ᴡɪᴛᴄʜ ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ (arcane) wrote in valloic, @ 2022-01-11 15:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: james barlow, ₴ inactive: leon orcot |
Leon had stayed over at James’s place multiple times but tonight, tonight was different - he wanted to make it extra special in the way that meant they were finally confessing how they really felt about each other. Saying it out loud, that is. Maybe they both knew but it was also important to hear - so there were no questions. No hesitations, as they took their relationship to the next level. Apparently, for James, ‘next level’ meant preparing a delicious dinner of Marry Me Chicken over rice and a side salad - for dessert he had chocolate covered strawberries, harkening back to the earlier days of their courtship. Light and sweet without being too sweet (for a fellow who didn’t like desserts all that much), James made them at home and had them set out on parchment paper to harden - some were topped with crushed nuts, others with Oreo crumbs. He thought he did a good job, all things considered. Candlelight too - there was candlelight that flickered like fireflies or scattered stars all in the comfort of James’s own dining room. While he wasn’t about to consider marriage tonight he still was confident that the recipe was a damn good one and hoped Leon liked everything - now to just take off the apron he’d been wearing and wait nervously, pouring a glass of wine and sipping on it. A nice Chardonnay would be a pleasant accompaniment to this dish, so that’s what he’d selected - he liked the creamy texture and kind of buttery undertone to it, anyway. Even if he wasn’t much of a sommelier in his spare time. Leon had gone home after his patrol shift and had showered and changed at home. He didn't bother knocking when he arrived at James' place. He just let himself in, kicked off his shoes, hung his jacket at the door, and inhaled deeply. "Dinner smells great, babe," he called, making his way to the kitchen. Except once he entered the kitchen, he froze, a touch of panic in his eye as he took in the candles and the elaborate chicken and the bottle of wine. For a minute, he was sure he was missing something and his mind flicked through the possibilities. Anniversary? No, definitely not. Valentine's Day? He didn't think it -- no, it was still January and he was fairly certain Valentine's Day was in February. James' birthday? Why would James do all this for his own birthday? And anyway, once Leon had time to think about it, he was pretty sure it was still a month away, too. Julia's birthday? Leon was pretty sure James would have mentioned it if it was. Besides, this was distinctly romantic and that would be weird. Leon's birthday? No, Leon's birthday was in the summer (usually, at least. There had been one year, when he'd gone to Australia thinking a series of animal attacks might have been D instead of just Australia being Australia, when his birthday had been in the winter. That had been weird). His mind reached for another second, came up with absolutely nothing else, and Leon decided if he had missed something, it couldn't have been anything he should have known beforehand. Maybe Vallo had its own version of Valentine's Day that took place in January. Or maybe James had just been feeling extra romantic. He relaxed, but only a little: he still had a wary look in his eye as leaned in to kiss James on the cheek. "Hey you. What's all this?" Leon was panicking - it was kind of sweet, because James could practically see the cogs turning even if he hadn’t flexed an iota of telepathic magic. Perhaps it was simply that he could read Leon’s facial expressions well - and the look in those blue eyes, reminding James of a Vallo summer, indicated that the thought process was on fire. However, James would attempt to reassure him. “It’s absolutely no big deal,” he said, fingers curling in the front of Leon’s shirt to pull him in and kiss him more soundly. “The idea for the recipe came to me in a dream.” Wait, what. He blinked because - he meant to respond differently, and it just came out...not how he intended. Especially because that wasn’t how he heard about the recipe?? Leon relaxed into the kiss, of e hand snaking around James' back and the other cupping his face. The dream line was a little cheesy, and Leon didn't really need to be romanced - beer and pizza were as romantic as wine and candles, as far as he was concerned - but this whole thing was ridiculously sweet and James had obviously put in a lot of effort, so he kissed James for a long time. And then his stomach rumbled, loudly, as if to remind him that there was something else to eat, and tatit would get cold if he kept on ignoring it. James, at least, would stay hot. He grinned at his own mental joke, gave James another quick peck, and then broke away. "This looks really great," Leon said, taking his seat at the table. "If you're looking to get laid, you don't have to go through all this trouble, but…" But, well, Leon didn't think he could stop smiling if he tried to. Maybe the odd, spontaneous romantic meal wasn't so bad. Oh, he was so adorable - James couldn’t help but smile too, a gaze that showed he was completely soft for his partner; his eyes had always been expressive also, his facial expressions never really learning how to slip into a deceiving poker face. He wore his heart on his sleeve a lot of the time and