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Miranda had always liked the beach. All her life. As a kid, then as teen, she had always known the beaches of Spain – in the South and Ibiza and Mallorca and even near Barcelona when she also needed some city time. So Miranda had not grown up knowing the beaches in England – her parents would say, when she asked, why would you go to the beach here when you could go to sunny Spain.
Miranda had agreed. So had Thomas when they met, even if the beach was never his preferred holiday destination, he would go with her to any beach she dreamed of – money wasn’t an impediment for any of them.
James was of another thought. He had showed her so when he had heard her comment about missing the beach. That same weekend he took her to Brighton.
It was nothing like what she was used to. The sand was rougher, and the water was freezing and the waves unrelenting, but it had been a good day and the sun was visible at least – James hadn’t failed in showing her a good time. So he should not have been surprised when she asked him if he would take her and Thomas the next time there was a proper sunny weekend.
That was how James now stood on the ground floor of the building where Miranda lived with one of his professors, waiting for them both to come down. James should have guessed that it was inevitable that he would end up meeting his professor out of the classroom, after all Miranda had never hidden that he was her life-partner – he was pretty sure that was what she called him, even if he didn’t really know what that meant, though she assured him that she was free to date him. But he was nervous about this. But he was used to being nervous around them.
He had been nervous every time Professor Hamilton had asked him to stay after class, they had just talked, and James had liked those conversations, maybe more than he should, he had started to look forward to the times he was asked to stay after. And then Miranda, he was sure she could see inside him somehow, like she could guess what he was thinking or wanting, she could unsettle him so easily.
“James!!” the yell brought him back from his memories, looking up to see both his guests coming out of the lift, each holding a bag, which confused him considering they were coming back tonight, but he stepped up to take Miranda’s bag. “I’m sorry we’re late, darling,” she apologised with a kiss. “Thomas was refusing to get out of bed.”
“It’s too bloody early for any reasonable person to be out.”
James opted not to answer. He felt it was pretty reasonable, he woke up at 0630 every day, and he was better for it. It was now 7 o’clock, that shouldn’t be considered early for anyone above the age of twelve.
“Ohhh, ignore him, James, he’s grouchy in the morning. I promise he’ll be better when we get there.”
“Yes. I’m sorry, James. Our dear Miranda is right, but hopefully the two expressos I had hit me soon.”
“It’s alright, Professor Hamilton. And I’m glad you’re joining us today.”
“Oh, Thomas, please. I’m no longer your professor, James.” Even then he had asked him to call him by his first name, he had introduced himself as Thomas, and then in private he had reminded him again, telling him it felt strange when they were both about the same age. “Miranda has sung praises about your beach,” he told him, when the three of them were finally inside the car.
“It’s not my beach.”
“Of course, of course. But from all the time I’ve known her, she has never wanted to go to the beach in England.”
“Ohhh, hush, Thomas,” she warned, turning to the back of the car. James observed them through the rearview mirror, and he knew they were mouthing something to each other, but he couldn’t read their lips as they moved too fast. “Sorry,” she apologised again, resting her hand on his thigh, sending a million panic signs to his brain – one thing was Profes-- Thomas knowing, another was her putting her hand on his leg here. She must have sensed his discomfort, since she quickly pulled it and then smiled at him as he faced her.
“So what have you been doing since classes ended?”
“Recruitment,” he answered, and then realised Miranda wouldn’t know much of what happened. “Schools is about to end, so it’s always a good time to talk to kids, let them know about the Navy, the opportunities here.”
“You joined right after secondary school?”
“Yes. I wanted to join the moment I turned 18, but I was convinced to finish first.”
“Why did you join?” It was an honest question, but it was hard to explain to her, how do you explain to someone who always had money, that he didn’t have many other options. He couldn’t have afforded university then, and he had been working the same jobs in Padstow since he was twelve.
“A friend of my grandfather was a Captain in the Navy, he thought I would be good for it. He helped me train and then when I got in, he helped me raise through the ranks.”
“And now how does he feel about you going back to school?”
“He doesn’t mind that, as long as I still show up to serve when called.” There were so many other things he minded about James, but he was the closest he had to family by now.
“So that will be your summer, no holidays for you.”
“I imagine so.”
“Such a shame.”
“I can’t imagine you have much time off.” She laughed at that, and he was once again blown away from how beautiful her laugh was.
“Thomas and I take a month off every year, around July and August. After he’s done with exams and all the boring professor things.”
