Fic Post
Hornblower, AOS, rated G
Archie smiles indulgently at the fretting land lady, “Not to worry, Captain Hornblower and I can share a room. It shall be like we are middies again.” Archie cannot blame the woman for having no room for them when their arrival is unexpected.
It is the establishment they usually use in Portsmouth but there are many ships in port and space is therefore at a premium throughout the town. He and Horatio are ashore to attend an event hosted by the Admiralty, having only recently returned from the Mediterranean.
The chime of the bell over the door announces another’s arrival and Archie turns to be met by Horatio’s perpetually grim expression. Archie thinks nothing of it, he has been Horatio’s first lieutenant for nigh on ten years and concluded long ago that Horatio could be declared King and would remain stony faced. They are friends, Archie likes to think, nonetheless. Horatio is an odd duck no doubt but Archie has found that Horatio is one of the few people whose constancy Archie can rely on.
Archie keeps his tone blasé as he greets Horatio, “Mrs. Uglow was just telling me how busy she currently is but has very kindly found a room for us, we’ll be bunking together, just like the old days.” Horatio has now attained a rank where sharing a room is not strictly proper but as Archie doubts the rank of Captain gives one the ability to conjure rooms from the ether he supposes sharing will have to do.
Horatio merely stares for a moment before declaring, “Very well, if you would be so kind as to arrange a bath to be brought up, Mrs. Uglow.” With that Horatio nods at them and heads for the stairs. Archie turns to grin at Mrs. Uglow, “See, nothing to worry about at all, rumours of Captain Hornblower’s ill temper are greatly exaggerated.”
~
Pellew’s voice booms as he declares, “Well, young Hornblower! When are you going to find an honest woman to take you off Mr. Kennedy’s hands here?”
Archie takes a slug of his drink as Horatio looks at their old commander in shocked horror. They had barely crossed the threshold of the Admiralty before Pellew had spied Horatio, a particular favorite of his. They had been cornered ever since; or rather Horatio had. It is a peculiarity of Archie’s role as first lieutenant however to assist Horatio at social gatherings, a role not found referenced in any naval handbook. Therefore instead of making his excuses Archie had remained by Horatio’s side. Horatio, as far as Archie knows, has never shown the slightest bit of romantic interest in anyone of either sex. Archie has sometimes wondered if there was perhaps an ill fated affair at one point. Horatio was certainly a handsome man, and some might find his various eccentricities endearing, someone must have once shown an interest. Although it was perfectly possibly Horatio had remained oblivious to it.
Pellew leaves Horatio to turn an interesting shade of scarlet and focuses his attention on Archie. “What say you, Mr. Kennedy?”
Archie smiles blithely, “I concur, Admiral, sometimes I fear I shall never see him married and off the ship.”
Pellew laughs heartily at that, “And what of your own future, Mr. Kennedy? Mr. Hornblower’s dispatches from your latest engagement sing your praises and declare you instrumental in the victory as always. Have you no ambitions for your own ship? There’s many who say you’ve earned it.”
Archie shakes his head, “It is the paperwork that puts me off, Sir, all those dispatches.”
Pellew’s laughter booms out again and Archie takes that as his cue to leave, nodding first to Pellew and then to Horatio, “Sir, Sir, I shall leave you both to your reminisces.”
~
Archie makes his way through the assembled guests, nodding politely at those he recognises and occasionally stopping to exchange a word or two. He is turning away from a newly promoted lieutenant who was a midshipman on Horatio’s first ship when his arm jostles another clothed in civilian dress. Archie is half way through offering his apologies in a perfunctory manner when his tongue finally catches up with what is plain in front of his eyes. He finds he cannot speak anymore.
The man in front of him hesitates before stepping forward, “Senor Kennedy…it has been many years…”
Archie mumbles something, later he could not swear if it was in English or Spanish. He simply wants to be away and stumbles through the crowd. All he can see is the doors it is his aim to escape through. He ignores the cry of “Archie!” that follows him while trying to shake the memories of soft lips and calloused hands in the dark of his cell from his mind.
Once in the street he takes deep breaths, he can smell the damp of his cell, even if that is impossible. He tries to displace it with the familiar stench of Portsmouth. He hopes Horatio did not see him leave, it will panic him to realise Archie is not nearby to save him if some lady of society tries to reel him in.
He ponders returning inside when a familiar voice cuts through him, “Archie, please do not run, it is good to see you.”
It takes him a moment to realise the words are spoken in Spanish. Archie turns to walk up the street, Horatio will just have to defend his own virtue. He calls back “You’re dead. They told me.” Archie says it as if it is the final word on the matter.
