"Bodhi! My love, my darling, my sunshine, how are you today?"
"… Suspicious." Bodhi grins as he says it, though, so I'm not worried.
"As brilliant as you are beautiful, of course. I wanted to ask you to do something with me."
"Like a prank?" He sounds like he likes that idea, and it really has been too long since we pulled off a proper one. I file that thought away for later.
"Like a vacation. I haven't been home since before I crossed the parapet, and it's almost my favorite time of year."
He looks like he's thinking about it, but I know he's already decided to say yes. He's just trying to decide what he's going to tell everybody else. "Just the two of us?"
"Are you thinking about a romantic getaway, Bodhi? Because I could be on board for that."
"Maybe." Then something occurs to him. "Wait, Ridoc, do you want to introduce me to your father?"
"It does seem like it's about time, don't you think? Or do you want me to propose first?"
"You propose twice a week." He's hesitating again; this time it's the serious thinking face. I nuzzle against his arm. "Bodhi Durran, are you nervous about meeting my dad? You weren't nervous when you were staring down royalty!"
"No! Yes? Should I be?" He laughs and starts to relax just a little. "The royalty in question wasn't related to you, so it was a different situation. As far as I know, anyway."
"You are nervous! You're adorable." Bodhi reaches up, running his adorable hand through his adorable curls.
"How does your father feel about gay Tyrrish men?" He's so earnest sometimes.
"My dad knows I'm bi, if that's what you're asking."
"Some people are okay with it for fun but not once it gets serious."
"Not my dad, I promise."
"And the whole… everything?" He gestures at his arm, where his rebellion relic appears from under his short-sleeved shirt and wanders down to his wrist.
"Politics and patriotism aren't his thing either. Not like that."
Bodhi sighs and I know I've got him. "Assuming they can spare me, then it sounds good. I just don't want to mess up your relationship with your family."
"Sunshine, I know family is important to you in ways I can't really understand, but it'll be okay. I wouldn't take you if I thought he wouldn't like you."
"I can't believe you've never been to a harvest festival," Ridoc laughs, dragging Bodhi behind him into the opening in the cornfield.
"I've been to harvest festivals. They've just always involved the harvesting already being done." Bodhi feels jumpier than usual being pulled into the corn. He used to love running through the secret passages in Riorson House as a kid, but this doesn't feel like that at all.
Ridoc puts an arm around his waist and Bodhi tries not to jump. "Oh gods, Sunshine, you're such a city boy."
"I'm not- well, yes, I guess I am," Bodhi admits.
Ridoc smiles. "So what were the harvest festivals in Tyrrendor like?"
Bodhi can tell it's an attempt to relax him. He appreciates it. "There's all kinds of produce brought in from the outlying farms, and we carve turnips and paint lanterns. The kitchen staff made lots of pies and preserves. Then we build the bonfire, but we have bonfires for all the festivals."
"You really can't go wrong with a big fire," Ridoc grins.
"It's a really fun festival, though I always thought it was kind of sad too because Garrick and Imogen had to leave before we celebrated it."
"Oh yeah, Garrick would probably understand the farm village harvest vibe we're going for here."
Bodhi eyed the cornstalks uncertainly. "Garrick would be able to see over the tops."
"That too." He laughs, a little longer than Bodhi thinks is warranted. "I don't know what to tell you, this is just how I feel during formation."
"At least during formation it's daylight."
"Here, climb up on my shoulders so you can see over it," Ridoc says. He ducks in between Bodhi's legs before he can say anything and then Bodhi feels himself being pushed up into the air.
"Since when are you strong enough to do that?"
"I'm stronger on my home turf," Ridoc answers. Bodhi is trying too hard to balance to question it, curling his fingers into Ridoc's hair and trying not to lean too far to the side. He's impressed and a little turned on that his shorter boyfriend can carry him like this.
"Well, can you see? Do you feel better?" Ridoc calls up to him.
Bodhi looked around. "I don't see the edge at all…" He tried to twist slightly further. Was that something? Maybe lights?
Not lights. Eyes. Gold eyes glowing in the dark.
Bodhi startles and jerks back, leaning so far that Ridoc loses his balance and they both go down in the dirt.
