IC INBOX for The Last Voyages

[magician_king]

You know what to do.

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[callmefives]

Fives sets Jedao's tea on the bedside table since Jedao's still focused on Quentin. He sits back against the wall again with his own deceptively delicate cup cradled in his hands, watching Jedao splay his hand over the tattoo. He feels a little... peripheral, and he doesn't know how to change that right now, but it doesn't bother him as much as he might have thought.

[magician_king]

He breathes out, relaxing into the quiet and stretching his arms up over his head. It isn't a question, exactly, so he lapses into quiet, turning his head to peek at Fives over his elbow.

[ninefox]

"How do you feel about it?" Jedao asks, pressing one elbow into a knot of muscle while reaching for his tea cup with his other arm.

"The tattoo itself, I mean. That it's still on you, now you can't do much with it. Bad reminder, kinda proud, indifferent?"

[callmefives]

Fives smiles at him, small but warm and, he hopes, encouraging, then takes a sip of his tea. He finds he's very curious about Quentin's answer to Jedao's question.

[magician_king]

"Well, I got it as a rite of passage at graduation. We went down under the school and all took our shirts off, even the girls- which felt so scandalous. Our headmaster brought several bottles of vodka and made us pass them around the circle taking swigs, to soften the blow, and then held us down and did them freehand. It was-"

He draws in a sharp breath, which could be an answer to Jedao's question, or could be the poignancy of the memory.

"I love it very much. And it connects me to everyone I went through all of that with. And represents how hard school was, how hard I worked, the silly kid I was, just finishing and just about to really get started. Plus I like that it's there under my clothes. People think I'm a lot of things- and a lot of them I am, but it's nice to have a body written with secrets that no one could guess at, under my pressed shirts and cardigans."

[ninefox]

"I definitely never guessed," Jedao agrees. "It was an intriguing surprise."

[callmefives]

"Very surprising," Fives agrees, looking at the tattoo again. "I never expected you to have a tattoo for some reason, I like that you do. And that it means something important." It makes him feel a little more familiar, as do the scars, even if the scale of its import is so massive.

He starts to move, hesitates for a moment, then reaches up to curl a hand loosely around Quentin's wrist.

[magician_king]

He turns his palm up to him, breathing out, settling down a few inches more and shutting his eyes.

"I hear you guys are both collecting more?"

[ninefox]

"Just me," Jedao answers, so Fives doesn't have to. "Fives doesn't want to risk another death reset. But I don't mind getting inked again."

His voice is warm with suggestion, and he shoots Fives a hot, appreciative glance at the memory.

[callmefives]

Fives slides his hand down to take Quentin's hand instead, feeling the differences in their callouses, the places where Quentin's hands are soft and delicate to his rough and blunt.

"I don't... do well not having control over my body," he adds, because he thinks Quentin deserves the explanation. And it doesn't really hurt to say right now, not with the memory of kneeling over Jedao's hips and inking the dragonflies into his back, and everything that came after, and his answering smile is just as heated. "When I'm done here, though, I'll have Jedao put them back again."

[magician_king]

"That makes sense."

Says Quentin, and stretches out a bit more, wondering;

"When we're on the other side, can I draw you something to maybe have somewhere to remember me while you guys are off being big war heroes and I'm neck deep in construction?"

[ninefox]

"How much real estate are you looking for, babe?" Jedao asks warmly, digging in for a long, smooth, heavy drag of his hands, pressing, rolling out the sore spots. "You know I want that."

[callmefives]

Fives swallows and almost looks away, almost falls into silence and assumes it can't possibly include him. But he's trying not to do that anymore, or at least not as much, so he licks his lips and makes himself ask, quietly, "Do you... do you mean me too?" And tells himself it won't matter if he doesn't.

[magician_king]

"I know I'm inking Jedao's arm- I'm talking only about you, Fives." He says, turning his head to smile at him.

"I mean, if that's okay, obviously."

[callmefives]

"Oh." He flushes a little in warm, unexpected pleasure and dips his chin jerkily in a truncated nod. "Yeah. That... please." His answering smile is wide enough the corners of his eyes crinkle, but somehow still a little shy. Tattoos are important, and he squeezes Quentin's hand maybe a little too tightly.

[ninefox]

Jedao beams a little, although mercifully doesn't reiterate how fucking cute they are out loud.

"We definitely want a piece of you with us that way," he affirms instead, in support for Fives' expressive but unspecific stammering.

[magician_king]

"Where can I have?"

He asks, glancing over at Fives.

"Where do the others ones go, once you get them back?"

[callmefives]

"Jedao's dragonfly on my left forearm and his deuce of gears on my temple," he answers, though he does still get Jedao to redo the henna on his left temple every time it starts to fade. "The Rishi eel, like the one on my bucket, will cover most of my back, and Tup's firefly over my heart."

He squeezes Quentin's hand again. "And I already have a handprint on the right side of my chest and a rotary blaster on my right shoulder," he adds. "So... anyplace else?"

[ninefox]

"If you do right forearm, we'd be matching," Jedao points out, at least partly. "Or you could think about the design you want to give him first."

[magician_king]

"Right forearm please."

He confirms, eyes slipping shut.

"And higher, I'll make sure it fits cleanly into the shoulder piece."

[callmefives]

Fives sets his now empty cup carefully aside on the floor, then rolls up onto his knees with a sort of absent, animal grace, so that he can lean up and over the bed, and Quentin, and press a kiss to his cheek. "Right forearm," he agrees, resting his forehead against Quentin's temple for a moment. "Whatever you want."

[ninefox]

Jedao loves them both so much. He's so glad they can make each other happy.

"I can't wait to see it," he agrees.

[magician_king]

"How do you guys both move like that? I am covered with bruises from smashing into my own furniture while just walking, never mind springing here and there like a leopard."

Complains Quentin, without complaining, reaching up to squeeze the nape of his neck before rolling onto his side, drawing his knees up to stretch the small of his back and squirming a bit before settling down.

[callmefives]

Fives stays where he is, kneeling on the floor, and lets his head hang between his shoulders in response to Quentin's hand at his nape. Once Quentin's settled he leans a little into Jedao's leg.

"I don't know about him," he answers, and tips his head just enough to smirk up at Jedao sidelong. "But I was genetically engineered this way."

[ninefox]

"In Academy they used to put pepper grenades on our heads with the pins tied to our hair while we went through obstacle courses, and if we didn't keep our balance smooth and perfect, we'd have to go to marksmanship next period with our eyes half swollen shut." Jedao adds cheerfully, almost nostalgically. He appreciates a good incentive that doesn't actually kill you.