Red Roses, Aster, and Peonies

25

Ivan yawned, pushing himself up after he heard Alfred walking around. He felt something get thrown at his face and looked down to his lap to see a shirt there.

He looked over to the alarm clock and groaned, "Dyami, it's four in the morning."

"We have to leave early!" his lover yelled from the bathroom, "get dressed, you know the rules, no shoes!"

Ivan yawned, before lying back down in bed. Two or three minutes later he heard the bathroom door shut and pushed himself up, rubbing his eyes and looking Alfred up and down.

"You're wearing a dress." it was long, brushing on the floor, with a loose turtleneck top that went around more like a scarf. It covered his shoulders but no more. The fabric was striped- not color-wise, but with lines running all the way from the neck down. It was a dark grey, with two electric blue stripes running down the front. He had a black belt tight around his waist, making his figure more prominent in the formless dress. Black bands wound around his arms, and a chain acted as a choker. He was still putting in some orange and brown earrings, before he started putting on a septum ring, screwing it before crossing his arms.

"Problem?"

"I think you're gorgeous," Ivan smiled to himself, still just looking at Alfred but not quite seeing him, so to speak.

Alfred smirked, walking over and scooping the skirt before sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Why don't you get dressed?" he asked, studying Ivan's bare chest, "We need to leave soon."

"Because I have decided that I'm going back to sleep," he laid back down, "it would be better if I had a beautiful man beside me."

"Ivan, c'mon," Alfred said, standing up and grabbing his shoulder, shaking him a little, "please baby."

Ivan pursed his lips and Alfred bent down to peck him on the lips, running his hands over his neck. Alfred realized he didn't know when Ivan stopped wearing his scarf around him when he slept, when he stopped bandaging his neck- he just knew he stopped, and that the thick, long scars over the front of his neck went uncovered. He bent down and pecked the biggest of them, feeling Ivan tense.

"Get up baby," Alfred whined, knitting his fingers into his hair.

"Fine, fine," Ivan yawned again, pushing himself up and kissing Alfred hard, pulling away and rubbing under his nose where the septum ring did the thing between feeling weird and itching.

Alfred giggled, pushing himself up and walking over to the doorway, where a wooden box sat. He pulled out a loose pair of black pants and tossed them to Ivan, who caught them in one hand, studying them for a second.

"Barhani shelk? (velvet silk)," he said, "You have expensive taste."

"It's pretty cheap for us," Alfred shrugged, "all types of fabric are really cheap in the spirit realm, even the metal blends. Most people make their own clothes so I guess it would be."

He tossed a thick black and silver striped leather belt at Ivan too, as well as a black, purple, and cream shawl, knitted into a feather-like pattern. He placed his folded scarf on the bed with care.

Ivan pushed himself up, brushing his teeth and such before getting dressed, Alfred kinda watching him and kinda staring off into space.

"I'm dressed," Ivan said, pulling on the loose cream spandex shirt he was wearing. Alfred shook his head.

"One more thing," he said, standing up and walking over to the dresser, looking through the bottom drawer. Ivan caught the knife sheath that was tossed to him as well as a glowing purple necklace.