Frozen Time (3) : Midnight is a magical time of night; parties, dancing, kisses--there are a number of rituals celebrated in the winter nights. Every night has a midnight, but this one is special. There is an old church and bell tower on the quiet outskirts of town, near a beautiful forest that has been decorated with lights to celebrate the season. Maybe you are alone, maybe you are with friends, or maybe you’re at a party celebrating one of the many events--whatever the case, small, delicate snowflakes have been falling lightly for the past hour. And then--suddenly--they stop. The clock strikes midnight and the bell echoes a low, metallic chime that feels like it can be heard for miles. By the second chime, you realize that nothing else is moving. Snowflakes are suspended in the air and all living creatures--plants, animals, and people alike--are completely frozen. The clock chimes twelve times and the world is still frozen. Suddenly, there’s no way to tell how much time has passed--but nothing moves. Maybe it feels like a moment, maybe it feels like an hour. You can try to leave the area but you can never go far enough that the church is out of sight. In an instant, time seems to snap back into motion. To everyone else, it feels like no time has passed. To you, you know. The church seems eerie and foreboding and if you return you feel uncomfortable, as though you have broken something and are unwelcome. If roleplaying with a partner, multiple characters can remain unfrozen as the world around them freezes!
“C’mon, Ren! It’s not like m’asking you t’kiss me beneath a shrunken head or something.” Deep laugh that puffed frosted breath into the air, Waru snorted congenially; the same forestgreen-black patterned scarf he’d been wearing the last two winters (A gift from a dear friend) hanging loosely open around his neck atop a warmer black jacket; grey knit shirt and joggers with fleece lining. He’d honestly thought they were black when he’d bought them, but the pleasant shade of dark blue was a welcome surprise.
He gently nudged the other man, warm gaze lingering helplessly, like his eyes were magnetized to Ren’s form. Prettiest man in the room – on the street – standing amidst the slowly growing fleece-fall of cold sky-flakes.
“Though— yanno? I would let you—” he teased conspiratorially, leaning in enough to make the whisper meaningful. How he’d longed for exactly this! More than the showering of material affections, though some truly did warm his heart. He’d missed the man, and planned to make up for lost moments. Easy to blame the holiday spirit, the seasonal ‘spirits’! Though there was none of that to blame right now, not for this, not even after a few drinks and trailing Ren out of a nice enough to make his head spin – lounge?
He’d call it a bar for his own sake—
But no, this brandy tinged and chilly moment was all his own uninhibited nature at play. His desire to seal every moment into memory with touch as much as warm platitudes.
Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2024 7:52 am
“You are such a lightweight,” Ren snorted quietly in amusement as he reached out to link arms with Waru after the gentle nudge. “Just kidding, maybe you’re just always a little tipsy.”
He was in a good mood. Dressed in all black, as usual. It made the light shower of snow all the more obvious as it coated his hat and shoulders. His cheeks were just a bit red from drink, but he was quite capable of holding his liquor.
“Of all the things you could compare mistletoe to-- a shrunken head? Really? I’ve got a few,” he hummed thoughtfully, the slight twitch in the corner of his mouth not quite confirming if he was joking or if he actually did have shrunken heads somewhere in the vastness of his collections.
“Maybe I like playing hard to get,” he shrugged, causally glancing away from Waru to take a great deal of interest at the decorations along the snow covered streets and sidewalks and storefronts.
He couldn’t say he enjoyed this time of the year more than any other. Sure, his birthday was at the beginning of December, but he could get himself gifts any time he wanted.
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Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2024 1:33 pm
The gentle teasing made it easier to lean his weight on Ren, if it was a lightweight he wanted? Then a lightweight he could be! He certainly felt some measure of intoxicated, drunk on the moment, the way the streetlights and Christmas neons hanging decoratively from signs, shopfronts, the endless flickering downtown decor glittered in Ren's eyes.
To be drunk on a person—
To find the moment heady and indulgent, especially when he could be on Ren’s arm like some pretty bit of entertainment that’d been scooped up for the night.
“I mean, what else hangs above a doorway? There's shrunken heads, wreathes, dried meats—” He snickered, gently shaking his head at the prospect of being shown a foreign oddity that was likely faked or stolen, maybe if it were halloween? But tonight– “But there's only the one thing I can think of that people like to kiss under. Even the hard to get types.” Waru cooed as he reached over to touch his knuckles beneath Ren's chin, over-greedy for attention, to both give and receive.
