"Whoa!" Harry protested, pulling his hands back from the box John had passed across the table. "I can't take these! Stars and stones, John, they must have been expensive. Are they-"
"Black fire opal, yes," John said patiently; it had been difficult tracking down a set of seven that were all real, untreated, and of similar colour-play and shape, but it had also been rather enjoyable, in a way, "you agreed I could give you a present for your birthday, with quite a few stipulations I might add," he raised his eyebrows and smothered his amusement as Harry closed his mouth, but sulked, silently and pointedly, "are they not a good focus stone for you?"
"I- Yes, hell's bells," Harry stroked the air over the linked opals, and John hid a smile; he was going to take them, he just needed to be talked around - delicately, "they're gorgeous, John, and opals are an incredible focus, and yes, great for me because of my birthday, and I can feel the way they're in tune even without trying to use them yet, but. . ."
~
"Do you think he has any idea how expensive those were?" Nathan asked dryly, and John laughed, rubbing his brow.
"No," John admitted, glancing back at Harry's building as Nathan pulled the car away from the curb, "or he would have been even louder about not accepting them."
"Congratulations," Nathan said evenly, "on succeeding in getting your paramour to accept an expensive gift;" he paused as John laughed again, "your problems never have been like those of most men in your position, have they, Johnny?"
Gift (Dresden Files; Harry Dresden/John Marcone, Nathan Hendricks) x2
"Black fire opal, yes," John said patiently; it had been difficult tracking down a set of seven that were all real, untreated, and of similar colour-play and shape, but it had also been rather enjoyable, in a way, "you agreed I could give you a present for your birthday, with quite a few stipulations I might add," he raised his eyebrows and smothered his amusement as Harry closed his mouth, but sulked, silently and pointedly, "are they not a good focus stone for you?"
"I- Yes, hell's bells," Harry stroked the air over the linked opals, and John hid a smile; he was going to take them, he just needed to be talked around - delicately, "they're gorgeous, John, and opals are an incredible focus, and yes, great for me because of my birthday, and I can feel the way they're in tune even without trying to use them yet, but. . ."
~
"Do you think he has any idea how expensive those were?" Nathan asked dryly, and John laughed, rubbing his brow.
"No," John admitted, glancing back at Harry's building as Nathan pulled the car away from the curb, "or he would have been even louder about not accepting them."
"Congratulations," Nathan said evenly, "on succeeding in getting your paramour to accept an expensive gift;" he paused as John laughed again, "your problems never have been like those of most men in your position, have they, Johnny?"