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 Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2023 9:23 am
Orien couldn’t help but smile adoringly up at Kaelan when he said he was never too exhausted to carry him. He didn’t doubt Kaelan’s strength, but he knew Kaelan well enough to know he liked to push himself beyond his limits, especially where Orien was concerned.
It was as though Kaelan didn’t know Orien could see the dark circles under his eyes, or the way he froze in panic when something expensive might be in their future, and he had to quickly figure out budgeting.
He knew how hard Kaelan worked. Kaelan probably worked even harder than he knew, and he tried to keep that in mind.
It was sometimes difficult for him to remember what happened the previous day, which meant the burden of everything was placed on Kaelan.
But Orien would never forget how he felt about Kaelan, and how much he loved him. They’d been through so much already. Orien only wanted to give him some happiness.
“Well, if you have the strength to take care of me, it’s only fair that I regain my strength to take care of you. Probably all night.”
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2023 9:47 am
“Oh, stop. I knew you were going to say that. You’ll need your energy, anyway,” he said, and held out two french fries. “Like I’m not going to pamper you for the rest of the day.” The pink hadn’t left his cheeks, but after this much time maybe it was a bit more apparent than some of it, at least, was in response to Orien’s implications.
“You worry about taking care of me tomorrow night. I’ll take care of everything today.”
He smoothed his hair again and assumed that Jett’s office wasn’t bugged, but just in case he was keen to leave it at that.
“You do so much, Orien.”
It didn’t matter if Kaelan had his own extensive list of things he took care of, he didn’t have the same struggles or difficulties that Orien had to face. He had never compared his efforts to Orien; as far as he was concerned, they were a team, and some things were easier for Kaelan to take care of, so he did.
Orien had been the one to get an apartment. Orien had been the one to pick him up and give him a home. Orien had been the one who was looking after him–for years.
Kaelan was just trying to pay him back. Well, no. He wasn’t just trying to pay him back–he loved him. He wanted to take care of him. So if that meant doing the budgeting, or planning savings, or researching their best options, or cooking, those things were easy. They were a little stressful, sure, but they were kind of fun. If he had to make extra lists or reminders for Orien, that was okay, too. Whatever he could do to help make his life a little easier.
It wasn’t like this stress was going to be permanent–they were still sort of in a transitional stage and getting used to things. And waiting for the floor to crumble beneath them, but it’s okay. It was just making them work harder, and they’d be stable soon. Well. Maybe not soon, but eventually.
It was a work in progress.
He stroked Orien’s hair again. “I want to take care of you, so just take it easy. We’ll go home, take a nap, and see how you’re feeling afterwards. No worrying about anything for the rest of the day, okay?”
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2023 10:28 am
“I hope you know I’m trying really hard not to make any inappropriate comments right now. It’s really difficult because you make it so easy,” Orien sighed dramatically, but lifted his hand to brush Kaelan’s cheek and then reached back to massage his neck and shoulder with trembling fingers.
He was still chewing on the fries that had been offered to him, but was being careful not to choke or anything like that. Kaelan was so sweet. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve his love and devotion.
“You’re so beautiful,” he sighed again, and then closed his eyes for a few moments. He was feeling better, but now that he was laying down, he didn’t know if he’d be able to get up so easily.
“Do you think we’ll both fit on this couch? I want to hold you.”
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2023 11:01 am
“I know,” Kaelan soothed, and while he was a bit exasperated and equally embarrassed, he wouldn't have changed anything about Orien. He was glad he felt good enough to think inappropriate things, at least. He leaned into Orien’s trembling touch and let out a contented sigh at the contact. He had too many knots to count, but just being close to Orien eased some of the stress he was carrying.
“We could probably both fit. I could make myself fit.” Kaelan was a fantastic contortionist, which was an incredibly misleading perk when it actually just meant he fell asleep in strange, uncomfortable looking positions. He just needed to make sure that he didn’t accidentally kick any of Jett’s photos off the wall or get his feet on the couch.
