August 12th, 1892 — Victor's Party Boat, Greece

Victor had been dropping hints about what he wanted to do to Fisk all day, so he surprised even himself when he hesitated once they were finally alone. The majority of the bedrooms on the boat held two beds apiece with hardly any space to move except to get dressed and undressed, but as the guest of honor his bedroom was large and lavish. The bed itself was big enough to engage in all sorts of activities, and Victor fully intended to take advantage of it for all of them. He was decidedly drunk, but he could still manage a silencing spell on the walls to keep the noise contained, and the door was locked. There was hardly anyone to bother them, anyway; half the guests had gone ashore to explore the Grecian bars and brothels, and another quarter had already passed out in a drunken stupor. Victor would have wagered the ones who remained onboard and awake were probably getting up to the same sorts of things in their own room that he and Fisk were about to get up to. No one was inclined to look too hard into what anyone was doing tonight.

Victor and Leo Fisk had gotten entangled a handful of times so far that summer, but this was the first time they had access to a bed. It felt significant. There was nowhere to be in the morning, no party they both needed to return to, which meant that for the first time they could each make the choice to stay after they finished. Victor had already made his choice, inviting Fisk in to his bedroom for the evening. He was bracing himself against the moment of truth, preparing himself for the worst, but — he hoped Fisk chose to stay.

After spending half the day trying both to ensure Fisk saw that him making eyes and ensuring no one else caught him watching Fisk, Victor hadn't had much patience when they reached his bedroom. He was kissing him before he'd even finished locking the door, undressing both himself and Fisk in the haphazard way that only occurred when he was both intoxicated and already hard. Some pieces of clothes were strewn in places that didn't make sense, others left on with half the buttons undone. Victor had lost his trousers and his jacket along the way and was perched on his knees on the edge of the bed, in socks and a white collared shirt, when he hesitated. Fisk was standing in front of him and Victor had been about to pull him down on top of him onto the bed, but —

"Do you — want to do this more often?" he blurted out. "As a — you know, a regular thing?"

This had probably not been the ideal moment to ask. It was going to kill the mood completely if he said no.

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Leonid Fisk Clarissa Cosgrove

  

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Leonid didn't typically take time off work but he had done so in order to make use of the portkeys from the Daphnel residence. He had been invited and didn't want to deal with the hassle of finding his own way to the location of the party. Besides, it wasn't like he was often presented with the chance to go party in Greece.

He was even more glad to have made this choice the more hints Daphnel dropped. He had brought a gift, of course. Just the usual trinket that one wouldn't be surprised to hear about a man gifting to their friend. Everyone were either preoccupied with their own delights or the Grecian sights. Others were already asleep elsewhere on this boat.

Leonid couldn't help but consider the opportunity presented to them at the moment. Every time they had entangled together before now had been in a sort of rush. It hadn't been in a bed or with the choice to simply lie there until either they felt like doing it again or the sun rose. Would Daphnel ask him to stay through the night? He supposed that he would wait and see.

After having flirted 'with the eyes' as his twin would probably say, he was finally alone with Daphnel. He couldn't help a bit of a laugh as Daphnel kissed him before the door had even locked behind them. They were at each other, some clothing discarded, others half undone as their hands worked at each others buttons.

Leonid had taken a moment to simply admire the sight of Daphnel when the other man spoke. A more regular thing? He was not opposed to that prospect though he didn't fully understand what Daphnel was asking of him. "Seeing you more often would be a pleasure in more ways than one," Leonid couldn't help but tease. "Though I suppose I should also start calling you Victor. At least in private." He had already long thought that calling each other by their surnames in the usual friendly manner of their gender was a little odd when they had been entangled in passion numerous times by now.

  

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The moment that Fisk took to consider before answering had Victor holding his breath. When he did, Victor's heart leapt and a broad smile lit up his face. It occurred to him that he hadn't asked the question in the clearest way (and perhaps this was partly a preemptive defense mechanism, so that if Fisk seemed put off by the idea of spending a lot of time getting to know each other better, he could backtrack and imply he'd only been after bouts of sex that were more likely to be free of interruption), but Fisk seemed to understand what he was getting at, if he wanted to start using first names. First names seemed, to Victor, more intimate than scheduling times to sleep together. Not that he was opposed to the leap, but he wouldn't have had the courage to suggest it himself.

