Lanth’s Birthday 2:
Electric Boogaloo Taken

	Lanth groaned and rolled over, blinking his eyes in the far-too-bright light. He’d slept in much later than he’d meant to, but honestly now, that couldn’t be his fault. Fae had insisted on THREE stories last night, and then his beloved hunter had insisted on keeping him up for some time thereafter. “Pre-birthday celebrating,” he’d called it. And it wasn’t as if Lanth had protested; he’d even duly taken a turn on top, because, well, today was his birthday. He had the day off, and why not enjoy it?
	Glancing out the window, it seemed like a good chunk of the day had already disappeared. His first thought was regret at having missed part of his birthday, but, on further reflection, it was kind of nice to be able to sleep in. Of course, then he remembered that the dinner dishes hadn’t been done, and the house was a pit, of course, after Whirlwind Faelyria had gone through yesterday (and the day before…and the day before…). Birthday or not, it was a day off, and days off demanded the house get some semblance of clean again. Maybe not floor-to-ceiling shiny, but at least tidied up a bit. He groaned again and pushed himself up to begin looking for his surely-scattered clothes.
	But they were nowhere to be found. The bed was a mess of tangled bedclothes still, of course, but the bedroom was …fairly immaculate. Lanth blinked around, reviewing his quite clear memories of Lando gleefully tugging clothing off and tossing it wherever (which was how Lando undressed himself anyway). But there were no clothes anywhere to be seen. “Huh.” He got up and got dressed with clothes from the actual armoire then, though in nothing fancier than some brown cloth pants and a loose white shirt (though he did lace it up properly, of course). He headed out to see what the princess was up to, and how hard it was going to be to clean up.
	His second surprise of the morning awaited him: the house was spotless. More than that, it was sparkling. The floors had clearly been mopped and waxed, all of Fae’s toys were put away, the rugs were straight, the throw pillows on the lounge were perfectly pluffed…everything he could see was Perfect. And Lando was sitting in a chair, reading The Gadgetzan Times, with a mug of tea nearby. He was fully dressed – except for boots or socks – in soft, loose clothing: no hunting leathers or mail, just a simple blue shirt and gray slacks. He looked over as Lanth descended, still looking around in awe at their Cleaner Than It’d Ever Been Before house.
	“Good morning, birthday boy!” He was all smiles and charm, of course. Lando was rarely anything else when he was home.
	“Is it? Still morning, that is? And am I really awake?”
	Lando chuckled and folded the newspaper, tossing it onto the end table next to his tea. “It is, barely, still morning, and yes, you’re awake.” He came over and kissed Lanth’s cheek. “Want some breakfast? I can make some pancakes for you.”
	Lanth chuckled. Lando’s very first attempt at pancakes had been something of a disastrous mess, and ever since, Lando had made it his new life’s mission to Perfect The Art of Pancakes. When asked why, exactly, Lando had responded that “parents have to be able to make pancakes for their children”; it was a mark of parenting failure that he could not. Since then, he’d worked hard at his pancake-making skills, and, Lanth had to admit, now could make fairly tasty pancakes on a regular basis. “I’d love some, thank you, but not if it’s going to be too much…trouble.” Lando made good pancakes, but also made good messes to go along with them. Lanth, looking around at his suddenly gorgeous home, was a little loathe to have any of it messed up.
	Lando, of course, knew what he was getting at. “I made the batter this morning, for Fae’s breakfast; I already cleaned up the mess, but there’s plenty left over for you.” He kissed Lanth’s cheek. “Wait here, I’ll get you a mug of tea while I cook.”
	“Where is Fae?” Lanth asked, smiling tenderly at his love’s thoughtfulness, but curious as to the unusual quiet.
	“With your dad,” Lando called back from the kitchen. “I asked Arad to take her for the day, and he said he’d be delighted, of course.” He brought out a mug of freshly-brewed tea and handed it over. “Now go sit, relax.” He kissed Lanth’s temple. “I’ll call you when your breakfast is ready. Take the paper if you want it; I’ve read most everything I wanted to anyway.” And, humming a light and pleasant sea shanty, Lando spun back to the kitchen to start in on pancakes.
