riverviewlogs | [closed] i been getting used to waking up with you

who: Laurent and Damen
what: It doesn't take them long to find each other.
when: 24 hours after their arrival
where: Floor 7, Apartment 3
warnings: Feelings for now. Will update.

[Damen arrival through the portal is a jumble of memories. He barely remembers the moment he planted feet on the moon - maybe because he probably fell through it, still bleeding out from Kastor's knife. Being rushed to the 'hospital' is a blur, and then blackness while they treated his wound. Upon waking in a thin paper gown in a narrow bed, a man from the Perimeter Guard told him about this place, where he is and why he's here, how they cannot yet send him back to Akielos. He gave him something called a 'phone', a hand-held rectangle of glass and plastic, and showed him how to use it to access 'websites' and 'apps', to send 'text messages' and 'call people'.

They released him 24 hours from his arrival in Riverview Quarantine, his injury now seeming days or a couple of weeks old, not freshly given by- His head spins whenever he thinks of Akielos. Of the baths. His brother's lifeless eyes and blood on the marble floor. Laurent, holding his hand.

A dearth of painful memories that leave him feeling small and tired.

The guardsman shows him to a tall building, the tallest he's ever seen, but he can hardly take in the wonder of steel and glass; he takes the stairs to the seventh floor, with the key he was given in hand. He still doesn't trust the mechanized box they call an elevator. When he reaches the apartment he has been given, he slides in the key and opens the door, stepping inside with barely a glance. He must look a sight, his curls a dark bird's nest, bandages wrapped around his torso beneath a thin white shirt, hospital-issued sweatpants just a bit too short. He doesn't care. He just wants to sleep, and hope to wake up from all this tomorrow.]

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[ It had been the longest twenty four hours of Laurent's life. He had tried to find Damen, to see if his broad Akielon husband-to-be had been brought with him. He had arrived with Damen's blood still on his hands, the fear of losing him very real. It was the closest to frantic Laurent had ever come. To think that he had left the love of his life during a time when he was needed most. Being told that they didn't know if he was here, that he had to pass through orientation-

Everything passed in a blur thereafter.

Laurent was alone, as far as he knew. And while Laurent should have been used to the feeling, there was something crushing about the prospect, now. Having come so far. Having made such promises, such confessions. He and Damen had been through so much. To be parted now was a blow that Laurent needed time to come to terms with. To compartmentalise.

He was in what was to be his apartment; his home while he was here. It felt painfully empty, leaving him achingly bereft.

Laurent was still familiarising himself with the technology of his new home, when abruptly- the door opened. He had been in the bedroom, examining his device, scrolling through the 'apps' and clicking them at random, just to see what they did. All at once though, Laurent was instead on alert. The last time someone had entered his living quarters uninvited, it hadn't gone well for them. He intended to make the same case here.

He slid silently from the bed, angling himself away from the door in order to keep whoever had barged in from catching sight of him, from hearing that anyone else was there. Positioning himself beside the archway, Laurent did his best to peer around the corner, unseen. To assess this intruder.

What he saw instead, made his heart drop- and then soar. ]

Damianos. [ He gasped softly, stepping out from where he had been hiding, his phone clattering to the floor. The only evidence that he was taken aback by the sight of the other- before he forcibly relaxed. Leaning in a forced, casual way against the frame of the door. ] You are late; what kept you?

[Damen isn't sure what to expect when he steps into the apartment. It's obviously smaller than anything he would have been used to as Crown Prince of Akielos, but it's clean, and neat, if impersonal. He can tell already that it's outfitted with all sorts of sleek, 'modern' gadgets whose purposes he doesn't yet know. He doesn't think anyone else is here, so he drops his phone on the table beside the door and steps through the living room, peering at this and that to familiarize himself with his surroundings.

And then Laurent steps out of an archway, looking just as beautiful as when Damen last saw him an achingly long 24 hours ago. He has Damen's full attention immediately, staring, transfixed, at his love's forced casual pose. It's 'hello, lover' all over again, it's 'you aren't alone', it's 'you came back'. He can't help the way joy blooms over his face, honest and open and painfully sweet.]

