Home Is Where the Heart Is [Arvalyn]

[Finn]

"That's one way to get fresh produce inexpensively," he noted with a quiet smile. A grin spread across his features at Arry's enthusiasm, though; he knew some aspects of having their own place would be a bit of a hassle, but hopefully, the benefits would outweigh them. Little things like growing herbs and flowers wouldn't feel like work to him, but rather remind him of his youth in a generally positive manner. But he would hazard to guess that soon enough, they would hire someone to come in regularly to clean up. They were just too busy between the two of them to keep up on this much space. There was enough room that it oughtn't to get cluttered like his old garret apartment, but dust collected, and kitchens got filthy rather quickly. Bathrooms too.

But he tried not to calculate all that right now, instead taking in the place and the shared experience with his leading man.

"Don't threaten me with a good time," he said, taking in an eyeful of his bum as it bobbed up the stairs. At the top, he took Arry gently by the waist so he could lean in and kiss his neck. "I'm glad you'll finally have a place that's yours. Not a supply closet or a dormitory, but a home. If there's anything I can do to help make it feel more like home, I want you to tell me."

But he didn't linger too long here, knowing Arry had his momentum and there would never be another first impression for Finn of this new place where they would live. He did wonder which room they would elect to christen first; he wasn't always so randy, but they were going to have so much privacy that they could make love at the drop of a hat, or whenever the wind picked up and rustled their hair.

[Arvælyn]

“What can I say? I’m used to the hustle…” He shrugged. Those were impulses he’d have to temper if he was to fit into the class he aspired to join. He’d learnt to be less ravenous at a buffet and, if he pocketed foodstuffs for later, he was much better about doing so discreetly than when he’d begun on this road.

“Incorrigible.” He sighed, pausing as they reached the top of the staircase and Finn waxed affectionate once more. It was nice to have someone who so consistently expressed himself physically. Arry was prone to doubt, and Finn’s behaviour, and seemingly perpetual randiness in his presence, made it difficult to doubt his feelings. At least when he was present. What happened when they were apart was another matter altogether…

“That’s rather a tough one.” Arry furrowed his brow and considered. “I haven’t had an house since I were a lad with me dad. And that weren’t nowt but a shanty, so this feels proper palatial. I don’t reckon I have a strong sense of ‘home’, so it’ll be more a matter of conjuring a new sensation rather than invoking an old one.” He pursed his lips and pondered on.

“If I have a sense of home I think it’s people. You’re home, and now I’ll have you around more often, so…” He shrugged and began to feel bashful in his vulnerability, so he gestured down the corridor.

“Sooo to the left here are a couple of guest rooms. The furnishings are fine, but I suppose we’ll need bedding at some point if we’re ever to use them. I don’t have any at all…” He frowned,

“But I suppose it’ll be a few weeks at least before we have a housewarming, so there’s time enough to beg, borrow, steal, or… better yet, start a registry!”

[Finn]

So far, at least, Arry didn't seem to tire of his affection, even if it arrested him before he could continue doing what he was doing at the time. He could only hope that wouldn't change when Finn was around all the time.

"Should I be playing harder to get?" he wondered aloud, but he placed one more kiss on Arry's neck before releasing him. Finn didn't pull away, though, just allowed Arry to continue the tour. When he indicated what home meant to him, Finn was touched, but all he could think to do was rest a hand on the other man's shoulder while he spoke about the guest rooms. He laughed a little nervously about the registry. From what he gathered, that was what people in the city did when they had a wedding—they put out a list of presents they wanted. It seemed strange to him, but he was only a village boy despite his thin veneer of culture.

"I suppose we focus first on the things we need, the most pressing things, and we can slowly accumulate the other things we need. My parents might stay with us next time they visit if that wouldn't make you uncomfortable. Or perhaps my siblings. But that wouldn't be for a while. They were just here for my capstone last season and I'll likely visit them in Glade."

He did a quick walk through of the guest rooms, peeking out the windows for the various views, then returned to face Arry with a strange smile. They were a bit smaller than his old garret apartment, but then these were once servants' quarters, so he supposed that made sense. Still and all, there was quite a bit of common area so if guests only retired to their rooms to sleep, the space ought to be plenty.

[Arvælyn]

"Only if you want to make me jealous..." Arry smirked, but the expression softened almost immediately.

"In truth, I was just thinking about how nice it is that you're as affectionate as you are. It makes it easier for me to trust that you still like me, which I'm prone to doubt when we're apart. I know that's annoying to you, but it's just how I am."

He stood in the doorways of the two smaller bedrooms and gave Finn time and leave to poke around for however long he wanted to explore.

