(no subject)

[likeroaringlions]

This is going to turn out to be a terrible idea. Bringing Jim to Rome? There is no possible world in which William will not regret this, and he knows it. But you know what? He can do whatever the fuck he wants, because he's the fucking Earl of Douglas now, and if he wants to make bad choices there is absolutely no fucking person in the entire fucking world who can tell him not to. Not Jamie. Not his dad.

So welcome to 15th-century Rome, Jim.

The immediate view of 15th-century Rome is a bedchamber, with two arched windows on one side looking out onto an open plaza. A large painting of George and the Dragon hangs on the wall.

Comments

[just_cant_lose]

'This is a promising place to start.'

Jim grins and heads straight to the windows to look outside. Being in the 15th century is...not boring. It may be terrible in many ways; lack of electricity, dodgy food etc, but it's still the 15th century.

'Can we end up back here too?'

[likeroaringlions]

"Have to come back here, unless you want to live in Rome forever." William glances over at the windows, but doesn't join Jim at first; he's stepping quietly to the door on the other side of the room, and opens it a crack to look out before shutting it again.

"Half the world out there," he says, now coming over to the windows himself. "All here for the Jubilee. Pilgrims everywhere you step."

[just_cant_lose]

'Might be nice. I could change history from here.'

He turns his head to bat his eyelashes in an exaggerated way.

'I could be your kept man.'

Flirting is obviously more interesting than random pilgrims.

[likeroaringlions]

"I'm no offering to keep you, Jim. Anyone with the sense God gave him would take one look at you and throw you back in the water he fished you out of." He leans into the windowsill, looking out, ignoring the eyelashes, but still shoulder to shoulder with Jim. "What would you do, then? If you stayed here? Join the Church?" He'd go far.

[just_cant_lose]

'God, no. Tedious - even if it is the most powerful institution around here.'

He'd have fun with PR and audience manipulation if he were part of the Church. Not to mention the corruption of priests, and eventual access to alllllll that vast wealth.

...hell, maybe he will stay here. But no, too many other possibilities.

'I'd set up in business, revolutionise science about three hundred years too early, and probably end up with a mob trying to burn me at the stake.' He chuckles, then leans in a bit so his shoulder nudges William's. 'You wouldn't throw me back.'

[likeroaringlions]

"I said anyone with sense would." He scrubs his hands over his face. That nudge from Jim, it was like friendship, but he'd be an idiot to believe it, wouldn't he. "--Anyway, you'd no want to be kept in Scotland, with a plan like that. Not unless you wanted to start by revolutionizing sheep and herring."

There's probably money in that, come to think of it. What a dreary thought. "Is there anything you want to see here? Canny get you an audience with the Pope just now, but there's--a whole city to look at."

[just_cant_lose]

'I wouldn't go to Scotland, I'd stay here. You'd have to come and visit.'

Jim whirls away from William and his contemplation of the nuances of friendships vs...anything else. It is very important he flop onto the bed and see what a 1600s-era mattress is like. He stares upwards, pulls a face, turns, bounces a bit, then sits up.

'Well, that's awful. But more importantly, why can't I meet the Pope? And what's the Jubilee for? Also, why is the patron saint of England on your wall?'

[likeroaringlions]

"Because they don't fucking know the difference here between England and Scotland. I think it's meant to make me feel at home and I haveny had the heart to tell the man whose house it is that he's got it wrong. Anyway, they'd just replace it with a Blessed Virgin."

And then that would be looking at the bed. (The mattress of which is very good by 15th-century standards, and probably very annoying by Jim's.)

"And the Pope is busy today doing Pope things. And the Jubilee is for the remission of all sins and universal pardon. I thought you might like that."

He looks over at Jim, gives up, and sits on the edge of the bed.

[just_cant_lose]

Jim smiles a little bit. And leans against him, or at least close enough that the touch is not just a suggestion of clothes brushing.

'What do I want to see? Not a city.'

This one's easy, because he's not interested in the remission of sins, or a pardon. He turns his head so he's not far off murmuring in his ear.

'Wine, women and song, William. Except men instead of women, and something a bit stronger than wine.'

He can sightsee any time. Early Modern Italy is supposed to be one huge den of vice, and Jim wants to dive in head first.

[likeroaringlions]

"What I've got is wine, Jim," he says quietly. No need to raise his voice, not with Jim so close. "And I've no got any extra men tucked away--not for you to play with, anyway. Sorry to disappoint." William Douglas is a little out of his depths when it comes to any really impressive vice. He could probably think of somewhere to go, if pressed, but he'd be blundering around. "Stranger in a strange land here myself."

