"i have a steady hand. now shush. talking makes it more difficult." it's much harder doing this than on herself, but practice eases the process. it helps too, that he is compliant, which is not true in any other case with their bed involved.

"quite a sight indeed." she hmms emphatically and then withdraws, capping the eyeliner top. "there. all set."

she taps his nose, smiling down at him, heart beating quickly with nervous anticipation, and says, "are you ready?"

KING WAYLAND

☉

"how romantic of you." she looks down at him, in his loose tee and sweats. her fingers tuck under the waistband of the joggers, brow quirking suggestively, but then she lets the elastic snap back down and slips off him before he can retaliate.

"wear whatever you like, love." it isn't about sentimentality, savoring the moment. gold outlines drift around her, reminding her of another day in white, aquatic flowers draped across hers and eva's bodices. she shoves the thoughts away like an errant fly with far more ease than she has in the past.

a wordless thank you is sent to the heavens with a slight tilt of her chin.

"i'll brew us some coffee to go while you dress."

KING WAYLAND

☉

she's glad for the dress, if only because it's so light in hoenn's oppressive heat. her glance at him is appreciative, but she can already imagine his discomfort with the sun bearing down on them. some shadows stretch from the surrounding buildings, but the warehouse district is squat and clustered, far from the sea breeze along the coast.

her brows furrow in thought. she reaches in, tugging strings to the tether that is still so alien to her, and power stirs in her belly. humidity gathers, swelling, and thin clouds start to drift by. she exhales through her nose and her grip on the tether slips away.

all she managed were a few sparse wisps that will burn away in minutes, barely noticeable.

she tucks a stray hair behind her ear and smiles at him.

"i have something in mind, actually," she says. just a few more blocks now. less than an hour and their lives, his life, will be irrevocably changed forever.

"there's a draconid ceremony." a light smirk. "it involves rope."

KING WAYLAND

☉

chuckling, she wraps an arm around his, ignoring both her stickiness and his complaint about the heat. her golds are amused, but there's a spark in their own right at the curl of his devilish smile. 

"nothing so uncouth, unfortunately."

and then they're there, right outside the steps of the courthouse. she pulls them to a stop, tugs his hand from his pocket, grasps his forearm with hers. "but it will be like this." she teethes off a ribbon she'd wrapped around her wrist, tucking it under her thumb to drape over their hands. 

"and i will tell you that no matter what may come, i will hold fast. that i see you, who you are - a father, a fighter, a man who has hurt before." the ribbon is thin, but still she tugs it taut against their skin. "and that i take all of you, even the ugly parts, in the hopes that you'll take me too. then, and only then, will i tell you that i will love you, endlessly, with every fiber of my being, because i don't know any other way."

softer, she says, "and you'll say something cheesy or ridiculous and it will be done."

KING WAYLAND

☉

it is with a measured stare that freya holds his gaze, face otherwise impassive as she considers him. there is a disappointment there, for a brief moment, but that is swallowed quickly because she does not need words. she has never needed words from him before.

his love is given to her with action and it's a language they tumble about in with abandon. sometimes they walk away bruised, but after swimming in the cadences of each other's bodies, they have always resurfaced more alive.

"something cheesy or ridiculous," she repeats with a small smile and gives his hand a squeeze. the ribbon laxes. she starts to unwrap their arms and more seriously, adds, "i just wanted you to know it, before pen to paper."

KING WAYLAND

☉

an honest man. tomorrow, she'll submit the paperwork. it's ready to go, a draft in her inbox, her signature strewn across official forms. some of it, inevitably, is hand-waved with her power and she imagines there are some - PENELOPE LIVY and ollie morales - who will question the action.

but she'll take whatever heat may come. though it may not. not with war looming over the horizon.

the ceremony takes little less than twenty minutes and consists of gathering paperwork, putting together their marriage licenses, and charging a small fee.

her signature is a looping scrawl. morningstar. there is a brief, pained look on her face when she thinks of her adoptove father. in another world, king may have asked him for his blessing. and he'd have laughed and crowed and told him that who is he to stand in the way of freya's wants?

"your turn, love," she says and holds out the ballpoint.

KING WAYLAND

☉

and there, right there, are the culmination of his fears and his hurt, bubbling to the surface in a way that might ruin them. her breath holds. outside, the sky threatens rain. soothing words sit at the tip of her tongue, but she presses it against the back of her teeth.

none of this matters if this isn't his action. she won't force decisions on him anymore, not after she almost broke them. and persuading him now with half-empty promises would be just the same.

so she says, gently, bits of her cracking because it does hurt, of course it hurts, "it's okay, if you can't. we'll figure it out."

KING WAYLAND

☉