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Now, finally, Albite was ready to listen--

Crisis averted, everyone who needed to be alive was currently alive, breathing, flame wreathed in lava-limned crowns n anointed as King and Sovereign by Laurels herself. Things were going fine---there'd been some hiccoughs, some heists, another princess on the rise and the mildest bits of interpersonal dramas that played out the usual way when dealing with so many numbers.

When dealing with so much change---

All ******** sorts of change, and it was something to get used to, wasn't it? New additions to new ranks to new offices, new rings to add to new fingers.

Albite had held off taking acceptance, taking responsibility, nervously, anxiously. He let time drag on and let the dust settle around them and let everyone's tempers settle around the settling of that; at least until he could find it in himself to summon Taenite properly. To extend the offer of meeting him in his own office this time; nowhere near as polished and star-striking as Taenites, but Albite wanted to be on even keel for this. To feel somewhat whole when even swallowing felt like a challenge..

*It'd been such a ******** surprise before!*

Would Taenite still even be interested now?

He waited, tilted on his heels n let his hair drag till he could seat himself atop stark black stone shaped roughly into a moon, re-righted since it's last fateful meeting with boot-heel and wall. Tugged on the magic that felt like Taenite's rich silver hair and firey swaths -- and waited---

Albite, for just a moment, looked like someone had hit him upside the head with the broadside of a frozen tuna -- before he was slapping his hands over his own face, burying it, dusky red, between a splay of fingers. As if that would stop his mouth from gaping wider than said tuna he'd been smacked with---as if that would hide his shock---the absolute utter embarrassment of it all.

Taenite was a Super----

"I'm so ******** sorry!" squawked before his hands were flying away from his face, and no, looking at Taenite full on did not do anything to quash the roil of ******** skipping around his insides, "******** completely forgot," the words a shocked, tangled snarl of surprise. He knew exactly how it was he'd forgotten too! Taenite, for all the world, seemed not at ******** all like a Super. Not to Waru. The silver haired devil hadn't seemed like a basic even when he'd been a basic! Albite had the same problems with Jada, with Borax, with Lilith--with anyone who seemed like they should've been in charge and there was his deep seated need to treat them like they already ******** were!

BUT STILL!? None of that was an excuse for the fact that he'd for gotten something like this! No mater how honest a mistake, because he had honestly forgotten, he had, he really, really ******** had--had stood on the other side of summoning the man and expected to feel that same-song reply as when he'd dealt with Faustite, or Fulgurite, ooorrrr---

"Tae? How the ******** are you not an Eternal already?! How am I an Eternal before you!!!? No-no-no-wait-I'm sorry, again! I don't mean that like that--I just---" he couldn't actually look at him anymore. Nope, no, now he had to walk away, not far away! Just enough to pace and stare mortified into the floor that wouldn't give an inch beneath his heels. Because Taenite was cool the same way Jada was cool--and these kinda ********? The way they flustered him so, and honestly? How could he forget something so vital!!?

"Can we--we're starting over--this whole thing! M'starting this over because I wasn't tryna gank you through time'n space like an a** just so I could ask you to propose to me again! That--that was not how this was supposed to go, <********>" exasperated as he circled his own desk three times before smoothing himself out, the tangle of his locks and the jangle of his sashes, and maybe if he did it enough times he'd feel less ruffled---

Nope, Taenite was still there, hot, sour, pissed, handsome, his---

*His*

That was the feeling that'd stayed, even after all the s**t in the Rift. He knew it meant something different to Taenite, that marriage was different for him that rings were different for him, and Waru needed the visual of that reminder! He wanted to discuss it, but most importantly? Wanted the man crossed and huffing before him to chuck the ring Albite hoped he still had straight at his head, to throw it so hard it made a dent, and then? He wanted Taenite to make him crawl the piece of shiny back to him so the Senshi of Firewhirls could put it on his finger properly.

What is wrong with me?! Why am I like this?!

