Work Text:
Aventurine was sitting on the sofa, snuggled up against Ratio next to him who was reading a book while absentmindedly combing through his lover’s silky golden hair. Three cat cakes had gathered around them, all of them looking as sleepy and content as Aventurine felt at that very moment.
It was Saturday afternoon. Warm sunlight was falling in through the large window of the living room, and everything was as quiet and peaceful as one could imagine. Aventurine was pretty sure that, should he die right here and now for whatever inexplicable reason, he would enter the realm of the dead as the happiest man of all.
He had spent years of his life looking for freedom and happiness. He had gathered riches and power, had surrounded himself with expensive and pretty things, only to always find himself discontent in the end. The thrill of buying a rare treasure was as fleeting as the one he felt when gambling with high stakes, and no money in the world had been able to buy him the feeling of being truly free.
In the end, it had been Ratio who had helped Aventurine understand what it was he had really longed for, and even to this day he wondered how the odd doctor had managed to understand him better than he had ever been able to do himself.
At first glance, the two of them seemed to be as contrastive as two persons could possibly be. A solitary genius and a former slave. A man devoted to knowledge and a man who relied on his luck by gambling his own life away. Who would have thought that those two men of all people would be able to fill a void in each other's lives? It was hard to understand, but it was exactly what had happened.
However, reaching the point they found themselves at now had not always been easy, at least for Aventurine. There had been a few life lessons Ratio had wanted him to learn on the way - and the doctor was a strict teacher.
In the beginning, before they had really established their relationship, even the concept of friendship had been totally foreign to Aventurine, and when Ratio had understood that, he had taken it upon himself to teach him about it - in his very unique way.
First of all, he had started to refuse taking any gifts from Aventurine. Buying people's sympathy with material things had been the standard for him before, so that had really given him a headache. It had forced him to change his habits and become creative. Ratio would refuse to take an invitation to a restaurant, but he would accept if Aventurine invited him over to something he had cooked himself. He would also refuse to accept a book Aventurine had bought for him, but happily engage in a long conversation with him after he had read the book himself and presented the content to him. It had been tough lessons to learn, often leaving both of them terribly frustrated with each other, but looking back, Aventurine really appreciated them.
His lack of self-care had also been a frequent topic for discussions. Ratio had been dumbfounded when he had found out that Aventurine had taken in three of Ruan Mei’s creations. It had been the first time they had gotten into a really loud argument with each other.
“Do you ever use your brain, or is it just for counting cards?” Ratio had scolded him in his usual rough way. It was something Aventurine normally did not mind, but this time, their conversation got him thinking. Ratio blamed him for wanting to take care of other living creatures when - at least to him - it was so obvious that he was basically unable to even take care of himself most of the time. To Aventurine, it had seemed like an exaggeration. Sure, he was a little reckless at times, and sometimes he would skip his meals for work or a little bit of fun, but was it really that bad?
“Also, what's with those names? I, P and C? Names are supposed to hold well-wishes of those who give them. Do you really wish for them to develop characteristics of that organization? Are you out of your mind?”
Ratio’s words had made him both ashamed and angry. He had taken the cat cakes in because he had sympathized with them. They had been abandoned and lonely. Most of their fancy looking friends had already been adopted and they were the ones who had been left behind. He really wanted to care for them, and he had the space and the financial means to do so. He had even already made an agreement with a cat sitter for the times he was too busy with work.
As for the names, he knew best what it meant to carry one with meaning. As a child, his name had been a promise of luck and prospect to the people around him, and they were all dead and buried now. Naming the cats I, P and C had seemed like a good idea to him. The names were easy to distinguish for the creatures, and Aventurine really liked the idea that there were now at least three IPC “members” who looked forward to seeing him. Not like he could say the same about any of his colleagues…
However, telling Ratio turned out to be a bad idea. The look he had given Aventurine had been so full of disappointment that he had felt the urge to apologize without understanding what he had even done wrong in the first place. In the end, they had made a deal. Ratio started to come by almost daily to make sure the cats (and Aventurine, although he never would have admitted it) were fine, and Aventurine agreed to Ratio giving “proper” names to the cats, turning I, P and C into their pet names. He had tried to persuade him to at least settle for cute names (“Can’t we name them like… I don’t know… Ice Cream, Panna Cotta and Candy Corn, or something like that? They are called snacks, after all.”), but Ratio had been adamant (“Do you wish for them to be food? Forget it, gambler. I vote for Iustitia, Prudentia and Clementia, for those are beautiful virtues.”) For a brief moment, Aventurine had thought about suggesting compound names, but the sound had been too hilarious, reminding him of some of the names racehorses had to endure that never failed to make him laugh. So in the end, he had just resigned to his fate.
And just like that, the two of them had somehow tiptoed their way closer to each other. Aventurine had learned to adapt to Ratio’s strict daily routines, and the rather reclusive Ratio had learned to appreciate Aventurine's company and his open displays of affection.
And here they were now. At some point, they had decided to trade their separate apartments for a single, bigger one. In the beginning, they had maintained two bedrooms to allow personal retreat, but since Aventurine had always sneaked into Ratio’s bed anyway and since Ratio had not found it in him to ever dislike this, the second bedroom had soon been turned into a guest room.
Looking back at his past, Aventurine still found the course of events crazy. He has never felt as safe as in this man's strong and gentle arms, and with this feeling of safety came all the happiness and freedom he has always yearned for. Glancing at the shiny diamond ring on his left ring finger he has received from Ratio just a day ago, Aventurine cannot help but wonder why some people associated their bachelor parties with the end of their freedom. To him, the prospect of the two of them striding towards a happily ever after seemed like the gate to even greater days ahead.