IC INBOX for The Last Voyages

[magician_king]

You know what to do.

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[callmefives]

He turns his head again to kiss Jedao's palm, stubble and whiskers dragging with the movement.

"Thank you for everything, but mostly for always reminding me I'm a person when I let myself forget." Frustrating as it is that he ever needs the reminder, after fighting so hard for it, but it's just so deeply ingrained that, no matter what he wants or believes, the shadow if it is still there, stretched out long and dark over all the brightness that Jedao and Quentin and this place and all the other people he loves have brought to his life.

[ninefox]

"You knew it before you ever knew me," Jedao reminds him, his fingers twitching involuntarily, just a little. "You are exquisite and exceptional. I just point out the implications sometimes."

[callmefives]

Fives stretches up just a bit to give Quentin a kiss on the forehead. He definitely appreciates all the things Quentin brings to the table, and... he's glad that violence or comfort with violence isn't one of them. He loves his gentleness, even as he knows how deadly he can be if he has to (and loves that as well).

"Force, cocoa sounds perfect. That spicy kind you make? And I'll get cleaned up and then we can all get some rest." Hopefully Jedao will manage to get some decent sleep, and so will they.

[callmefives]

He grins against Jedao's palm. "Ridiculous," he repeats, warm and pleased, and shifts to nip ever so gently at the pad of Jedao's index finger for emphasis.

[ninefox]

Jedao shivers again, then runs his fingertip along Fives' lower lip.

"You could definitely seduce me on the couch, but Quentin might not less us in the kitchen if we have jizz on us," he points out, half-breathless, grinning. Offering options.

[callmefives]

Fives' grin goes wide and bright again, and he huffs a laugh against Jedao's palm.

"No, definitely no seducing on the couch right now," he decides with a final kiss, followed up by a kiss to Jedao's nose and then his lips. "Let's go keep him company and see what he's making?"

He feels absolutely fine, now. Warm and loved and comfortable, and even the knowledge of Harry and Jedao together hanging over him doesn't dim it in the slightest in this moment. He hopes that means it's not going to going forward either.

[ninefox]

Jedao smiles at him and eels out of Fives' lap without freeing his hands, arms extending as he tugs Fives' gently after him.

"Something smells good, whatever it is," Jedao agrees.

[callmefives]

Fives lets Jedao tug him to his feet, then wraps his arms around him and hoists him into the air with a smacking kiss to his cheek.

"It does, let's go see." And he slings Jedao over his shoulder and heads for the kitchen, one hand firmly planted on his ass.

[ninefox]

Jedao squeals, all glee and showmanship, and kicks his legs with the unfettered delight of a child in a tall chair, wiggling just a bit under Fives' hand.

[callmefives]

"Ridiculous," he repeats, all warm and low and with obvious relish.

"He's ridiculous, Quent'ika!" he calls ahead before padding into the kitchen and dropping into a chair, shifting Jedao to laying across his lap... his hand still on his ass as he grins up at Quentin. "How did we find such a ridiculous man?"

[magician_king]

"He found me."

Quentin defends himself, and flips something in his frying pan, giving them a sideways glance and smiling at the shenanigans. That's Fives in a considerably better frame of mind, he's going to guess.

"Of course, he didn't know he had me until the ghost of my future self turned up in some flood and picked a fight with him about it. I don't know if you know this, Fives- and I don't know if I remember it properly, I only ever saw it on the network, but they were both somehow like- annoyed, and also down to fuck? It was really weird."

[ninefox]

"He implied that because you cared about something enough to sacrifice your chance at his family, you were too immature to understand its value," Jedao all but hisses, the feckless golden glee dropping away from him, his indignation on Quentin's behalf as vivid and bitter as it was over two years ago.

"He was a prick and I would not have fucked him," he insists, loyally.

[magician_king]

"He was a prick."

Agrees Quentin, soothingly, and comes back over to present Jedao with a pretzel- and one for Fives, too, voice low and soothing.

"But he was only here very briefly and in the aftermath, I found myself swept up as if by a passing comet. And that was worth his crummy temper and judgemental attitude." Bending to give Jedao a kiss, to try to lift his spirits back up.

"How did you two first meet?"

[ninefox]

He arches between Fives' hand and Quentin's mouth, easily mollified.