Waru had heard the question before; asked at him and of him. He'd never had an answer before, he still didn't have one now--but?

"I'm---gonna apologize one more time for being an Eternal disadvantage to you, Tae. Cause, I-uhm--I really do still want that ring.......f'it's still on offer?" his words stalling out with his pacing, stilling up so he could look at Taenite properly again while letting everything else drop. His face an open window and arms slunk uselessly at his sides, hands splayed like an attempt at a shrug he couldn't quite follow through on.

"So you do already think of me as your husband!" Waru grinned, beamed, lit up thousandwatt while all his wild thoughts paused in their ceaseless churning; every word that Taenite had said, he wanted to catch them, was internally sad in some small way for how the vast majority slipped through his poorly sewed sieve of consciousness like silverfish through a net with no bottom.

He couldn't be mad at the man, knew teasing when he heard it, knew that if he was really mad he would've just -- what? Just left? All the things he knew while not ever really knowing *enough* about the silvery bit of fire that'd captured Faustites attention unceasingly from the word 'go'. Likes attracting likes as much as opposites did--

But here wasn't here for Faustite today, no, today he was here for himself. Looking at the semi-irritated bit of shiny that'd wound a ring round his first husbands finger and then come to *him* to offer up a second.

"I--okay, I think I need to make sure I know exactly what's being said about how full my hands currently are, yeah? Cause I'm never quiet about anything important, yanno? But I wasn't exactly loud about me n Sylvite--" a brief hesitation as confusion creased his brow, his mind supplied Nectaris, his heart screamed Alexa, his mouth remembered where he was, somehow, enough to slip into the familiar past. He'd told Faustite about her, of course, and that had been important, because he'd never keep secrets from the man. Not then, not now. Made sure his husband knew of every proposition and one night stand and--

Faustite didn't ask, but Waru liked to tell, endlessly. Liked to make sure he was clear about who he was doing what with, and when, and why. At least for the people who wanted it that way. Some people? Like Em's, made it crystal that 'them time' was 'them time' and they didn't wanna know more or have names on lists or-- nothing like that at all -- n others? Others needed the info. Wanted to know the whole of the span of it rather than keeping everything separated into neat little boxes. Wanted things to just be body, soul, or business *only*. Wanted the physical fun minus the mental toil. Wanted to just be friends of friends -- had singular goals and concise agreements that involved not a flick or lick of connection outside of those moments; ends meeting means.

Waru didn't mind any of that at all--the endlessly fascinating ways a person needed a person--the ways he could fill that need as needed.

"I wasn't completely silent either, I'll admit that. The ending was loud, messy, outtah control. It had to happen though, didn't it? I needed *that* in order for it to click in my head that there was no getting her back...." and ******** did he hate endings, finales, closing times. Scuffed his feet over stone and blew out a breath, the ceiling was interesting again, dangerously so, but he made himself look back to Taenite's eyes -- wanted to wince for what he found there.

"If what you're really worried about is your reputation, Tae? Then you've a funny way of showing it---all tied up to our favorite bonfire of a King---propositioning me? You sure it's just your own image you're worried about? Couldn't be that you care---could it? That you're worried, and not just about alluv my bullshit, but about me personally?" and his slowly drawled words followed his steady stride, as he finally swallowed the bit of nervous that fluttered between his stomach and throat and approached Ren properly. He thought the man was sweet as hell-fire n cotton-candy-floss. For all that he wanted to know more about what sorta rumors were flitting around about his downtime activities n team-based antics, he wanted even more to know about *this*-- Taenites thoughts, Taenites feelings, that the man was smart enough to have always known well n true what *his* nature was. Called them all liabilities save a few, save himself. Even though Waru didn't do hell-all to hide who he was---the exact sort of loyal bred with honest bred with fool that he was.

