come_sailaway | Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels

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Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels

CHARACTERS: Sharky, Ossie, and Giles
DATE: June post-pride
LOCATION: The Cottage
SITUATION: A perhaps slightly over-due talk
WARNINGS: Feelings

As every fairy tale comes real

The cottage, when Sharky arrives, is as it always is. Night brings with it a cool breeze that rustles the hedgerows around the perimeter of the garden, the sky is impossibly full of illusionary stars and a moon just slightly too big, a painted dome above a stage. The air is full of the scent of wildflowers, as it always is. The cottage itself, sat on the little hill, with twining ivy on stone bricks and golden light streaming from the windows out into the blue night. The only thing that’s novel is the faint crackle of firewood, a stream of smoke drifting lazily up from behind the cottage, and is that… chlorine?

On the other side of the cottage, near the fire pit and the hot tub, Ossie and Giles wait for him. Ossie, pristine in his lack of visible nerves, who’s shed the illusion of Grace Kelly and his outer layers, in a soft wool vest and no tie. Giles is likely the only person alive who knows what it means for him to be in anything less than a full suit to receive a guest, even if he doesn’t intend on staying long. This is a conversation between Giles and Sharky primarily, after all, all he needs to do is give his blessing. As for Giles, even after the conversation with Ossie, he’s still uncertain about what he ought to do. He'd prefer more time to sit with and analyse his feelings, but neither can he ignore what the dance and kiss had meant to him.

Nothing left for the both of them to do but to wait.

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Sharky is positive that he's going to be totally normal about this right up until he sees smoke and smells chlorine. It's two of his favorite things in what's quickly becoming his favorite place, and it takes everything he has to forcibly tamp down on all the inferiority complexes he's developed over the years. He has Pratt's hype under his belt, along with enough liquor to make it easier to avoid thinking about how fucking normal and dumb and boring he is, and even if things go super badly and he totally misread everything, at least there's a fire to stare mournfully at.

He'd stopped by his room to drop off his skates, since they aren't gonna be much use here. And while he hasn't dressed up for the occasion, he did go through the effort of finding the cleanest and least offensively patterned Tommy Bahama shirt he has in his room. ...Annnnd okay, sure, he brushed his teeth and checked his hair in the mirror and also made an effort to wear a good deodorant instead of just winging it, but like. That's just him being considerate. It's not like he thinks he needs to make a brand-new first impression or anything!!!

He looks more suited to a beach bonfire when he makes his way over to the fire pit, trying to be as casual as possible as he approaches the weirdest Survivor council he's ever seen.

Okay, man. Be cool. Be chill. They look like they're just vibing, you can do that too.

"Uhhh..." No, try again. "HHhhey." ...Yeah, good enough.

"Sharky" Giles says warmly, and there was meant to be more to the greeting but he gets stuck when he looks at Sharky. Who has clearly changed since the party. Possibly to appeal to him? The accursed Tommy Bahama is never going to produce anything Giles deems remotely acceptable, but it's... close. Almost. And that has to be a coincidence, surely, but why put in the effort to change at all otherwise?

Someone should probably break him out of this before the staring gets uncomfortable.

Ossie very quickly bats at Giles' leg with a microscopic look conveying 'you're looking like a stunned haddock'.

"Ah- there you are, hullo dear Sharky," Ossie smiles, tempted to stand and greet him with a kiss to the cheek- but, well.

"I must say, that party was a cracking success. Better than most of the pride parties I've been to, wot? Just lovely. Only slightly less lovely than having you over again- please take a seat," there's a third chair now don't worry about it.

There's one of those inscrutable looks of theirs!!! What does it mean? He isn't, like, intruding, right? No, obviously not. They fuckin' invited him! ...Sharky keeps it together long enough to follow Ossie's suggestion, and he indeed doesn't worry about it! He's too fuckin' wired to worry about chairs and whatnot.