“Is it selfish to hope Jett stays busy for a few minutes more? His office is really nice. I’ll move wherever you want me but we should probably try to eat a bit more, too.” So whatever position they chose, he just wanted to make sure that they weren’t going to let these fries go soggy. He wanted to ask about his arm, but he knew he’d see it.
In due time. His stomach was already flopping at the prospect, but he knew they had bandages and first aid supplies at home, just for accidents like this. He’d take good care of Orien, there was nothing to worry about.
Except, he’d worry anyway.
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2023 11:06 am
“Just lay on top of me, it’s fine. Or I’ll lay on you,” he suggested, although he didn’t look like he was all that eager to be getting up just yet.
“You think Jett would be mad if we made out on his couch? He was the one who sent us in here and gave me the rest of the day off,” he pointed out. Although he didn’t want Jett to change his mind. So maybe he would wait to kiss Kaelan silly until they were home. Oh, and when he was feeling a little better.
“Is there a burger or chicken nuggets or something in there?” he glanced over his shoulder at the bag, and then made an attempt to reach over to it himself, and hissed when the action pulled at the bandages on his arm.
“It’s fine, sorry,” he quickly apologized, knowing Kaelan would fuss over him if he seemed like he was in pain. “I just want to be useful.”
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2023 11:20 am
“Orien!” Kaelan tried not to sound too exasperated and gathered him in his arms. “I’m going to have to lay on you to stop you from moving. You’re not useless, you need to rest. Let me see your arm.”
He didn’t wait for it to be offered before he took it in his hands and stared at the bandages like he dared blood to trickle through. So far, nothing. He breathed and reached for the bag of food before he crawled atop of Orien—careful not to crush him or bump his arm.
“You’re so useful, taking some time to rest doesn’t mean you’re not. It means you just need to take it easy. Please let me take care of you. I want to, I want to pamper you.” He’d beg, he’d give him puppy dog eyes, he’d cry—whatever it took to make Orien understand how important it was that he rest. “The less you do, the faster you’ll heal. Then, when you’re feeling better, you can do whatever you want, okay? Please? It would make me very happy to get to do everything for you right now.”
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:52 am
Orien had to fight back a grin from pulling at his lips. “Oh, that’s horrible. You having to lay on me,” he hummed, clearly not bothered by the idea. Still, he didn’t want to stress Kaelan out, so he sighed and wrapped his uninjured arm over Kaelan to hold him against him.
“You really want to take care of me?” he asked, but tried not to sound too amused. “Alright, if you want to take care of me. But how exactly do you plan on doing that? Because I can think of a lot of ways.”
He was trying not to grin again, so instead he leaned up to kiss Kaelan’s forehead and wherever he could reach.
“Because you know once I’m better, I’m going to be taking care of you.”
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2023 7:25 am
“Yes, I know,” Kaelan said, and though he sounded a bit huffy it was probably only because they were flirting in their boss’ office and Jett seemed like the type of guy to have just enough security in here for cameras to be plausible.
“As soon as you’re better, you can do whatever you want. Honest. But until then, I will take care of you. And you can tell me everything you need, as soon as we’re home.”
He gave him a look when he emphasized everything, but he didn’t want to give Orien too long to daydream just what he could get away with under the umbrella of ‘everything’, so he instead pushed another fry into his mouth and reached into the bag to pull out–
Oh, a burger. A very thick, juicy, delicious smelling burger. There was more in the bag but he hadn’t fished around, and this was good enough because he knew red meat was good if you lost blood. He squished the burger a bit so that it would be easier to bite into and it practically oozed juice. His mouth was watering, but he could wait. He held it to Orien’s lips.
“Maybe I’m going to get hurt at work on my next shift, I’ve never seen–is this a gourmet burger? I’ve never seen one so big. And there’s even more in the bag.” He tried to peer over to see into it but he didn’t want to accidentally roll off or put too much weight on Orien so he stayed where he was and held the burger up until he was ready.
