[FweepFwopFwoop]

"Of course. But if he does decide he wants to marry someone, I want him to say 'I want a wedding like my dads'."

[Eskal]

Marius chuckled. "Of course."

[FweepFwopFwoop]

Astien watched as his belly shifted and warped. "He's really moving in there. We must have really riled him up."

[Eskal]

Marius chuckled. "Sorry kiddo, we didn't know you were napping."

[FweepFwopFwoop]

Astien smiled as he put his arm around Marius' shoulders. As he did so, he noticed the scratches he'd left on his back. "Goodness, I'm so sorry. Do you want me to heal that?"

[Eskal]

"That would be great," Marius chuckled. "If this keeps up, you'll have to heal me after every round."

[FweepFwopFwoop]

Astien blushed. "What can I say? Sometimes I get a little too into it."

[Eskal]

"I never said it was a bad thing," Marius chuckled and kissed Astien's lips. "I've suffered worse."

[FweepFwopFwoop]

"Oh, I certainly remember. It was touch and go when I found you in the gardens that day. Siran and I weren't sure if we could save you."

[Eskal]

"I'm glad you did though," Marius smiled. "The gods work in strange ways, don't they?"

[FweepFwopFwoop]

"They sure do." Astien quickly and easily healed up the scratches on Marius' back, and again rested his head on his lover's chest, listening to the rhythmic sound of his heartbeat, and slowly being lulled to sleep.

[Eskal]

Marius held Astien in his arms.

[FweepFwopFwoop]

Astien's mouth hung open, drooling into the larger man's chest hair.

[Eskal]

Marius chuckled and cleaned off the sweat before picking Astien up and carrying him to their bed after drying them both off.

[FweepFwopFwoop]

Astien lightly stirred in his sleep, but howes no signs of waking up anytime soon.

[Eskal]

Marius kissed his head and settled into the bed beside him. He began working on food ideas for the wedding's reception.

[FweepFwopFwoop]

Over the next few days, Astien and Marius spent their time going over wedding plans. It seemed there was no end to the things they had to plan out. Still, they spent time with Cormac and Delas, going to the beach, admiring the greenery of the park, and doing various other things. Delas has become somewhat quiet and contemplative in recent days. Clearly, something was weighing heavily on his mind. He insisted it was something he needed to sort out for himself, so Astien let him be.

Delas had bought Astien some gifts, however. Or rather, more maternity shirts with silly pregnancy-related slogans on them. Astien would begrudgingly wear them, mostly because he was so busy with the wedding while still spending time enjoying the sights, he had yet to have his normal shirts taken out, and the maternity shirts were all that fit. Though he'd initially hated it, the bun-in-the-oven shirt had remained Astien's favorite.

On this particular day, Astien was laying in bed, wearing nothing but said shirt and his underwear. Between the heat and Aiden's growth, he was feeling more exhausted these days. He looked over a list of potential caterers while idly rubbing his belly, feeling Aiden softly kick and flip about within him. "This caterer here specializes in dwarven foods, but going by customer reviews, they're terrible with everything else."

[Eskal]

"That's no good," Marius sighed. "You'd think we'd be able to find a decent caterer by now." He looked up from his list as there was a knock at the door. He got up from the desk and opened it slightly, as to not show Astien off to the staff. "Yes?"
"Saurbane, there's...There's a crowd in the lobby for you," the messenger boy said.
"Ha! They're here," Marius barked happily. "Thank you." He closed the door. "Astien, they're finally here. Ready to meet my family?"

[FweepFwopFwoop]

"What? Oh no, and here I am all hot and sweaty. Where are my pants? And my sandals, and… and my shirts, I can't go down there with in this!"

[Eskal]

Marius got clothes for Astien and helped him get dressed. "I wasn't planning on you going down in your underwear."