"Haha, thanks! I didn't think that many people would actually turn up, but people will do anything for a party." He fully just slouches into the chair, which may or may not hide the way he glances (totally not nervously) between the two of them. "Me included. Any excuse to get drunk and dance with some hotties, right??" He points Ossie's way with a grin. "Don't think I'm gonna forget we didn't get to boogie, tho. You know how to Hustle and Bump, I bet."

Giles remembers how to blink when Ossie bumps his leg, and shakes his head a little to clear the spiralling thoughts. Sharky can actually see his eyes here, he has to bring himself under sterner control.

But he can't help but smile when conversation actually starts, when Sharky grins despite the nerves that Giles is well aware of.
"It is a pity that you didn't dance together, I would have liked to see it"

Ossie laughs lightly, waggling his fingers back to Sharky.

"A private dance later then, I look forward to it. I happen to know any dance, so don't you worry. Er- but," and the split-second look is all the warning Giles gets before he says-

"I do believe Giles has something to talk with you about, first?"

He is attempting to remove all obstacles between himself and Sharky's dick which means Giles is getting put on the spot. Sorry. You'll thank him later.

This glance is way more of a deer-in-headlights deal than he'd probably like, but, c'mon. Ossie just dumped an ominous line right in his lap, and it awakens a thought that Sharky hadn't even considered: that he's about to get reminded that they're just doing this for fun and crushes are not part of the equation.

The only thing that keeps him from immediately assuming that's the problem is the fact that Pratt didn't even hesitate to assume Giles had the hots for him. The dude's oblivious as fuck towards everything except when people are horned up for one another.

"Uuhhhhh. Okay?" No. Come on. You are better than this, dude, you're a strong, independent man who can shoot his shot just as good as the next one!! "I guess that goes the same for me? I mean, to him. Uh. You." Sorry Giles, he definitely knows you're there, he just can't seem to like. Look at you without having a whole heart palpitation problem.

Giles doesn't have time to process his own discomfort at being dropped it before he's hit with the rising wave of Sharky's anxiety. That possibly could have been worded better on Ossie's part, but there's nothing for it now.

"It's nothing you need to be worried about." Probably. Unless what Sharky has to say is that he's not interested in any of this. Which seems unlikely, but that's not going to stop Giles from thinking about the possibility.

"It is simply that..." He pauses, looking down at his hands briefly as he tries to regather his thoughts "Well, I told you some time ago that I could not offer you anything of a romantic nature, and I would now like to amend that statement. If you are interested, of course."

"Which- to be clear-" Ossie adds quickly, "Giles and I have discussed, and you have my full blessing for, the both of you. Runway's all clear, so to speak."

As the one member of this little get-together who can smell desire like a dog smells sausages, at least he's not anxious about how it will be received.

It would be stupid easy to deflect with a joke, probably about his own dick and Ossie's thirstiness, but a dick joke would definitely be a dick move in this moment of shared vulnerability. (So, put a pin in that.)

Besides, Sharky wants to ride the wave of relief he feels! He sinks even further into his chair, deflating with a big sigh. "Oh, thank fuck, man, I just spent way too long panicking all over Pratt's shit thinkin' I fucked shit up catchin' feels like a moron and makin' shit awkward." If he thinks it's weird to say any of this in front of Ossie, he doesn't show it. (Because it isn't, and he doesn't!) "But, I mean, how could I not?? You're hot as hell and you're super smart and really sweet and, like, I'd have to be an actual moron to not, uhh, you know. Have a thing for you."

No Ossie-related awkwardness here, he's just in the Words Don't Work So Good phase of the conversation.

Although it probably shouldn't, the compliments catch Giles off guard. He's not used to being complimented for what he is, rather than some something he's done. He's dimly aware that he should probably return the sentiment, but his mind's gone blank and he still needs more time to process everything.
If Sharky were sitting a little closer he'd cover the gap with a kiss, but he's not so he must find something to say

"I am... glad." Not his best work, but it's a start, "You will have to forgive me, I'm not precisely practiced with this sort of thing."

There they go. Just needed a little shove to get over the hurdle, and now Giles and Sharky can pursue their romance while Ossie watches encouragingly from the sidelines. Just how it should be! He beams and stands, giving Giles a little kiss on the temple.

