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 Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 8:55 am
It had grown easier the more he did it — at first, he was reluctant to go to anyone to find succor. Sleeping with boys was supposed to be an empty affair, no expectations, no tears if either one of them died. Perhaps it was inevitable that none of his dalliances turned out that way.
It started with Taenite. Easy enough to go to that boy, expect nothing but some fun. And it was, for a time, then Faustite learned that Taenite didn’t mind him. Wanted him to live, for the way that boy broke into his boss’s office and stole a bone that could resemble him. Faustite found that he was fond of that boy. Didn’t mind his little teases and quirks when he learned to read them. Looked forward to the deal they’d made afterwards, as Taenite’s remuneration. They’d been with each other since.
Then there was Kamacite, who he both coveted and feared knowing for years. He wanted to know him in a different manner, but knew better than to express interest in anyone as long as Schörl owned him. It had been years since, and only recently did Faustite find the courage and freedom to explore those feelings. Even now, he was tentative around that shining boy, for all his shyness. He knew he didn’t trust himself, but that trust came to him slowly, in a stepwise fashion.
Then there was Albite, a fearsome idiot of a boy with no sense of self preservation. He had the hots for that one, stupidity aside, and thought his brazenness endearing in its own self-destructive way. To demand a youma General take him on as a subordinate — back then, it irked him, but now he could nearly get a chuckle out of it. The voice turned out well for both of them.
Now there were others he had the pleasure of getting to know. Alkmene, Celadonite, perhaps Cryolite. Each of them were unique to him, just as his fondness was unique to each of them.
Lately he leaned on Albite more, as both the most tenured member of the team and as a confidant. Strange that Albite seemed to understand him perfectly without Faustite saying much in return. It wasn’t something to object to, however, so he kept coming over.
This time, as Eion. They spent their first two hours together raucously, enjoying each other with rapacious intent. Since those hours passed, and they exhausted their energy, the boys headed to the bathroom. Stricken with soreness, Eion welcomed the hot water pooling around him as he sank into the tub. He was the first in, and he slouched down until he could rest his head against the lip of the tub.
And the steam — pleasant thing, being warm.
“You coming?” He asked, hoarse. Coal eyes shifted up to Waru. “You look like hell.” Small smile for that; he was too tired for more.
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 9:16 am
Everything had labels.
Waru avoided them like they were a plague. He preferred things on a simpler level. Phrasing a child would have grasped. That sort of easy to effortless type of understanding.
Anything to cut the corners of complication and soften the sorts of bonds he shared with others. Gentle restraints - like weighted blankets and big enough to swim in chiffon sweaters - because the world was edges, grit, and roughness.
The world was sharp and mean.
Even if he’d had the vocabulary to define it; the very precise ways in which he cared. The value he placed on those he loved. Their ranking within his soul. He hadn’t the urge. There was no need to put something as strong as feelings into words.
Love should’ve come and gone uncomplicated by the shackles of language. Love should’ve been simple - simply given - simply shared - simply severed when the time came. He liked to believe that love should’ve been kind. Always kind. Even when there was pain mixed ruddy in the middle of it. Even if it ached sometimes? As long as it was done with some central kindness in mind…
That was alright.
It made sense in *his* head - so when people asked for definitions?
‘What is this to you? What are they, them, him, her - to you?’
*His*
They could’ve been - Boys, Girls, Friends, Sisters. They were sometimes Brothers too.
The header of ‘His’ fell over them like a title. It carried weight and meaning. It carried the most possessive sort of love he had. Even in dying, even in the middle of the bloodiest fight.
His Boy, His Girl, His Team — Cybele, Eliot, Alexa, Lina, Dee. The list ran on ten miles of names.
And then?
Then there was Faustite. Eion. Elex. A whole new phrasing of *His* with a tonal difference that meant *everything*.
And suddenly, out of nowhere, Waru needed a label.
Needed a newer meaning that was just as simple, but far more definitive than *His*. It was a word almost too simple for the complex tangle of things that made up the boy before him -- of — every ******** feeling he’d ever felt for him.
That singular thought floated away with the steam. He shook it free while he crouched to dip his fingertips into the slough of warmth. Flicked hot droplets Eions way, a little slice of a smile for the comment.
