Who: Renly Baratheon & Loras Tyrell What: Running into Each Other and Making a Decision When: Backdated: Wednesday, May 21st. Evening Where: Outside a Resturant Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly Status: Complete
After a victory against quite the formidable opponent, Loras was very keen to join his team for a celebration dinner. He was bruised on the shoulder and he was sure that his lip had been busted, but he felt good. He felt normal, or at least, what was normal for one Loras Tyrell. In his dreams, he always risked his life to win whatever trophy was to be given during a tourney. Tonight, he hadn’t quite gone that far for the trophy that was being carried by a man in a suit who owned the rights to the team Loras belonged to, but he’d still won it. The team had stopped just outside the restaurant they’d chosen while the man inspected the trophy, then kissed the shining brass of one of the bars. He grinned, placed it back into the SUV that belonged to the team, kissed Loras on the side of the head, then led the way into the restaurant. The others were a bit more rowdy than Loras, but the Knight of Flowers liked to celebrate quietly. These days, he was famous for being an out gay man in the world of sports and he wasn’t so sure that he wore it as proudly as he should have. Still, he didn’t mind that women now placed garlands on him like a crown; he still handed them flowers after each event which was good enough for him.
Renly had just finished up a meeting one of the trainers who would be working at the agency, which would be up and running very soon. Renly was excited about getting the agency off the ground and he was just tying up any loose ends, meeting with trainers and stunt performers and managers. In fact, the agency already had at least two projects lined up that would begin filming during the summer as a result of his father’s former business partner that Renly was working with. Of course Renly would be lying if he said that he wasn’t still upset about the fact that Loras wasn’t working with him on this, but for the time being it had to be this way.
Speaking of The Knight of Flowers, Renly was just stepping out of the very same restaurant that Loras was about to enter. Upon seeing his fiance, he refused to refer to him as anything else even now, he stopped, pulse rising slightly. He hadn’t seen Loras in a few weeks, not outside of his dreams anyway, and seeing him standing there now, Renly had to fight the urge to go to him.
It might have been easier for Loras to have gone back to Renly, or to have never left in the first place, had his dreams not come to a hault. It was a relief to feel normal again, but Loras could never shake what he now remembered to be true, even if Renly Baratheon was a living, breathing man who stood in front of him now, in the doorway of the restaurant Loras was to be celebrating at. He stopped not far from him as his teammates moved around the man who was supposed to be king. One stopped to check if Loras was okay and he assured them that he was and that he’d be in soon which was satisfactory enough. To Loras, Renly felt almost unreal. Even with the ring that was still on his own finger, Renly had only ever felt like a dream outside of the dreams that used to plague him, and now, looking at him standing there, Loras knew just how real the man was in this world. “This is stupid,” Loras said at length. He was stood in his post tournament track suit, his hair pulled back, bruises on his face, and he felt utterly ridiculous; but that wasn’t what he meant. What he meant was that what he was doing was stupid, trying to live without the man he should be with in this world or the other. Hi just wouldn’t cut it.
Renly simply stared at Loras, not even looking away from him when he spoke to the other man who had walked around Renly to get inside. It wasn’t until they were alone and Loras spoke, this time to him, that Renly realized he was practically blocking the door and he moved aside so people could get in and out of the restaurant while they talked, While he wasn’t 100% sure what Loras was referring to, he agreed that this whole break was stupid, but it was what Loras had wanted and Renly would do anything for the other man and that included giving him the space he’d wanted at the time.
“And what exactly would this be?” He asked, wanting to be completely clear as to what Loras was referring to. He didn’t want to assume anything. However, even as he asked the question, he took a step or two closer to Loras, still leaving some space between them.
It might have been easier, when Loras didn’t have to look at Renly, or be this close to Renly, when he couldn’t smell him or almost reach out to touch him. The closer Renly got, the more stupid this whole break was becoming, and the more infuriated with that realization Loras became. Despite his own dubiousness, Loras stayed as he was, bringing himself to his full height.