"I say- I expect you both should have quite a bit to talk about, shall I leave you to it?"

Sharky's a simple guy, simple enough that the start and end of his side of the conversation is "I like-like you, do you like-like me? You do? Cool." But that's him -- Giles is kind of harder to get a read on, and it's obviously from the way he's blanking out at basic compliments that he might, like, actually need to talk about it more than that. And, because Sharky has a huge fat crush on him, he's willing to suffer through the awkwardness of expressing feelings in a genuine manner.

That doesn't necessarily mean Ossie needs to leave -- but he knows Giles best, and if he thinks that the convo needs to be one-on-one, then Sharky's gonna take his lead.

Still. "Don't go too far, dude. Hot tub's too big for just the two of us to break in." Please understand that he's restraining himself so much by not shooting twin finger guns at Ossie.

Giles looks up at the kiss to his temple, offering a slow blink in return. He's of two minds about Ossie leaving them to talk privately, on the one hand Ossie's presence is always a comfort to him, and means his mind runs fewer circles around him, but on the other, without Ossie there Giles isn't subconsciously trying to match him, trying to reach a pinnacle of charm that just isn't part of his shape.

So, once Ossie has left, Giles takes a breath to collect himself, to find his own centre and not that of one half of a whole.

"You make it very difficult for me to think clearly, you know" He says to Sharky with a soft smile, "I'm not... good at this. My experience with relationships that have any... feelings involved is, by necessity, very limited, and that aside my frame of reference for the shape of such things is very far removed from yours. But I want to give you what I can, in whatever form that takes."

Even though he's been drinking on and off all night, there's a beat of silence where Sharky wishes he had a beer or something to distract him while Giles gets his words together. The only thing he does have is watching Giles, which is probably not helping his whole shy goth thing. But he can't help it! Giles is the kind of guy you have to pay attention to if you wanna know what he's about, and Sharky wants to know everything.

"Man, and that's before I start trying to distract you." He can't help but tease, even as his face turns pink for non-alcoholic reasons. "Um... Toooo be honest, I'm not any better at, like, romantic stuff. Pretty much any relationship I've had outside of hookups and stuff has been... pretty one-sided. I sorta figured that's what was happening here, 'cos, uh." Pratt's voice mentally cuts him off, reminding him that he was getting tongued down like a junior prom date, and he laughs. "Well, 'cos I'm like, a handful and Ossie makes a pretty full plate."

"He certainly can, yes, but I've always liked a challenge, and I do enjoy a handful" Giles's gaze drops rather deliberately to Sharky's lap for a moment before tracing slowly back up to meet his eyes with a subtle teasing expression.

"You are incredibly kind and patient, my dear Sharky, and so very full of life. It is a shame that people in your past could not see what they were missing out on, but I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to have you in my life."

Sharky's grin widens into something rough and playful, pleased that Giles took the extremely obvious opening for a classy dick joke. He barely manages not to make one in return; sincerity with Pratt gets diffused by that kind of stuff all the time, but here with Giles, Sharky realizes he really doesn't mind it. No need to pretend to be anything other than the too-sensitive manchild he is.

"They were all dumb, anyway." Even Rook was too oblivious to get even the most basic puns, and that's one of Sharky's favorite forms of both comedy and affection. "And I wasn't, like, the best person back then. It took a whole-ass apocalypse for me to get my shit together." He doesn't even know what kind of person he would've become if the Collapse hadn't happened. Probably a burnout with a meth addiction, or in prison or something. But instead, the world had ended and he'd had to mom up for Hurk, and later for Hurk's kid. That kind of responsibility really must've done something to him.

"I guess now it's just a matter of one of us makin' the next move, huh?" His grin returns as he leans back in his chair, curling two fingers in Giles' direction. "Why don't you come over here and gimme a kiss to make things official?"

"That does seem to be the appropriate course of action at this juncture." There's a slight smile, teasing, despite the entirely flat and unaffected tone.

