The Subtleties of Foreplay
The bar was a lot less crowded than most, but Hal still felt uncomfortable and was trying his best to hide it, which just made it all the more obvious somehow. Thom sighed and set down his drink, edging their chairs closer together so he didn’t have to shout over the background noise of a group of drunk ‘Versity students singing along to someone playing the piano badly.
“You said it was something important. I don’t understand why we couldn’t have just talked back at the house.”
“No!” Hal blushed at the inadvertent vehemence of this response and coughed, lowering his voice, “No, Royston’s still home, we couldn’t have done.”
Thom raised an eyebrow, but the subtlety of this gesture was lost upon the younger man as he stared intently at the tabletop, his hands fidgeting with the stem of his small glass of wine, which he suddenly took a gulp of to calm his nerves.
“You’ve, well er…you’ve been with a, a man before, right…er, right?” His voice trailed off, the awkward silence hanging between the two of them as Hal suddenly realised he had made that assumption himself, based simply on the fact that Thom also inclined that way and nothing more definite. Thom’s silence, however, was one of astonishment that Hal had chosen to come to him for that sort of advice, although the fact he needed any such advice was almost as surprising.
The silence stretched on too long as Thom tried to organise a sensible sentence in his head and Hal blanched, jumping hurriedly to his feet and knocking the chair over in the process; he snatched at the edge of the table to steady himself and the two drinks wobbled precariously, but Thom caught them just in time then stood up himself, reaching out to take a hold of Hal’s sleeve as he tried to make his escape.
“Hal, wait;” Thom righted the fallen seat and pushed his friend firmly to sit back down. He shifted his own chair again so they were sitting knee to knee and took a deep breath, deciding that any question, coherent or not, was better than making Hal even more uncomfortable with more silence.
“I thought, well…but you and…you’re right of course, I have, it wasn’t that, I just thought, you know, you and Royston…” He stopped again, reviewing the sentence in his head and inwardly wincing at the utter lack of structure it held; though there was obviously enough meaning in the broken phrases as Hal finally looked up, meeting his gaze with a look of sudden comprehension which melted into apologetic embarrassment.
“It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just…erm…” Hal gave a half shrug, averting his eyes and clenching his hand around the glass until his knuckles turned white, quite successfully expressing without words what he meant by ‘erm’.
Thom watched Hal carefully for a few moments longer, thoughts racing through his mind with sudden alarming clarity: he had assumed, since Hal has been publicly involved with Royston for over a year now, and longer than that in reality, that their relationship had reached a stage of significant physical intimacy; judging from Hal’s awkwardness even discussing such things, he had been wrong.
Hal glanced up again and this time noticed the look of thoughtfulness on his friend’s face and waited patiently, if anxiously, for Thom to construct his reply.
“Firstly, don’t rush into anything; you need to be absolutely sure of what you want beforehand-“
“But I do want-“
“I know, of course you do, but you need to be aware of exactly what it entails. Learn to be entirely comfortable with your own body and with the Margrave’s,” Thom felt his voice stutter over talking about Margrave Royston in such a manner, but plunged on with his advice; “Take your time with developing that level of…of physical intimacy.”
Hal frowned, momentarily ceasing to toy with his wine glass and meeting Thom’s gaze for a few short seconds before asking his next question, simple, but enough to throw Thom off balance for the umpteenth time that evening: “How?”
The young teacher could feel the heat radiating from his cheeks as he formulated his next answer and even in the dim light of the tavern could tell that Hal was blushing, probably even more than he was. He almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of their situation; he was one of the last people who should be approached to discuss sex and yet the only one Hal felt he could approach.
He took a deep breath and leant forward, ready as he’d ever be to explain to his companion the workings and subtleties of foreplay.
∞∞∞
Royston pulled his dressing gown tighter around him and settled more comfortably into the armchair. Before he could turn back to his in reading he heard the front door close with a low ‘thud’ followed by footsteps on the stairs; glancing at the clock he grinned to himself and called out down the hallway to Hal:
“It’s barely gone nine, you’re home already?”
“Yes.” His voice was a little strange, almost distant the way it usually was when he was engrossed in a roman and only half listening to any question put to him.
“How’s Thom?”
Hal stepped into the small study, shrugging off his coat; “He’s fine.”
