Correy was perched atop the old bed, looking into the starlit night. It'd been a long day, but the house was finally quiet and Correy could relax and collect his thoughts. Since being in Ireland with Kenny and his family, his life had been one big whirlwind of shopping and lots of feminine products. Then there were the chores to be done, nightly visits to the pub and trying to manage to keep from sleeping in too late after a night's drinking. Getting accustomed to the strength of the alcohol was another thing that kept his head spinning. And, it was the reason he'd chosen not to go out again. He was physically exhausted and mentally exhilirated by the entire experience. His smile faded a little when he thought about home, Rhy'din and school. It was such a Correy move, leaving and not coming back on impulse. But he was very happy where he was now and didn't want to ruin it by leaving.

A thump from the hall outside drew attention to Kenny's approach, accompanied by the playful teasing of that little sister he was so very fond of, Caoimhe. "....up an' go t'bed," he was laughing as he pushed open the door, stepping inside to lock it securely. His eyes swept the room, finding Correy where he sat with a faint, concerned frown. "You right there, devil?"

Correy rolled his head to steer his gaze from the window, over to Kenny. He smiled and shifted to his side, propping his head up with his shoulder. "Am now." Patting the comforter in front of himself, he invited Kenny in. "Think that exhaustion is taking over, though. I don't think we've slept more than a few hours every night since we've been back!" He laughed, not complaining in he least. "But it's been a lot of fun."

Shucking off his pants, Kenny burrowed into the bed beside Correy, t-shirt and boxers protecting him from the chill of the sheets while they warmed up. He thumped down onto his back with a grin. "Not too much for you, are they?" he asked, seemingly freer here than he was on Rhy'Din, though home was somewhere he couldn't stay for long.

Once Kenny had properly flopped down, Correy wrapped an arm and leg around him, snuggling close to share the warmth. "Not with you around to sort out who is who and keep the lions at bay." Another chuckle, this time muffled as he closed his eyes and burrowed his head into the crook at Kenny's neck and shoulder. "Leave me alone with them," he sighed contentedly, "and I will offend all of them by not knowing all of their names, dates of birth and their ancestors back a hundred generations."

His Irishman laughed, wrapping one long arm around Correy's shoulders as the younger man tucked into him, resting his own cheek atop the eternal mess that was his lover's hair. "I can't believe you fell for that," he snorted cheerfully. "Should have known better, devil." He, too, sighed, looking up at the ceiling with a faint frown as a thought occurred to him. "Y'know you'll have lost y'place on the nursin' course stayin' here so long, aye?"

Correy was about to ask "fell for what?" when Kenny frowned. At the proposed question, Correy nodded silently and pressed a kiss to Kenny's shoulder. "Don't think I'm cut out for it, babe. I like the medical field, but being nice to ornery old coots or watching babies being sick, I just don't think I can do that." He shrugged slightly and closed his eyes once again. "Could always be a ward clerk or something like that. Right?"

"Aye, you could," Kenny agreed thoughtfully. "Or there's plenty of other ways y'can go if you're staying in medicine. Specialisations an' such, y'know?" He tipped his head to look down at his lover, proud of him for being able to admit that nursing really wasn't his thing. "Ever thought o' pharmaceuticals" Or maybe radiography?"

Correy couldn't help his reaction to the thought of him being trusted with pharmaceuticals. He laughed out loud, then clapped his hand over his mouth. "Radiology tech would probably be better. I've been known to use a few of those pharmaceuticals when I'm not supposed to." Having a cousin who dealt in such things made it pretty easy to gain access to just about anything he wanted. "Don't think they'd hand me the key to the dope closet." Correy felt light and free. His smile didn't disappear when he lifted his head and looked down into Kenny's face. "You've still got some school to do, you're not going to miss out, are you?"

He shook his head. "No, I sorted it wi' my placements t' take two months. I'll still be graduatin' end of June." He reached down to tweak Correy's nose fondly. "All righ', so not th' pharmacy, then. Social worker" Counsellor?"

Correy laughed again, this time much quieter, when his nose was tweaked. "How about Kenny's love slave?" He waggled his brows and wiggled his fingers against Kenny's side in an attempt to tickle his lover. "The sky's the limit babe. We'll sort it soon enough."

One long fingered hand caught Correy's hand before he could get too far in his hope to tickle Kenny, a wide grin on the older man's face. "Ah, ah, devil, remember what happened last time y'tried that," he warned with a snort of laughter. "Anyways, you're the rich one. I should be th' kept man here."

When his hand was caught, he linked his fingers between Kenny's and lay back down. "No, that wouldn't work at all. See, you're the more manly, dominant one. I'm just a skinny little wimp who follows you about adoring every little shit that comes from your sexy arse." Of all the words spoken to him since he'd been in Ireland, only "arse" was picked up on and changed in his vocabulary with the way he spoke it.

Which was odd, given the number of times the word "bollocks" got thrown in Correy's direction on a daily basis in this house. Kenny chuckled at the rather disgusting mental image his lover had come up with. "Good f'you I don't do big'uns then, isn't it?"

"Very good for me," he laughed happily. The room was becoming warmer, it seemed, with Kenny neatly wrapped up in his arms. "I've been meaning to ask you something." He was whispering now, pillow talk was Correy's favorite time. "I just didn't know when to do it." He was loathe to get up from the warm sanctuary that was the bed they shared, but if he were to go through with the question, he'd have to. Still, he lay there, contently. If Kenny showed interest in the question, he'd get up. If Kenny said it could wait, then Correy would stay warmly at his side. It was win-win.

Kenny's face turned solemn for a moment. They'd been together over a year now, long enough that he could make an educated guess at what the question might be. "Y'do know if'n it's the question I think it is, th' answer's wait until I ask you, y'idjit," he commented with a faint smirk. "Me bein' the manly one, ans all."