The Don had told him. Alejandro had been executed for fraternizing and sodomy, Archie was not sure what the greater sin was meant to be. Alejandro falls into step with him and Archie snaps, “What were you doing in there anyway?” Alejandro’s presence at the Admiralty is only slightly less probable than his seeming resurrection.
“Ah, my father is seeking to trade with…but that does not matter.” A hand grabs his elbow, “Archie, if you would stop a minute…”
Archie wrenches his arm from Alejandro’s grasp. “Do you know what they did to me? Were you…was it a way to toy with me? Was it all a charade to entrap me and torment me further?”
Archie had not made work for El Ferrol’s entire regiment. He was one prisoner and the Don had been largely uninterested in him. Alejandro had been assigned the burden of being responsible for him. He had been Archie’s age and Archie had always been a fool for a lithe frame and dark eyes. All men have their predilections and it was Archie’s fate to have an attraction to men as his. Alejandro, it had transpired, shared the same fate. But someone had realised. A stray look perhaps; or touch. One day the cell door had been flung open while their bodies had been locked together and that had been that.
Archie had been on his knees, unable to stand, in front of the Don, as the taste of his own blood dulled in his mouth, when he was told. As the Don had spat at him, “You have killed that boy, not I, you put the noose around his neck and kicked out the chair, you and your filthy English habits have condemned him to Hell! Flaunting yourself like a pox ridden dockside whore! Perhaps I should give you back to the French, at least they would have some use for you!”
Archie had said nothing, he had not cared what they did with him. Or he had thought he had not. He had been screaming form the hole to be released soon enough. The guards had only pissed on him through the grate.
In the hole he had come to the conclusion that the Don was right. It must be him. Simpson had always said Archie made him do it, perhaps he had made Alejandro too. He remembers thinking, ‘Thank God Horatio is well away from me.” The sudden memory surprises him, it has been years since he has thought on how Horatio’s shy and hesitant smile used to make Archie’s belly spread with warmth. The thought jolts him into the present and brings his attention back to Alejandro who is looking at him with the same eyes that Archie had spent hours staring into like a lovesick fool in a tawdry romance. Alejandro protests.
“No! The Don sent me away, he said I should beg for God’s forgiveness and find myself a good, clean, woman. What else was I to do but go?”
“They put me in a hole in the ground, Alejandro, they buried me without even giving me the courtesy of death before they did.”
Alejandro has no reply and Archie feels the stirrings of fury in his gut. Archie had lost track of how many days he had been a prisoner when he arrived in El Ferrol, all he knew by that point was it had numbered in the hundreds. Alejandro had been handsome and kind to him though and had reminded him so much of Horatio. Archie shakes his head as Alejandro reaches for his arm again and Archie pulls away once more. He knows that it is ridiculous to blame Alejandro. That he had little choice but to obey the Don and leave. He cannot help but feel betrayed though and remember Horatio’s quiet insistence that he was not leaving El Ferrol without Archie.
“I’m glad you’re not dead, Alejandro, but leave me alone, we’ve nothing left to say to each other.”
Alejandro does not try and stop him as Archie walks away.
~
Horatio is sitting on the edge of the bed, hands clasped in his lap, when Archie enters their room at the inn. Horatio looks startled as he looks up, “Oh. There you are, I was…concerned.”
Archie attempts a bright smile, “No need, I simply required some fresh air, so you have also made your escape from this evening’s soiree?”
Horatio does not directly respond and Archie is surprised at his next words, “Who was that man, Archie?”
There is no accusation in Horatio’s tone, just a quiet curiosity, Archie shrugs out of his jacket, “Just someone I once knew, Horatio, that’s all.”
Horatio nods as Archie turns away, he answers Horatio’s call of his name with “hmmm?”
“You can speak to me, Archie, about anything you wish, you do know that?”
When Archie turns back to Horatio he sees him standing with a familiar, earnest, expression. It makes Archie smile. On his way back to the inn he had considered confessing all he had once felt, and still does if he is honest with himself, to Horatio but what purpose would it serve now? If they had still been middies or lieutenants together it might have been possible, but he would not put Horatio in the position of having to rebuff the advance of a junior officer, and he did not doubt that Horatio’s duty would lead him to any other course of action. The time when they could have been together in that way is past, perhaps one day they would retire ashore together and rank would not matter. Archie resists the urge to laugh at the idea of being white haired and wizened and trying to seduce the still innocent Horatio.
Until that day Archie will keep his silence. He merely says, “You are a good friend, Horatio.” He cannot help but grin anew when Horatio blushes and clears his throat in reply.
