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“Ronin!” Nod ran to meet him at the door, barefoot and smeared with paint.
“Did you have a good day chickadee?” Ronin crouched down to hug him.
“Paint,” Nod help up his hands for Ronin to see, showing off the multitude of colors decorating them.
He looked as if he may have gotten tired of painting on the paper and started painting himself, but he seemed very please about it, and Ronin’s armor was already dirty. A little paint wouldn’t make any difference.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Ronin kissed his cheek and stood to take his armor off.
“Sorry he’s so messy Ronin,” Orla smiled, “I haven’t had a chance to bath him yet.”
Ronin was home on time for once, so it was no surprise Nod hadn’t taken a bath yet. He wouldn’t have had dinner yet either.
“That’s no problem,” Ronin shook his head, “I’ll give him a bath before dinner.”
“Paint,” Nod pointed into the living room where there were papers scattered all over the floor.
“Let me get my armor off, then you can show me,” Ronin reassured him.
Ronin said goodbye to Orla and finished getting his armor off before letting Nod pull him into the living room. He sat on the floor with the boy, looking through the papers covered in bright blobs, some resembling shapes more than others. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of bird-like shapes.
Nod carefully picked up a piece of paper off the coffee table and held it out to Ronin.
“For Ronin,” the boy said eagerly, offering the paper to him.
“Thank you,” Ronin took it from him, glad the paint was dry so there was no risk of smearing it.
There was a tall green blobby person Ronin assumed was himself, holding hands with a tiny blue person, who was probably Nod, as blue was currently his favorite color. The blue Nod was holding hands with a white and black lump that Ronin couldn’t identify. They were all smiling.
“It’s wonderful!” Ronin smiled at the boy, reaching out to pull him into his lap.
“Ronin, Nod, Cheep-Cheep,” Nod identified each figure proudly.
“I can tell,” Ronin held him close with one hand, holding the picture carefully in the other, “you drew us perfectly.”
“Happy!” Nod pointed to the painting, beaming up at Ronin.
“Yes we are,” Ronin set the picture down, cuddling the boy to his chest, “especially when we’re together.”
“Together!” Nod repeated enthusiastically, smiling up at Ronin.
“That’s right chickadee,” Ronin pressed his forehead to Nod’s, “together.”
Nod was okay with moving. Mostly. Probably. It wasn’t as if it was at all practical for Tara to move in with them. Not only would three people make for cramped quarters, but Tara actually had to meet with people as part of her work. Her current chambers had space for her to do that. Their apartment did not.
So it only made sense that they were moving in with her after the wedding next week.
It was just that he couldn’t remember ever living anywhere else. His year in the barracks for basic training did not count, no matter what Ronin said. That had been training, not home.
Whether he liked it or not, they were moving, and he was happy about Ronin and Tara getting married, and he was happy they would be living together as a family. It had been a very long time coming. He was just going to miss their apartment.
“Nod, I’m home,” Ronin called.
“I’m packing,” Nod called back dryly.
They had been packing for weeks, but they were both on duty still, and now they were scrambling to get the last of their things packed. Nod was currently working his way through the shelves in Ronin’s room.
“Well, come eat. I brought home dinner,” Ronin said from the living room, “we can pack more later.”
Dinner sounded very good to Nod. As he stood, his arm knocked a box sitting on the shelf, and it tipped and fell to the floor, spilling its contents everywhere. Nod dropped down to pick everything up and wasn’t sure what to make of the random collection of things that had scattered across the floor. Miss-matched beads strung together with yarn, sloppily folded origami animals, snail shells and buttons held together by what appeared to be a broken shoelace, a hunk of clay with a blob scratched into it that appeared to have a beak, an acorn shell on a string with a roughly carved owl on it.
It wasn’t until he turned over a piece of paper and saw the painting on it that he realized that these were all things he had made for Ronin.
“Nod, food,” Ronin stuck his head in the door, then spotted Nod on the ground, “what’d you spill?”
“I can’t believe you kept all of this,” Nod held up the painting.
“I kept everything you made me,” Ronin came in, taking the picture from him, “you were always so excited when you had made me something.”
“I guess enthusiasm makes up for skill sometimes,” Nod grinned up at him, quietly pleased that Ronin had actually kept all the silly little things he had given him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ronin shook his head and crouched down beside him, setting the picture back in the box and helping Nod to collect the scattered objection, “everything you made me was perfect.”
“Do you even know what this is?” Nod held up the lump of clay with the blob scratched into it.
