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For as long as Mel could recall, she always strived for precision. For perfection. To move in every capacity with exactness sharp as a blade and cool hardness as the steel upon which it was crafted. Not so much as a strand of air amiss or fault in her expression. But then—
Thwack!
Thwack!
There’s him.
Jayce’s axe is tiredly notched in the stump. Gloved fingers caress the top of the log, fingertips wiggle to bury further in its split. Teeth ground down with a guttural grunt, Jayce manages to split the thick log in two, tossing fractured pieces aside in the steadily accumulating pile of others just like those. He shakes the tension in his hands free before correcting the cuffs of his flannel sleeves that started to slide down haphazardly before reaching for another log.
Thwack!
Thwack!
In the autumnal season the temperature reading of their camping grounds this time of hour was around 294K, yet Mel cannot help but twinge, sensing a discrepancy, a miscalculation even, for the air against her skin feels remarkably thicker and warmer with each strike Jayce takes against a log.
A passive thought of an itch circling around her neck and curling about the base of her spine tries to build, but Mel cannot seem give it much regard.
Thwack!
Fuck, is there plenty of wood.
“Umm Mel?” A soft crunching of leaves under one’s boots broach Mel’s space. A soft cadence in the poke Mel mindlessly recognizes as her sister-in-law Sky.
“Hm?” It is but a lackluster acknowledgement.
Sky was ready to take whatever she’d get. “Are you alright?” There is a hint of a smile behind the query.
“Of course,” Mel mutters in the fine space between her teeth. Distracted. Still neither unwilling nor unable to break her gaze from her object of interest. It seemed he is working up heat as well for a minute is needed to shrug off the flannel. There is only an undershirt left for decency. Ribbed texture and white cotton material. Blooming sweat stains clinging to his mid and lower back bring the idea of “decency” into severe question, however. “Why would you think otherwise?” Mel’s right knee develops a mind of its own, deciding to buckle underneath her. Oh gods, Jayce has taken to using the flannel to blot at the sweat around his forehead and neck.
“Because you have been statue silent and still for the last five minutes, you haven’t cared to fix the cup of cider dripping down your hand.”
“Wait, what..?” Mel’s shoulders jump upon finding Sky was correct in that manner. She finds the white paper cup previously filled near to the brim to be a third empty. A fine trail of the beverage runs down her hand and wrist, droplets falling to the earth. Righting her cup, she licks at the juice on her hand. How unbecoming.
“Did you need a napkin or a wipe?” Sky offers politely. Too politely. It licks at Mel’s humiliation.
“No, no. It’s fine. I’m fine,” Mel waves off. “I’ll get one myself.” With a nod of thanks, Mel excuses herself to her and Jayce’s car, free hand tugging at her cream colored knit scarf a couple of times along the way, finding it cloying. With a damp napkin, any potential stickiness may be easily forgiven.
It is a not too often occasion anymore Mel could be able to stop by Talis Forge and catch him in the middle of work there. Given his primary job in the lab, more often than not as of recent, the forge has transitioned to serve as an avenue for stress relief when experiments and/or pressure was too great.
A returning to his roots. Creating with his hands and putting his body, heart, and soul into what’s before him.
In the earliest stages of their relationship, Mel made just about every excuse she could to visit him in his place of work. Now a number of years later, they have grown in their career paths and obligations that doing such would not pan out well.
Ogling at your husband’s bodies of art is apparently an inexcusable absence that has run its course.
With the couple’s propensity to be most acclimated to the comforts of city life and local entertainments, they do not often go out in consideration of an activity such as camping out for stargazing. Only prompted by Kino’s persistence over the event tonight did they give in.
And by the gods why have they pushed this off?
Mel mentally kicks herself at the thought. The vision of Jayce chopping at wood burned into her eyes brands the deepest parts of her brain. There is a fireplace at their estate, of course, winters can be unforgiving, but it is always well-stocked through connections of servants handling menial affairs of housekeeping and the like. Her mind starts to click and turn with the possibilities suddenly presented before her.
