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~*~
They told me I was out there, tried to knock me down
Took those sticks and stones, showed 'em I could build a house
They tell me that I'm crazy, but I'll never let 'em change me
'Til they cover me in daisies, daisies, daisies
~*~
The city was loud, even in the night there was no stop to the sound of cars, sirens ringing in the distance, or the chatter of people on the streets. A few blocks away the door to a pub or club opened, letting the music escape for a mere second, before closing again. The sky was dark, the city aglow, swallowing the stars above with only the moonlight strong enough to reach earth. A helicopter circled above them, angels’ wings rustled as they changed their path to avoid collision.
Ruhn watched them in their flight, their light wings against the black of of the sky. If it was Hunt up there, he wouldn’t be able to see him. His clothes and wings became one with the shadows, swallowing him whole. But he could still hear him, the rhythm he clapped his wings, then stretched them steadily to soar through the sky. It was a sound unique to him, just as the way people walked. One and the same on the surface, but if one looked and listened closely, unique in their very own way. Ruhn had learned to listen closely a long while ago, when the sound of his father’s footsteps was one of the few methods to determine the state of his emotions. He sounded different when he was angry, than when he was calm.
He heard Hunt ascend from the window of his room at Bryce’s apartment, the strong sound of his wings lifting him into the sky before almost soundlessly riding the wind to the building opposite of the apartment. Bryce shut her curtains with one look to the roof Hunt would be landing on, the very same roof Ruhn was currently waiting for him. He had made sure his sister did not see him, see them together. He was not ready to explain that thing between him and Hunt to her. Not before he could explain it to himself. Before he could put at least some kind of label on it. Was it a fling? Was it more? He wasn’t quite sure himself. He only knew that they had met three more times since their kiss in his kitchen. Three more times in which nothing happened. Three more times in which they should have talked about it. About them. If there was a them or if they had just given into that attraction that had built between them ever since that evening in the White Raven.
Hunt landed behind him soundlessly, his feathers rustling as he folded his wings. He turned to face the angel, dark brown eyes locking with his and a shiver ran down his spine. Hunt smiled at him, wind tuggingon his clothes and hair. For a second he checked Bryce’s apartment, lights shining through shut curtains, Syrinx pressing his nose against the glass, half his body hidden under the heavy fabric. The beast was watching them carefully as always, and not for the first time Ruhn was glad neither Bryce nor Lehaba understood whatever he tried to say when he barked at them.
“There is no way of sneaking up on you,” Hunt greeted him, a teasing undertone in his voice.
“You know what they say about my kind,” he replied, “there’s nothing we don’t hear.” Which was a reason he sometimes despised the city and its noises, the constant ringing in his ears no matter where he was. The first moment of total silence had been in the library underneath the gallery, when the door was shut and Lehaba nowhere to be found. The second moment had been when Hunt had kissed him and the whole world had narrowed down to that moment, to lips on lips, hands on skin and in hair and his smell all around him.
"Never gave much thought about it, actually," Hunt admitted as he sat down at the edge of the roof, long legs hanging down over the edge. He patted the spot next to him, gesturing to Ruhn to sit down as well. He hesitated for a moment. Hunt looked at him, a smirk tugging on the corner of his lips. "Afraid you'll fall?" Ruhn shook his head, finally sitting down next to the angel.
"Afraid you'll shove me," he replied then in a playful tone. Feathers rustled, soft wind blew over his skin, then he felt the soft touch of Hunt's wings on his back and arm.
"I would never." His voice was soft and warm, the wing around him giving him the feeling of safety as he looked down on the streets. Hunt's warmth surrounded him, and if he only questioned himself a little less, he would give in to the urge to lean against him. What is this? What are we? He’d wanted to ask not for the first time. And not for the first time either, he decided not to.
They sat in silence, Hunt’s wing around him granting shelter from the cold, the ghostly touch of feathers on his skin. Somewhere in the building below them windows were tilted, the sound of music, TV-shows and private conversations mixed into the traffic sounds.
“How long will we keep doing this?” The words slipped his mouth before he could think, the question finally asked.
“Do what?” Hunt tilted his head, looking down on him.
“ This” , he gestured between them, trying to find the right words for the chaos in his head. “Keep meeting on a roof, being close… not talking about what happened the other day.”
“You mean when I kissed you?” Finally the words had been spoken. “Do we really need to talk about it?”
“Well, I would like to.” He would feel better at least, if he could finally call their relationship by any name. “I don’t know what to think of it, don’t know where I am at with you-” The rambling wanting to leave his throat as anxiety and nervousness took over his mind was cut short when Hunt, once again in surprise, pressed his lips on his. The kiss was soft and warm, lasting only seconds, a fleeting moment Ruhn longed for to last longer.
“Talking about my emotions has never been my strong suit. I am not good with words,” Hunt admitted, eyes locked with Ruhn’s, eye contact only breaking when he took a glimpse at his lips. Ruhn felt his heart speed up, banging against his chest as if wanting to break loose from its cage. He knew, if someone saw them, it could mean the end for them. If word of their changing relationship, of this thing blossoming between them, reached his father, he would find a way to make sure there would never be a possibility for them to see each other again. He swallowed down the anxiety that came with the thought, tried to concentrate only on the man next to him, the conversation that needed to come now.
“Try then,” he said, “I don’t need you to be good with words. Just your words.” A low chuckle left Hunt’s throat, sending shivers through every part of Ruhn’s body. Feathers stroked over his skin, leaving a tingling sensation wherever they touched him. He had never felt more secure, more at peace than in those moments, where the angel was near, his wings or arms around him, shielding him from what the world would throw at them the very next second.