	Lanth sipped his tea as he looked around. As he woke up, it all started to click in his brain: Lando had planned this. Ohhhh, he’d planned it well, too. Keeping me up all night so I’d sleep in and you’d have the chance to clean house for me. Not that Lando didn’t help clean, but with their duties AND keeping up with Fae, it was all they could do to keep from tripping over toys and books and paints and little girls themselves. And sending Fae off with Dad so we’d have the house to ourselves, too. That usually meant only one thing, and Lanth was more than a little amused at the thought. Three times last night wasn’t enough? Part of him responded immediately that no, of course it was not enough, what was this “enough” concept doing anywhere near the thought of love-making? Again, he wasn’t going to complain, especially not when “an afternoon in bed with the man I love” was coupled with “pancakes and a clean house”.
	Lanth took his tea to the dining room which was, as the rest of the house, sparkling clean and beautiful. He sat down and looked around, enjoying the view out the window to the back yard. Contentment filled him almost instantly. This is the life. This is perfect. I couldn’t ask for anything more than this. His stomach grumbled. Except for pancakes. It occurred to him that they were missing someone else. “Where’s Calvin?” he called over his shoulder, back towards the kitchen.
	“With Fae,” Lando replied. “And yes, I made sure that your dad knew what he was in for, but he agreed to take them both.”
	Lanth smiled. “You really do think of everything.” 
	Lando walked up behind him and reached around to set the plate of fresh pancakes – with just the right amount of syrup – in front of him, and kissed his cheek as he did so. “I wanted your birthday to be special, to be perfect.”
	“You always do. And you always succeed, though I’m not sure how.” Lanth smiled. “Silverware?”
	“Oh, crap.” Lando disappeared again and Lanth’s smile widened. His hunter reappeared with a knife and fork and a napkin. “Do you need milk or juice?”
	“The tea’s fine. Sit, sit. You’ve done enough already.”
	“That’s not true, and you know it,” Lando replied, as he walked towards the chair opposite Lanth. As he sat, Lanth could see the smirk on his face. “You should know by now that I have Plans for today. For us.”
	“I can probably guess as to what they are, but I would rather be surprised. Or pretend to be, at least.” He cut into his pancakes with the hunger of a man who’d expended a rather large amount of energy the night before.
	Lando laughed a little, leaning back in his chair. Lanth smiled over at him and continued eating pancakes, but something was nagging at him. Something was…different here. Aside from the fact that it was sparkling clean, of course. Something was different about Lando specifically, and Lanth couldn’t peg it. Of course, he was half-distracted by pancakes and the thought of what was likely to come after them.
	“So how long will Fae be gone?”
	“She and Calvin are spending the night. And don’t worry; Mom’s not going to be ‘dropping by’ today either.”
	Lanth smiled over at him. “You’ve planned well. What about the guild?”
	“Nooo, no, the commander knows it’s your birthday and that I have arranged to have our princess spirited away for the day. I’m sure she can do that math pretty well. She’ll make sure we have our privacy.”
	Lanth laughed lightly. “Perfect, as I expected. You know, if you keep concocting perfect birthdays for me, I’m going to start expecting them. And you’re going to be in trouble some day when you can’t top the previous year’s efforts.”
	“Well, I’ll be sure to let you down easy when that happens. Gently scale it back, you know? Besides, I’m already planning next year’s birthday, and I think it will have to involve our little girl. She was a smidge put out by not being around today, but fortunately time with Granpa Arad was enough to smooth things over.”
	“So, you’re saying next year won’t involve you, me, the bed and pancakes?”
	Lando smirked, propping his chin up with one hand. “You think that’s all I have planned for this year?”
	Lanth raised his eyebrows a little in surprise. “Well, perhaps I’ll be surprised after all.”
	“Perhaps you will. But I hope it’s a pleasant surprise.” And, for the first time, there was a slight dent in that smooth confidence Lando had. The hunter had every reason to expect that Lanth would be amenable to a romp or six in the sheets, so there clearly was something else going on if he had doubts. 
	That made Lanth pause and take in Lando in more detail. He didn’t often stop to notice the little things about Lando anymore, because he was so used to Lando in general. He knew what he looked like, what he smelled like, what he sounded and felt and tasted like, how he moved. He was used to thinking he knew everything about his lover and battlefield partner, so he no longer often bothered with the fine details. And, at first, there was nothing different, nothing strange…until Lanth got to his left hand.