"Yeah. You can call me Victor," he agreed, still smiling wide. He put his hands on Leonid's hips and carressed him as he continued. "And maybe we can see if there's a night that works for both of us once every two weeks, or so? Or more often if you want. My schedule at the hospital is a little irregular, but if you don't mind coordinating in advance... I could get us a hotel room in London. We could have dinner delivered. Spend the night together."

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Fabulous set by Lady!

Well, the other man seemed absolutely delighted by his response. That shifted his thoughts away from the assumption that Victor was merely asking for a more regular arrangement. He was now assuming that Victor might be after something a little less casual with him.

Though that could also be wishful thinking.

Either way, he would see how things played out. He was determined to enjoy himself either way. He smiled as Victor's hands went onto his hips. "Well, Victor," Leonid said, mostly to test how it felt on his tongue. He rather liked it, he decided. "A hit wizard doesn't have a regular schedule either but I think coordinating in advance would work wonderfully. Every two weeks feels.. a little less often than I might like. How about every other week instead?" He would suggest weekly but even his family would notice something like that. And like they both said, their schedules were irregular.

"That all sounds wonderful," he said in response to Victors suggestions as he brought his hands up to idly play with a few strands of the others hair, letting them tumble between his fingers before leaning in to kiss Victor. "Our own oasis for the night."

  

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Set by MJ

Victor was slightly too intoxicated to follow any sort of detailed conversation about scheduling, but it didn't matter much; he would have agreed to whatever Fisk (Leonid) proposed after hearing his first name leave the other man's mouth. The point came across, anyway: more often. Victor had an inkling to respond I'd meet up with you every day if I could but stopped himself, careful of coming on too strong and scaring the other man away. He'd done that before, as a younger and less experienced lover. Now he was cautious about what he asked for, and tried to only ask when he already knew the answer was yes. The only reason he'd broached this conversation was because he was already drunk and ready to throw caution to the wind. Fortunately for him, it seemed to be working in his favor.

"I'd go one step further and get us a flat somewhere," he continued, after leaning his head into one of Leonid's hands. He enjoyed the feeling of the other man's fingers in his hair. "Except that — oh." The except was something he probably ought to broach, if they were going to set up something more personal and more permanent. Victor chewed his lower lip and frowned, anticipating that this could create problems. He didn't want to sink this ship before it even weighed anchor, so he would have preferred not to have even brought this up (at least, not yet), but now that he'd left off ominously in the middle of a sentence he wasn't sure how to backtrack.

"Would you still want to if I start courting someone soon?" Better to just come out with it now, he decided. "The timing is awful, I know, but I'm supposed to marry soon — and you know, I tried to do this a year ago," he pointed out, thinking back on their interaction in the hospital room in which Fisk had entirely ignored the hints Victor had been dropping. "With you, I mean, not getting married. But I can't really put it off for much longer — my mother already frayed all her nerves trying to manage my sister's prospects, so I'm determined not to give her anything else to worry about —" He was, he realized, talking far too much. He bit his lower lip again. "I'm sorry," he concluded with a beseeching look. "I like you."

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Fabulous set by Lady!

The idea of having a place where they could just be together besides a hotel was more appealing than Leonid had thought it might be. Leonid wondered what the obstacle to that might be since it seemed to be something that had a frown crossing Victors face. He couldn't help but feel a little tense as Victor seemed to be considering what to say next.

Oh. Leonid honestly had never really considered that scenario. He really should have, he supposed. He knew at least some of the men he often saw at some of the more hedonistic parties he went to were courting, engaged or married. Some of them he had even fooled around with a bit. They just didn't talk about it. He personally kind of figured it was just something that happened more than he had realized before entering this world himself.

He blushed sheepishly when Victor brought up what had happened a year ago. Then Victor kept talking and Leonid understood what he was saying. He knew most people of their age were starting to get pushes towards the alter. "I had no idea about anything back then," he admitted sheepishly. "I like you, too. Enough so that I still want to do this."

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   Victor Daphnel

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Victor hadn't exactly been expecting an explanation of what had happened a year ago, though he was now a little curious about Leonid's answer — what did it mean to have no idea? No interest he could understand, or conflicts that would prevent him from following through on something, but no idea? This confusion showed as a brief flicker across Victor's face before the second half of what he said registered. I like you, too.

