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 Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 6:00 pm
Warm, golden light lit up a few of the windows, so Lovely knew Ilian was home.
He entered the house in a bad mood, bristling from a night with his mother and older brothers. Both of them, this time. He would never understand what compelled Claude to show his face after all these years, but he suspected it was some sort of ******** up power move, like Claude wanted to prove he could still make Lovely feel small.
Lovely scowled and let the door shut heavily behind him, locking up before tossing his keys onto one of the decorative tables in the foyer. Quickly, he made his way up the stairs where the most lights were on, tripping once in his haste and cursing loudly. He knew something had happened, just as he knew Ilian would have gone to investigate.
By the time Lovely could slip away, whatever it was had been over; the sirens made that obvious enough.
Hurrying into their bedroom, Lovely found Ilian in the ensuite with the contents of a med kit spread out over the counter.
“What the ******** happened to your face?!”
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Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 7:10 pm
Ilian was hoping he’d be able to at least bandage his face and hands before Lovely got home, but he was barely able to get the first aid kit open and supplies out when Lovely burst into their bedroom.
“Hey, how was dinner?” he asked, because keeping Lovely from freaking out seemed like a good idea. “Sorry, I sent you a message, but I figured you wouldn’t be able to reasonably get away. I’m okay, just got burned by this stupid monster we had to fight.”
That was reasonable, right? Just like it was reasonable that he was having a more difficult time than he would like trying to find the right ointment to use on his hands and face. The blisters were painful, but not completely unbearable. He’d had worse.
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Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 7:23 pm
Lovely figured he should be happy there was no blood. He looked, swept his gaze from top to bottom and scrutinized every inch he could see, but other than some singed flesh and blistering, Ilian appeared to be in one piece.
After a deep breath in, followed by a slow exhale, Lovely set as much of his annoyance aside as possible. Annoyance wasn’t the crux of the issue anyway. He was frustrated, and upset, and worried — a combination that tended to make him seem irritated even when he wasn’t.
“Dinner was s**t,” he said, stepping further into the bathroom. It was more spacious than the one they used to crowd into back at their apartment. “Dinner’s always s**t, except this time was worse because I couldn’t get away. Mom wanted to see the ******** fireworks, and then when I felt whatever the ******** that was—… what sort of monster was it? I wasn’t even powered up and I could tell there was something out there.”
It made him antsy, put him on edge. He knew Ilian would go, because Ilian always went when he could get away with it, and despite Lovely’s best efforts, he hadn’t been able to leave.
“Let me see your hands,” he demanded, discarding his teal suit jacket and rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, before rifling through their supplies until he found what they needed.
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Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 8:06 pm
He braced himself, expecting Lovely to be angry or upset or explode at him for getting hurt. Ilian hadn’t intended on getting hurt. He never did. But he knew that Lovely also worried about him because he did tend to run into things without always thinking it through. This time he had been very careful, but it still wasn’t enough to get away unscathed. At least the city was in one piece.
“Some giant lizard monster. No idea where it came from,” he frowned, but held out his hands as Lovely demanded. He wasn’t about to argue, especially when he wasn’t being yelled at. Yet.
“Wasn’t a youma. Didn’t seem to belong to the White Moon because they were fighting the damn thing too. It kept leaking out this white… energy or… I don’t know what it was. But it burned on contact. I had to get in close enough to put my weapon into one of the cracks in its body. I didn’t want it to get to the city and wreak havoc.” Because that would have been an even bigger mess to deal with.
“Thanks, Love. I tried doing my hands first, but I can’t wrap them very well,” Ilian admitted with a small sigh. “I’m sorry your dinner was s**t.”
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Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 8:21 pm
Lovely listened while he tended to Ilian’s hands.
Their hands were crucial pieces of them both. Ilian’s hands were his livelihood. In a way, their hands were what brought them together in the first place, all those years ago at recitals and competitions. Lovely had a sketchbook stashed away in the drawer beside his bed, full of sketches he’d done of Ilian’s hands.
