Did you stick with me? Let me jog my memory. I see you leaving...
Title: "It's Not a House Anymore"
Fandom: Boardwalk Empire
Pairing/Characters: Jimmy/Richard
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,031
Disclaimer: I own nothing Boardwalk Empire wise
Warnings: None
Notes: This is a sequel to: "Provincia" but both can be read separately.Contains spoilers for Season 2, episode 10: "Georgia Peaches. Written for: la_petite_singe
Title of fic comes from the song: "Memory Boy" from the group Deerhunter
Summary: It's Christmas. Jimmy tries to build a new life in the house.
Jimmy isn’t sure where he’ll be another six months from now maybe not even six minutes from now. There is only one constant in his life.
It's Not a House Anymore
The bottle of scotch lays half drained and open on the table, the ashtray beside it overflows with Jimmy’s half smoked cigarettes. Tea that had been left out earlier, normally a warm amber color is now black. A clock echoes through the mostly empty rooms.
It’s one in the morning and Jimmy thinks it’s the best idea in the world to decorate the barren Christmas tree.
He grabs his glass and stumbles up to the ridiculously tall thing marveling at how him and Richard had hauled it into the house in the first place and that it actually fit.
“My father and I, hmph. We used to make it a game to see who could find the biggest tree. Mmph. There was a forest near our home on the farm. Mmph. We would make a day of it.”
Jimmy watched from a safe distance but he couldn’t help but notice the touched look in Richard’s eye when him and Tommy raced around the tree farm, Tommy’s peals of laughter echoing through the snowy afternoon and seemingly shaking the countless branches.
Jimmy hangs tinsel like he knows what he’s doing. He fingers at the colored glass ornaments still in the boxes liking how the soft lamp’s glow plays off the globes. He’ll only hang a few knowing that Tommy will want to hang some himself.
He sways with the effort. Richard and him’s almost nightly ritual on too cold of days when they’re stuck indoors and couldn’t go out to the boardwalk to get dinner or see a picture catching up to him.
He inhales the rich pine smell reminding him when he was a boy and Nucky used to hoist him up on his shoulders to light the candles on the highest branches.
He finds himself smiling as he drains his glass. He feels sudden warm hands encompass his waist, a nose to the back of his neck.
“Don’t you think you’ve had enough. Hmph?” Even with his garbled speech and being half in the bag himself Jimmy can still tell when Richard is teasing him. Jimmy’s smile widens as he rests his head back against the other man.
“You should come to bed.” Jimmy can tell that Richard isn’t wearing his mask as he plants a neat kiss to the back of his neck, his fingers finding Jimmy’s: cautious but comforting and there, always there.
Jimmy murmurs something in agreement and Richard holds him against his chest, almost rocking him back and forth in front of the shabbily decorated tree in an attempt Jimmy thinks to put him asleep.
It’s familiar yet strange but kind of perfect at the same time Jimmy thinks. This thing they fell into after Angela’s death had been building and he can’t say he’s totally unsurprised. He was only surprised when he stopped using Richard as an escape and generally wanted him around, asking him without really asking to have him move in, sought his comfort and council and let Richard heal him. He was also surprised that Richard would stay after the way he had treated him. But that was Richard and that was him and although things had changed between them they were still each other’s weakness, too much giving and taking, a habit no one told them to break.
So Jimmy tries to be a good father giving Tommy the much needed attention he craves, holding him close in the middle of the night when he cries out for mommy. He tries to be a good son by giving placating smiles and hand pats to his ma all the while keeping her at arm’s length. He tries to be a good lover by telling Richard he’s needed and takes what Richard gives him.
He tries.
He had only lost Ang not six months ago, her blood scrubbed clean from their bedroom floor and there are still traces of her everywhere but Richard is there too, steadily helping him to forget.
Jimmy focuses again on the ornaments in the boxes thinking they were probably ones Ang had picked out during their first Christmas together.
“Hmph. I’ll help you and Tommy tomorrow if you want?”
Jimmy squeezes Richard’s hand and nods.
“I’d like that.”
Jimmy isn’t sure where he’ll be another six months from now maybe not even six minutes from now. There is only one constant in his life. Jimmy turns around and captures Richard’s lips, uninhibited by his mask. He cards his fingers through his dark hair that the other man had grown out more since the summer. He wraps his other hand around Richard’s neck possessively liking how the heart rate of the older man spikes under his fingers like it’s their first time.
Maybe it’ll always be like their first time, something new and unblemished to discover?
Jimmy holds Richard to him, the scent of pine and whiskey heavy in the room, the small lamp throwing soft shadows on the floor and some of Tommy’s toys are scattered about. Jimmy thinks that the house pressed precariously up against the beach might finally be safe again from the outside world.
___
The large windows are crusted over with snow.
Jimmy squints in the early morning sunlight. He spies icicles dripping to the white washed sand. The landscape before him has totally transformed. The beach is devoid of people though the snow stained sand stretched as far as he can see makes Jimmy feel they are the only people in the whole world, closed off and on their own private island. He smiles and releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
He rubs at his arms, his undershirt doing little to protect him from the chill in the air though Jimmy hardly feels it as Tommy’s cries of delight echo off the walls.
He wonders when they stopped playing house and started acting like a real family, when the house became a home and became theirs. When Richard hoists Tommy up on his shoulders to hang an ornament on a high branch on the tree Jimmy realizes he doesn’t care. Like most things when Richard is concerned it happens without Jimmy really noticing.
Jimmy crosses the room and joins them.
Fandom: Boardwalk Empire
Pairing/Characters: Jimmy/Richard
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,031
Disclaimer: I own nothing Boardwalk Empire wise
Warnings: None
Notes: This is a sequel to: "Provincia" but both can be read separately.Contains spoilers for Season 2, episode 10: "Georgia Peaches. Written for: la_petite_singe
Title of fic comes from the song: "Memory Boy" from the group Deerhunter
Summary: It's Christmas. Jimmy tries to build a new life in the house.
Jimmy isn’t sure where he’ll be another six months from now maybe not even six minutes from now. There is only one constant in his life.
It's Not a House Anymore
The bottle of scotch lays half drained and open on the table, the ashtray beside it overflows with Jimmy’s half smoked cigarettes. Tea that had been left out earlier, normally a warm amber color is now black. A clock echoes through the mostly empty rooms.
It’s one in the morning and Jimmy thinks it’s the best idea in the world to decorate the barren Christmas tree.
He grabs his glass and stumbles up to the ridiculously tall thing marveling at how him and Richard had hauled it into the house in the first place and that it actually fit.
“My father and I, hmph. We used to make it a game to see who could find the biggest tree. Mmph. There was a forest near our home on the farm. Mmph. We would make a day of it.”
Jimmy watched from a safe distance but he couldn’t help but notice the touched look in Richard’s eye when him and Tommy raced around the tree farm, Tommy’s peals of laughter echoing through the snowy afternoon and seemingly shaking the countless branches.
Jimmy hangs tinsel like he knows what he’s doing. He fingers at the colored glass ornaments still in the boxes liking how the soft lamp’s glow plays off the globes. He’ll only hang a few knowing that Tommy will want to hang some himself.
He sways with the effort. Richard and him’s almost nightly ritual on too cold of days when they’re stuck indoors and couldn’t go out to the boardwalk to get dinner or see a picture catching up to him.
He inhales the rich pine smell reminding him when he was a boy and Nucky used to hoist him up on his shoulders to light the candles on the highest branches.
He finds himself smiling as he drains his glass. He feels sudden warm hands encompass his waist, a nose to the back of his neck.
“Don’t you think you’ve had enough. Hmph?” Even with his garbled speech and being half in the bag himself Jimmy can still tell when Richard is teasing him. Jimmy’s smile widens as he rests his head back against the other man.
“You should come to bed.” Jimmy can tell that Richard isn’t wearing his mask as he plants a neat kiss to the back of his neck, his fingers finding Jimmy’s: cautious but comforting and there, always there.
Jimmy murmurs something in agreement and Richard holds him against his chest, almost rocking him back and forth in front of the shabbily decorated tree in an attempt Jimmy thinks to put him asleep.
It’s familiar yet strange but kind of perfect at the same time Jimmy thinks. This thing they fell into after Angela’s death had been building and he can’t say he’s totally unsurprised. He was only surprised when he stopped using Richard as an escape and generally wanted him around, asking him without really asking to have him move in, sought his comfort and council and let Richard heal him. He was also surprised that Richard would stay after the way he had treated him. But that was Richard and that was him and although things had changed between them they were still each other’s weakness, too much giving and taking, a habit no one told them to break.
So Jimmy tries to be a good father giving Tommy the much needed attention he craves, holding him close in the middle of the night when he cries out for mommy. He tries to be a good son by giving placating smiles and hand pats to his ma all the while keeping her at arm’s length. He tries to be a good lover by telling Richard he’s needed and takes what Richard gives him.
He tries.
He had only lost Ang not six months ago, her blood scrubbed clean from their bedroom floor and there are still traces of her everywhere but Richard is there too, steadily helping him to forget.
Jimmy focuses again on the ornaments in the boxes thinking they were probably ones Ang had picked out during their first Christmas together.
“Hmph. I’ll help you and Tommy tomorrow if you want?”
Jimmy squeezes Richard’s hand and nods.
“I’d like that.”
Jimmy isn’t sure where he’ll be another six months from now maybe not even six minutes from now. There is only one constant in his life. Jimmy turns around and captures Richard’s lips, uninhibited by his mask. He cards his fingers through his dark hair that the other man had grown out more since the summer. He wraps his other hand around Richard’s neck possessively liking how the heart rate of the older man spikes under his fingers like it’s their first time.
Maybe it’ll always be like their first time, something new and unblemished to discover?
Jimmy holds Richard to him, the scent of pine and whiskey heavy in the room, the small lamp throwing soft shadows on the floor and some of Tommy’s toys are scattered about. Jimmy thinks that the house pressed precariously up against the beach might finally be safe again from the outside world.
___
The large windows are crusted over with snow.
Jimmy squints in the early morning sunlight. He spies icicles dripping to the white washed sand. The landscape before him has totally transformed. The beach is devoid of people though the snow stained sand stretched as far as he can see makes Jimmy feel they are the only people in the whole world, closed off and on their own private island. He smiles and releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
He rubs at his arms, his undershirt doing little to protect him from the chill in the air though Jimmy hardly feels it as Tommy’s cries of delight echo off the walls.
He wonders when they stopped playing house and started acting like a real family, when the house became a home and became theirs. When Richard hoists Tommy up on his shoulders to hang an ornament on a high branch on the tree Jimmy realizes he doesn’t care. Like most things when Richard is concerned it happens without Jimmy really noticing.
Jimmy crosses the room and joins them.