“So I look like an Eternal?” if he was going to be ******** hell then he damned well wanted to look like it. It was worth preening for that remark, enough so that Waru made a show of finding the newest collar teethed round his neck to splay his fingers over.
It was the only collar he’d ever wanted to keep.
“Though, to be fair? You sound like you had a damned good time, Ei.” The light of mirth that slit his eyes said there were innumerable puns he could’ve made, the bait was there in Eions wording, but Waru let it be.
He wasn’t going to make the exhausted boy ask him to come again. Even if hearing him speak rough set warm sparks up his spine.
Instead he took a second to flip open the cupboard under the sink and pull out - Holdovers from Christmas, homemade in reds and greens with golden glitter in them. Something extra to make bath-time fun.
“Check it - bath bombs. I’ve been into home kits.” Waru could in fact turn the ‘caps lock’ of his volume off, and whisper in a way that didn’t disturb the settling peace of another moment. “Now scoot, I wanna soak up another hour with you.”
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 9:18 am
Eion’s face scrunched up for the way water hit him. Thick-lashed eyes looked up at him afterward, head swiveled up, then his eyes rolled for Waru’s tireless sass. Was always his way of expressing a good mood — needling him playfully for whatever response he could dredge up out of the youth.
Eion cleared his throat, though that hadn’t helped. “Got the confidence of one now. You came a long way from when we first met. Could hardly figure your own magic back then.” He didn’t feel it at the time, but those were good days. Suffered for the loss of his squid, but he got a new subordinate out of it. A new lover, too.
He supposed most of his team came that way. What a strange turn of luck to balance all the times he should’ve died.
“Mm.” Couldn’t argue that — it was a marvelous time that he’d remember each time he moved. Was a different kind of soreness than his ribs or his wrist, with which he couldn’t do much, but this soreness softened the pain of past fights.
Eion settled further down in the tub until his nose was below water and his hair fanned out like seaweed. His attention still followed Waru, waiting, though his brows rose at the mention of bath bombs. He hadn’t used one before; always wanted to try for how his high school friends had talked about them. But that was so long ago. They almost sounded childish now.
Which meant they suited Waru perfectly.
Sighed into the water, blowing bubbles as he did so. Then Eion sat up, shuffled over in the soothingly hot water, and made room for his boy to join him. With whatever glittery disaster he put together lately.
If he came out of this covered in body glitter…
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 9:19 am
He couldn’t have done any of it without Eion, without his team. Especially without Faustite though - all the brickwork of failure he saw laid out and stacked miles high, for if he’d been under anyone else.
If he’d picked anyone else besides ‘him’.
“I’m glad you think so.” Warm for all the ways he wanted to say ‘thank you’, a second time, with a third round. Maybe if he helped bring in endless swathes of people to fill the void, or his boys bed? If he left Faustite medals at his doorstep. All the ways Waru did exactly what he wanted, because Eion understood him enough without saying a single word - *let him do it* - while trusting he’d come to heel at the end of the day.
“Holy-hot” Waru hisst as he stepped in, felt the heat more profoundly once the water went past the knee; where he slid to bracket Eion with his body. Trying not to budge him overmuch. There was something to be said for how it soothed - once he got over the sting of submerging himself up to his shoulder-blades.
Something about the way bruises and worried skin felt under all encompassing heat. He wanted Ren's luxury pool back suddenly, all those rich boy amenities - no - a whole jacuzzi set deep into a stone floor with padded steps. Something that steamed like a cauldron, with jet sprays, something for his lower back.
“Here — well put 'em both in at the same time. It’ll be cool.” spoken over a sigh, he quirked a brow at the pair of eyes and hair that floated just above the water; watched it lap the edge and spill, slow-drip onto blue tiled floors. Eion looked lovely in every way, that was a given. There was something about seeing him water though - watching him calm and quiet for ten whole seconds that just..
It was like a vision of the boy that could’ve been. Soft, ethereal, content.
It made him wish he was human. If only so he could have all the pleasures he desired without having to pick or choose for times sake. He couldn’t give him back his humanity, lamented that, and Waru decided he’d make up for it in other ways.