"Of course that wouldn't make me uncomfortable!" Arry broke into a warm smile and reached up to squeeze the hand that lingered on his shoulder. "I want to be close to your family. They're welcome here anytime, as far as I'm concerned. If I were uncomfortable at all it would just be out of a desire for them to like me." He paused,

"Would you want me to go with you when you visit?" He stepped aside and allowed Finn back into the hallway. "There's a water closet here." He gestured, "And the master bedroom is this way."

He would pause in the doorway to the master bedroom, giving Finn leave to explore the bathroom if he so chose. Whenever he was ready, he stepped all the way inside and spread his arms presentationally.

"And here's where the magic happens." He grinned, "Literally, in our case." With that, he took a few steps further into the large room and spun around to plop down on the four poster bed. Like the other beds it was bereft of linens, but the piece looked antique and likely meant for Avialae dimensions.

[Finn]

"If you can get away," he said, unsure how much time Arry could take off when he was still so new to his job. "But if schedules don't align one season, there's always the next." He smiled. "I won't stop visiting them anytime soon."

Finn peeked into the water closet, thinking that having their own was the height of luxury. And then, in the master bedroom, despite all his earlier amorous gestures, he turned a shade more pink. The bed was so big he might have to chase Arry around it sometimes, and the posts reminded him of stories Arry had told him about people who enjoyed a bit of rope play with their magic. The minstrel was game to try anything, deferring to Arry's experience. It was the intimacy he craved; how that manifested was less important. It wasn't that he didn't care, but everything was good in that department.

But he followed him in, turning around slowly to take it all in, and then sat next to him on the naked bed. It all felt sort of momentous, sort of like a thing he had no reference for.

"Are you happy?" he asked finally, glancing sidelong at his lover. He figured the answer was yes; by and large, this was a move up into living the lifestyle he wanted and he would have Finn every day. But they both could hear how complicated people's emotions could be and so he just thought he ought to check. "I'm happy." He was quite a lot of things, but happy was as good an umbrella term as any. Of course, he was nervous that too much of a good thing might make Arry tire of him. He hoped it wasn't a terrible adjustment and that they would quickly find the right harmonies for domestic bliss. But he didn't really know what he was doing.

[Arvælyn]

"Well." Arry shrugged, grinning. "Depending on when you go and how long you stay, perhaps I can come for at least part of the trip. For now I've just got my featured role in Act V of 'Avaerys Eternal' and the bit part of 'Young Sailor' in 'Tristian and Yseult', but both of those will have closed come Glade. At the moment we haven't even had auditions for next season's line-up, so who knows what'll be going on?" He glanced sidelong as Finn took in the master suite, and chuckled.

"You look intimidated by the bed." He nudged him with an elbow, "Are you intimidated by the bed?" He patted the mattress with one hand, as if testing the firmness. "We shall have to break it in at some point tonight and make sure it has the sort of durability we require in our sleeping arrangements." As Finn sat down next to him, he leaned over to rest his head on one of his shoulders.

"Of course I'm happy." He said with a firm, decisiveness in his particularly expressive voice. "I feel like I'm turning over a new leaf. Leaving my old life behind for good and all." It had been a slow road to strip himself of all the Antiran baggage that pursued him to Kalzasi, and there was plenty still to jettison, but most of that was tucked neatly away so it only erupted in fits and starts when he hadn't the presence of mind to render his symphony as serene as he preferred to keep it.

"I'm glad you're happy, too. I was afraid you'd get cold feet about all this. I know it's a big step and I'm not one to really prepare in advance, so..." He sighed, "I end up getting overwhelmed all at once. I'm sorry if I'm not altogether myself today, I'm..." He lifted his head and glanced around the room, wrinkling his nose, as if to punctuate his point. "...just a tad distracted, is all. But very, very happy to have you to myself." He shot up from the bed and went over to a dresser the positioning of which was suddenly troubling him.

"Mostly." He added without thinking as he struggled to push the heavy piece toward one of the room's corners.

[Finn]

Finn laughed quietly, rather glad that Arry didn't need his Rune to read him anymore. He put his arm around the half-elf.

"It gave me a little tremor of that old what if I'm not good enough to impress the courtesan melody, but even as powerful as you've become, I know how much you enjoy what I bring to the table... or the bed..." He looked up at one of the posters. "Do you want a sort of canopy? I can put up a canopy. Help keep the heat in for Frost and the bugs out for Searing..."

But he was heartened to hear that Arry was happy. Finn knew that some of that was grounded in them, but they would both always have their own things to contend with. At least now they had an ally in those things in each other.

