marlowemuses | ❥ sometimes it's meant to be

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❥ sometimes it's meant to be

Charterhouse was one of the most elite, exclusive schools in England.

It housed only boys. Boys of all ages, from ones first learning to button their pants on their own to the ones that couldn't seem to keep their pants on when in interesting company. With a campus that covered more than 27,000 acres, the schools had plenty of room to be spread across. Rich, green grass and old fashioned cobblestone streets—it was the pride of the academic world. Rich in history and pedigree, only the cream of the crop could even glance at an application, much less apply and attend. It was a school for future politicians, royalty, and celebrities. The men bred from Charterhouse were said to be the most cultivated in the world.

And, naturally, the richest. Only those from a well-to-do family could attend Charterhouse. Which was why one Richard Campbell Gansey the Third was one among the golden—like his father before him, and his father before him. The Ganseys were internationally known. Mrs. Gansey: a popular and well-known politician in the United States of America. Mr. Gansey (the Second): an ambitious and clever member parliament. Helen Gansey: fashion entrepreneur and lawyer, likely to end up going into politics once she tired of running the runway.

Richard Gansey the Third: one could only wonder what the future POTUS would do. On the campus of Charterhouse he was a golden boy. Popular—captain of the crew team yet also quite an intellectual, spending a great deal of time involved in the expansion of the library and archiving old, important texts. He was the man that everyone liked and talked to. The laughs of Ganseyboy were oft heard throughout the marble halls of the College campus. Handsome—he was more American than most of his peers, having a presidential and charming look about him, with a perfectly golden sun-kissed tan. Thick brown hair swept back neatly almost always, a square build, gentle olive eyes, and a straight nose. The sort of man that entranced those who spoke to him; that wasn't even taking the velvety, almost magical quality of his voice into account.

What the members of his crew team could never figure out was why Richard Campbell Gansey "Ganseyboy" the Third was always single. Never spoke about his sexual conquests, never brought a girl along to parties (when he attended, reluctantly), never even so much as mentioned being interested in anyone. It boggled their minds. The man spent his time with his nose in dusty old books and wandering around old buildings so often that they had grown concerned; the guy should get laid. As friends, as bros, as fellow eventual members of congress of what-have-you, it was their duty to see their beloved Ganseyboy paired off. Or, at least, getting some kind of action in his youth.

Which was why there was a plan. A plan, and a bet that eventually formed because of that plan. A bet in which a lot of money was placed. For, the subject of their little game (along with good old Ganseyboy) was the iciest, coldest, most shut off of all the students. What was the point if there was no challenge? No doubt, among the boys involved in the bet, there were a few that had been spurned by the ice prince, too. Revenge was a sweet thing. Two birds with one stone: they got Ganseyboy laid and they burned the ice prince that had burned them. Or three—someone was bound to make a tidy profit.

When one of the boys approached the ice prince's brother about setting him up with the charming golden boy on campus, the man had launched at the opportunity—for the happiness of his brother, no doubt, and he was not told about the bet.

That was how it would begin. It was a Wednesday, around 4 in the afternoon, when one of the boys dragged Gansey toward the library. The rest of the boys had made sure it was empty. The one dragging him—Charles Defonte the Second—had begged Gansey for some tutoring in history. It was agreed with Laurent's brother that he would also manage to bring Laurent to the library somehow—and the two of them would be left there together to formally acquaint.

There was no tutoring. Charles shoved Gansey into the library in front of him and then shut the door behind him and locked it. "Oh no," the boy faked a gasp, "the door has gone and locked itself, Ganseyboy! A ghost, it's gotta be. I'll go get the janitor. Be back as soon as I have lunch and then find him!" Leaving a very confused Gansey staring at the door and trying to push it open, to no avail. Locked.

"Do you really think it's a ghost?" he said to no one, because Charles had run off to tell the boys that he'd done his part.

There was another door on the other side of the library that was left for the same to happen to Laurent. Unbeknownst to Gansey, who took a seat at one of the tables and glanced around, quickly. A curious time for there to be no one else in the library.

