Criminal Conversation (Aubreyad, J/S)
Third of the gift-fics, this one for
latin_cat. Aubrey/Maturin, contains slash and legal Latin.
--
"Stephen - " Jack began, a little hesitant, "I couldn't help but notice - that is - "
Sighing inwardly, Stephen turned on his side. "What's worrying you, joy?"
"I noticed that you didn't - that is, there was no - " Jack, more red-faced than usual, struggled to find a way to express himself that wasn't the basest crudeness.
Stephen took pity on him. "No penetration? Why, my dear, did you particularly want it?"
"Oh, no!" said Jack, going redder still, " - or not unless you did," he added conscientiously. "I only wondered if it were that you did not like to do that. Or that - that you feared I would want a turn at it, and you did not like it done to you," he finished in a rush, and lapsed into awkward silence.
"Why, as to that, I am no habitual pathic (1), but I have in decency taken my turn. But no, Jack; it is a matter of law, not of liking."
"Then it is not that you didn't want to do that with me," Jack said, obscurely relieved.
"Never in life, joy - only that I would not want to see you taken up as a particeps criminis (2). The Roman law, of course, as Blackstone tells us, requires actualis penetratio et immissio seminis conjunctim, but of course men are taken up for less, and hanged for it besides - "
"Don't muddle me with your Greeks and Romans, Stephen, I beg you - you know how I am with languages and the Classics, though I do my best."
"Why, as to the Greeks - " Stephen began, amused; but then he caught sight of Jack's face and pulled himself up. "Forgive me, Jack. This is no matter for humour. In plain words, then: in a trial for sodomy they will look for evidence of penetration, and the emission of seminal fluid inside the body, and I would not make matters so much worse for you if it should come to such a pass."
"Why, old Stephen," Jack cried, seizing his hand earnestly, "don't you know I don't care a fig for all that? Should we be taken I shall be ruined anyway, or worse; I am resigned to that, and," he added in a low voice, "I would not have you hold back, Stephen, from - from loving me, in whatever manner you desire. You are worth the cost, and more. Unless," - Jack thought abruptly that he might have blundered, " - it is that you do not choose to run the risk. Not that I should ever think you shy, of course - it is only that you've suffered enough - "
"Hush, my dear," Stephen said, very low, and put his fingers to Jack's lips. "There is no fear in me now, not for myself - only for you. But loving you - no, my course is set, to use one of your nautical phrases. I have the wind in my sails, and I will not turn back unless you wish me to."
"Never, Stephen," Jack said. He covered Stephen's fingers with his own and kissed them. "We have sown the wind, as the Bible says, and if need be we shall reap - " He broke off, reaching for the end of the phrase.
" - Hay while the sun shines," Stephen finished for him, and stopped Jack's objections with a kiss.
----
(1) C18th-19th slang: receptive partner in m/m intercourse
(2) A partner in the crime. The penetrated party in sodomy trials was often charged with this.
- Jack and Stephen's conversation is indebted to Rictor Norton's "Mother Clap's Molly House".
latin_cat. Aubrey/Maturin, contains slash and legal Latin.
--
"Stephen - " Jack began, a little hesitant, "I couldn't help but notice - that is - "
Sighing inwardly, Stephen turned on his side. "What's worrying you, joy?"
"I noticed that you didn't - that is, there was no - " Jack, more red-faced than usual, struggled to find a way to express himself that wasn't the basest crudeness.
Stephen took pity on him. "No penetration? Why, my dear, did you particularly want it?"
"Oh, no!" said Jack, going redder still, " - or not unless you did," he added conscientiously. "I only wondered if it were that you did not like to do that. Or that - that you feared I would want a turn at it, and you did not like it done to you," he finished in a rush, and lapsed into awkward silence.
"Why, as to that, I am no habitual pathic (1), but I have in decency taken my turn. But no, Jack; it is a matter of law, not of liking."
"Then it is not that you didn't want to do that with me," Jack said, obscurely relieved.
"Never in life, joy - only that I would not want to see you taken up as a particeps criminis (2). The Roman law, of course, as Blackstone tells us, requires actualis penetratio et immissio seminis conjunctim, but of course men are taken up for less, and hanged for it besides - "
"Don't muddle me with your Greeks and Romans, Stephen, I beg you - you know how I am with languages and the Classics, though I do my best."
"Why, as to the Greeks - " Stephen began, amused; but then he caught sight of Jack's face and pulled himself up. "Forgive me, Jack. This is no matter for humour. In plain words, then: in a trial for sodomy they will look for evidence of penetration, and the emission of seminal fluid inside the body, and I would not make matters so much worse for you if it should come to such a pass."
"Why, old Stephen," Jack cried, seizing his hand earnestly, "don't you know I don't care a fig for all that? Should we be taken I shall be ruined anyway, or worse; I am resigned to that, and," he added in a low voice, "I would not have you hold back, Stephen, from - from loving me, in whatever manner you desire. You are worth the cost, and more. Unless," - Jack thought abruptly that he might have blundered, " - it is that you do not choose to run the risk. Not that I should ever think you shy, of course - it is only that you've suffered enough - "
"Hush, my dear," Stephen said, very low, and put his fingers to Jack's lips. "There is no fear in me now, not for myself - only for you. But loving you - no, my course is set, to use one of your nautical phrases. I have the wind in my sails, and I will not turn back unless you wish me to."
"Never, Stephen," Jack said. He covered Stephen's fingers with his own and kissed them. "We have sown the wind, as the Bible says, and if need be we shall reap - " He broke off, reaching for the end of the phrase.
" - Hay while the sun shines," Stephen finished for him, and stopped Jack's objections with a kiss.
----
(1) C18th-19th slang: receptive partner in m/m intercourse
(2) A partner in the crime. The penetrated party in sodomy trials was often charged with this.
- Jack and Stephen's conversation is indebted to Rictor Norton's "Mother Clap's Molly House".