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Bark bit into Nox's back, sharp and juxtaposed with the comforting weight of the boy against his chest. And he absorbed both feelings like they were the gentle touch of a lover's hand against his cheek because it was there and he could feel it. Undulled and real. Or as real as he could get.
The minute Chase had shown up in the attic an hour ago, guitar in one hand and a simple space exploration novel in the other, Nox was already turning to fetch Violet.
"I know you like curling up in my guitar like a little mouse, and don't get me wrong, it's the cutest thing on the planet, but… I thought maybe we could… Do a book today?" He had said. He didn't need to. Nox was more than happy for any excuse to hold Chase the way he was now.
Human and whole, and able to wrap his arms tightly around the boy he loved. To be able to feel his skin and warmth with his own instead of through the metal shell the real world insisted on calling his body. Here, Nox could run his hands along Chase's arms and feel the warmth of it with fingertips undulled. He could wrap himself tightly around Chase's chest. A place he could sit at an angle that allowed him all the access to the smell and feel of Chase's impossibly soft hair against his cheeks.
And, he'd never heard Chase play from this size before. Not from this angle or with these ears. He had heard people playing guitars before, of course. Back when he was human. The smell and feel of the damp streets bleed into him, driven by memory alone. The warmth only a pub could offer, even for a short while. One man, sometimes a small group, sat atop a makeshift 'stage' strumming away sad melodies or leading the entire place into a shanty from the docks.
And yet still, the way Chase played was different. Gentler. Softer. Filled with something Nox could scarcely get enough of. It wrapped itself around him in the form of invisible silk, warm and insulating and everything. Even as he plucked and strummed without much aim, playing chords to songs that didn't match and still flowed almost seamlessly from his fingers, Nox found it comforting, like sitting before a warm fire on a frozen winter's eve.
Sometimes Chase would hum, and the vibration of that against Nox's chest was a sensation that made him feel almost unworthy of such a feeling. To love so deeply that the simple feeling of someone humming set wild fires alight in his soul was something he found to be rather intimidating. Yet he embraced it all the same. Praying to any deity who may deign to listen that this would never end, as all things would.
Then, he shifted, and Chase stopped his playing. Nox immediately regretted the movement and silently cursed his spine for daring to be uncomfortable against the lone tree. Chase lifted from his chest, and it took a considerable amount of willpower on Nox's part not to pull him back down. But he took the invitation to adjust himself so that that particular knot on the tree was no longer attempting to burrow into his ribs, then guided Chase back down against him.
"We can sit somewhere else, you know," Chase said, amusement playing on his tongue.
"Mmm," Nox grumbled disagreeably, only tightening his arms around his love. And he wasn't entirely sure where else they would sit. This book was bizarre in the fact that it took place across many small islands surrounding a planet. Two girls jumped from one to the other in some sort of game. One would point out constellations and distant planets with their telescope, while the other simply wished to return home before their mother noticed they were gone.
Really, his character wasn't much of a villain, but she was an antagonist enough for Violet to pull some strings and get him in.
He and Chase decided to settle on one of the middle islands in the story, where they could see the most galaxy clusters, constellations, and distant planets. It made for quite a colorful view indeed. And the aether in this story was portrayed as swirling and shifting, as if it were all moving along on a steady current. Like a familiar painting he'd once seen rendered in the papers just before-
Nox shifted again, wincing this time as his spine protested angrily against the rather shrimp-like angle his back had adopted in this position. Chase moved to sit up again, and Nox gripped him tight.
This only pulled a laugh from Chase, and the sound washed over him like warm water. "Seriously, we can move if you're uncomfortable, dude."
"'M fine." Nox groaned, burying his face distractedly into Chase's hair and inhaling deeply. Chase giggled against the sensation but made no more attempt to move and instead continued strumming his guitar.
A few minutes passed, and Nox leaned every conscious thought into Chase's playing, hoping the calm there would distract from the fact that his back was currently barking like the world's yippiest mut.
It didn't work, and by the time he was shifting again, he couldn't wrap his arms tightly enough around Chase before he sat up entirely. Nox glared at his love with blue flame that could rival the suns if he really tried. But he didn't really try, and it only elicited another beautiful laugh from Chase's throat.
"The point of coming in here wasn't for you to break your body trying to get comfy on a tree, c'mon, trade places with me." Chase shifted entirely off of Nox's lap, leaving a cold spot he feared could never be warmed.
"My body is fine," Nox grumbled like a discontented cat.
"Hmm, you could say that again," Chase purred, dragging his fingers up the curve of Nox's arm.
"Oh, shut up and get back here," Nox hissed, but the snippish tone of voice couldn't hide the deep crimson taking control of his face. At least when he was a key, his body couldn't betray him. Chase always knew anyway, but he could at least pretend.
"No, move," Chase demanded, sitting up into a squatting position that had Nox averting his gaze with a swallow.
Instead of moving, he crossed his now-empty arms. "I want to hold you, though." He complained, coaxing another breathy laugh through Chase's nose.
"You can still, just move, goof."
Nox rolled his eyes and finally sat up and moved from his spot against the tree. Stretching out his back, he tried not to groan into the relieving feeling. He failed, but he did try. Chase, at least, spared him one of his knowing eyebrow lifts that Nox swears he learned from Bronze, and took Nox's place against the tree, guitar momentarily set aside.