"If I get cold feet, you'll be sleeping next to me, so I'll just tuck them under you." He laughed again as Arry shot up, and then he got up a couple of beats later to help him with the heavy lifting. "Oi, let me 'elp you with that, milord." His attempts to ape Arry's dialect weren't awful, perhaps because of his musical ear. "'ere, step aside. I'll move it and milord can direct me hither an' thither." He grinned at his lover. Of course, he wanted a helpmeet in a partner, but he was also glad that sometimes their skills overlapped and sometimes they complemented each other's. He didn't mind being the physically strong one, and he didn't mind sweating in service to their relationship.

[Arvælyn]

"Ooh, and I do work well in silhouette..." Arry offered with a devilish grin. "Yes, I think a canopy would be just the thing." He frowned profusely at Finn's expression of doubt.

"Don't be absurd. I'm the one who's not good enough for you. I'm just faking my way through the world until enough people think I'm summat great and worthy that I feel peer pressured into believing them." He chuckled and shook his head.

"I run colder than most, so good luck with that." For all the sunlight in his features, his skin was often cool as moonlight. He glanced over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes in mock indignation at the imitation of his manner of speech. After a beat, he just decided to play along.

"Hop to it then, stable boy!" If Arry was going to be cast as the master, he elected to play into the timeless cliches of that dynamic by assigning Finn his own classic archetype. At first he tried to help Finn move the dresser, but the stronger human brushed him aside presumably either to show off his greater strength or because Arry was more an obstacle than an aid to the effort. In either case, the elf stood by and watched with growing erotic interest.

"Just further toward that corner there, stable boy..." He fanned himself with his hand, playing his foppish part. "And when you're done with that?" He sauntered back over to the bed and sat down, licking his lips.

"...I have another job for you." He cocked an eyebrow and bit his bottom lip with a mischievous glint in his golden eyes. "Or perhaps you'll consider it more of a reward for your dutiful service."

[Finn]

There was a simple joy in playing together, even as adults. Perhaps the world would be a better place if adults learned not to stop playing when they were deemed 'too old for it.' There was also a little bit of it being easier to just move things himself and a little bit of wanting to show off his strength. They had developed roles in the bedroom, though Finn didn't feel compelled to remain within them if Arry wanted for variety. Then again, he wasn't going to complain about his role, which was quite enjoyable.

His eyebrows shot up innocently when Arry retreated to the bed.

"Service is reward enough, milord," he attested, though he sauntered over, turning his neck one way and the other to stretch it out. He had walked quite a ways with all his worldly goods upon him, then done some moving of furniture. He would be happy for a hot bath, but he wasn't nearly tired enough to turn down his hot lover.

"But please yourself..." A grin tugged at his mouth. He found it difficult not to adore Arvine Venasyr or Arvalyn Val'Cithaeron or whoever else he might become in the future.

Once he was close, he stopped, knees between Arry's knees. He pulled his shirt out from his trousers.

"Is it hot in here or is it just you?"

He started to pull his shirt up over his head to get out of it. Perhaps Arry would get dirty with him before they went to get clean.

[Arvælyn]

Alas, gentle reader, you've no doubt predicted the path down which this little vignette is trending. Another tumble in a brand new setting. Coupling on their first day in their new lodgings was rather like christening a ship by smashing a bottle of champagne against its hull. Arry hadn't planned to take a break from unpacking and redecorating so early in the day, but some things just weren't to be helped. In this instance, the view of the chiseled human and the scent of his musk well earned from exertion were more than enough to warrant a mite of spontaneity to spice up the day's schedule.

Their lovemaking was familiar without being practised, as Arry's adoration of Finn was consummate enough that his predilections varied from session to session or, in some instances, moment to moment. One day he might worship a particular curve or muscle that hadn't been afforded enough attention, and the next he might be inclined to act out some scene he'd read in a book or seen onstage. The noble and the stable boy, while surpassingly cliché on paper, felt refreshing and new in execution.

Arry had never been a religious lad... At least not before his recent rehearsal process garnered his interest in the obscure, ancient religion of a distant clime... but Finn was devoutly worshiped by the elven actor- A religion unto himself.

When the scene had played out, Arry collapsed onto Finn's broad chest and sighed against the soft skin of his neck. His panting breaths slowing toward languor.

"I don't know about you, but the lack of bedding really added something. I've slept in a stable before, and that was spot on." He jested with a chuckle as he shut his amber eyes.

"I know there's work to do, but I reckon a nap is in order. The furniture will keep a few hours."

End