February 27th, 1891 - Chudley Cannons Pitch

Between the trip to Ireland with Greengrass, the general pattern of practices, and the team's coach being present for discussions of contracts, Cash had not actually been alone with Gallivan since before the game on the twentieth. He could have almost forgotten about it - might have forgotten about it - could convince himself that he had forgotten about it. He certainly could push it out of mind when he was fully occupied with something else. When they were in the same room, or on the same pitch, he could pretend to himself that it hadn't happened - that he was noticing the curve of Gallivan's neck or the way his shoulders settled because sometimes he noticed these things, and not because he was remembering the feeling of Gallivan's hand on his arm when they kissed.

Today, though, they didn't have a match or a practice - they had a meeting with the coach and some of the first string players, to break down what other teams were doing this year (and try to analyze who, if anyone, was going broke under new stadium requirements.) These were things that Cash went to willingly, now that he was captain. Things took a while, and they'd really gotten into it; Cash had hung his sports coat up on the back of one of the chairs, and at some point he'd rolled up his sleeves, although he did not remember having done so.

The group had eventually whittled down - some of the players had to leave, and then all the players had to leave, and then the coach left, and then he was alone with Gallivan in an empty pitch in one of the spectator boxes.

Cash swallowed, mouth dry - he did not know what to say, and did not particularly want to talk about Quidditch. He also didn't want to leave, and Gallivan was between him and the exit of the box, and - suddenly, he could not pretend that nothing had happened, because of course they had not actually talked about it in the week since.

So he said nothing, pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, twirled it in his fingers, did not light it.

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Theodore Gallivan Elias Grimstone

The following 1 user Likes Cassius Lestrange's post:1 user Likes Cassius Lestrange's post
   Minty Scrimgeour [Sofia]

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MJ made this!

They might have barely scraped a win last week, but a win was a win and the season had started off well for it - and if they could get their chasers in shape now, there was momentum there they could use. Theo was making an effort, was paying his utmost attention to their tactical sessions. Whether this was because of the talk he and Lestrange had had about actually trying this year, or as a side-effect of also being determined not to dwell on what had happened after it, Theodore hadn’t quite decided.

And, alright, in the moments he wasn’t actively thinking about quidditch, he had been dwelling on it. He had made some progress, he thought, in trying to look at it practically: he had almost managed to brush it off as nothing or a thoughtless mistake, just some crossed wires of communication. It was nothing. He could say as much to Lestrange, smooth things over, move past it.

Easier said than done, though, as the rest of the team and the coach filtered out and Theo made no move to go, was left with only Lestrange to look at, with his rolled up sleeves and forearms showing, as if that was a belligerent tactic. (Smoking might have been a defensive move, too, but Lestrange hadn’t actually lit it.) 

“Hi,” Theo said, as if they hadn’t already been sitting in the same room for half the day. He already sounded more tentative than he had meant, so he stood up and stretched briefly to seem more casual before taking a few ponderous steps towards him. Choosing the nearest chair to him, Theo sank into it wordlessly and chanced another glance his way, hardly knowing how to begin.

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Cash kept the cigarette in his fingers but still didn't make a move to light it - wasn't even really thinking about lighting it, really, because it was half just so that he had something to hold onto. He watched Gallivan stretch and then flicked his gaze away, aware that he probably shouldn't be watching Gallivan stretch - especially now, because if there was going to be a conversation of the consequences, it was this conversation.

"Hi," Cash said, from his own chair, glancing back at Gallivan now. He twirled the cigarette again. "We should probably -" he paused, swallowed, as if that would help, why was his mouth so dry, like he hadn't been with Gallivan all day, this was stupid "- talk."

He had no idea what to say, was the thing; if Gallivan wasn't wired the same way Cash was, then he was lucky to be sitting here in he Cannons pitch and not somewhere else. And if Gallivan was wired the same way Cash was - well, there were still so many threads to unravel here. Cash had had an entire week to conjure an appropriate excuse for having kissed his sponsor, and he still hadn't come up with anything.

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   Elijah Urquart, Theodore Gallivan

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MJ made this!

“Yeah,” Theo agreed, although he made no move to actually say anything in regards to that conversation. He had known the gist of what to say earlier, before the room had emptied, but now they were alone again and he almost wished he had just fired Lestrange, because if his train of thought was going to be disrupted just from being within a few feet of him every time from now on, he wasn’t sure how he was going to sustain it.

So they had to clear the air. He lowered his eyes from Lestrange’s face to try and think it through, but found his gaze caught instead on the cigarette, on Lestrange’s hand, on his bare forearm again. What could he say, exactly, that didn’t sound accusatory? I was being weird that day and I might feel weird again now?

