[SE] i've been an angel all year

RONIN

Okay, so Torchline is too tropical - even in the midst of Deepfrost - to decorate with ice-clad fir trees, crackling fires and snow penises. But that doesn't mean they can't get into the festive spirit, right? Ronin thinks so, and given how light he's been feeling since his conversation with Vi at the tail end of Leafchange, it's of little surprise that even the purple hued island on the horizon can't dampen his mood.

Having hauled his crate of decorations from the marketplace (and having stopped to help one person tie down an awning, and another to fix a stuck window), he now stands on the deck of the Northaven, hanging a string of colourful lanterns across one side of the outside cabin. Once lit with candles it should make the place seem appropriately cheerful at sundown, he thinks.

Also included are sprigs of holly and mistletoe (imported from King's End, most likely), peppermint bark, bunting and various other things they might use to decorate the inside and outside of their boat.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

wild in the silence; no way to make it right

If Remi had a watch to check, he'd have glanced at it several times before giving up and beginning without Ronin. If the Nova had been a hero for those who were in need, the Knight was an absolute menace of good cheer and helpfulness anywhere he went. Remi supposed it was too much to ask for his husband to just nip to the market and return within a short amount of time, and so with an adoring smirk, he began to boil some wine on the stove before adding in a few seasonal fruits alongside cloves and cinnamon

"Settle something for me, would you?" The Bastion calls over his shoulder, before appearing below Ronin as the Knight hangs the bunting from the rafters. "Would you say your obsession with those little triangles is the gayesy thing about you, or the most baron thing about you?"

THE BASTION

i’ve been chasin the storm of a lovesick lonely lie

RONIN

Having finished with his lantern string lights, Ronin is in fact now hanging bunting from their rafters, on a step stool inside the cabin and leaning rather precariously as he tries to affix one end of it to a small and rather crooked nail. Glancing down at his husband as he speaks, the Knight's brow furrows though the expression is ruined by the way his tongue pokes out in concentration.

"That's easy," he drawls, rolling his eyes and snagging the end of the bunting at last. "It's the gayest, obviously. The most baron thing about me is my fashion sense." Which, you know, also might be the gayest, but Remi can be the judge of that. Stepping down and moving the stool a few feet so he can continue, he reaches up to hang the next section in a gentle loop.

"I'd ask you the same thing, but I'd be better off asking what is the straightest thing about you," he says with a shit-eating grin. "Personally, I think it's your willingness to dunk food in wine. That's positively neanderthal." He says, pretending for the sake of the metaphor that he knows what the word means.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

wild in the silence; no way to make it right

Rolling his eyes, Remi moves slightly so that Ronin could use his shoulder as another step to balance himself with. Gods knew the last thing they needed was the Knight falling, getting a concussion and forcing Remi to propose to him all over again. "Ah, how stupid of me to have even asked." The Bastion chuckles, taking a sip of his wine before helping to move the step ladder and offering himself up as an extra step again.

"You say that, but it really the only difference between dunking it in wine and frothing a sauce into foam and spreading it around, is the lack of pretentiousness on my part." Giving his glass a slow swirl, he considers what they could have for lunch that would allow him to offend his husband's sensibilities some more.

"I would have thought the gayest thing about me is how often I think of you naked."

THE BASTION

i’ve been chasin the storm of a lovesick lonely lie

RONIN

Murmuring his gentle thanks at Remi's assistance, it takes even less time than it might have to hang the rest of the bunting, covering their rafters in obnoxious little triangles of red and gold. Once Ronin is done, he rests a hand on the Bastion's shoulder to step down properly, leaning in to kiss the wine from his lips.

"A lack of pretentiousness," he says dryly, grinning and stepping away to pour himself a glass as well. "This from the man who brews and flavours his own gin, and judges other people's." Laughing warmly and taking a proper sip of his own drink, he moves back to their crate of decorations, drawing out some mistletoe to hang over their door.

"You say that, but some would argue that there's nothing manlier than fucking another man," he says with a raise of his eyebrows, heading to the doorway. "I'd say the gayest thing about you is how horrified you are at the thought of fucking other women."

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

wild in the silence; no way to make it right

Letting the heat from his kiss as much as the mulled wine spill onto Ronin's lips, the Bastion hums his approval at the decorating before stepping out of the Knight's way. "That is just being a good brewer." Remi argues. "How else am I to know how I stack up compared to them?"

Watching as the mistletoe was removed and hung with no small amount of skepticism (surely Ronin had stuffed some down his pants already, or was planning on it), the Bastion leaned against the corner of their table with a crooked smirk on his wine-stained lips. "Are the people arguing that also gay?" He wonders with a laugh, before wrinkling his nose. Gods, he did recall what it was like to be with Isla and his mind told him he had liked it. He even remembered having a crush on Rexanna once upon a time, but just now he couldn't even imagine having those feelings again. "They're just...so fragile and smooth everywhere." He complains with a shake of his head. "And far too small."

THE BASTION

i’ve been chasin the storm of a lovesick lonely lie

RONIN

"How you stack up?" Ronin echoes with a crooked smile, hanging the mistletoe (and Remi will just have to strip him off later to see all the little embroidered mistletoes on his underwear, won't he?). "Or how stuck up you are compared to them?" It's not his best wordplay, and Ronin takes a generous drink of wine to make up for it, and once he's done with the decoration he beckons his husband over so they might test it out.

