Petals and a Proposal

[Morgan LaLuna]

Cherry trees in a state of perpetual bloom lines the never ending stairway up to the top of a scenic mountain in the Twilight Isle, dropping petals now and again to litter the steps with pastel ink spatters of vivid life. Taking their time on the way up were two figures, hand in hand, the smaller of them walking at a far more sedate pace. It seemed perhaps he was just enjoying the scenery, but then also maybe not... for he alternated mostly between looking at the steps ahead of him and the white haired elf he had invited up. A shimmering purple butterfly fluttered now and again to land on this shoulder or the top of a bright head, always choosing to alight on the elf as if by design.


Morgan hadn't said much of anything up to this point, and one could maybe chalk it up to enjoying the silence of the stroll... but anyone who knew Morgan knew he was one for filling the quiet spaces. He was not often so quiet, this far from the waves of the ocean. Finally, he ventured to speak.


"I, uh... So I'm leaving tomorrow. For a couple of weeks." His smile resembled a bit of a grimace, when it happened. "Just for a couple of weeks, this trip. I have a route I'd like to see about... I hear some things travel more this time of year." He was dangerously close to falling into babbling.


"Yes," the Elf replied, "of course. It will be so quiet." There was something unmistakably forlorn in his voice. 


He stopped a step or two above Morgan, drastically heightening him in comparison. Emerald eyes caught the twilight as he looked down with a smile that matched the tone of his words. "I trust you shall be sure to have a splendid journey?" The butterfly had perched upon his chest, almost like a particularly grandiose lapel pin.


Morgan caught something in Mart's tone that squeezed his heart, and he immediately tightened his grip on the hand within his almost reassuringly. He looked up at the Elf with a crooked grin, and pulled their entwined fingers to his lips, brushing across the pale knuckles with a dip of his head.


"It's okay... you like the quiet better..." he said softly. There was no hurt in his voice when he said this... it was fact, in Morgan's mind. Again he looked up, and tilted his head. "I'm taking Jaycy to see Taemoria. I haven't told her yet." Another kiss to pale moon fingers simply because he couldn't help himself. "Is there anything you want me to bring back?"


"I only like the quiet, Morgan LaFey. And that is far too poor a word to describe what it is I feel for you." 


Mart pulled just enough against Morgan's hold to draw him up a step, so that his fingers could trace through dark hair, over and around an ear, until his palm was pressed against the other man's cheek. "A wondrous journey, then." 


After a brief moment's consideration, a little laugh escaped him. "Would you bring me something sweet?"


Nobody would ever hear Morgan LaFey complain about being any closer to the Moon Elf, and his free hand lifted, stopping just before it settled on Mart's waist, fingertips hovering so very close before he pulled it back with a soft and quick exhale. He leaned in just that much closer, so that black and white fabric brushed against each other silently, causing the butterfly to flutter up and settle elsewhere or risk being crushed. He tilted his head into the palm against his cheek, eyes fluttering closed.


He was lost in thought for just a moment, before his eyes opened and his lips split into a smile, tugging up at the corner of his lips so severely as to cause the thinnest of wrinkles at the corner of his eyes. Perhaps he would lament the result one day, but they would be well earned. "I think I know exactly what to bring." His thumb brushed over Mart's fingers, lingering on the silvery ring on one finger before he stepped to the side and tugged the other with him, further up the steps.


"Come on. It's not very far now." His voice wavered, and he did his best to cover for it by pretending to clear his throat.


Morgan's smile broadened Mart's, and he held back a chuckle as a touch of lavender rose in his cheeks. "I look forward to it, and your return,  already."


His fingers closed tight around Morgan's hand, and he followed him up to the peak.


Morgan laughed lightly, peering back over his shoulder at Mart with a momentarily carefree smile. "When I come back, maybe we can celebrate! A party..." and then he looked toward the path. "And then maybe just the two of us." The words perhaps brought up a quiet dinner together, but he did not elaborate, of course. Let the waves take them where they would be.


It was not much longer before they reached the top, and Morgan paused in some confusion, looking back down the steps with a perplexed knit settling between his brows. "That... hm." But never mind! There was much more at the summit to explore, without worrying about the steps.