with Leon, that’s where his heart was. What came out of his mouth next, however, was like fucking whiplash. “I definitely don’t want to get laid tonight,” he spoke, and then actually kind of physically jolted because his brain screamed LIAR and it was nothing short of distressing; not to mention he really did want to get laid, and he’d end up sexually frustrated and pouting in a sea of blankets if whatever this bullshit was kept careening downhill. “I have a headache.” No, no, no - fucking quit it. Biting his lip, he turned and skittered off into the kitchen to find extra napkins just in case. His cheeks were burning bright red as he sat at the table and poured wine, trying not to spill it because of his spike in anxiety. “So, um - “ Maybe Leon should just talk the whole time, that might be better. “How was your day?” It turns out that Leon could stop smiling, and he did now. He’d heard “Not tonight, I have a headache” before, complete with the ‘headache’ part being completely and utterly unconvincing, usually preceding a door being slammed in his face. He usually heard it from his girlfriends just before they finally decided to dump him. Except, if James was thinking of dumping him, he wouldn’t have prepared this food, and that kiss hadn’t been the kind of kiss someone gave you when they were sick of you. So maybe he really did have a headache. Before Leon could ask if he wanted Leon to make him a cup of tea or something, he was running off for napkins, and asking about Leon’s day. “Oh,” Leon said, and then “Uh,” as he tried to think of what his day before ‘I have a headache’ involved. It didn’t take him long before he remembered his day on patrol, and he dove into a story, about how he and his partner had stumbled across a farmer who’d lost a flock of his sheep in the forest, picking up steam the longer he talked, punctuating his words with his fork every now and then. They’d had to go and find all the sheep and lead them back to the farm while keeping them safe from predators. The’d fixed the fence then, and the farmer had been entirely too honest about what he’d thought about their handiwork, going on about crooked posts and how his son could have done better, and how Leon had very nearly told the man to go get his son to do it then, if he was that much better, but had managed to bite his tongue. He’d managed to forget, sometime during the story, most of his worries about James. At least he had until he realized that he was nearly finished eating and he’d done nearly all of the talking over dinner. “This chicken is fucking delicious, by the way,” he added. “Juicy and flavourful. And that bit of chilli is great. Was it very hard to make?” Leon was doing all of the talking, thank fuck. That meant James could sort of internally panic and flail and wonder if this was another one of Vallo’s annoying blips while also simultaneously paying attention to what Leon was saying - he was a doctor, he had a big brain, he could multitask. Probably. It was an interesting story, at least - and the all too honest farmers were something that pinged James’s radar so maybe it wasn’t just him completely putting his foot in his mouth? He didn’t quite know how to suggest that, however. Mostly he was plotting how he would be able to respond to questions and having conversations without sounding like an idiot, sabotaging his relationship. There had to be a way. “Yes, extremely,” he replied, then sighed at himself. “I mean - I didn’t make it because I’m in love with you and wanted to tell you that. That’s completely not why I made it.” There, maybe that would be - better?? Somehow? Or at the very least, it would be obvious he was lying. Leon frowned, deeply, more out of concentration than any sort of upset, as if he was trying to work out a puzzle. Because James… James was acting weird. Weird, and uncharacteristically flustered and… sarcastic? Was that some sort of sarcastic love confession? "You wanna run that by me again?" he asked, more curious than anything, feeling like he was on the edge of some sort of idea but not quite there yet. Well, at least Leon hadn’t run out the door yet, vowing to never return. James would take that as a positive. Could he write? Maybe he could write it - it was worth an attempt, although he suspected that it would be a situation where the pen would just magically transcribe what he did not want to convey; he attempted to wrack his brain to see if anything like this had happened before and he was pretty sure it had. Little blips where people could only tell the truth stuck out, but he personally hadn’t ever been on the receiving end of such fun games. First time for everything, right? Alas. He’d try not to get too frustrated because if this was going to last then he would have to figure out a way to communicate or, at the very least, not alienate the people he cared about. “I only made this because I wanted to show you how much I don’t...love you...” he tried again, still flustered but the key word here was trying. “Whatever I’m saying is completely true. It’s of my own accord too, really. Vallo is behaving normally, as it always does.” Was he sweating? He was probably sweating a little. The smile that spread across Leon’s face was slow with the dawning realization of what was happening, with a mischievous undercurrent to it. James was unexpectedly cute when he was flustered. “Are you trying to tell me you’re in love with me?” he asked, grin