May the Sun Never Rise | E&R
“There you are,” mumbled Edgar motioning toward the cloudless night sky and the innumerable twinkling stars that glittered far above their heads. Without city or lantern light to obstruct their shine the pale silver glow poured over them like a revivifying deluge of radiant energy. Surrounded by darkness and cricket choristers, the stars looked almost close enough to touch. A whole universe of impossibility right at their fingertips.
Without looking away from the dazzling diamond shine of stars hanging just out of reach, Edgar pointed to one particularly beautiful light. “Right between Leo and Cancer.” He smiled quietly to himself as he admired Regulus’s namesake. He didn’t know when he’d started doing it, searching the night sky for Regulus in the stars, but it’d been a while. Before the invitation to dinner was made, he knew that much for sure.
He retracted his arm and placed both hands on Regulus’s shoulders to pull his back into his chest. Edgar lowered his mouth to Regulus’s shoulder and kissed him gently, smiling quietly to himself as he considered the nervous energy that had seemingly evaporated once they’d found themselves on the hilltop.
The week hadn’t dragged, surprisingly. Actually it’d been an exciting one, with more action than he’d seen in weeks. Assignments for the Order had him unwisely paired with Broderick Bode and their personalities had gotten the better of them. Though they’d survived both the assignment and each other, neither of them had walked away with a few mementos to remember it by.
With years of fights under his belt, he was able to mend a good deal of the damage himself. Edgar was still sporting bruises, but he did so gladly; if somewhat self consciously as Thursday drew nearer. It wouldn’t be the first time that Regulus saw him bruised to bloody hell. Now that the context of their relationship was changing, though, he hoped it wouldn’t make him uncomfortable to be alone with him. Things didn’t get much more alone as they were now.
Keeping Regulus’s specifications for an ideal dinner with him in mind, Edgar had decided to invite him to his late aunt’s country house. He and Amelia used to spend every summer on the property, swimming in the lake and making a mess of the boathouse. There was a gazebo on the hill between the backyard and the lake’s shoreline, with a telescope and cushioned seating nestled within. All around them was nothing but open space and trimmed grass on all sides. Since the house went unused, the property was vacant, private, with no one but the stars to observe them.
Edgar had prepared something of a picnic for the evening. An array of fruit was the precursor to a meal prepared by his own two hands; a garden salad, some cobbler, a Lancashire hotpot, then light desserts as well. He was no Molly, but Edgar had learned his way around a kitchen, and was fairly confident that the food was edible at the very least.
So far they’d only touched the fruit and salad before Edgar mentioned his habit of looking for Regulus in the night sky, and dragging him out toward the gazebo to point his namesake out to him. The back porch, where they’d been eating, was set up like a fine restaurant’s outdoor seating. A white table cloth draped over the small table, there was a vase with a single flower to the side a bit so there was room for their plates. A fire was crackling in the circular, brick built fire pit, which had comfortable seating in a semi circle around it.
It was casually romantic, he hoped. Nice without too much pressure to be proper or well mannered. Especially since he’d worn dark wash jeans and boots, and a grey sweater under his navy duffle coat. Though, he supposed it was a step up from the jean and leather jackets he was known to fashion.
“I’m always looking for you,” Edgar confessed with a chuckle, lifting his face from Regulus’s shoulder so that he could prop his chin there instead. “Either in the pub or in the stars. It’s a little pathetic now that I’m saying it out loud.” He shrugged, unembarrassed, smirking as he warmly hugged the younger wizard to his chest.