Correy giggled, he couldn't help it. "No, y'idjit." He couldn't help but imitate Kenny's accent and did a horrible job at it. "But, I think we should match." Twisting his body, he climbed over Kenny. Once on hands and knees, he bent his arms to kiss his lover tenderly before heaving himself off of the bed. "So, I got you this." He reached into his duffle and pulled out a small green with pink polka dots box. He turned back to Kenny and held it out to him. Inside was a claddeigh, very similar to the very one he was wearing. "Will you wear this for me?"

"Mmm ....Hey, where're y'goin'?" Kenny rose up on his elbows as Correy heaved himself away, frowning in protest at the sudden absence of warm body close beside his own. "It's bloody freezin', get back here, you!" Ignoring the box for a moment, he took hold of Correy's wrist and pulled the younger man back under the comforter with him, only taking the ridiculously decorated box once they were warm again. A small smile touched his features as he looked on the claddagh, knowing where the inspiration for it had come from. "Was wond'ring when you'd ask me that."

"Hey! Whoa!" Correy was pulled back under the covers and laughed until he got nicely cuddled. The laugh turned into a more sensuous sound and Correy whispered. "Whoa, hey." He liked being manhandled. And when the box was being considered and then opened, a softness appeared in Correy's eyes. "Well, I am a girl. It had to be just the right moment." Taking the ring, he slipped it onto Kenny's ring finger of his right hand. What had made this moment so perfect, only Correy could say, but it was. "Love you, Kendrick." Lifting the newly ringged finger to his lips, he kissed it tenderly.

"Aye," Kenny murmured in answer. It had always been difficult for him to say the actual words, though he showed his feelings in a myriad of different ways every single day, even to the point of deliberately managing to embarrass Correy's sister to stop her from embarrassing Correy. But tonight ....well, how often was it you took a promise ring onto your finger without a second thought' "Aye, love you back, devil."

Correy knew how hard it was to say those words, so they meant far more to him than face value. He held onto Kenny's hand and lifted his own chin to press a kiss to the corner of Kenny's mouth. "Thank you," he murmured, but it seemed so inadequate for the amount of emotion that was inside of him and just waiting to get out. So, instead of becoming mushy and embarrassing Kenny, he let his humor seep through. "Thought I was going to have to use your sister to get you to wear it."

"Which one?" Kenny snorted with laughter, tossing the box over the side of the bed and wrapping Correy up in both arms, settling comfortably in the warm snug they'd created between them beneath the comforter. "Choice o'five, y'know."

"The red head," he teased, grinning madly and nose to nose with the man who had become his lover first, and best friend to boot. "How is it that you're so blond and they're so red" You the milkman's kid?" Correy giggled and reached to ruffle Kenny's blond hair. "Ever thought of dying it?"

That earned him a sharp spank and a pinch beneath the covers even as Kendrick chuckled with him, shaking his head away from the ruffling fingers and blowing his hair out of his eyes. "Took after m'ma, didn't I?" he said cheerfully. "An' I'm not dying m'hair red. It'd never look as good as Caoimhe's."

"Oh!" Correy jumped as he was spanked, then sank back down into the happy coziness of their snuggle. "Now you know I like it rough, but no talking family because Mr. Happy doesn't stay happy," Correy teased. "And Caoimhe, that's the youngest, your favorite sister" Right' Eventually he'd get their names down. He came from a very large extended family, himself. It just took a little time.

"Aye, Caoimhe's the baby," Kenny chuckled, winking at his lover as Correy tried once again to get his head around who was who in this house. "The one that goosed you on the first day, that's her."

"Ah, she's just like her big brother," Correy snorted a laugh. "Can't keep her hands off of my skinny little ass." He contemplated the next line for just a moment, and then decided to go for it, just for giggles sake. "And just as beautiful. You don't mind me keeping it in the family, do you?" He was teasing, and had a feeling he was gonna get another smack for his efforts.

"Maybe she was just trying to find your arse," Kenny suggested, the flash in his eyes a warning against taking the tease any further. It had been one thing when they'd used Rori between them; bringing Caoimhe into it, however innocent, was asking for trouble. "Hush your mouth, y'little deviant."

Correy knew when to back down, but seeing that warning in Kenny's eyes always sent a thrill of excitement through his skinny body. Still, he let the tease die only to pick up on something else. "Mmm, but you like my skinny little deviant arse," he nearly groaned, pressing his body against Kenny's. "You showed me just how much last night and the night before. It's a miracle I can walk."

Kenny snorted with laughter, hugging Correy tighter. His lover was full of tells when he wanted something, but Correy did have a very direct way of making himself known, too. "Y'know they all heard you last night, right?" he asked with a smirk. "Miriam's been raggin' me all day 'bout it."

"Then I should be louder?" Correy offered with a giggle. He couldn't think of a time that he'd ever been happier. "So that they all rag you about it?" With the look in his eyes, Correy could do it, too. He'd been holding back the nights before, to keep his family from having to listen to their pleasure, but now that they seemed good sports about it, there was no reason to keep quiet.

"They ever ask you to whip it out, you're on your own," Kenny laughed, rolling to set Correy beneath him with a searing kiss. So much for catching up on some of that sleep Correy said he was missing out on.

Correy's laughter was immediately cut off by that searing kiss and tackle back onto the bed. Instinctively, his arms and legs both wrapped around Kenny with no intent of letting go. Even though they were both still dressed, they were still skin to skin where the clothes gaped. He moaned, excited and anticipating what was to come next.

((super huge thankidoodles to Kenny's player! Fun scene!! You are the awesome!))