A month off. James couldn’t imagine a thing like that, to do no work for a month, to have no responsibilities. The idea of having nothing to do with his hands, nothing to focus on scared him, he liked having a clear objective to fulfill.
“He was really pleased with your paper,” informed him Miranda, after peaking in a sleeping Thomas. “He would go around the apartment reading excerpts of it. What was it about exactly?”
“Naval strategies during the Golden Age of Piracy.”
“Of course,” she smiled again. “Thomas has always had a thing for pirates, I shouldn’t tell you how many times we watched those pirate movies in cinemas.”
He stopped himself from pointing out how terribly inaccurate they were.
“That may also have been because we found ourselves in love with Orlando Bloom.”
James wasn’t sure how to answer that. He remembered similar thoughts and telling himself he was wrong and confused, that he only wanted to be him and get to kiss Keira Knightley.
“Have you seen The Lord of the Rings, dear James?”
“Yes.” He read the books too, cover to cover more than once, and his Silmarillion was vastly annotated, but he kept himself from saying it.
“Is Orlando Bloom hot in that film? I definitely do not think so, Aragorn is right there and Liv Tyler, James!!! But Thomas used to have a Legolas poster in his room, and I know that he did more looking at it than think about the merits of Middle Earth.”
“I…” he started to say, thinking of how to follow, at the same time starting to blush. Miranda looked at him, he could feel her eyes on him, and he knew his cheeks were reddening even more.
“Sorry, you don’t need to answer,” she apologised, resting a hand on his arm. But the thing was that he wanted to answer, for so long he had been told he could not talk about this, and he had told himself it didn’t matter, until it piled up to just being too tired about it. But wanting to and feeling comfortable to were different things.
“I liked Sean Bean on it,” he said still flustered. “I liked him best.”
“Older men then. I tend to like them younger, you know,” she told him with a smile, as she pulled one of her legs up. “Ohh, bollocks, not that I go to Thomas’ classes to get dates, I was not implying that.”
“I didn’t think so,” he felt himself relax as he noticed that she was the one uncomfortable.
“I felt it may sound like it, considering how we met. I promise I was just there because Thomas had a meet up with other professors and he was bringing me as a date.”
He remembered seeing her, she had taken a seat right next to where he normally sat and he had pondered if he should sit somewhere else, but he didn’t like the back or the first row. She had been too overdressed for any university class, in a dark green pant suit, a black blouse underneath and her hair had been pulled up but with jewels ingrained, he may have been distracted by her hair the entire class.
“You asked for my number, Miranda.”
“First time, I was there for Thomas. Next time I showed up was entirely for you,” she smirked at him at that.
He knew he blushed again, as he went back to focusing on the road. They were well out of London again, but there was still almost an hour to Brighton.
“You should rest,” he suggested seeing a sleeping Thomas in the backseat, he had one leg on top of the other, and he had space – James hadn’t even noticed but Miranda had adjusted her seat – and his head was fallen against the window, and his green and yellow floral shirt was half open and his chest exposed, even as he had pulled a fleece jacket on top of it.
“I’m good,” she agreed. “He’s beautiful asleep, isn’t he? He doesn’t sleep much at night – he’s always up reading. He likes sleeping in.”
He was. He was handsome doing anything, he had realised early into the semester. He wasn’t sure how people could not be paying attention to him in class, every time he had talked, James hadn’t been able to look away, he wanted to hear everything he was saying, and to see him move, to see his smiles and excitement as he spoke, which had become an impediment on him needing to take notes as well.
“I’m sorry I insisted on leaving this early,” he told her, rubbing his thumb across the wheel.
“You don’t need to. I’m sure you’re right about going early, sleeping now, it will help,” she comforted him with a smile. “Do you mind if I read for a bit?”
“Of course not.”
James kept driving, one hand on the wheel, the other reached to squeeze Miranda’s leg, before she pulled back, hugged her knees and got out a book for her to read, it definitely didn’t seem like what he usually saw her with.
“A thriller, James, I enjoy reading them.”
“Enjoy it then.”
James focused on the road then, Thomas was sleeping in the back, Miranda was reading before she herself also fell asleep, and it was just him the road and the radio quietly filling the car. He felt his energy recharged as he drove closer to the sea, he could smelt in the air – which he knew was impossible that he could smell anything but the cars – the sea called for him, like it had always done, and while he didn’t regret taking a step up back from the Navy, he missed being on a ship, and he couldn’t help but hate London.
