Prompt 1 (Diamond Dust): This time of year, snow is common. What’s uncommon is the single, strange snowfall where each snowflake that fell glistened like tiny diamonds. For the most part, the snow seems fairly normal—it’s cold, wet, and melts just like any other snow, it just also happens to look like tiny little gems are falling from the sky. Depending on who you’re with, it’s either incredibly strange, or incredibly romantic.
When the snow is coming down at its strongest, crystalized snowflakes trickle down with the rest of the snow. These are roughly the size of a quarter and are light and hollow. They are fragile, like glass, but glisten like a fine cut gem. No one can explain this anomaly, but these small snowflakes won't melt. And they are all overDestiny City. You can find them gently falling to the ground, or lying in the fresh fallen snow. There doesn’t seem to be anything particularly magical about them, but they are beautiful and make pretty keepsakes.
His alarm didn’t go off. It was extremely rare that Nataniel would rise before the soft buzzing from his phone told him it was time, but today a certain anticipation goaded him into leaving the warmth of his bed even earlier than was his norm. He was no stranger to mornings started at 3AM, and a quick peek to the dim glow of his phone screen said it was only fifteen minutes earlier than that. Hardly enough time to try and get comfortable again.
So even though it wasn’t quite time to rise, Nataniel found himself disentangling from his partner’s limbs as delicately as he could manage, slipping from beneath the heavy blankets with a soft shuffling of fabric, and landing barefooted on the chilly wooden floor.
He always took particular care to prepare for the day with utmost silence. He wasn’t a light sleeper himself. Basyl coming and going from work at odd hours of the night hardly had any impact on him (besides to leave him a bit lonely if his fiancé wasn’t next to him as he fell asleep or when he awoke…), but the other man twitched awake at the slightest disturbance. Nataniel knew Basyl was aware of when he left for his morning jog, but he consistently tried to make it as minimally disruptive as possible. He barely made a sound as he slunk to their closet and selected his attire: comfortable sweatpants, a long sleeve thermal, and a hoodie draped over his arm.
There was no reason to linger. A shower would come after he was finished. He stepped stealthily toward their bedroom door.
Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2023 12:16 pm
Indigo_Plateau
Muscle shifted under his limbs. The heat bunched against him- sticky and sweaty from spending the night plastered against each other- slipped away. Basyl groaned softly, fingers seeking out the too-quickly retreating form of his love. And if he was being rational, he would’ve known to expect it. Nataniel was a creature of habit. Why would a holiday change that?
But Basyl’s sleep addled mind insisted that it should change this habit. Where did Nataniel think he was going on Christmas morning? Where was more important than letting Basyl wake up in his arms? To do what, with who?
Basyl knew, he just didn’t like it.
He shifted amidst the blankets, dragging them around him so that he could stare into the darkness of their bedroom and find where Nataniel stood at their closet, fully dressed. Ready to head out. His throat tightened. Asking Nat to change something routine for him- well, Basyl didn’t like to ask, even if he was sure the answer would be favorable. Instead, he scraped his tongue against the back of his teeth, swallowed, and whispered, “Today?” out into the air on a soft grumble, one magenta eye peeking from the depths of a pile of blankets, while he kept the rest of himself shielded from the outside.
He wouldn’t ask, but he could imply: please stay, just today, please stay, don’t go out, don’t leave…
He wouldn’t have expected Basyl to be alert enough to speak to him. Aware that he was leaving, yes. But at this time of morning, communication was typically minimal. Which generally suited Nataniel just fine, as his fiancé was one of very few things that could break his resolve. If it ever happened that Basyl asked him to stay, he would be hard-pressed to refuse.
But he didn’t ask. He just reached for him and stared at Nataniel through one groggy eye.
He would not be deterred.
