athelstanthescribe | (no subject)

It's fun when Athelstan gets like this! He far too earnest and responsible most of the time.

"I'll do my best to get you really sticky," Ragnar promises.

Ragnar brings it out in him.

"And I want to tell - and show - you how you deserve how much I love you."

He knows a certain Biblical passage by heart that best explains his feelings.

That promise gets Ragnar to hurry along even more, confident that Athelstan can keep up.

Athelstan can keep up most of the time, whatever it is they're doing!

He can easily keep up with running, even with Ragnar's longer legs, and he does.

Soon, the cabin comes back into sight.

Their bags are still sitting by the door, and Fiachra, who is of course faster than either of them, is sitting next to them finishing his rabbit.

"Stay, Fiachra", Athelstan commands, just to be on the safe side though the dog seems to have no interest in doing anything else. Turning to Ragnar, "You said something about the sunlight...?"

"Oh yes," Ragnar says.

He puts the bones down with their bags, and then kicks off his shoes.

"There's this very inviting patch of bracken above that boulder," he says, and starts climbing up there.

Athelstan follows Ragnar's lead in removing his shoes, guessing that he'll need his toes free, and climbs after him.

Ragnar climbs up the rather steep boulder and then -- vanishes.

Athelstan blinks as he reaches the top, knowing there must be some optical illusion here but unable to pinpoint it.

"Ragnar?"

On top of the boulder is a little dell, like a nest, where moss and bracken grow.

Ragnar is lying in it, smiling invitingly at Athelstan as he reaches the top and can see over the edge of the stone.

Athelstan takes in the sight before him and smiles.

"No one would ever guess we were up here, even if they stood just at the bottom of the rock."

Ragnar folds his arms under his head and smirks at Athelstan with a come-hither look.

And so he does, pulling himself fully onto the boulder and scrambling into the dell to lie beside Ragnar.

Another deep kiss follows.

Ragnar's arms close around Athelstan as he returns that kiss as fervently as it is given.

"Take what's yours," he murmurs.

Athelstan pulls away a little as the kiss ends, looking down at Ragnar.

"Do you love me as I love you, with that shining? Understand that whatever you answer, it changes nothing."

"That glow," Ragnar says, "doesn't go away -- and yes, I love you like that. I can't know what it feels like for you, but I know that there's a light where you are, for me, that shows me you're there and you're you, and that I'm aware of every moment you're there. I can't leave you alone; it's what Ganymede and those others saw on me, long ago, in the magic place."

Pause.

"Sometimes, it makes me silly and incautious because that light just wants to glow."

"I know." He brushes his lips against Ragnar's in a short teasing kiss. "And that's why I let you, because I can never resist you unless the danger is real and present. I could no more stand against you than against myself."

"Sometimes," Ragnar admits, "I throw food at you, or sit on you in the training ground, just because I can and you're there. And I can't do what I'd rather do."

Athelstan chuckles quietly.

"Do you think I didn't guess that? Your attention is always on me when we're in the same room, and if sometimes you can't contain it..."

"I can't catch you and kiss you," Ragnar says. "I can't just pinch your bottom. I can't even look too long and deeply into your eyes. So I get childish at times."

"I understand", he answers softly. "It's all you can do safely in public, and I never thought less of you for it."

Even if sometimes he rolls his eyes.

"How do you manage to contain it?" Ragnar says. "You're so very sensible most of the time."

"I've had much more practice", is all he can say. "Remember where I grew up... even if I never felt like this for anyone then. The other part is that I remember the consequences if I don't. To be driven away from you..."

Ragnar's arms tighten around Athelstan, as the very idea makes him shudder.

"It's always riskier for you than for me," he murmurs.