If she was expecting some kind of deep conversation with explanations and understanding, she was speaking with the wrong person. He knew the evils that inhabited the world. Not only was he one of them, now, but he had looked pure evil in the eye and been consumed by it.

They were all dogs. Every single person on this gods forsaken earth were dogs, were beasts as she put it. Even the good ones were liars of the worst kind - the kind that couldn't admit it to themselves.

"If you're looking for a philosopher, you've saved the wrong dog." He growled harshly, still looking over the water and not making any indication he planned to move either for himself nor against her. He was just existing with the sun against his leathery skin and the nausea in his soul.

"Is this how you would use your freedom? Saving assassins and realizing that humanity is doomed?"

And so Ivan mourned the loss of his old life alone, silently howling at the injustice of it all. He had diligently served his god for his entire life but was now left feeling forsaken and for no reason. Surely, if his god had any influence at all, He would have saved him from his fate. That realization shook his faith to the core. 

By the time Krysta returned, the creature's tears had dried and the wave of misery had entirely passed. He looked at her as she entered. "Thank you for the space. I... needed that."

Fletch chuckled. His fingers brushed along Theo's jaw and he tilted the man's chin up to steal another kiss. When he drew back again, his crooked smirk had broadened. "Scared I'll make you scream and you won't even know it," he teased, basking in how red the nobleman had gone. Then his expression softened again, and he leaned a little further away to give Theo some space. "Don't worry. I'll leave it be. But...offer's always there. All you've got to do is ask."

He shifted, propping himself up a little further to stave off sleep. His fingers trembled again and he balled them into a fist to make it stop. He blinked hard and swallowed the urge to drink away. Just a little longer. He could wait just a little longer. He'd find a distraction and he'd just keep holding it off. He cocked his head, looking Theo over. "Well, then. We've got until neither of us can stay awake. You want ink and scar stories now? I've seen you looking. I know you've got questions."

He whined softly in protest at Fletcher's retreat but settled easily into the bed when he didn't move far. His hand rubbed his chest though, seeking connection in however which way he could find it. Fletcher was so warm and present and solid. 

It had been fifteen years since he had last laid in someone's arms, last kissed, last desired to spend the rest of forever in that singular moment. Elijah and Fletcher could not have been more different though. Everything felt so much more intense with Fletcher too and Theo could not help but wonder again if it was the loneliness, maturity, or the man himself that made it feel like this. He felt desperate like a thirsting man in the desert with no water. It scared him and thrilled him and worried him that if Fletcher knew how deeply he felt, he'd leave or ridicule him. So he kept the intensity unspoken.

His hazel eyes though so full of fire and love burned for Fletcher though. Once more he blushed and gave a tiny bashful but proud smile at the praise. The smile only grew with the tenderness bestowed upon him. Theo even turned his head to kiss Fletcher's palm for a moment after he had finished. 

"You're not pushing, it's alright. And believe me I am interested in you and such things of this nature generally speaking. It's just that..." a bloom of redness went down his neck and blossomed over his chest and shoulders and not just over his face and ears. Theo focused on Fletcher's chest rather than his face in his own nervous embarrassment. "I'm too nervous I'll get us caught or you'll hate it or any number of things. I am glad you enjoyed...what we did. Very glad."

A laugh purred through his chest at the thought. He squeezed tighter, burrowing into Theo's hair, eye now just a squinting slit. The man was right. He'd easily fall asleep like this too, wrapped up in warmth and ecstasy. But he didn't want to let go. He didn't want to say goodbye to whatever this was that just felt so unbelievably right. His gaze blurred and he grunted and blinked, taking a deep breath to try to stave off this enervation. When it came back into focus, he scowled. 

"No. Fuck off," he mumbled at the bracelet that dangled tauntingly within his view, this time knowing full well that Theo couldn't read him. One fine silver strand glittered in the moonlight amongst all the black and brown, judging him. "Make up your mind, arsehole. Stay or leave. You can't have both." He shut his eye and buried his head and wrapped his arm closer around Theo to tuck the stupid thing out of sight, but the damage was done, and now he was left with silence and questions. 

Twelve years. Twelve years and he'd never once felt like this. Never been held this way, or touched with this much care. He didn't know what it meant. He didn't know why, and that scared him. He shook his head slowly, nose rubbing up against Theo's pretty head, and blinked away that gut-wrenching confusion. Now wasn't the time. Who knew how rare these moments would be between him and the man he'd yearned for for so long? He had to stay here. Couldn't wander off down some dark path.

Couldn't let them fall asleep, either, though.