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 9:41 am
Eion surfaced out of the water, drew a breath into weary lungs. The pressure felt strange; he couldn’t remember how long ago it had been since he swam. He half-turned, looked back at Waru inquisitively, brows arched in one part amusement and one part concern. Suspected that he couldn’t discount the possibility that one was full of waterproof matches and the other full of gasoline.
But he looked terribly cute, sitting there, spilling water all over the floor. Complaining about the heat. That coaxed a smile out of the coal-eyed one, and he turned away once he felt it.
“Fine.” Eion scooted closer to his boy, setting water sloshing about again as he moved. Once he was close enough, he turned, minded the careful arrangement of two bodies in a cramped space, and found room enough to lean against Waru’s chest. “See how it goes.”
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 9:00 pm
“It’ll be fun. Watch.” a sighed whisper that rose with the steam, equally soft and damp as the air around them. The awe he held, took in on a breath and kept it there, with the smile that he nuzzled near Eions ear. Waru made himself a sort of restful cocoon round his boy, a huddle of overeager bruises and bracketing muscle.
Because he wanted to see — to be careful — while he ever so gingerly eased the pair of spheres into the water, and barely smothered a snort of laughter as they burst into fizzing foam and food coloring the second they touched the surface and broke its tension.
There was indeed body glitter, the makeup grade kind; a gush of shimmering golds and silvers mixed thoroughly into each mostly round sphere. The adding of it was an absolute necessity when creating homemade bath bombs with citric-acid and zinc and bicarbonate soda clumps. Always the recipes demanded favored soaps or essential oils - something for color and scent, for cleanliness, maybe? Waru had settled on evergreen pines and peppermints, because who didn’t want to bathe in a literal candy cane forest dyed the colors of Christmas?
“Smells good, doesn’t it?”
There was something so soothing about it, for him, watching the thing he’d made dissolve slowly over time. There were monks who did those things - highlighted impermanence with intricate sand paintings that they destroyed after, with their own hands.
That was this - and also an excuse for him to be childish while having all the reasons in the world to keep Eion close. Liked his scent as much as the bath bombs, and like this? He got to indulge in the whole of it, guilt free affection and Eion being ever so easy.
His.
To have and to hold. As long as he’d have him.
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 4:09 am
He drew a breath, startled back against his boy — less a fear response than trained wariness. He expected an explosion once they touched the water, thought that was the purpose of calling something a bomb. Instead, they bobbed up and about in the water, fizzling gently and spreading like a malaise of glitter. And the smell —
He half-turned his head toward Waru. “Did you make these for Ana?” Knew no one else who loved Christmas as much as she did; half his office was full of wreaths, ornaments, cookies, and other fantastic chicanery devoted to the holiday.
Eion frowned, his lashes lowering. Forced himself to exhale. It couldn’t always be this way, he told himself. Lose enough people and every day of the year is spoiled for good. Any day is someone’s death day. Was he going to carry every single one of them, forever? How many memories did he have to bear for all his friends and family who couldn’t carry them anymore?
“They’re nice,” he murmured, as he toed at one. Watched it bounce away from him, still fizzing, still filling the tub with tinsel and garland and the smell of pine and candycanes.
He raised his hand out of the water, reached over his boy for some shampoo and — he paused, attention caught by an errant gold shimmer on his arm, and then stared up at Waru scornfully.
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 10:57 am
“Thank you” softly huffed ‘awe’ broken by the tiny palpitation in his chest that skitter stopped over Eion’s words - little vice-like feeling just around his heart as something pulled taught, squeezed, and then released all at once. It left an ache shaped like Ana.
He missed his Sister that would never be - No, that was a lie. He missed the sister that had adopted him wholeheartedly and with such ease; that was in this moment his sister still. Eternally. He couldn’t pin Lysithea into any other category, couldn’t envision Ana as anything other than his. Theirs. Family.
He hoped wherever she was? She was being treated well – he hoped --- and whoever she’d left them for? Some small part of him wanted them to die slowly. The Knights, at least. All the trouble they’d caused, for nothing - to take an etch-a-sketch and shake it further empty and leave only messy mirages and edgeless lines of one's past self. <******** hell, but Waru was angry for that above all else. Smothered the frown that creased his brow and buried it into the damp of Eion’s hair. A brief nod. Easily swayed into a smirk as Eion pulled away and gave him that *look* - “What can I say firebrand, gold looks good on you.” he couldn’t hide his mirth, it was Christmas spirit n’ cheer, it made his boy glimmer like a god.
