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[helpdesk_hero]

This is David Alleyne, I'm not available at the moment.
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It did that to me this week

[portolan]

“Best be safe,” Balthier agrees. This is something he’s no stranger to. “Tools can be replaced.” People can’t.

He grins back at David’s observation, once again grateful for this joy amidst all this stress. “Seems reasonable. Maybe you’ll work less when it’s not at home and I am.” His grin only widens as he realizes home is now a shared place.

[helpdesk_hero]

Tools can be replaced. That's really true. Very true. So he's not going to fight to save them. But he's not giving them to others.

"Guess I need to truly fry these. Fun. Would you get some coffee started?"

This will take some hard work. But he's also laughing inside because it's so wonderful to have a place he can share with another he loves.

"I definitely will be easier to drag away from work, yes."

[portolan]

"Is that wise to do inside?" Balthier asks, truly curious. "Ours tend to...explode. Damage everything nearby." He pecks David on the cheek again as he passes. "Yes to coffee."

And David's utter lack of protest at being dragged from work is as wonderfully affirming as his wanting to move-in; Balthier knows what his work means to him. "Yes, drag," he teases as he goes toward the kitchen. "With the promise of dinner, and a warm bed, and me, making you relax before sleeping."

He starts the coffee and also pulls out a few snacks. He suspects destroying the tech will leave David tired, moreso than this whole ordeal already has.

[helpdesk_hero]

"Oh, I can destroy things without explosions. Technopathic."

He can wipe all the data, but it takes a lot more serious focus to get it beyond retrievable. David waves when Balthier leaves, and it's going to take him time. It's almost half an hour later before he comes out and settles down at the island. He looks tired.

"Just a recharge. Thank you, Balthier. For giving me so much. Your love especially."

[portolan]

Balthier leaves David to work, knowing he can't do much else in that department, but he has coffee and snacks ready and is plenty full of warm daydreams of their even more entwined life together.

As David sits, he pushes the food closer, his hand lingering on David's at the other's words. "Thank you for always valuing it so highly," he says. Even a year ago, Balthier had been so fragile, so sure his affections could only amount to a passing diversion for someone else.

[helpdesk_hero]

He's so tired, but there's nothing to do about that. He'd got to keep going. For now he takes the coffee, produces a key from his pocket, and passes it over.

"To get in, when you can. Whatever is here you can box up and put into storage or your place. I've got what I hope are untraceable accounts for it. If you could help on this, I'd be grateful. The more that can be done quickly, and quietly, the better."

Then he drinks some more coffee and focuses on Balthier. On them. He can get back to the work in a bit.

"Thank you for valuing me highly enough to want to share not just your time and your love with me, but your space."

It's sacred to them both, he knows that. Those spaces that are just theirs. That matter to them. That make them feel safe and secure. And for Balthier, who didn't even really have a set home because of his father, David expected it meant even more.

[portolan]

He lets his hand rest on David's as he takes the key, squeezing the other's. "Clearing out a space quickly and discreetly is in my pirate boyfriend skill set," he teases. "I'm happy to help." And he is. It makes him feel less useless in the face of David having to grapple with old wounds and fears.

Thus he's entirely prepared for David to get lost in his head, worrying about logistics and the future and others, and that's fine. So it surprises him when David turns the focus back to them. And surprises him again when David pins how special sharing his space is.

Then he laughs, because neither should surprise him. "I've never done this before," he admits. Fran was different, and they'd stolen the Strahl together, and they had separate rooms. "I've never wanted to with anyone else, and I was afraid it would be asking too much of you."

There's fear still, too, that somehow seeing more of him will somehow make David realize some detail he'd missed, that they weren't compatible afterall, or that not having separate space would somehow make their fights worse. But, right now, he feels those fears as old wounds talking, and he's so much more interested in the reality they're building.

"I want to share my life with you, David. All of it. Even when I'm nervous or insufferable or terrified."

[helpdesk_hero]

Best pirate boyfriend, hands down. Especially since the skill is being used to help them be safe and together. Which is so shocking. But right. This is right for them.

"I've never done it before either, unless you count memories from alternate lifetimes that are in my head. And I don't."

He never got to make this decision for himself, as himself. And Balthier asked, and he's agreed and it matters.

"Oh love, you're always insufferable," he says, but his voice is full of sweet amusement. "And yet I keep coming back."

[portolan]

“Nor do I,” he agrees, deep fondness clear in his smile. “This is my David, the one that chooses us and trusts me.” He’s sure he’d get along with a good deal of other David’s, but it doesn’t matter. They wouldn’t be his. Because being chosen openly, over and over, means so much.