He looked around a moment, and squeezed Mart's hand, then started slowly toward one of many of the more secluded seating areas covered in petals before getting to the teahouse proper. "Can you believe these are like this all year long?" He said with some wonderment. "When I was little, I saw pictures like this, and I thought it was snow." It sounded a little silly now. "Are there any like this in... D-Dolen Ilithen?" Well, he tried, anyway. His head was tipped back and he was looking wonderingly at all the blossoms heavy on dark branches.


"Ithilien. And yes, there is one very famous tree that is something like these, and many others not quite so noteworthy." As pleased as he was by Morgan recalling (more or less) the name of his home, he was far more pleased by Morgan's recollection of his own youth.


"Perhaps we can make it a point, to get lost in one of these blizzards again someday soon."


Morgan let go of Mart's hand almost reluctantly, and brushed a few petals from a bench, sitting with a sigh. He was not winded, but his hand settled on his chest anyway for a moment. His heart had to start acting right eventually, right? The drumming in his chest was alarming, and getting worse as the evening progressed. Chalk it up to nerves. A moment to catch his breath, and he patted the bench next to him, smiling.


"Every day, if that's what you want." He responded softly. "Nobody would ever be able to find us, and we could just be flower hermits or something." He tilted his head and gave a light laugh, hand finally falling away from his chest and breath coming a bit easier.


"That is one type of hermit I have yet to become." He settled down beside Morgan, one foot hooking 'round the back of the other as his far hand settled upon the bench beside him, and the other rose to tuck his hair behind a pointed ear. 


"Something is weighing on you." He said it warmly, almost without concern. "Would you like to get it.. Oh, what is the phrase...off your chest?"


"Then let's just be flower hermits." He commented lightly. When Mart sat down next to him, he scooted closer, taking up his hand once more. It made for a good focus point, the contrast of their skin. His fingers spread over the back of the pale hand he held, and the pad of his thumb once more brushed against the ring.


"Sometimes I think about the dreams. And I don't want to always ask, because I don't know what you remember, and I don't want to..." his voice lowered sheepishly, and his head followed suit as he fiddled idly with the mundane band with a moon setting. "I don't want to annoy you. I know I do sometimes."


His eyes narrowed in a curious way as Morgan spoke, and his free hand moved to settle atop the other man's. 


"If you ever want to talk about something with me, especially if it is about us, do not hold yourself back. I would gladly spend the rest of my days in a haze of "annoyance" if it would leave yours without worry." He said it in his most reassuring tone.


He frowned, and started working the ring off of Mart's finger. "It's smudged..." he murmured softly, and he started to buff it on his shirt, leaving faint grey streaks on his already smudged white shirt.


"I'm not... who I was then. Things are different." He started, lifting the ring to inspect it before going back to buffing, now on his thigh. The hand beneath Mart's turned palm up, and fingers lacing. "Living up to forty year old me is kinda..." he sighed. "Intimidating." The buffing stopped, and he looked up. "I'm trying to grow up, Mart. But sometimes I don't feel like I'm doing a very good job. I want to be the person you actually fell in love with." For all he knew, he was quite mature and successful by that age! Forty seemed so... old.


Mart listened quietly, waiting for Morgan to say his piece. His eyes closed when he finished, and he smiled faintly as he spoke. "You always find a way to worry, you know. It is a very good trait in your line of work, for certain, but it can certainly prove frustrating from time to time." His eyes opened, and he grasped Morgan's hand more tightly.


"Did you know, Morgan," he said with a special kind of fondness, but that same forlorn tint that colored his feelings on the news of the Captain's departure earlier, "that I had resolved myself never to mention what happened before to you, before you came to the Cuckoos Nest that night? Though I was so.. certain, that it was real. That you knew it as well as I did. But regardless of what I knew, or felt, what mattered to me was you. Because you may not have felt the same. You may not have wanted to try. To look upon me in such a way. Because you are you, now, no matter what happened in another life." He sighed a little sigh himself, and then laughed.


"I fell in love with you, the man who drew up his courage and took a leap of faith. Who dared to master himself, just to give this...us, a chance. Who cared enough to respect who I am and who did not challenge or try to pressure me...very much." He smiled wide, then, and brought Morgan's hand up to his lips, where he held it for a few long moments.


"However much you remember, know this. You are a very different man, and despite how you see yourself, you are far more grown than you know."


"Im mel cin, Anor Aran."