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"Old Main," Laurent said, indicating with a flick of his finger. His eyes lingered on Gansey for one last moment before he opened the car door and got out. "You may consider yourself to have a standing invitation to Vere," he added, and shut the door, heading for class without any additional context on that invitation.

They were friends, after all. Laurent would love it if Gansey came to visit him. Perhaps over the summer break. They could attend the city festivals, ride through the countryside, explore ruins, kiss in a forest glade...

Cheeks heating, Laurent scrapped that last thought, trying to focus on his classes. His attention remained elusive, all too eager to stray toward Gansey. He lingered, again and again, on the daydream of sitting at a table in the library when Gansey slid up behind him, winding arms around his waist and pressing kisses down his throat which, in the dream, was bare.

He loosened his tie, for once, and made his way to the library.

"Oh it's Prince Bitch," one of the seniors said, laughing and falling into step at Laurent's side. "Too good for us, bitch?"

Lifting his chin and glancing over with a castrating look, Laurent curled his lip and continued walking.

"Aw, you're breaking my heart here, princess. C'mon, just suck my dick once? Royal charity?"

Ignoring this, Laurent kept walking. The senior opened his mouth to say something else, but then one of his friends grabbed his arm and pulled him away, hissing something to him.

Puzzled, Laurent paused to frown at them. It wasn't someone who would usually come to his rescue, and there was something odd about it, some context that Laurent had missed.

His heckler smirked at whatever his friend said, and lifted his hand to flip Laurent off.

Pulling a rude face in return, Laurent walked away. He mulled over the incident on his way to the library, bothered that it seemed to indicate some kind of joke about him that he didn't know. That made him feel distinctly unsafe, but then he reached the library and saw Gansey, and the entire episode was forgotten.

"Gansey," he said, and smiled, pretending that his heart didn't flutter at the sight of Gansey's handsome face.

Gansey had likewise forgotten the incident that had brought them together in the first place. The prankster had scuttled off, no longer interested in being tutored, and nothing else had come of that dare. Gansey had expected something but as time went on it seemed more like the boys had decided to bother someone else.

Which was why when Laurent told him he had a standing invitation and walked off, Gansey's heart felt as light as air itself. It was only when he'd parked the Pig and plopped himself down in class that he realizes that he hadn't had any intrusive thoughts when he was with Laurent, aside from the thoughts related to the man himself. It had been quiet. Normally the inside of Gansey's head was very loud. With Laurent, it felt like it did the day they met in the library. Silent aside the sound of one man's voice.

He spent the entirety of his class staring out the window, contemplating what that might mean, and what he might do about it. He was the sort to mull over something for weeks. Months. Especially once he resolved to keep in check—Gansey knew himself well enough that he didn't feel platonic toward Laurent. But risk their friendship? He didn't know if he wanted to. It was already precious to him.

When class ended he floated to the library, ignoring a series of highfives he would have normally entertained, not even noticing them. Settling down on one of the fine couches by a window, he entertained his thoughts with tales of Northern Ireland until Laurent arrived.

And when he did, Gansey perked up instantly, suddenly very aware of those around him. Because suddenly, it was important.

"Laurent," he greeted, wearing a sloped, happy smile. It was smaller and more muted than his practiced ones, which was a sign that it was real. What truly brightened when he was happy was his eyes—a clear hazel, almost bright green with flecks of brown.

"How was class?" He had been lounging out across the couch but swung into a sitting position so that Laurent could make himself comfortable.

"Fine," Laurent said, and shrugged. "Class." He sat next to Gansey, tucking one leg up and stretching one leg out in front of him. Looking around, Laurent didn't see any relevant books, and he frowned a tiny bit. Getting up, he wandered off without a word and started browsing through the languages section. He found plenty on Greek and Latin, and plenty on modern languages, but none of the Greek books were the dialects he wanted, and there was only one book on Egyptian writing, which was almost a thousand years off from the Hellenistic era texts that he had. Laurent snagged it anyway, and headed to the history section, where he found only two books that were tangentally related. Dropping them into Gansey's arms, Laurent frowned at the minimal and tangental selection they'd found.