“I wasn’t - um, expecting that,” Theo said finally, emphasis on the that. It seemed a little obvious that he’d been caught off guard, but the problem was he didn’t know anymore if he was more apologetic for freezing up or for having kissed him back before that. It had crossed his mind, several times since, that maybe he had invited it somehow - maybe Lestrange had only been reading the signs that had been written all over his face in the first place. But... well, surely he hadn’t just done it because of that? Or for the whole captaincy thing, because Lestrange felt like he owed him something in return for it?

Theo supposed he could at least rule out the thought that it had been part of the ploy to persuade him of the promotion, because it could not have made any less sense for Lestrange to kiss him after the whole captaincy matter had been settled. No, Lestrange had gotten what he’d wanted and then immediately risked throwing it all out, whatever sense that made.

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Cash thumbed over the end of his cigarette, sending a few tiny, loose leaves of tobacco sprinkling onto the floor. If he wasn't careful he was going to end up unraveling the whole thing up here, just by playing with it - it was less a conscious motion and more something that was happening.

That, Gallivan hadn't been expecting that, and Cash swallowed. What could he even say? What defense did he have? I was leaning so close it suddenly felt inevitable, or it was like your hand touched mine and I had to test something, or you look really cute when you're nervous. He needed to say something, though - something honest, because Gallivan might know him well enough to tell if he was lying, and something that would not scare Gallivan out of talking with him forever, because - Cash really didn't have a lot of friends, and he wanted to keep one of the few he could actually talk to.

A beat passed, where Cash was just looking at the unlit cigarette and not at Gallivan, until finally he found the will to respond - not the words, but the will - and looked at Gallivan's jawline instead. He leaned forward slightly in his chair, like he was hunkering down or protecting his insides, an unconscious motion.

"I wasn't - I hadn't planned on it," Cash said, which was true and maybe too honest, made him sound impulsive, and he tapped the fingers of his free hand against his knee. "It was, all of a sudden - it seemed as if -" he could not explain this, and could feel his pulse speeding up; he looked away from Gallivan again and onto the darkened pitch instead "- as if you might want me to. And I wanted to."

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MJ made this!

Well. If he’d wanted an explanation, he’d gotten an explanation.

It sounded honest, sounded true. He didn’t know if he felt much better for it, but maybe it was the way Lestrange had hunched in his chair, a little, that was making him feel worse. Guilty, maybe. And then there was as if you might want me to, and Theo flushed again to hear it, relieved that Lestrange had looked away out at the pitch instead of seeing the heat rise on his cheeks in a way he couldn’t control.

“I wasn’t - sure, I didn’t know what I -” wanted, Theo finished in silence, biting his lip, and maybe that had been true, but after a week of debating it he should have settled on what he did want, shouldn’t he? I didn’t want you to. How hard could that be to say, to seal up the discussion for good?

He exhaled instead, a little unsteadily, jogged a leg, his foot against the floor, shifted abruptly forwards in his chair. He swallowed. He didn’t know if the moment had passed, if it had been a one time thing, if his hesitance had destroyed the urge, but... “The thing is,” Theo started again, determined now to speak plainly - and if being excruciatingly honest didn’t work, he was going to regret saying it until the ends of the earth, he knew it; but Lestrange had been honest and something about him messed with Theo’s filter - “I think you should kiss me again. I - want to kiss you again.”

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The following 6 users Like Theodore Gallivan's post:6 users Like Theodore Gallivan's post
   Angie Swan, Cassius Lestrange, Cecily Gallivan, Elijah Urquart, Lachlan MacFusty, Reuben Crouch

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Having spoken, he found himself unable to look at the pitch anymore - but couldn't look at Gallivan's face, either. He settled for looking at Gallivan's knee, listening carefully, expecting something in the form of consequences to come - you know I have to fire you, maybe, or even just we can't be friends anymore. Anything other than what Gallivan actually said.

"Oh," Cash said, finally looking back at Gallivan's face again. "All right. Yes." He dropped the cigarette onto the floor of the spectator box, straightened in his chair. If he was going to do this purposefully, it required a little bit more thought than it had last time - he had to think about how Gallivan might like to be kissed, and he took a few seconds to think about it, about ensuring that the kiss was actually good instead of just experimental.

He edged closer in his seat to the side of his chair, closing some of the gap between them. Cash bit his lip, considered the sponsor - he settled for dropping his left hand onto Gallivan's shoulder again, and with his right reached to hold onto Gallivan's wrist. Gallivan wanted to kiss him again, wanted Cash to kiss him - Cash's heartbeat was quickened for entirely different reasons, now.

He leaned forward to kiss Gallivan deeply, with more force than he had the first time, and maybe a little more desperation, too.

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   Cecily Gallivan, Lachlan MacFusty, Reuben Crouch, Theodore Gallivan

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MJ made this!

He could feel himself holding his breath... and what was he going to do, exactly, if Lestrange said no?

