fic: rules
Rules
Thom/Balfour || pg at worst
“Correct again, Thom- I dare say I shan’t have a chance to try and get any right next time at the rate you’re learning this…”
Elegant fingers- ungloved, for the moment- undid yet another button, and Thom tried hard not to stare too hard at the rapidly-widening column of pale skin bared every time he got another question correct. Balfour moved to pick up the paper again and he stopped him, hesitantly, clearing his throat.
“I do believe that was a double, Balfour.”
Pale eyes lowered to the paper, and Balfour pinked slightly, but nodded and leaned forward slowly, tilting his head as one of his hands landed on Thom’s thigh for balance. A meeting of lips, a breath between them like a sigh, and Balfour’s eyes immediately dropped back to the last question on their sheet for the evening, despite how much he didn’t want to peel his eyes away from Thom’s flushed cheeks and half-undone shirt, his own shirt open partway down his chest.
“Alright, this is the last one then- the rule for negating an imperative containing a pronoun…?”
Thom blinked and then his eyes went briefly distant as he thought, tongue flashing over his lips as he licked them thoughtfully, long fingers drumming against his thigh. His eyes finally refocused and looked back at Balfour, not quite willing to meet his eyes just yet even as he raised a finger and recited-
“If you need to negate an imperative that has a pronoun, the pronoun is moved in front of the verb and takes a different form.”
Balfour blinked at him, slowly, and Thom stared back for a moment before deflating slightly.
“Is that not correct? I could have sworn it was the right- mmmph..!”
Balfour’s kiss caught him off guard, but not as much as the swipe of tongue that followed, mapping the curve of his lower lip slowly before Balfour withdrew, eyes gleaming, and offered him a playful- and yet still somehow shy- smile, fingers worrying a crease into the page at a perfect right angle.
“Sorry- it’s just… you hadn’t gotten one wrong since about halfway through. I couldn’t help but tease just a little,” he admitted, and Thom stared at him for a moment, brain processing the ‘tease’ portion of that sentence in the entirely wrong way for the briefest of moments. Then he realized Balfour had meant making him think he’d been wrong and flushed guiltily, looking away.
“Yes well you… are getting quite good at that. Teasing me, I mean. I should think you shall be giving Rook and Havemercy a run for their money soon enough,” he finally responded, softening the almost sarcastic edge to his voice with a soft half-smile in return, moving to take the paper away from Balfour before it was irrevocably folded into an odd shape. “However, I find I don’t quite mind it as much from you…”
“Ah- you don’t..?”
The surprise was evident in his face, and the expression was so thoroughly startled that Thom was almost tempted to laugh. However, the expression was also so terribly endearing that Thom couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss him for it. He pulled back quickly enough, however, red-faced at his own audacity, and cleared his throat.
“No, I believe I most certainly do not.”
Thom/Balfour || pg at worst
“Correct again, Thom- I dare say I shan’t have a chance to try and get any right next time at the rate you’re learning this…”
Elegant fingers- ungloved, for the moment- undid yet another button, and Thom tried hard not to stare too hard at the rapidly-widening column of pale skin bared every time he got another question correct. Balfour moved to pick up the paper again and he stopped him, hesitantly, clearing his throat.
“I do believe that was a double, Balfour.”
Pale eyes lowered to the paper, and Balfour pinked slightly, but nodded and leaned forward slowly, tilting his head as one of his hands landed on Thom’s thigh for balance. A meeting of lips, a breath between them like a sigh, and Balfour’s eyes immediately dropped back to the last question on their sheet for the evening, despite how much he didn’t want to peel his eyes away from Thom’s flushed cheeks and half-undone shirt, his own shirt open partway down his chest.
“Alright, this is the last one then- the rule for negating an imperative containing a pronoun…?”
Thom blinked and then his eyes went briefly distant as he thought, tongue flashing over his lips as he licked them thoughtfully, long fingers drumming against his thigh. His eyes finally refocused and looked back at Balfour, not quite willing to meet his eyes just yet even as he raised a finger and recited-
“If you need to negate an imperative that has a pronoun, the pronoun is moved in front of the verb and takes a different form.”
Balfour blinked at him, slowly, and Thom stared back for a moment before deflating slightly.
“Is that not correct? I could have sworn it was the right- mmmph..!”
Balfour’s kiss caught him off guard, but not as much as the swipe of tongue that followed, mapping the curve of his lower lip slowly before Balfour withdrew, eyes gleaming, and offered him a playful- and yet still somehow shy- smile, fingers worrying a crease into the page at a perfect right angle.
“Sorry- it’s just… you hadn’t gotten one wrong since about halfway through. I couldn’t help but tease just a little,” he admitted, and Thom stared at him for a moment, brain processing the ‘tease’ portion of that sentence in the entirely wrong way for the briefest of moments. Then he realized Balfour had meant making him think he’d been wrong and flushed guiltily, looking away.
“Yes well you… are getting quite good at that. Teasing me, I mean. I should think you shall be giving Rook and Havemercy a run for their money soon enough,” he finally responded, softening the almost sarcastic edge to his voice with a soft half-smile in return, moving to take the paper away from Balfour before it was irrevocably folded into an odd shape. “However, I find I don’t quite mind it as much from you…”
“Ah- you don’t..?”
The surprise was evident in his face, and the expression was so thoroughly startled that Thom was almost tempted to laugh. However, the expression was also so terribly endearing that Thom couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss him for it. He pulled back quickly enough, however, red-faced at his own audacity, and cleared his throat.
“No, I believe I most certainly do not.”