Maybe that was creepy. Lovely didn’t usually care, but he’d had a stressful night.
Not as stressful as Ilian, he reminded himself. Or perhaps just as stressful, merely in different ways.
“It’s fine,” Lovely mumbled.
There was nothing either of them could do about dinner. It was going to be s**t no matter what.
He continued to work, gently washing the wounds before applying ointment and bandages, ignoring the way his thoughts always stalled out every time Ilian called him Love.
It was better than the Lovey Dove his mother used, at least, even if it alluded to feelings he and Ilian didn’t usually talk about.
“Who else showed up?” he asked, moving on to Ilian’s face. Lovely dabbed at the singed skin with a damp cloth, avoiding eye contact for the time being. He was in a strange mood after dinner. It would have been easier if he could continue to be angry. “White Moon bitches. I assume some of ours. I’m sure it was a chaotic mess, as always. I would have been there, but... Mom decided she had to see the ******** fireworks, and then—...”
Then Claude was a d**k and wouldn't let him leave.
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Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:06 pm
He did his best to hold still as Lovely worked on his hands. It was definitely a lot easier for Lovely to do it than trying to figure out how to wrap them, himself. And Lovely was being much more gentle with his hands than he would have expected from him, since he was clearly not in the best mood.
“Faustite… Benitoite… Ganymede was there, but she stayed on her side of things and I stayed on mine,” Ilian listed as he tried not to wince at the pain from Lovely cleaning the blistered skin on his face. “Sorry, I really tried not to get hurt. It started bleeding or leaking or… whatever it was. Getting close to hit it meant probably getting drenched,” he tried to explain, but knew there was a chance that Lovely was just going to be angry or upset no matter what.
But Ilian didn’t miss how Lovely stopped mid-sentence when talking about his dinner experience. He frowned and waited for Lovely to continue, and when he didn’t he asked, “And then…?”
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Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:55 am
Lovely huffed. It wasn’t worth it to complain about Ilian putting himself in danger. They’d had that conversation enough times by now that he was beginning to grow tired of it. Ilian wanted to be a dependable General, someone their underlings could look up to, someone their overlords could rely on, and that meant occasionally putting himself in danger, particularly when the fate of the city was at stake.
He didn’t have to like it, but Lovely could accept it, after a fashion.
At least Ilian wasn’t as reckless about it anymore. He still jumped in, but there was some thought behind it now, some manner of strategy.
Jolting out of his thoughts, Lovely met Ilian’s eyes briefly, then glanced away to exchange the damp cloth for the ointment.
“Claude was there,” he said, smearing the ointment onto Ilian’s facial wounds with delicate fingers.
Lovely almost left it at that. Ilian should know by that comment alone that dinner had gone poorly — more so than usual — given what happened the last time they’d been face to face with his oldest brother. Lovely didn’t really want to talk about it, but he didn’t want to not talk about it either, so he rambled a bit.
“He’s still an a**, in case you were wondering. Didn’t bother to apologize, just sat there staring at me like he’d slap me again if he could get away with it. He wouldn’t let me leave, kept acting like I was selfish and ungrateful and inconsiderate.”
Maybe he was those things, to a degree. Considering the family he came from, he didn’t think it was much of a surprise.
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Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:52 pm
Ilian made a pained expression, although it wasn’t clear if it was because of the pain from the burn or because Claude was mentioned. He remembered that a*****e, and he had hoped Lovely would never have to see him again. That did not seem to be the case.
“Why was he even there? Doesn’t he have more important things to do? You should let me go with you next time. I would love to tell him off. Especially in public,” Ilian grumbled, thinking that Claude deserved a lot worse than trying to bait him into a fight in a restaurant. It would be hilarious and well deserved if he ended up in jail because of it, though.
