overdue for a revival

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

"Babe—"

Remi's heart is beating so hard he's surprised that Ronin's hand isn't vibrating on the pillow, nor that the sound of it hasn't simply awoken the Nova on its own.

"Babe—"

Leaning over his husband's fur-covered body, Remi reaches out to softly grasp Ronin's shoulder while at the same time slithering his feet farther down beneath the covers to try and press his cold toes against Ronin's warm legs.

Will you light a candle? He wonders to Oria who clucks something to Sugar.Safely, please. Remi adds hastily, shooting the spriggan a warning look. Soft light fills the houseboat from a handful of candles, chasing away the soft purples of early dawn.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

I swear I still believe but I don't know

"Nnnn..." Ronin's complaint comes softly, muffled by furs and pillows and - unhappily, he might add - not by his husband's body. Shifting as if he might hide from the hand grasping at his shoulder, it's only the fact that it's Remi's hand that has the Nova melting into the touch instead, rolling reluctantly onto his back and squinting open his eyes to peek up at the other man.

"Yeah...?" he asks groggily, rubbing a hand over his face and itching at his stubble. "Everything okay?" It's the butt-crack of dawn and, with everything that has happened lately, he can only assume that their houseboat is on fire or they've been cursed in some way.

the supernova

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

Made all the more joyful by Ronin's unwillingness to wake up, Remi grins in the darkness before sliding astride the Nova. "For once, yeah." He whispers. Glancing over his shoulder to nod his thanks to their companions, the Lullaby Bastion returns his gaze to the man beneath him. "I love you more than anything in this world, or outside of it, Ronin Taliesin." Leaning down, Remi kisses the Nova as if he'd been away from him for weeks rather than having spent the entire night pressed against him while his mind floated away for an hour at most.

"Everything has changed. It will all be alright now." Said breathlessly against Ronin's lips, it's with a tongue far too delighted by the body pressed beneath Remi's to explain more fully, that the Bastion implores Ronin for another kiss.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

I swear I still believe but I don't know

"I don't believe you," Ronin rumbles, smiling crookedly and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, even as his husband shifts to straddle his lap. Letting his hand drop in time to hear the warm admission of love spill from Remi's lips, the Nova's smile is as puzzled as it is loving, and he hums his response into the kiss that comes descending upon him. Given the time of morning, Remi's positioning and the fact that he's being showered with affection, Ronin doesn't apologise for his body's reaction, though it does leave him a touch breathless by the time Remi draws back.

"I love you too," he manages, just about, before his lips are being stolen a second time and the Nova lets his arms slip around the other man properly, one hand teasing down the length of his back and the other pressing insistently against his thigh. It feels like an eternity before he wants to come up for air a second time, and in the moments between Ronin is caught between wanting to roll them over and remaining trapped beneath Remi.

Deciding on the latter if only because he's still coming around to full wakefulness, regardless it's with flushed cheeks that he's left regarding his one and only. "You seem awfully confident about that," he pants, grinning.

the supernova

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

While in the Dreaming Remi had sipped in several breaths that did nothing for him, and now he seemed to be trying to trade those phantom lung-fulls so that he might not have to part from Ronin quite so soon.

Despite having been the one to slide atop the Nova, it was with a whine that begged to be ignored that Remi shook his head slightly. "Gods, don't make me want you. Not when I have something to tell you." He protests, despite flexing the muscles of his leg beneath Ronin's hand and shifting his hips forward.

"I am." Deciding suddenly that as a demigod of Mort's surely he was capable of doing two things at once, it was with insistent kisses pressed below Ronin's jaw that he started to explain. "Ludo came to get me—" Tugging at the furs, Remi lifts himself enough to tug them back to reveal his husband's torso. "—and it brought me to Mort." Using the heels of his hands to knead at the often-tense muscles of his husband's pecks, he tried to chase away any pain with slow kisses against his throat.

"And...Mort made me his demigod." Said softly, his lips pressed where he could feel the pulse of Ronin's heartbeat in his throat, Remi let his hands drift slowly lower down the muscular landscape of his husband's body.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

I swear I still believe but I don't know

"Wh..." Thoroughly twitterpated and cut off by his own moan of pleasure as Remi shifts atop him, Ronin is left wondering what the other man wants from him while simultaneously feeling as though he'd give him anything and everything (especially if it means being able to stay like this for longer). With his lips forming a playful You are, are you? only for it to melt into another huff of breath, he tilts his head back into the pillows to give Remi more room to kiss and touch.