"No good," he decided, taking the stack back and dropping it on a table. Taking Gansey's hand, Laurent pulled him from the library.

It was only halfway down the hall that Laurent realized he was holding Gansey's hand. Letting go quickly, Laurent looked distinctly embarrassed for a split second before he pulled up his cool facade. His room wasn't far from the library, and he unlocked it and walked in, trusting that Gansey would follow.

The room was extremely tidy, to a point of repression, marked by several very distinct exceptions. The desk was one, scattered with books and half-done homework, and more books and papers lay on the floor near and around it. Disturbingly, the books and papers on the floor didn't look like they'd been tossed carelessly. They had the distinct splay of items that had been shoved off in a fit of temper.

The bathroom mirror, visible through an open door, was shattered.

"We'll have to raid some of the private libraries of the classics teachers," Laurent said, sitting on the edge of his bed and considering his bookshelf. "But we may as well order most of the books we want. Continental Europe, especially Greece, teach Koine, so we should easily be able to find textbooks with the dialects we want for Greek. Whatever we can find for grammar and dictionaries for the others, and specialized histories of the era. I want to know what that other language is, and it makes most sense to consider what major world powers Alexandria would have been trading and interacting with. What is that, at this period? Persia, though it was sort of still a Hellenistic colony. Mediterranean and Black Sea cultures. Etruscan? No, it would have been Rome by then. Carthage. What the hell language did Carthage speak around... They all looked Hellenistic to me, don't you think? 300 AD?"

Gansey did some skimming of his own when Laurent headed off, trying to see if he could find anything helpful. No such luck. The books in the library were largely catered to what the boys in the school might actually read. Class related content and history books about, of course, the grand and glorious England. English books. Far too much poetry by Frost. Nothing that would truly help them, as far as Gansey could tell. He supposed it made sense; the school bought books based on the classes they offered first, and then considered what the boys might like for pleasure reading second. There were plenty of books by Chuck Palahniuk and Steven King.

Slightly remorseful that he hadn't had time to put the books away, as he preferred to clean up after himself, he was very distracted by the fact that Laurent was... grabbing his hand. Perhaps utterly tame, but holding hands was one of Gansey's biggest relationship fantasies. The comfort it offered, the relationship it showed—not that they were in a relationship, Gansey reminded himself, telling the inner fantasy mechanism of his mind to cool its heels. Friends didn't think about holding hands while snuggling with friends.

When Laurent let his hand go, Gansey's fingers curled inward and he gave his friend a soft laugh to show him that he hadn't minded being dragged along. It was—sad. The missing warmth. Like he had something and that it had been taken away.

Upon reaching Laurent's room he entered easily; even if he was certain he had something of an unwarranted crush on his friend, he wasn't a shy maiden afraid to enter his beloved's bedchambers. It was a bit surprising to find it so... bland? Not much character. Very tidy. Too tidy. The desk was an oasis even with its haphazardly scattered papers on the floor. It was a style he recognized; one of his unofficial room mates had a temper. While he noted the mirror he said nothing. It wasn't his place.

"I can probably call in some favors," Gansey mused, reaching into his pocket and taking out a tiny leaf, which he dropped onto his tongue and began to suck. Almost instantly the minty scent was noticeable. "Some professors don't mind when I browse their collections. Some I can probably sway." Ordering books was obviously no problem.

Listening to Laurent talk was lovely. He could, Gansey thought, listen to Laurent talk all day. Especially when he was so enthused about his subject.

"Carthage... let me think. If memory serves, the original developed from a Phoenician colony. Destroyed during the one of the Punic Wars—third, maybe—around 150 BC... it was rebuilt as Roman Carthage. That may have been around then... we can probably find an account or book about the language and its changes through time. If I had to guess—Phoenicio-Punic? I could be wrong."

Teasing the leaf on his tongue, he considered the timelines.