To say Morgan was stunned to silence would be an understatement. His throat flushed, and he was unable to find the breath to speak. His eyes dropped, and there was a spatter of something wet, a tear, that fell to his thigh. His fingers curled around the small metal trinket, and he huffed a strained laugh, at the very end. He leaned forward and buried his face in Mart's chest, clutching at that hand with a palm that had grown sweaty.


"I still worry. I'm sorry." He nearly whispered into soft black material. "I'm scared I'll wake up again." There was a long moment of silence before he sat up and gave a mighty sniff, rubbing at one eye with the heel of his palm. He looked down to his own lap again, this time thoughtfully, and shook his head, laughing. "I... had this all planned out, you know?" Quietly, as if to himself.


He wrapped Morgan up in his arms, smile easy, and tilted his head just so at his final admission.


"Had what planned out?"


"This. This whole... thing." He gestured from under the loop of Mart's arms, and looked up with a pouted frown. "The butterfly that was supposed to be a bird, coming here to be in all the flowers..." he sighed, and leaned heavily forward, rolling Mart's ring between two fingers. Finally, he tugged out of the circles the Moon Elf provided, warm as it was, and puffed his cheeks.


"Marten Di'Luna, we were married, once." There was a forced confidence in his voice, and his back was ramrod straight, hands curled into fists on his thighs. "Weren't we?"


A look, perhaps not one of realization, but the kind one might make unbidden when reminded of some great joy, overtook Mart's features as Morgan spoke. 


His hands folded together on his lap, and he nodded serenely. "We were."


A deep breath was taken, and then released all at once. Cleansing. His eyes flicked over to Mart, and the smile on his face was almost contagious. His posture loosened, and his head tilted to the side as he shifted to turn himself toward the Moon Elf. "It's one of the things I remember... but I don't know who asked. Do you?"


He scooted closer, and took Mart's hand, gently. It helped with the slight tremble, really.


He smiled back as he lifted Morgan's hand up with both of his, feeling along each finger. 


"I remember. You were so nervous, I wound up doing it."


There was a pause. "So... you… asked me." He watched their hands, and curled his fingers to capture one of Mart's.


"Yes. I asked you." He watched Morgan as he spoke, smile broadening.


Morgan's breath caught, and his eyes lit up as he pulled Mart closer. "So you said to me..." his hands were shaking. He was barely able to keep still. "Will you marry me?"


It was easier to pose it as a question it wasn't. He was rather proud of himself for this semi-ruse. So much so, he forgot the ring bit entirely, simply clasping Mart's hand.


He nodded again, "Yes."


There was a strange and high pitched noise, something close to a giggle, and he pulled Mart in closer, pressing his forehead to the Moon Elf's. "Good. Then that's what we'll do." The captain even went so far to venture closer and steal a kiss on Mart's cheek. He couldn't help the wide grin as he pulled back, only disappearing when he glanced down at their hands...


"Oh! Shit... uh..." he pulled Mart's hand closer, and slipped the moon ring on the finger it had come from. "There." With a sheepish smile, he lifted the hand to plant a gentle kiss on pale knuckles.


Did this make it official? This was how it was done, right? He'd only borked it a little.


He looked at Morgan for a second, before his eyes widened a little. Then, almost involuntarily, his free hand covered his mouth as he began to laugh. 


"You are an absolute rogue!" The laughter kept up until he leaned in and moved his hands to cradle Morgan's face as he pressed a kiss to his lips. As he pulled away, he smiled simply.


"That is what we shall do, hm?"


Morgan hummed into the kiss, settling his hands over Mart's and grasping them so he could not escape too far when he pulled.


"Yes." A beat, and he chuckled softly. "That's okay, right?" Was it too late to ask?


"I would think so." He kissed him again, though this time it was just a peck. 


"I said yes after all, did I not?"


Morgan huffed a laugh, cheeks flushing in spite of himself. "You did. And I couldn't be happier." He paused a moment, and glanced around before tipping forward rather heavily, wrapping one arm around Mart's waist and using the other to steady himself on the back of the bench as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.


"Wanna go... check the teahouse menu?" he said it as if it were some salacious and scandalous suggestion indeed.


"Hmmm..." His eyes narrowed, like a content cat. "That sounds like a lovely start to the evening." He laughed again, lightly, before he started the arduous process of getting the both of them off the bench.