[just_cant_lose]

'But darling,' Jim grins, not moving away and just as quietly. 'You've got me here now. And I can find playthings like a pig after truffles.'

Only in a much more dignified way. He tilts his head a little, amused.

'Unless you're finally going to play with me.'

[likeroaringlions]

"Why we're here, isn't it," he says--maybe a little more grudgingly than enthusiastically, because somehow this has to be Jim's fault. And from the way he's frowning it must be Jim's fault too that William reaches up and touches his shoulder and gives a little push.

[just_cant_lose]

'Ohhhhh, was this a date?'

He laughs and then he's pushed, which is a very light touch but enough to make him push back...and stay pushed forward, pressing up against William's side.

'You should have said. I wouldn't have bothered with clothes after all.'

[likeroaringlions]

William has to laugh a little. "I don't even know what a date is. I don't think they've been invented yet, you've picked the wrong man."

His hand spreads out on Jim's shoulder and he works the edge of his thumb just under the collar. "Are you gonny start pretending now you don't want it?"

[just_cant_lose]

Jim laughs again, still quiet, and in one smooth movement goes from sitting next to William to straddling his lap. One hand buries in his hair, the other closes on his collar. Gentle enough, but firm. Far more firm than he would the first time touching a woman.

'No.'

He is not going to pretend that.

'But you need to make a down payment, so I'll stay interested when you inevitably freak out later and try and talk yourself out of it.'

[likeroaringlions]

"I'm no gonny...freak out."

(Firm is good. Firm gives William just enough of an illusion of horseplay going too far, unplanned.)

"And I don't care if you stay interested. You must be, at least a little bit, to be here in the first place. But what do you call a down payment?"

[just_cant_lose]

'You asked me to visit Italy, not come here and shag you.'

And Jim did not expect William to be so suddenly up for it, even though he knows he's been wanting it for about a year. Yay for his father being out of the picture, obviously.

He tightens his grip in his hair just a little.

'Kiss me. Freely, your own volition, no help from me.'

You want it William, you prove it. Jim has no intention of letting him be able to talk himself out of responsibility for this.

[likeroaringlions]

"Kiss you? Get tae fuck, do I have to start talking sweet to you, too? Promise I've never had eyes for anyone else, you're my ain true love, and for bonny Jim Moriarty I'd lay me doon and dee?"

He yanks Jim's hand free from his collar, and puts the knuckles to his mouth. "Good enough?"


Jim may not have been giving William enough credit for knowing what he wants. (Or William may have been doing a damned good impression of not knowing.)

[just_cant_lose]

Jim is perfectly aware that William has been interested because c'mon, why wouldn't anyone be interested in him? But God, he's faffed around the place.

'No.'

He grabs William by the collar with both hands, and drags him in close.

'I want to see if you're any good with your tongue, darling. Do as you're told, and I promise you a night to remember.'

Or at least a few hours, if William proves boring, or scared, or unwilling to try stuff.

[likeroaringlions]

William might prove all three, in the end. But he grumbles, and stretches up to kiss Jim's mouth.

[just_cant_lose]

D'awww, he's being a good boy. That's nice.

Jim pulls back after a minute, and regards him with a tilted head. Then snickers, and slides back off his lap.

'C'mon. You said you'd show me around.'

[likeroaringlions]

He scrunches up his face at the bed-canopy above. "I should take you out of the city into the hills and leave you there. --Aye, right, I'll show you around. Look, there's my men all around, and there's the rest of the household, the place is packed with people staying for the Jubilee. If anyone asks just...say you're Irish."

It's a cunning plan, okay?

He's getting up, combing a hand through his hair, collecting a purse. "Can you ride?"

[just_cant_lose]

'A horse? Or, y'know. You.'

'...either way, yes. And I speak Italian, so don't worry about it. I'll adapt it for time and place once I've listened to a few people.'

He wanders back to the window, and looks out again. It's warm here. Warmer than the pseudo-Scotland of the bar.

'If this place is full of your men, does that mean you're going to be all quiet later?'

Asking for a friend.

[likeroaringlions]

"A horse," William says shortly. "And aye, now that you mention it, it means just that."

He glances over to the window. "I'd prefer to take a couple of horses out, but if you want to see the place on foot we can do that. Can you use a knife or a sword?"

[just_cant_lose]

'Well, that's nothing but a challenge.'

And one he intends to win. Jim's been waiting a long time to get his hands on William, and he's not going to hold back.

'Horses are fine. And I'm better with a knife, but either will do.'

Are they expecting to run into trouble? Fun!