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[shavedaway]

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[adherency]

( billy laughs and sits back, not having intentionally been trying to get out of the story. he'd just gotten interested in what thomas was telling him. )

Hm. Let me see then.

( he taps the edge of the boat while he considers what to tell him. )

My parents were Levellers back in Kensington and before I even knew what it was, they made me one of them. I spent some of my childhood passing out pamphlets about their causes. It was...quite boring.

[shavedaway]

A Kensington lad! I'm from down Marylebone way. I'd say we were a stones through from one another but, Levellers...

[ that certainly is odd, but miles from the oddest thing he's heard here. ]

When were you born?

this is a total freaking guess okay

[adherency]

1685.

( he thinks? he doesn't really know. the time change from one place to another has thrown him a bit. he knows how old he is and what year it had been back on the walrus but this place has confused me. )

So, probably a bit before you?

( perhaps levellers weren't a thing during thomas' time. )

look its a wonderful guess we can't all be blessed/cursed by perfect victorian record keeping

[shavedaway]

[ He whistles--yeah, a bit before him. ]

A bit yeah. Mine's 1816, thirty two years ago yesterday. Either you look amazing for your age or you passed well before I did.

[adherency]

Your birthday was yesterday?

( that seems to be an important thing to focus on. billy laughs and leans forward, arms on his knees. )

Happy birthday. Did you do anything?

[shavedaway]

Thank you. I'm doing something now, aren't I?

[ Celebrating your birthday alone, even on the day, is hardly worth the effort. ]

[adherency]

I suppose you are, yes.

( billy snickers and leans back, reaching for the oars to start moving them again. not back towards the door but just to catch the current and drift a bit. )

Did you get yourself a gift?

[shavedaway]

[ he takes a beat, instinctively pulling his bottom lip through his teeth. Not nervously. Not nervously at all. Playfully, actually. ]

Are you fishing for a complement, Mr. Bones?

[adherency]

No.

( maybe. he laughs a bit and then shakes his head, putting a hand over his heart. )

No no, I would never do that. I don't even know how to do that.

[shavedaway]

Really.

[ He sounds doubtful, considering. ]

Well the pleasure of your company is gift enough.

[adherency]

( that's such a strange thing to hear but in a good way. billy nods, giving him a quick smile. )

I enjoy yours as well.

( he wishes he could be more effusive but where he can't be overly eloquent, he is sincere. )

I'm glad you were able to come out here today. Happy birthday.

insert time skip here

[shavedaway]

[ There is absolutely no helping the smile that comes, as genuine as a smile can be. He nudges Billy's foot with his own again. ]

You start this turn, Kensington boy. Tell me something interesting.

[ No one can pass the time with stories quite like sailors. Even when dancing around subjects like the both of them are, the time passes, interspersed with comfortable silence and the lapping of the water against the side of the boat. It's only when the starts to go down and the chill on the water gets chillier that the queue is taken to row back, haul the boat back up onto the shore. Hauling takes twice the strength that heaving does, and for as healthy and alive as Thomas feels here, he hasn't gotten half his strength back yet and the pull winds him a bit. He lets Billy get to finishing up, watching him work as he considers, and then claps a hand down on Billy's bicep. ]

Let me make you supper. And I've got a bottle of what I'm hoping's good whiskey that hasn't yet been opened.

[adherency]

Well, I'm loathe to turn down good food especially since I can't really do much cooking myself.

( he's tried. there's a reason he wasn't the cook on the walrus. )

You've talked me into it. Are we going back to yours?

another timeskip who needs to roleplay dinner

[shavedaway]

I can't say that my cooking is good, but it's passable. The whiskey's the real sell, and the company. And yes, yes we are.

[ At least he's honest about it. The walk goes quickly, as it so often does in good company and good conversation, and thomas makes due with what he has at home to whip something up for the two of them. It's nothing large or lavish, he's never had to cook for anyone who wasn't family before, and he's not quite adjusted to the wealth of food options yet. It's simple, passable, and when they've finished, thomas makes quick work of the dishes. As for the whisky in question -- ]

Feel free to pour yourself another while I get these washed up.