"Does it matter if they are also gay if they are right?" he wonders through a chuckle. "And you know, there are plenty of men that could be described as small and smooth and fragile. I just don't know if they are your type." Either way, not knowing that Remi is thinking about his dalliances (potential or otherwise) with other women, he waits expectantly for his kiss.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

wild in the silence; no way to make it right

"Gasp." The Bastion hisses under his breath before rolling his eyes. Note how he doesn't offer any real evidence to the contrary though. That's either because he thinks Ronin is very wrong or annoyingly right.

"I think it matters if they are biased, yes." Remi hums as he slips an arm around his husband's waist. "Sorry, do you want me to think about having sex with women and imagining other men, or shall I kiss you?" Sam absolutely could have been described as small, smooth, and fragile. Loren too. Those weren't particularly happy thoughts just now, and it was with a crumpled expression that Remi pushed them from his mind as he leaned his lips up toward Ronin's before fitting his wine glass between them and draining it instead.

THE BASTION

i’ve been chasin the storm of a lovesick lonely lie

RONIN

No answer is as good as an affirmative answer for the Knight - and that's probably the straightest thing about him, in retrospect, and only under these circumstances because consent is absolutely important god - so Ronin looks appropriately smug as he reaches up to straighten the sprig of mistletoe unnecessarily.

"Alright, fair point. What if the people arguing that are bisexual instead? Does that make it fair?" Forgetting what they're debating about entirely as the Bastion's arm moves around his waist, Ronin abandons his fussing of the decorations to lend his husband his full attention.

"That second one, yes," he murmurs, smiling softly and leaning in for a kiss only to get the warmth of a wine glass instead, his muffled protest whining from his throat. "Heyyy," he complains through a smile, chasing after Remi's lips the second the glass is removed, as if to silence any other opinions he might have.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

wild in the silence; no way to make it right

"No." Remi confirms with a firm shake of his head; for all of Ronin's endless fussing to try and tug his attention toward the weed garland, the Bastion had eyes only for where the wine had darkened Ronin's lower lip.

Nearly dropping the glass as Ronin's lips pressed against his, the Bastion closed his eyes and hummed his appreciation for the mingling tastes of mulled wine and gay man. Pressing the Knight forward with his body if only so that his hand could fumble about for their table to set his glass upon, once done, Remi let his hands properly contour around his husband's waist.

"I think the gayest thing about you is how I know you are going to walk around with mistletoe in your pocket all season just in case." The words are mumbled against the Knight's lips as Remi smiles crookedly.

THE BASTION

i’ve been chasin the storm of a lovesick lonely lie

RONIN

Melting into the kiss and letting his arms slip around Remi in turn, it's with gentle fingers carding through the other man's hair and a body more malleable to the Bastion's touch than anyone else's that Ronin allows himself to be urged backwards so the other man might set down his glass. "Mm?" he says, clearly not having heard Remi properly at first, only for a boyish grin to spread across his face when the words finally sink in.

"In my pocket?" he echoes, not needing to do much more than whisper, even as he reaches between them to pull out the waistband of his pants so Remi might look down and see his appropriately embroidered underwear. "Bold of you to assume that I wanted it to be anywhere else."

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

wild in the silence; no way to make it right

Peering down the front of Ronin's pants for an entirely different reason, the Bastion laughed softly as he gave his head a little shake. "Picture this," He whispers as his fingers run along the top of Ronin's waistband. "You are out walking through the market on a chilly day, and you see some old woman, shopping alone. You know she is a widow. You walk up to her, say, excuse me young lady, before holding up the mistletoe." All of this is told with the sort of pacing of a Christmas carol.

"Now, you look me right in the eyes and tell me that is not exactly the sort of thing you would do, and why you would carry mistletoe around." The Bastion challenges in a soft voice as he raises his eyebrows. Gods, the worst best part was how easily he could actually see Ronin doing it. Just White Knighting around, charming the pants off of anyone foolish enough to look into his eyes for more than just a split second.

THE BASTION

i’ve been chasin the storm of a lovesick lonely lie

RONIN

Tilting his head as Remi begins his story - and feeling mildly bemused that the other man doesn't shove his hand straight down his pants - Ronin settles in to listen, finishing off his mulled wine and setting the cup down next to his husband's. Only at the apparent punchline, for lack of better word, does the Knight scoff out a laugh, cupping Remi's cheeks in his hands and leaning in to steal a chaste kiss from his lips.

"I could," he challenges softly, "but I've been doing my best not to lie these days. Ruins the image I'm meant to portray." And perhaps that is the most telling thing about the changes in the Knight since he has stepped out of starlight and into radiant warmth; the things that Vi expects of him come all too easily, such that they are more a pleasure than a responsibility.

And so it's with a dumb smile on his face that he leans in to kiss Remi again, before backing him up to their box of decorations that they might continue.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

wild in the silence; no way to make it right

"Not to lie?" Remi repeats through lips slightly squished by the position of his husband's hands on his cheeks. "Are you really telling me that you would consider calling an old woman young lady the sort of lie that Vi would disapprove of?" Tutting under his breath, the Bastion can only shake his head.

"Far be it for me to offer someone like you advice on the subject, but certainly, the morality of lies no longer matters when trying to cheer up aging widows."

Shaking his head as if wildly displeased with his husband's new stance on lying—what happened to the man whose advice was to lie to get out of awkward situations or to otherwise appear friendly?—Remi refilled both of their glasses before glancing at the mess of decorations now strewn about on the floor like the haughty gay he was.

THE BASTION

i’ve been chasin the storm of a lovesick lonely lie