“I keep waiting for you to turn into another dream,” he admitted, “Do you understand that? Do you know what it’s like to dream that you’re dead and wake up and see you breathing next to me?” It was a mindfuck, to say the very least.
Renly stopped when there was still a few feet between them, not wanting to crowd Loras. Standing there with him like this, reminded Renly of when they had run into each other outside the mall just after Renly had come back the last time. Renly knew the toll that the dreams had taken on Loras and he hated that. He hated that the younger man was always worried about them even now that they were over for the both of them, “I don’t. I could say that my brother is dead in the dreams, but not here so I know what you mean, but it’s not the same and I know that. So, I don’t really know how it feels for you, but all I can say is that I’m not going anywhere.” He took a deep breath, resisting the urge to close the space between them and take Loras into his arms, “And I’ll keep saying it for as long as I have to.”
It was good that Renly wasn’t pulling Loras toward him because Loras didn’t want to be in those arms, where he felt too vulnerable and unguarded. Here, he was safe, but part of him wished that Renly would, just so he could fight the would-be king away as he usually did whenever he was annoyed or irritable. Only he was neither of those things and he would only allow himself to shrink against Renly and love him as he always had. “I just can’t,” he said, looking from the ground to Renly. “I can’t pick out wedding cakes and stupid table cloths and pretend everything is normal. It’s almost…” he searched for a word that wouldn’t come and he shook his head. “It’s just not me. I want to marry you, but I don’t want all that madness.” All that normalcy was what he meant to say, but it really was madness if he stopped to think about it. It just wasn’t them.
Renly’s blood had run cold as Loras began to speak, thinking that this was going to be it and despite everything, Loras was going to make this break permanent and it wasn’t until he heard that Loras still wanted to marry him that he was able to breath again and he let out the breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in, “If you don’t want a big wedding then that’s fine with me. I don’t need a big wedding. I mean, we could have Obi-Wan marry us at the house with Myrcella as our only witness and I’d be perfectly happy.” A big wedding felt more like something that would have happened in Westeros, not that they would have been able to get married there anyway, but here, he had to agree, a big wedding didn’t feel right for them.
“Can we just-” Loras sighed, absently pressing a hand to Renly’s chest without a second thought. It wasn’t to push him away, it was a familiar gesture, that he needed to find his words and he needed Renly to be quiet while he did. “Can we just slow down?” he asked, his gaze meeting Renly’s. “I don’t mean break it off, I just mean...slow down.” Just talking about a wedding, any wedding, made Loras’ stomach churn.
Loras’ hand on his chest, even that small gesture, made Renly’s pulse rise and his heart beat quicker, but he managed to keep himself from moving any closer and nodded, “Alright, Yeah, we can do that.” He could understand why Loras would want to slow down and as with the break, he’d do anything that Loras wanted if it would help, “We can slow down.” If it meant that this break was over then he’d do anything and just being engaged was more than enough for Renly right now.
The ‘break’, as it was being called by the both of them, was ridiculous. Loras didn’t need to confirm that Renly was the only one he wanted. Even though he’d had ample opportunity to bed other men, he simply could not, but the fact remained that Loras was only twenty years old, not even of an age to buy a whiskey in the states and jumping head first into a real life marriage was something he just couldn’t fathom. He was relieved that Renly was willing to slow it down, to remain as they were. It was good, then, that Obi-Wan decided not to stay with Loras, because that temporary stay would have been extremely temporary indeed. Loras nodded, visibly relieved. “I think I’ll come back home now,” he decided.
The smile that lit Renly’s face showed just how relieved he was as well and in that moment nothing could stop him from closing the space between them and kissing Loras. It hadn’t been a very long break, but Renly had missed Loras more than words could say and he was extremely happy that the break was over. Lots of people had long engagements and Renly didn’t mind being one of those people if it meant that Loras was back with him again.