"I thought I was meant to be the handsy one at this time of year," he mumbles, just about able to twine his fingers through the back of Remi's curls before the other man swarms him again, leaving the Nova painted by lips and hands while strong fingers dig at the stress that feels permanently locked against his muscles. "It brought you to-- fuck..." Fingers flinching in Remi's hair, Ronin is doing his very best to stay focused (honest).

"Mm... Mort made you his what...?" Half gasping the remark and considering, for a second, fighting Remi's hands into behaving themselves for a moment - and then promptly deciding against it - Ronin blinks up at his husband. "He... are you alright? Did anything bad happen?" He can't be blamed for assuming it, sorry.

the supernova

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

If you were married to a man as thoroughly charming and handsome as Ronin Taliesin, you too would feel a satisfying sense of victory when able to tangle his silver tongue. So it was that the Nova would feel gold curdling through the sunshine-brightness of Remi's emotions as he continued to lavish attention across every inch of his husband's bed-warmed skin.

"No, not to fuck. This was Mort, not Frey." Remi corrects, grinning against Ronin's throat. Reaching up one hand to brace himself behind his husband's hand, the Bastion let his fingertips walk themselves down the Nova's abs, meandering now and then as if lost or uncertain about which way to go.

Using his nose to press Ronin's head back against the pillow, Remi sighs with feigned annoyance against the base of his husband's throat. "No Ronin, I said that everything was changed and it would all be alright because something bad happened." Not quite able to help his snark, Remi pressed a soft kiss beneath Ronin's chin as if in apology as his fingers slipped beneath the band of the Nova's underwear.

Lifting himself slightly to peer down into the dark blue of his husband's eyes, Remi pressed his lips against Ronin's, parting them with his tongue at the same time as his fingers descended farther, grasping the base of his growing erection. I told Mort about Vanya, Ronin. He thought, pressing himself against the Nova; it was his job now to act as a shield, and if Ronin was going to explode outwardly at the news, better it be fully against Remi.

He is going to bring her down, Ronin. He is going to make it right.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

I swear I still believe but I don't know

Shut up, Ronin wants to playfully admonish his husband, but with the silver in his tongue still thoroughly locked up by Remi's antics, it's all he can do to breathe let alone find any other way to react as he continues to be ravished with love and attention. "Well I do apologise," he mumbles, hiccuping in a breath and tilting his head back obediently, his fingers loosely curled through the back of Remi's hair and painting gentle admissions of love against his lower back.

His sleep-addled mind is still trying to accept the truth of what the Lullaby Bastion is saying - that everything has changed, that everything will be alright, that Mort has claimed him as his new demigod - but gods if it's difficult (nay, hard) to think with the other man's touch swarming all over him. Caught in a seaglass stare that feels brighter and clearer even in the amber twilight than it has in years, Ronin moans into Remi's mouth such that any other response he might have had becomes irrelevant.

And thus not only is the Nova rendered tongue-tied - the news leaves him speechless, both verbally and through their Attuned bond. Only the sudden desperation in his kiss and the feelings - golden strands of relief, white-hot shock and no small amount of bone marrow sorrow and guilt tucked in there as well - roaring out of his body give any indication of the words he might want to whisper, and though it's usually his husband who succumbs to feelings like this at the height of passion, Ronin feels tears sting in his eyes.

Gods, I love you so much, he manages eventually, because no other words will do. Not now, not ever.

the supernova

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

Tensing above the Nova, wings nearly sprout from Remi's back as if more of him might be needed to weather Ronin's emotions. When absence snarls upwards like some fog-covered canyon, the Bastion is momentarily concerned that perhaps he had rushed too headlong into news of this magnitude for even Ronin to manage.

Though once the pair had buried their trauma beneath and between each other's bodies, now it was for precisely the opposite reason that Remi felt he needed Ronin so strongly. Without the ability any longer to fit himself against his husband's soul, the Bastion felt reckless with the urge to minimize any and all space between them. Only then could he burn away the guilt and the anger he could feel echoing out from his husband's bones.

Without even the ability to use a duplicated hand to tug away at the underwear keeping them apart, Remi has to fumble like some commoner beneath the blankets, quickly opting to simply slice away at the material. Clearly, whatever shifts he had retained, at least one of them was still clawed.