His focus slid down to the hoodie in his arms as a distraction, gaze lightly tracing over a white UnderArmor pattern off the left shoulder. “Every day, mera pyaar,” he answered softly, chancing a quick glance toward the bundle of blankets on their bed. Every day he rose before the Sun. Every day, he left their house. Sometimes it really was to go jogging in the peace of morning. Sometimes it wasn’t, and he never made an effort to specify which before leaving.
But he knew Basyl expected that any morning could be for Negaverse chores. Nataniel could spend any given morning out ending some stranger’s existence.
It wounded his love in a way Nataniel didn’t quite comprehend.
With a quiet sigh, he stepped up toward Basyl’s side of the bed. A hand slipped in, parting the mess of twisted blankets so that he could lean down and touch his lips to the top of the other man’s head. “Go back to sleep. I will not leave you for long.” Nataniel didn’t wait for a response before heading out. He wondered if Basyl noticed how he pulled their bedroom door shut behind him as he went.
Atypical. He usually left it open so as to not risk making more noise of the door squeaking closed or the lock clicking shut.
Nataniel’s fingers definitely noticed, a certain wrongness prickling with the unfamiliar action.
Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2023 12:22 pm
Indigo_Plateau
He tried to smother the immeasurable disappointment, tried not to feel it like a wound, that his fiancé would not spend one morning in bed with him, even when he asked- Alright, not ‘asked’ specifically, because he wouldn’t. But it was close enough. Nataniel knew what he wanted.
Basyl wasn’t accustomed to his man not giving him what he wanted so long as he knew what it was.
But he watched Nataniel walk out of their room, and Basyl desperately tried to imagine him going to do anything else other than draining whichever poor civilians happened to be out that morning- or worse to anyone from the White Moon. He tried to convince himself that no one would be out, anyway. It was freezing, and they’d be with their families. There definitely weren’t any convenience stores open, with clerks out taking a smoke break. No one was out getting necessities they hadn’t realized they’d forgotten. No one was wandering home drunk from Christmas Eve parties. And Nataniel wasn’t out ruining anyone’s holiday. And he for sure wasn’t doing anything that could get him hurt.
But if he wasn’t, then why didn’t he just stay in bed?
“Be quiet,” Basyl groused softly to himself. It was early. He was tired. If he slept, Nataniel would be back before he even opened his eyes again.
…If he slept.
Basyl reached for his earbuds on the bedside table and slipped them in, flicking through the music on his phone until he found something soft, slow, and melodious. It didn’t matter if he wished something else was happening- that didn’t change what was actually going on. He wasn’t going to berate Nataniel- he would never! And he wasn’t going to cry, no matter how his eyes stung. But he still would’ve liked… It didn’t matter. He should go back to sleep and try not to think too hard about it. Just go back to sleep. Listen to the music, and go back to sleep.
It was nearly two hours later when Nataniel returned to their room, hardly late in the morning, the sun still well beneath the horizon. Genuinely too early for him to be rousing his partner from sleep. He held still in the half-opened doorway, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness of their shared bedroom, and it pleased him to think that Basyl was actually asleep. His breathing was steady and peaceful… but a bit too loud for someone fully awake and aware of it.
He stepped fully in, moving to Basyl’s nightstand to place the mug he’d brought in as an offering. He set it down, nudging it just so into position with his knuckles and then turning it so the handle was easily within Basyl’s grasp.
Another quiet, still beat to study any changes in Basyl’s awareness… None. Good.
He was back at the foot of the bed, gingerly straightening the twisted tangled of blankets around Basyl’s feet, before lifting them just enough for Nataniel to tuck his head underneath. He touched his lips to the inside of Basyl’s ankle, then moved slowly up to the opposite knee, the inside of his thigh, against the flat of his abdomen, over the curve of a shoulder, into the crook of his neck.
“My love, my love, my love…” Nataniel hummed softly against Basyl’s skin, hovering scant millimeters over him, both still hidden beneath a tent of blankets. He plucked an earbud free so he could whisper in his love’s ear, “Will you wake up for me?”
Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2023 12:27 pm
Indigo_Plateau
Chilly air swept up Basyl’s legs, and he curled just so to be deeper into the blankets, his sanctuary. Although, it did little to prevent the little pinpricks of heat from Nat’s lips moving over his skin. His nose crinkled, even as he smiled, half a breathy little laugh falling out of him.
When he could feel the tips of Nat’s loose hair dusting against his cheek, Basyl wound his arms up and around the other man’s neck, drawing in close so that they were touching just about the length of his entire torso.
“You’re being, mmm… u-unusually affectionate?” He offered, reciprocating soft kisses against Nat’s cheek.
He really had stayed mostly asleep for Nataniel’s entire absence, so it felt like barely any time had passed at all. Basyl’s fingers wandered, silently searching over Nat’s skin for any evidence of anything he might’ve gotten up to… but nothing presented itself. And just like Basyl wouldn’t ask for Nat to stay home, he similarly wouldn’t ask what he’d been out doing. It was enough that he was here and fine and nuzzling sweetly against him.
If Basyl was hurt about any ‘maybe’s of the morning, better to put them behind him. …Though he did wonder if these extra affections were because Nataniel knew he’d done something wrong… Basyl wouldn’t ask about that, either.
With a quiet sigh, he took out his other earbud and dropped it on the bedside table, and oooh, he’d been presented with coffee, too. He took a quick, careful sip to show his appreciation before returning his attention back to the man in front of him. “Needy?” He questioned lightly, teasingly as he rubbed his thumbs into the muscles of Nat’s shoulders.
“‘Unusually…?’” Nataniel rumbled quietly, trying not to take offense at the insinuation that there were times when he might be lacking in affection. There was no one he loved as he did Basyl. No one he would go out of his way for as he did Basyl. No one he would bend to as he did Basyl. The only one who received all of him, all of his efforts, was Basyl. And he knew perfectly well that his fiance was completely aware of that
The slight was unimportant and likely unintended. Basyl would understand soon enough.
“I have something for you,” Nataniel murmured, pressing the words into the crook of Basyl’s neck. “I will bring you downstairs.” Besides the promise of ‘something,’ there was nothing in his face that betrayed his intentions. No smile on his lips, no glint in his dark eyes. Just the deep, steady rumble of words.
He slid a leg sideways off the bed, brushing the blankets aside, out of his way and off of Basyl, so they wouldn’t impede him as he lifted the other man into his arms. After a moment of pause where he crouched a bit lower so that his love could claim the coffee cup off the nightstand, Nataniel headed for their bedroom door, and then the stairs, where only a warm glow seeped up from the lower floor.
Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2024 9:01 am
Indigo_Plateau
Oh, Nataniel meant for them to get up and be awake now.
…So that was odd. It was a bit early for Basyl’s tastes. Not that he knew the time exactly, but it was still dark and cold outside the blankets. He squeaked as they were pulled away from him, and drew his legs close to himself, arms threaded around Nataniel’s neck to hold him near. As far as Basyl was concerned, they still had morning left to cuddle, so what was with this insistence that they get up?
“You have to show me n-now…?” He muttered, imploring Nataniel to maybe take a beat-
But no, he was being lifted before he could protest further. …And maybe it wasn’t worth protesting. Basyl could lay in his bed literally every night, but it was rarer for Nat to carry him like a treasure. Warm and solid and strong… and smelling vaguely of cinnamon. That was unusual. But not unpleasant. Basyl kept one arm around his fiancé’s neck as the other scooped up the coffee mug from the bedside table.
“Why do you smell so good…” Not like his soap after a shower, and not like someone who’d been outside for the past few hours… “And why are you acting so strange…”
Nataniel carried him out of their room and out into the hallway, to the stairwell. From here, Basyl could catch just the barest glimpse of flickering lights, some flame dancing slowly near the foot of the stairs. Down they went.