He laughs again, easy even amongst all this. “So we’re even then. Insufferable and completely addicted.” He leans over to kiss his love through his grin, marveling that he’d have worried about a statement like that a year ago. Now he feels safer, like he doesn’t have to be easy and perfect to keep David around. Because this is real love.

Gods is he lucky.

[helpdesk_hero]

The one that chooses us. David likes that label. He likes it as much as the kiss and then the sip of coffee that followed it.

"You're more vital to my system than coffee," he says, lifting his already empty cup. "So that's saying a lot."

[portolan]

“Pulling out all the stops today,” he laughs, but he’s charmed, and he loves being told so openly. “You’ve shown me I can feel happy tethered. My younger self would be shocked and possibly appalled.” He’s never been so glad to be wrong.

“Shall I get you more coffee?” That’s one thing they won’t need to adjust in the house. It’s already covered.

[helpdesk_hero]

"Less a tether and more an anchoring point in a comfortable and familiar port called home," David suggests. Balthier's a ship, after all, moving and seeking and yet he's got a home to come back to. "Even a younger you might have seen value in that."

More coffee. Oh god yes. He nods and offers his mug over. "Sorry, Tea won't cut it tonight."

[portolan]

“Mm I like that better,” Balthier agrees. And it feels true. It’s not a sense of being tied down, it’s a sense of having a safe harbor he wants to return to. He’s spent so long looking for something he couldn’t name and hes beginning to suspect it was this. A sense of home.

“I think me from a few years ago would have admitted the value but been too scared he’d never find it himself to really indulge, and I think a younger me, like the one you met, would have found it beautiful.” He can still feel that boy in him sometimes, and there’s something lovely about making him proud.

To the coffee he laughs, shaking his head as he pours it. “I’ll have a little, but whatever you need.”

[helpdesk_hero]

The younger one had been a sweet boy. But David had to blush at the memory of his own younger self. Talk about a source of embarrassment.

"I'm sure he had reasons to aspire to it. And I'm glad I would give that charming boy something happy."

He does lean forward to kiss Balthier one last time.

"Top me up, get me a small plate of the nibbles, and I'm going back in. Feel free to stop by your place to drop stuff off or to head into my room to get personal effects. And be careful with my action figures."

Because yes, he was maintaining the collection of knock off action figures of his friends.

Wrap this soon, or jump to David coming home after conference?

[portolan]

Balthier would have disagreed. Young David had been kind, ambitious, confident, welcoming. It wasn’t his fault he only knew what he had been taught, and the fact that he went on to grow as he did spoke to a hunger in him.

For Balthier, it was soothing to be seen that way by people he cared for, and to be loved in a way he hadn’t been in his youth. “Oh he liked you a good deal,” he teases but entirely meaning it. They’d talked a little of the way young Balthier had sat up in that empty house, awed at the photos of some beautiful future life with a smiling partner and a full wardrobe and a chest of letters and a house of beautiful things, aching for it to be real.

And it was. Balthier hums happily into David’s kiss. He’d fought so long, and this was so worth it.

“Yes yes your boyfriend who works with rare magical artifacts needs to be reminded to be gentle with possessions,” he laughs, moving to oblige the rest of David’s request. “We will get you and all your things moved in good condition,” he promises. “I want you settled and happy with me, not bemoaning poor packing skills.”

I would enjoy the coming home if it would please

[helpdesk_hero]

Oh those letters must have been a trip for little Balthier. David, on the other hand, had basically been adopted by Tommy for the duration of things and thus hadn't spent enough time in his apartment to really explore too deeply. Some of the shame and fear had motivated that of course.

"Hey," he said when the kiss ended, "your rare magical artifacts have to be handled delicately or we get those damn cursed spirits again. Mine are just collectable toys."

Poor packing skills, hardly! The man lived on a ship. With turbulence. David has faith in his packing skills. Just not in the durability of the toys.

"Thank you, love. You're going to make some of this a lot less painful."

But not less scary.

It would please!

[portolan]

Balthier's glad to do it, and he pulls himself away knowing he's making David's life easier, getting a load moved to the house before taking David back to the Conference. Over the next few days -- and numerous text messages -- he gets things sorted to the spare bedroom and storage, pulling the things David uses more often and putting them in their rightful places at home.

A home that now is going to include David, all the time. It makes Balthier's breath catch over and over, and while he's vibrating with nervous energy and doing his best not to give into the fearful side of this decision, he also indulges in setting up a few surprises for David. He wants this to feel special and celebratory, and when David finally gets back, Balthier greets him with a meal full of Ivalician spices waiting, and doesn't say a word about the way he's filled half the shelves with David's books and figures, or that he's already put David's favorite cooking items in the kitchen.

