Rags of Time
Part 10
by
Full headers in Chapter 1
Disclaimer: Not mine, none of it. Claim no ownership and make no money. I just like to play with them. Sorry!
Disclaimer: Not mine, none of it. Claim no ownership and make no money. I just like to play with them. Sorry!
James sent for a late supper and they ate in the study, talking quietly although there was no one to overhear them. James felt at ease for the first time in weeks, felt like the thickness in his mind had lifted. Jack seemed at ease as well, licking and sucking his fingers in between words, perched on the edge of the desk, bouncing up from there with an exaggerated flourish to illustrate some expression.
James laughed, smiled. Watched the way Jack's eyes lost their focus when he remembered some small detail of a story, grew darker somehow as he got deeper into his thoughts and his voice became lighter, his words floating instead of spoken.
The lamplight whispered around him, the orange hue deepening the red of his headscarf, the sash around his waist frayed at the edges; deepened the bronze glow of the skin on his forearms where he'd pushed his shirtsleeves up, made the rings on his hands glint as they danced through the air. Sparked the beads and trinkets in his hair as he jumped up again, acting out a story about defeating three men at once in a sword fight, pivoting and almost pirouetting around the room, swiping at the air with one arm as the other swayed in a balancing motion behind him.
James realised slowly, like a quiet thought hidden in full view until its presence is so obvious it's overlooked. As he watched Jack, listening to his trilling voice, the graceful hops and jumps he made, the way his lips softened around certain words he chose to use in the wrong context; the way his eyes fixed and stilled when they met James's, seemed to skip somehow without moving, as though reacting to something unseen.
He realised just how much he'd been longing to see him.
And in the space in his chest where that thought should have sparked his old panic, he instead felt it shift another way until it simply no longer mattered.
James stood up suddenly, and in three long strides he had a firm hold of Jack's waistcoat, saw his questioning smile and eyes widen as he pulled Jack to him with force and met his mouth roughly, kissing him deeply.
Jack's arms dropped limply to his sides, one foot still perched on the chair he had been about to leap onto. James's lips were firm, demanding, as his tongue pushed against Jack's till they slipped together with teeth and soft and wet and warmth, till Jack's throat made a small sound as his heart quickened and leapt.
Jack tugged at the string at the neck of James's shirt, grabbed at it to pull it over James's head then kissed him again, not wanting to end it. His hands found James's smooth shoulders, fingers spread wide to touch and feel every inch of his skin as his pulled him closer, pressing their hips together to make James's breath hitch in his throat.
He pulled James with him across the room, still kissing until they backed into the door. Jack fumbled behind him with the handle till it opened, backed them both across the landing, chuckling into the kiss as he nearly tripped over his own feet.
In the bedroom James's hands were on him, tugging at his clothes until they came loose and Jack wriggled out of them, undoing James's breeches as he kicked his leg out of his own. He pressed his face against the cool, pale skin of his chest, smelt soap and powder, and licked there, kissing in circles and sucking a nipple between his lips, making James gasp as he flicked the stockings off his feet. He pulled Jack's face up to his own, kissed him messily as he walked them both toward the bed.
He pushed Jack down gently to lay sideways across the bed, and in one motion knelt down before him. He stroked his hands firmly up Jack's sides, making him mumble a happy noise as he stretched his arms above his head, arched his back like a very satisfied cat. The movement pulled his stomach taut, his waist narrow almost like a young girl's, but firm and bronzed with paler lines of scars and darker whispers of hair darkening down past his waist. James nuzzled his face to it, licking at the raised lines and inhaling the musky salt-rich scent of his skin, tasting Jack.
Jack groaned, cried out as James's hands slid around his shoulders and his fingertips traced hard lines down his back, pulling his body closer to his mouth. James kissed and nipped and lapped at him, tracing lower until his face was brushed by sharp downey hair and he nudged against his smooth prick.
James tentatively ran his tongue along the length and smiled at the noise that action made Jack produce. With only a moments hesitation he took him into his mouth, and Jack gasped, exclaimed something that wasn't English and caught his breath in his throat all at the same time.
Jack let his head fall back as he felt his spine arch, eyes wide for a moment until it seemed he had to close them to stop them falling out. James's tongue was wide and firm around him, his mouth working with a clumsy determined confidence that was mind-numbingly lovely.