It's a moment longer before Giles rises though, taking the time to fully observe Sharky first, allowing his gaze to linger comfortably without any heat behind it. He leans over Sharky, hand under his chin to tilt his head up just so, and finally kisses him. Slow, sweet, and tender.

Despite his play at being demanding, Sharky returns the kiss with a lazy, relaxed sigh, hands reaching up to tug Giles closer by his shirt collar.

He used to think that romance was supposed to be the kind of thing that set fire to roller rinks and blew up distilleries, like throwing a bottle of lighter fluid directly into a bonfire. But this is a better kind of warmth; the comfortable campfire that you can sit around for hours, easy to feed and slow to die out. The kind of thing that keeps people alive, instead of torching them alive.

When he has to pull away to breathe, Giles doesn't move much. Just enough to allow for air, his forehead resting against Sharky's. He could inhabit this moment comfortably for a lifetime, the quiet warmth of something new and building, of undiscovered territory waiting to be explored together.

But the smell of chlorine still hangs in the air, waiting patiently for them, so...

"Shall we... 'break in' the hot tub, so to speak?"

He hums pleasantly when the kiss ends, eyes scrunched up from the smile still on his face. That was nice. If he isn't careful, he could get used to that kind of thing; thankfully, Sharky's never been careful a day in his life.

The question earns a single mischevious eye opening. "That's, like, the most romantic thing you could've said just now, for real." He's a simple man with simple pleasures. "You think Ossie wants to join us?? Or will he catch up later?"

They may be getting into a one-on-one relationship here, but that doesn't mean Sharky doesn't know that Ossie is a thirsty ho.

"He most certainly would like to, but it's entirely at your discretion whether he does or not. Oswald won't mind either way."

Giles himself is entirely incapable of believing almost any situation wouldn't be improved by Ossie's company, after all.

Sharky bobs his head like he's thinking it over, as if he needs to do that. He spent a good chunk of time just trying to get Giles and Ossie together, okay! He suffered a minor magical malaise for his efforts! There's no way he isn't gonna reap some of the benefits of his crush (boyfriend? Ughhhh not gonna think about that now) having a hot husband after all that hard work!!

(It was literally two and a half conversations, dude, but go off.)

"It'd be hella rude to leave him out in the cold while we have all the fun." He has no idea how loud he actually needs to be, so he goes for 50% maximum holler volume when he calls out, "Ossie, I'm gonna start strippin' with or without you, man!"

The back door slams open before he's finished speaking and Ossie- who is in a robe and Nothing Else- leans in the manner of an old Hollywood starlet.

"I thought you'd never ask!"

He wasn't listening in, why would you even suggest that.

"All sorted then, my dears?"

Probably could have just waved at the closest hot tub-facing window and gotten the same reaction, huh...

"Sorted as fuck, hot stuff." Ossie is treated to double finger guns before said fingers go back to Giles's shirt, undoing the first button. "Awkwardness over, time to fuckin' party." He pauses and looks up at Giles, checking his face for any hint of hesitation or nerves. "Right?"

Giles narrows his eyes a little at Ossie, and the only thing that stops him from questioning what, precisely, Ossie did with the clothing he'd changed out of, is that he has to save his own from Sharky. Not that he thinks any real harm would come from Sharky unbuttoning his shirt of course, he's just very particular. Even — or perhaps especially — in moments like this.

"Yes," he says, gently removing Sharky's hands from his buttons to finish the job himself, "definitely 'time to party', as you say"

As he glides behind Giles to get to the hot tub, he does a brief charade over his shoulder to communicate 'don't take it personally'- because he shouldn't, Sharky is a wonderful man and if even Ossie doesn't get to undress Giles, nobody should take it to heart.

At the edge of the hot tub, he allows the robe to drop a little off his shoulders- it's always a performance around anyone- and his skin shines with unnatural smoothness in the artificial moonlight. Like polished wood, in a colour that cannot be remembered because it simply isn't there to begin with.