He does, however, get a cheeky grin when he says, "Welcome home," and very much sweeps David into a kiss.

[helpdesk_hero]

The miserable part is, of course, playing at being a 'normal' person. It meant that on his way back from the conference he had actually bothered to take the plane. And then get a cab back. Has he ever mentioned he hates planes? He does.

But he's got keys to a new home, and while he's certain there are still a few things he needs to address at the old place (which he is still fucking paying for part of and he hates that of course), he shows up at Balthier's door. Their door. His door. Fuck. That's got him grinning when he walks in with his bags.

And is immediately met with warmth, affection, the smell of good food, and a kiss. Damn that's good.

"Hey," he says after he catches his breath. "I'm home."

Powerful words.

[portolan]

Balthier didn't particularly like David going on a plane either; it seemed like a lot of extra time and stress when they had the technology to move rapidly, but he understands the decision. Even if some part of him was nervous that David would somehow get detained in travel.

But he's here now. Not just for the night or the weekend or until work calls. Balthier finds himself grinning and flushing at David's echoing of his words.

"On that note, I have something for you," Balthier says, plucking a plainly wrapped package from the entry table. Inside is a fairly quiet wooden wall ornament with the words "David and Balthier, est. 2022" carved in Ivalician calligraphy with traditional braided floral decorations around the edges. Getting them to do the nonsense date had been a task, but, convincing them to weave in moon and star motifs had been much easier.

He'd meant to give it to David for their anniversary, but then had felt perhaps he was putting too much pressure, or maybe it was a silly gift when they didn't live together. Now, though, he was so glad to have it.

[helpdesk_hero]

Have something for him? He takes the little package and opens it up, and is almost immediately laughing in delight. It's so cute, so right, and theirs.

"Yes," he says with a fond smile. "Yes, I love this. I..."

He sets it on the entry table with a chuckle and reaches into one of his bags, pulling out his own gift from the trip. He hadn't been sure what to get Balthier to apologize for being away for so long until he got asked to move in. Now he pulls out his own wrapped package.

One that contained a small wooden box that clearly went with the decor of the place. There wasn't carving on this, but rather the pattern was burned into it of stars. David had absolutely used technology to find out the stars in the night sky the first night Balthier had taken him up on the flier and their pattern was repeated here. And what was it?

"For letters. I thought we could put it on the wall."

For love letters actually. Living together didn't mean he wanted to abandon those. There was even a nice set of hooks on the bottom that one could tie a small netting to so they could put packages in it.

[portolan]

Balthier laughs with delight, pulling David tight to him with one arm and kissing him again. He's not sure if the joy of David loving his gift or having had such a thoughtful one himself is greater.

"It's perfect," Balthier promises. "I even have one I wrote you this weekend, and this is much better than hiding it in your bag when you may not open it for weeks." His heart skips at that again. No going back and forth between apartments means no more overnight bags, no more well, until next time.

"You know, you're terribly romantic and I'm wildly in love with you." Of course David knows this, but it feels important to say it out loud, to remind himself of how real all of this is.

[helpdesk_hero]

"I don't know," he says with a wide smile. "I think you are terribly romantic and I'm wildly in love with you too."

See, they are just like that, connected to each other. They repeat this so many times, the parallels and yet they were so happy to have it too.

"We should put these up soon. But first, I'm so damn hungry."

[portolan]

The parallels are what make it so wonderful. He's never had someone return his affections and his dreams and his love so thoroughly, and he doesn't think he'll ever have enough of it.

"We have all the time in the world," he grins. "But yes, soon I think. For now--" he sets the letter box down carefully beside the plaque and takes David's hand, pulling him to the dining room. "Sit." Another kiss, and he goes to pull dishes from the kitchen, kept chilled or warm with the slow spells etched into the dishes. Things David likes, things from anniversaries, all warm welcomes.

And tonight Balthier sits next to David, not across, wanting to be close and casual.

[helpdesk_hero]

Dinner looks amazing, and David sighs in delight.

"I'm so tired of take out," he says and smiles as he loads his plate. And if his feet nudge Balthier's under the table, he's not going to apologize. This was so nice. "You're spoiling me and I'm grateful."

[portolan]

“You’re fun to spoil,” Balthier points out, and his hand goes to David’s thigh while the other’s foot nudges his. They’ve done this a hundred times and yet it’s still so wonderful. “We should have leftovers, too.” Good food and no work.