Declan Lynch (
sleepingpills) wrote in
marlowemuses2021-03-15 10:58 am
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Suddenly, I'm a fiend and you're all I need
Declan didn't want to be here. He had more important things to do, more important places to be. He had so many responsibilities, and here he was driving down to Henrietta to yell at his idiot younger brother for his shitty life decisions yet again.
He'd given no warning for this visit. Ronan wouldn't answer the phone if he called anyway, and if he had any inkling that Declan would show up, he certainly wouldn't be there. At least Declan could visit Matthew after this, and he'd be here for church the next morning, so it wasn't as if the trip would be wasted even if Ronan was ... himself.
Rapping sharply at the door to Monmouth, Declan stood slightly to the side so that he wouldn't be visible to anyone peeking to see who was at the door. He'd learned his lesson about that.
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"I'm only in town for the night." Which is to say, no. Avoiding a direct answer to the question lets him protect his pride.
What he wasn't ready to protect against was the flutter of eyelashes, the hint of a smile, the invitation in that tilt of Gansey's head. It tugs at Declan's stomach, curling heat in his belly in a way that he has learned to fiercely deny.
Gansey's always been younger, closer to Ronan's age than his own, and those years ago, when they'd still been friends, that year was a vaster difference. Declan had been still new to desire, and he never would have considered young, innocent Gansey.
Time has hardened Gansey, firming his muscles, lifting his height, carving the edges of his jaw. Looking at him is like looking at a classical statue. An idealized beauty. Declan has a deep appreciation for classical statuary. When you're staring at a classical statue, no one suggests that maybe your appreciation for it is anything but good taste in art. Especially if you're someone who spends just as long looking at statues of either gender.
Declan clears his throat, but it comes out louder than he intended. His cheeks feel hot. He desperately hopes he's not blushing. He doesn't blush. No one ever manages to ruffle or arouse him enough for that. Just because Gansey grew up stunning with more personal magnetism than any one person should ever possess, that's not going to dent Declan's defenses.
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He's watching him, and it doesn't seem like discomfort, not an excuse to leave. And he can feel the way that he watches him, which sends a hot thrill curling up his spine. He shifts with an air that seems casual but isn't, moving slightly to so the way they face each other gives him a better view. The curve of his smile is an invitation, all warmth and charm and a genuine sort of offer as he looks up at him.
He takes a moment to enjoy the view, the way that Declan looks a little ruffled at the edges just with the heat between them. Gansey's a little flushed himself, just along his cheeks and that glint in his eyes. It takes just a few paces to close most of the space between them, and the proximity makes him tremble. He's not innocent, but the contact feels electric. One of his hands pressing lightly against his chest, fingertips sliding down against the fabric.
Gansey isn't overly experienced, but he knows what he wants here, and willingness covers for a fair bit. Their bodies could be closer, so that his polo's pressed up against Declan's suit, but for the moment he just lets his fingers trace down against his shirt, letting fingertips brush against the buttons of his shirt as they trail towards his belt, like a promise.
"What do you think, Declan?" There's a tremble in his voice that's all heat as he asks the question. It's a little raw, and just a flicker of something that slips past that mask he wears, that sheen of charm and confidence.
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Declan does not allow himself to quiver. He has never been so blatantly approached, so openly desired. He is accustomed to girls who titter and hide among their friends, but who come without hesitation to the crook of his finger. He is accustomed to deciding what he wants--what is safe for him to want--and acquiring it easily.
This is not safe for him to want.
"Lose a bet, Richard?" Declan asks, face cold and blank. He carefully removes Gansey's hand from his chest before it can detect the tell-tale clamor of his heart.
But instead of turning to leave, like he should, he steps past Gansey through the door, inviting himself inside. "Do you have anything decent to drink?"
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His pulse races a little, and he follows after him, letting the door close behind them. "Yes, I've got Scotch." It takes him a moment, but he slides it out of where he keeps the bottle. Imported in small volume, aged in oak casks, and so on. Not the sort of Scotch his father would drink, but it had an actual flavor profile and didn't taste like paint thinner which worked for Gansey. He grabs two glasses and then sets them on his desk, fills one after the other with an easy hand.
