let’s hide up here forever [open]

[dedamastai]

Who: Damen (dedamastai), Laurent (crosslaced), and whoever else happens along.
What: It's Laurent's birthday, so a birthday party was necesscary. (Spoiler: it's actually not a birthday party. It's an engagement party.)
When: May 3rd
Where: Islet #1
Warnings: This is going to get Stupidly Sappy. I just want you to know that. (Anything else I trust y'all to warn for as needed.)


If Damen is being perfectly honest, he's not entirely sure what one does for a birthday. It's not that he's never celebrated one - he has. They were just . . . The only birthdays that were celebrated, aside from the days the Gods were born, were when someone reached the age of adulthood. Occasionally his own birthday had been used as an excuse to hold a festival after the harvest, but it's not like Veretian birth customs were something he thought would be necesscary to study. Even knowing Laurent, Damen wouldn't have bothered because it was . . . Well. Laurent was Laurent.

Laurent would probably prefer he didn't bother, but it's come to Damen's attention that people here celebrate birthdays which is convenient because Damen's been trying to figure out how to plan an celebration of their (hopeful) engagement without, uh. Having to scrap it all if Laurent decided to say no because something something marriage is bad or whatever. Damen barely pretends to be able to keep up with half of what Laurent says. He's sure Laurent would have a reason to say no, but he can't fathom what it would be because from his perspective there is no other choice. For as friendly as he is to Prompto, Damen would never - could never - contemplate actually being with anybody but Laurent.

So he mentioned holding a birthday party to the people he knew Laurent was friends with, hoping they would fill in the blanks with . . . whatever people who come from places with witchboxes and other unfathomable things did for birthdays. Because, quite honestly? He just set out some fruits and drinks. That's the extent of his actual planning for this event in regards to it being a party. He put most of his effort into the details of the proposal and then was like "Ignis will probably bring food to the party." Apparently neither of my characters can throw a decent party to save their life.

Comments

[dedamastai]

[Damen sets a ring on Laurent's palm and closes Laurent's fingers around it. He'd put it on Laurent's finger, but then the jig would be up immediately.]

I confess this isn't actually a gift. It's a selfish request.

1/??

[crosslaced]

Jewelry?

[ For anything else he would have gotten it by now, but he still sounds genuinely confused. It's like he has not, at all, considered rings and their contexts in a long time. ]

What-

[crosslaced]

...

......

..................

3/3

[crosslaced]

What?

[dedamastai]

I want to marry you, Laurent. Will you allow it?

[He did say it was a selfish request.]

[crosslaced]

I-
[ RUN AWAY RUN AWAY RUN AWAY ]

Damen- I can't -[go home with you-] Maybe- Shouldn't we wait until we're back?

We're in the middle of nowhere, we can't tell your kyros we got officiated on an island that doesn't exist-

[dedamastai]

. . . Laurent, we've been married for months by the law of Akielos. The kyros probably already assume us to be married there, if not Vere.

[Like, uh. The second he fucked off to the Summer Palace? Nikandros Everyone was like "you can't fucking live with him?? at the palace??? that's basically marriage????" and Damen was like "I know!! isn't it great??"

. . . Anyway, the moral of the story is that while there is, in fact, a whole Ceremony to weddings? In Akielos, a marriage isn't legally binding unless you live with whoever you married so the act of moving in with someone and living with them for an extended period of time makes you married to them. And technically!! Since neither of them even have family and therefore couldn't even do the full Akielon wedding ceremony!!! Living together was all that needed to happen for them to be as good as married.]

I don't mind waiting, but there's - the selfish request I'm making is for our marriage to be legal here.

[You know! In case they never make it home!]

[crosslaced]

[ DON’T SAY THAT DAMEN HAS GOTTA GO HOME OR HE’LL PROBABLY DIE FROM ANXIETY]

You want it- here?

[I had multiple concerns planned and they've all been circumvented in one fell swoop. Well played, Damen. ]

Will you do it again proper in Akielos? I'm not sure I'm the same person as the Laurent waiting for you and I don't want-

[dedamastai]

The two of us getting properly married in Akielos is easy. An actual ceremony is not. [Dead parents make the process a little difficult.] It would have to be in Vere. After your coronation.

[Hence the flower crown. It's a symbolic coronation, but that's fine.]

[crosslaced]

[ this gets a bit of a laugh out of him.]

I doubt I'm getting coronated. This is already my twenty-second year.

[ Luckily Laurent tolerates flower crowns, because on Enso they're also symbols of Friendship with Ren. His horse has been crowned at some point. ]

There's- you need to know that I'm not- the one you wanted. As in- [ Damen needs to know. He was content not bring it up at all but if this is happening Damen deserves to know first. Also he doesn't know how to explain shit because he barely understands it himself. ] I figured I'd just die but losing your soul just seems to- I'm not human, I don't think. I'm at the mana pools so much because I need it to stay like this.