But he didn’t. Theo’s mouth was dry with anticipation, but he exhaled, softened his shoulders - if nothing else, this time would test the theory. He didn’t have any excuses, today, about being keyed-up about the match or about being surprised by it; even if this time was different, if Lestrange kissed him and he felt nothing or it felt wrong then he could chalk it up as a mistake and... at least he would be sure.

Lestrange’s hands were on his shoulder and his wrist now, and Theo was as aware of it as he had been last time, leaning into it, leaning towards him. This kiss was more forceful than the last, no uncertainty in it, and so there was nothing for it but to relax, to give himself into it entirely. And now there was a new tightness in his chest - like breathlessness, but more acute - and a faint flutter in his stomach and maybe Lestrange was just a good kisser, but it did feel right.

And he desperately didn’t want it to be over yet. So Theodore lifted a hand to Lestrange’s face to hold him there, savouring the press of his jawline against his palm, the back of his neck against his fingertips - he wasn’t sure if it was Lestrange’s pulse he could feel racing or his own.

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The following 1 user Likes Theodore Gallivan's post:1 user Likes Theodore Gallivan's post
   Cecily Gallivan

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It was the press of Gallivan's palm against his face that gave Cash the nerve to be less clinical about his hands, less like he was planning every element of this deliberately. His hand on Gallivan's wrist moved upwards to grip the sponsor's bicep, and the fingers on his other hand tangled in the fabric over Gallivan's shoulder.

And maybe Gallivan wasn't attracted to men - maybe this was all just a weird test to reaffirm his preference for women - but it didn't feel like that, with his hand holding Cash's face in place and his fingers on the back of Cash's neck. It felt like an actual kiss, a deliberate one, like Gallivan definitely wanted to be here, kissing Cash in an empty stadium.

It was less that he wanted the kiss to end and more that eventually he needed to take a breath. Cash kept his hands in place and pulled back - still in kissing distance, really less than two inches of space between his face and Gallivan's lips - and asked: "Is this all right?"

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MJ made this!

There was much less panic this time. “Yes,” Theo said, once he had caught his breath, and jerked his chin in a reassuring nod, resisting the impulse to thank him for it. Better than all right, really, but he didn’t want to seem too effusive, not when there was a chance Lestrange had thought better of it and didn’t want to do it again.

Not that he had pulled very far away to ask, Theo supposed, briefly meeting his eyes to consider the possibility. They were almost disconcertingly blue. “Yeah, it is. You?” He echoed, suppressing a laugh somewhere in his throat as he added, “I’d ask if you’re sure it’s a good idea, but...” Theo trailed off dryly there, with a light shrug of his shoulder beneath Lestrange’s hand, because it wasn’t like he couldn’t guess that answer by himself. It was easily a worse idea in itself than giving him the captaincy or starting to care: what if someone caught them at this? What would happen then? What would it even look like if someone walked in right now? (Even worse than it could, probably, because Lestrange was one of his players - regardless of the rest, this was a new low of unprofessionalism.)

No, Theo already knew it was an objectively bad idea. And instead there was a stupid grin on his face, and the very distinct urge to kiss him again.

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The following 1 user Likes Theodore Gallivan's post:1 user Likes Theodore Gallivan's post
   Cassius Lestrange

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This was definitely a bad idea, in terms of his career and in terms of Cash's limited social life, and - Gallivan didn't know the half of it, really. Cash was well acquainted with the risks and Gallivan was actually his friend, as well as being his boss, so - there was plenty that could go very wrong. Never mind that both of them were crumbling every once in a while, never mind Angie's certainty that Cash's sudden spurt of good mood couldn't last forever - even without that in mind, there were other problems abounding, and Cash was well aware of them.

But Gallivan was grinning and warm under Cash's hand and - even if he knew it would surely collapse sooner rather than later surely it would be fine for at least this evening. And he was so lonely that sometimes he felt like it might swallow him, and kissing made him feel present and grounded in a way that nothing else did.

"Oh, bad idea or no," Cash said, with a wry smile, "I'm having a fantastic time kissing you."

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The following 2 users Like Cassius Lestrange's post:2 users Like Cassius Lestrange's post
   Angie Swan, Theodore Gallivan

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MJ made this!

Theo had no choice but to roll his eyes at that, taking it as a sign that things would be fine between them again, if Lestrange was still perfectly comfortable mocking him the way he had in his office a week ago. He might have called it annoying, but at this point he was having a hard time even pretending not to be charmed by it. And there was nothing he could do about the continued pinkness of his cheeks, either.

“Glad we had this talk, then,” Theo commented, his grin going lopsided. Now that the bundle of nerves he had been carrying all week had unknotted somewhat, there was more room left just to feel the - surprising lightness of this, some seed of warmth taking hold of him where habit had made him more used to gloom. Theo didn’t know if he was feeling a flash of his old self, or maybe just a glimpse of someone new, and it he didn’t know if it was a lie or it would last but - as distractions went, it was definitely one worth exploring.