“You should have just left. I know you were trying to be nice to your family, but they don’t owe you anything. I hope they don’t know our new address,” Ilian groaned, although he supposed it wouldn’t be impossible to look up if they really wanted to find out.
“Thank god we have security cameras around the house. I’m going to call the cops as soon as Claude shows up this time.”
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Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:10 pm
“He won’t show up,” Lovely countered. “I’m not sixteen anymore.”
Even when he was, Claude gave up fast. One failed attempt to persuade Lovely to return home, and he cut Lovely off as if he didn’t even matter.
Maybe he never had. Claude was significantly older, an adult already by the time Lovely was born. He was never cruel when Lovely was growing up, but always distant, focused on school or work or whatever life he led on his own. Claude was a difficult person to miss, because he was barely around long enough for Lovely to grow attached.
Still, he’d thought, mistakenly, that he mattered to Claude on some level, that Claude came after him five years ago for a reason.
“He just wanted to feel like he was in control,” Lovely said. “And Mom probably begged him to come along, probably thought she could bring the family together again.”
Joke’s on her, they were never much of a family to begin with.
Lovely laughed bitterly. He applied a few bandages to Ilian’s face where the blistering was at its worst, but there was still some discolored skin left exposed. Lovely touched a patch near Ilian’s eye, then pressed the tip of one finger against the dark freckle there.
“I’m not subjecting you to my ******** family,” he argued. The thought made him frown severely. “I don’t need them anyway. I just need—…”
You, he would say, if he could make himself choke the word out.
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Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:22 pm
Although he was quiet while Lovely spoke and voiced his frustrations, Ilian never took his eyes off of him. He held still, wanting to make tending to his injuries as easy as possible for him, especially since he wasn’t getting yelled at for his recklessness, for the moment. But there was something in Lovely’s voice. Something that he recognized, but couldn’t quite explain.
He wanted to complain about Lovely’s family, too. How it wasn’t fair that Claude would try to do anything to upset him, especially after the last time. They were both older now, and better off, and Generals in the Negaverse. Not that Ilian would try to hurt Lovely’s brother, but maybe a little scare wouldn’t be horrible.
Ilian didn’t need Lovely to finish his sentence. Even though Lovely had never said it, probably would never say it, Ilian knew. Which was why he reached up to gently take hold of Lovely’s hand before leaning close to kiss him.
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Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:59 pm
Lovely didn’t know how to explain his own mood, but he didn’t like it. He wanted to be angry, furious that he’d been held up instead of joining Ilian in battle, outraged that Claude kept him away with his controlling bullshit, irate that there was a ******** monster to deal with in the first place. Couldn’t this ******** city have one normal night?
At most, he felt tired. His family was a mess. His partner was too devoted to the Negaverse for his own good. They were both Generals at twenty-two, barely adults but muddling through because they had to. Destiny City was a shithole.
When Ilian kissed him, Lovely sighed through his nose and kissed him back. His fingers continued to play over Ilian’s face, hand settling along Ilian’s jaw. Lovely was too out of it to deepen the kiss, to put his usual energy and passion into it, so he let it be soft and simple.
It was alright that way, sometimes, when he wanted comfort instead of a fight.
Eventually, Lovely broke the kiss to inspect Ilian’s face, checking him for any further signs of damage. Satisfied that there was none, Lovely said, quietly, “Sorry I wasn’t there.”
As much as he could hate that part of their lives, he never wanted to miss an opportunity to protect the one good thing he had left — maybe the only good thing he’d ever had.
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Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:16 pm
There were a lot of things that people would say made Lovely a horrible person. He was selfish and arrogant. He was quick to anger and held grudges. He would absolutely stab someone in the back if it benefited him.
But he was also loyal and Ilian could always rely on him. He was protective, too. Almost obnoxiously so, but Ilian had gotten used to it. Besides, who else would have broken into his apartment looking for him when he went missing, years ago? When the White Moon had taken him prisoner. He didn’t have any family. Jericho had his own family, and Lovely he’d never expected would care.