"Yeah?" he asked, as though afraid he had misheard or misunderstood. He was smiling wide, though. Since crossing the threshold of adulthood Victor had dallied with a handful of men, mostly through hurried liaisons in cramped spaces while stealing away from parties. Occasionally there had been some marks of sentimentality mixed in, but this was the first time someone had come right out and bluntly said they liked him. And it wasn't just words, either — first names, plans to see each other. This was a whole thing.

"That's — I want to, too." This was needless to say, he realized after the fact, because he'd already said it, but his brain was still stuck on that point and unable to move on in any productive way. "That's — hm," he concluded with a happy hum, then leaned in to kiss Fisk when words failed to materialize.

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Fabulous set by Lady!

"Yeah," Leonid couldn't help but repeat in a sort of teasing confirmation. Victor's reaction told him even more that he was on the right track. He didn't think Victor would be smiling that widely simply about an agreement to carry on a casual fling on a more regular basis. This was something more than that which Leonid had not experienced thus far.

He smiled against Victors lips as the other man leaned in to kiss him. He returned the kiss, leaning so that he could join Victor on the bed without need to part from his lips.

  

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Victor leaned into the kiss, and after a moment spent with nothing more than pleasant buzzing in his brain he remembered what they'd been about before he'd launched into this conversation. He reached down to unbutton Fisk's trousers, then snaked one hand inside while the other moved to rest wrapped around the back of his waist. Since he fortunately hadn't completely killed the mood by striking out with a question Leonid wasn't ready for, they could fall into a by now familiar pattern; they'd done this often enough in the past few months that there was a rhythm to it by now. On the other hand, Victor realized with a small internal thrill, it didn't necessarily have to be. The two of them had never had access to a bed before — though if they followed through on the plans they'd just made, this would only be the first time, not the last.

"Do you want to —?" he'd started before taking time to think it through. It caught up with him then that after having just derailed their progress once for a potentially relationship-changing Big Conversation, he was about to do it again less than a minute later. He mentally kicked himself — he ought to have just shut up and let things take their course, one way or another. Why did they have to talk about it? He was drunk, and apparently that meant he was also stupid.

"Nevermind," he mumbled, turning his attention to Fisk's neck to kiss him there. He moved his hand more purposefully between Fisk's legs, to serve as a distraction of sorts. "I'm having a great birthday."

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Fabulous set by Lady!

Leonid felt that by now familiar thrill go through him when Victor unbuttoned his trousers. He bit his lower lip as Victors hand snaked into his trousers. He wondered what Victor had been about to ask. Victor seemed especially talkative tonight but Leonid didn't mind that.

His mind couldn't linger on Victor's cut off words for too long as he hyperfocused on the feel of Victors lips against his neck. He groaned softly as Victors hand moved more purposefully between his legs. "I hope I can make it even more great," he teased as a thought came to him. "You know, we have time to just... enjoy ourselves fully for once." Time to explore each others skin a little more than they usually were able to, to be more intimate.

  

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Set by MJ

Victor smiled against Fisk's skin and nodded slightly while murmuring a noise of assent. Maybe Leo was getting at the same type of thing Victor had just prevented himself from bringing up (a thrill of nerves went through him at the idea), but even if he wasn't hinting at anything the statement was true enough. They had more time than they'd ever had previously, and more space. This was the first time they were ever able to enjoy each other's company without the ever-present (however distant) threat of interruption.

(Admittedly, during one of their earlier forays into the dark rooms around the edges of parties thrown by mutual friends, Victor had thought it was a good thing Fisk was an obliviator by trade — presumably if they were caught, he'd be able to make the problem disappear. Fortunately, it was a theory they'd never needed to test — though it had made Victor perhaps slightly less cautious about maintaining secrecy than he otherwise might have been).

"I locked the door," he teased, moving to remove more of Leonid's clothing before things progressed too far between his legs. "I don't plan to let you out until sunrise."

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Leonid shrugged off his remaining clothes - most having come off as soon as they had come into the room - as Victor began removing them. "I am your willing captive," he teased when the other said he didn't plan to let him out. Leonid was more than happy to spend every moment possible just enjoying Victor.

He slid onto the bed with Victor, taking a moment to roll so that the other was slightly on top of him as he kissed the other deeply.

  

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Set by MJ