If that's. Not a problem with you, you can. You can put this on for me.

[ Holding the ring back out. ]

[dedamastai]

Then you'll simply have to move to Akielos and be my husband, Vere be damned.

[You know that time Laurent was super wasted and basically told Damen the plot of Captive Prince and Damen, like a fucking moron, only heard "he missed me" instead of "hey so here's some important backstory you should know"? Remember that?

It's literally happening again, but this time with wedding rings!]

No matter where we are and who we might be, I think I would want to marry you.

[crosslaced]

You didn't listen to any of that, did you.

[Damen you can't keep being like this.

He could repeat himself, but they're in public- there's Prompto, looking curiously over at them- and this is supposed to be a celebration. Maybe Damen doesn't have to know after all. This is what he wished for, isn't it? Ruining Damen's happiness at this point would just be self sabotaging. That's what Uncle always said about him; self sabotaging. Here there's no one to prove right.]

Put this on for me, then.

[that's romance, right]

[dedamastai]

I did. You're raising objections that don't matter, which you only do when believe it will protect me.

[From Damen's perspective, that's usually what it boils down to: Laurent's method of dealing with things that scare him is to deflect until a person gets frustrated and gives up.

Damen takes the ring back and puts it on Laurent's finger. He's actually been wearing his for most of this conversation.]

I can make my own choices, Laurent. Let me choose you.

[crosslaced]

[He sighs theatrically, but that stops when the ring goes on. He wouldn't have imagined this. Laurent takes Damen's hand, examining their matching rings, then lifts it up to plant a light kiss on Damen's ring.]

I would like to marry you.

Where did you get the rings? They're rather ugly, not to mention impractical for wearing around all the time.

[dedamastai]

It's not my fault the Veretian style is impractical.

[He's just gonna blatantly not answer where he got them from, because that's a rabbithole he doesn't want to think about. If he doesn't think about how the rings got up there, now that it's basically been confirmed that the floating islands are what the places they go to are shaped from, then he doesn't have to think about what subconscious desire created them! Like, does he really want to think about how this Laurent is different from the Laurent he knew? No, he fucking doesn't.]

I'm sure it can be converted to a necklace, if you'd rather. That's fashionable in Patras, I hear.

[crosslaced]

You know I wouldn't have minded the Akeilon style. [he doesn't like jewellery, Damen. Simplicity is fine.] I'll consider it.

[he's going to do a whole cost benefit analysis because rings are important.]

So what's left to do? Pick a date and blackmail the Storyteller into allowing it?

[dedamastai]

You don't want to defy a God by not asking for a blessing?

[It's more of a joke than an actual question. That sort of thing didn't tend to go well in the myths but it was the sort of thing Laurent would do.]

[crosslaced]

You wanted it legalised. The Storyteller is the closest thing we have to an institution in this place.

Besides, Nikandros will collapse if I ruin the sanctity of his King’s marriage on top of everything else.

[dedamastai]

Nikandros would come around. He always does.

[Sure, Damen. You keep thinking that.]

Although . . . do you think if we get married at storytelling it would count as a story? Would that be how a wedding works here?

[crosslaced]

No. [he was red before but he somehow got redder in the face.] You may announce it at the storytelling. That's much too many people.

[dedamastai]

It's not that many people.

[He sounds vaguely confused. Literally everyone??? In Vere??? Would come if they were getting married back home???? And probably some people from Akielos??? HOW THIS DIFFERENT.]

And anyway it's not like there's a council of them who will want to verify.

[Yes, he's still stuck on that.]

[crosslaced]

Veretians don't personally care that the prince is getting married and I don't have to make actual conversation with most of them.

[dislikes: emotions]

Oh, the Storyteller isn't going to verify?

[his tone is slightly teasing, because most probably they'll get kicked out of the Temple immediately.]

[dedamastai]

I doubt they care unless it comes in the form of a story.

[Which, to be clear here, is absolutely something he would do. I mean.

. . . Okay. It would probably be classier than that, but the sentiment would be the same.]

wrapping...?

[crosslaced]

Heh. Don't tell that kind of story in front of everyone, alright? There're children.

[HAHDJSJ DAMEN DONT DO IT.

With a last kiss on the cheek, Laurent steps back.]

Well. I suppose you're my betrothed now. Since you planned this… banquet [uh. for a certain definition of the word], shouldn't you go be a good host?

wrapped?? probably??

[dedamastai]

They think it's a birthday party. I think that would make you host - or at least the guest of honor.

[Damen catches Laurent's hand for a moment, tangling their fingers together and looking down at the matching rings before letting go.]

But I should go check on Chuck - you know how she is about stealing other people's food.

[He's just gonna. Go do that. Even if he kind of wants to personally go around and fucking tell everyone that they're engaged to be married.]