He's not entirely sure if Declan is specifically watching him, but he could be, and there's a strange sort of heat that coils in his frame. He wants him to be. Which is the first moment it occurs to him that this might not be exactly the easy narrative he'd imagined, but he ignores it like all reckless ideas.
He walks over, holding out the glass, a slight curl of a smile as he holds it out for him. "Here," he offers. His voice warm with a slight tilt of his head, watching him in a way he doesn't quite try to hide. There's still that flicker of interest, heat that brightens his hazel eyes. He doesn't touch him this time, but there's a proximity and that smile.
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"So what was that about, Dick?" Declan asks, still keeping him emotionally at arm's length with any nickname but the one that Gansey likes.
The look in Gansey's eyes makes him feel weak in the knees, makes him want to yield. Gansey has that inherent quality, that kingliness, and Declan doesn't think there's anyone who can hear his voice without wanting to kneel--sexual or not, the desire is inescapable.
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There's a twitch to his smile at the question, and he knows the nickname is intentional. So he ignores it for the moment, all easy magnanimity flavored with interest as he looks over at him with a lift of an eyebrow. He doesn't want to give Declan the pleasure of seeing him flinch-- somehow it feels like it would give away more than he wants, even if they both already know that Dick grates against his sensibilities. "Was I being coy?"
Of course, he could be vulgar about it, ask if he wants to fuck, but he isn't that person. Even if Gansey sort of still wants to curl his fingers in his tie and taste the scotch on his mouth, feel Declan's hands on his skin until everything fades out just for tonight. But he tries not to push harder than he intends, even when shadows frame his hazel eyes.
"You're attractive," he commented, taking a sip of his own glass of scotch, hip tilted into the side of the desk. Not that he thinks Declan needs to hear it, but it's an easy place to start. There were a multitude of pieces here, most of them things he didn't really want to share, insecurities that pressed against the veneer he wore.
How Gansey hadn't slept in days, how he shakes in the night and the cardboard pieces of his model of Henrietta that he uses to keep himself busy at 3am don't do enough to take the edge off. How panic and fear bleed into his veins until the world hums around him. The way the need for it all burns, seconds ticking like he doesn't have enough time. There's a litany of reasons he wants something more, secrets he's bad at keeping.
"And well, if it's you then I'm not ruining anything," he admits with a wry curl of his mouth. Overly pragmatic maybe, but he's polite about it. He doesn't want it to sound cruel.
The interplay of social circles and his family name and what he needed and the choices he was allowed to make were all a lovely sort of snare; given just enough freedom to understand a misstep could choke himself on it. Maybe it's naive, but for all that he maybe trusts Declan's intentions less than he used to, he doesn't believe that he'd leverage this against him. Not when Gansey puts so much into looking after Ronan, fights for him in ways he wouldn't allow his older brother to.
"It's an offer," he says, softening just a little at the edge.
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He listens while Gansey talks, still guarded but clearly intrigued. His eyes linger on Gansey, catching on his lip, the movements of his hands. His body is turned away, but his chest is curved toward Gansey, wanting to open up to him but still wary, skittish as a feral animal.
The praise isn't necessary, doesn't change much, but it is a good place to start. It's the base necessity of this continuing. If Gansey didn't find him attractive, this wouldn't have started. If Declan didn't reciprocate the opinion, he wouldn't have come inside.
But one line turns it all sour. If it's you, Gansey says, and Declan doesn't think of all the ways that he's safe. He's not used to thinking of himself as safe. He thinks of himself as a constant danger, a desperate engineer against a crumbling dam. Disaster is inevitable. One day someone will come for him with a tire iron. Declan takes that as a fact. Any life that touches his own is endangered by him. So when Gansey says that Declan is a safety against ruination, Declan doesn't think of all the ways that he's safe. He thinks of all the things that he's not.
He's not Ronan.
When Gansey softens, Declan sharpens. His lip curls up on one side, exposing one of those sharp Lynch canines, somewhere between a smirk, a snarl, and a threat. "I'm not going to fuck you just because I'm the less breakable brother."