"I scoped out all the wardens when I got here. Fives was on the shortlist of 'most likely to give me a gun.' We went in the enclosure and played murder tag so he could establish my competence," he says brightly, glancing sideways and slyly up at Fives. "It was a really nice first date, actually."

[callmefives]

Fives manhandles Jedao properly upright on his lap, though he still keeps a hand tucked under his ass, and grins up at Quentin. "He was way better than a mongrel had any business being," he tells him, and pinches Jedao's ass gently before turning to look at Jedao.

"Was that a date? You didn't actually think of it as a date, did you?" He wants to ask about what happened with Quentin's alternate, because he does remember it was after that hellish flood that Jedao suddenly wanted Quentin, with all the anxiety and fear that had come with it.

[magician_king]

"I bet he was."

He says, and pads back off- that pan needs his attention.

"Fives- when did you realize you were being dated?"

If it wasn't that first time it stands to reason there must have been a certain point.

[magician_king]

He takes his face in both hands for a moment, gives him a kiss in return, and then steps back to go take care of it.

This is how he does best- in bite sized little bits of accomplishing things for his people.

[ninefox]

"I wasn't really - I mean, he was very hot, but I was worried about other things and didn't think of myself as the dating type back then. We moved in together two months later and I was still in denial. I was much crazier back then," Jedao confesses.

[callmefives]

"I don't... think I ever did?" he answers, brows furrowing a little as he thinks about it. "I didn't really know what dates were, or that they existed?" And he's still kind of unclear on them. He's not sure if some of the things they do or have done are actually dates or just things they do together.

He lays his free hand on Jedao's chest, over his heart. "That was after the flood where I lost my memories, my scars and tattoos, too, and... because part of the ship." That one had been bad, losing the identity and individuality he's always clung so hard to, and the physical manifestations of it. "He tried to help me remember, when it was happening," he tells Quentin solemnly. "It helped, for a little while."

[magician_king]

"Tell me more stories about those early days?"

Prompts Quentin, and comes back with their first plate- cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches with chili sauce staining the demure green and cream a scorching orange at the seams.

[ninefox]

"I did a bit think of the dancing lessons as dates, when we started that," Jedao tells Fives, snuggling in and kissing his check before reaching for a sandwich.

"I made him tell me what all the tattoos should be. I made him draw them. He covered his palm in ink for the handprint, and I took my gloves off to clean it. Both of us almost broke in half at the intimacy."

They'd both been so brittle, in those days, and so raw.

[callmefives]

"Yeah?" He smiles at that and finally pulls his hand out from under Jedao so he can reach for a sandwich too. "I loved those. Still love dancing with you." Completely impractical, absolutely for nothing but fun, even though he does subconsciously assure himself, every time, that it's good for his balance and coordination.

His breath hitches at the memory Jedao calls up, and he ducks down to press his face into Jedao's neck as a flush of heat rises up his neck. At least he remembers to put the sandwich he'd picked up down before he squashes it in his hand. "Force," he breathes into Jedao's skin. "I'd hardly touched anyone for so long, and-" He shakes his head a little, breathing still slightly uneven, remembering the delicacy of Jedao's touch on skin that even now he so rarely bares, that even now is gloved- "Yeah, I definitely almost broke in half."

[magician_king]

"I'd like to take photos of that some day."

Says Quentin, coming back over, dropping a second plate down. This one is chopped fresh vegetables, with a bowl of hummus. He's sensible of Fives' need for bulk and protein.

"What kind of music do you dance to?"

[ninefox]

"So did I," Jedao promises redundantly, voice low, brushing a kiss over Fives' temple.

"It's...energetic music? I don't know what to call it in English. I only know it by the dance forms."

It most resembles something like Paso Doble.

[callmefives]

And all the little things he thinks of and does make things so much easier, and nicer, for both Fives and Jedao. Little touches that smooth the harsh edges off their lives.

Fives feels almost content, despite the events of the evening, as he strips off his gauntlets and toes out of his boots, then goes to wash his face and hands and strip down the rest of the way so he can pull on a pair of soft, baggy shorts he found in the wardrobe to sleep in. Usually he sleeps nude these days, but this isn't that kind of night. He pads quietly out into the kitchen when he's done, wraps his arms around Quentin's waist, and lays his head against the back of his flesh shoulder. Jedao will be fine alone for a couple minutes.

"Thank you, cyar'ika," he murmurs.