→ ( CLOSED - i wanna live with you even when we're ghosts, )

[kryo]

WHO: Laurent & Damen
WHERE: Nonah, North Carolina.
WHEN: 03/11
WHAT: Like seriously romantic gestures
WARNINGS: It's going to get sickeningly sweet in here. If you want to preserve your opinion of Laurent as a cast iron bitch look away.

[ Since coming here, Laurent hasn't exactly felt challenged by anything. The people, while argumentative, weren't enough to keep his attention for very long, and the work he had been given was fairly easy. So somehow, someway, he'd become lax with his control. He'd regretted it, this last week. Because he'd forgotten just how exhausting plotting and planning could be, just how tiresome keeping everything to himself had become. Having someone to confess to had made him soft, it would seem. Still, even when the announcement had been on the tip of his tongue, Laurent had kept quiet. Strangely enough, his heart yearned for things to be perfect before he revealed it, as if being half finished it wouldn't be quite as ... meaningful.

It had been more complicated than he thought, juggling property owners and rental vans and animal sanctuaries in an attempt to keep everything where it should be. The only real saving grace was that Damen, sweet, lovely Damen, didn't exactly have it in him to be suspicious and so every time he'd slipped away to answer a call or had been busy with 'work' he hadn't been questioned. Today they are together though, and it had been Laurent who suggested a trip to Nonah, Laurent who had navigated their way from Porter through the bustling parts of the city and out to it's edges. The houses there are quaint, smaller than a palace obviously, but certainly no little room in an apartment, and he gamely points out a few of them with rental or sale signs up, fingers woven tightly through his partner's own. As if they might look at them one day, as if he hasn't already done the legwork. ]

I think Charls would like it here too. [ He points through a copse of trees where a path can be seen, ambling down the length of a cul de sac so he can stop at the end. ] There's a park, just through there. We could bring him tomorrow.

[ When they finally have the dog. It had taken some effort for him to get the workers there to examine both buildings, but somehow he'd managed. And while Damen is looking, Laurent casts his gaze over the house they're now stood beside. He'd been assured the furniture company would be long gone by now and it would appear they were either charmed or terrified by him, because there's not a soul in sight. His heart, foolish thing that it is, starts to beat too fast, the keys in his blazer pocket heavy. He isn't afraid.

He just isn't used to it. This. Wanting to do something right.

But there is no point in turning back now. Swinging his lover's hand, Laurent neatly steps in front of him, lifting his chin so that he can look. ]

I have a surprise for you. [ It comes out of nowhere, really, considering their conversation. But this is Laurent. ] Close your eyes.

Comments

[barbarus]

[ Even after all this time, Damen's mind still runs in straight lines. He is aware, and could not fail to be aware, that Laurent's does not. His first impression of the Veretian prince had been that he was a spoiled, manipulative brat whose mind ran in so many twisting mazes that his true intent was indiscernible. Much of this opinion has now been revised; far from spoiled, Laurent lives in luxury like an ascetic, and while he could certainly be a brat, there was far more to him than that. Beneath his cool exterior was a heart that beat with honour and virtue.

But the part about the maze-like mind. That had been very true, and remains so.

Despite knowing it, Damen trusts him now. He knows that he will not always be aware of Laurent's intent, but he trusts that his intent is generally virtuous, and that means something. Today, Laurent has told him that they will be looking at houses. They'd talked about moving, and talked about Nonah, even, so that's not a surprise. Damen is willing to be led, knowing as he does that he will be easier to please than Laurent in any case. The truth is that he doesn't really mind where they go, so long as they're together.

So far, Nonah seems colder than Heropa, and that's the main thing he knew they wanted. His eyes stray to the trees, and the little path where Laurent is quite right - it's easy to imagine them walking the dog here. He's eager about that too, and keen to get to the shelter so that they can adopt the puppy properly. By now there have been several visits, and Damen's heart has been well and truly stolen. Today is the day, and that's what his mind keeps drifting to.

So, when Laurent stops them in their tracks, Damen blinks, and frowns at him. ]

A surprise? What kind of surprise?

[ Because even now, he hasn't guessed. Even so, after only a few moments of curiosity, he does what he's told, and shuts his eyes. ]

I cannot look at houses if I can't see what we're looking at. What are we doing?

[kryo]

[ There is a thrill of something inside of his chest when Damen closes his eyes so obediently. He has not always had that trust, and the days where Laurent had to grind it into the Akielon are still fresh with guilt in his mind. They've come so far, he thinks but does not have the time to wonder how. ]

It's hardly any kind of surprise if I tell you.

[ He takes Damen's other hand to steer him, turning him half way so he is facing the house. Then he leads him, steady in his step, towards the porch. ]

Careful, there is a weed there. [ He'll deal with that later. Maybe he'll take to horticulture. ] Alright, wait there. [ Letting go of his lover's hands, Laurent finds the key in his breast pocket, holds it in such a way that it cannot jingle. ] Lift your hands. Palm up. [ He waits, as Damen acquiesces, nervousness clawing at his throat. When he is ready, Laurent places the key in his grasp. ] You can open your eyes now.