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Gansey doesn't pull away. He doesn't smile like he's untouchable and let his eyes shift to just this side of imperious as he says something infuriatingly polite. Escalation makes it worse; you can't answer hurt with hurt. So he leaves his walls down, his hazel eyes still soft as he looks over at him.
"That was not what I meant, Declan," he says, his voice soft and slightly conciliatory. He doesn't address the implication in what Declan said- he leaves the subject of Ronan alone. Plans to keep it that way unless he drags it up again, because he knows a minefield when he sees one. Most of the time, at least. And he has the experience to know that the older Lynch brothers are a fraught subject for eachother.
He still thinks of Declan as safer than strangers and casual acquaintances. He's sharp and he understands risk, probably grasps why Gansey has to play by family rules, why quirky adventures after ley lines were character building but this could be dangerous. So Gansey shifts away from the desk and slowly steps in closer. Trying to read him, to not push too fast, step in too close before he was allowed. Honestly most of his friends were a little bit feral, and he just tried not to mind when they bit his hands.
"My family means I have to be somewhat careful. I trust you more than most people, that even if you said no you wouldn't ruin me. And I meant it when I said you were attractive," he admitted. He tilts his head to the side, watching him, his gaze intent but warm. He's hoping this comes off better- means they can at least keep talking. This wasn't about Ronan or who was less breakable, but Gansey didn't feel quite equipped to try and say it in a way that didn't hurt. Not when he was already on edge, needed more than a distraction.
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This isn't about Ronan, then. Fine. Good. Declan pushes any thought of his brothers far from his mind.
He doesn't retreat as Gansey advances, but neither does he do anything to welcome him any closer. He keeps that sharp gaze on Gansey, all edges ready to cut if Gansey moves too fast. "I'm not safe, Richard. Just because I can keep secrets doesn't make me a good test run for you being bi-curious."
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He doesn't come too close, lingers at the edge of what seems like it might be more than he's allowed. He meets his eyes, which are still sharp, but not in the same way as they'd been before. But it's still nice.
"Safe as life," he offers in counterpoint. Both because the words are almost reflex, and because they've always been true. For a moment his eyes seem older and the curve of his lips is bittersweet more than seductive. But then he blinks and it's that same easy warmth again, a slight tilt of his head as he watches Declan.
"You haven't told me that you don't want to, Declan," he points out gently. "Just that you're risky." Which is a very important distinction as far as he's concerned. Everything is risky. It's what the shape of it is, how bad the consequences are, and for whom, that make it a bad decision. Consent, desire, those are the pieces he cares about. "I don't mind a little risk. And, I'm not asking you for a test run." He doesn't want someone here hold his hand.
Gansey smiles then, bright and charming, and there's desire in his hazel eyes as he watches Declan, like he wants him to see it. He doesn't want to push too far, but he does want a real answer.
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Declan's hand lashes out, grabbing Gansey by the front of the shirt and hauling him in enough so that he can glare in his face. It's a mistake. Gansey's so close, those dazzling eyes shining with his natural charm and his damaged vulnerability, all that lonely yearning. He's so Gansey up close, a force of nature, and Declan's already far more fragile than he wanted to show. Up close, his defenses are brittle and wearing thin in so many spots.
His hand quivers, and there's no way to hide that up close. No way to hide the desperate and aroused little flick of his tongue across his lips. The impulsive way his eyes drop to Gansey's mouth.
He staggers back, defenses cracked wide open. He doesn't know how to cope with being wanted, and Gansey's so genuine about it.
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He doesn't, but he wants it dearly, and settles instead for just softly pressing fingers to his shirt.
He feels the hand that pulled him in shake, and Gansey swallows, lips parting slightly as his eyes watch that flick of Declan's tongue, the way it looks like desire. His breath is heated as he exhales on the air, hazel eyes catching the way that he's looking at him and it makes him shiver. That sense, just for a moment, of being wanted, and Gansey aches to touch him. To lean into him and pull him down and let the distance evaporate.
