Telumë feels a surge of wanting, and starts to shove it down on instinct, but manages to relax into it instead. To just sit with it, without moving, and to notice that it feels good, to want Maitimo, even if fully giving into the feeling still doesn't feel safe.

The sun is brushing the horizon, the light golden and slanting. Telumë leans back into Maitimo's arms. I want to talk about - where we should set the limits for tonight. 

That sounds like a good idea. Petpetpet.

Telumë considers it for a bit. 

...I think I would like to play with your hair, he says finally. And have you play with mine, and stop there - oh, that reminds me. I had in my notes that you wished my hair was more sensitive, or could be sometimes at least. Foundation had a suggestion about that. To Telumë's shock, at the time, he really hadn't thought it was the sort of thing his god would happen to have advice on. There is an herb-tea that heightens sensations in general. It probably has other effects, though, so I would want to try it first by myself at some point, to know what to expect. I think that combined with the song you know could make it close to equal with how Quendi hair is. 

- giggle. I guess Foundation is earning his keep after all. I would enjoy that, tonight. 

I am glad. We could watch the rest of the sunset here and then go back?

I can probably wait that long. He kisses the top of his head. 

The impatience he is unintentionally letting Telumë get a read on is not, mostly, about there being more sunset before they can go home. It's mostly about - he doesn't really like planning in advance. He trusts himself to figure out what's good for them and not go farther than that, and he needs to be able to trust himself on that to do anything at all, so this feels like the form without any of the substance, when it comes to not making stupid mistakes. But it's important for Telumë. The way Maitimo trusts himself works differently; the way Telumë trusts himself works like this, policies set in advance and careful negotiations. Which is why he would disguise the impatience, if he could, and since he can't he will misattribute it. 

I feel like the sun could stand to set a bit faster.

Telumë has a suspicion that it's not just about the sunset, but he lets it slide. I would say you ought to make a complaint to Foundation, then, except that I do not think they actually have the power yet to move the sun. It's halfway down now, painting the water orange and pink. 

Yet? Is that the sort of thing the gods could do in principle, eventually?

Possibly! Or something we might have the power to do ourselves, even. Although the straightforward way of doing it would involve just spinning our world faster, so the entire day would be shortened and not just the sunset. 

That seems like going a bit far, really, but who am I to say.

Maybe. Telumë snuggles up against him, watches the sky until the sun slips below the horizon. We could go back now? 

He kisses him. I want to carry you.

...Sure. Be careful on the stairs. It sounds very nice to be carried. 

Then he will scoop him up and carry him back to his home, careful on the stairs, not that anything bad will happen. 

Telumë relaxes, leans his head against Maitimo's chest, listens to his heartbeat. I feel very safe, he remarks eventually. I like it when you carry me. It tugs at memories from a past life, where nothing bad had happened– well, actually a lot of bad things had happened, but not to them together, not yet. What is it you like about it? 

I like holding you. I like that people will see and - it won't destroy our lives at all, it won't even be the main thing I see in their body language next time they see me - 

I like that even with all your magic there are things I can do that you can't -

That makes sense. Hmm - most people in the city do not know anything about our marriage, obviously, but I think many of them are very happy to see me with someone. I had a neighbour a few years ago who thought I must be lonely and kept trying to set me up with people, it was rather adorable even if I was not interested. 

Awwww. And maybe a little bit of very ridiculous jealousy. It's one of the things that always made me saddest, that all I could ever have was - secrets -

It was one of the things that upset me, early on in Arda. Obviously I do not remember it but I did have some notes. It seemed very unfair. 

You were so determinedly indifferent about it! It was very bizarre! In hindsight it was probably mostly your habit of assuming gods have bad reasons for everything they do but I don't think we ever talked much about your history on Velgarth so it didn't make any sense to me at all.

I think that, and - well, Vanyel has suffered substantially in his life due to humans who disapprove of his sexual preferences, even if the gods here clearly do not. And it is such a pointless and stupid reason for someone to be unhappy! Some sources of misery are very hard to fix, but this one is only the result of what people believe, and a false belief at that. It bothered me there too. And...I suppose it feels wasteful to me, when people focus their moral outrage on who other people are having otherwise perfectly healthy relationships with, instead of the many, many bigger problems the world holds. 

I don't actually know of any gay, otherwise perfectly healthy relationships, he wants to object, but doesn't. Probably by now Vanyel and Stef have wholly outgrown their odd start; he should go spend time with them sometime.

I feel very silly, for assuming it was just how the world was and wouldn't change. If I'd encouraged people to go for it, maybe we would have discovered a long time ago that it doesn't work the way the Valar thought. Of course, then I wouldn't be married to you, which would be very sad.

I am sure I would be fine but, yes, that would be sad. I am very pleased to be married to you. 

They reach his house. It's locked with magic, one old habit of paranoia that hasn't died even here, in probably the safest city anywhere in Velgarth. Telumë can unlock it without Maitimo having to set him down, though. 

Whenever Telumë does magic he feels it and shivers just the slightest bit. But then he can kiss him and carry him up to his bed.

And it's Telumë's turn to be tangled for a moment in some current of emotion, an association with something he doesn't directly remember. He thinks it's from his previous life; Maitimo has never carried him home and to his bed in this one. But he can't think what - none of his notes have anything about a bad thing happening related to Maitimo carrying him somewhere, though they might not go to that level of detail.

He leaves the thought public; he's sure Maitimo noticed something was wrong, and it feels bad to try to hide it, even if it's not something that particularly matters.