"All the bullshit 'I' personally do, and all the ways I'd never expect any of it to reflect back on you--on Faustite---" He knew it'd char off his loves off in excess, would slip off all Tae's silvery, non-stick coating. He got toe to toe with firewhirls and offered a titled, answering grin of his own. All sorts of care melded with the goad of his own pointed answers. "No one'll ever hold you responsible for a man who's so ******** loud about being responsible for himself, Tae-tae....besides?" letting the hiss drawl at the tail end, all thoughtful sounds, and turning cogs. s**t in motion and he couldn'tve looked away from Taenite now if he'd wanted to. He loved the other mans snarl, the half-grin of warning that anyone with sense would've stepped outta reach of. He didn't want to go anywhere though, instead he wanted to reach out and make a ruin of it. Taenite's perfect hair, his perfect face. To kiss that expression away till he got bitten properly for trying such an antic in the middle of what was supposed to be serious.

A grin like that though? A defiant stance all wrapped in dare -- irresistible -- when he was so close that could tell what kinda whitener Ren used from that look alone, that the man'd never missed a dentist appointment a day in his life. That he was trodding alll the hell over a very sensitive, livewire of a line--All the signs flashed red, but where he'd waivered before about wearing Taenite's symbol--that meteoric metal from the stars--now, having Tae here in the flesh again? He was sure of himself. Quashed his wavering and useless unsurety from earlier, replaced it with the confidence this sort of challenge dredged up in him.

"I get myself killed, and what does that ultimately matter to you? I've told you before, m'an Eternal--we--are Eternal. S'not just a concept, s'ah fact. There'll be as many more Praxidikes as there are lifetimes worth living, and in equal parts as many Albites as the Negaverse bothers to make each new Praxidike into---" there was only the one 'him' though, the singular self that he could call 'Waru' in this lifetime. In the future there would be others, with different lives and new names, but none of them would be him as he as right now in the present.

None of them may be built for Taenite the way he was right now---none of them may love Ren again, the way he found himself doing a little more every time he caught a peek of some new and enticing thing. Every time he caught a whiff of 'humanity'; Ren's hand on his arm and telling him they needed to go. Ren demanding he think s**t through, but certainly not for his own sake -- because he already knew the risks somewhat well enough that he'd mostly quit his own nonstop attempts to throw himself off the nearest cliff-face for the fun of it; just to see what was at the bottom of the other side...

He had reasons to be careful, he had people who cared enough about him to yank him back from the brink with a blade at his throat and fists in his dreads. Who cared enough to warn him, to mourn him, and ******** but he didn't ever want to see those people who risked so much sad over some stupid stunt he pulled!

"Unless you care?" softly accusatory, warmly gasped. His gaze desirous, narrowing out of wide surprise, as he searched Tae's face for more--"It's 'me' you're trying to marry here, Ren. You with the ring n the proposition. You...heh, whose supposedly a very good actor! All adaptable n such.....Sept it's not the actor m'accepting the hand of. Even you aren't that pretty..." and Ren was stunning in his own right, but that wasn't why he'd liked him back in the beginning. It wasn't power of the Senshi that stood before him, either, the ways he could've desired only that. No, what Waru wanted was the man, he didn't lack for power in his own right, he didn't' desire money, or fame, or accolades.

He wanted Ren for Ren's sake--regardless of why Ren wanted him back.

"Hell, even I'm not that pretty!! What I am though, is less likely to get myself into that kinda bullshit if I know you care about me. The how've it--the whys--C'mon, don'chu wanna be loved for just bein you?" He wanted to touch him so badly, more than that -- he wanted to kneel -- it would've been the perfect sorta position to throw reassurances from. In case Ren didn't know he'd love him like that? That he would love him exactly that way? Wasn't like he'd had the time to show it before, sure as s**t there was time now! Time enough to apologize how he couldn't change his recklessness--to offer instead to temper it--to do that by spending more time with Ren the way he should've been since Eion first introduced them to each other over a year ago..

"I'll choke on it ******** gladly--" growled in answer to the retreating snarl. He’d coat it in honey, drench it in milk, swallow it down whole with nothing save the taste of metal and his own saliva. Anything for Taenite, who crafted his care into his actions instead of empty words.