growing even more. Leon. James glared, but it was half-hearted at best - because it wasn’t like he could do anything about his boyfriend’s obstinance. Except turn him over his knee and spank him which, well - that could be fun too. “No,” he replied pointedly, then covered his face with his hands and groaned, slumping in his chair. When the fuck was this nightmare going to end? What did he do to deserve this? Although those were pointless questions - no one did anything in Vallo. Things just happened whenever the magic that flowed through every crack and crevice, every tree root and every rock and bit of soil, fluctuated and shifted. The appearance of countless Outlanders made all of that more sensitive, and it wasn’t as if he was complaining - usually. Except when he was forced to sound like a dolt. “That’s not what I’m trying to tell you, or why I made this dinner, and I don’t want to fuck you either.” He paused - because here he was, sitting on a throne of lies. “So, do you want dessert?” Leon, somehow, managed to avoid laughing, but it was a near thing. Now that he’d managed to figure it out, this whole thing was kind of hilarious. “Wow, James, you’re such a liar. Why you always lying?” He got out of his chair so he could lean over James in his. “That depends. Are you the dessert?” Finally, something he could lie about and it would actually work in his favor. “Yes, I am,” he was able to get out triumphantly because, well, it was technically a lie - that wasn’t what he prepared, slaving over a hot stove to create (or it actually wasn’t that labor-intensive, mostly just melting and mixing chocolate. But anyway). “I made myself for dessert.” That sounded ridiculous, but he didn’t care - he just grabbed Leon by his collar and kissed him, sweetness and surrender and that heavy-limbed feeling coursing through him like his wine had been spiked with crushed Valium; it hadn’t been, of course, but he really did have so much love here and he wanted to make that clear. Somehow. Despite Vallo’s best efforts to derail that. His homeland was such a dick sometimes, and that was the fuckin’ truth. Leon hesitated then, a small, concerned frown tugging down at his lips, because if Vallo was making James lie, or if it was opposite day or whatever this was, then did that mean that yes actually meant no? Except before Leon had time to think about it for too long, James was pulling him into a kiss, and Leon let himself forget all of that. He supported himself on the back of James' chair with one hand, and gathered a handful of the rest of his shirt in the other, and for a while there was only James and the kiss, his scent and the feel of him, and the candles and the taste of dinner in both their mouths. James and Leon may not have dated for a long time, but at just over three months, it was the longest relationship Leon had ever had, aside from his girlfriend in high school, who he'd dated for his entire junior year and most of his senior year. Even then, they'd dated mostly because head cheerleaders and football quarterbacks were supposed to date. They'd liked each other fine, but they'd broken up not long after prom and he was pretty sure that neither one of them had been as torn up about it as they could have been. No matter how long they'd actually dated, Leon had never felt this strongly about anyone he'd ever dated before. Maybe Leon had been in love before, but he'd never been happily in love before, and that, as it turned out, made all the difference. He felt lighter than he had in years. He wasn't always very observant about his own emotions and feelings, but even he could tell that. And even if he'd been embarrassed when Adora had casually mentioned that Leon was in love, he hadn't felt any sort of urge to argue with her about it, which probably meant something. When the kiss broke, Leon didn't pull away, and he didn't let go of James' shirt. He pressed his forehead against James', and felt the same, playful smile tug at the corner of his lips. "I'm not in love with you, either," he said, his voice heavy with desire, though if someone was listening they could probably hear the smile in it. James let out a little breathless laugh, and curled his hand around the back of Leon’s neck. He was definitely into more kissing than talking, which meant he came off as a lying idiot - and kissing also meant he saw stars, plenty of them. Galaxies, the cosmos, bright spots that resembled broken glass scattered across the skies. He could technically stay here all night doing this but realized it likely wasn’t feasible - Though it definitely felt that way, like it could be, since Leon went with Opposite Day and said he loved James too. At the very least, all of this made for a memorable ‘I love you’ sort of confession - Vallo really was such a dick sometimes. “I’m going to do the dishes and not just say ‘fuck it’ and suggest we skip to the other dessert,” he smirked. Yes, he was completely going to do that. Look at him, doing that. Right now. So efficient. Leon paused, taking a moment to work through that, and then he grinned and was devouring James’ lips again. “Which other dessert do you mean?” he asked, and then said, “Nevermind,” before James had a chance to answer. It didn’t matter which dessert James meant, because Leon knew which one he needed right now. He straightened and hauled James to his feet. He intended to show him exactly how much he appreciated the dinner. |