"You okay?" Ridoc asks, his hands landing in places that aren't strictly necessary for untangling Bodhi's thighs from his shoulders.
"Nothing broken." Bodhi gets to his feet. He tells himself that if Ridoc doesn't sound concerned, then it's not a problem. "I just thought I saw something. Eyes, maybe?" Does he sound as ridiculous as he thinks he does?
"Maybe Aotrom and Cuir are having some fun too. Or maybe it's bats, we get those out here. When I was a kid I used to pretend the bats were dragons way up in the night sky."
"Aww, babe, that's cute."
"Until they got stuck in my hair, anyway."
"In your hair? Should I be worrying about that?" Bodhi asks, reaching up as if to check his own curls haven't acquired any bats without his awareness.
Ridoc shakes his head lightly. "Nah, you're good. If they get too close, the corn'll eat them."
"What?"
"I said you're good."
"No, what was that about the corn?" Bodhi repeats, but Ridoc's already turned away. "Ridoc? What'd you say about the corn, Ridoc?"
"Oh here's something I wanted to show you!" Ridoc grabs Bodhi's wrist and pulls him through a gap in the walls of corn. For a second Bodhi would swear it feels like the stalks are grabbing at him, but he locks his hand around Ridoc's wrist in turn and in a moment they're free of the corn. They're on a strip of grass for a few feet and then they reach the treeline.
"What do you want to show me?" Bodhi looks around as they step into a small graveyard.
"I thought we could say hi to my mom, too."
Knowing intellectually that Ridoc only had his dad and being introduced to his mother's memorial are very different things. The stone is simpler than most. Even this is more than his mother has. Once the war with the venin calms, he'll do something about it.
Ridoc pulls out two flasks and hands one to Bodhi. "This one's for Mom. That one's for us." He opens one flask and pours it out over his mother's stone. Then he takes the other back and swallows.
He coughs, surprised. "Oh man, I gave Mom the good mead. Guess we're drinking her dandelion wine."
"I'll be right back, sunshine!" Bodhi takes the second flask from Ridoc before he frolics out of the clearing and into the woods. Left alone, Bodhi waits awkwardly next to the marker.
After a minute he looks down at it and shrugs. "Guess I should introduce myself," he says as he sits down next to it, careful to avoid the damp area where Ridoc had poured his offering. "I'm Bodhi Durran. I'm probably going to say yes and marry your son one of these days. He's a great guy, you'd be proud of him. Knows himself better than anyone else I know."
He takes a drink of dandelion wine.
"This is really good. Sweeter than I'd usually go with, but you have great taste, Mrs. Gamlyn." He laughs at himself. "How much of Ridoc's smile comes from you, I wonder? The light in his eyes, and the way they crinkle when he laughs?" He takes another, longer swallow of wine. "I wonder if you would have liked me, or if you would have realized I'm not good enough for your son."
There's a crash in the brush behind Bodhi and he feels something drop onto his head. He starts to reach for it, but Ridoc yells "careful!" and he freezes.
"It's delicate!"
"What is it?" He tries to gently find the shape.
"I made you a flower crown," Ridoc grins. "I saw some mums back there, red and orange. They look so pretty against your skin."
"Aw, babe," Bodhi pulls Ridoc down onto his knees and kisses him. For a long minute, they're locked together. Then Ridoc stands and pulls on Bodhi's arms.
"Come on, let's not make out in front of my mom." He tugs again, and Bodhi gets to his feet. "We've still got to find my dad."
They made their around the outside of the corn maze this time. Bodhi was looking around, enjoying the variety that fall had to offer here. Many of the trees in Tyrrendor were evergreens, but the trees here were all changing color, crowded together on the woodland side of the path. The riot of colors made him smile since they matched the colors of the flower crown Ridoc made.
Some locals wandered by as they walked, mostly wearing cloaks or heavier jackets, but every so often he had to do a double-take.
"Was that boy wearing a teapot as a hat?"
"Why do we have to find your dad? Couldn't we just go to his house?"
"Not yet, it's… complicated," Ridoc says. "Look at the turnip carvings!"
Bodhi lets himself be dragged into the display of carvings. Most of them are turnips, but there's other vegetables and gourds for variety. They aren't the fanciest ones he's ever seen, but they're enormous, every one of them.