His gaze tracked the bit of glint that slid across his periphery, catching the feel of it; that sparkle of magic so familiarly other with all the ways it reminded him of Faustites banked fires and alien metallurgy. A trinket that he wouldn't have to choose between like an outfit, to take on or off like his collar or pendant. Because much like Faustites bone-carved and finely etched band; he'd be wearing Taenites ring constantly. Would pair and partner it as a second to a mate—no lesser no matter the rank.

That was his plan, his desire, a blink of seconds and he let the ring go sailing by. Heard it ping off stone and roll away while his eyes snapped after the real prize in the room.

*Taenite—-*

Taenite who said he wasn't doing this for love—not that it hardly mattered because Albite was. Felt the warmth inherent in knowing his own agenda surge and heighten with each fresh snarl and deepened glower that flared up over Ren's features. Felt his feelings solidify as scarlet danced over his fresh fiancés delicate ears—

"It's not a ******** love you, Taenite. Did you know that?” Just like it wasn’t a weakness to love and be loved in turn. But he wasn’t about to force that concept down Ren’s throat, not when every fiber of his being was telling him to move. “That it’s easy to see you care,” He knew that Faustite knew it, had heard his husband say as much ten thousand times before in so many small ways. Had seen it in how passively, nonchalantly, protective Taenite was over said fireball—-*over him*—- and what had he done to earn it? How did he even begin to pay Tae back? It was always so easy to just be a *body*, but being better. That—that was hard s**t—-but not impossible. “Because people who don’t care? They don’t warn the ones they love against doing something insane—-they don’t try n protect them from themselves, let alone anything else…“

They sure as hell didn’t make that ‘unloved’ one a fancy, expensive ring, infused with all sorts of undivined meanings. Waru knew he’d have to go over it, hold it, play with it, would have to ask Ren questions in order to understand the full extent of the gift—

At the moment? He was too caught up in the way his mind screamed chase, for how his gaze snapped back to Taenite, roved his shoulders, the whip of silver hair. His own magic sizzling over his skin, ever eager to grab and pull and—-keep, keep, keep, because Taenite was his! Tae had just said as much himself, hadn’t he? Throwing it at his face like a steel gloved challenge, hissed out all the ways he wanted to be bound - loved - married and Waru wasn’t about to let him go; felt his own magic finally give. A solid Bind of Retribution, the most basic of snares—the way it flared down his bicep, over his fingertips, and reached to for Taenite—

To have and to hold and to comfort, or something like that? That was how it was supposed to go.

He thought Taenite could've damn well tried, could've put some real effort into making that statement the threat he felt like the other man wanted it to be. Albite didn't see it as such though, couldn't in all his thick skulled wisdom take Tae's words and twist them around sharply enough to make himself fear any possible hurt from them. It was not a pain for Albite to love him--never had been, never could be, but clearly he hadn't made that apparent enough! That inherently was his own damn folly and something he swiftly needed to start making up for. Easier thought than put into action when Taenite would barely look at him, when he had to practically tie the man down to get him to stay in speaking distance long enough to get a point across.

The pointiest sort of point, he knew---The kind that was hard to swallow for all the people who deserved love. The people who he loved especially! For the people he loved most were always so independent, self assured, strong,
even when they didn't have to be, and Taenite? A self-made man who'd become a self-made Senshi aiming high for a position of power, if not one directly under it.

"Someday--but not today, or tomorrow, and maybe not ever at all if I'm reaaaallly lucky! Bur since you're offering to distract me? Then what I want--what I need--tah' keep all that scary sorts of inevitable at bay? *Is more of you*. " he took the brunt of the glare and returned that same heat with a softer kind of his own making, with hard eyes and as oft mouth and a smile--as the tension in the binds went slack he let them unravel entirely into useless magical threads and distant sparkles--replaced them with his own rough hands, far better suited to hold than any sort of magic ever could've been. Preferable, even, because he wanted Taenites touch and his eyes no matter what they held.