	“You’re wearing a ring?” he asked suddenly.
	Lando grinned, but his nervousness was almost palpable. “Let’s go into the living room to discuss this, hm?” he asked as he rose from his seat.
	And, just like that, the demons were there again: the hissing, dark voices in the back of Lanth’s heart and mind that whispered of abandonment, of loss, of having everything he ever wanted for a short time and then having it pulled away from him again. He’s found someone to marry. Some…some woman. He said he didn’t care about that, but seeing his mother again reminded him and now… He rose robotically, already clambering mentally back behind his wall of control, as the dark parts of him tormented him with a dozen different reasons Lando was wearing a gold ring on his left ring finger. He wanted to cry, to grab tight fistfuls of Lando’s shirt and shout aloud that YOU BELONG TO ME, but he wouldn’t do that. His wall would keep him from doing that…he hoped.
	Lando gestured to him to sit on the lounge, and he did so mechanically, without emotion, a prisoner being led to the gallows, awaiting the inevitable. Yet Lando was still smiling nervously as he sat next to him. Why? Why would you think I’d be happy about this? I thought you loved me, and I thought that love was enough for you. I thought our life here was enough for you. WHY? None of that showed on his face.
	But, of course, it didn’t need to. Not for Lando. For as well as he knew his hunter, Lando knew him at least as well in return. “I’ll skip the preamble because I don’t want you to continue to think…whatever it is you’re thinking.” He was frowning now, and Lanth got the ridiculous idea that Lando was disappointed in him. In ME? I’m not the one marrying someone I don’t even love in order to satisfy the demands of a dead man who cared only for his legacy! He just nodded, rather than say anything.
	Lando took hold of one of Lanth’s hands in both of his own – or tried to. Lanth jerked his hand away and Lando sighed. “I love you,” he said. Lanth held in any comment, any snort, any sort of reaction, and Lando just continued. “I will only ever love you, for the rest of my life. I know that; I’ve known it for a long time. And I want to make sure that everyone else knows it, too.” Even though you’re marrying someone else, Lanth thought bitterly. What about Fae? What are you going to say to her? “I have spent…months now, so many months, thinking of how to do this, how to do it right, how to do it perfectly for you, and I realized that I was overthinking it.” He tried again to take one of Lanth’s hands, his left one, and Lanth let him this time. He was rapidly running out of strength for more than sitting here rigidly and not crying. Lando petted the back of Lanth’s hand, and lifted it to his lips for a brief kiss. “I don’t know what you want, not for sure; I can make a good guess, but, with you… gods, Lanth, I’m so afraid of losing you that sometimes I can’t see clearly through the fear. So rather than ask, I’m just telling you: I love you, and I don’t want to be with anyone else. Ever again.” Wait, what? Lanth blinked at Lando as the hunter continued, “So I am wearing this ring, so that everyone knows that I’m taken. I’m yours, forever. I…have one for you, too, and we can do it properly, with the priest and the flowers and the fancy clothes and the giant cake. Mom would love that, I know, but it’s about what you want, because all of that stuff isn’t necessary. The only thing I need is you, for the rest of my life. You, and Fae, and Calvin, and our home together, as a family.”
	Lanth slowly came to the realization that Lando wasn’t marrying someone else. “You…want to get married? To me?”
	Lando nodded. “In my heart, Lanth, we already are. Well, I’m married to you at least. And I…I asked your father if I could take ‘Truesight’; he agreed.” He forced a hopeful smile. “It’s a much better hunter name than ‘Kalrisien’ anyway, and I... I want everyone to know that I’m yours, for the rest of our lives.”
	And suddenly, just like that, Lanth could breathe again. The dark little voices were pushed away as he threw his arms around Lando and tried not to cry from sheer relief. He held him so tight that any second he expected Lando to protest about needing air, but he didn’t give a damn, he was going to hug the love of his life as tight as he wanted to right up until that protest was made. But Lando didn’t protest, just hugged him back and whispered, “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted the commitment to be visible to everyone, and I was tired of waiting on my stupid brain to come up with the right words and the right actions and…”
	Lanth choked a little himself and managed to get out, “You said all the right words, Lando. I just…I was so…”
	“I know you have…fears. But I could never leave you, Lanth. Not ever. I thought you knew that.”