"I do have some books in my room, if you'd like to take a look."

[I meant 300 BC, whoops!]

"That's a good guess," Laurent said, grabbing his laptop. "And we're going to your room after dinner. Here, look." Pulling up a visual example of Phoenicio-Punic, he flipped through his phone until he found the relevant image. "It is. It's Carthaginian. Annnnd... there are enough sources that it can be translated. Good."

Sitting on the bed with legs crossed, Laurent opened a notebook by his side, browsing to find dictionaries and grammar texts for the languages he wanted and ordering one or two of each. "Do you think that's everything? Koine Greek, Classic Latin, Phoneicio-Punic, wasn't there one in Sanskrit? And Coptic."

"The mystery's been solved. Sort of." Grinning, Gansey studied the images in Laurent's phone while gently sitting on the edge of his friend's bed. He was so thrilled that he didn't even think about how he was sitting on Laurent's bed. Had he, he probably would have stood. It had a different meaning when you had feelings for someone—and if it ever did come to light that he'd ever thought about Laurent in that manner, he wanted to be able to say he had been as respectful as possible. Or something.

But there was translating and history to distract him from thinking too much. "Thank goodness for the internet." While he loved books, the internet was incredibly convenient for quickly looking up images. Not all sources were to be believed, of course, but it was still a bonus.

"If there are some we're forgetting we can order more later," he answered, grabbing the leaf from between his lips and tugging it slowly to get an extra nice, minty taste on his lips. "We shouldn't bite off more than we can chew. I think we should start with the Carthaginian. I feel like it wants us to decipher it, in a way. Do you know what I mean?"

Laurent actually laughed at that, too distracted to notice that it was the first time he'd laughed in months. "I think we should definitely bite off more than we can chew. More fun that way."

His eyes caught for a moment on the leaf between Gansey's full, soft lips, and his glance flicked up to Gansey's eyes, finding that he'd been caught looking. He dropped his attention back to the laptop, clicking order on his purchases.

"I'd love to start with the Carthaginian. I want to get to it before anyone else does, just in case it is something that has been lost for millennia. But unless there's a professor around who has a book on Carthaginian for us, it'll have to be one of the others."

Laurent selected all the pictures and sent them to his printer, which started spitting out pages as Laurent fetched a couple of blank notebooks and a cup of varied pens and mechanical pencils. Several of the pens were chewed on. "Let's organize and identify what we can, so we have some idea of what we have."

Grabbing the five pages that had printed, Laurent returned to the bed and dropped them on top of the notebooks, picking up a page and making a note of the language, skimming a few lines to see if he could identify the specific text. "I don't know this one." Handing it over to Gansey, he grabbed another page and repeated the process, starting to sort out the pages by language and then by author, as possible.

Studying the pages was quiet work and Gansey was steadfast about it. Once he became caught up in what he was doing, nothing distracted him from his work. Not having his own supplies, he had to borrow one of the notebooks and pens. Selecting a sturdy pen from the cup, he began to scribble in one of the books, making notes as thoughts came to him and copying specific words and phrases.

And of course there was sorting. Deciding if two works were by the same author or if two authors just had incredibly similar names. There were some he recognized and some he didn't—which was to be expected. Now that he had time to sit down and really look through the images, both printed out and the ones zoomable on his phone, it was much easier to try and figure out what was going on.

He only glanced up when the sound of thunder echoed throughout the room.

"Oh." Blinking owlishly, Gansey turned toward the window. Fat raindrops were splattering against the glass. "Looks like it's starting."

Laurent also looked up, surprised by the passage of time. "Oh! And we're nearly going to miss dinner."

Quickly gathering up papers and notebooks, Laurent tidied them into a messy bundle which he stuffed into his bag, grabbing Gansey's hand again to haul him out of the room. Locking it, he turned to go and got tangled in Gansey's arm, since he'd forgotten they were connected. Confused, he looked down, puzzled as to how they'd gotten linked again.

"Sorry," he said, letting go. A crease formed between his brows, perplexed as he was by this new tendency he'd developed. "I... that's..." Laurent put his hand behind his back. "Dinner."