It ripped through him too soon, the sight of James's mouth wrapped around him, with his pale smooth face, cheeks concave and eyes closed with some concentration, till he looked up and met Jack's gaze with a softness that Jack had not expected.
Jack's head hit the bed as his body gave over control to this wave that hit him, sucking his breath from him with it, flashes of heat and release and need sparking through his whole body. As it faded he felt James's hands grip his thighs, felt James slide up to lie on top of him, gently pushing the hair and trinkets from Jack's face and stroking them back across his head.
"Jamie, love..." he whispered, still breathless with eyes closed. He turned his face toward James's hand, pushed into it so it rested there, the tip of his thumb tracing Jack's lips. James leant down and kissed his forehead, let his lips remain there.
"Let me have you, Jack, like before. Please."
Jack looked up, pulled far enough back to focus on him. He watched his face, so open and not a bit abashed by his own frankness or need. Jack smiled into those green eyes, distracted suddenly by the depth there, dark now like a forest in the rain. He slipped his legs around James's waist, crossed his ankles to pull his body closer. James pressed himself to him, smiled broadly as he rested his forehead on Jack's, gently kissing his eyelids.
"Oh," he said, pulling back slightly with a look of near embarrassment in his eyes. "Don't we, er—need something?"
Jack felt something melt in his chest at the sudden sweetness in the doubt in James's face. He felt a lopsided smile creep over his face at the uncharacteristic uncertainty, enjoying the vulnerability he saw there a bit more than he should.
"Coat pocket, love."
"Oh, so you foresaw this eventuality then?" James asked, his sardonic smile returning to hide his embarrassment as he raised one brow. Jack made some kind of serpentine rolling movement with his hips, pressing up against James in a most distracting way. James inhaled deeply against the motion, felt his eyes roll up as they closed, his head resting back down against Jack's face.
"Knew you wouldn't have it in you to resist me, love."
"And just where is your coat, Jack?" James asked, smiling little kisses into Jack's neck.
"In the other room, where you made me hang it up 'stead of leavin' it on the floor. Be a love and fetch it, ay?"
James made a small grumbling growling noise as he pulled himself away, disentangling his limbs from Jack. He fumbled in the dimness of the room to find his housecoat, wrapping it around himself as he made for the door.
Jack watched him, raised on one elbow with a puzzled frown on his face.
"What you putting that on for? Thought you said your staff don't come up here at night?"
James paused with his hand on the doorknob, turned so Jack could see the shine of his lips as he smiled and his eyes narrowed playfully.
"For the sake of propriety, Jack. One must always keep it up."
"I can think of another thing or two that'll need keepin' up if you—"
James rolled his eyes and laughed despite himself, and was out of the room before Jack could finish his sentence.
Dawn trickled through the curtains, making Jack screw up his nose and sniff at it in defiance of its attempt to wake him.
James's body shifted beneath him, inhaling a sleepy sigh. Jack did not want to wake up; waking up meant admitting the day was fast approaching, which meant he'd have to leave this warm and comfortable position he found himself very happy to be in. He spooned his body up to wedge snugly against James, pressed his hand against his firm stomach and nuzzled his face into his neck, refusing to open his eyes just yet.
What business did the day have bothering them, anyway. The thought made him smile; he remembered where it had come from, from reading James's book of poetry in his cabin. He'd had the same thought the last time, too, laying in the less comfortable bed in James's odd little fishing hut.
A fishing hut indeed. Whoever heard of a commodore of the Royal Fleet going fishing, let alone owning a hut on some isolated corner of the island, let alone tolerating the odd runaway slave using it for shelter?
Let alone using it as a convenient place to rendezvous with said commodore's pirate lover...
The man was odd enough in his contradictions to fascinate Jack. There was no greater treasure than one that had to be puzzled free from its bonds.
James had too much compassion in his heart to allow the steady climb up the ranks of the Admiralty, which would undoubtedly require him to turn a blind eye to any number of injustices his precious morality would suffer for. He had too much fire in him to waste it sitting behind a desk, deciding the fate of hundreds with the swipe of pen and ink. He loved the sea too much to not be free to sail her. Besides all that, his hair was far too pretty a sight to keep hidden beneath that Godawful horsehair monstrosity of a wig.