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2023 12:02 pm
The look he got when everything was mentioned had Orien perking up again. There were definitely a lot of things he could think of, and his mind was already racing and filling in voids of information that had long been lost. But it didn’t matter as long as he had Kaelan. Doing everything for him.
He could definitely have some fun with this. After all, it was just his arm that was injured.
While Kaelan dug through the bag, Orien took the opportunity to smooth his fingers through Kaelan’s hair. But when the very large burger was offered to him, he happily took a bite without protest.
“Eat half,” he requested, shoving as much of the burger as he could into his cheek so he could talk around the too large bite he took. “We can share. Less mess, and I’ll know you’re eating.” It was only fair! Kaelan was taking care of him, so he shouldn’t neglect himself otherwise how would he have the energy to keep up with him?
“Don’t get hurt,” he added with exasperation as he quickly chewed what was in his mouth so he wasn’t being really gross with chatting and eating at the same time. Although he didn’t exactly have the best manners to start with. He couldn’t really bring himself to care, unless Kaelan told him to do or stop doing something.
“We can just tell Jett you’ve got low blood sugar or something. Just pretend to pass out.”
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2023 1:39 pm
Kaelan intended to offer absolutely no protest; when Orien told him to eat half, he immediately took a bite–smaller than Orien’s, but that was only so that he didn’t accidentally spit too much out if he decided to say something provocative. Kaelan couldn’t risk being taken by surprise.
The burger was good enough that he couldn’t bring himself to just inhale it, so when the flavor hit his tongue he had to actually stop to savor it before he swallowed and spoke again. He had already offered it back to Orien but seemed content to alternate whose turn it was to take a bite.
“I could pretend, yeah. It would be a little inconvenient if I actually got hurt. If I really did need to rest then I could get behind on my schoolwork and it’s way too early for me to get into bad habits. I’ll be careful,” he promised, because he knew Orien would worry if he didn’t just say it.
“If we keep saving up like we have been, we’ll be able to splurge on nice foods like this sometimes, too. So we won’t always have to rely on Jett.” Well, outside of being their boss, and a Prince in the Dark Mirror Court, but–that was different. He hadn’t needed to order them lunch, or to send Orien home with the rest of the day off, paid.
“We’ll have to be careful around the mirrors,” he said, and while he was somewhat talking to himself it seemed to be a sentiment he intended to share anyway. “I wonder if Jett is being so nice because he thinks it’s got something to do with Mirrorspace. Maybe he doesn’t want us to sue for workplace hazards or something.”
Not that they would! It was just easier to try and find the motivation for why someone was being nice than it was to trust that there was no motive at all.
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:12 pm
“If you aren’t getting behind on your schoolwork with me distracting you all the time, I doubt you being injured would do anything. But if you need help getting distracted, I could always get behind you,” he teased, although he was aware enough to say anything while Kaelan didn’t have his mouth full.
“Careful… there’s only one thing you should be choking on,” he teased again, clearly in a better mood than before. Kaelan always put him in a better mood, so it wasn’t too surprising.
As for Jett… He didn’t know why he was being nice to them. They were just teenagers, and sure he had his origin story about how he’d gotten the antique shop and blah blah pay it forward or something like that. But Jett was making a lot of good faith assumptions about them. Sure, he knew what they’d been up to before they met him… but any normal person would have told them to keep looking. Why would he want them in his court…?
“You don’t think we’re, like… fodder, do you?” Orien frowned, but took another bite when it was offered. “You know… just a warm body to fill out the space. He needs people to collect energy, but then what? It’s not like we’re going to be, you know… helping to populate Mirrorspace. I mean, I guess we could try really hard, but we should probably start as soon as possible.”
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:22 pm
There were so many times when Kaelan nearly choked, if not on food then on his own breath. He scanned Jett’s office again, determined to spot any of the microphones or recording devices he knew must be there, but–
Oh, he was probably just paranoid.
Throughout the flirting, he gave Orien a look, but his pink cheeks and exasperated–albeit interested–expression did him no favors.