	“I di- do. I do know that. But fears aren’t always rational, Lando.”
	“So…does this mean you want the other ring?”
	“Yes,” Lanth said, pulling away so he could kiss Lando in relief. It was brief, intense, and so grateful. “Yes, I would love it.”
	“Do you want the big fancy ceremony?” Lando asked as he pulled another gold ring out of his pocket. His other hand was still holding Lanth’s left hand, and Lanth shook his head as he watched Lando slide the ring onto his ring finger for him.
	“Not a big one. But…I think Fae would like one, too, hm? And I dare not disappoint your mother. Besides, I know you want cake.” He was still feeling his heart restart, still coming back to a reality not of betrayal and loneliness but of a lifetime of love, together as a family.
	“We have cake in the fridge,” Lando told him, “though that’s for you.”
	“It’s for us.” Lanth’s be-ringed hand was now being cradled by both of Lando’s again, and he let his right hand join the pile. “It’s all for us.” He smiled and Lando smiled and then Lando leaned in to kiss him and Lanth met him halfway and he was so very relieved and so very happy…
	…and then something else joined the happy little party of emotions swirling around in Lanth’s blood. He pulled Lando in tightly against him, and deepened the kiss so demandingly that they were both rather surprised. He’d had a nasty, nasty scare for a bit there, and now he wanted…not vengeance so much as…
	“I’m yours, forever,” the memory of Lando’s voice echoed through his head, and Lanth’s interior voice responded, You’re damned right you are, and I’m going to make sure you know it. 
	Lando was typically the more…assertive of the two of them, sexually. Even the uncommon times when Lanth was on top, he’d not been terribly aggressive about it. Lando was taller than Lanth, but overall, Lanth was bigger and, certainly, far stronger than the agile hunter. So it wasn’t hard at all to pull Lando onto his lap, to hold him there and kiss him harder. Lando made a surprised “mmph!” noise, but his lips were busy and, judging by the way he gladly settled in and wrapped his arms around him, the noise wasn’t meant in protest. Lanth’s left hand pressed against Lando’s back to keep him close and his right just wrapped around his waist to make good and sure he was going nowhere. Their legs were something of a jumble, given the way they’d been sitting and the rather sudden way they’d wound up so close.
	Of course, Lanth had no intention of stopping at kissing anyway. He had to pull away to do it, but once he could see, it was easy enough to scoop Lando’s legs up with his left arm, resettle his grip around the hunter with his right and just stand up. It surprised the hell out of Lando though, who grabbed for Lanth’s neck and shoulders as if his life depended on it. “What’s gotten INTO you, Lanth?” he asked in shock (though Lanth could detect a note of “…and how do we get it there more often?” at the end there).
	Lanth just smiled in a more feral way than one might be used to seeing on a paladin’s face, and headed for the stairs. Lando chuckled lightly and nuzzled at Lanth’s neck. “Mmm, not that I’m complaining, of course,” he felt the need to clarify.
	“Never thought you were,” Lanth replied. Lando was not, of course, “light” in any sense of the word, but Lanth didn’t really mind or care at the moment. This was the fastest way to get his hunter back into their bedroom. He hadn’t shut the door all the way, given how shocked he’d been to see the house cleaned, and he was grateful for it now. He pushed the door open with his foot and practically barged in, then kicked it shut behind them. Lando was kissing his throat as Lanth stalked towards the still-messy bed and practically dropped the hunter on it, parallel to the pillows. Lando’s legs from the knees down hung off the edge of the bed, but he didn’t seem to mind. Lanth wasted no time in joining him, paying back all the necking he’d been getting on the way up the stairs.
	Lando’s hands fiddled with Lanth’s waistband. He knew Lando was trying to get his pants off, but he also knew they were pressed too close together to give access to the lacing. “Patience,” he all but ordered against Lando’s throat.
	“Patience?” Lando replied incredulously. “You’re practically tearing my clothes off and you want me to have patience?”