“I’m pretty sure that’s a bird,” Ronin took it from him, smiling down at it, “that was the first time Orla let you play with clay, and I was scrubbing it out of your hair for days afterwards, but we had it on the mantel forever.”
“Oh yeah, we did,” it had been a long time since any of Nod’s little ‘treasures’ had been on the mantel, but he could remember it being there.
“This one is my favorite,” Ronin said as he picked up another painting, showing it to Nod, “it’s the first thing you ever made me.”
There were three colorful figures holding hands and smiling.
“You look like an asparagus,” Nod said.
Ronin laughed, “I guess you thought I was tall.”
“Freakishly so,” Nod grumbled, but he grinned as he leaned into Ronin’s shoulder.
Ronin laughed again, draping an arm around Nod’s shoulders, “I love it. We’re both together in it, and we’re happy, and it’s perfect.”
“You’re a sap,” Nod ducked his head to hide the faint blush on his cheeks.
“Yeah, that’s your fault,” Ronin kissed the top of his head, “come on, let’s get this cleaned up and eat.”
Ronin carefully set the picture back in the box, then helped Nod collect the rest of the little treasures and tuck them safely back in their place.
“You’re going to have to make me a new one after the wedding,” Ronin teased as he and Nod sat down for dinner, “you’ve gotta fit one more person in there.”
Nod laughed, “I’ll see what I can do.”
“So my darling husband, how would you like to spend the evening?” Tara grinned up at Ronin through her lashes.
“Getting you out of that dress probably,” Ronin gave her a quick kiss before pushing open her… their bedroom door, “it might take me all night just to get all those buttons undone.”
Tara laughed. It had been an utterly perfect day. Nothing had gone wrong at the wedding, or if it had, she and Ronin hadn’t noticed. Now they were home, and they could have each other to themselves for the rest of the night.
“Well, come over here then and get started,” she sat on the bed, reaching up to start unpinning her hair, and noticed a small package on the bed.
They had piles of wedding gifts to go through, but very few people had access to the private section of their residence.
“Someone thought we needed our present tonight,” Tara leaned across the bed and picked it up, holding it out to Ronin.
“It’s from Nod probably,” Ronin sat down beside Tara, untying the ribbon holding the box closed.
“No, I saw his gift. The box was bigger than this,” Tara shook her head, “I put it on the table. He should be over by lunch time tomorrow. I thought we would open it then.”
Nod was staying at their old apartment for one more night. Tara’s chambers were large enough that he could have come home with them tonight and not intruded on their privacy at all, but he had said they should have at least one night completely to themselves.
Ronin pulled off the lid and smiled, “no, this is Nod.”
Ronin pulled out two leather bracelets, one thinner than the other. Each band had three beads on it, a rose quartz pink maiden, a green malachite tree, and a wooden chickadee. The thinner band had pink thread holding the beads in place, and the larger one had green.
“Did he make these?” Tara took the thinner one from Ronin.
“Yeah,” Ronin laughed fondly, running his fingers over the beads, “we came across some pictures he had made of the two of us when he was little, and I told him he would have to fit you in now.” Ronin slid the band on his wrist and adjusted the size, “he doesn’t really finger paint anymore, so this must have been his solution.”
“I have half a mind to go right over and smother him with kisses,” Tara tucked up against Ronin’s side, “you know, he left spots for more beads,” she held the bracelet up, showing him the blank spaces, “I think it’s a hint that he wants siblings.”
“I think we could help him with that,” Ronin leaned down, pressing his forehead to Tara’s.
“Yes, let’s.”
Nod flopped down on the couch, happily exhausted. The wedding had gone smoothly, and he suspected the only people happier than he was, were Ronin and Tara. Probably the only people more tired than he was too. It had been very long day. He and Ronin had been up before dawn getting ready, and it was well past midnight now.
Almost everything was in boxes, and Nod had half a mind to go sleep in Ronin’s bed, because he was pretty sure he had left his covered in clothes and books. He had accidently packed the jacket to his dress uniform, and he had had to tear through a half dozen boxes before he found it.
Nod shrugged out of said jacket, tossing it over the back of the couch and stretching his legs out on the coffee table. He reached into the jacket pocket and pulled out a leather bracelet, slipping it on his wrists.
Hopefully, Ronin and Tara wouldn’t mind that he had made one for himself. He had had to buy the beads in packs, and Ronin had said he wanted something that fit the three of them in, so making one for himself too had just seemed right.
It was just a silly little thing, and he had gotten them a real wedding present too, but Ronin had said he liked it when Nod made him things. Hopefully, Tara would too.
And they would be together and happy, and everything would be perfect.