But Antonio didn't.At least, not right away.He went back to kissing Declan instead, fingers trailing down his back and up again.
“I didn't like the way they looked at us.Guessing we’ll be failing a lot of background checks no one bothers to run.”
Ah.Yes.Declan had noticed as well.The sideways glances at Declan’s clothes or Antonio’s tattooed, brown skin.The pointed use offriendandroommate.
“We could try a different neighborhood.”
“Not in this city.But if we got a place a little out of town, like Bo and Everil, it might be better.Be asking you to play sugar daddy, though.Not exactly flush.”
A place of their own, legally owned and sealed with their names.Or, well, Antonio’s name and the name Declan assumed in the mortal realm.Still,his.Theirs.A place more theirs than the rooms Declan grew up in, his first and last sight every day until Antonio.
Days ago, Declan thought he would fade away before having another evening like this one.Touched and loved and talking, quiet, with the man he touched and loved in turn.And there Antonio was, talkinghomes, and Declan, smoke and copper on his tongue, kissed him again, leaning in.
“I prefer ‘Murderpunk’ to ‘daddy’,” Declan murmured, once he remembered words.“I would like that a great deal, Antonio.”
Roving hands found their way down further, spread across Declan’s ass, thumbs hooked in his waistband.Lazy heat becoming a little less lazy.
“Sugarpunk?”he suggested, laughter and love in his voice in equal measure.“Nice little place without too much iron and a graveyard in the back.Damned American dream, isn’t it?”
Wonder poured through the bond.Wonder and love and affection, rich as supple leather, bright as blood.As the copper, right there, where the curve of his lips met Antonio’s.Kissed him until all he could taste was sunlight.
“Black and red picket fence.Anarchy symbol on the doormat.Very Sugarpunk.”Declan shivered, his own hands finding purchase in Antonio’s soft curls, held him so Declan could nuzzle close, nip his jaw.“Unrelated, we have some time before the girls are due to arrive.”
Antonio’s breath went sharp, head tipped further back in invitation.
“Think we can find a way to fill it.”Words burnt at the edges.Sun-scorched.“We’ve got nothing but time.You and me.”
“Promised you centuries, mo chuisle.”Declan punctuated the reminder with a drag of teeth.“Together.”
Those big hands tightened, dragging Declan in close.“Fuck, Murderpunk.For the first time in my life, got a future I’m looking forward to.”
Centuries promised, an oath Declan knew he could fulfill, now.So long as he had Antonio at his side, just there, where they fit so well, they would have the rest of their lives.
“Our good times have never looked so damned good, beefcake.”He agreed and kissed the laughter from Antonio’s lips.
Da, da, da.
Epilogue
Robin
Amongthosetruthsthatshould be universally acknowledged about people, Robin decided for neither the first nor last time, was that fae wereidiots.
Not in the ‘how do I use a search bar’ way–which,kill himif he had to have that conversation with agrown-ass adultagain, thanks–but more like how CEOs always thought they knew the inner workings of their businesses, decades after they stopped pushing paper.
Fae had… vision.Mostly.Charm.Ish.Some veneer of finesse that Robin put good money on not being worth a damn when tempers got hot.Big ideas and noble goals, or that’s what they said when it wasn’t ‘take down the man’.Everyonewanted to think themself the hero.Some even had a concept of putting things in order first, when it came to Plan A, B, and Z.
Cool.Great.Awesome for them.
But, all in all, the nitty gritty of their organizational prowess, outside of Houses with a capital H and Council with a capital C, wasnonexistent.
“There will be several of us there,” Declan said when Robin asked him who was going to keep records straight on who said what and where.“Fae don’t lie.There’s no need.”
“You suck at this,” Robin told him, wholly unimpressed.He took the scroll Declan offered him anyway.“You show me a fae who remembers exactly what everyone said at all times with full accuracy, and I show you a fae with a gun to their head as soon as one was invented.”
Declan laughed, all crocodile teeth and streaks of gray-purple spiderwebbing over his jaw and temple.He didn’t bother with the whole ‘passing for human’ thing anymore.Not since he and Antonio had dumped the Council like a bad date.
Dude hadbone wings.And those weird kintsugi cracks that got darker every time Robin saw him.