Theirs was not a household of celebrations of almost any kind, and since they never hosted events, didn’t have any children to impress, and led otherwise busy lives, decorating was usually seen as a sort of… unnecessary use of their time and resources. Most holidays were a bit bland in the festivities department, leaving such things to their respective party-hosting families.
Which Basyl didn’t inherently mind!
All the putting up and taking down- to impress who?
It wasn’t as if either of them were particularly religious, so it wasn’t a holiday to express their spirituality or anything.
But Basyl caught the warmth of glowing string lights as they neared the bottom of the stairs. He hadn’t put those there, and he definitely hadn’t rolled out a cream, brown, and red carpet runner down the hallway. He hadn’t hung leafy garland twined between the stair rails. Hadn’t pinned Christmas cards from their family to the walls. The fluttering flames were from slim cinnamon-scented candles set on the table that framed the entryway to their living room.
“…Nataniel?”
The hallway was a pretty introduction, but their living room was decked, rivaling what Basyl’s Christian mother would put up. Lights strung up along the crown molding. Stockings on the fireplace. Candles. Those potpourri pinecones flecked with glitter in a vase with red ribbon twined around out. There were bows. A nativity scene- which Basyl would have absolutely never expected to see in until their home. Cookies on a tray. A tree with warm lights and red and gold ornaments.
“You decorated. How? When? I would’ve- I would’ve seen, I would’ve heard! This- it’s- it’s so much. You- I thought we- we wouldn’t do all this. We haven’t before… It’s…”
It was beautiful, though the shock of it made him ramble incoherently. This wasn’t how it had looked when he and Nataniel retired to their bedroom last night. So, he’d… He’d stayed. Nataniel had stayed. To do this. Maybe someone had helped, Basyl didn’t know. But he hadn’t left earlier.
He threw his arms up, catching Nataniel fully around the neck and drawing him down as Basyl pressed up to meet his lips. It was catching and clingy, with Basyl drawing him back whenever Nataniel mistakenly believed they were finished.
“You stayed… I love it. I love you,” he whispered.
Holidays were not generally very important to him. Nataniel wasn’t especially religious, and even if he was, he severely doubted it would be a Christmas-celebrating religion. Both of their families had various holiday parties- Basyl’s mother loved having all of her many children and their partners over for a large dinner and gift exchange. Nataniel’s parents usually hosted celebrations for his mother’s company, of which she wanted her insular family present. But Nataniel and Basyl very seldom did anything for themselves. He was fine with that, happy for it, even, as this morning had reminded him how much work all of this really amounted to.
Except his fiance had expressed that it sometimes didn’t really feel like Christmas time to him… Basyl’s work was generally sad and stressful, and for whatever reason (or not ‘whatever reason:’ it was definitely nonsense Destiny City magic outcroppings during the holidays), it was always worse this time of year.
He deserved something to make him feel lighter… That was what the season was about.
And if it wasn’t going to be Nataniel that did it for him, who would? This was his lover, his husband-to-be. It was Nataniel’s duty to make him happy, no matter how much of an inconvenience (and it genuinely was a terrible inconvenience, involving more planning, shopping, and hiding than he’d actually expected).
The reward was perhaps worth the struggle, though, as Basyl’s arms slung around his neck and drew Nataniel to his lips, and even if everything had seemed normal earlier, Nataniel felt certain that there was some sort of… relief? From Basyl, that he didn’t really understand.
But that was good, probably?
Nataniel descended the last few steps down into the living room. He hadn’t made breakfast (with what time?) but he had purchased some cinnamony pastries that he thought might go well with Basyl’s coffee. They were warmed and waiting on a silvery dish atop the coffee table, looking very much as part of the decorations as anything else.
He sat Basyl on the sofa and collapsed practically on top of him before reaching to the table to drag the dish nearer for easier access. He dragged a knit blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around them, settling his chin on Basyl’s shoulder.