I was held up. [He says, voice gone a bit rough with emotion, and then he can't restrain himself any longer. He rushes forward and sweeps Laurent up into his arms, lifting him off the floor and holding him tight.] I was-

You're here.

[ The wash of relief that overtook him when Damen lifted him into his arms was everything that Laurent had been unable to bring himself to hope for. He gripped the other tightly, letting out a soft, protesting noise as his feet left the ground, his arms winding tight around Damen's shoulders as he smiled, leaning forward and bringing their noses to touch. He let out a soft, shuddering breath, having taken in everything of the other- the thin shirt that betrayed his bandages. ]

Put me down, you fool. Look at you- I can guess why you were held up. You shouldn't even be out of bed. [ Reasonably. Reasonably Damen would have been in no state likely to even be awake after the wound he had suffered. Yet here he was. Walking, lifting him off his feet. ] Are you all right?

[He can't hold back the happy little laugh as he rubs his nose against Laurent's, presses kisses there, and across his cheeks and forehead and eyelids when his affection is well-received. Laurent is here. Laurent remembers, he knows this right away when he starts to scold Damen for being out of bed. They're here and they're together and Laurent still loves him enough to berate him like a naughty child sneaking out after bedtime.

After a moment, he reluctantly sets him down, though he stands close still, keeps his arms around Laurent's waist.] It's alright, I'm well. They brought me to a hospital, I suppose. Their physicians are- [He lifts the hem of his shirt with one hand; all that activity and only a few tiny spots of blood dot the bandages.] -amazing, truly. It's been a day and yet I feel as if I have healed for a week at least.

[ With his feet back upon the ground, Laurent lets himself relax into the other's arms. To catch some of the kisses Damen delightedly bestows upon him, and respond with a soft brush of his own lips in kind. The aching knot of grief that he had carried within him since he arrived finally begins to unwind, and for just a moment, he let him enjoy this closeness.

When Damen drew back a little in order to lift his shirt, Laurent was almost reluctant to let him. As if he thought by doing so the other might slip through his fingers; disappear. So he kept one hand upon the other's shoulder, the other drifting down towards the other's bandages, inspecting the spots of blood and humming lowly in disapproval. ]

They may be good, but you are still a fool. [ His hand rose then, and with two fingers, he flicked the other's nose, chastising. ] Such a brute you are. [ And oh, how he loved him. ]

[He looks a bit like a kid caught sneaking pastries as Laurent inspects his bandages, flicks his nose. He breathes out a laugh and leans in again to tuck his nose against the curve of a pale, elegant throat.] Your brute. [He murmurs, pressing a soft kiss to warm skin.]

I don't know what I would have done, if- [If you weren't here. But he can't even voice the thought. It's a terrible one, the thought of being alone after everything they'd been through, after how hard they had fought for kingdoms and each other.

They don't have their kingdoms here, cannot reach them yet, but... A kingdom or this? Damen will always choose this.] I didn't get to say it. Before...

I love you, Laurent.

My brute. [ He agreed, voice soft as he turned his head to nuzzle in against the others wild curls.

Damen continued on, spouting first, impossibilities- and next, unnecessary air. Huffing a soft breath of laughter, Laurent rose a hand to the others lips, pressing two fingertips against Damen's to silence him. ]

We shall not speak of what might have been. [ He murmured, drawing back- voice soft, but firm. ] And you don't need to say it, Damen. I know. And I hope you know, too- that I love you, as well. With all of my heart.

[ Laurent moved his hand away, then, and leaned forward. Connecting his lips softly, sweetly, with Damen's once more. ]

[He smiles against Laurent's fingertips, pressing the softest of kisses there as he falls into silence. Lets him speak. It's a reassurance like no other, a balm for his soul, having Laurent here, knowing that he remembers, knowing that they haven't been separated. Knowing that he feels the same.]

I know. [He says, aching with the truth of it. He knew back in the slave baths, bleeding out on the tile. It was one kingdom once.] I know, Laurent. [He returns the kiss, a little more fervently, as if he is dying for it. After a bit, though, he seems to settle, and when they part, he leans his forehead down against Laurent's, breathing out.]

No one seems to know how long we will be here. I suppose, until then, this is our home.

[closed] i been getting used to waking up with you

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