Darling I Will Always Be Here ** (ROYAL)

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@royal
<3

Jonah had been planning a dinner for himself and Royal for Christmas for a few weeks now. He was excited and hoped Royal loved it; he had gone to Tinworth and rented a room in one of their best restaurants. He wanted it all decked out for Royal; Christmas and his birthday. Jonah had gone in the day prior to set up Christmas lights...as well as birthday streamers and birthday balloons. It made him grin from ear to ear, imagining Royal walking in. His present's for Royal were wrapped up on the table and set in the corner, with the plates on another table in the center of the room. He also made sure there was a large couch for them to use, unless Royal decided he'd rather go back to his apartment after dinner. A vase of lilies sat in the center, and he turned towards the door as he heard the handle begin to turn.

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Jonah was being unusually secretive about things, Royal thought. He had received an owl that morning with an address and instructions to dress nicely. It was strange, since the Yule Ball hadn’t been that long ago, so they’d already had a nice night of dressing nicely. Royal wasn’t going to complain, though – he loved having an excuse to dress up. He arrived at the address given to him, and when he gave his name, they led him to a room in the back. Royal was slightly confused, but he opened the door and stepped inside, his jaw falling open as he did so. There were Christmas lights set up, but birthday streamers too, with a handful of balloons floating in the corner. There were gifts sitting on a table, wrapped in colorful paper. And there, in the middle of it all, was his boyfriend. “Hi, Jonah.” Royal said, too stunned to say anything else.

@jill3

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@royal
<3

Watching as the door opened, Jonah felt his heart beat quicken. This is what true love was, knowing each other for years, and years later, still getting butterflies when they walked through the door. Jonah had the biggest smile on his face when he saw Royal's jaw dropped, and he slowly walked over to him. "Hi, Royal." He responded in the same tone as his boyfriend, but with a much more joyful attitude behind it. "You look...hm, what did you call it, captivating." Jonah stopped walking when he was almost touching Royal, only an inch or two away from him. "Happy Birthday."

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Royal laughed when Jonah said that he looked captivating. Leave it to Jo to remember something like that and use it to make him happy. “You do realize that my birthday isn’t until January, right?” Royal said with a laugh. It was hard to celebrate his birthday, though, given it was the day after the New Year. Depending on how hard people partied, there was still a chance that they would be too hungover to celebrate Royal’s birthday. Better to celebrate it now, when people already were taking time off of work, though. Royal wasn’t going to complain. Jonah was close to him, separated only by a few centimeters, and Royal wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, pressing a soft kiss to Jonah’s forehead.

@jill3

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@royal
<3

Jonah nodded, a small laugh escaping his lips. "I do know that, yes, but I figured you might be too busy on your actual birthday. So I'm throwing you an early one." He felt Royal's arms wrap around him, and the gentle kiss to his forehead made him smile. Jonah gazed into Royal's eyes, his smile eventually growing from ear to ear, his teeth visible. "Are you hungry?" The food had been set on the table, covered with a silver dish. It wasn't anything crazy, just something simple; something Jonah loved to cook. More specifically, spaghetti and meatballs, made from scratch. There was also a salad, and for dessert, chocolate chip cookies...also made from scratch. Jonah had put a lot of time into this, and he hoped Royal would love it.

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Royal felt silly for thinking that Jonah wouldn’t have known when his birthday was. Jonah was correct in saying that he probably would be busy right after the New Year. Everyone was busy trying to catch up from the holiday, Royal included. And the partying bit – that still stood. Jonah asked if he was hungry, and Royal chuckled, and then nodded. “I could eat a hippogriff.” Royal told Jonah, pulling away from his boyfriend so that he could move over to the table. Royal sat at one end, gesturing for Jonah to sit across from him. He unlidded the main plate, and then glanced back at Jonah. “Spaghetti. Are we going to do the spaghetti thing?” Royal asked Jonah. There was some Muggle movie that had animals eating opposite ends of spaghetti strings before kissing. It sounded gross, but also…kind of fun.

@jill3

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@royal
<3

"Oh a Hippogriff? Well, I hope I made enough food!" Jonah chuckled quietly to himself and watched as Royal lifted the cover off the top of the spaghetti. His reaction was a good one, thankfully, and Jonah sat across from him and ginned. His question made him laugh even more, and he shrugged. "We can if you want. I've never done it, but it would be funny." Jonah took the spoon and began putting some on his plate and handed Royal the spoon. He would usually offer to serve him, but he wasn't sure Royal was the type of guy to enjoy that. "I hope you like spaghetti."

