Chapter Text
For the span of his entire life, Layle has never truly lived somewhere he could call home. From the room he shared with a handful of other children in Rivelgauge Monastery to the bedroll he dragged along during his time chasing Blaze's heels through the thick snow, his earliest memories were cold and full of the constant chase for warmth. Never chosen, never wanted. In his later years, things were warmer and he felt more wanted but he still felt out of place. Even as Cid set up a cot for him in the workshop and taught him how to be a somewhat decent mechanic or when Keiss let him rest on the long flights across the sky in the acoote under the warmth of the sun.
Neither of them could be called home.
"Come on!" Keiss whined, shuffling boxes higher up in his arms, all full of junk he insisted they'd need. Trying to tell him otherwise got him to make this annoyed expression that just got on Layle's nerves so it had been easier to let him have his way. "I'm starving and we've gotta get things settled before we get burgers."
The mattress suspended in the air above Layle's head, blankets strapped to one side, hardly bothered him. The narrow stairs meant they could only go one at a time and Keiss went first. "I can only go as fast as you."
"Shut up, smartass." He mumbled under his breath before finally reaching the top, nearly falling over when he took an extra high step onto flat ground. Layle reached out and grabbed his arm, stabilizing him. Keiss sighed, forgetting that he'd just badmouthed his partner. "Thanks."
Their unit sat on the far side of the raised walkway and Keiss rested his boxes on the railing before swearing, fumbling for the keys without loosing his grip and letting them all fall over the ledge and into the river below. "Just leave it to me."
Layle reached for the lock, planning to turn it with gravity, but Keiss nudged his hand away. "Use the key." The key ring rests on the edge of his fingertip and he bounced them slightly, jingling them gently.
"Does it really matter?" Layle rolled his eyes but grabbed them anyway. The key doesn't slide smoothly in the lock and he had to jiggle it all the way in before it would turn. Even then, twisting it took more force than was ideal.
Then the door opened and he paused, all criticism fading from his mind.
Keiss looked between him and their flat with a rare genuine smile splitting his face and creasing his eyes. "It's exciting, right?"
"Yeah." His heart fluttered and chest tightened at the sight of light streaming into the mostly empty unit. It's swelteringly hot and they'd have to open the windows during the day, but it was theirs. "Welcome home, right?"
His partner laughed under his breath and adjusted his grip on the boxes. "Welcome home, Layle." Keiss crossed the threshold into the flat, oblivious to how wrecked such a simple phrase could have left his partner until he turned around to see him still outside, struggling to keep the mattress above his head with gravity. "Lean it against the wall. We can deal with it later."
Layle nodded, dragging it in without his magic the best he could. It's difficult, catching on every edge along the way, but he managed to get it far enough into their flat that the door could swing shut. He collapsed onto the floor, feeling dramatic, and ends up basking in the sunbeams falling over his heavy chest. It's an incredible feat for someone so out of shape so Layle is proud of himself for such an accomplishment. At the same time, he wonders if Keiss wouldn't mind taking him along for one of his workouts. Even if he could trust his partner to bail him out in tasks that required the touch of a tiny behemoth, it's not as if Keiss would always be by his side. It certainly wouldn't hurt to work on his stamina when it comes to running.
"What are you doing?" Keiss laughed and leaned against the doorframe leading into another narrow hallway lined with three doors.
"Dying." Layle said. "It was heavy."
"Then let me handle the rest." In a show of impressive, terrifying Selkic strength, Keiss moved the entire mattress on his own with startling ease.
From his vantage point on the ground, Layle watched him drag it through one of the three mysterious doors, perhaps more focused on the way his muscles flexed and sweat glistened off his jaw than the fact he should have offered to help. Once he's out of sight and no longer a distraction, Layle dragged himself to his feet to investigate and help. Inside the room was a stunning, pathetic, wonderful, and bare scene that choked him up yet again.
While he laid on the floor, dying and exhausted, Keiss had prepared the room with those random, seemingly useless things he just had to get. Layle's bed sat pushed into the farthest corner with the the tattered blankets tossed across the top. An ugly, tacky rug with a chocobo feather pattern around the edges -deemed absolutely necessary by Keiss the moment he laid eyes on it- sat in the middle of the room. The previous tenants left rods over the windows and Keiss tossed white sheets over them to act as curtains for the time being.
"If you want anything more, like a desk, we're going to have work really hard." Keiss said. "This is a great start, though, and we can-" He wheezed, cut off by the force of a desperate embrace from his quivering, overwhelmed partner. Layle wasn't the type to cry but he could come close, so Keiss just let him have a moment and patted his back.
For the first time in his life, Layle belonged.
His bed, his room, his home.