Lovely.
“T’be fair though?” and he could reach the bottles for Eion, could hand him a powder-blue loofa, slide the little tin of gel soap like a racecar precariously along the soaked edge of the tub. He took the shampoo for himself though and poured a dollop into his hands; levered an expectant look his boy's way. Auburn gaze that ticked shoulder to hair to twist-tied frown.
He wanted to do this thing in particular. To wash Ei’s hair and create even more excuses to run his fingers through thick curls. Always easier to make excuses than to simply ask.
“I made a whole bunch of different ones. These were just…leftovers? Everything got so busy,” a heaved breath and eyes cast skywards for his inability to do things in anything like a linear manner “I’ve got 'em stashed around, yanno?” He could remember - half in boxes, half out, bundled up in gossamer wrapping like making a birds nest for the most precious of eggs.
“Alkmene’s got tiny barbie heels inside, n Celas got bears…cause…sewing needles woulda gone bad, right? N I don’t know him well enough to fill ‘em with tiny dicks — yet.” He thought, maybe next year, maybe everyone would get tiny knives, or gem hearts, or dicks. Bath bombs for all occasions, as a gag gift, or a friendship set to make matching piercings with? Something.
Sloughed that thought off and rambled ever on. “The girls got special smells, scrubby beads, unicorn head charms for bracelets n s**t?” he remembered that the only one that wasn’t bath or bomb was Haymitches, ever an exception to the rules. He’d get a ball of twine filled with catnip and itty bitty bells.
“Made some for you too - thought you’d like something special. Mmmn, handmade?” twirled a finger slow-semicircle and begged with his eyes for Eion to give him his back - his vulnerability - for just a moment more.
Anything to keep him from thinking about the little ungiven gifts he’d made for everybody. The whole team. One lengthy manic night that became day then night all over again; his kitchen covered in various powders and soapy slimes. Mixtures that’d failed and oozed over until they were finally *just right*.
Making things was hard - making bathbombs?
It was so unlike cooking, only a few ingredients and no room for error, because if he got the wet parts too wet they dissolved instead of solidifying. If he used - too much, too little, and making them felt far more like the kind of chemistry involved with baking.
It wasn’t his strong suit.
*I miss Ana!*
“Leme wash your hair Ei’.”
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 12:47 pm
"Waru…" And he sighed, knowing that nothing he said would dissuade the boy from ******** around with body glitters and bullshit, because Waru was a vain one, and he loved these little tricks, and Eion suspected he knew that Waru looked good in golds, wearing glitter, in that his carefully cultivated body remained so purely aesthetic. Eion envied all of it. Envied his defined abs, his pecs (even if Albite needed a bra), his sturdy biceps, his trapezius muscles with their perfect triangles. Appreciated all of it in the same frame that considered himself awkward, gangly, and often ugly.
He told himself it didn't matter. No one would be looking at him here, save for Waru. His time would end, and Faustite would have no trace of it, because he wore Eion''s skin over top of everything. It had to be so, right?
He took up the luffa. He'd seen them before — in shows, mostly — but he'd never used one. Never thought to try one, since his emancipation had little to do with being ready to live on his own or being willing to make those small independent decisions. Life with Schörl around was worse for that; she ingrained in him a deathly fear, should he migrate from even the type of soap she allowed him to use. By the time she vanished, by the time he came back from the Rift, he'd been too busy to consider something like his shower habits.
So he inspected the netted, frilly little thing first, turned it to and fro, felt it in his hands, squished it, then put his face into it. Undoubtedly, it smelled like Waru's body wash. Or, soap, he learned, when he saw the gel shape. He wondered, then — was he supposed to get the gel on his skin and use the luffa, or get gel onto the luffa and use it on his skin? Was there a wrong way? Was there a right way?
Waru's voice was a distraction from his pensive luffa considerations. He dropped the thing to bob in the water when Waru explained about the bath bombs. It drew his attention back to the chunky thing, which now looked like a misshapen, chunky moon. The water's color thickened and distorted in a way that was frankly weird, and obstructed his clear view of his boy's body.