[adherency]

You need only tell me that once.

( because he's always been a fan of a good drink. so, he grabs the bottle and a few glasses and disappears into the main room to wait for thomas. he pours two glasses, leaving one for the other man while he takes a long pull from his. )

You'd best hurry before I drink this whole bottle.

( he probably could but he wasn't going to. )

[shavedaway]

[ thomas just smiles to himself, taking his time to wash the dishes, and to think. His intention here, to ask Billy to stay in a more intimate fashion, is something he has never done in his thirty two years of being alive. How many times has anyone actually shared a bed with him, really? He can count that on less than one hand, and all of his encounters with men have been more clandestine than that. But it's not a matter of deciphering code anymore, on that much they have both been very clear. It's not the what that's eluding him, so much as the how.

So he takes his time, dries his hands, joins Billy where the drinks are, and takes his own up. What are you Thomas, a man or a mouse? ]

I think the toast for a Monday's supposed to be, To our ships at sea, but that hardly seems appropriate.

[adherency]

( billy chuckles a bit but nods, looking down at his glass. )

To...newly found friends?

( maybe it's a bit trite and cliché but it's true. there are a lot of terrible things about this place but it does allow you to meet people that you might not otherwise meet.

like thomas. )

[shavedaway]

[ Trite and cliché has a time and a place, and it feels right, here. ]

To newly found friends.

[ He raises his glass in a toast, pours half of it down, sets it down. Are you a man or a mouse, Thomas? Without an ounce more hesitation, both hands reach up to clasp the sides of Billy's head, tugging him down to close the distance he needs to catch Billy's lips with his. ]

[adherency]

( he tastes like whiskey. that's the first thing that pops into billy's head once thomas has kissed him. he tastes like whiskey. and then everything else seems to come to him at once and he realizes he's kissing thomas and responds, opening up to the other man and reaching for him, snagging his fingers against the front of his shirt and bringing them closer together. )

[shavedaway]

[ oh thank God. When Billy responds, Thomas relaxes into it, like a dams been opened. He goes where he's pulled, leans in, let's his hands drop as they kiss down to Billy's neck, to his shoulders. He only pulls away because the angle is awful--Christ, Billy is tall. ]

Hell of a birthday present, you are.

[adherency]

Is that what I am? A birthday present for you?

( he doesn't sound at all put out about that. in fact, he sounds amused and maybe a touch shy. he laughs, giving his head a quick shake. )

Let me tell you you could have found something far better than me but I'm also very fine with you deciding I am the gift.

[shavedaway]

[ all jokes being as they are, Thomas doesn't find Billy's reaction particularly funny. ]

Hey.

[ his hand jumps up to Billy's again, placed with intention to keep Billy from shyly looking away again. ]

I've not been here long, but you are over and above the best man I've met in this place. And I'll not have you speaking so poorly of any friend of mine, is that understood?

[adherency]

You sure you weren't a captain in some other life? You're not bad at giving orders.

( yes, that's going to be his answer to things because he doesn't want to get too vulnerable. )

You should do it again.

[shavedaway]

[ Well, he understands and recognizing not wanting to be too vulnerable, but at least he thinks he's gotten through. He cracks a smile, his eyebrows quirking upwards at the suggestion. ]

Closer to a valet than a captain I'm afraid, but a firm hand is certainly needed in both.

[ There's a softness to the way his thumb strokes over Billy's sideburn, that is suddenly very lacking in Thomas's tone. Because if he is anything at all he is keen, and Billy's suggestion in itself is, well, a bit thrilling. ]

So I should order you to have me, then. Is that what you had in mind? Being told exactly how I want to be had?

[adherency]

( when the words had slipped out, he hadn't known what kind of response he'd get. but thomas' agreeable response and easy touch eases his mind.

he swallows. )

Yes, that's what I had in mind. Tell me.