:Gorgeous Carat belongs to You Higuri:
"You're up late." The familiar voice made Florian smile and he turned to greet his lover and accept an enthusiastic kiss.
"Couldn't sleep so I thought I'd stargaze for a while." He pulled Ray down to sit beside him on the small bench. Noir's costume had been replaced by Ray's Arabian robes but Florian could feel the excitement still thrumming through the other man's body. He might not approve of Ray's hobby, but he had no reason to complain about some of the benefits. Especially not when Ray was looking at him like that.
"Good night?" He couldn't resist asking, just to see the way Ray's eyes lit up.
"Let's just say that the Baroness won't have to worry about injuring herself with that very large pendant. It was an act of kindness if you think about it."
"I'm sure." Florian agreed easily, resting against Ray contentedly. He glanced upwards again, taking in the dazzling array of stars above them. The sky was so clear it felt like gazing into infinity.
"I should get you a telescope." Ray said, murmuring the words into Florian's hair.
"Don't. It would take away the mystery."
"Would it?" Ray was puzzled. "Shouldn't it make the mystery more intriguing? You could see craters on the moon."
"I can already see craters on the moon. No, I like it like this - the stars are so beautiful. The way they sparkle."
"Like diamonds on velvet?" Ray teased. It was a running joke that he could work any conversation around to jewelry eventually.
"Not in the least." Florian tried to sound irritated, but he was smiling too much to pull it off. "No piece of rock could compare to this."
"Not even this one?" Ray asked carefully, taking an object out of his pocket and holding it up for Florian to see. It was a ring with a plain gold band and three inset diamonds. They were rather small compared to the ones Ray usually had, but it was a handsome ring nonetheless.
"It's very nice but..." Florian sat up, shifting around to look more closely at Ray. The ring was too unpretentious and masculine to have been part of the Baroness' collection.
"I refuse to say anything ridiculous about promising the stars." Ray was grinning devilishly and Florian had to smile back. No, his Ray would never say something so outrageous. But he'd sit with Florian in the garden and give him a diamond ring for no other reason than because he wanted to.
"Someday I'll find a way to mark you just as clearly as you insist on marking me, Ray Courland," Florian promised as he held out his hand and let Ray slide the band onto the ring finger of his left hand. "You do realize that this will be the talk of the party next week. Everyone will insist on meeting my bride." He gave Ray a tender smile.
"How unfortunate that you will have to disappoint them." Ray reached into his pocket and withdrew a gold chain. "You don't always have to wear it on your finger." He held the chain for a moment, breaking into a delighted smile when Florian refused it.
"Not even if I want to?" Florian's eyes were bright with mischief. He was hardly the textbook perfect aristocrat he'd been when Ray first met him four years ago. It had been a surprise to discover just how devious Florian could be when he set his mind to it.
"Your ancestors would be appalled, sir"
"Perhaps not yet," Florian said, giving Ray a smile that was positively wicked. "But they will be by morning." He planted a fierce and demanding kiss on Ray before standing up. "Possibly twice if we hurry."
Ray cast a glance upward at the stars, but diamonds on velvet paled against the promise of Amethyst on silken sheets and he turned his back on them without a second thought.
:end: