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Entry tags:
[celebrations]
Alyyyyy happy birthday! This is really just a holdover until you get your present, which we have been guaranteed will get there today by the post office man. TODAY. So keep your eyes peeled, because that's where the real present is!
But.
It didn't feel right approaching today without something to give you the day of, so--
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALYYYYYYY stay strong wait for the present, I promise it's a good one, I'm so excited about it.
Even if Kia and I forgot tissues.
(Shhh.)
Talking nonsense.
"Honestly," Judas said in exasperation, rolling his eyes behind the scant shelter of his mask. "Stop talking nonsense."
And honestly? Harold was impressed. She stopped mid-faux science babble (because that had been all it was, really, fake science that wasn't real at all, but it had been enough to fool Reala and Kyle and Loni and Nanaly and she'd thought Judas, but in the end...
He'd seen through it, hadn't he?
She wondered, sometimes, what his background was. How much of the sciences did he know? Had he been formally taught? Or was he just sharp--or both? She was curious, really, but this time she just gave him an appraising look, delicately lipsticked lips curving into a smirk that typically spelled doom for anyone seeing it.
Judas seemed unruffled.
"Oh? W-e-l-l, if you are so sure it's nonsense, maybe you can provide the explanation, Judas," came the response, challenging, and Judas... well, Judas never missed a challenge. Because he didn't miss a beat before he was offering up a valid, scientific and solid explanation for the newest challenge they were facing.
The others quickly checked out of the conversation; Kyle's eyes were starting to glaze over and Loni looked like he had a headache. But Harold... Harold was intrigued beyond a doubt, and the look she was giving Judas now was almost predatory.
He, of course, pretended not to notice, and still seemed entirely unruffled.
(He was infinitely less unruffled later, when Harold, taking advantage of the privacy that the party splitting up offered them, cornered him and pressed up against him, and while she couldn't kiss him through the mask, she could murmur a mix of scientific theory and truly filthy things, and there was little doubt that in the end, with Judas looking utterly dazed and thrown, she'd really won that contest.
She always did, after all.
Beginnings, middles, ends.
It was a mess.
The paper that Leon had written all of their scattered memories on simply made no sense at all. They had a scattered mess of middles and beginnings and even a few ends, but the ends didn't go together either, and it was after a session of trying to piece them together that Stahn exasperatedly huffed out, "It's like it's a bunch of different timelines, it doesn't make any sense!"
Leon froze.
He slowly looked at the paper he'd been working on, and then back at Stahn, and it was like a lightbulb had lit above his head--Stahn could almost see the gears turning.
And then, as if entirely on the spur of the moment, Leon reached out and grasped the sides of Stahn's head and pressed their lips together firmly, and then he ran off to grab a few more pieces of paper to work on whatever brilliant idea Stahn had just given him--
While Stahn sat there on the living room floor, pressing a hand to his lips like a starstruck teenager (which, in a lot of ways, was exactly what he was), and blinked. Ah... he needed to have more brilliant ideas way more often, if this was how Leon was going to react.
And if Leon noticed that he was even more engaged than usual, even with the math, well... he didn't comment on it at all.
(But kisses became a slightly more common method of reward.)
Everyone found out.
He'd honestly thought that they'd done okay. They'd been discrete. They'd been careful. All markings on each other's bodies had been covered up. They'd been quiet, they'd made sure to only have sex when nobody else was around--
And even so, everyone was giving them utterly knowing looks as they wandered through Darilsheid.
Leon's eyes narrowed.
What, exactly, did he have to do to make certain that this didn't turn into something common? The last thing he wanted to do was to have his sex life with Stahn be the topic of gossip and conversation, after all.
(Though... if he was honest with himself, it was definitely a gossip-worthy thing, in his own opinion. When he thinks of Stahn's mouth on him, or the way they were pressed together the night before, or how it had felt--
Well.
It's a little too much, really.)
Still. This was also too much, and after one more snigger, he finally spun around and scowled at the poor soldier who had made the mistake of being a bit too loud in Leon's range of hearing.
"What are you laughing about?"
The soldier knew very well that saying what he'd really been thinking about would be a death sentence.
He cleared his throat awkwardly instead, and offered up weakly, "It's just...you seem so happy, Sir Leon."
And that...was enough to get Leon to pause, blindsided. Was that...it? Was that why everyone always knew? Because he seemed happier? It was something to think on, honestly, on his way home, and when he got home and Stahn was there, all bright smiles and brighter eyes, well... Leon reached out and bunched his shirt in one fist as he dragged him into a kiss, and he had to admit--
Maybe he was onto something there.
I owe you.
Peace was almost awe-inspiring to Chaltier.
He'd gone through the majority of his life in a state of warfare. He'd been so young when it had been peaceful that he almost didn't remember any of it, and so... when they finally made it to a time and a place where it was peaceful and quiet, where they had spent enough of their time rebuilding and could just retire to a quiet life, safe and sound...
It was almost frighteningly new.
Chal was admittedly a little gun-shy at first. He'd skitter about, waiting for something to change or happen, but... nothing did. No, their little home in their little quiet town, where it was warm and it was green and it was peaceful... nothing dramatic ever happened there, as much as Chal expected it too, and slowly... he relaxed and was able to put aside so much of that drama and suffering that they'd encountered before.
And one day... it clicked.
They were at peace. Nothing like that would ever happen again. He'd been living with Igtenos like this for awhile now, and... it meant that they were never going to have to change this lifestyle.
This was how it was going to be for the rest of their lives.
Chal scrambled to find Igtenos then, and he knew he was puzzled when he found him on the porch with his book and interrupted him there, because it was a completely inconsequential and unimportant day (amidst a sea of nondescript days), but to Chal...
He finally understood.