Orien knew his feelings on the matter, even if Kaelan wasn’t very good at expressing them. It was easier to talk about Jett, though he had to stay focused enough to alternate between who was taking a bite of the burger.
“I don’t–populate Mirrorspace? Oh. Orien. Kids are too expensive, we shouldn’t.” Another bite for Orien. “I don’t–he can’t make us be magical, right? It wasn’t his choice that we’d be Senshi. That was something else.”
Something no one could have controlled, right? It was more than just chance, more than a fluke. He hoped. “I don’t think Jett would try to take such good care of us if we were fodder. I mean, if it were up to him–he could just go out and throw anyone through the mirror, right? We–I don’t know. When the mirrors aren’t being so weird, maybe we can go in Mirrorspace and look around for ourselves? I mean, he always talks so highly of it. Maybe there’s something there for us, too.”
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:30 pm
Orien hummed contentedly as he chewed on his newest bite of the burger. He smoothed his hands through Kaelan’s hair, although he was being careful with his injuries.
“You’ve always been magical to me,” he said quietly. Like it was a secret between the two of them. Even though he would like to shout his love from the rooftops, he also thought it was important for them to have something special just for the two of them. He wasn’t trying to embarrass Kaelan. But he wanted to make sure he knew how much he was loved and appreciated.
“Well, whatever made us what we are, I’m glad we can do this together. Even if it was just you, I would be proud of everything you’ve accomplished. But I’m glad I get to be here with you. We’ll just keep getting stronger. Do you think maybe one day we’ll have big wings like Remarque, too? You’re already a Prince in my eyes.”
Kaelan was perfect, and deserved so much. If anyone deserved the power that came with being a Prince, it was Kaelan.
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2023 7:01 pm
Though Kaelan appreciated and enjoyed the gentle touches, he was being similarly mindful of Orien’s injuries, just in case.
He had to make quite an effort of it, because Orien’s words had left him flustered and smitten–different from usual, but maybe just as powerful. Maybe more so.
He leaned in to hear the whisper, and his breath caught in his lungs. Maybe he was a little embarrassed, but it wasn’t in the way that Orien flirted with him, or teased him. He’d always been a dreamer, and he’d leaned towards fantasy for all his life. Of course he’d be smitten when Orien showered him in romantics. It wasn’t just the words, it was the way he’d said them.
Kaelan’s heart fluttered.
“Orien,” he said, with such love and tenderness. He could have kissed him a thousand times over, and maybe he would tonight. He didn’t think he’d ever have wings like Remarque, and honestly, he didn't think he’d want them. It sounded like too much responsibility. He was afraid of being in the spotlight, he didn’t want people to look at him the way he looked at Remarque.
He’d have crumbled under the pressure of it all.
“You’re a prince in my eyes, too. Well, if I could consider you that and a Knight in Shining Armor, too. I don’t care if we get wings or not, I’ve got you and that’s enough for me. I’m glad we can do this together.” He couldn't have done it without Orien, anyway. “You’re so sweet to me. I love you so much. I hope one day I can give you a fairy tale life.” Even if things hadn’t been perfect, even if they’d had a hard road so far, all fantasy books had a journey before the happy ending.
He was determined to get them both to the ‘happily ever after’.
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2023 7:56 pm
Kaelan was so cute. Orien couldn’t help but smile when Kaelan got all flustered and lovey. He liked it. He craved it. Anything that reminded Kaelan that he was loved…
“I love you too. But I think our life is pretty magical already. I mean look at us. We’ve got a place together, we don’t have anyone telling us what to do. I mean, I guess we’re also actually magical, but that’s different. You just wait, I’ve got so many ideas for what I can imagine for Mirrorspace. I’ll have to write it all down before I forget,” he sighed, but he was still smiling about it.
“Being with you… getting out of that place…? This is basically our fairy tale ending. But I’m okay with it being a new beginning with you, too.”
He smoothed Kaelan’s hair back again, and this time he leaned up enough to catch his lips in a kiss. Not so much because he didn’t want to have Kaelan fuss at him for doing too much, but he couldn’t help but want to be close to him.
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