Archie smiles indulgently at the fretting land lady, “Not to worry, Captain Hornblower and I can share a room. It shall be like we are middies again.” Archie cannot blame the woman for having no room for them when their arrival is unexpected.
It is the establishment they usually use in Portsmouth but there are many ships in port and space is therefore at a premium throughout the town. He and Horatio are ashore to attend an event hosted by the Admiralty, having only recently returned from the Mediterranean.
The chime of the bell over the door announces another’s arrival and Archie turns to be met by Horatio’s perpetually grim expression. Archie thinks nothing of it, he has been Horatio’s first lieutenant for nigh on ten years and concluded long ago that Horatio could be declared King and would remain stony faced. They are friends, Archie likes to think, nonetheless. Horatio is an odd duck no doubt but Archie has found that Horatio is one of the few people whose constancy Archie can rely on.
Archie keeps his tone blasé as he greets Horatio, “Mrs. Uglow was just telling me how busy she currently is but has very kindly found a room for us, we’ll be bunking together, just like the old days.” Horatio has now attained a rank where sharing a room is not strictly proper but as Archie doubts the rank of Captain gives one the ability to conjure rooms from the ether he supposes sharing will have to do.
Horatio merely stares for a moment before declaring, “Very well, if you would be so kind as to arrange a bath to be brought up, Mrs. Uglow.” With that Horatio nods at them and heads for the stairs. Archie turns to grin at Mrs. Uglow, “See, nothing to worry about at all, rumours of Captain Hornblower’s ill temper are greatly exaggerated.”
~
Pellew’s voice booms as he declares, “Well, young Hornblower! When are you going to find an honest woman to take you off Mr. Kennedy’s hands here?”
Archie takes a slug of his drink as Horatio looks at their old commander in shocked horror. They had barely crossed the threshold of the Admiralty before Pellew had spied Horatio, a particular favorite of his. They had been cornered ever since; or rather Horatio had. It is a peculiarity of Archie’s role as first lieutenant however to assist Horatio at social gatherings, a role not found referenced in any naval handbook. Therefore instead of making his excuses Archie had remained by Horatio’s side. Horatio, as far as Archie knows, has never shown the slightest bit of romantic interest in anyone of either sex. Archie has sometimes wondered if there was perhaps an ill fated affair at one point. Horatio was certainly a handsome man, and some might find his various eccentricities endearing, someone must have once shown an interest. Although it was perfectly possibly Horatio had remained oblivious to it.
Pellew leaves Horatio to turn an interesting shade of scarlet and focuses his attention on Archie. “What say you, Mr. Kennedy?”
Archie smiles blithely, “I concur, Admiral, sometimes I fear I shall never see him married and off the ship.”
Pellew laughs heartily at that, “And what of your own future, Mr. Kennedy? Mr. Hornblower’s dispatches from your latest engagement sing your praises and declare you instrumental in the victory as always. Have you no ambitions for your own ship? There’s many who say you’ve earned it.”
Archie shakes his head, “It is the paperwork that puts me off, Sir, all those dispatches.”
Pellew’s laughter booms out again and Archie takes that as his cue to leave, nodding first to Pellew and then to Horatio, “Sir, Sir, I shall leave you both to your reminisces.”
~
Archie makes his way through the assembled guests, nodding politely at those he recognises and occasionally stopping to exchange a word or two. He is turning away from a newly promoted lieutenant who was a midshipman on Horatio’s first ship when his arm jostles another clothed in civilian dress. Archie is half way through offering his apologies in a perfunctory manner when his tongue finally catches up with what is plain in front of his eyes. He finds he cannot speak anymore.
The man in front of him hesitates before stepping forward, “Senor Kennedy…it has been many years…”
Archie mumbles something, later he could not swear if it was in English or Spanish. He simply wants to be away and stumbles through the crowd. All he can see is the doors it is his aim to escape through. He ignores the cry of “Archie!” that follows him while trying to shake the memories of soft lips and calloused hands in the dark of his cell from his mind.
Once in the street he takes deep breaths, he can smell the damp of his cell, even if that is impossible. He tries to displace it with the familiar stench of Portsmouth. He hopes Horatio did not see him leave, it will panic him to realise Archie is not nearby to save him if some lady of society tries to reel him in.
He ponders returning inside when a familiar voice cuts through him, “Archie, please do not run, it is good to see you.”
It takes him a moment to realise the words are spoken in Spanish. Archie turns to walk up the street, Horatio will just have to defend his own virtue. He calls back “You’re dead. They told me.” Archie says it as if it is the final word on the matter.