“And good thing I have nowhere else to be,” he added coyly, like Lestrange didn’t know full well they would have probably been moping about here at the empty pitch anyway to avoid going home. All the same, he shifted in his seat to angle himself more - as best he could without slipping off his chair - towards the seeker, to return the kiss with a little more assurance this time.

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There was a fond flutter in Cash's chest at Gallivan's tone; he made a pleased sound in his throat when Gallivan kissed him back. This was good but it could be better, Cash thought, from a different angle - and if the point of this was to ensure that he was kissing Gallivan as well as possible (he had not decided that this was the point) then maybe he should change it up a little. Especially because Cash had more experience kissing men than Gallivan did - (this did not have to be verbalized for Cash to be confident of it; he generally had more experience kissing men than other men did) - even if he was fairly out of practice.

He rose from his chair, kept on kissing Gallivan, and settled on his knees in front of the sponsor's chair; he had to stretch himself upwards towards Gallivan from this position, but it was at least a more direct angle, and Cash was less concerned about his knees than he was about stretching out this physical contact for as long as he could.

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MJ made this!

Theo followed Lestrange’s lead, not quite aware of where the seeker was going until he was on his knees in front of him. There was a pleasant shiver creeping up his spine as he leant forwards to better reach him, but he broke away soon after to drop down from his chair to the floor himself, if only so he didn’t careen headfirst off it. Or accidentally clip him with his knees.

Being down here had put them on a more even level, and it might not be especially dignified - and not the most comfortable floor in the world either, Theo considered fleetingly, wondering when these boxes had last been refitted - but he did not exactly have the presence of mind to much care. Not when Lestrange’s lips were much softer than he had thought; not when there was this feeling in his gut to contend with.

And Lestrange did not seem in the least uneasy about this  - clearly he had done this sort of thing before, which meant it must be fine, must be normal, someone knew what they were doing - and anyway the kissing felt good, being near somebody felt good, almost unexpectedly good. The diminished distance between them, too, gave Theo leave to explore this a little better as they kissed, to actually touch someone else without excuse: he let his hand move from the back of Lestrange’s neck down to the muscles of his shoulder, across the ridge of his collarbone, eventually, absently, finding himself clutching at a fistful of the seeker’s shirt.

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He had not expected to end up on the floor with Gallivan today, but Cash was very determinedly not thinking about his expectations or his feelings or anything that could have taken away from the physical feeling of Gallivan's hand skating across his collarbone, of Gallivan's fingers tangled in the fabric of Cash's shirt. And talking to Gallivan had always been an odd sort of relief - he never had to pretend to be okay when it was just him and the sponsor, he could be as maudlin as he wanted - but shit, they should have been doing this the whole time, talking was nothing compared to just being near another person, touching another person.

He brought one hand around to Gallivan's shoulder blades, palm splayed against the back of the other man's jacket. The longer they were kissing the less Cash was thinking about it in a clinical way — less what would make this kiss feel good? and more this is good and closer and wordless flashes of impulse. He used his hand on Gallivan's arm to tug him, closer, he wanted to touch him more. Cash broke away from their kiss, but just so that he could press an open-mouthed kiss to Gallivan's neck.

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The following 1 user Likes Cassius Lestrange's post:1 user Likes Cassius Lestrange's post
   Reuben Crouch

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MJ made this!

He shifted closer in answer, held on a little tighter, curled his other hand around Lestrange’s side, and if the seeker’s shirt had gotten a little rucked up from his waist and Theo’s fingers brushed briefly against bare skin that felt comfortable, that was fine -

Oh no.

His breath hitched at the seeker’s mouth on his neck, his heartbeat ratcheting up again, because he hadn’t expected this either, even having outright asked Lestrange to kiss him. That said, that he had invited this situation meant he should probably be the one to stop it because, no matter how much he was enjoying it, the facts had not changed: Lestrange was a friend and also his employee, and certainly being one or the other of those was supposed to preclude people from doing that.

So Theo had opened his mouth to casually protest, he was sure he had. But maybe his thoughts were a little foggy, slow to sink in; maybe he’d had to bite his lip just to stop himself blurting out some stupid exclamation; maybe it was too late for that anyway because he’d already made a noise that sounded closer to a moan than anything else. Which was - great. Between that and the increasing tightness of his trousers, Theo was never going to be able to look Lestrange in the eye again. Possibly the only mercy was that, at least for the moment, he didn’t have to.

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The following 3 users Like Theodore Gallivan's post:3 users Like Theodore Gallivan's post
   Cassius Lestrange, Reuben Crouch, Valerian Macnair

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