[ He has to fight the boyish urge to hide his face and instead is steady in his gaze. ]

[barbarus]

[ Damen takes Laurent's hand. There's a thrill in this, in letting himself be led. In knowing that this is what Laurent wants, in knowing that he must have something in mind here. Some part of this has been planned. He steps around the weed, whatever it is, when he's warned. He knows they've turned off the street, and can tell they must be in front of a house. Maybe Laurent has scoped one out in advance?

But when he holds out his hand, and feels the key slide into it, curiosity overtakes him. He opens his eyes and turns it over in his hand, before looking up at the door in front of them. Then he looks to Laurent. ]

It's...

[ He turns the possibilities over in his mind, and he cannot imagine how Laurent could have managed this. His fingers close around the key. ]

Is it...already ours?

[ Several pieces of a puzzle that he hadn't even known he was part of start falling into place. ]

You did not bring me here to view a house. Can this be real?

[ He's still working on believing it. Surely there would have been paperwork, money to exchange, rates to negotiate. How could all of that be complete? ]

[kryo]

I wanted to do something for you. [ Then, in ammendment: ] I wanted to do something for us.

[ Because really, Laurent had selfish reasons for doing this. He'd longed for the day where he and Damen could be alone and uninterrupted, where he would not have to be so tightly controlled because they had to share a living space with relative strangers. The truth be told, he has felt better when it was just the two of them, and it had driven him here.

Still, anxiety is a strange beast and it claws at his throat. Laurent does not often seem unsure, but there is a slight furrow between his brows now, a youthful kind of hesitancy tugging at the corners of his mouth. He wants this to be perfect. He wants to make up for his wrongs. ]

I think you'll like it. It is a nice house. But we can change whatever you do not agree with. I have a card of someone who does that sort of thing. [ He's talking too much, he knows, and yet he cannot stop. ] I had it furnished with you in mind. The sanctuary people have already visited as well. Charls will be safe here.

[barbarus]

[ But of course, all of this is already in hand. He should not have thought otherwise. Laurent has probably thought of and arranged things that have not yet even occurred to Damen, because that's what Laurent does. He is a planner, a strategist in a way that Damen has never been. He thinks so many moves ahead that he's already on the next game. And beyond.

Damen turns to him, his expression warring between surprise and absolute affection. He cannot school his emotions, and so his face bears witness to them all. ]

You have spoken even to the sanctuary. Laurent.

[ He moves before he can think, and wraps his arms around the other man. Pulling him close, Damen kisses him suddenly and without regard for who might be watching. It's rough, and unplanned, and they separate quickly, but Damen's eyes are still shining when they do. ]

I have no words for this.

Show me the inside. Please - I want to see what you have done for us.

[ More than that, he wants to see what Laurent had wanted for them. He has clearly left nothing to chance. ]

[kryo]

You gifted me a dog, of course I spoke with the sanctuary.

[ He hums when he's pulled close, but the pleasant surprise at being kissed silences him into sweet acquiescence. Laurent's hand is half risen and finds Damen's arm to curl his fingers round, his breath not quite with him when they part. ]

You've never needed words. [ Everything has always been plain to see.

With a smile, Laurent tugs him up the porch steps and then steps aside. ] Open it then. [ His nerves have taken on an excited edge as he waits for the key to be placed into the lock, for the door to be pushed open. He lets Damen inside first and quietly pulls the door closed behind him. The hallway is not much, walls and carpets in creams and browns, a table beside the door, a mirror, a place to hang coats. There will be time for them to make their real mark, he thinks, as he ushers Damen into the first room. Thankfully, his design is unlike anything that might be found in Vere, Laurent's only complicated style has always been his clothes. Instead the living room is furnished softly, pale light and warm features, a couch big enough to sprawl upon elegantly draped in blankets, a coffee table, things they will need that can be embellished. There is already a bed for Charls, beneath the big window.

It looks comfortable, though. That is what Laurent wanted. ]

Shall I show you the kitchen next?

[barbarus]

[ Damen isn't sure what he's expecting. Arched ceilings, maybe, pattern folded into every corner of design. The kind of Veretian design he'd hated while he was a prisoner, and missed once he was free.

There's none of that. Instead the design is simple and pleasant - less purely functional than an Akielon would have it, but somehow, it suits Laurent very well. This was the man who had lived in luxury like an ascetic. He'd never been able to put his own mark on Vere, but he's put his own mark in this place. Damen walks around the room, his hand carefully brushing the mantle of the fireplace. Charls has trotted in behind them and gone immediately to his bed, curling up in it.

Which means that he knows the place. He already knows that it's his.

Damen looks up, his eyes warm. They're still not completely over the shock of all this, but there's a deep affection there, too. Affection and something else. ]

You had better. If you show me the bedroom, you will never get me out of it.

[ Can they stay here? Is it theirs now? ]

Is it...?

Can we stay here tonight?