The Don had told him. Alejandro had been executed for fraternizing and sodomy, Archie was not sure what the greater sin was meant to be. Alejandro falls into step with him and Archie snaps, “What were you doing in there anyway?” Alejandro’s presence at the Admiralty is only slightly less probable than his seeming resurrection.
“Ah, my father is seeking to trade with…but that does not matter.” A hand grabs his elbow, “Archie, if you would stop a minute…”
Archie wrenches his arm from Alejandro’s grasp. “Do you know what they did to me? Were you…was it a way to toy with me? Was it all a charade to entrap me and torment me further?”
Archie had not made work for El Ferrol’s entire regiment. He was one prisoner and the Don had been largely uninterested in him. Alejandro had been assigned the burden of being responsible for him. He had been Archie’s age and Archie had always been a fool for a lithe frame and dark eyes. All men have their predilections and it was Archie’s fate to have an attraction to men as his. Alejandro, it had transpired, shared the same fate. But someone had realised. A stray look perhaps; or touch. One day the cell door had been flung open while their bodies had been locked together and that had been that.
Archie had been on his knees, unable to stand, in front of the Don, as the taste of his own blood dulled in his mouth, when he was told. As the Don had spat at him, “You have killed that boy, not I, you put the noose around his neck and kicked out the chair, you and your filthy English habits have condemned him to Hell! Flaunting yourself like a pox ridden dockside whore! Perhaps I should give you back to the French, at least they would have some use for you!”
Archie had said nothing, he had not cared what they did with him. Or he had thought he had not. He had been screaming form the hole to be released soon enough. The guards had only pissed on him through the grate.
In the hole he had come to the conclusion that the Don was right. It must be him. Simpson had always said Archie made him do it, perhaps he had made Alejandro too. He remembers thinking, ‘Thank God Horatio is well away from me.” The sudden memory surprises him, it has been years since he has thought on how Horatio’s shy and hesitant smile used to make Archie’s belly spread with warmth. The thought jolts him into the present and brings his attention back to Alejandro who is looking at him with the same eyes that Archie had spent hours staring into like a lovesick fool in a tawdry romance. Alejandro protests.
“No! The Don sent me away, he said I should beg for God’s forgiveness and find myself a good, clean, woman. What else was I to do but go?”
“They put me in a hole in the ground, Alejandro, they buried me without even giving me the courtesy of death before they did.”
Alejandro has no reply and Archie feels the stirrings of fury in his gut. Archie had lost track of how many days he had been a prisoner when he arrived in El Ferrol, all he knew by that point was it had numbered in the hundreds. Alejandro had been handsome and kind to him though and had reminded him so much of Horatio. Archie shakes his head as Alejandro reaches for his arm again and Archie pulls away once more. He knows that it is ridiculous to blame Alejandro. That he had little choice but to obey the Don and leave. He cannot help but feel betrayed though and remember Horatio’s quiet insistence that he was not leaving El Ferrol without Archie.
“I’m glad you’re not dead, Alejandro, but leave me alone, we’ve nothing left to say to each other.”
Alejandro does not try and stop him as Archie walks away.
~
Horatio is sitting on the edge of the bed, hands clasped in his lap, when Archie enters their room at the inn. Horatio looks startled as he looks up, “Oh. There you are, I was…concerned.”
Archie attempts a bright smile, “No need, I simply required some fresh air, so you have also made your escape from this evening’s soiree?”
Horatio does not directly respond and Archie is surprised at his next words, “Who was that man, Archie?”
There is no accusation in Horatio’s tone, just a quiet curiosity, Archie shrugs out of his jacket, “Just someone I once knew, Horatio, that’s all.”
Horatio nods as Archie turns away, he answers Horatio’s call of his name with “hmmm?”
“You can speak to me, Archie, about anything you wish, you do know that?”
When Archie turns back to Horatio he sees him standing with a familiar, earnest, expression. It makes Archie smile. On his way back to the inn he had considered confessing all he had once felt, and still does if he is honest with himself, to Horatio but what purpose would it serve now? If they had still been middies or lieutenants together it might have been possible, but he would not put Horatio in the position of having to rebuff the advance of a junior officer, and he did not doubt that Horatio’s duty would lead him to any other course of action. The time when they could have been together in that way is past, perhaps one day they would retire ashore together and rank would not matter. Archie resists the urge to laugh at the idea of being white haired and wizened and trying to seduce the still innocent Horatio.
Until that day Archie will keep his silence. He merely says, “You are a good friend, Horatio.” He cannot help but grin anew when Horatio blushes and clears his throat in reply.