Royston frowned minutely; of course he was used to having to encourage conversation from Hal, but this was normally due to the young man’s overly shy nature, whereas now he was sensing a rather different aura of silence emanating from him, one of intense thoughtfulness and concentration.
He lowered the roman he had been studying and half turned to see Hal moving purposefully across the room towards him, a faint smile playing across his mouth. Royston smiled hesitantly in return, but before he could stand up to greet the boy properly, slim hands were pushing him firmly back into his seat and warm lips were pressing onto the side of his neck.
“Wha-“ he managed to get half the word out before those lips moved to lock with his own, effectively preventing any further speech, and the hands tangling in his hair distracted from any further thought as well.
Hal had never before been anywhere near this forthright with his affections, even during those secret twilight hours after a few bottles of wine and a long evening sitting by the fireside.
Royston leant back in his seat, tightening his grip on Hal’s waist slightly and encouraging him to step around and move, so, until he was straddling him, fingers still clutching at his hair and ankles hooked around the legs of the chair.
Pulling back for air, Royston took the opportunity to voice the question that was now brimming in his mind; “What was that?”
Immediately he regretted the choice of words, as Hal’s face fell and his fingers loosened their grip, his whole posture now indicating he was trying to shy away from Royston.
“Did I…? Was that wrong? I mean, what should-“
“No, Hal, of course it wasn’t wrong, far from it; you just…surprised me.” He pulled Hal closer again, feeling the tension in his muscles drain away as he obliged to his touch. “You should surprise me more often.”
Hal smiled, his face half in shadow, candle-light reflecting in his eyes and Royston felt his breath hitch, struck as always by the intensity of focus the young man could have, his stubbornness and determination overcoming his fanciful nature.
In one smooth movement Hal rose to his feet and pulled Royston after him, drawing him close for a brief, teasing kiss then leading him towards the bedroom.
Royston only noticed Hal hesitate before pulling open the bedroom door because he was watching for it.
The moon had risen high in the night sky and its pale light streamed in through the open curtains, colouring everything in silver greys. Royston watched in mild amazement as Hal stripped his shirt off and let it drop to the floor, the thought flickering across his mind that maybe Hal had drunk just a little too much that evening.
Hal turned and met Royston’s questioning gaze and, with one of his increasingly frequent moments of stunning insight - the city seemed to give Hal’s mind the space it needed to expand and absorb just about everything it could - whispered, “I’ve only had one glass of wine. I’ve thought about this. I make no assumptions, I make no promises. Just let things happen as they will.”
With this said, he stepped lightly forward and kissed Royston, curling his fingers around the collar of his dressing gown and tugging it open just enough to reveal the warm expanse of his chest and the soft line of his stomach.
Hal pulled his hands away and too late Royston guessed his intentions so that when he broke the kiss off, it was to see Hal standing naked in the middle of the floor, bathed in the glow of the moon and the heat of his blush.
“You should definitely surprise me more often.” Royston knew it wasn’t the most imaginative thing he could have said, but various parts of his brain were shutting down and redirecting attention to the primitive centre of his mind, the place where instinct took over and made his body act on want without leaving room for thought.
This meant he was completely unprepared when Hal giggled mischievously and, in a graceful motion, twisted his body round into a very un-Hal-like and rather provocative pose, one leg slightly raised to emphasise the curve of his arse. The line of pale, smooth skin flowed up the length of his spine to the turn of his neck, as he flashed Royston a heated gaze back over his shoulder, his hair falling in thin waves across his forehead.
Royston felt his mouth go dry and the remaining working parts of his brain fuse together in shock and, indeed, arousal. If the sight of Hal’s gleaming, naked body had been sufficient to inspire passion, watching him move with such purposeful, sexual intent was overwhelming.
Overwhelming, that is, to his intellect. His body had absolutely no problems in expressing fervent delight at this turn of events.
Royston drew in a shuddering breath, willing his legs to stop trembling enough for him to take those few steps that would bring him to Hal’s side. He could feel the heat of Hal’s body making his skin prickle as, with delicate hands, the young man slid the dressing gown off Royston’s shoulders and pulled him into his embrace.
The kiss was slow and intense and left Royston gasping for air as Hal inexpertly steered the both of them across the room to the bed. He pulled away a fraction, just as his calves hit the edge of the mattress, and caught Hal’s gaze.
“No assumptions. But I make one promise; I am yours, entirely, always.”