Slowly, he extracted himself from the tangle of limbs and moved far enough back to be read, propping himself up on an elbow. "I think I'm the one who's supposed to thank you, love," he murmured. "Got to be careful though. That about knocked me out. A credit to you, I suppose," he added with a cheeky smirk. His eye traveled lovingly over Theo's features, drinking the man in. He reached up and brushed an errant strand from Theo's eyes, tucking it behind his ear, all the while pointedly avoiding the sight of that bracelet. "Not trying to push it, promise, but...you sure you don't need anything? This what you want? I'm just not in the habit of leaving a man hanging."

Theo giggled softly back, blushing bright pink at such tenderness even as he burrowed in close and tight beneath Fletcher. He felt indescribably safe in the man's arms. It was a feeling he'd never truly had before and as exhausted and giddy and bashful as he felt, it also made him feel a bit weepy as everything overwhelmed him all at once.

He tangled his legs with Fletcher's and scratched lightly at his back. A deep, pleased sigh eased from his lungs as all the tension from the last several months perhaps even years just melted away.

"My head will not fit through doorways if you keep calling me such things...don't stop." He grinned against his shoulder and giggled softly. "I could fall asleep right here, right now just like this if we're not careful. Thank you."

Well after Theo had stopped and curled up next to him, Fletch lay panting and writhing and grinning up at the ceiling. His mouth worked but the words wouldn't come out — not that they were in any sort of coherent order in his addled state. The arm that wasn't occupied holding Theo against him anchored him to the bed by a shaking fistful of sheets as though he thought he'd fly away without a tether. Slowly, wide-eyed in disbelief, he released them, turned, and cast the man a prolonged look of wild adoration. He leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his forehead, reveling in the scent of his hair. He chuckled breathlessly, still so convinced that this was a dream.

"There's no way you're real," he mumbled as he drew away, only half-registering that Theo couldn't read him. He blinked. Smiled a sleepy, vacant, and supremely pleased smile. "Sanity's restored. Think you took the rest of my mind with it, though. 'N...there's still time to be a tart if you run around with my eyepatch," he added with a quiet little laugh. "Theo, I...No. Never mind it. Just come here, you gorgeous thing." Fletch wasn't certain he knew what he was about to say, just that he'd meant to put words to a feeling. A powerful one at that. But he was useless at talk right now, and so he'd show the man what he meant. He rolled towards him, wrapping him up and pulling him closer in a warm, strong embrace.

"And pshaw to that!" Hana added, raising her now-empty glass. "You and the Lady are the best we could have asked for at any price range."

Gracia rolled her eyes, but there was the faintest hint of a pleased, warm color in her cheeks. "You and that silver tongue," she said with a small chuckle. "It truly is a wonder it hasn't yet gotten you into more trouble."

Morgana gave him a very stern Look when he joked about her inspection of him, but it faded quickly back into a vaguely worried frown, even when he took her hand and pulled him into her as he stood from the chair. 

She did start to relax against him when his fingers twined through her hair, nuzzling into his shoulder for a moment before she pulled back enough to tilt her head up and look at him properly. "It's gone?" she repeated, the faint undercurrent of her tone torn between relief and suspicion. 

Her shoulders slumped a bit when he said they should take the win and--and she couldn't find it in her to argue with him. There were still so many questions, she was still worried, but...

She sighed and leaned into his embrace, pressing her face against his chest. "I'm so glad you're okay," she whispered, a hint of the fear she'd been doing her best to bury ever since he walked away from her in a trance on that beach bleeding into her voice. "I'm just...so glad you're okay..."

He blushes and shivered at having his shirt removed. For a moment self-consciousness overtook him to be even that much bare but Fletcher's fervor and interest was confidence-building for the nobleman. The bodyguard truly did want Theo. It wasn't just pretty words but hungry kisses and warm touches. Each were returned tenfold. What Theo lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm.

When he could finally disentangle himself from his lover's arms to venture lower, he maintained the same tenderness and care he had from the moment they had first begun that desperate, hopeful kiss back in his bedroom. Fletcher was lavished in gentleness and attention as Theodore poured his heart into loving on the man. With every point of connection he hoped that his beloved felt and understood just how ardently he was loved. 

And when it was over, he peppered kisses back up his chest to offer a slow, deep kiss before collapsing into his side. Fletcher's blanket was tugged up over them as he nuzzled in close. Theo craned his neck back some so he could read his lover even in his more tired state. He hesitated to say anything and ruin this intimate silence. Everything felt so perfect even as he still felt rather shy despite what he had done. But he pressed a kiss to Fletcher's shoulder.

"We'll have to practice more in the future so that I may improve methinks," he quipped. "But uh hopefully your sanity is a bit more restored and I am not quite the tart you once accused me of being," he teased with a relaxed grin.