“C’mon – it’ll be cute – like the thing people do on new years? It’s probably lucky or something, right! Kissing under a bunch of poisonous berries where everyone can see…”
Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 4:54 pm
“Sounds pretty performative to me,” said the man who often performed to get attention. As if he hadn’t shouted from the rooftops for a General (or General King as it turned out) to come and make him part of the organization.
Of course, he was making his way towards the old church where they’d heard people talking about mistletoe being hung. How could he actually deny Waru when he pleaded with him so sweetly?
“I didn’t take you for the cute type,” Ren scoffed, if only to cause trouble. “We could just kiss anywhere, you know. Or is this you wishing we had a more traditional ceremony?”
He still didn’t regret asking, even if they were working a bit backwards with getting to really know each other. Nothing about Waru rubbed Ren the wrong way, though. Which said a lot because most people rubbed him the wrong way. But Waru was someone he was willing and wanting to spoil rotten.
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Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 4:56 pm
He wouldn’t deny it, the thrill of feeling alone with another person, even while surrounded by a crowd. Everything shrinking down to a pinprick of a bubbled up moment that no one could invade. That it was performative in a way, a quieter sort of exhibition, the kind that wouldn’t draw attention he didn’t want—
T’was the season and all that! Which meant they could wander the halls of the grandly decorated church, the way he never paid attention to the thing; its looming silhouette mismatched against the rest of the city’s brutalist outline. At least not until now, with lines of people gliding through and making grand gestures under impressive doors.
“I’m a lot of things Ren,” He husked eagerly, a warm, mirthful purr. “I try not to limit myself in anything—“ looking up past the top of Ren's silver head, beyond the clusters of others. “N’to try everything at least once.” He wondered if he did care about tradition, about ceremony? Tried to picture himself living the same kind of life as everyone else, going about it the ‘normal’ ways, and snickered at the idea of it. A blurr of something so foreign he couldn’t have seen himself in it, even if he squeezed his eyes real tight.
It would take a resurrection— another lifetime — and maybe then?
“And I think what I’m wishing for — is to kiss you in a way where no one will question what kind of kiss it is. No one will mistake us as friends, or as- as a fling — it’ll be plain t’see how much I love you, yeah? Public as a notice board—“ there was no denying his own want, warm honey and vanilla sweetness that rolled off his tongue as he pleaded gently.
“C’mon—“ tugging on the arm he hung off, beaming with bright desire as much as superstitious curiosity! “Rumor has it people who kiss at midnight get a golden pony, or a genie in a lamp? Some-ish like that!”
Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 6:35 pm
Try as he might to not show any reaction to the tempting things Waru said, Ren felt his lip twitching at the corner despite himself. It was difficult to even pretend to feign disinterest when he had all the interest in the world for the man beside him. It was even more difficult to pretend to ignore the touch of Waru’s hand, or the tug on his arm.
“Oh, they might kick us out if you want that kind of kiss,” Ren hummed thoughtfully, and while he seriously doubted the rumors Waru offered, he laughed because naturally Waru would tempt Ren with things he’d love to get his hands on. Just to have it.
Then again, what was more treasure than what he already had with him?
“I suppose I can indulge you,” he pretended to relent, as if he wouldn’t have done anything Waru asked of him. To make a show of it, Ren even checked his watch. “Oh good timing, Ru. We’ve got less than a minute.”
Strange… had it been that close to midnight already? He must have lost track of time, which wasn’t surprising when he was already distracted.
Luckily they were right by the archway of the church that had been strung up with mistletoe. A clear tourist attraction, but if it was something Waru wanted, who was Ren to say no?
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Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 6:51 pm
Let ‘em—
It showed in his eyes, the way that wasn’t so much a deterrent as it was an encouragement falling off of Ren's lips. He’d always wanted to be kicked out of a holy place, had marked it up on his bucket list of defamatory actions worth getting scolded over! He would take the slap on the wrist for ‘public indecency’ that kinda thing could be mistaken for, just so long as it was Ren he was being indecent with.
“You’re always so willing to indulge me, Ren.” He loved him for it, felt the words spill pleasantly over his wide grin. The way his gaze narrowed, tunnel vision for the tinsel-haired fox in his arms. “I love you for it, the way you don’t ever seem t’really wanna say no.” Making to wind his arms around Ren, to tug the man in close enough that those darker than midnight eyes and the church's festively decorated reflection was all he could see. <******** of these days that’s gonna get us into real trouble, huh?” A minute till midnight, and it really did make the whole of the place feel magical; just like every pamphlet littered streetside had insisted. Something about nosing close to your partner, to your husband, and just—
Pausing that hair's-breadth of distance, with parted lips, and eagerness alit in his gaze. Waiting for the seconds to tick down completely. What was a kiss if it wasn’t exactly at midnight? Surely just a kiss – like every other – but at midnight? That counted as a wish didn’t it! Had to, so far as Waru was concerned.
Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 6:53 pm
With Waru’s arms around him, it was easy for Ren to do the same. Or, at least with one arm. With his other hand he reached up to repeat the motion Waru had with him -- gentle knuckles under his chin. Then a caress of his cheek. And then a teasing grip on the collar of Waru’s jacket.
“We can do whatever we want,” Ren whispered with such confidence that it seemed like he was speaking from experience rather than making wild, optimistic suggestions. “I’ll make a large, charitable donation if it’s really a problem. If we did get kicked out and want to come back,” he clarified. Because maybe they didn’t want to bother.
“You’re lucky I always indulge you,” he teased, waiting for the stroke of midnight to close the distance. “I could just leave you waiting and wanting. Have you beg. That could be fun -- coming to me on your knees.”
Waru was the kind of person to indulge him as eagerly as Ren was to do the same. He doubted anything would deter his curiosity. And for that Ren both loved him and was incredibly distressed by him. He trusted him, but in a way that he expected Waru to run headlong into danger just because it was something new.
But tonight, it was just the two of them. And as much as Ren could have teased him, he waited until the bells tolled to lean close. A kiss that should have gotten them kicked out -- if anyone was still unfrozen by the time the twelfth bell chimed.
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Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 6:55 pm
Ren's conviction was addictive, the way the man’s voice sent shivers down Waru’s spine; a clean pour of words that ran heady through his mind as the top shelf liquor the silver haired man seemed to have ever on tap.
“On my knees, in a church — eyes to god.” Breathless false scandal on his tongue, a play act, tucking a tiny laugh into his cheek as the joke of having any sort of morals against this type of thing quickly morphed into sultry want for the way Ren was preaching desire across the handspan of space between them. Leaving just enough room to breathe and little more, not with the way he felt Ren's fingers twisting in his collar.
Preaching sacrilege in a church— this man of mine — what a sheer ******** delight!
“I’ll come to you alright—“ He didn’t get to finish, the thought turning into a whispered goad, he didn't need to. Not when he could meet Ren half-way and seal the gap as the bell tolled and chimed on; it was the only way Waru knew how to worship. Like this. With the only higher power he ever answered to standing before him; this time human shaped, tinsel haired, working a silver, sharp, forked-tongue between his lips. The way he returned the gesture like he was pouring his soul out from a deep well. As if he believed he could fill all that space within Ren with only himself tonight.
That he could be enough.
That Ren could be enough!
If only for awhile—
Because his *god* was a shapeshifter of a beast that didn’t know stillness and claimed no true form. He’d blink and its features would change; amorphous, genderfluid, soft as butter, hard as steel. Iced or aflame. Flesh warm or alien to the touch. But his heart always *knew* when he stood within its presence! The same way he knew his man was trouble, the kind he’d crawl over shattered rainbow glass and beg endless indulgence from till his throat was raw and knees bloodied. Even here in a church.
Especially in a church—
The building didn’t seem to like that. The aura of the place seemed to hiss with displeasure as the moment wound on and he threw himself into it; fingers finding silver strands and his arm tightening around Ren's perfect spine. Craving a bit of eternity — to carve it out for them and give Ren the endless nights he seemed to desire — the ones he deserved because Waru wanted them too!
He wanted forever — with everyone — always!
But he wanted this right now.
Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2025 7:31 am
There was a magical stillness in the air. Ren could sense the change around them. Things frozen in place, unmoving, unchanging. He didn’t care. It meant he had more time with the man before him.
It was like a dream. One that Ren would have happily never left. The sharing of breath, the heat of skin, the tremble of muscle as they held to each other. He wanted it more than anything.
And in that moment, a thought flickered into his head that he would give up everything he had for this. If it meant being able to stay in Waru’s arms like this. Someone who was so full of wanting and longing for everything and, seemingly, everyone. Ren knew he was delusional to think that it could be the same for both of them, to feel the same thing, to want the same thing. He wanted Waru safe -- from others. From himself. A treasure that was to be protected with everything he had.
He didn’t care how long they stayed there. Time meant nothing, especially now. And they had so much Ren wanted to make up for. Opportunities that he knew he would not be there for. Chances that would be passed over for something-- someone else.
He wanted this moment to last forever. And maybe it would.