Avoiding emotional problems was clearly preferable to facing them. Laurent headed for the outer door, peering out into the rain and wrinkling his nose. "Shall we make a run for it?"

Again, Gansey was winded when Laurent grabbed him and drew him out of the room. It was—an incredibly cute habit, Gansey had to admit to himself, even if it often meant that he'd leave messes wherever he'd been before Laurent whisked him away. This time the books and notes came with them.

"It's all right," he answered quickly, not bothered by it in the last. It seemed like Laurent was embarrassed about it so he wouldn't continue on to say that it was perfectly fine if he wanted to do that, for politeness sake. "Right. Dinner."

Following along, Gansey rested his hand on Laurent's shoulder as he peered outside to see how heavy the rain was. "I... think we can make it," he said slowly, as though he still wasn't quite sure. The rain itself wasn't terrible but it was going to get worse, if the thunder and lightning were any indication.

"If we get soaked, I can always lend you some clothes when we get to my room." Because dinner to go was beginning to look like a good idea.

Laurent's heart stuttered at the hand on his shoulder. It was warm and steady, and made him overwhelmingly want to turn into to the touch, curling into that warm, broad chest.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Laurent flashed him a grin and ran for it. His bag should mostly protect their books, and all they had were notes and copies. More copies could always be made.

He was laughing again as they crashed through the doors to safety, darting up the stairs to the dining hall on the second floor. Grabbing a to-go box, he handed one to Gansey and started loading up with food, twitching and smirking every time the thunder rumbled.

He was halfway through the buffet when the power suddenly went out, miring them in darkness. Laurent just grinned. Shutting his box of food, he drifted his fingertips over Gansey's shoulders and secured his grip on Gansey's sleeve. "Come on," he murmured, closer to Gansey's ear than he realized, and tugged him through the darkness toward the stairs.

The instant they crashed through the doors the rain began to come down even harder, pounding on the building. The cafeteria was desolate; everyone else had grabbed what they wanted and ran for cover already. Even the staff was absent, probably off cleaning up puddles of mud left behind by rambunctious boys.

On Gansey's end he'd stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth almost as soon as he reached the buffet, and had been trying to decide of he wanted to bother eating anything else when the power went out. The only light was what was offered when lightning flashed across the sky, soon followed by the rumble of thunder.

The buildings were old. Power could easily go out with how it was structured, though it rarely did. There were back-up generators in some newer buildings but the older ones remained without. Apparently, most of the money students spent on tuition went into pockets of the board.

Fingertips brushing across his shoulders almost made him shiver in pleasure. It felt good. Way too good. Thankfully the dark was the perfect cover for his flushed face and throat. Paired with a voice so close to his ear that he could feel the warmth of sweet breath? Oh, darkness was his best friend.

Following along once more, Gansey dropped the empty box and swallowed the rest of his roll quickly, sinking into the shadows toward the stairs with his friend. Even though he knew the school well he'd never bothered to scamper around it at night.

"Where are we going?" he asked, keeping his voice low like they were sneaking around, rather than just students stuck in a storm.

"Your room," Laurent said, as if Gansey had forgotten. There was a window in the stairwell, giving them enough light to get down safely. Laurent pulled him back to the main doors, looking down into the downpour. "East dorm, right?" he said, squinting down at the heavy sheets of rain.

Letting go of Gansey's sleeve, Laurent ran, expecting to be followed. He hadn't left Gansey with much choice. It was either follow and be drenched, or stay in the safe haven of the main building and leave Laurent to be stranded and alone on Gansey's doorstep.

He didn't stop running even as he reached the dorm. Long-legged and fast, Laurent darted up the stairs, pausing only briefly on the landing to make sure Gansey was still with him. Drenched now and dripping, Laurent's grin was wide, because he lived for reckless adventure like this, and he'd had so little opportunity to find it until Gansey had walked into his life.

