affectionate need, Ronin shifts to press Remi down into the bed, his body stretched over the other man's, his hands as gentle as they are eager. And as parts of their bodies that are very much awake press and tease against one another, he breaks their kiss with a soft gasp directed against the side of Remi's neck.

"Tell me how you want me," he whispers, his smile one that his husband will feel rather than see.

the lullaby

Letting the tips of his fingers trickle up the sides of the Nova's body, Remi has to resist the urge to all but plunge himself directly into his husband where he might coil directly around the hottest bits of the former-Star. It takes his demigod strength and then some to keep his touch feather-light, though as Ronin's words drip from his lips, the Lullaby's willpower is all but gone.

"I want you like w-"

Outside a horrific cacophony of sound utterly shakes the houseboat, and though the Taliesin's had gone to great magical means to keep her moored exactly where she was, whatever was outside had made her rock. With a palm around Ronin's ass and the other halted on its way to cup the Nova's cheek, Remi pauses and raises a brow.

They were two demigods alone on a mountain range. Surely whatever was outside could...wait?

You trace my lines, stirring my soul
shoot sparks at the heart of the world
& I watch it explode

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the things we hold are always the first to go

Ronin is absolutely of the opinion that whatever is outside can wait - or he would be, if the screeching clamour hadn't successfully managed to steal his husband's sweet nothings from his lips. Anything that can silence Remi Taliesin from telling him exactly how he was wanted and where is probably worth investigating. Still, it's with a muffled grumble against the side of the Lullaby's neck that Ronin gently draws away, though not without first pressing his husband back into the bed and stealing a greedy kiss from his lips.

Having to practically stretch his way across the houseboat (they've only just woken up after Longnight, after all), it's with a yawn that he's hiding behind the back of his hand that he opens the door and squints over the mountain range. Brow furrowed, the Nova heads outside. "I think something has attacked a dragon," he mumbles, almost to himself. "I'll check it out, okay? You keep the bed warm for me."