He thought it cute that Waru made the team these cute little domestic things. Gifts with as much thought as Waru could apply without pulling a brain muscle. Eion had preferred to ignore the holiday as he did every year since his mother passed away, and hadn't troubled himself with gifts. Seems Waru picked up his slack.
"Should've done the sewing needles," Eion fired back as he reclaimed the bobbing luffa. "He'd have figured it out." And Eion would've liked to see Lionel's counterattack. He imagined it'd be marvelous.
He wondered, briefly, if Waru knew his feelings concerning Christmas. Then he decided he couldn't have — Ana hadn't known them either.
"Appreciate the sentiment. Handmade things — always been my favorite." Even bittersweet ones.
He'd been watching Waru become an increasingly anxious dog about Eion and his hair. Watched him beg all sorts of nonverbal signs and cues, all his cute little asks with those honey brown eyes. He could be cute when he wanted to be. Diminutive, despite his size. Soft and charming, even though Metallia decided he needed a bra.
Much as he thought he should play coy, wistfulness dissuaded him. Finally he turned, sending waves out, and showed Waru his lightning-laced back. Over his shoulder, he asked, "This thing — it won't buff off my glamour, right?" He held up the luffa, waiting for an answer.
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 3:03 pm
“Yeah, he’s smart like that isn’t he?” Eion had so much faith in everyone else. Endlessly inspiring, for all his snark ‘n sass, that he saw the best in people. Him, Cela, the whole damn team.
“Nah - you’ll stay fire-free. Promise. Y’just suds it up n scrub all gentle like,” and Waru was stupidly excited for being given Faustites back, for having clear permission to complete the mushily domestic task. There was something endlessly soothing about it, running his knuckles gently up the groove dug round vertebrae. Barely tracing the branchwork of life made pain that lay just beneath his boys skin - beautiful - because it was part of Faustite. Stunning, because he’d survived it all.
Waru didn’t ask, simply admired quietly and started at the nape. Dug his thumbs into hollow notches, nice n slow, before rubbing the shampoo into baby hairs; along the underside of damp heavy swirls of hair and back to the scalp - “loofahs’r great for lathering, exfoliating...” the list of uses ran on in his head, laundry list of benefits that he’d earned from endless friends, the bullshit marketing of a product being for a boy or a girl.
A scrub was a scrub - if it came shaped like a cogwheel or pink as a unicorn? It hardly mattered to the skin.
“Yanno…I realize, I never asked if you liked the decorations, did I?” Intrusive. He was always intrusive with Faustites space, his time, and wondered if he should’ve been bothered by that blip of self-awareness. Shook it off with a sigh as he worked sections of Eions hair to lather neath stroking nail, and pulled at the tiniest of tangles with extra care. He knew Faustite woulda told him if he’d hated it. Wasn’t some passive wallflower about things..
At least..he hoped?
He vowed next year they’d do Christmas right, birthdays, celebrations of all manner — that he’d get Faustites presents to him properly even before then. Soaked in the warmth of that as the slosh of water worked away at the pleasant bits of soreness that lingered in his bones.
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 3:25 pm
He was always after those marks. Eion put himself to task with the luffa, scrubbed it into the tray of gel, scrubbed it onto himself. Felt strange, like dragging sandpaper over his skin. Seemed unnecessary, but he supposed there wasn't any other way to soap up the gel.
It was something likable, he realized. Like scratching an itch, that same type of relief, though he couldn't say why. Could've been Waru's doing, for how he seemed so obsessed with the branched lightning down Eion's back that he had to touch it, find the fried ends of nerves and stir them awake with the touch of knuckles. Must've banished any pain, he figured, for the quiet swells it stirred.
There were always more scars for Waru to find tantalizing. After Encke's magic came Tanais's sword, which left its thin scar beneath his left shoulder blade and out the front. Decorated the top of his left hand with a matching scar, not that it was visible through his wrist brace.
Then there were the mottled, fading bruises left behind by Michel. His swelling had ceased, the grate was repaired to some working order, and his broken wrist had been isolated.
Nothing remained of the explosion. Better that it be forgotten.
Eion hadn't realized he paused in washing his arms. When he had, Waru was chatting up nonsense while he rubbed circles into Eion's scalp, soothed him in a way that he hadn't paid attention to anything else. Found it easy to focus on nothing, to be without the need to account for all details and persons involved.
