chatime | ✧ — peach iced tea.

[ he slides his arm further around thorns, tugging him in until his head is nestled firmly against his chest. he strokes his hair for good measure… ]

You told me you were mine. [ (sylus voice) ] Don't forget what that means.

[ this is so serious for a no bald arc ]

[ thorns does not see the correlation between that and his hair. does that mean only elysium can decide on his haircuts? this is so stupid that thorns isn't even feeling the usual amount of smitten right now. he's just confused. ]

I'm always yours?

[ he gets the sense that thorns doesn't quite understand what he's getting at, but it's fine as long as he continues nodding along in the name of love…

he pats him some more. ]

The hair on your head is included. You can't do anything to it without my permission.

I wasn't going to do anything to it.

[ he was going to do the most drastic thing you could ever do to it, actually, but don't worry about it. ]

No? That's good. It doesn't hurt to be careful sometimes.

[ some pats for good measure. this may or may not be a threat. ]

Let's try to shoot for the end of the week.

[ thorns shaves his head and elysium starts threatening to k*ll himself again

but that sounds like a good timeline. they should probably get some hunting and fishing done so they can last as long as they can with a food supply before needing to stop at a town. ]

Pretty different than the last time we ran away together.

[ look maybe he just needs to attain enlightenment. he just needs the right bald head to rub, and that could be thorns. he loses all his hair due to natural disasters and he just has to deal… ]

That's a low bar to clear. I don't think we can get more impromptu than that even if we tried. Though… we did have time to get back to our hotel, I guess.

[ imagine if they left this insant. ]

Anyway, if we start now, we can make jerky.

[ technically they only had enough time to go back because everyone was so confused about what had just happened that their reaction time was delayed. clearly the trick to running away is simply act so crazy that no one knows what's going on.

thorns nods. ]

Mm. Want to head to the forest?

[ they can flirt amongst the trees 🫣 ]

[ everyone should've suspected something was up when elysium just resigned out of nowhere. love is love, but can it really change someone so drastically? as it turns out, the phase did not turn out to be a phase and ended up blowing up so much more dramatically than that. ]

Yeah. You can show me what you're made of.

[ in every… way… who needs caffeine when you can flirt…!! ]

[ they're so annoying

but they can head out then. villagers who are going about their business wave at them and greet them. they are so part of the town now and they will surely be shocked when the two of them just run off on their own.

still, if they can run off on people like mantra, thorns' crew, and the doctor, who can't they? ]

[ they would do this on your day.

at least they're saying goodbye. if elysium had his way, there wouldn't be a farewell at all, far more motivated by the idea of round two of their excuse of an elopement than by hiding his condition, but it is what it is.

the week turns over, and he spends the morning draped over thorns like always, like they aren't about to break the hearts of an entire village of elderly. ]

All packed up and ready to go?

[ it really is difficult to be all-in on the idea of dying together when you are still doing whatever you can to prolong the other's life. surely that won't cause trouble ever.

thorns doesn't answer at first, and it can be mistaken that he's asleep. but he eventually mumbles, ]

Uh huh...

[ one of them will die a terrible, wretched death—and because of everything they've already endured, they'll have finally learned to accept it. (real.)

but elysium is just thinking about the proposal, wedding, and honeymoon—they have plenty of time to go through all of them, so he's simply not thinking about anything at all, fingers brushing softly against thorns' cheek. ]

Want an extra few minutes?

No, we should get up...

[ he says, not getting up. but it's difficult to know when will be the next time they'll get to sleep on a bed, so he does want to soak this in... the feeling of being able to comfortably snuggle with his fiancé. ]

I would rather be gone before too many people wake up.

I thought you wanted to leave on amicable terms with everyone?

[ if thorns isn't in any rush to get up, elysium doesn't see why he should be. rather, he makes it actively harder for thorns to, hooking a leg around his to keep him pressed close. ]

There are people who'll be hurt if you don't say anything.

[ the guard is one thing, but the settlement is small enough that saying a quick bye to the majority is realistic within an afternoon… ]

Well, there's people we'll see since they're up.

[ mainly the ones who run their own business, since they need to be awake to start their day. but thorns doesn't want to be around when literally everyone is up and about. after all, his reasoning for even wanting to say goodbye is more strategic than sentimental. they can just say they tried to wait but really needed to head out before they lost more daylight.

well. elysium will need to. thorns still isn't the most convincing liar. ]

[ okay but has thorns considered that elysium has made himself comfortable.

thorns has said all of this, but elysium's response is still just nestling closer to him, leaving smooches wherever there might be exposed skin.

this is their last morning in a bed for the forseeable future… they can give themselves this… ]

[ they are so annoying. of course thorns isn't going to make him move when he looks so cute and comfy?

honestly, their luck has been so good? they really haven't been in an actual dangerous situation since higashi; the skill difference between them and the thieves who attacked the town was vast enough they really only needed one of them handling it, and now they are also productive members of society?

perhaps... they have beaten their curse? ]

You can go back to sleep.

[ their mistake was trying to have their cake and eat it too. elysium understands that now.

but really, he'd only been snuggling to be annoying. there's a soft laugh when thorns acquiesces (as if they'd ever truly disagreed), his heart swelling with adoration. ]

Only if you want to. [ he presses one last kiss to thorns' collarbone before reluctantly sitting up. ] … I'll work hard to get us our house. This won't have to be something we miss for long.

What a hardworking husband.

[ ...

he snorts, shaking his head. ]

Soon to be, I guess.

[ they're not fucking married. ]

[ they can't forget they aren't married a second time, help me

elysium's expression just crumples all over again at the reminder. ]

You're a tough person to win over. If I don't stack the deck, how else am I supposed to get you to say yes to my proposal…?

[ … kisses thorns one last, last time. ]

I'll do my best to accommodate the Doctor.

He does like you.

[ docybara likes whoever gives pats and food. has the detox started already?? ]

Not as much as I do though.

[ there was no need to clarify that. ]

[ help

there was definitely need to clarify that. ]

How are you so sure about that? The Doctor was so eager to see me the other day I almost fell over when he tackled me.

[ he is trying to hard to ween docybara off of drugs and thus feeding him maybe a little too much. his belly is so round. he's gained weight…

docybara would be sad for maybe two seconds until the next distraction makes it forget about elysium completely. ]

[ they are going from one extreme to the other. docybara will soon be one of those fat animals who look so adorably cute but need to do the water exercise to lose weight.

thorns narrows his eyes. ]

I can do that too.

[ why. ]

[

he takes steps away from the bed and just holds out his arms without saying anything. somehow, they keep discovering things they've yet to do, but also? is this… leverage? a lightbulb goes off in his head. ]

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