#Aetherium is the prettiest thing ive ever imagined

[clavicuss-vile]

25 Days of TES Cheer #6 - Gift!

- @korvanjund for the prompts! Link to the prompt list here !! :))

TLDR: Icarus and Solaris give eachother a gift. aka the boys being soft for eachother again

The day had been pleasant, and agreeable. A warm breeze washed over Chorrol from the west, rustling the leaves of the giant oak that dominated the city square. Around it, as the sun sank below the rolling hills of Colovia, adorning the sky in a bright orange, merchants began to put away their stalls. It was from one of these stalls, that unbeknownst to each other, Icarus and Solaris had each purchased a dagger.

They had agreed to meet on one of the grassy hills just outside the city gates. It was a favourite spot of theirs when in the west, and they always made an effort to visit after a contract when they had the chance. Now, as the sun set, Solaris climbed the last few steps to the top. He found Icarus already waiting, with a small box wrapped in brown paper in his hand.

"Sol!" The vampire almost yelled, his enthusiasm surprising even himself. Solaris held back a chuckle, but allowed a smirk to emerge on his face.

"Looks like someone missed me."

"I haven't seen you all day." Icarus ran an awkward hand through his hair, kicking slightly at the golden-green grass. Solaris zoned his eyes in on the mysterious box.

"And that is?" He asked.

"Oh, um, I bought something. From the market. Today." Icarus uncharacteristically stammered. "... For you." Solaris raised a single eyebrow, in half suspicion and half amusement at the floundering mess stood before him

"For me? You know we still have several months before Saturalia, Magpie." Solaris teased hypocritically, glaringly aware of the gift he himself had planned to give the other the same evening. An awkward coincidence.

"I know, I know. But I've been saving my payments for months for this, so you had better like it."

Icarus handed - no, catapulted - the parcel into Solaris' ring-adorned hands. Up close, he could see just how badly it had been wrapped. The "bow" was more like a frayed tangle of spaghetti, and upon further inspection, the edges of the paper appeared to have been crumpled into place, rather than folded. Wrapping presents, it seemed, was not the assassin's specialty.

"Did Sanguine himself descend from Oblivion to wrap this?" Solaris laughed, looking up from the gift back to Icarus. "I've seen better work from drunk spiders."

"Oh shut up, you've never seen a drunk spider." Icarus pouted.

"Might have. I must admit, this does make me wonder how you manage to do up all those buckles. Should I ask Lucien to make a special exception for our little Magpie?"

"Less of the little! Just cause your mum did it with a high elf." The breton-nord growled, crossing his arms and huffing in mock tantrum.

"Or Clavicus Vile, if you took her word for it." Solaris huffed, rolling his eyes as he tore open the brown paper. Inside was a wooden box, which he opened, before promptly slamming shut upon seeing it's contents. "There is no way you afforded that."

"I told you, months."

Solaris gingerly reached into the box again, drawing out the most beautiful object he'd laid eyes on in his life. It was a dagger, made of the most vibrant opal they'd ever seen, knapped and chiseled like teeth, or running water, or solidified magic. He wasn't sure how to describe it. The spine was adorned with a brilliant layer of silver, running down the blade in thin, intricate spirals, which only illuminated the kaleidoscope of colours projected by the opal. The same silver made up the handle, but this too was spared of no detail. The grip was constructed of interwoven vines of silver, inlaid with tiny bright blue crystals. The same crystals were encrusted in the knapped opal, making the entire blade look like captured starlight. Starlight that pulsed.

Solaris stood in stunned silence. "What is it?" They finally whispered, referring to the gently pulsating blue crystals, cradling the dagger as if he had the fabled Amulet of Kings in his possession.

"I've finally found something that shuts you up? I'll have to inform Lucien at once." Icarus smirked, leaning on a tree. "The shopkeeper said it's aetherium, some magic rock from Skyrim. That's it's name too, by the way. Aetherium."

"I don't even get to name my gift?" Solaris laughed, still in shock.

"Sorry," Icarus threw his hands up in surrender, "She was weirdly adamant it was called that."

"Well... At least you'll get to name yours." Solaris smiled, pulling a gift of his own out of his bag. It was much less visually awe-inspiring than Icarus' gift, a dagger of simple brass-tinted metal, but just above the hilt was an engraving of a sun. Solaris had thought it fitting. Icarus looked between the him and the dagger with a filthy grin on his face.

"That's it?" He cooed. "I spend my life's savings on a dagger that looks like the sky itself, and I get a glorified steak-knife?"

"What, you want me to kiss it?"

"Ha! Maybe."

Solaris' face flushed a deep red. He was perfect, unmatched, at controlling the emotional queues of his elven ears - but he'd never learnt to avoid these telltale signs of his emotions. It made him feel vulnerable. But for Icarus, maybe that wouldn't be so bad. And maybe a chance to toy with the half-nord would make it worth it. Keeping steady eye contact, he lifted the blade to his lips and kissed the small, swirling sun emblem, watching Icarus' cheeks turn an equally intense red. Solaris noted how he matched the now dark pink sky behind them. He looked pretty; eyes wide and innocent.

"I didn't-" Icarus coughed. "Didn't think you'd actually do it."

"Why not? It's only a dagger."

"Yeah. Well. It's got a name now."

"Oh?"

"Solisosculatus." Icarus smiled, staring intently at the ground and running a hand through his hair. Old Cyrodiilic was Solaris' mother tongue, moreso even than modern Cyrodiilic. He knew what it meant instantly.

Sunkissed.