"I've never been lead to my own room before," he chuckled, glancing out the window when they passed it by. There wasn't much time for there to be more said; Laurent darted out into the storm and of course Gansey followed. Leaving Laurent to soak was unacceptable, of course, but mostly because he wanted to chase him. Chase, but never catch.

When he finally managed to catch up he was drenched. Slicking his hair back from his face with rainwater he grinned, delighted. What was a little rain? It was cold but it made him feel so very alive. Right down to the marrow.

"You should run track with those legs!" he proclaimed, chest rising and falling from sprinting. "You're a regular cat." Fumbling in his pockets for his key, Gansey took the rest of the stairs two at a time. When he reached his door he pushed it open, tossing the keys into a bowl on table beside the it.

It was a spacious room, but odd. The living room was like a bedroom, with a desk underneath the window strewn with books and papers, a queen sized bed (unmade) in the middle of the wall, a dresser, a well packed book case, and walls covered in maps. There was a small kitchenette off to the side that was clearly never used and three doors down the long hallway.

Gansey went to the dresser right away and began digging through it. Holding up one of his cotton T-shirts and a pair of his sweatpants he asked, "Do these seem okay? They might be a bit big on you, but they're dry."

Laurent nodded, dropping his bag by the desk and taking the dry clothing. He trusted Gansey now, trusted him not to be crude or lecherous, so he had fairly little problem stripping off his shirt in front of him. His pale skin was pricked with goosebumps from cold, and his pink nipples were hard. His flat stomach fluttered briefly with nerves as the shirt was over his head. He hated being vulnerable, even if only for a moment, even in trusted company, but insisting on changing in the bathroom would be to admit that he was vulnerable, and that was worse.

The dry shirt was too large on him, and it smelled like Gansey. Mint and laundry soap. Laurent felt briefly dizzy.

Kicking off his shoes, he shed his pants almost as quickly. There was a brief flash of underwear--briefs, close-fitted, in a satiny dark blue fabric--and long white legs--the light golden hairs so pale and sparse as to be nearly nonexistent--and then the sweatpants were safely on. "Do I get a tour?" he asked, eyes lingering on Gansey. He didn't want to get caught looking, but he certainly wasn't planning to miss any nudity on Gansey's part.

At least half of the boys would have killed in order to see the young prince strip. Gansey had more decency than that, and politely turned away, digging through his drawers rather than stare. He did catch a glimpse of a lovely pale chest and flat stomach when he bent down to grab his sweater off the floor—his heart skipped a beat. But he forced himself to keep neutral, dragging in every skill his mother had taught him about being passively pleasant and unreadable.

Best change as well. His clothes had quickly grown colder, molding to his body in an uncomfortable way. "I'd love to," he said as he stripped off his shirt in one languid movement, pulling the wet thing off over his head and tossing it at his laundry basket. He was evenly golden tan and had nicely toned muscles from crew; not overwhelming, but enough to give him a nice shape.

"But there's not much more to show you, I'm afraid. The door closest to us is the bathroom, the middle door is—well." He rubbed the back of his neck, hooking his thumb into his pants, which pulled them low across his hips. "Truthfully, I have two roommates. My friend Noah stays in the middle room, and Ronan Lynch—you may have heard of him—stays in the back room. I don't go into their rooms."

Plucking another shirt free from the lot, he pulled a black tee over his head, scrubbing the stiffness out of his thick hair once it was on.

Laurent's heart thudded in his throat at the view, impressed. When Gansey's thumb pulled his waistband lower, Laurent's eyes followed, staring for half a second before he pulled himself back together with an appraising lift of his brows. Nice, unstated, but implied.

"What happens if you have guests?" Laurent asked, giving the exposed bed a glance. "Or if you... are you too American to masturbate?"

He asked it with only the slightest curve of his lips, making it hard to tell if it was a deadpan joke or if he actually expected to be answered.

Gansey's eyebrow arched at the question. It was a valid one, he supposed, even if Laurent was joking. Unbuttoning his wet slacks, he considered.