	“I am not tearing your clothes off,” Lanth replied evenly while pushing Lando’s shirt up. His rough palms slid over his leanly muscled lover’s abdomen, and the shirt rode up with it. He half-rolled to one side so that he could get at the lacing on Lando’s pants, even if this allowed him access as well. Naturally Lando wasted no time in getting at what he’d been wanting, but both pairs of pants would have to be gotten rid of eventually, so Lanth let him.
	He got into Lando’s pants first, but getting into them was not, at the moment, as important as getting rid of them. He pushed himself up and stood again (thwarting Lando’s attempt at getting the pants open and/or off) so that he could pull Lando’s pants off in one quick motion. Lando sat up and decided to attack a different set of lacings – the ones on his shirt. Lanth just took hold of Lando’s head with both his hands and set about kissing him again with that same greedy possessiveness he’d had downstairs. He felt Lando’s fingers fumble at the ties and grinned a little before continuing the kiss and pushing him back down against the bed. He moved to one of the hunter’s ears this time, as he slid a hand down the shirt this time (smoothing it back out) until it reached his intended destination.
	Lando gasped once, in pleasure, and then sort of half-winced, which Lanth could feel somehow, despite having his lips tugging on an earlobe. He looked down and realized that he was using his left hand to stroke Lando – the same hand that was now wearing a gold ring. “Does it hurt?” he asked. 
	“No, it’s just…it’s still a little cold, and it’s metal, and…”
	Lanth grinned at him. “Get used to it,” and he set about his work again, both with his lips and his hand. Lando gasped again and closed his eyes, which Lanth took as a good sign. Honestly, as often as he’d done this, it was still kind of odd with the ring on. But he had no intentions of ever taking it off (would it get in the way of weaponry? What about his armor? He decided he’d figure that out later).
	Lanth stopped kissing just so he could sit up and watch Lando’s face. He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself but then he half-winced again, and Lanth decided that was enough of that. Full-on stroking while wearing a ring on his hand was apparently not encouraged…but that didn’t mean he couldn’t do other things with it. He lightened his touch, focusing on using just his fingertips and not on grasping the shaft at all. Lando’s eyes opened again and sought out his own. “Ohhh, now you’re just being mean,” he accused Lanth, who grinned at him lasciviously. 
	“Well, you don’t have to worry about cold metal anymore,” he pointed out, before bending down to kiss him hungrily again. Lando arched up into the kiss, and Lanth stifled his grin. He knew this man and how impatient he was. Truth be told, he was impatient, too. So fine.
	Lanth pulled away and pointed at Lando. “DO NOT MOVE,” he commanded in his finest paladin-on-the-field-of-battle voice. “Or I WILL make you regret it.” Lando duly stayed down (well, most of him did…) as he got up and crossed the very short distance to the nightstand. They’d run out of the supposed “year’s supply” of lubricant Rath had gotten him last year a few months back, but Lando had, of course, duly ordered more when he’d discovered they were down to only 6 jars. So they were well-stocked, and thank the Light for that. He pulled out their current jar and unscrewed the lid.
	“Aren’t you going to finish getting undressed?” Lando asked from behind him on the bed.
	“Did you move?” he replied tersely, and was gratified to hear him flop back down on the bed again dutifully. He smirked to himself as he tossed the lid in the drawer and pushed it shut again. This jar was about to see a whole lot of use; it would have no need for a lid until possibly tomorrow morning.
	Now, they had a routine with lubrication. One finger at a time into the receiving party, usually paired with some other form of stimulation to make the entire thing more pleasurable, and then usually lubrication of the entering party’s cock to make good and sure that there would be no pain. This was so routine that he was sure Lando had taken it for granted; he knew he had. It was reassuring in a sense, because it was so very focused on making sure no one got hurt and a good time was had by all.
	This was not about that. Which wasn’t to say that he didn’t care about Lando’s pleasure! Quite the opposite: he wanted, nay, needed Lando moaning his name. But he also needed to prove that he knew exactly what was needed here, and was not willing to “dick around” (as it were) with anything extraneous. He knew Lando and the limits of his body (and his own, for that matter); this “just in case” nonsense was going straight out the window.