Waru was so disgustingly good at reading people that he could read half-people, too. Eion would've been incensed if he weren't relaxed enough to want for a nap.
"Mm," he grunted noncommittally, hadn't thought anything of the response until something struck the water and splashed up into his face. The luffa — he'd dropped it without realizing. Eion reclaimed it, a little flushed, and went to work on his shoulders and chest. "Better that you didn't.
"They were bittersweet. Worth more up than down."
Then he drew a breath, weighed it, and added, "Mom passed away around Christmas." Then he sighed for it, for how he remembered it so clean and clear that the memory proved truer than a photograph. Bit back more of a response as he glanced up at the shower bar, endeavored to keep his gaze clear. He returned to scrubbing, wearing bright the pink underneath the luffa.
"She would've liked them."
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 5:11 pm
Ever-glad to have something to do with his hands. Threaded lather higher, into the bangs, then pulled it all back like liquid with little pools of steaming bath to ease the product in - Eion would end up blessed with glitter here too, likely. Would spark with golden highlights in just the right light.
Waru would love the shine.
Found that his fingers stuttered, stilled, a caught breath that resumed after Eions admission; as if he needed a moment before he took up moving again. A drag of thumbs along the space behind the ear, between, and the rest of the suds were just as good for - digging in gently against wire wound tightness under scapula, caught in the pockets between ribs; easier around places freshly marked. Downright gentle with bruises, except he knew heat made them heal faster and massages were good for that s**t.
He wanted the traces of others erased - just as badly as he wanted to admire the marks left behind. No, to honor them, because his boy deserved more than a cold piece of colorful steel to commemorate his losses at the end of the day.
Waru thought of saying he was sorry — of asking if Eion was okay…
“Do you think she would’ve liked me, too? I’m not as good as Christmas, but?” He asked, like he wanted to know her ghost. He thought there was nothing in the world that could’ve replaced a good mother. No apologies to be made, ceaseless ‘sorry for your losses’ just didn’t do; became no better than ‘how was your day’, because people expected you to say ‘fine’ - to be fine - to get over it.
Or keep on some stiff upper lip s**t, n Waru had never approved. People deserved to feel their feelings.
Cause maybe time healed wounds, but the mind wasn’t that kind of an organ. It didn’t like to forget the way the body did. Waru knew that — just like he knew already that he would’ve liked to meet her - Eions family as it had been when whole, alive. Just as badly as he would’ve enjoyed taking Eion *home*….maybe he would? Maybe he should have?
Reached around Eions elbow briefly to flick the little clumps into spinning again and spewing ever more foam, obscuring colors enough to hide under —- watched the peppermint-reds bleed dark orange and had a small ‘oh’ moment for the flicker of fire and a cinnamon-stick core - for a glint of —
Later - after - he had conditioner to deal with and shampoo to rinse - the renewed urge to play cling wrap round his boy. To console him, quietly. A seconds-long mental war that he shrugged off. Never at a loss for options, only ever for the ability to make a decisive choice.
The slowly dissolving clumps of baking soda and soap-glue got left to be played with later. Forgotten again in favor of Eion, a nice bracketed bit of warmth he could hold, right now. Would get as much soap on himself by proxy; soaked in dangling dreads and smeared bright along his cheek, his chest. Just so he could press over Eion a bit like a drapery, and trace the glowing pink of his limbs - make light little lines of design in every fresh new caress of suds that formed.
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 5:26 pm
Eion chuckled something short and stunted. "No," he answered easily. "She would've hated you. Mom was a classist b***h."
Imagining it was something worthwhile – returning to his oversized home, his boy in tow, expecting to have him over for dinner. His aunt would've cooked something decadent, maybe spiral ham with candied yams, or an almond-encrusted cobb salad, or one of those Parisian dumpling dishes that she often made and seldom talked about. The house would smell of cinnamon, vanilla, and whatever dessert was being prepared. His aunt liked him well enough; she had a habit of spoiling him with tiramisu or turkish delight.
His mother would be home, of course. She had to judge his company. She'd be waiting in the sitting room, wearing one of her long dresses with a mermaid taper and some burst of bejeweled tulle along the hem. She kept in shape and liked to show it.