“Hi, love. What are you doing over here?”
Seated on the bed of the popped trunk, Mel peers up at him; an adoring smile curling her lips. Jayce’s breath is labored and there was a hint of sweat around the spot of his navel. She gestured to her cup, raising it in her answer. “I could say the same for you.”
“Same thing.” Strong brows lift playfully while Jayce swivels around to take a seat to her left.
Mel leans back slightly giving him more clearance to reach over her for the jug of cider and pour himself a cup. The smell of sweat and Jayce was all encompassing. Dizzying. In the best and worst of ways. Lingering even when he returns to her side proper, pulling several greedy gulps from his cup. Finished in a matter of seconds. Mel’s tongue teases the back of her teeth in watching his Adam’s apple bob with each swallow.
“Gods that was so good!”
The gasp of relief is palpable, a swirl in Mel’s gut turns in sympathy and more.
A thumb dragged across his lower lip, swiping at a rogue drop primed to run down his chin, Jayce smiles. “I really needed that.”
“Here.” Mel’s voice aches with a rasp passing the jug over for a refill.
He nods his thanks, then pauses, eyeing the cup with focus as though a passage is written on its surface. After a moment, Jayce settles on putting it aside.
The weight of his head falls heavy on Mel’s shoulder. Accepting it easily, fingertips graze the ribbed texture of his undershirt and the dense muscles underneath. Reaching the back of his head, slender fingers curl adoringly, manicured nails gave soothing scratches. The soft hum emitted from his throat beats against Mel’s chest.
“I missed you.”
To that, Mel raises a brow. “What do you mean?”
He doesn’t give a direct answer. Instead he turns his head up towards her. A kiss on soft full lips. It is chaste. One slow and tender. Mel reciprocated, though daring to coax a parting of his lips, tongue swiping at his waterline. It tasted of chapped lips, Jayce, and apple cider.
“Finally did something about that ogling, didn’t you, sister?”
The couple abruptly parted as if caught in a sinful act, resting their foreheads against each other.
Jayce bites back a tight grin.
Mel’s cheeks burn, fists curled tight ready to detonate. A blow taut with restraint beats on Jayce’s thigh, a victim of proximity. “Kino!”
“What?” hands held up in surrender until they fall to his hips with a chuckle. “Acting like a couple of teenagers, I swear. You fool few, sister. Least of all us. That tension before could be felt all the way over in The Freljord.”
Sky futilely masks a giggle with the back of her hand.
“I would appreciate not having to be subjected to seeing my sister suck her husband’s face… but such is the burden I must bear having invited the two of you along with us.”
Mel hides her eye roll in the crux between Jayce’s neck and shoulder. The theatrics.
Sky, slipping an arm around Kino’s waist, presses close for a kiss to his jaw. “How are the preparations for the telescoping coming along? Think we should be set for the comet tonight?” A few taps to his butt shoo him in the direction of his telescope and computer mapping he had been working on for the past hour or so. “Let’s check it out.” A knowing glance over Mel’s way.
While stepping away, Kino’s chin turns to meet his shoulder, full beard skimming his gray henley. A glimmer of mischief held in a sly eye. “We have tents already set up, as an FYI. If you can hold out until after the comet, that’d be appreciated.”
Mel and Sky’s eyes both blow wide.
“Brother!”
“Kino!”
“Love you too, sister!” He calls, waving an adieu before planting a tender kiss in the small curls free from the tight constraint of Sky’s up-do.
When the air of mockery dies down, so, too, does the scowl etched on Mel’s face. Removing herself from being buried in Jayce’s dense musculature, she turns her attention to the tips of her hiking boots skimming the earth and stray leaves beneath.
The music playing from their stereo fill Mel’s ears in the silence with soothing jazz. Until Jayce finally addresses the elephant Kino so graciously planted. “So you were ogling me?”