With flushed cheeks and bright eyes, the Bastion reached for Ronin's leg, encouraging it around his hip. "It is all going to be alright now." He whispered, sounding foolishly sure of it in a way that made him look younger despite the lines and scars that Mort's presence hadn't removed. "It really is."

And gods, he believed it.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

I swear I still believe but I don't know

Rest assured, if any part of Ronin is going to be exploding outwardly, it isn't going to be in fury or rage - not for the time being, anyway. Adrift with the news and feeling every part of himself come alive beneath the Bastion's hands, Ronin feels almost as if he has no choice but to believe Remi, even as they shift and kick away clothing and furs and any other barriers between them.

Reverent and with cheeks wet with tears he doesn't know have fallen, Ronin leans up to catch the other man in another kiss, clasping his cheek and willing himself to burn the image of Remi's expression into his mind. I wish you could see how you look, he whispers into his mind, letting his leg hook easily around the Bastion's hips. Recklessly, part of him wants to hear Remi say it over and over again - that everything will be alright now - because gods if he can't remember the last time he'd really felt hope like that.

And it would be an infinitely sad thing to realise, were it not for the golden presence of his husband all around him.

the supernova

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

That would kill the mood, Remi nearly says, though as his eyes catch on Ronin's, the air in his lungs is vacuumed downwards where it fuels the wildfire already raging low in his belly. Nearly wincing with affection and need, the Bastion moans pleadingly against the Nova's lips, sipping in a shaky breath as his hips shift and adjust.

His thoughts—and therefore his emotions—are a kaleidoscopic mess, but as Remi thrusts his hips forward, everything goes brilliantly bright white for a moment as pleasure blots out everything else. Surprised laughter leaves Remi's lips as he reaches out to cradle Ronin's cheek against his palm. Not quite able to make out the full spectrum of blue he knows exists in his husband's eyes, the candlelight reveals more than enough to have his knees feeling weak and his heart fluttering up into his throat. "It is all going to be okay." He whispers again before shivering with sensation as his hips roll forward and back.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

I swear I still believe but I don't know

Caught bonelessly in the shifting tide of Remi's emotions, Ronin's mind similarly whites out as they come together, the Nova pressing a kiss against his husband's throat that's guaranteed to leave a mark. He'll leave apologies against the bruised skin later, when he realises. Feeling simultaneously tense all over and as though he wants to do nothing more than to melt against Remi's every movement, he clasps the Bastion as close as he's able, hissing out a breath and rolling his hips in tandem with each thrust.

More, he whispers into the other man's mind, twisting his fingers through rich, unruly curls and resisting the urge to pull against them, to demand and need and have the way the darker parts of his psyche urge him to do. Luckily for them both, perhaps, Ronin is caught in the riptide of the Bastion's sweetness and love, and here in their small, candlelit patch of Caido, he really believes Remi's every word.

the supernova

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

Having Vanya placed back where she belonged wouldn't soothe the wrong doing Safrin had done, but at least the Nova could shift through the lies told him without the weight and worry of how to fix it. And, charged with protection, Remi was boldly if not naively certain that he could protect them from whatever Safrin could throw at either he or Ronin now.

Releasing his hold of Ronin if only so that he could snake his hand between their bodies to ensure the Nova felt every ounce of pleasure he was owed, Remi's pace was beginning to border on hurried. I tried to bring a pastry back for you, from the— Though it was mentally said, still the Bastion had to pause; not for breath, but to let his mind find its way back to rationality from the growing flares of arousal radiating outward from his lower spine. —picnic Mort had.

It was an unintelligible thing to say without context, and though his mind was drifting farther and farther away, he realized it enough to whisper, "Gods, I only ever think of you," against the cleft of Ronin's shoulder.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

I swear I still believe but I don't know

Feeling his what? form on the tip of his tongue only to be chased away by a hitch of pleasure from the way they move together, Ronin finds himself wanting to huff out a laugh against Remi's shoulder. For the Nova's part, luckily, his mind is as far away from pastries and Mort's realm as it has any right to be, and he stutters out a moan as Remi's hand finds its way between them.

Rapidly losing the fight to maintain any sort of stamina against the waves of ecstasy starting to burn low in his belly, Ronin will blame his poor performance on the surprise at being woken so early. And if nothing else, Remi will be able to to congratulate himself on a job well done, because it's only a few moments later that Ronin pitches forward, the Bastion's name on his lips and every nerve on fire with the force of his climax.

the supernova