perfectmatch | week four

[ Aventurine finds it in him to give him a bit of cheek, and Nico simply smiles. When one lives forever, one has nothing but time to give. A shame they haven't the luxury of much here, but a few moments he can certainly spare.

When his beloved finally muddles through his thoughts enough to give voice to them, it's as if so many things suddenly slot into place. Aventurine has survived, only to become a slave. Won his freedom, paid for it in blood, only to land himself in a job that he would rather die than face. Some might call it luck, certainly, but it is a curse too, isn't it?

Nico turns to face him again, his free hand finding Aventurine's once more. ]

I am not an easy man to cage, amour. But more than that, you are not alone anymore. I refuse to let you go because you think I could be hurt, and let you go back to a life of such pain.

If you want to fight your fate, then you have my sword, my heart, whatever you might need.

[ ...It's so much to ask of him. Too much — yet isn't that exactly the problem? Nico isn't the only one who has noticed. His tendency to isolate himself, to put his wellbeing last. Sometimes under the guise of getting what he wants, but he also just can't see how he deserves this. Him. Them.

"And because of this, the 'end' will thus reveal a completely different meaning."

...Yet he keeps hearing it. Over and over and over, like cracks against the earth, dried and hard, yet moveable, with the right hand.

"Correct me if I am wrong...but I must wonder if you have considered investing in yourself."

"Why not put your fate in someone else's hands? That's perhaps the biggest gamble anyone can do."

"You're not the sole survivor, or whatever the hell your job title was. You're you. So let others help you, for once."

How long has it been, since he let something other than his luck and good fortune define him? And yet it's always been there, like a steady heartbeat, beneath it all. Nico had told him his grief was love with nowhere to go, but that hadn't stopped him from feeling it. From still holding onto it to give. The world took so much from him: his family, his people, his own identity, stripped away and sold for copper. What's left, then, but his heart, that still yearns, fights, aches — and beats, in spite of it all, in of everything.

He hasn't given up. He hasn't given up on himself, or there would be nothing of Kakavasha left in him.

He swallows against the tension of emotion in the back his throat, meeting Nico's gaze. Everything he had said about his value...had nothing to do with his luck, or with "Aventurine", either. ]

...And what if, in the end, we should still fall? What if I gamble everything on you...and lose?

[ This man... this beautiful, damaged man. He wants so desperately to love, to be loved. It's written in his very blood, a sorrow that yearns for joy. It was that capacity to love that captured Nico's heart in the first place, and no matter how much Aventurine tries to deny it, he remains convinced that he has so much yet to give.

He just needs to learn how. The chains of his fate aren't the only chains keeping him bound. He is a prisoner to his own fear as much as anything else. ]

We will all be so much dust one day, even me. I would rather have your light in my life for a moment than not at all.

[ ... That's right. It's all inevitable, the end, Finality, Nihility, but isn't that what he resolved to live in spite of? If he makes his choice base off fear, refuses to gamble...then nothing will change, and that predetermined end will wind up just the way Acheron had said. But the ending wasn't where life's meaning is found; it's in the living of it.

Every moment of happiness in his life has been like a spark, a flash in the darkness. If those moments are worth it for Nico, really worth it, then...

Slowly, Aventurine's gaze lifts to meet the other man's, hands slipping free from Nico's touch, but only so he can lift them to cup at Nico's jaw instead, like he's the most precious thing his hands have ever held. ]

Then what sort of gambler would I be, if I didn't take that chance with you?

[ Yes. He'll make this gamble. Not just for Nico, but for himself, because he deserves to be happy, too. So when he meets his family again...

...it's with a smile, instead of tears. ]

[ It was a lesson hard=learned for Nico, that things that are fleeting can be beautiful and worthwhile, that everything that turns to dust is worth its weight in gold. The lesson that Sebastien gave his life for. Nico has tucked it into his heart and done his very best to live by it to this day.

Even mortals are not immune to the fear of loss — in fact they feel it more keenly than he ever could. He does not begrudge Aventurine his hesitation, his fear.

But oh, the sound of those shackles falling away, those eyes meeting his own, are the most beautiful things he's ever experienced. It feels like he can breathe again, basking in his beloved's gentle touch, determination radiating off him like a gentle glow. ]

Mon amour.

[ Breathed out, he angles his head to press a kiss to Aventurine's wrist. ]

You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. The road ahead will not always be easy, but it will be worthwhile, with you by my side.

[ It won't be easy, but it will be worth it. And he's never liked investing in things that were too easy, anyway.

It's like the hard earth around his heart has cracked and fallen away at last, and it's a terrifying, beautiful thing, to let himself lean into it, without the lies he's told himself for so long. Hope is such a fledgling, tender thing; he's held it before, only for it to be dashed to pieces. But back then...he was alone.

He isn't anymore.

Drawing in a shuddering breath, he winds his arms around Nico's shoulders properly, clinging to him, his eyes falling shut. It isn't that his burden has gone away, but when it isn't born on his shoulders alone...it feels so, so much lighter.

Basking in that feeling, of sharing not only joy and hope, but pain and sorrow, too, he turns his head, nuzzling against the corner of Nico's jaw, murmuring to his ear, so softly. A wish he hasn't let himself have in...so very long. ]

Will you...call me by my name?