"Tyrrish turnips," Ridoc giggles when Bodhi comments on it.
"Do you want some turnip cake?" Ridoc offers, not waiting before feeding him a bite.
It's not as good as the dandelion wine, but he's not complaining.
"Something strange is going on," Cuir's voice feels anxious. "Aotrom's acting odd."
"Isn't Aotrom usually odd?" Bodhi asks.
Cuir sends the impression she was rolling her eyes. "You would know if your boy was acting oddly."
That seems fair. "I guess Ridoc is being a bit weird, but it's just a harvest festival. I'm sure they're just having fun. Go with it, okay?"
There is a long enough silence from Cuir that Bodhi starts getting nervous. "Cuir?" He tugs at the pale green strands of their bond.
"What funny sheep…" Cuir says, sounding distant, and then the bond is quiet.
"Is Aotrom okay? Cuir said something was weird, and then she went quiet," Bodhi is definitely getting a little discomforted now.
"Yeah, Aotrom knows what's going on." Which is, once again, not exactly an answer.
Ridoc takes Bodhi's hand. "You remember how I needed to trust you about the revolution and the venin, because you knew things I didn't and it wasn't time to talk right away?"
"Yes…" Bodhi hesitates. "We've talked that out, right?"
"We did! It's fine. I got to stab some venin, that was great. But tonight I need you to trust me, okay?"
"Babe, you're starting to scare me a little bit," Bodhi admits. "Not like… biting your face off, venin scary, but the other kind."
"What other kind of scary is that?"
"The way my chest flutters and my vision gets dark when you ask me to marry you."
Neither one of them says anything as a cold breeze blows across the field, making the corn shake.
"It's not that I don't want to," Bodhi's voice is barely louder than the wind. "But my list of people who it would hurt to lose is really short, because then it's harder to lose anyone on it."
"It's time. Let's go up to my dad's house." Ridoc kisses Bodhi on the cheek. Bodhi lets it drop. He'll wait; Ridoc will answer when he's ready.
"I thought we wouldn't be able to find him there?"
"It's late enough now."
Bodhi doesn't know what that means either, but Ridoc asked him for trust. He can give him that much.
The building Ridoc brings him to looks small and cozy from the outside.
The door swings open on its own, no owner in sight.
"Yep, he's home," Ridoc starts for the door, and Bodhi only hesitates a minute before following.
There are two mugs of hot cider sitting on the table in the front room. Ridoc takes a long drink before sitting in one of the chairs. Bodhi sits next to him, holding the mug in both hands; it's comfortably warm, and the feeling helps calm him.
"You made it home to visit after all!" calls a voice from behind them.
Ridoc practically jumps out of his chair. He's hugging the man before Bodhi even turns around. There's no question this is Ridoc's father- his skin slightly darker, his hair longer and braided up, but his smile is the same.
"So that's your dad." Bodhi whispered after Ridoc's father offered to bring them something more substantial to eat.
"There's something else I need to tell you about my dad," Ridoc says, sitting back down at the table. "You're not the type to be weird about other people keeping secrets, right?"
Bodhi isn't sure why this is coming up now. "We talked through that, my riddle, I couldn't-"
"No, not you keeping secrets." Ridoc boops him on the nose. "Me. My secrets."
"Since when do you have secrets? You couldn't even keep my solstice present a secret."
"I have lots of secrets, Sunshine," Ridoc protests, and Bodhi eyes him dubiously. "Okay, I have a few secrets."
"Well, I'm listening."
Ridoc is quiet for a long minute, long enough that Bodhi realizes how serious he must be. And then he speaks, and breaks the illusion. "My dad's a god."
Bodhi starts to laugh, but the look on Ridoc's face is so serious he pauses. Maybe he didn't hear correctly. "A god? Like, your dad is Malek?"
That got a grin back onto Ridoc's face. "Can you imagine me as the son of Malek? Good graces, no. He's a land god, a fertility god. That's why the harvest festival's a big deal, you know?"
"I figured it was because he's a farmer." Bodhi looks toward the little kitchen space where Ridoc's father is slicing a wedge of cheese. He doesn't look like a god. He's humming to himself, dancing a little in place. Bodhi's watched Ridoc do that.
