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Tweak says, "YEAH! OKAAAY!"

Ram Easthallow (bifoliate) wrote in heureuxlake,
@ 2024-08-13 14:35:00

Entry tags:

Δ complete, Δ threads, → joe russo, → ram easthallow, ∞ 2000: 08

RP: Ram and Joe have things to discuss in person
Who: Ram Easthallow and Joe Russo.
What: Discussions about tarot and maybe past lives and who knows what else with these two.
When: Tuesday 13th August.
Where: Chez Monosyllables.
Warnings: Reference to attempted suicide (Joe's past lives), non-explicit references to sex, NSFW (sex).
Completion Status: Complete.

Ram hadn't meant to tell Joe about his full birthday tarot spread. The last thing he wanted was for Joe to worry about what it might mean for Ram, or for them, or for their chances of success. Ram was doing quite enough worrying on his own. Since his birthday, he'd gone from being worried it meant something was going to happen to Morwen, to convinced after he met Joe that it was somehow all going to turn out meaning good things, to now worried it meant something was going to happen to Joe. On good days, he could remember that each card only needed to have one not-terrible meaning to cancel out all the other possibilities; on bad days, all he could think about were 'goodbye', 'isolation', 'inability to face life', 'mental anguish'. If fate had just had those things in store for Ram, he could've accepted that, but the plain fact was that the most obvious way to cause any of those feelings was for something to happen to someone Ram loved. That was the thought he couldn't bear.

Afraid what cards he might pull for Joe, Ram had almost wanted to simply refuse, but it was equally obvious to him that a spread he read for Joe would mean so much more than one read by anyone else. Besides, not seeing the cards didn't change what was coming, and Joe was right, they needed pointers. So far, all Ram had managed to do was pray to Aphrodite, get a list of her symbols from Gael and ask Rashmi to look out for places he or they or someone might be able to reach out to her or Ares. He still needed to talk to Julián, but that felt like a conversation to have in person, not a request Ram could simply text.

After separating the three cards he'd pulled from the pack and leaving them on his bedside table, Ram decided the room needed something bright to counteract the darkness they seemed to be breathing into the air. Carrying a watering can filled with chrysanthemums towards the front door, he spotted Joe approaching from his car, something in Ram's chest feeling instantly more normal at the sight of him. Propping the flowers against a hip to keep them steady, he used his free hand to cup Joe's jaw and guide him down into a kiss hello. "Either you're early or I spent longer in the garden than I thought. I haven't even changed." He'd been feeling (half) fancy that morning, but had planned to swap into clothes more appropriate for cuddling. "Also hi," he added, with no actual embarrassment that he hadn't said that first. "Seeing you makes me happier than seeing flowers, and that's saying something."

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notalongtime
2024-08-13 04:10 pm UTC (link)

Since telling Ram about the curse he bore, Joe had felt the burden change. It was as heavy as it ever was, but now it was shared and that gave him just enough breathing room to let hope spread that there might be a way out of this cycle. He didn't relish giving some of that burden to Ram and yet Joe felt like his assertion to his past lives that he'd met someone who would tear Olympus down brick by brick for him was incredibly accurate.

The kiss of greeting made Joe smile. From the moment he had spotted Ram, he had felt more relaxed, even if he knew there were heavier topics to be discussed. "Maybe a little of both?" he suggested. "Traffic was good." Joe let his fingers tug lightly at the front of Ram's vest. "Well, you look great." He found himself developing a greater appreciation of good menswear the longer he was with Ram. "And hi." He kissed Ram again, chuckling. "I'm honored to be elevated over flowers."

He let out a breath. "But seeing you always makes my day better." Just like getting a text message or having a phone call. In two months, it seemed like Ram had become an inextricable part of his life and Joe wouldn't change it for anything.

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bifoliate
2024-08-13 05:09 pm UTC (link)

The burden did weigh on Ram, especially when he was alone. Whenever Joe was close, Ram felt touched with the same sudden radiance he'd experience the night they'd met. Seeing Joe smile at his kiss? Ram couldn't feel dark about that, and he nudged their noses together before reluctantly pulling away to lead Joe inside. His smile at the compliment was genuine, before morphing into something a little more playful and smug. "Yeah, but if I looked as good as you do in the t-shirt I was planning on changing into, you'd tell me I looked just as great." At least so far, Joe's attraction to him seemed to be completely independent of what Ram was wearing, which didn't stop Ram wanting to occasionally dress up for him, but did mean he felt just as secure of it when he didn't bother.

Tipping his head to one side, Ram gave the words he'd said more consideration than he had as they were coming out of his mouth. "You really have been," he decided softly. Flowers had been a part of his life since before he had memories, the only thing Morwen loved as much as she loved him. It was, Ram suspected, why he'd always aspired to be beautiful and pretty, even before he'd been old enough to know or care that those weren't 'masculine' words. Flowers were important, but Joe was more important, and if Ram ever had to choose between his ability to grow things and his ability to be with Joe, it wouldn't even be a question. Which he'd known, he supposed, when he jumped right to offering to get bitten if Joe died.

"Upstairs?" Part of him didn't want his bedroom to become a place they talked about hard things, but equally, they weren't about to do it where Nate or Rick or Cris could stumble across them. Ram had very carefully not told anyone until Joe just how bad his reading had been. (Dani and Graham knew, but that was because Dani and Graham knew the cards without needing them explained.)