	So Lando was, in fact, watching as Lanth dipped two fingers (on his right hand; he was being mindful of his new ring, now that it’d been brought to his attention) deep into the jar, and did seem to think he knew what was coming (in a manner of speaking) as Lanth set the jar to one side of the bed and crawled up alongside him. Lanth moved as if to kiss Lando, watching for his hunter’s eyes to drop shut in anticipation… and then sent both fingers in at once, rather than the more cautious one-at-a-time approach. 
	Lando’s eyes flew open and that was when Lanth kissed him. He was slow about it still, of course, and careful in his movements; the last thing he would ever, ever want was to hurt him. But when he let Lando speak again, the hunter just moaned a soft “ohhh” and nothing more. He watched (and felt, obviously) Lando push against his fingers, to get more of them into him, and felt all the more reaffirmed in his choice.
	He slid the fingers out and looked around for a towel. He’d long since given up on keeping them stacked neatly near the bathtub; they needed them far more often in and around the bed, as it turned out. And, indeed, a stack of cleanly washed fluffy white towels was waiting helpfully close to hand. He grabbed one up to wipe his hand clean as Lando started to regain his breath. He watched his love clinically, considering his options, and, when his hands were clean again, started pulling out the lacing of his shirt entirely, tossing it aside before he began pushing his pants down. 
	Lando’s head rose up from the bedclothes a bit and Lanth barked, “DOWN!” prompting Lando to throw himself flat on the bed again, but not before Lanth caught him grinning.
	“Your wish is my command, love of my life,” he said from atop the mattress. Lanth reached for the jar again as Lando continued, “I have to say, this has all been…interesting.”
	“You love it,” Lanth said without hesitation or doubt. He used less for himself than would normally be used, but then he’d gotten his fingers pretty well coated to begin with. And he wanted a little friction, after all. 
	“Gods, yes, I do. I mean, this…this is so…”
	“Unusual for us? I think we need a little…diversion now and then,” Lanth suggested.
	“I’m not disagreeing. Not that I had a problem with how things were before!”
	“Nor did I. But I have a problem now.”
	“You do?” Lando started to sit up and then remembered and dropped his head back down obediently. Lanth tossed the jar towards the pillows and moved in between Lando’s legs, sliding his hands (one of them still faintly slick from his recent activity) up along the hunter’s powerful thighs, getting underneath and lifting them as he went.
	Lanth made a sort of agreeing “Mm,” just before he pushed himself into Lando. This was not a gentle slide, but it wasn’t harsh; still, it was a harder initial thrust than either of them was used to with each other, and he might’ve been worried if Lando hadn’t immediately arched off the bed with a gasp that ended in something very like a purr. “Nevermind,” Lanth said as casually as he could, “problem solved.”
	“All…your problems need to…to be solved that way,” Lando said. Lanth chuckled and leaned down over his hunter, who opened his eyes to take in his lover…only to start staring in wide-eyed rapture. Because of course, without the lacing and with him bent forward like this, the shirt Lanth was wearing had just fallen open, giving Lando a view that he knew would render his love helplessly dumbstuck. He pulled a hand away from one of Lando’s legs, gave another good thrust and, when Lando’s back arched again, slid his hand between his back and the mattress.
	“Wrap your legs around me,” he told Lando, who obeyed as blindly as if he were under a priest’s mind control, and with a lift from his hand, he moved them further along the bed, getting a knee up onto the mattress. Lando moaned slightly in disappointment, as the motion pulled Lanth out a little, but Lanth immediately made it up to him with another hard thrust and then another scoot along the comforter. Once he could be all the way on the bed with his lover, he smiled and kissed Lando briefly. “Sorry about that, but some adjustments had to be made.”
	Lando just nodded, sliding his arms around Lanth’s neck and pulling him down for another kiss, hungrier than any of them save the one they’d had downstairs on the couch. Now it was Lanth’s turn to purr, though it was all internal. This was part of what he’d wanted: Lando desperately needing him, wanting more. Now for the rest of it.
	 He bent his head to the crook of Lando’s neck so he could give a quick lick as he pushed in hard again, and again, and again. His times on top had never, ever been like this (not that his more usual times being on the receiving end had either); he had always focused on slow, sensual, love-making, and that had always been fine. It wasn’t that he didn’t like that, because he did. But here, now, after the scare of a lifetime followed by words he’d wanted to hear for so long, this was not about merely “being on top” during another session of slow-smoldering pleasure; this was about taking Lando, about claiming him as his own, about making Lando’s statements downstairs as true as they could possibly be. This was giving vent to long-repressed possession that wasn’t polite to express any other way.