"Now, come lay down on your belly with your head right here," Chase patted his stomach with an indication.
Nox crouched down between Chase's legs and sat there looking at him. But made no move to do as he was told.
"Oh?" Chase asks, reading something in that steady blue gaze that made his cheeks turn just a bit pink at the tone in Nox's voice. "Don't wanna hold me anymore?" He taunted.
Nox narrowed his eyes, and instead of answering, he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Chase's back, dragging the smaller man up onto his lap. "The day I no longer wish to hold you will be long after my passing, little idiot."
Chase's legs wrapped, perhaps on instinct, around Nox's back. Nox stretched his own out toward the tree, then promptly buried his face into Chase's neck, drawing just the softest of whimpers from him. "I don't wanna think about that," Chase breathed.
Nox relaxed as arms fell around him, and the pitter-pattering of Chase's pulse echoed against his ear. "Sorry," He mumbled against his warm skin, as Chase began to trace circles along Nox's back.
He pressed his lips, gentle and loving, into the crook of Chase's neck and jaw. It drew another hum from him, and Nox decided very quickly that he liked the feeling of that hum against his lips more than from Chase's back against his chest. So he kissed him again. And again.
Trailing down Chase's neck and exposed shoulder and back up toward his ear, like the gentle footfalls of a fairy. The sensation drew its own alphabet of noises and hums. All beautiful and all treasured by the man luring them out into the open.
"Nox…" Chase whimpered when his teeth grazed the shell of his ear.
"Hmm…?" Nox inquired, as if Chase's sound of contentment was a question of its own.
His love huffed a laugh and said, a bit breathlessly, "How 'm I supposed to play like this?"
"Hmm," Nox nuzzled the spot below Chase's ear. "Around me?"
Chase snorted and shifted to press their cheeks together, "I have short arms, how am I supposed to play around you?"
"Not my problem to solve, Chasey," Nox cooed, turning his head to press a kiss into Chase's cheek, and he could swear he felt the shiver from the living miracle sitting in his arms.
"Okay, rude," Chase grumbles, and drags a hand up Nox's spine as if in retaliation for something that went unsaid. "I've actually been working on something… It's from a game, but it sorta reminds me of you."
Something warm squirmed within Nox's heart at the sentiment offered there, and he stilled before leaning back to look at Chase. The way his honey gold eyes seemed to reflect the distant stars instantly captivated him, and Nox tried hard to remember that he actually had to breathe in this body. "You wish to serenade me, then?"
"I'll let you lay on my lap?" Chase tries, and Nox gives him a look as if he would need to contemplate that offer in the slightest.
"Fine," He finally settles on, and lets Chase shimmy his way off him and back against the tree.
Nox crawls over him and plops himself down right between Chase's legs, pressing his face into his stomach.
"That's not really my lap," Chase chuckles, combing his fingers through Nox's hair, drawing small hums that existed only for his starlight.
Nox pressed his lips into Chase's belly, even through the fabric of his shirt, and delighted in the shudder he felt pass through him. "I'm not sure you have much authority on the matter. But if you ask nicely, I can move."
"N-no… No, you're fine," Chase assured, allowing the two to lie there in silence and comfort for a moment.
Nox could have fallen asleep. Maybe he started to before he felt Chase shift beneath him to grab his guitar a few feet away. Chase mumbled something about having to hold it a little higher so he didn't bump Nox's head, and adjusted to hold the guitar across his chest.
When he began to play, it was… Somber. Almost… Sad. And Nox opened his eyes to look out across the deep green grass and into what he could see of the aether that surrounded them.
In this space, it echoed uniquely. Wrapping around them both in their small world.
There were no words to this song, he realized when the sound of Chase's lungs did not attempt to lift in preparation for them. And though part of him lamented the lack of his love's voice against his ears… He realized it didn't need words to convey anything.
It was sad.
It was longing.
It was… Lost.
A ballad about time and how it holds them all. A song of pain that had long been dulled with age but still left an ache in one's soul. This song was a reminder of Nox. A reminder of time and something missing. That realization fell upon his soul like rain.
Not rain.
Tears.
Nox pressed his fingers to his cheek. Damp. Warm. He was shaking.
A breath shook from his lungs, more powerful than he had perhaps intended. A gasp as emotion gripped him. As it made itself known. The lump in his throat was made as real as the tears soaking into the shirt beneath his cheek.
Trembling fingers found themselves pressing into the small of Chase's back, like holding him tighter would keep him grounded while he silently cried. It did.
And when the song came to its eventual end, as gentle and somber as it had begun, Nox found he couldn't move. Didn't want to.
At some point, Chase leaned his guitar back against the tree. He threaded his fingers through Nox's hair while shallow rivers still found their path down his face. A hand, calloused and gentle, pressed into his cheek. Guided his face up.
Nox followed obediently and found Chase looking down at him with a smile—wide and genuine, and glinting with his own tears. "You're crying." He whispers softly, and it's not inquisitive. Or worrying or curious. It simply is.
Then he's sitting up, leaning over the only sunlight in his world and pressing their lips together. It was damp, and warm, and kind. And he could feel it. All of it.
"Thank you."