Jack realised that at some point during his train of thought he had in fact opened his eyes, and was now staring at James's face, running a lock of his hair through two fingers. His pale skin reflected the lemon shades of morning, his lips parted slightly with eyelashes dark and heavy against his cheek. The man was beautiful—peaceful as a child.
Jack wet his lips slightly and leant down, brushing James's mouth gently. He caught those lips in his, moving slowly to touch his tongue against them till James made a small sleepy noise and moved his lips in turn, returning the kiss.
Jack slid his body round to lie flat on top of James as he felt him start to wake, felt that marvelous hardness shift against his own. James's hands came up heavily against Jack's back, one grasping his hip as the other wrapped around him to hold him closer.
"It's not morning already, is it?" James asked, his voice heavy with sleep and muffled by Jack's mouth.
"'Fraid so, luv. Have to go."
"Mmm. Stay," James said into his mouth, pulling him closer still as he tangled his hand in Jack's hair.
"Can't. Not if I still want to have a ship to go back to."
"You can't go anywhere if I don't let go of you," James mumbled.
Jack pulled his head back to look at him with a frowning smile. He did love his sleepy petulant James who always told him to stay. James's eyes were barely open, his face still lost somewhere before wakefulness, still wearing a silly smile.
"You think you've got what it takes to keep me here, ay luv?" he asked playfully, running a finger across a pretty cheekbone. James chuckled quietly, forced his eyes open properly to see Jack just above him, his face in slight shadow from his hair and braids that hung around them. It felt like waking up as a child, hidden beneath some fortress he'd made under a tree in the garden with the bedsheets from the washing line. The memory made his smile further.
"Oh, I think I do, 'love'."
With a mischievous grin he flipped Jack over, taking him by surprise as he pinned his body down with his own, running his hands down Jack's forearms till he held his wrists against the pillow. Jack's wide eyes rolled back and flickered closed as James ground their hips together and licked a firm line along Jack's throat, nipping at his jawline.
"Is this persuasion enough?" he whispered as he took Jack's earlobe into his mouth, sucking at it and running his tongue around in small circles.
Jack could only manage a small moaning noise for a moment, reveling in the feel of James's hands pressing his wrists harder into the pillow at his playful attempts to free himself. He arched his body up against the weight upon him, pressing their cocks together till James pushed back and rolled a steadying rhythm between them.
"Christ, Jamie," Jack said breathlessly, his head pushed back as James kissed and licked at his collarbone. He felt James's breath puff against his skin as he chuckled.
"I'll take that as a yes." James smiled, moving Jack's wrists above his head and shifting to hold them with one hand, the other eliciting lovely noises from the pirate as he stroked it down his body to slide between them.
It had been a month since his last visit. James had practically felt the time moving, so slowly sometimes it seemed like it would never come around. Every now and then his insides would quiver, either with need and desire or with a fear and anxiety he was unfamiliar and uncomfortable with: the idea that Jack might not be returning, that something might have happened to him.
It was maddening sometimes, the frustration of his ignorance; he had no way of knowing. He had lived most of his life in the Navy. Many of those years had not been during peacetime; he had lost a number of close friends in battle or to the sea. In the chaos of warfare it had often been many months until he had learnt the fate of those closest to him. Discipline and duty, the need to maintain the appropriate decorum—these had prevented him from falling apart then. But now they seemed to leave him cold, shaking himself awake in the middle of the night with some unspoken fear.
He could see it in the eyes of the men, that they were aware of some change in him. Their uncertainty when he hesitated before responding to them, their lingering looks when he was lost in thought, the whispers he heard about his sudden lack of concern for various tasks which, though they had produced disdainful sighs from their commodore, had always been attended to with his characteristically stubborn and stoic sense of duty.
James found himself making more and more excuses to spend his time alone. He took to walking some nights, wandering along the shoreline and looking out into the darkness of the sea. Listening to the waves lap the sand, the slow rush of crushing surf against the rocks. The secret noises of the dark as the night's creatures ventured out.
He sat now at the table of his fishing shack. Listening instead to the water simmering on the stove, in the distance the birds singing their farewell to the day. The evening sun sparkled on the palm leaves outside, wet from the heavy downpour earlier. James stared out the window enjoying the bursts of anticipation that kept creeping up his chest.