Then he lets the rest of his robe drop, and unfortunately there is no sexy way to enter a hot tub, (he should know, because he has attempted to work one out), so he just sort of does it and then waits. They can have their little moment as they get undressed, he'll keep.

"Loooove hearing you say the word party."

Sharky could never take offense to something that could be just as easily construed as a challenge. He wiggles his fingers to show them both that he's got no hard feelings, turning them onto his own shirt. Normally, at this point, he'd just pop the buttons clean off and toss the polyester wreckage into the fire, but now he feels like he's gotta prove he can totally take off a shirt without ruining it.

He gets to his feet, one-handedly unbuttoning his own shirt and briefly diverting his gaze to Ossie's sexy-ass shoulder. Oh, and his ass. Like, c'mon, man, obviously he's gonna check him out. He's a pro at undressing quickly, and also makes no attempt to get into the hot tub sexily -- not because there's no way to do it, but because every way is sexy. Naked dudes, asses out, legs spreading awkwardly, c'mon. It's just science!!!

Giles is distracted momentarily watching Ossie's performance, of course he is, how could he not be? But he soon enough turns his attention back to the removal of his clothing, everything neatly folded and set aside on one of the chairs with well practiced speed and precision. And if Sharky's end up similarly neatly folded on another chair that's neither here nor there.

Once he's half settled beside Sharky in the hot tub, Giles holds a hand out to Ossie. Perhaps there isn't a sexy way to get in but since he's going for the Hollywood starlet approach, daintily with assistance may well come close.

Ossie of course is already there when Giles holds his hand out- it just tickles him to see Giles mince about like that. The hand helping him get into the hot tub gets kissed, and... well, it's just perfect, isn't it?

The love of his life, his love's love, the cottage and the pleasure of warm water, a pleasant buzz, pride- it's as perfect as this ship can ever get. He only hopes that one day he'll get this away from here, too. A strong scent of roses catches on the artificial breeze, and Ossie settles in on one side of Giles, cheek to his chest.

Sharky is more at home naked in a hot tub than anywhere else he's ever lived, and he sinks into the water across from Ossie and Giles like a sensually-dressed lifeform that breathes water through his skin. Literally, only two things would make it perfect -- a beer and his stereo -- but he isn't looking for perfection right now. Nobody needs that kind of drama.

Besides, if he wanted either of those things, one of them would have to move, and Sharky's got a perfect enough view without 'em.

"This is way better than slumming it on the pool deck. Which of you boys am I supposed to be thanking for this?"

Any lingering worry Giles might have about Ossie's comfort with everything is well and truly soothed by the rising smell of roses. He kisses the top of Ossie's head and the breeze grows just a little stronger to match, leaves dancing in the air around the hot tub.

He's still focused on Sharky, though, watching him, happy with how well this has turned out, and that the hot tub has been as well received as he was hoping.

"Technically if one is being entirely fair, Ms Friday is the one to thank as I received it as a sundries package. I might not have set it up, at least not so soon, but, well, I know how much you enjoy the one on the ship proper, and in such a public space I'm not really able join you. So it seemed... worthwhile."

...

He's starting to see why Ossie wasn't the least bit surprised.

Giles explains, and the only thing that keeps Sharky from going pink in the face is the fact that he already is. He can practically hear Pratt's declaration of that's gay, bro from here, and he would be absolutely right.

"Remind me to send Friday a gift basket or somethin', 'cos damn, she was lookin' out." It's easier to talk about that then the romantic overture that the hot tub represents, but now that they've gotten the awkward feelings jam over with, he doesn't need to shy away from sentimentality so much. He reaches across with one leg first, patting the knee Ossie's next to before resting his foot against Giles's other thigh.

"It means a lot to me that you guys would, ummm, bother settin' this up, I guess?" Is he doing genuine emotion right? "Like, you coulda had a nice gazebo or some shit and you went with the one thing that's guaranteed to get me in here instead. Especially when it's A, next to a fire and B, stocked with hotties."

(Nobody said genuine emotion can't be shallow, right?)

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Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels

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