Closed: But they stayed there as stars in the shape of a crown

[vineleaves]

Dionysus is a very seasonal god. Much like the grapes he is known for, he spends the winter largely dormant and indoors - at least, when he isn't spending winters just traveling places where it's summer, there's an entire southern hemisphere, after all - but now that it is spring he has been spending most of the sunlight hours outside. He has his garden to tend to. Now that it is set up it hardly takes all day to do daily maintenance on such a small patch of vineyard, but truthfully, he's just spending a lot of time sitting outside, enjoying the weather and enjoying nature coming back to life. It's a plant god thing.

But he does have to go inside eventually. As much as he likes being outside he still prefers sleeping in an actual bed at night. Sleeping on the ground doesn't exactly do wonders for his lower back, so a little bit before sundown he bids goodnight to his growing plants and heads back inside. His plan is to clean up, head to either the café or a kitchen to grab a bite to eat, and then curl up in bed and either listen to a cd or read a play before going to sleep for the night.

When he enters his room it takes him a few minutes before he notices anything different but when he finally looks up, it hits him like a ton of bricks. Ariadne's crown. Painted on his ceiling. He stares at it for a long time, unmoving, just looking up. Eventually he sits down on his bed, still looking up at it. It's perfect. He has missed her stars so much.


"I know you've been... nervous, about it."
"I'm not nervous about marrying you, Dionysus."
"Well that's certainly good, all our friends are here already and I'm sure that would make an awkward conversation. No, I mean... You're nervous about joining my family. I can tell, y'know."
"...Well, they're not exactly the easiest people to live up to."
"Don't be ridiculous, my love, you're better than all of them combined."
"I think I should be very careful about whatever I say next. They are just in the next room."
"You're perfect."
"I'm mortal."
"You're perfect. This crown is -- well, it's not as perfect as you are, but I thought -- maybe if you wore it, you'd feel as wonderful as you really are. I don't care that you're not a goddess, but I want you to feel like you're one, if it'll help. You shouldn't be nervous about them."

_____________________________________

Some time later he finally emerges from his room. His hair is damp from washing and he has exchanged his gardening clothes for a clean and familiar chiton. He figures it must have been Grantaire -- who else would sneak in and paint his ceiling, after all -- and so that is who he is looking for. He's on his way to check the café when he actually runs into him in the hallway.

Dionysus doesn't say anything, he can't get words out, he just goes up and wraps Grantaire in a tight hug.

Comments

[vineleaves]

"Not really, just be careful when you open this one," he points to one of the boxes.

[futaille]

"I should save that one for last, then." He sets it to the side and opens the smaller of the two remaining.

[vineleaves]

This is a set of some very nice paintbrushes. "And see, if I had given this to you on time, these might have been useful today." And because he has remembered it is there, he turns at looks up at the ceiling again.

[futaille]

"They'll be useful enough for my self-portrait for you, then," he says with a little smile as he goes for the next box.

[vineleaves]

"I'm going to be absolutely spoiled. Two of your paintings!" The next box contains a waistcoat neatly folded up. It is a fine, light sage green silk, embroidered along the collar and edges with vines and leaves in an ivory thread. The style is more or less close to what Grantaire wears, if perhaps off by a few years into the future, but Dionysus thinks it looks similar enough that maybe it doesn't matter¹. He is blushing a little as Grantaire opens it; dressing Grantaire up in embroidered grapevines seemed a much better idea when it was hypothetical, and now he's second guessing himself.

1. It's similar in style to these two, though obviously different color and embroidery motif.

[futaille]

He looks at it, gently tracing along the lines of the embroidery with a fingertip. "Oh, it's... let me put it on." He immediately unbuttons the waistcoat he's currently wearing, draping it haphazardly over the back of his chair.

[vineleaves]

"I hope it fits. I asked the mansion really nicely for it to be in your size." Maybe the mansion gave him one in the wrong size as a sign that it's stupid to give something like this to Grantaire and so he won't have to worry about wearing it or not. Dionysus is, of course, still blushing a little.

[futaille]

Grantaire puts on the new waistcoat and buttons it, looking down at himself. "It's perfect. Thank you." He gives Dionysus a quick kiss.

[vineleaves]

The kiss helps him feel less awkward about it, so that's nice. He smiles. "I'm glad you like it." ...It is nice to see Grantaire wearing his vines. He's going to give him a slightly less quick kiss.

[futaille]

And he laughs happily as it finishes. "All right. Last one. And be careful with it." He goes to carefully open the final one.

[vineleaves]

Inside the box is a kylix made out of glass stained in different jewel tones. "I made three more, so it's a full set. They're in a box in my closet, they just wouldn't all fit in the basket together."

[futaille]

He holds it up to the light, studying it. "That's amazing."

[vineleaves]

Dionysus gets up quickly and rushes to the closet to retrieve the rest of the kylixes, glancing at the painting on his ceiling as he passes it both times. He sets the larger box down on the table, next to all of the other presents, and gives Grantaire a kiss on the cheek. "Happy birthday, love."

[futaille]

Grantaire smiles, looking between the gifts arrayed before him. "I feel spoiled."

[vineleaves]

"Good," Dionysus is behind Grantaire's chair, and bends over so he can wrap his arms around him. "You deserve to be spoiled every day. I've just not been doing a good enough job of it, is all."

[futaille]

"Oh, I wouldn't say you've been doing a bad job in the least."

[vineleaves]

"Clearly I have, if one little birthday present is enough to make you feel spoiled." He absentmindedly starts tracing over the embroidery on the waistcoat with his fingers.

[futaille]

"Six birthday presents, none of them particularly little. Do not sell your efforts short."

[vineleaves]

"One present, made up of six components. That's why they were all in one basket together."

[futaille]

"If six people are all in one carriage together, are they suddenly one person?"

[vineleaves]

"No, but if you make a sandwich it is one sandwich, not individual ingredients."

[futaille]

"But you eat a sandwich all at once. I'm certainly not going to be wearing the waistcoat in the bath. Although I'll grant I'll easily drink the wine with any of it."

[vineleaves]

"Maybe sandwich wasn't the best choice then. It's clearly more of a burri-- no, it's a crunchwrap supreme." Will Grantaire remember being told what that is? A mystery. "Sometimes you get a bite that is mostly cheese, sometimes you get a bite that's mostly the meat and lettuce or whatever, but it's all one crunchwrap. Sometimes you might be drinking the wine while wearing the waistcoat, sometimes you might be drinking the wine while taking a bubble bath."

...That's a nice mental image, too.

[futaille]

He does remember the crunchwrap supreme, mostly by virtue of the fact that it was compared directly to him. "Or drinking the wine and painting while taking a bubble bath. That way any paint that gets on my hands can be cleaned up immediately."

[vineleaves]

Little splotches of paint on his hands, a few on his face he hasn't noticed, his wet hair sticking in little ringlets to his forehead, surrounded by bubbles, his skin pink from both the warm water and the wine --

oh right they were having a conversation. "A genius idea, quite honestly. I don't know why bath painting hasn't caught on yet."