Wasn't as if he'd mock the man for it any sooner than he'd mock himself. All sorts of high impossibilities,

"Tae, come be a pain in my a**, make it hard to love you so I try all the ******** more just for the challenge of it! Call me out on my bullshit, but also call me over just to watch you do your taxes, spend ********' time with me doing the boring s**t same as the exciting stuff and I swear to spend that same kinda time with you! Marrying me means sharing me, but it also means you get a 'share' of me, comprenez-vous?" He wished he could've done this sooner, always, a thousand times before. Reached out and grounded Taenite close, but not just for fun, not just to have the man pull him with all his easy allure n wealthy promises, but for this. To let Taenite see how upset the thought of frustrating him enough to send him packing made Waru. To follow all of that with determined grins, for how he wanted to try even harder now that he was so assured by Taenite feelings.

"Now--does that ring come with a kiss, or is that something I have to work for too?"

Confusion stole his features briefly, scrunched them, before smoothing into soft warmth. He didn’t even really know what taxes actually were! Only that people with money did them, sometimes? Whenever they made enough? Maybe he’d ask Adam to clarify the particulars the next time he went in to get his every new anxiety settled beneath steady hands and some new straight edged, mirror finished, gleam if a thing.

Maybe he’d ask Ren himself — and hope for less of an answer but more of that sass hooked on the edges of the barest hinge of the kind of snark he found absolutely sensational!

Later though—when he could focus on anything other than folding Ren in close and nodding with utmost severity. Waru knew he wasn’t always serious about much, but this?

This he was serious about.

Taenite? Taenite he could be serious for— could find a rare moment and the ability to do so; leeching it from his very marrow and turning it into thoughts and actions for his loves sake. *Husband* - he reminded himself. For his Husbands sake. That singular thread of thought, a fresh blood-in-the-snow, brightly heated bloom of perfectness! A newly possessive thrill. Enhanced tenfold by having Ren, right there, in his arms. The threat of teeth feeling like a ringing endorsement of approval on the whole! Like a promise, the kind he wanted to earn the worth of time and again — through hard ******** work if that was what was necessary.

Breaking a sweat had never bothered him before—-sure as hell wasn’t going to now.

He swallowed the knowledge of it down along with a shiver that threatened to be his undoing, all the haze of before avalanched into a pinpoint of ‘now’s’ — white hit - the way Tae’s challenge warmed him to his core, better than even his own rapidly screaming heartbeat.

“Consider it ********’ done,” he couldn’t possibly wander off and get himself killed if he was busy putting in the work, could he? Just like he couldn’t leave without getting the ring first — knowing his flimsier Magic’s could be used for finesse as easily as a soft-targeted restraint. If he slipped a hand free if Tae’s self long enough to loose a hard-thought bind on the glint that sat atop a groove in the stonework—- He wasn’t about to lose his newest wedding ring to the void of his own office, or have it swallowed by one of Cerbs many errant and ever hungry beaks, or turned into a plaything via pick-an-office-cat! Oh no-the ring was coming with, clutched hotly enough that he could feel the lovely lines of it dig into his palm while deciding that if they were going to do this? Then they were going to do it right—

“Though, fair warning? M’livelier n any hydrive colt. So you’re gonna have a whole time putting me through my paces — keepn’ me busy — keeping me with you.” He wanted that — like he wanted Taenites utmost comfort, and Faustite’s praise. Like he wanted his every other lovers bright and perfect joy! Oh, how he desired being kept by a man who went so very far just to try and save him.

“M’looking forwards to it though. Heh, living long enough that I can feel like I’ve earned having you as my husband.” and it was good to be an Eternal for once, to be able to use his powers to please — to answer the challenge thrown at his feet with the crackle of subspecies opening up and giving him leeway to seek the comfort of Rens home as he pleased — the aftermath a hissed echo in an otherwise empty office.