#tlfop

God, Merrick must be freaked the fuck out about his state post tlfop; thin, less coordinated and unable to speak like he used to. Terrifying for a man totally out of the loop.

This is also their order in A New Song if you want to see them in action!

The thing was he was lacking in information which would help him make a decision, and more importantly, he was pretty bloody fed up with needing help. Someone knelt down in front of him and he almost leapt out of his skin. "Hey," Thaniel was saying, still speaking in Japanese, which was easiest, using the voice Keita had once teasingly called his horse tamer voice. He hated how well it worked, felt that he really should have some more dignity than that, but he had very little dignity when it came to Thaniel Steepleton. "Didn't hear you coming," Keita said, trying to steady his breathing without making a meal of it. "That's all right. I wondered where you'd got to," Thaniel said, and it was so good to hear. There was something about all the space in his brain that made him feel like he was hearing Thaniel as if for the first time, despite having lived with him for three years, despite having had him in his memory for decades before that.

When Thaniel leans down to kiss him, it's the familiar battle to stay in the present. He doesn't want to remember forward to the next few moments, rush ahead before Thaniel can even get there. Thaniel will groan and crush him against the wall and Keita will open his mouth to him desperately in a moment. Right now, it's the first kiss they've had in three quarters of a year. He trains his mind on it, firm, purposeful, insistent. Thaniel's lips are soft and sweet, he smells of the theatre and of the sherry they shared at intermission, and when Keita takes his hands, Thaniel smiles right into his mouth. Keita can't stop smiling back. Then Thaniel does groan, and pulls him into the hallway where there's a convenient wall. He imagines he can feel the click in Thaniel's lungs where their chests are pressed so tight together, and does his best not to think about it. ******* He knows, then, that he is up for the night. He can remember ahead to several more coughing fits and there is no way he will be able to fall asleep with them coming. He will get by on — he checks his pocketwatch on the nightstand and grimaces. About four hours of sleep, all told. That's alright, his body has always had a knack of getting just the exact amount of sleep he needs to function, and not a minute more. It's his place to sit vigil beside Thaniel, anyway. Or, he has made it his place. Maybe presumptious of him. But he trusts that Thaniel will tell him if it is. Has to trust that he is at least welcome enough in Thaniel's life for that.

It will be held June 8 - June 14 (bc i wanted the last day to fall on Mori's birthday ☺️)

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (2015) | The Bedlam Stacks (2017) | The Lost Future of Pepperharrow (2020) | The Kingdoms (2021) | The Half Life of Valery K (2022) | The Mars House (2024) | The Hymn to Dionysus (2025)