"Well... I've never had company so that's never been an issue." Most men would be embarrassed to admit that but it was simply a fact to Gansey. No one had ever really interested him enough. Never felt attracted enough. Always had better, more important things to do. "And you'd be surprised at how much Americans do that," he laughed, slacks dropping. His legs were equally well defined with traces of dark hair—nothing overbearing, but it obviously existed. He wore a pair of boxers which were dry enough to keep on, because he was stepping into a pair of cargo pants moments later.

Outside thunder crashed, and Gansey glanced out the window, admiring the storm.

"So—we agreed on hot chocolate, I think?" Looking back to Laurent, Gansey smiled. "I don't cook much but I can boil water. Feel free to make yourself comfortable, or look through my book shelves." Barefoot, Gansey went into the kitchenette to drop a kettle onto the stove and search through his little cabinets for hot chocolate. There was no noise from the other rooms, making it seem quite like they were home alone.

"Sorry my bed's a mess. I don't usually make it. Bad habit."

Laurent smiled at the honesty, glancing again as Gansey changed his pants. He took a seat on the floor, starting to spread out pages again. The problem was that so many of them weren't in any kind of order, and they weren't neatly labeled. In most cases, he couldn't tell any more than language, unless he happened to recognize a passage. A few had labels from existing scroll-ends, but most were just mysteries, and then there were the fragments, which were pages of what was little more than papyrus confetti.

Gansey's confessions rolled around in his mind, and he was pleased by several of the implications. No company, which meant no necessary jealousy on Laurent's part. He could monopolize Gansey's attention as much as he pleased. His American response had indicated that yes, he had perfectly healthy urges as a young man. He could have anyone in the school he wanted, or nearly. He just chose not to. Just like Laurent.

While Gansey made hot chocolate, Laurent finished sorting the now damp, slightly wrinkled pages. Greek, 112. Punic, 59. Latin, 40. Coptic, 15. Sanskrit, 4. He set them all in separate piles, then picked up the Greek stack, clearing the rest away. "What Greek books have you got?"

Grabbing two mugs and placing them on the counter, Gansey glanced over to where Laurent had settled on the floor and the bookshelf not too far from him.

"Let me think... I have a lot of Homer, Sophocles, Herodotus, Euripides, Hippocrates, Aristophanes, Plato, Sappho, Aeschylus... maybe we can use some of those to compare? As for language itself, I have a couple of textbooks. Those are on the bottom shelf."

The smell of cocoa and marshmallows quickly filled the room as he prepared their drinks. It was relaxing; alone with Laurent, domestic during a thunderstorm. It would be a lie to say he wasn't thrilled whenever he glanced at the other man wearing his clothes.

"You said Medea is your favorite?" he asked, heading over to sit beside Laurent with the two mugs, grabbing his blanket off the bed so they could use it.

"Yes," Laurent said, glancing up with an unguarded, genuine smile as Gansey sat beside him, bringing hot chocolate and a blanket. "Thank you."

He sipped at the chocolate, found it too hot, and licked his lips in between blowing puffs of air to cool it. "I love Euripides. I'm partial to Electra and the Bacchae as well, but I think I've read a little too much critical commentary on both, so now I have all manner of opinions and angles on them, which both increases and reduces my enjoyment of them. With Medea, I have only my own appreciation and interpretation of it. It's more private. Intimate. I know what I think of it, rather than anyone else."

Sipping again, even though it was still too hot, Laurent licked his lips and considered the pages. "Should we start with the Medea, to compare it to other versions, or should we work on identifying and translating the unknown pages?"

Bringing his own mug to his lips, Gansey considered what they should do. Chocolate warmed his tongue and, after a few minutes of quiet contemplation he responded, "I think I would like to try to translate the unknown pages. I wonder if there's anything new we can find—perhaps it's a little conceited to think we could discover what some very learned scholars haven't... but can you imagine?"

Gently, he traced his fingers across one of the pages. "I wonder if we'll find anything related to Achilles and Patroclus? I'm not sure if I'd call The Iliad my favorite but I've always been very fond of it, particularly their relationship. And how scholars used to argue about whether or not they were romantically involved. Always fascinating to see how different people interpreted the story and their actions."

