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[deuceoftears]

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[deuceoftears]

"It was...a silent memorial, of a sort. It was the nicest thing with birds on it that came with the room. But my inmate graduated just before you went away, so my hawks are all alive again, now."

Maybe he'll put it in the living room, now that the wound is better scarred over.

[reformedsinner]

Gonou dips his chin in a tiny nod, considering the brilliant enameled birds.

"I wouldn't think it was inappropriate to keep them on the same shelf together," he says at last, softly. "But if you'd like to put it somewhere else, now that your Kel have their lives back...?"

[deuceoftears]

"I have to think about it. It's...weird, to realize I don't have to make do with whatever will pass beneath notice, anymore."

He's not sure what he has a right to, or what he wants to make - obtrusive.

[reformedsinner]

"No, you don't." He squeezes Jedao's shoulder. "And... it's not exactly the tradition I was raised with. But household memorials are for lost family. If there's anyone you've lost who you want there...."

For a moment, he's silent. At last, he tips his head to the side, leaving the offer unspoken.

[deuceoftears]

"I don't know."

He feels his insides knot and writhe for a moment. The closest thing to family he's lost is Kujen, and it's hard to imagine something more obscene. Jedao doesn't want him here even if he had any right to it. Where else to put that strange grief - he still doesn't know.

"Let's curl up on the couch, maybe?"

Suddenly, powerfully, he wants the simple comfort of being held, and he thinks Gonou might want it too.

[reformedsinner]

There had been... siblings, Gonou half-remembers. Brothers he'd said he'd lost. But he would have agreed that Kujen isn't at all the right person to remember with honor.

"...yes," Gonou agrees, and reaches down to catch Jedao's hand in his own. "Let's."

Curling up with Jedao on the couch sounds -- exactly right, just now. He leads the way back to the living room.

[deuceoftears]

Lost to him - but alive, somewhere, free. The same for Revenant. The same, even, for Shuos Jedao, whatever conquering he's doing in his new universe. Objects of wistfulness or resentment, but not mourning.

Jedao squeezes his hand and gratefully follows as they pull each other to the couch and climb in together.

[reformedsinner]

Gonou settles into the cushions, wrapping an arm around Jedao's waist, and lets his face fall to rest at the junction of his neck and shoulder.

"That wasn't supposed to be so hard," he mutters. Perhaps it wouldn't have been, if he'd gathered the courage to open the cabinet before now.

[deuceoftears]

"I think we did great. Extra points, even," Jedao counters. Difficult, yes. But done, and done smoothly, all things considered.

[reformedsinner]

"Ah, extra credit. Does that bring up my B-plus?" Gonou teases, settling more heavily against him.

[deuceoftears]

"Teacher's pet," Jedao retorts, giggling a little, as much in relief as anything else. "Alright, A-minus."

[reformedsinner]

"Tough grader," Gonou murmurs, and presses a kiss against his throat. "The way this was supposed to go was, we'd move my boxes into your room, and then I'd bat my eyelashes at you and invite you to have celebratory sex."

[deuceoftears]

Jedao groans, soft and low, wriggles just a little, tips his chin up.

"We can still celebrate," he rumbles.

[reformedsinner]

"That's true," Gonou murmurs, and lifts his head, pressing a kiss at the corner of Jedao's mouth. The low rumble of Jedao's voice resonates warm in his own chest, and he smiles.

"There's no reason not to celebrate."

He finds Jedao's lips with the next kiss.

[deuceoftears]

Jedao turns his head and catches him in another, deeper kiss, serious and slow.

"Welcome home, sweetheart."

[reformedsinner]

"I'm home," Gonou agrees, filling in the first half of the call and response with a voice gone soft and warm. He nestles a hand into Jedao's hair, melting into the kiss.

[deuceoftears]

"When you imagined batting your eyelashes," Jedao murmurs, in the secret breath between one kiss and the next, "What did you imagine doing first?"

[reformedsinner]

"Well. I'd start by looking up through them, so I imagine I'd have to slide down rather far on the couch..." There's a wickedly amused glint in his gaze, but he's suiting action to words, shifting until he's half-reclining, with a hand curled over the nape of Jedao's neck to encourage him to lean down over Gonou.

Then, quite deliberately, he tilts his head to glance coquettishly up through his eyelashes, fluttering them as if stealing a secret look at Jedao's face.

[deuceoftears]

Jedao huffs, grinning helplessly, overcome with fondness as he leans over him.

"I keep being surprised your eyepatch is gone," he admits, cupping Gonou's cheek on the glass side. "Is it comfortable?"

[reformedsinner]

Gonou chuckles, leaning into Jedao's hand like a cat. "I'm so used to it, I hardly notice it anymore. I suppose I could go back to the eyepatch, but it's useful when people don't know which is my blind side."

He tips his head just a little to the side, brushing a kiss across Jedao's palm.

"What I really planned to do to bat my eyelashes," he murmurs, against Jedao's skin, "was just to make the invitation."

[deuceoftears]

Jedao brushes his thumb along Gonou's bottom lip, just a little bit heavy.

"I'm saying yes," Jedao tells him. "Are there any details on that invitation, or should I make a field decision?

[reformedsinner]

"I'm glad to hear it," Gonou murmurs, and flicks a heavy-lidded gaze up to meet Jedao's. "I think I'll let you make a field decision. I don't think there are many things I'd turn down."

He nips playfully at Jedao's thumb, catching it between his teeth without putting any pressure on the skin.

[deuceoftears]

Jedao pushes his thumb in, the pad of the first joint pressing on Gonou's tongue, while his other hand plucks and ruffles at Gonou's waist until Jedao can slide it under his shirt, not lingering over the scar on his belly, stroking up the center line toward his sternum.

"I'm going to bring you back to the bedroom," Jedao proposes, warm and matter-of-fact. "Strip you off and lay you down. Then I'm going to ride you until you forget both of your names."

[reformedsinner]

Gonou shivers, stretching luxuriously under Jedao's weight, and curls his tongue around Jedao's thumb before he parts his lips enough to be understood around it.

"Only if you let me strip you too," he murmurs. "I'd like to keep my hands on you."

[deuceoftears]

"I think we can make that work," Jedao agrees. He pushes in a little deeper with his thumb, stroking in and out a few times. "Do you want to get my shirt off now?"