	Lando’s hands were balled fists in the back of his shirt and the occasional moaned “Yes, Lanth,” was all he could make out against his ear. His legs were still wrapped around him, and it vaguely occurred to him that he’d never told Lando that that wasn’t necessary, it’d just been for moving them the rest of the way onto the bed, but he didn’t care about that. It kept them close, and he would never protest that. He moved his hands to Lando’s hips to pull his body in to meet his own, but Lando was already in that rhythm himself.
	Somehow, physically giving vent to his needs wasn’t enough. “You’re mine,” Lanth heard his voice declare in determined whisper against Lando’s skin. His more normal personality had been pushed out of the way by raw id, and it protested such strident commandments, but Lando merely moaned out another “yes, yes” followed by “always” and Lanth felt greatly soothed…among many other sensations.
	Lando tipped over early, coming so hard and so soon that Lanth was a little surprised; he was also deeply gratified because the soothing reassurance of his hunter’s insistently ecstatic moans was having an effect greater than the mere physicality. Lanth pushed himself up, away from Lando a little, and his lover looked up at him with a gaze he’d never seen before: rapturous, awestruck, and yet somehow as needy as Lanth felt. Lando, still panting, pulled a hand away from Lanth’s shirt and around to brush his blond hair back away from his face and Lanth groaned and came and collapsed against Lando’s chest with a satisfied finality.
	Lando’s legs had loosened now so that they were more or less intertwined with Lanth’s. He brushed the hair away and kissed his forehead as they both remembered how to breathe. “I’m going to propose to you every night from now on,” Lando told him, “if that’s what it gets me.”
	Lanth shook his head. “That wasn’t…”
	“I know. I know.” Lando kissed his forehead again and murmured against the sweaty skin, “I scared you, and you needed to know…”
	“That you’re mine,” he finished.
	“Yes. And I am. Don’t ever worry about that. But if this is what you need for reassurance, dear gods, Lanth, let me reassure you every day and twice on Sundays.”
	Lanth smiled faintly, feeling more like his usual self. “I wasn’t too rough with you?”
	“Mm, no. Just don’t start bringing in whips and chains or anything like that.”
	“I would never. I don’t want to hurt you; that’s not what I was going for.”
	“And you didn’t.” Lando snuggled him reassuringly.
	After a moment of silence, Lanth said, raising his head to look in those keen hunter eyes, “And you know I’m yours, too, right? This isn’t a one-way possession, Lando, because I love you, and I have been yours for so, so long, and…”
	Lando interrupted him by kissing his lips this time. “I know.” He smirked a little. “But, I could use some…reassurance.” Lanth grinned and then outright laughed when Lando added, “In about five minutes.”
	“I think that can be arranged.” Lanth laid back down, rolling onto his right side instead of being right on top. Lando reached over to pet his chest (and thus to further enjoy the open shirt).
	“You know, normally I’d be asking about now if you’ve had a happy birthday so far, but I feel like I’m the one who got all the presents.”
	Lanth raised his left hand, the gold glinting in the sunlight from the windows. “Not true. And I’ve had an absolutely wonderful birthday so far.” He dropped his hand down to Lando’s chest and leaned in to nuzzle his neck. “You made me pancakes and cleaned the house…”
	Lando cleared his throat. “Well, Mom came over to help me with that.”
	“Ah ha!” Lanth shot up to point down at his…husband now, he guessed. Essentially. The thought made him grin and completely blew his stern expression. He didn’t care. “I should’ve known!”
	Lando just pulled him down and asked, “How can you move so fast when you just spent all that time so thoroughly taking me?”
	Lanth grinned, pleased with himself over Lando’s almost purring tone of voice. “Stamina. You hunters should look into it.”
	“I have stamina!” Lando protested.
	Lanth leaned up to whisper, “Prove it.” And then his grin shifted just a little, a ghost of the possessive coming back to his face.
	Lando returned the expression and rolled them over. “Your wish is my command. Now where did that jar go…?”