#drunken-drk

Another late night. Four.. No, probably five in the morning at this point by the way the orange glow of sunrise is just threatening to take over the horizon through his view in the window. Khamgaal really felt more inconvenienced by this realization than anything else, knowing long ago this would be another of his sleepless nights and simply left frustrated that he won’t be finishing all his make up work before it’s time to shove off to town for the day. With a rather forceful slam of his work gloves to the bench as he removed them, the bulky Auri boy shoved himself to his full height with a sort of push up motion... and pulled off the scarf wrapping around his head to let his frazzled hair free for now. Ughhhh, what a relief.. Kham itched around the roots of his horns, spacing out and pondering the upcoming day peacefully, until-

‘When did this happen?’

Fucking Shiun. When had that old alcoholic gotten so sneaky? Attempting to appear unstartled, Khamgaal turned himself casually around to face the very much unwelcome watcher and cock an eyebrow at him.

“... This?” He held up a set of unfinished rings from the smithing bench, “I make the same shit all the time, but this particular set just ‘happened’ tonight, if you must know. Pnfh.” He snorted at the Raen as he slapped the metalwork back down. Refusing to entertain Shiun with any percentage of eye contact, the younger Au Ra anxiously twisted at his right leather bracelet. 

“Do you think we’re having a girl or boy? H-heh... it’s early, I know.. a-and it doesn’t really matter, but..” Y’aromirr felt his words turning into an uncontrollable babble from his lips as he tried to be clear, eventually silencing himself with a loose shrug and looking to his husband for comfort. Shiun always had comfort for him...

“Mmm? It’s not too early.. Three months now. I’d been thinking of the same. Girls are more common for Miqo’te yes? But, well,” The Raen interrupted himself with a chuckle, “A boy is still possible certainly. Fuck... we still need a name too..”

Shiun adjusted himself more upright before continuing, the topic obviously rousing his interest fully, “But, well... that can wait, mm? What’s on your mind? Worried about something? Or a preference of gender~?” His voice lilted, teasing.. happy...

“Preference?” Y’aromirr managed to ask incredulously before a giggle bubbled out of him, “Of course not... You know I’ll love them regardless, I’m j-just.. I’m entirely too happy they exist at all to be so nit-picky. But.. N-names, yes...” his gaze drifted away towards the floorboards, ears slumping...

“Ah? So.. it was names that had you thinking about this?” Shiun replied, his voice dropping to a comforting near whisper, his hand patting and ruffling up his husband’s curls. “You seem concerned..”

“I-I’m sorry.. it’s... it’s not something I ever prepared myself for. N-naming someone.. a-and since I left my tribe, I..-” Words grew hard... speaking already such a problem for him to begin with, now seeming as impossible as breathing underwater. But.. he meekly smiled, looking back to Shiun’s face. “I don’t feel like I have any understanding of it all? I... d-don’t rightly think a son of mine could be a ‘tia’..”

Truly, it wasn’t as if Y’aromirr himself was ever one. But... when he left his home, with it he left the only traditions he was ever taught. Surely it was improper to adhere to a culture that had excised his very identity like a disease.. Such thoughts swirled in muddled memories until Shiun spoke again, rousing a twitch from the flame-tipped ears on either side of his hand. 

“Mm.. That is certainly a thought..” Shiun’s hand abandoned Y’aromirr’s hair in favor of cupping at his husband’s unobscured cheek, his lips spread in a fond smile of assurance, “In our case.. it really only matters what we want, what gives comfort. And.. ‘tia’, it’s something negative to you. Our child should have a name we feel proud of, unless or until they decide otherwise for themself... don’t you think?”

Y’aromirr paused... His busy mind slowing as Shiun’s comforts replaced his concerns.

“I want them happy... we both do. That’s.. why I left my home. T-to be happy..” Y’aro trailed off as he spoke, words blurring with a pressed kiss to Shiun’s palm as he sat up properly to look into his husband’s eyes. “That’s why this home has to make them happy... s-so they never feel pain enough to run from us.. we’re a family, n-not a tribe... it’s foreign to me. All of it..” With his voice barely more than a breath, he finished, “But I love it...”

“Hah.. it’s the same for me, you know?” The Raen’s smile ebbed wider, his hand dropping from Y’aromirr’s cheek to his shoulder... sliding down his arm, eventually to rest at the seeker’s hip. “All of this.. it’s new. The concept of ‘family’... But, you know, we will be fantastic parents. And our child will love us, feel safe... We are a family, as you said. Not a tribe..”