“It was actually quite tiring,” Nataniel admitted quietly. “Just as much so as a jog.”
But it was pretty. It did feel warmer in their home because of it.
Posted: Tue May 27, 2025 1:38 pm
Indigo_Plateau
He was careful to balance his coffee mug so as to not cause any spills as Nataniel sat him down on the couch and immediately lounged across Basyl’s lap.
He couldn’t suppress a short, rough chuckle, but Basyl did manage to not comment on how Nat wouldn’t be tired if they had done what most people did and decorated earlier in the month. Then they could’ve enjoyed the scene for longer… And not have to take it down so quickly. That if he was going to stay, they might have slept in together for once. Basyl would’ve been extra attentive to make it worth his while… But he didn’t need to say it. Basyl was happy with the outcome- surprised, relieved, and he wouldn’t trade it away just for more time with the decorations.
And Nat must’ve known that, because when Basyl looked down at him as he pet his free hand through Nat’s grassy-colored locks, his fiance did manage to look quite pleased with himself, despite what most people would call a ‘neutral’ expression.
“You w-wanted me to be disappointed earlier, d-didn’t you?” Basyl accused lightly, gaze warm and affectionate and tone soft and teasing. “I wanted you to come back so badly- so badly, just get b-back in the bed. Worse than usual,” he admitted. “I’m glad you didn’t. I can’t believe you did all this by yourself. We had n-nothing when we went to bed last night.”
His head tipped to rest against the back of the couch
“It’s even snowing…” Basyl murmured, watching as silvery flakes drifted down in little glints just outside the window. The darkness of the early morning hid the depth of what waited outside, but from the candle light within the house, the glittering snowfall almost made it feel like they were in a snowglobe… nothing beyond their living room. Just the two of them, enjoying their solitude.
Nataniel shifted just barely, rolling slightly to his back and resting his head on Basyl’s thighs. “I do not ever wish for your disappointment,” he replied. “However… It does bring me a certain pleasure to have subverted your expectations.” Undoubtedly, the expectation was that, despite the holiday, nothing would be out of the norm. They would exchange small gifts, per the Anglicanized tradition, but otherwise go about their day as if it was not special at all, because it wasn’t special. Athis holiday meant nothing to them.
…But it meant something to Nat to make his love happy. And it obviously meant something to Basyl to specifically wish to not be left alone this morning, which-
Made sense, actually. The holiday itself was irrelevant, but it was a day in which neither of them had ever been left alone. Their families celebrated, and it should come as no surprise that Basyl- …that either of them would miss the togetherness the time of year afforded. Nataniel leaned up, touching his lips lightly to the underside of Basyl’s jaw.
“If it will ease your concerns, I promise I will not leave you to yourself on any major holiday if it can be helped. I will wake up next to you, hold you all morning, prepare you breakfast, shower you with all the affection you could possibly want…” The words were spoken softly, accompanied by palms roaming up the sides of Basyl’s thigh to his hips, his waist, smoothing over his chest.
Posted: Tue May 27, 2025 1:42 pm
Indigo_Plateau
Basyl’s heart thrummed with anticipation, spooling heat down the length of his body.
He might’ve complained that it was too early to be awake, even with all the sweet surprises. Buuuut there was really no reason they couldn’t go back to bed. Or get cozy right here on the couch. It was frosty and dark outside, but warm and pleasant and glowing with a comforting light right here. Here- here was good.
He leaned into Nat’s touches, tipping down to catch at his lips and whisper against his skin. “It almost sounds like you’re making vows.”
Well, that was all a vow was, wasn’t it? A promise. And Nataniel had already expressed his intentions to dedicate himself to Basyl for the rest of their lives. …This life, and any other. Why, then, would it be such a surprise to specify a particular arrangement for one day of the year, when they would (theoretically) be together for many, many more?
Nataniel cupped his cheek, craning up to keep them close. “Consider it practice, then, mera pyaar.”