"That too! Just, on a bigger scale."
He's heard stories about children of the gods, usually of Zihnal or Dunne, getting in and out of trouble. They were stories from long before the First Six.
"Bodhi?" Ridoc's voice makes him realize he hasn't spoken.
"I'm just not sure what to say," Bodhi admits. "He looks like a normal guy. He looks kind of like you."
"This is me, but it's not all of me," Ridoc's dad clarifies, returning at that moment carrying a wooden tray of meats, cheeses and fruit. "It's easier to meet you like this."
"Dad, this is Bodhi Durran. I'm going to marry him one of these days."
Bodhi's blushing. Maybe the cider was harder than he realized.
"My pleasure to meet my future son-in-law." His voice is rich and deep. Looking at this man, Bodhi's mouth is dry with the desire to see Ridoc grow older beside him.
Both young men dig into the food. Ridoc pops a slice of apple in his mouth, clearly thinking. "He only came around sometimes when I was small. After Mom died he stayed to look after me. Aside from some strange babysitters, I think it was a pretty normal childhood."
"I'm not sure I can judge what a normal childhood looks like," Bodhi admits. "Did you always know what he was?"
"Yes, but I didn't understand it, any more than you probably understood what a duke was as a kid."
Bodhi laughs at that, because when he was six he asked his mom whether Xaden would still be allowed to be duke someday if he couldn't sit still in lessons.
"So you believe me?" Ridoc asks.
"I-" Bodhi hesitates. "I don't understand it. But I can tell it's important to you. Is that enough?"
Ridoc's eyes flash green and something shivers down Bodhi's spine. It reminds him of the first time he saw Xaden's signet, sudden awareness that there's so much more to someone he thought he knew hair to toes.
Still, Ridoc's smile is familiar as he speaks. "I can work with that."
"Does your dad always look like that?" Bodhi asks as they head back outside to the festivities. The bonfire is glowing brightly now against the dark sky.
"No, sometimes he's corn."
Bodhi realizes that he's starting to get used to statements like that.
"So that makes you a demigod?"
"Technically, I guess? It doesn't actually come up all that often. And it's complicated. Dad says that that the distinctions are really only clear after you don't need them anymore." Ridoc shrugs. "I'd kind of thought I'd at least get a plant-type signet but I guess I'm too cool for that."
There's a flash of movement from under the stairs of the little house and Bodhi spins, ready for trouble, but Ridoc pushes him aside as it reaches them. It takes him a minute to see in the firelight, but a something's clawing at Ridoc's face-
"Calm down, it's just me," Ridoc is murmuring. Bodhi finally makes out that it's a cat, the biggest housecat he's ever seen, and it's not clawing Ridoc so much as it's wrapped itself around his face and sunk its claws into his hair.
"Bodhi, say hi to my cat," Ridoc gestures, mouth full of fur.
Once he's wrestled the cat down into his arms, Ridoc points out the actions happening around them. A pair of middle-aged women are preparing some kind of perfume oil for later, Bodhi doesn't quite catch the context. A few people approach Ridoc for help with magical skills - some extra mage lights for the corn maze entrance, ice for the cold drinks. Bodhi leans against the wall of the house and watches.
Ridoc knows everyone, despite time away. He's just as comfortable and charming here as he was at Aretia, as he'd been at Basgiath. He makes friendliness look like magic.
"It seems like you know everyone, and you're so comfortable here," Bodhi says. "What did you miss most when you went to Basgiath?"
"Having people around who knew me," he answers immediately.
"But you have people around who know you."
"Not when I first got there. It took a while, even with my squad." He scratches the cat's chin. "And I still feel like people see me as a clown sometimes."
"Does that still bother you?" It bothers Bodhi sometimes, to see Ridoc written off.
"Sometimes, but at least people notice me. I'd rather be a clown than a ghost."
"I notice you," Bodhi offers. Ridoc smiles and pecks him on the cheek.
"I know you do." He adjusts Bodhi's flower crown. "Do you want to go make out in the woods? No graves this time, I promise."