Instead Declan flinches back, but he's not as closed off as before, his expression not so cold. There's at least some comfort to that. Gansey doesn't follow this time more than a step, not wanting it to feel like a threat, to try and give him space, a moment to settle.
He can't say please, ask to be let in again, because this isn't easy for him either- reaching out and failing- but the edge of it shines in his eyes. Gansey chases after people so often and rarely feels like any of them would do the same. It makes the moment cut into something raw, makes him feel exposed in ways he hadn't planned for. But he takes a breath, despite how his smile slips a little, uneven on just-parted lips.
"Declan?" He doesn't know what else he can say. Warmth that comes out far needier than Gansey would have liked in the way his voice wraps around his name.
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Then he lets it fall from his fingers, knowing that there's a risk the glass will shatter when it hits the floor. It's a heavy glass and the distance from his fingertips to floor is only two feet. He does it without thinking, and yet a part of him knows the roll of the dice that he's making. If the glass smashes, he'll get up and leave Gansey with the ruins. See what happens when you take risks?
It hits with a thud, rolling onto its side and dripping a faint trickle of liquor across the floor. Declan's eyes remain on Gansey, still that sharp-edged guard in his gaze, and yet he knows from the sound what his gambit has decided.
Lifting his wet fingers to his lips, he lets the edge in his gaze soften into a hooded challenge, almost a hint of seduction. Holding Gansey's eyes, he licks the stray droplets from each finger in turn.
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It doesn't break. But he's still looking at Declan, his pulse rabbit-fast, and watching as that sharp gaze shifts, softens into something softer. Heated with a touch of challenge, holding his eyes there and Gansey feels almost captive to it, watching as he licks the alcohol from his fingers. He gasps, flushed and his eyes a little glassy, pupils dilated as he slowly steps in closer. His skin prickles with heat, with the way desire thrums in his veins, and he wants.
He's not quite so careful, because this feels more like invitation and less like courting a tiger. So soft steps close the distance, and he's a mess of want and desire, insecurities under his skin that precious few people see under his smiles. But Declan isn't the only one here whose defenses are cracked. He brushes fingertips against the strands of his dark hair, and lets his touch trail down the line of his jaw like more than a caress, like awe.
He couldn't explain why this is so captivating, but there's something about the scotch on the other's fingers and Declan on the edge of Gansey's rumpled bed that hits a chord in him, makes it feel illicit in a hundred different ways and he aches as he watches his eyes. Incapable of looking away even if he'd wanted to, and he doesn't. Easier than he could have imagined to surrender, to fall into the moment.
He wants so much it overwhelms him, wants to kiss him, pull him down to the mattress with him, wants hands on his skin and to feel him peel away all the broken pieces. He wants him inside his skin, wants so much it burns, makes him all flushed and seem a little less perfect.
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He's already lost. His defenses are gone. He's helpless, tumbled onto Gansey's bed and gazing up at him, with Gansey's hand on his jaw like a blessing.
"All your adoring followers caught up in your gravity," he goes on, careful not to include himself in the phrasing. "Enrapt by your kingliness, and yet you never take up that authority."
Declan's brows furl, the last walls in his defense, the last feigned skepticism to protect his heart. "Don't you understand that command is a gift? Anything you tell them"--me--"to do, it frees them of the responsibility for it."
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He's not actually oblivious to the image, the veneer of a King and his Court. But it isn't that simple, never has been, not really. He lets his fingertips slide against Declan's skin, because it's easier than putting voice to those truths.
"It's not that easy. Most of the time I don't know what I'm doing and it's-- It eats me alive," he admits, whispers it like a bloody sort of secret. Because it is, it's the worst sort of truth. One of those things that only Adam really knows about him. Only in the dead of night when he crumbles under the weight of it. Sometimes he feels like nothing more than tin painted gold.
There are two images of him, one the very boy that Declan describes: golden and perfect, with command in his fingertips. And then this- uncertain and plagued with anxiety that leaves him shaking at night, who ached with the wanting, guileless and fragile.
He frames Declan's face in trembling hands, can't quite look him in the eyes with so much truth on the air. Even when there's still shadows he can't say.
