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[shavedaway]

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[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.

[shavedaway]

[ He considers. For all that he doesn't telegraph exactly what he thinks, he wears the thought process on his face.

What sort of captain would he be? What sort of valet? Being in charge has only ever appealed to him in the sense of making sure the instructions of others are carried out effectively. To be in control, rather than in command. For all the good and bad examples alike of Captains he's heard of, has experienced, Crozier's example stands out the clearest. One should aspire to be the sort of commander who sees potential and grants opportunity, within the constraints of rank, to those who do as they're told, and only doles out punishment when the chain of command is threatened. Respected, rather than feared.

Well, he has an example to work from, anyway, alongside his instincts. But an idea is just an idea, when experience is lacking. ]


I think you're going to find what I want very boring, considering how things are where we are now. I've not done this very often.

[adherency]

Why don't you let me be the judge of if it's boring or not.

( he knows that it's not going to be boring. thomas might see it that way but billy's not. he smiles and leans closer, snagging thomas' shirt and bringing their lips together for another kiss.

he stays close when he pulls back and murmurs: )

Tell me.

[shavedaway]

[ thomas leans into the kiss when it happens, and it's over all too quickly. He feels like he should chase it, but this is what he really wants. This push and pull, standing on a tight rope, perfectly balanced. It's all very sexy, actually.

So he wraps his hands around Billy's wrists, tighter than would necessarily be proper. ]

Alright. First you're going to unhand me, and if you wrinkle my clothes again this is going to be a lot harder for you, that's a promise.

[ He says that, but he doesn't let go of Billy's wrists just yet. ]

[adherency]

( for a moment, billy thinks he's overstepped but then he sees the look in thomas' eye and the way he grips his wrists.

easing back, he nods, splaying his hands to show that he surrendered. he wasn't going to be trouble.

not much trouble, at least. )

I understand. Whatever you want.

[shavedaway]

[ Good. He smiles, but it's tighter, more controlled. Control goes both ways after all. He doesn't let go of Billy's wrists. ]

What I want...[ Christ, he's never said anything like this out loud before. ] is to see what you're made of. I want you to have me, amorously, but you are going to have to wait, until you can't possibly wait any longer. I want to see where the line is where you stop doing what I tell you and start doing what you want, so that I can move the goal posts further back in the future. How does that sound?

[adherency]

( he's going to have to look at thomas in a new light after that. billy doesn't immediately answer, too busy taking that all in, swallowing and then nodding slowly because yes, that sounds like a good idea. )

That sounds good.

( he wishes he could be more eloquent but he thinks that at least agreeing is a good start. )

What do you want me to do? How do you want me to...be?

[shavedaway]

[ His expression softens then. Oh, Billy. ]

I want you to be yourself, Billy. And I want you to be happy, even if I fall short.

[ He lets go of Billy's wrists then. He's been egged on, told to give Billy orders, and he can do that. He wants to do that, the prospect is more exciting than he expected it to be. But not at the cost of intimacy. ]

Kiss me again, won't you?

[adherency]

I will.

( a smile flickers across billy's features and then he leans in, reaching to rest one hand against thomas's shoulder as he slopes his mouth against thomas'.

it's a slower kiss than the first one he'd given, taking time to map out the way thomas' lips feel and how he tastes after their food and drinks. )

[shavedaway]

[ thomas's hands clasp billy's face again, savoring the kiss for what it is: A moment of peace and of comfort, an anchor while otherwise adrift at sea. His thumbs trace Billy's hairline, around the shell of his ear. His mouth opens up easily to Billy, to meet him where he is.

He's the one to break it again though, and smiles into the small space between them. ]

Alright, come on then.

[ He pulls away, and takes Billy's hand to lead him to his very sparse bedroom, with a perfectly made bed and very little personality to speak of yet. He hasn't lived here very long at all. ]