Bodhi tried to look past the lit festival area and the corn maze, but the tree line looked more like one of Xaden's shadow walls. "I'm pretty sure we'd get lost."
"Nah. Landnav god's got you." Ridoc lets his cat down and the black mass of fur walks into the house.
"Well if I've got you, I've got nothing to worry about."
The woods are exactly as dark as the view promised, and Bodhi uses all of his concentration to make sure he doesn't trip over any roots. Ridoc's holding his hand and he doesn't even get to enjoy it properly because he's trying not to fall on his ass.
That's forgotten when Ridoc pushes him up against a tree and leans down to crush his lips against Bodhi's.
Wait. Down?
"How are you taller than me?" Bodhi gasps when they break for air.
Ridoc giggles. "I picked this spot because there's a log close enough for me to stand on."
"Smart boy. Maybe I should marry you before someone else steals you away."
"All you have to do is say yes when I ask," Ridoc points out and kisses him again.
"I'm waiting for the time to be right." Bodhi's feeling a little lightheaded now. Something's tickling at the sides of his face, and he knows where Ridoc's hands are- appreciates where Ridoc's hands are, even.
"How long do I have to wait?"
Bodhi pulls him in tight. "If I say I don't know, will I still be worth waiting for?"
"Oh, definitely. Just don't make me wait too long, Sunshine."
"As hot as this is, my riddle, my brains are about to leak out my ears. We should head back if you want me to do anything else tonight."
"You're right. Besides, it'll be time for the sacrifices soon."
"Sacrifices? Are we burning corn dolls or something?" Bodhi tries to remember what they sacrifice at the harvest festivals in Aretia. The offerings there weren't usually sacrifice but sharing: giving to the temple so that anyone who needs help during the winter will be able to get it. His mom always talked about how important it was.
"Nope, we do old fashioned blood and sex sacrifices," Ridoc says cheerfully as he leads Bodhi through the woods. Up ahead Bodhi can see the magelights and the flickering bonfire of the festival.
"I probably should have guessed that by now."
Ridoc squeezes his hand and Bodhi is warmed by that, that Ridoc is pleased with him taking this in stride. He can keep taking it in stride. He's good at striding.
Which is when he trips over a root, of course.
Ridoc already has his hand, so it's easy for the shorter man to steady him.
"I've got you."
"I know you do."
"I got to be the sacrifice once when I was seventeen," Ridoc offers. "That year the omens said no volunteers, so we hid in the corn, and I was the one who got found."
"They… sacrificed you." Bodhi considers this. "Is this another sex metaphor since it's a fertility ritual, or…"
"Are you volunteering to find out?" Ridoc says it like it's flirting.
"Are you the one doing the sacrificing?"
"I could be." He waggles his eyebrows. "I've never done it before, but I know how it works."
"I trust you." Bodhi leans in and kisses him. "If you think it's safe and enjoyable, and you want me to do it, I'm up for it."
"Wow. That's a lot of trust." Ridoc's expression is soft in a way Bodhi rarely gets to see when they're in public.
Bodhi puts an arm around his waist. "Shouldn't I trust you? You've saved my life and I've saved yours. You ask me to marry you all the time. Would you marry someone who didn't trust you?"
"It's just different to hear it, I guess." Ridoc stands on tiptoe to kiss him. "Come on, if you want to get sacrificed, get your shirt off."
Letting Ridoc take charge is fun, Bodhi is realizing. He's given up trying to understand and it's freeing to not be responsible for anything. Ridoc leads him up close to the bonfire where two other pairs- two other sacrifices?- are already waiting. They all know Ridoc, greeting him just as warmly as everyone else does.
"I'll introduce you afterward," Ridoc whispers, "if you're conscious."
Then the bonfire sparks. Flames climb to the sky. Bodhi has no idea what Ridoc's throwing into the fire, but it smells heavenly.
The firelight puts sparkles in Ridoc's eyes. "Now the party starts."
Something in the smoke is making Bodhi feel a little lightheaded as he breathes it in. It reminds him a little of really good churram, but not quite.
Ridoc pulls Bodhi's shirt over his head. The fire is close enough that Bodhi is starting to sweat under it, so he doesn't mind. Ridoc moves in close; there's something else Bodhi can smell, sweet and earthy and warm on Ridoc's hands.
