And friendship is everything?

[alittleofboth]

Anthony Blunt was sitting on the beach.

Anthony Blunt was sitting on the beach, leaning comfortably against a rock. He had a book in his lap, which he was idly reading from, a cigarette (a real cigarette) between his fingers. And he was looking inordinately pleased

Comments

[patriotqueen]

To the trained eye - and Guy possesed a very trained eye - Anthony might as well have been sitting there with a large sign saying 'Been Fucking All Night'. And he knew he was right, Kim hadn't exactly worried about telling him. That was the first time anyone ever actually mentioned those two to him, by the way. They themselves never had.

He approached, cigarette (King James') in his mouth. "I hear you've been fucking a poet." He said with a casual smile and a sardonic edge.

[alittleofboth]

Anthony froze.

It wasn't much of a change. His hand paused on the page of his book, his body tensed just perceptively. He should have expected it, but he hadn't, not even after Kim had walked in on him and Julian. But they had never spoken of it before. They had avoided doing so for so many years, tucking it far, far away for the sake of friendship and sanity, that it felt almost traitorous to have it out in the open like that.

After a beat he calmly turned a page. "Rumors travel fast," he observed archly.

[patriotqueen]

Times changed but the annoyance of there never having been so much as a hint about the relation on his behalf stayed.

Rumour? "So do facts." Guy replied.

[alittleofboth]

And what would Guy have suggested all those years ago? 'And by the by, I'm fucking the man you are madly in love with'?

Anthony took a drag from his cigarette. "Rumors aren't always false."

[patriotqueen]

It would have hurt, no denying that, but at least it would have been spoken. At least it wouldn't have been badly hidden from him.

"True." Guy said, becoming increasingly annoyed by the insistent fake calmness.

[alittleofboth]

But Anthony had no desire to encourage the conversation any more than necessary. Back home he had avoided until Julian Bell was far enough in the past that the business was moot. It could be avoided a little longer.

He slowly turned the page, still not looking up. "Well then. Now that that's settled."

[patriotqueen]

"Is it?" He asked, deliberately pronounced and with a dark voice. Anthony wasn't looking at him, but if he had he would have seen two eyes that might announce rage and might announce nothing at all.

[alittleofboth]

And Anthony did look up, but his expression barely flickered under Guy's scrutiny. "I don't know," he said evenly, quietly. "Is it, Guy?"

The trouble with putting off a conversation for nearly twenty years is that one builds up quite a bit of dread of it, even if one is Anthony Blunt. His face might have been impassive, his voice calm, but he was not looking forward to this. Or what it might result in.

What he might lose.

[patriotqueen]

"I rather think it isn't actually. I know it happened before." Guy's was not impassive but there was a certain calmness about it that really oughtn't belong there.

[alittleofboth]

It was a worrying calmness indeed, made all the worse by the fact that Anthony hated not knowing what would come of us. He sighed, a tired hiss of breath, and gave a wave of his hand. "If there's something you would like to say, Guy..."

[patriotqueen]

"I'd much rather have you said it, actually. But apparently you still feel confident you don't. Tell me, should I start pretending I'm blissfully unaware of things here as well?" Guy said accusingly. The words had remained unspoken for such a long time. Perhaps longer for Anthony.

[alittleofboth]

Anthony sighed. "I do not have time for... -fine." His jaw tightened, but he closed his book and arched a brow at Guy challengingly. "Ask the question, then."

[patriotqueen]

"You lied." Guy accused. "'Oh, don't tell Guy, he might get hurt. And if I don't tell him, he won't find out, because Guy is a bit stupid.'" He added angered, with pouted lips in mocking tone. Admittedly this was not a question. But the accusations worked far better than the questions.

[alittleofboth]

Long suppressed and, he had thought, long-forgotten frustration and guilt bubbled up, no matter how much he tried to hide it. Anthony clenched his teeth slightly. "That is not- If you truly want me to answer your question, Guy, then damned well ask it!" he snapped finally.

"I never lied," he said more calmly, though there was a tight eveness to his voice still. "You never really asked because you didn't want to know."

[patriotqueen]

"Shouldn't have had to." Guy replied, not longer loudly, but still so very pissed off, fed by Anthony's calmness.

[alittleofboth]

Anthony suppressed a roll of his eyes. "And what would I have said? It wasn't actually any of your business, in any case."

The words rang false even to his own ears.