So Eion and Waru would wind their way about the house to the sitting room, and find her relaxed at an angle in one of their oversized leather chairs, wearing one of her very practiced smiles. She would spot Waru, see what he was wearing or hear him speak or watch how he behaved with Eion, and the smile would wilt off her face.
Would've been quite worth it, he thought.
"Mostly feel guilty. Like I had something to do with it." Shook his head, sucked a breath through his teeth. Nothing for it, he told himself. Raised a leg up out of the water, ready to start on it, and saw it covered in the same gold glitter as the rest of him. Like he was a model for a ******** craft-store-themed rave party. He took up scrubbing again, though he gentled for the way that Waru navigated his body so tenderly. Found it difficult to keep focused on washing himself off.
He lacked that sort of tenderness with people. Envied how Waru could dispense all that care and etiquette so easily, so consistently. Maybe if he'd stayed human –
Reminded himself to keep these terrible little memories to himself, that they spoiled the mood, soiled the enjoyment for the moment. "Sorry. Shouldn't have brought it up."
Switching legs, he added, "Did you enjoy it? Christmas." Waru seemed to enjoy anything involving many humans, food, and celebration of some kind. Thus, Eion suspected that the answer was yes, and that it might prompt him to speak on happier memories than the ones Eion had.
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 5:47 pm
That? Got a laugh, an honest to goodness guttural thing, unintentional, but real - for all that he tried to smother it into the wet slide of Eion’s shoulder; pressed a sudsy kiss against it around a messy grin that tasted like rosehips n pine - n soap, also soap. “Phleh…ugh..Ohshit, no - Ei’ that’s fine! You’re fine, yeah? I woulda loved being the ‘bad boy’, crashing people's parties like - uhm - bad taste? I dunno, cheap wine? I never learned the comparable phrasing for it.” dragged his fingers, warm handfuls of water laced with glitter and dissolving food coloring, up over carpals, ulna, elbow. He stroked the skin and muscles warm, trailed rough hands softened by the glide of it all up. Until he could press his fingers under Eions chin and tip his head up and back enough that he could lace the water through it slowly, cupped handfuls of heated pools to work the lather out; from the bangs, to ends.
Could curl the tips around his fingers and sigh for the sight. Small joys for that, for having Eion easily handled, and with him.
“M’sorry, though….” shook his head and hoped they’d make it better? Lessen the guilt? Waru wasn’t going to poke and prod something that still seemed so messily raw. Droned on instead “The holidays went okay, it’s not even Chrismtas itself that matters, yanno? Cause it was like a whirlwind that lasted the whole damn week...the month...longer? I barely remember half of it. I got calls with my mom, n my sisters. Miracle has gotten so big! N ma’ma, she’s older now, yanno? Or - it feels like she is? It’s weird seeing gray in her hair, even if it’s only a little bit. I think it’s the stress of having young kids, though.” the smile stretched his face, barely seen, and Waru went on, about how he’d drunken Cyrus neath a tree on eggnog from hell alone, woke up like a present and laughed at the absurdity of it.
He’d given Lina time, because that was the only present she ever wanted, even if it was just a night of watching old Christmas shows and bitching about carolers. He’d hung with Hina and Haru, played games, ******** Aramis on his new - old - *new enough* couch, picked his extensions outta it the next day, an acrylic nail or two. If he spoke about Lysi - soft - but Eion deserved to know they’d baked the whole decoration plot over shotguns and sugar cookies, because he was an easily panicked fool.
Alexa – oh – alexa and ice skates and warm kisses and doing nothing more than holding hands, drinking cacao and confessing that they liked each other shamelessly around blush laced giggles and bullshit snowflake sneezes.
“I drowned myself in people…cause otherwise, I think I woulda been alone? All my stuff is just, wherever everyone else is sometimes..Oh, n of course making these! I did that too - the bath bombs were supposed to be important? I just…” a humm, forgetful, ten-thousand directions and then he forgot the one that mattered the most. He wanted do-overs - even as he reached for a conditioner that smelled like shea and marula honey.
“The one thing I missed was you. I’mma make up for that though..I’ve been thinking, like, specifically on ways to do that.”
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