Oil. He's oiling Bodhi's chest.
Well this is new and delightful, Bodhi thinks. Sign him up for a sacrifice any day. Maybe he can convince Ridoc to bring some of this oil home. It's making his skin pleasantly tingly. The feeling of Ridoc's hands on his skin is getting farther away, like he's gone a bit numb all down his front. That's okay, though, his mind is a bit numb too.
It takes him so long to notice Ridoc raising the knife.
Bodhi's distantly aware that that was probably the point, to make sure that he's too far gone to panic. He braces for a violent reaction anyway, not wanting to ruin Ridoc's evening, but there isn't one. He must have meant it when he said he trusted Ridoc.
He's not afraid.
The metal is cool against his stomach, the sharp edge trailing over his hot skin. Bodhi's breath catches and he slowly becomes aware that he's more than half hard inside his pants and the blade is doing nothing to lessen that.
It seems there is going to be a whole list of things he needs to unpack with Ridoc when they get back to Aretia.
The perfumes and the heat and everything else is definitely affecting his reactions, because Bodhi is only slowly aware of the spiderweb of lines appearing on his stomach, slowly deepening with each cut. His head is spinning and there's blood dripping down to his waistband, but Ridoc is already there, wiping the blood away with some kind of soft brush and then flicking it onto the ground.
Bodhi is staring at himself, at the way his skin almost glows from the firelight on the oil and the blood and the sweat mixed there. For a moment, he imagines what this ritual might have been once upon a time, wonders if there would have been entrails on the ground, an offering of death as a call to life. Or maybe not. It's hard to think straight.
"This is the strangest date I've ever been on," Bodhi murmurs as Ridoc leans in to check on him.
"Still good?"
"Very," Bodhi says before he can think about it. He probably shouldn't be very good but he's not even bleeding anymore, not much.
"Just one more offering to the spirits." Ridoc's hands are on the buttons of Bodhi's trousers now. "Fertility ritual and all."
The oil feels even hotter as Bodhi realizes his boyfriend is freeing his cock. Bodhi can't see beyond the little circle of firelight they exist in, but right now he and Ridoc are outside everything. If there had been a crowd watching them, they no longer existed. This moment is just him and Ridoc, his cock in Ridoc's ridiculously talented and well-oiled hands. He's already almost there, even before Ridoc curls his finger up against the skin behind his cock.
"I should bring you back in the spring," Ridoc hums as he works his hand up and down. "At Bealtane I could decorate him like a little maypole."
Bodhi's laughing and cumming at the same time, spilling onto the earth where Ridoc spilled his blood. He's forgotten everything but how good Ridoc makes him feel.
Bodhi's not sure when he fell asleep. He must be asleep, though, because he's looking at himself. His other self is holding hands with Ridoc; a vine twists up around their hands. It looks like a handfasting.
He sees there's a frame around them; they're a reflection in a mirror. When he looks to the left he sees more mirrors, each one showing him with someone he's cared about and lost. Liam. Too many other marked ones. His uncle Fen. His mom.
Bodhi looks back to the beginning of the line, to the mirror where he and Ridoc are kissing.
When Bodhi wakes up, it's to the gentle, fluttering touch of kisses on his shoulderblade. He hums happily, on the verge of letting go of that disturbing dream, when he realizes it wasn't all a dream. There's no mirrors here, only moonlight in Ridoc's bedroom. He's not in any pain, but he can still smell oil and smoke.
Was the knife a dream?
Ridoc's kisses climb his throat; he sucks on Bodhi's earlobe. Carefully, Bodhi brushes his fingers against his own stomach, to prove to himself the skin is untouched.
"Ready for a more private round two?" Ridoc whispers.
Not a dream, then.
Hands are drifting down to the top of Bodhi's ass. They cradle the curves there and continue down, teasing the sensitive skin closer to his thighs.
Bodhi feels like a different person here in this town, in the moonlight, in Ridoc's arms. Smaller, in a good way. Not diminished, but part of something that's not his responsibility for a change.
Maybe it'd be nice to do this for all the holidays, to become someone different when the moon is in the right place.