“I came to realize I don’t despise you as much as I thought I did for a long time,” Hunt began, earning a low laugh from Ruhn in return. His wing nuged at his shoulder, drowning the laughter so he could continue what was so hard for him to phrase. Never had he expected to feel like this again, not after he had thought his heart had died alongside Shahar all those years ago. “The truth is, I like you, probably more than I should… more than is safe for both of us.” He felt Ruhn stiffen next to him, as he put both their fears into words, when all he wanted to do was confess that feeling burning deep inside his chest. He slung an arm around the prince, not minding Syrinx who was still watching them from his place, probably prompting Bryce to look what caught the chimera’s attention for so long. Ruhn sank against him, his head resting lightly against his shoulder, his warmth dripping through his shirt onto Hunt’s skin. His hand found its way into Ruhn’s hair, soft strains of silk running through his fingers, as he struggled to find the words that needed to be spoken. “When we were at the White Raven, when I sensed something was wrong, I knew I should’ve run towards Bryce. To guard her is the task I was assigned to after all, but my body didn’t want to move. Instead all I could think of was to keep you safe… whatever started between us then, I should have put a stop to it when I could, that was until I realized I couldn’t.”
Far too long his thoughts had only circled around the fae prince he once had thought to hate, the image of what could have been if he hadn’t shielded him from the explosion too prominent in his mind. He had seen the injuries, felt the warm blood under his hands. He had known Ruhn had long made the drop, had grown into almost immortality long before they had first met, that he would not die as easily as Bryce, who was part human, still tied to a mortal lifespan. Still, when he had laid unconscious in his arms the moment after the explosion, the seconds had felt like hours, anxiety and worry tying themselves together into a tight knot in his throat and chest.
The days after, he had felt drawn to him, like a moth was drawn to the light, his head full of made-up excuses to leave his place besides Bryce to see if he had recovered well from his injury. Then again, his mind was able to make up excuses but no explanations to give to Ruhn for a surprise visit.
“And you said you are not good with words,” the soft voice snapped him out of his thoughts, “If you ask me, you make quite a fine poet.” He could hear the smile on Ruhn’s lips as he spoke those words. A laugh escaped his throat and he couldn’t resist but pull the fae closer to him. He had been called a great many things in his life, all names given to him associated with shadows and death, never with his words.
“I did not intend to be poetic,” he answered, “but to voice what I feel for you… I am at loss for words, so all I can do is describe the situation I am in.”
“And again you’re all poetic,” Ruhn teased him, his fingers drawing fine lines on Hunt’s arms, the touch leaving an unknown sensation behind. “But I know what you mean. If you’d ask me to say what I feel for you, I would be at loss for words too.” Silence followed those words, which were as close to a confession of their feelings as it could get.
“All I know,” Ruhn continued, finally looking up to him, so their eyes met again, “is that this feeling is too strong to be ignored. With all that is happening right now and what will lie ahead of us in the future, the road will be anything but easy, but if you are willing to give this a try, there would be no other person I would rather have beside me.”
Hunt let the words sink in, the hopes for a future to build together once all of this was over. The path ahead of them truly was not an easy one, the autumn king surely not all too pleased to learn of his heir’s choice of a partner and the debt still looming over Hunt’s head, his life hanging on the mercy of the archangel he served. The reality of it lay heavy on his chest, and if it wasn’t for the man in his arms, it would have robbed him of his breath at this very moment. But right next to Ruhn, everything felt at least a little lighter, his fate a little more bearable, if the man he was growing to love was willing to walk this path together.
“You know,” Ruhn said, mischief and a tender fondness glistening in the blue of his eyes, “this is the moment where you should either say something or let your actions speak for themselves.”
Without any second thought, he bent down a little until their foreheads touched. Remaining like this for a short moment, his other wing hid them from view and Syrinx prying eyes, before sealing their lips with a kiss. It was the third kiss they shared and it had nothing of the raw emotion and want of their first, nor the faint softness of the second. It was tender, sweet, almost shy, as the new reality of their relationship settled in. It was the third time he kissed Ruhn, but the first time he kissed his boyfriend, fully aware that the feelings, dwelling inside of his chest, were reciprocated in the same way.
When they parted he saw the faint blush on Ruhn’s cheeks, knowing his own face would mirror the expression of happiness and disbelief. He felt the smile on his lips, as he saw his own longing reflected in Ruhn’s eyes, the unasked question he answered by leaning into another kiss, hoping for many more to be shared in the future to come. He wanted to remember the way the prince’s body felt next to his, the taste of his lips, which felt all too perfect against his own. His heart raced inside his chest, a drumming sound so loud, he was sure Ruhn could hear it. This time when they broke the kiss, Ruhn let himself sink against his chest, his ear right above his heart, their fingers intertwining, as Hunt withdrew his wing, to hold it tight to his back. Syrinx was gone from view, the curtains still closed, but light shining underneath them. Soon Bryce would leave for their evening walk, soon Hunt would have to let go of the man he loved so dearly, he could only barely put into words at this point. Soon, but not now, he told himself, as he pressed Ruhn closer. And once they parted, he knew they would find themselves here again, this rooftop turning into their own secluded space, hidden away in the middle of the always busy city.
~*~
They said I'm going nowhere, tried to count me out
Took those sticks and stones, showed 'em I could build a house
They tell me that I'm crazy, but I'll never let 'em change me
'Til they cover me in daisies, daisies, daisies
~*~