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“Hyperbole, Jo.” Royal said with a roll of his eyes when his boyfriend repeated his comment about eating a hippogriff. He doubted that any human’s stomach could handle that much food at once. Jonah took the seat across from him and said that they could try the spaghetti thing if they wanted, and Royal smiled at him. “We’ll see how it goes.” It would be excellent if that could happen on accident, but likely it could only ever happen on accident in the movies. Jonah said that he hoped Royal liked spaghetti, and Royal smiled. “Spaghetti is good.” He said, beginning to spoon some spaghetti onto his own plate after Jonah had finished. “What’s your favorite food?” He asked randomly. Jonah obviously knew his preferences, but it would be nice if Royal could say the same.

@jill3

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@royal
<3

Jonah rolled his eyes just the same and laughed at Royal. "Oh I know, Roy. You haven't got to take everything so literally." He smirked at his boyfriend, watching as he put some of his own spaghetti on his plate. "Well I hope it goes well! Though we don't have to do it, but it would be fun." Jonah chuckled, twisting his fork and taking a bite of the pasta. Chewing, he smiled and eventually swallowed. "It's good! Let me know if I under cooked the pasta." His eyes widened slightly at the sudden worry of if he did actually under cook it. He took another bite of his food and looked up to Royal at his next question. "That's a hard question...ribs."

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Royal chuckled when Jonah said that he didn’t have to take everything literally. “Maybe there’s a little too much politician in me.” He teased. Politicians were great at taking things too literally to suit their own purposes, at least in Royal’s opinion. He smiled when Jonah said that he hoped that things went well. “I hope so, too.” He was just waiting for the right moment, the spark that let him now that then was the time. And the spark wasn’t all the way there yet. “The pasta’s perfect, Jo.” Royal said cheerily. Royal was surprised that the favorite food question was so hard. Jonah answered that he liked ribs, and Royal nodded to himself. “What kind of ribs?” Not that that was important, but if he could get more specifics out of Jonah, maybe he could figure out how to make a good cookout happen when the weather got warmer.

@jill3

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@royal
<3

Royal was definitely a politician. Jonah didn't have an issue with it, but he did know they both came from very different worlds and very different families. And while they grew together, there would be a lot more to learn about one another. Including how to be together and live together and love each other. But Jonah was ready to work through it, even if it caused issues along the way. As Jonah took a bite of the pasta he contemplated what kind of ribs, but he knew the answer. "Barbeque Baby Back Ribs. They are absolutely delicious." He had swallowed the pasta and took a sip of the red wine that had been brought to the table. "Do you like ribs?"

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Jonah spent an awful lot of time on what Royal thought as a relatively simple answer, and he blinked once before he was able to process what Jonah had said. “I like them, I guess, but I don’t like getting messy when I eat.” Royal was meticulous about keeping up his appearance, and the worst mess he’d ever made when eating was eating chocolate chip cookies when they were still fresh from the oven and getting chocolate smears all over him. “Adeline’s more the one you want to talk to if you want to discuss cuisine. Speaking of which, she wanted to know if you wanted to have dinner with me and my sisters sometime.” Royal slurped down a bite of spaghetti before continuing. “I don’t know whether or not Abby will be able to make it, but Addie is very into the idea of getting to meet you officially, since you haven’t already.”

@jill3

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@royal
<3

"Messy?" He swallowed the pasta and couldn't help but laugh. That was the whole point of ribs, was to get messy! But he could see Royal being that way, especially the family he was in and his position in The Ministry. Always had to keep close attention to his appearance for the outside world. Jonah didn't mind though, it was perfectly fine with him. "Well, maybe one day in secret I can see you get all messy, no cameras, no other people." He took another bite of his spaghetti as Royal began speaking of his twin sisters and Jo nodded, smiling. "Well I work with Abby, I haven't spoken with her in awhile. But I'd love to meet Adeline. Just let me know when."

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Royal raised his eyebrows a little when Jonah said that he could see Royal get messy in secret, without any cameras or other people. “I hope you know that sounds positively filthy.” Royal said with a laugh. He was fairly certain that Jonah hadn’t meant it as an innuendo, but when you were talking about getting dirty alone with someone, was there any way to avoid making the phrase an innuendo? If there was, then Royal hadn’t yet found it. “Well, when you’re working with Abby, you’re working with Abigail Shacklebolt, Auror-in-training. For the dinner she’d just be Abby, your boyfriend’s sister.” Royal reasoned. “That was actually what I was going to ask you about. When are you free? And do you like sushi?” Royal prayed that his boyfriend said no to the latter question, so that he’d have a reason not to watch his sister and boyfriend eat raw fish.

@jill3

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@royal
<3

Jonah couldn't help the blush that rose to his cheeks at the mention of his words being filthy. After the fact, he thought about it, and supposed it was true, but they both know he didn't mean that. Jo laughed along with Royal. "It does...but I suppose I wouldn't mind you dirty and alone with me either." Jonah grinned, and gave his boyfriend a wink. He thought about it, and shrugged. "I'm usually free Wednesdays and Sundays, so either or. And...I don't mind sushi." He chuckled. "Does Adeline want sushi?"