Shiun’s smile persistent, he attempted to redirect the conversation, “Are there names you’ve been thinking of? I can tell you’ve been thinking about this for quite a while..” His hand moved again.. from Y’aromirr’s hip upward slightly, his garnet fingers spread wide over the Seeker’s stomach in contrast to the mint hue of his shirt. Y’aro could swear he saw Shiun’s heart skip a beat.. red cheeks flustering only darker.

“How could I not? I love them already.. So much...” Tanned fingers join Shiun’s holding in tandem to his core. For a moment, the pair just smiled... eyes fixated on one another, hands feeling for something.. anything...

“B-but names, hah..” Y’aromirr broke his short-lived silence nervously, tilting his head between his shoulders as he flicked his ears to vent away some of the heat of his blush, “I was thinking of nature...Fern, Lily.. Rose...” But to no avail... His fingers interlock with Shiun’s in place. “P-perhaps I’m thinking of them as a ‘sprout’ t-too literally..”

Shiun couldn’t help but chuckle playfully with his lover before replying, “I remember we’d adored the name Rose, but I am the same as you.. I think of them as a sprout more often than not... Which is all well and fine, but.. The should have an actual name, mm? Fern sounds as if it could work either way, though..” Minding his horn points, Shiun pecked a kiss to Y’aro’s exposed forehead. “I enjoy the thought of something... Botanical. This is our garden~ We wish to have our sprout grow.. it will only feel appropriate.”

“Hmhmh..” Y’aromirr nasally giggled, only stopping himself to respond to Shiun’s peck with one back to his scaled nose, “We’re both far too giddy for our little Okeya to arrive, aren’t we?”

Sudeen heat rushed Y’aromirr’s face as what he’d said replayed in his ears, his slit pupil wavering it’s focus on Shiun’s face.. “If.. th-that’s...” Shiun looked..?

“Our.. little sprout, the first of our Okeya family.” Absolutely tickled pink. Or, dark red, rather. “Exciting isn’t it? Fern Okeya... Rose Okeya.. Lilly okeya.. mmm~ What other sprouts are there~?” Shiun’s voice lilted into a playful sing-song as his fingers drummed against his husband’s stomach, tickling in their rhythm ans sending the seeker into a fit of giggles.

“J-just one for now, Shiun...” He bumped his broad nose against Shiun’s shoulder, attempting to still his hand for the moment and catch his breath, “T-to... make our Okeya household three, hm..?” Y’aro looked up with a soft, pleasing expression on his face.. Surely he’d made himself clear this time.

Shiun chuckled, gaze nothing but fond, “So... That means you’re an Okeya too, yes?” He cocked an eyebrow with amusement over the subtle sway in conversation, though... his listless tail behind made it apparent he held concerns for his husband’s obvious nerves.

“If... it’s alright with you, I’d b-been considering myself one for some time..” But entirely too foolish to bring up the topic again after their bonding... At the time Shiun had made it clear that his family name was of no importance. But.. how could it not be? Y’aromirr’s tail swatted behind him, a single hand raising to ruffle through and further mess his curls over his face.. “To have your name... e-even if it’s meaningless, it makes me f-feel at home. Feel... free. Would you allow th-that?”

Shiun’s hand left it’s rest over his husband’s stomach to grasp for the hand messing with his curls, stilling and steadying.. interlocking with loving warmth to stop his nervous fidget. 

“Aromirr Okeya... Hearing that, hearing our child’s potential name as wel, it makes ‘Okeya’ mean everything to me.” The Raen paused to smile.. “It may have been a spur of the moment name, but it is what set me free from my past. I wish for it to do much the same for you. A fresh start.. And, we are married, after all..~”

For what felt like hours, Y’aromirr looked with a bleary eyed smile to husband, utterly in love... Wholly accepted by someone. Then, Shiun spoke again, and he felt his nervous heart nearly melt...

“Aro... Please take my name. Allow our child to take it as well.. Let’s make it our family.”

Fiery ears flicked back as Y’aro felt himself magnetically drawn into a kiss, Shiun’s horn hugging at his cheekbones as their lips met for just a moment.. Y’aromirr pulling away just enough to murmur against his husband’s inner horn with a purr,