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"You still have to choose. You have to command. And you'll never know what you're doing." Declan shrugs with a little arch of his eyebrow, cold-edged challenge even while Gansey holds his head in his hands, has him vulnerable and aching. "You want me to rule you, Gansey? To be your reprieve from responsibility? I might slip from your fingers while you're making up your mind."
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But then there's that challenge, the insistence that he still has to choose, to command. And that he'll never know what he's doing. He sighs, and his lips thin. Because he doesn't think that he's wrong, not in the context of the world outside the walls of Monmouth, at least. But there's a small piece of comfort in that his struggles, fraught as they may be, at least make him better than a tyrant.
"Yes," he answers, a flush to his face as he says it, meeting his eyes despite the urge to hide from it. No hesitation or caveats or excuses, even if it would be easier. He's never talked about this. Never admitted to these things- but anything else feels like it would be a lie. There's still that edge of control in how he touches him, though. The way his fingers curl in his hair and pulls a little, like he's unwilling to let go when Declan makes that threat about slipping through his fingers.
"I'm not indecisive, I know what I want. Stay." It should be a question, a request, but it isn't. He's never actually had to let go. He wants so badly to give it all up for a while, but he's never had the luxury.
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Grabbing Gansey by the front of his shirt, Declan pulls him down, leaning up so that their mouths meet. It's not a gentle kiss. Declan's needy and desperate, tongue pushing through into Gansey's mouth to claim him. He needs so much to be desired, to matter to someone, and he doesn't want Gansey to be willing to let him slip away.
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He wants him to take all Gansey can give, and his hands cling to his shoulders, reaching for the contact, the closeness, as much as he can. He craves the feeling so much, the heat and the desire, and he can't cling to him quite tight enough. He moans hot against his mouth, ends up crawling into his lap just to be closer.
He wants so much, and like this it's impossible to hide the depth of it.
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Tangling their tongues together, Declan lets himself get lost in it, sweetness and arousal shared without any thought of consequences or tomorrow. Gansey wants him, and Declan has never been with anyone who wanted him. Him, not his name, not his status, not the bragging rights.
His hands slide greedily up the back of Gansey's shirt, exploring warm skin and muscle, health and strength. Declan's ribs, by contrast, are as sharp-edged as the rest of him. He doesn't let himself indulge, doesn't want to draw attention or take up too much space.
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Right now he just wants Declan. Wants the way that he kisses him with their bodies pressed together against his mattress. The way that he feels wanted, even when he sees the imperfect pieces of him, that he exists beyond the smiles and charisma.
The way their tongues slide together, all heat and want, arousal that sings in his veins. He murmurs into the seal of their mouths, his eyes closed tight as his hand push up the back of his shirt, skin on skin, which is enough to make him ache for more. One of his hands slipping between their bodies, tugging at the buttons to Declan's shirt. It feels almost greedy, but he just wants more. Wants to touch and feel as much as he's allowed.
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There's a quiver to Declan's breath when his own shirt comes off. He's almost translucently pale, genetically predisposed to burn and never tan, and there's too much hollow in his ribs, not enough muscle anywhere. The flat plane of his belly trembles with short, anxious breaths, betraying the nerves that don't make it onto his face.
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"Oh, ah- no. But I want to." A little bit sheepish as he shrugs his shoulders, and if he wasn't already flushed with arousal and desire, the slight flush of his cheeks might have been more obvious. His gaze fastened on pale skin, and he can't help reaching out, tracing fingertips against the lines of his ribs and his hand trembles- like not being in physical contact is painful. There's less muscle on him than he'd assumed, having watched him go rounds with Ronan, but he's still lovely.
Even if it makes him want to do stupid things like bring dinner by on nights when he's busy. But that's a dangerous sort of desire.
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"Is that so, Dick? Came to me for your virginity, did you?" His eyes sparkle with wickedness, suddenly seeming so much younger and playful, like the Declan who had been Gansey's friend years ago.
Dipping his head, Declan nuzzles innocently at Gansey's throat for just a moment before he latches on, suckling hard at the side of Gansey's neck with every intention of driving him wild and leaving him marked.
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