She doesn’t even need to utilize her periphery to see the word “smug” painted over his face. “I have no need to neither confirm nor deny such allegations to you, sir.”
“You know just as well as I that a refusal to answer is an answer.”
“In. Any. Case,” Mel bites, each word drawn out with crystal clarity, “Progress, Jayce. What is it looking like?”
When Jayce is privy to new information, he gets dangerous. Unfortunately it is one his qualities Mel finds attractive, and infuriating all the same. “You’d like to know, wouldn’t you?” Watching Mel press the corners of her lips tight in a voice smarmy, he replies, “If I said I was almost done, it would be painful wouldn’t it, dear?”
Mel’s sigh is low but features mold to coy. “The absolute worst,” she murmurs against his lips. A cool pitter pat of syllables, stopping shy of her target. A hand slipping between his chest and hers, she presses him away.
Honey eyes fall to her hand on his chest then back to her. He sandwiches her hand with his warmth. “I’ll make sure to chop a few extra logs in your name.” Jayce presses off of his seat with a renewed boost in his spirit. “Better safe than sorry.”
“My gratitude knows no bounds.” Mel’s words drip syrupy sweetness watching his shrinking figure return to his task at hand. One of her feet swing back and forth lazily, tapping in the air according to the instrumental beat on their stereo. While she still has a few tasks of her own before the group was set for the evening, she can convince herself she has enough leeway for an extended break.
Oh.
Past the spot where Jayce sat but a minute ago, his cider remained. Untouched.
Thwack!
He is already back at it again.
Mel steals a sip from Jayce’s cup, heart drumming with another thwack. Another few minutes wouldn’t hurt.
***
When the sun finally gives way to the stars in the night, the chill in the air falls heavy and hard to ignore. Bellies are satisfied with overly processed and preserved snacks that would surely give them a breakout the day or two after, hot cider and cheap beer. The campfire crackles a song for the trees around and night sky above.
All of this… it is far removed from what consists of Mel’s living on a day to day basis, but it isn’t disagreeable. Maybe it is something about the circumstances of camping and standards are out of sorts. There is a quaint charm to be considered when appreciating the possibilities of the universe with ones you love.
The warmth in her chest not solely attributable to the fire Jayce set up—
It is undeniable. A moment treasurable in its simplicity and grounding not always found in the cobbled streets she walks every day in the city.
Looking up to the vast open sky where light pollution was minimal is but proof of such a sensation.
Now it is only a matter of waiting.
Kino said it would be any minute now… almost fifteen minutes ago. In the waiting, he flexes his astronomy, sharing stories of this being one of those comets that passed over once every hundred years. A once in a lifetime opportunity they couldn’t afford to miss in person. Videos and pictures and word of mouth would never do the wonder justice.
The stereo dialed down to a low buzz, the fire continues to crackle and dance with life and everyone waits with baited breaths.
Kino’s attention twitches. “Everyone.”
It’s here.
At the sight above, Sky turns into Kino, reflexively reaching for his knee.
Mel’s lungs turn to a vacuum, her soul finds a grounding touch in intertwining her fingers with Jayce’s.
Silent save for a heavy sigh, Jayce presses his lips tight, his gaze unblinking towards the heavens above.
A heavy streak of white paints the night sky with remarkable contrast. An outline and tail of powder blue gives it a shape one can only describe as ethereal. Regality and divinity superseding the secular. Fitting for the goddess after which the event is named. Following in short circumstance, smaller but no less powerful bursts of light fall across the sky as well. Too many to count in real time.
Time, like many concepts in life, is an illusion. The comet passing over may have lasted seconds, minutes, or hours. It matters not. Reluctant to break her attention from above even past the event’s closure, it is a necessitated blink that prompts as much. When finding Jayce beside her doing the same, Mel finds the stars have fallen in his eyes as well.