Ilian had been wrong. Lovely did care. Deeply. More than Ilian thought he deserved. Lovely had thrown everything he knew of his life away and decided to live with Ilian instead. He could have gone back to his family at any time, but stuck it out through the freezing winter months and scorching summers because their heating and cooling both sucked and was expensive. He tolerated Ilian’s quirks, and encouraged him to follow his passion of playing the piano and composing music. And he defended him with his life as Aquamarine.
When the kiss broke, Ilian held still so that Lovely could finish his inspection.
“It’s okay. You were dealing with your own monster,” he commented, obviously referring to Claude.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:31 am
Lovely snorted; what issues he had with his family could hardly compare, but it didn’t seem worth it to argue.
He kissed Ilian again — as softly as before — then pulled away. Their hands brushed briefly as he did so, like he might twine their fingers together. Lovely thought about it, just for a second. He wrapped his hand around Ilian’s index finger, but let go seconds later, turning his attention to his own clothing.
“You’re not heading out tonight, are you?” he changed the subject, tugging his stupid tie loose so he could remove it and toss it aside where he could forget about it for a while. “I assume there are reports to write about some giant lizard monster hellbent on destroying the city.”
On a normal night, he might not argue against it. Not anymore, the way he used to when he wished the Negaverse took up less of their time.
He still wished that, sometimes, but he’d accepted Ilian’s commitment to it. Lovely could make some concessions, for Ilian’s sake.
“Can you put it off until tomorrow?” he asked. “I’m tired.”
Not that Ilian couldn’t go to the office while Lovely slept. Lovely could even go with him; they had a bed there for emergencies.
But after tonight, he was in the mood for a cuddle, and Negaspace never seemed like the place for that.
Naturally, Lovely couldn’t say that out loud. I’m tired would have to suffice.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 3:12 pm
There were a lot of things that Ilian knew Lovely would never say. He didn’t need Lovely to say them. He could tell with the way he behaved, the gestures he made, the way he held onto his patience, even when even just a few years ago Ilian would have been yelled at for diving head first into danger.
He didn’t move as Lovely touched his hand, or when he kissed him again. Instead, he just watched him, letting Lovely work out what he was thinking on his own.
“I can put it off,” he agreed after a moment, if only to let Lovely simmer with anticipation. Not that Ilian didn’t usually listen to Lovely. Usually. He tried to, at least. Usually.
“Faustite wants to talk to me later. Not sure when. Not sure what for, unless it’s about having to cover for Benitoite again. He might have been too far away to hear Faustite, though. Distracted by the Princess again. Not sure,” Ilian shrugged and lifted his hand to touch the bandage on his face and turned to the mirror to inspect Lovely’s handiwork.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:28 pm
“Faustite?” Lovely said, because he knew the name but not the General attached to it, and he wasn’t sure he cared.
He left the ensuite to dig around for his pajamas in the bedroom, dropping pieces of clothing on the way. His shoes ended up by a dresser. He threw his shirt onto an armchair. His pants and socks made a small pile near his side of the bed, where Lovely found his pajamas tangled up with the unmade bedding. He pulled on a pair of gray sweatpants and a faded t-shirt that might have belonged to Ilian at some point.
“You getting friendly with Faustite now?” he asked, retracing his path through the room, picking up his discarded clothing to toss in with the rest of the dirty laundry.
“Don’t know why he’d want to talk to you about Ben,” Lovely said, grabbing his jacket and tie from the bathroom; they followed the rest, thrown haphazardly on top of the pile. “Not like you can do anything about it.”
They all lacked the authority. Even if they had the means, Lovely wasn’t convinced it was worth the worry.
“Let the Princess distract him. Let them distract each other. She’ll kill him, or he’ll kill her. Either way, it’s a win for the Negaverse. We’re all replaceable, including him.”
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