Taking a sip of his hot chocolate, he glanced at his friend. "I think they were, personally. I've read that some ancient poets wrote poems about them and their romantic relationship. To find one of those would be lovely." Closing his eyes, he basked in the taste of hot chocolate. "Achilles ordered that when he die, his ashes should be mixed with Patroclus' so they could remain together for eternity. That, I think, is love."

Opening his eyes again, he scanned the Medea text. "But if you like this one we can start on it. It may be easier than diving headfirst into unknown territory."

Laurent's smile widened at Gansey's choice of topic and how he spoke of them. It was unbearably charming, and Laurent felt a wave of desire to kiss him. So Gansey was interested in men. Maybe very much so.

"I always thought it was funny," Laurent said, setting the marked pages aside and picking up the unknown ones, like Gansey had requested, "about how the Athenians used to debate about which of them topped. Plato had some very strong opinions on the topic. Have you read the Symposium?"

Choosing the first page for himself and letting Gansey have the other, Laurent set the dictionary and grammar book between them, then pulled up a few resources and dictionaries on his laptop, starting to work on the translation. He chewed on his pen as he worked, making careful notes on conjugation and declension for each word before writing a loose translation of the line beneath that. It was much slower going than he was accustomed to--the photos were often difficult to read, and he couldn't simply check the annotation of an often-translated text whenever he hesitated on a verb, and the shift in dialect made his head ache, since they didn't have a grammar book for the right dialect.

Leaning over often to consult Gansey, Laurent shifted closer to him so that their shoulders were nearly touching, not minding in the least that their shoulders brushed whenever he glanced over to offer his opinion on a word in Gansey's translation, or to ask to be handed one of Gansey's books.

Gansey laughed genially when Laurent brought up the topping arguments. "I have. I agree—very funny. I would think they might switch it up depending on their mood, but who am I to say for certain? It is interesting how fans haven't changed through the years. I imagine Plato might have some very strong feelings about Game of Thrones as well, were he to see it."

Helping himself to the page he was given, Gansey set to the task of translating. As he had told Laurent, languages weren't his strongest suit, but he was dedicated to trying. They had plenty of reference material but it was harder when there wasn't anything to check it back against. What if they were totally off base? They would never know.

The closeness between them was comfortable. He barely noticed how close they had inched, closing the gap between them slowly but surely. Every so often Gansey returned the shoulder brush, asking Laurent for his opinion on a word just as often. The rain continued to pound down against the buildings, thunder rumbling, lightning flashing across the sky.

By chance, Gansey glanced up from his text and his focus landed on Laurent's lips—lovely, utterly kissable, and he was overcome with a queer feeling that he would very much like to beg a kiss off of his friend. Just one would do. It might be enough. But that was completely unacceptable. To destroy their relationship... it would be terrible. Just the very thought caused an ache in Gansey's heart. It would be painful to lose Laurent. Maybe it was crazy to feel that way having only known him for so short a time... but they met for a reason. Gansey believed that.

After a while he sat up and stretched his arms over his head, revealing a slip of belly as he did so. "This is more difficult than I expected," he admitted, yawning against his palm, "but I think I'm working on a love poem. It seems to be short. What about you?"

Laurent's eyes caught on the slip of belly, unable to resist it. "It's a play, but that's the best I can tell. The dialogue is incredibly obtuse, even for Greek drama, or I'm making a mess of the translation because I'm not used to Koine declensions." Rubbing at his face, he sighed, turning his attention to Gansey's page. "It's a love poem? Read it to me."

He leaned in close because he wanted to see--he couldn't resist the scholar's eternal hope that some of Sappho's nine books of poetry would be discovered. Gansey's shoulder was warm against his own, and Laurent realized too late what he'd done, pressing against Gansey's side and asking to be read a love poem. His cheeks and neck went red, but he stayed where he was. Pulling back guiltily would only make it more obvious.

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