[ He's so tired of being Aventurine. ]

[ Nico lets his arms slip around Aventurine's waist, tugging him close, basking in the warmth of this moment and each other. There is so much yet ahead of them both, and he knows very much what he's just asked his beloved to step into on his behalf, but if they have each other, there's nothing he feels they can't do.

He has half a mind to turn and kiss him, but there comes a sweet little murmur in his ear that makes his heart skip a beat. ]

Your na—?

[ A pause, he considers, thinks back to the profiles that have been on rotation in the living area for weeks now, and smiles.

He pulls back a little, only so he can bump foreheads, only a whisper of space between them. ]

Kakavasha.

[ A little laugh bubbles out of him, giddy. His smile warms, widens. ]

Kakavasha, my love. Mon amour.

[ Kakavasha. His eyes fall shut again, to let the sound of his name on Nico's voice sink into his heart, indelible. Kakavasha, my love. Mon amour.

So that's what it means...?

Matching Nico's brimming smile, a laugh escapes him, utterly free and unburdened. ]

You were supposed to wait until the show was over to tell me...are you reneging on our deal?

[ As if there's anything he's wanted to hear more in his life than those words. And -

To say them in return. ]

I'll just have to settle for the satisfaction of telling you...I love you back.

[ And then at last, he's leaning in for a kiss, fluttering and giddy and breathless. ]

Certainly not. I am just moving up the timeline, now that I know such a sentiment will not frighten you.

[ The last thing in the world he wanted was for Aven— Kakavasha to run from him. Now, he has no such fear. Even if he did, they would be banished in an instant by four beautiful little words.

I love you back.

He hasn't the words for the joy he feels at hearing that, but it hardly matters. Kakavasha leans in to kiss him, and Nico happily kisses him back, all bright joy and deep affection. He pours his heart into the kiss for as long as they care to trade breath, until their lungs start to burn for air. ]

[ He doesn't care to count the moments either, for how all else seems to fade away while his heart and soul lean so fully into this kiss, into this man who has chosen to love him. A questionable decision, perhaps, but Nico doesn't see it that way, and maybe in due time, he won't, either.

Wei Wuxian had told him this final week wasn't an ending, but rather the show was the beginning of something. He hadn't been able to see the sense in that before, wrapped up in the anguish of his own decision to be made, but now that he has...he can see just how right their overseer was.

This is...just the beginning.

Only when he must break for air does Kakavasha pull away, his lips red and swollen, cheeks flushed, brow tipped against his lover's. He still clinging so tightly to Nico, an anchor in another sense now, to keep him from floating away. ]

You can tell me whenever you like. As many times as you like.

[ He's certainly not about to stop him. ]

[ When at last they part, Nico takes a moment to simply bask in this beautiful man, flush with hope and possibility for the first time in far too long. They're on the cusp of something great, something new and wonderful.

There is just one thing more hanging over them both. Nothing he expects will change Kakavasha's mind at this juncture, as fervently as he's given himself over to this, to them, now that he's finally made the choice to take the leap, but something Nico feels needs to be put out into the open regardless. ]

I will give you all the "I love yous" in this world and the next, amour, but before we get too far ahead of ourselves, there is something I would like to address.

[ He'd folded his card up and stuck it in a pocket at some point. Now, he fishes it out and offers it over. A little crumpled and creased, but easy enough to still read. One of you has been hiding your true identity for a long, long time. ]

I owe you the truth, before we go home. It will pave the road ahead more than anything else.

[ It's hard to bring himself back down to earth after all that, but he will heed Nico's beck and call without a second thought, peering down at the card as Nico unfolds it. That's right...he hadn't been positive which secret was ascribed to the vampire, but this was the one he thought most likely. Nico had told him he'd left his family to join the resistance, so that only made sense.

...But it seems there may be more to it than he initially thought. ]

Of course. What is it?

[ Not something that will change how he sees Nico too drastically, he's certain — Nico wouldn't have waited until now to tell him if that was a concern, but if it's still so important that he brings it up now, then it's important to Kakavasha, too. ]

I have mentioned before – the Lord Emperor. He sits atop the throne of all vampirekind.

[ It’s probably pretty easy to figure out where this is going by this point, but Nico wants it said out loud, for Kakavasha, but also for his people, who will see this one day, too. He wants them to know he’s here, and he’s coming back. ]

His name is Toussaint d’Adelphe. He is my father, and I his rightful heir.

[ Oh.

Oh.

In the back of his mind, Kakavasha can't help but find something amusing about all this, how fantastical it sounds. Hadn't he just talked with Yingying the other day about how he'd enjoyed fairy tales as a child? And yet here he is, finding out the man he's in love with has secretly been a prince this whole time.

He really does just need the curse on him broken. ]

Oh, is that all? [ A knowing little smile, features still bright with adoration. ] So, when we [ yes, it feels right to say "we" now ] return to topple his regime, will that put you on his throne instead?

[ Goodness, what a thought. Nico would make a fitting leader though, he thinks, and needless to say, whatever is in store for them will be far from dull. ]

[ "Is that all?" He says. "We," he says. Nico's heart feels fit to burst with affection and no small amount of relief. Logically, he knew this revelation would change little for them, but some part of him still worried. What if?

He laughs, a fizzy pop of joy and relief in equal measure. ]

That is the goal. It somehow does not feel so daunting with you by my side.

week four | mingle

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