"What do you think?" Ridoc asks. "Do you still want me in control?"
"Yes."
Bodhi wakes to the smell of bonfire smoke still in the air, their sweat and something sweet.
He realizes that last is because Ridoc is sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed and eating slices of candied apple. He thinks about telling his lover to come back to bed, but is distracted by the sunrise falling from the window into Ridoc's hair, highlighting the way it hides Ridoc's eyes just slightly.
"Good morning," he says. Ridoc smiles and feeds him a slice of apple. It's too sweet for breakfast, but Bodhi doesn't mind this once.
The sunlight makes the whole room feel cozy and welcoming, and Bodhi thinks that he's lucky to get to see so much of Ridoc here, like this. To understand where he comes from, even if it's a little strange. Maybe especially so. It makes him a little sad to think of Ridoc keeping a big part of himself hidden when he's such an open person; he remembers how hard it was for him at Basgiath, and he had Imogen and everyone else.
"All of this seems like such a huge secret to keep," Bodhi murmurs.
"What makes you think I keep it a secret?"
"How is it not a secret? No one knows!"
"I told just about everyone at Basgiath that I'm a-"
"Sex god," Bodhi realizes. The little dotted lines hit their mark, after a dozen jokes last night about fertility rituals.
"And a landnav god, but you weren't there for that," Ridoc adds. "I didn't see a point in making it a big deal, and somehow it never came up in casual conversation. It's not like anybody asked."
Bodhi laughs, because honestly Ridoc is perfect. "Oh my fucking- of course nobody asked, who's going to ask if you're really a sex god?"
"Can you forgive me, then?" Ridoc crawls up onto the bed beside him. "For my not-really secret?"
"Of course. I've had plenty," Bodhi smiles. "And I have one more."
"Don't tell me you're also half-god or something." Ridoc offers another piece of apple, but instead Bodhi reaches down and retrieves his pants from where they were left on the floor last night.
"Is it a surprise we have to get dressed for?" Ridoc asks. "These are inside pants, I'll need to change into outside pants."
"Honestly I'm surprised you're wearing pants at all when we're alone."
"I didn't want to run into my dad in just my boxers."
Bodhi snickers. "You were okay with the entire Assembly seeing you in your boxers, but you draw the line at your dad?"
"The Assembly was interrupting us! They deserved what they got."
"They probably did." Bodhi fishes his hand into the pocket of his trousers and pulls something out. "But don't worry, it's not an outside-pants surprise."
"Did you find a cool rock last night?"
"Also no."
"Should I stop asking so you can show me?"
"I'd rather you did the answering." Bodhi holds up the promise ring. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes, of course I'll marry you!" Ridoc lets Bodhi slide the promise ring onto his finger, admiring the runes set into the alloy. "How long have you been planning that, you handsome sneak?"
"I've had the ring for almost three months now," Bodhi admits. "I just wasn't sure when it would feel right, I guess. I was afraid once it was official you'd realize I'm not as good as you think I am."
"Aww, Sunshine, you're amazing. If anything I'm always learning you're even better than I thought!" Ridoc hugs him again. "This is definitely an outside pants surprise, though."
"It is?"
"Fuck yes! I need to tell everybody I'm finally marrying the best guy in the world."
"Maybe you don't have to do that right away," Bodhi suggests. "It's still pretty early, isn't it?"
Ridoc looks out the window. "Yeah, I guess it is. And I've been away for a while, they're probably out of the habit of waking up to me shouting at dawn."
Bodhi doesn't ask, instead just enjoying the moment and the way Ridoc wears his promise.
"It's my turn though," Ridoc insists. "Will you marry me?"
"I- what? I just asked you."
"Yeah, but I asked you for ages. It's only fair that you say yes to me, too, don't you think?"
When he puts it like that, yeah, Bodhi agrees it's a pretty reasonable ask. "Okay, ask me again."
Ridoc laughs to himself and scoots off the bed so he's down on one knee. "Bodhi Fucking Durran, will you marry me and make me the happiest guy in the world?"
Bodhi hauls him up into his lap, repeating yes after yes as he kisses his way down his fiance's neck; Ridoc's inside pants soon join his outside pants on the floor as they celebrate.