The door flew open suddenly, unexpectedly, as James had been watching the route to the building he had assumed Jack would take. He jumped, visibly startled as he turned to see Jack stride in, arms outstretched dramatically as he sauntered through the door, making some extravagant bow as he turned to close and bolt it behind him.
"James darlin'!" he proclaimed, producing something from the depths of his coat. "Happy birthday, luv."
He held out a book-shaped parcel wrapped in blue silk and ribbon. James stood, frowning questioningly through his smile, taking it as Jack thrust it in front of him.
"It's not my birthday Jack," he said.
"Well, it will be at some point," Jack replied, kicking off his muddy boots as he dropped himself down into the chair beside James. "So happy birthday for whenever it may be."
James laughed quietly, sat back down and began untying the ribbon. He caught Jack looking out of the corner of his kohl-rimmed eyes, trying to act nonchalant. James carefully undid the bow, unwrapped the ribbon, lay it flat on the table and pressed it down, stroking out the creases. He couldn't help the small smile that crept over his lips as he saw Jack's attempts to hide his impatience. He shifted his weight in the chair, crossed his legs. Clasped then unclasped his hands, watching James fuss with the material. James's brow was raised above his playful smile.
"You know, Jack, this is some very fine silk. I wonder—"
"Oh for the love of God, Jamie, just open the damn thing!"
James laughed as he pulled back the material, reams of it as it was so light and thin. It caught the fading sunlight streaming through the window, shimmering darkly. It came away to reveal a beautifully bound book, the leather smooth and thick. Embossed on the cover was the title: The Love Poems of John Donne.
James instinctively ran his hand over the cover, feeling the glossy finish, pressing his fingers against the bumps of the lettering. He looked up at Jack, saw his wide-eyed grin.
"Thank you Jack," he said quietly. "It's beautiful."
"Didn't even steal it, bought it legitimate. Now, I know you've already got a copy with most of 'em in it, but look..." Jack leant forward over the table and opened the book as James held it almost reverently. He flicked through the thick pages, and James's eyes widened as he saw the sketches and illustrations across the paper.
Each page had drawings in ink: flowers and vines bordered some of the verses, on others an entire page was covered in a depiction of the poem. On one a tree rose along the edge, red ink colouring the apples hanging from it, another with sliding serpents and sea creatures inked in blue, another with birds and foxes and other animals from England James hadn't seen in a long time. James stared, not quite understanding what he was looking at. He hadn't realised Jack was still talking until he'd interrupted him.
"But how—did you draw these?"
"Aye, o'course," Jack said, almost surprised by the question but then carrying on with his explanations. "See, this one here is the best."
He flicked further towards the back of the book until he found the poem he was looking for. On the opposite page was a beautiful picture of a sunrise over the ocean done in paint and ink. In the foreground was a small outcrop of land looking down onto a small bay, and James realised it was the morning view from the headland just outside. He looked over at the adjacent poem—The Sunne Rising. It was a poem he had read before, but not ever really taken note of. 'Busy old fool, unruly Sunne, Why dost thou thus Through windows, and through curtains, call on us? Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?'
He'd read it all the way through before he realised Jack had stopped talking. He looked up when he'd finished, saw Jack's eyes full and dark.
"Thank you, Jack, truly. This is beautiful." He smiled, the sincerity evident in his expression.
"S'alright, luv. Glad you like it." Jack jumped up from his chair and landed gracefully on James's lap, straddling him and wrapping his legs around the back of the chair. James smiled, still slightly in awe of what he had just been given, and placed his hands on Jack's waist. "Now, luv, you haven't asked me when my birthday is."
"When is your birthday, Jack?" he asked, resigned to the fact that he already knew where this conversation was going.
"S'whenever the most opportune moment arises, in my experience. And seein' as I've just given you a rather lovely present for your birthday, it follows that you should be thinkin' about puttin' just as much thought and care and attention into a present for me." Jack's words slipped from his curving lips, his eyes flirtatiously heavy as he looked up into James's face through his lashes.
"And just what could you possibly have in mind, Jack?" he asked with a sarcastic smile.
"Oh, I can think of one or two things," Jack said, sliding his hips closer to James, running a hand through his hair. James tilted his head back, met Jack's mouth in a gentle kiss as he ran his hands up under his coat to slip it off.
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