And he pressed their lips together, intent and focused and almost a tad desperately, and while Igtenos was bemused still and now a little concerned, Chal just finally broke the kiss, sighing softly, eyes sliding shut even as he could feel his throat go tight.
"Thank you...for building this life with me."
Thank you for bringing peace to his life--because now, he finally understood just what a gift that was, and...that it would never be taken away.
But.
It didn't feel right approaching today without something to give you the day of, so--
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALYYYYYYY stay strong wait for the present, I promise it's a good one, I'm so excited about it.
Even if Kia and I forgot tissues.
(Shhh.)
Talking nonsense.
And honestly? Harold was impressed. She stopped mid-faux science babble (because that had been all it was, really, fake science that wasn't real at all, but it had been enough to fool Reala and Kyle and Loni and Nanaly and she'd thought Judas, but in the end...
He'd seen through it, hadn't he?
She wondered, sometimes, what his background was. How much of the sciences did he know? Had he been formally taught? Or was he just sharp--or both? She was curious, really, but this time she just gave him an appraising look, delicately lipsticked lips curving into a smirk that typically spelled doom for anyone seeing it.
Judas seemed unruffled.
"Oh? W-e-l-l, if you are so sure it's nonsense, maybe you can provide the explanation, Judas," came the response, challenging, and Judas... well, Judas never missed a challenge. Because he didn't miss a beat before he was offering up a valid, scientific and solid explanation for the newest challenge they were facing.
The others quickly checked out of the conversation; Kyle's eyes were starting to glaze over and Loni looked like he had a headache. But Harold... Harold was intrigued beyond a doubt, and the look she was giving Judas now was almost predatory.
He, of course, pretended not to notice, and still seemed entirely unruffled.
(He was infinitely less unruffled later, when Harold, taking advantage of the privacy that the party splitting up offered them, cornered him and pressed up against him, and while she couldn't kiss him through the mask, she could murmur a mix of scientific theory and truly filthy things, and there was little doubt that in the end, with Judas looking utterly dazed and thrown, she'd really won that contest.
She always did, after all.
The paper that Leon had written all of their scattered memories on simply made no sense at all. They had a scattered mess of middles and beginnings and even a few ends, but the ends didn't go together either, and it was after a session of trying to piece them together that Stahn exasperatedly huffed out, "It's like it's a bunch of different timelines, it doesn't make any sense!"
Leon froze.
He slowly looked at the paper he'd been working on, and then back at Stahn, and it was like a lightbulb had lit above his head--Stahn could almost see the gears turning.
And then, as if entirely on the spur of the moment, Leon reached out and grasped the sides of Stahn's head and pressed their lips together firmly, and then he ran off to grab a few more pieces of paper to work on whatever brilliant idea Stahn had just given him--
While Stahn sat there on the living room floor, pressing a hand to his lips like a starstruck teenager (which, in a lot of ways, was exactly what he was), and blinked. Ah... he needed to have more brilliant ideas way more often, if this was how Leon was going to react.
And if Leon noticed that he was even more engaged than usual, even with the math, well... he didn't comment on it at all.
(But kisses became a slightly more common method of reward.)
And even so, everyone was giving them utterly knowing looks as they wandered through Darilsheid.
Leon's eyes narrowed.
What, exactly, did he have to do to make certain that this didn't turn into something common? The last thing he wanted to do was to have his sex life with Stahn be the topic of gossip and conversation, after all.
(Though... if he was honest with himself, it was definitely a gossip-worthy thing, in his own opinion. When he thinks of Stahn's mouth on him, or the way they were pressed together the night before, or how it had felt--
Well.
It's a little too much, really.)
Still. This was also too much, and after one more snigger, he finally spun around and scowled at the poor soldier who had made the mistake of being a bit too loud in Leon's range of hearing.
"What are you laughing about?"
The soldier knew very well that saying what he'd really been thinking about would be a death sentence.
He cleared his throat awkwardly instead, and offered up weakly, "It's just...you seem so happy, Sir Leon."
And that...was enough to get Leon to pause, blindsided. Was that...it? Was that why everyone always knew? Because he seemed happier? It was something to think on, honestly, on his way home, and when he got home and Stahn was there, all bright smiles and brighter eyes, well... Leon reached out and bunched his shirt in one fist as he dragged him into a kiss, and he had to admit--
Maybe he was onto something there.
He'd gone through the majority of his life in a state of warfare. He'd been so young when it had been peaceful that he almost didn't remember any of it, and so... when they finally made it to a time and a place where it was peaceful and quiet, where they had spent enough of their time rebuilding and could just retire to a quiet life, safe and sound...
It was almost frighteningly new.
Chal was admittedly a little gun-shy at first. He'd skitter about, waiting for something to change or happen, but... nothing did. No, their little home in their little quiet town, where it was warm and it was green and it was peaceful... nothing dramatic ever happened there, as much as Chal expected it too, and slowly... he relaxed and was able to put aside so much of that drama and suffering that they'd encountered before.
And one day... it clicked.
They were at peace. Nothing like that would ever happen again. He'd been living with Igtenos like this for awhile now, and... it meant that they were never going to have to change this lifestyle.
This was how it was going to be for the rest of their lives.
Chal scrambled to find Igtenos then, and he knew he was puzzled when he found him on the porch with his book and interrupted him there, because it was a completely inconsequential and unimportant day (amidst a sea of nondescript days), but to Chal...
He finally understood.
And he pressed their lips together, intent and focused and almost a tad desperately, and while Igtenos was bemused still and now a little concerned, Chal just finally broke the kiss, sighing softly, eyes sliding shut even as he could feel his throat go tight.
"Thank you...for building this life with me."
Thank you for bringing peace to his life--because now, he finally understood just what a gift that was, and...that it would never be taken away.