sunburned | (no subject)

Entry tags:

julie,
laurence

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And there comes a point where he simply can't stay away any longer; there's no force in the world that would make him. He slept at Julie's, and he's drawn by the time he reappears, hair damp from a quick shower.

"Laurence?" he calls. "Will, are you home?"

That Julie is here with him makes perfect sense. This is a conversation that they all need to be a part of, after all.

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Granby is silent for a moment, watching Laurence move around the kitchen. He watches him go through the motions with the tea. He sighs, worrying his lip with his teeth.

"Should I leave you, Will?" he asks. "Have I misjudged this all so horribly?"

I understand that he needs a little bit of time to work through this, because I can see all too plainly myself that it sounds more than a little bit mad. I am, however, too stubborn to let anything go, once I have set my mind to it. This may be my fatal flaw, but that hasbt ever stopped me before.

"I won't go, not until I'm sure you've truly considered it, Will. Because I've already told you that it's the end of it, if you only say no. And you haven't, yet."

Laurence waited until the tea was entirely ready before turning back to them. For Julie he set out milk and sugar. Granby's tea was already made as he knew the other man preferred it. Only once he had sat down with his own cup in hand did Laurence speak.

"I have not said no because I will not abandon any manner of undertaking before I have given it sufficient thought. I do not wish to drive either of you off, truly." He paused, taking a deliberate, steadying sip of tea. "Yet I fear that what you are both proposing is beyond my ability to form a decision on at this time."

"You think too much, Will," says Granby, reaching for his cup of tea. "You always have. Sometimes, you have to...let your heart go first."

It's the aviator in him, he knows. It's always been different for Laurence.

Nobody has ever accused me of thinking through anything to excess. I feel as though we are all too far into this already to back out now, even Laurence who hasn't really committed himself yet.

"Will." I move to the chair closest to him, take his cup from his hand and set it on the table, then lean in to kiss him on the mouth.

I hope that might be sufficient information for him to base a decision on.

The first time that Granby had kissed him was not yet so far distant that Laurence could not remember both the kiss and his reaction to it in perfect detail. Then he had done nothing immediately, too shocked to respond. The same thing appeared to be happening again.

He remained perfectly still until Julie saw fit to pull away. It took him a while to find the proper words to say, and his blush had darkened intolerably, but he did speak. "I am sorry. I need very much to think."

More than anything, Granby knows Laurence, and he knows a losing battle when he sees one. He finishes his tea and sets the cup aside.

"We'll go," he says, reaching out to squeeze Laurence's shoulder through his shirt. "You'll know where to find me when you need me, Will."

You might think that I understand the value of a strategic retreat, but leaving now feels too much like surrender for my taste.

Still, I trust John's judgment here, and though I am not happy about it I will leave Will with his thoughts.

"I'm not so hard to find, either," I say quietly.

"Thank you," Laurence said in reply, though their granting him time did not seem overmuch like a gift. Any reasonable person surely would have expected it just as he did. Surely.

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