It was still early enough that there wasn’t too much confusion in Brighton as he drove through its streets, so he could get to the beaches, and he easily parked his car – it would be around a five-minute walk, but that could be done well. But now James knew he had to get them both up, he had been hoping they would wake up on their own, when he parked the car – he stayed parked for five minutes with the music turned up, but nothing happened
“Professor,” he called, turning back to shake his leg. “Professor.” He tried to shake him off, so James insisted. “Thomas, we’re here.” That seemed to have worked as he opened his eyes.
He looked sleepy and adorable, and the question of how he would look first thing in the morning popped up immediately, Thomas ran his hand over his face, before blinking at James, unbuckling his seatbelt and moving closer to him.
“Did Miranda fall asleep? She was planning to keep you company. I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to leave you driving on your own.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mind. I like driving.”
“Ohhh, Miranda and I find it dreadful. And if we have to drive anywhere, I do make her promise to stay awake and keep me company – we like audiobooks.” He still found strange how both of them so often spoke as an unit, as “we both like this” or “we both did this”. “Ahhh, I’ll find a good audiobook to keep us busy in the drive back.”
“There’s no need, I don’t mind…”
“It’s decided, James, there’s no room for arguing,” he said, laying a hand on his shoulder and smiling at him. “I do guess one of us has to wake her up.”
“Is she a bad morning person?”
“I’m worse.” He moved his hand towards the back of her neck. “Dear, James has gotten us to the beach. You need to wake up.”
Just like him before, she grunted and moved more into herself.
“You did the same,” James told him and Thomas laughed.
“Awful guests we are.” But before he could argue with the notion. “Can you please take and mark her book before it falls off?”
James nodded at the order and did as he said, turning the book in his hands reading the title, recognising it from some prime show he had heard about.
“Dear,” he called stepping more to the front, and instinctively James moved his hands to his waist as Thomas almost lost his footing on top of the controls. “Will you wake up?” Thomas moved her leg now, more brutally than James would have, but it was enough to spark her awake.
“We’re here?”
“Yes. James got us here safe and sound, all in one piece.”
“Thank you, darling,” she spoke, now looking at James, running her hand on his thigh once more.
“I think it’s time to go now!!” Thomas exclaimed, sitting back and opening his door, walking to also open Miranda’s as James got out and moved to open the boot. He was faced with the bags they had brought, one seemed to at least be a beach bag.
“Don’t close it!!” Thomas called out, pulling out his jacket. “What you must think of me bringing a jacket to the beach!!”
“You were sleepy, Thomas,” Miranda told him, coming forward taking the jacket, and stopping James from having to think of something to say. “Ah, let’s see what I need.”
She had her beach bag, and then she opened her other one and he could spy a few books and more clothes.
“You never know when you may need a change of clothes, James.”
“She insists on it.”
“Hey, I took your books too, Thomas!!! Any other you want to take?”
“I’m good with the two you packed,” he smiled at her then.
“James, give me your things, I’ll add them to the bag.” He looked down to find he had only brought a towel with him, she took it from him, fast, and he closed the car and took the bag from her.
“Thank you,” she said, kissing his cheek. “You’re a dear.”
She took Thomas’ arm then, resting her head on him as they walked to the beach. James observed them and how Thomas didn’t seem even a little bit bothered that Miranda’s hat was half on his face, and they were talking, whispering to one another, until they stopped, and Miranda turned back to him after a few meters walked.
“James,” she called, offering her hand to him.
“We will occupy the entire sidewalk,” he tried to argue.
“They can go around,” she offered as the most obvious thing, continuing to push her hand to him, and he had no solution but to move her bag to the other side and take it. “Thank you.”
“So where is the better place for us to set up?”
“I like more to the side, there’s less traffic and the water is nice, but we can take--”
“The side it is!!” Thomas exclaimed. “Lead us, please, we’re in your hands.” Those words went through him, he didn’t want to admit how much he liked the sound of it.
James led them then, Miranda didn’t let go of him at any point or of Thomas’ arm, she held onto them like they were the only thing in the world, ignoring the people around them, the kids running forward to the beach and the young couples, making out in the pier, or the older couples also making out.
The only moment she released his hand was when they finally reached the sand and she insisted on taking her sandals off, moving them to the arm locked with Thomas’ and taking his hand again. Both James and Thomas decided to keep their shoes on, and James couldn’t help but finally notice what he was wearing.
“I don’t really own open toed shoes.”
“Those are dress shoes.”
“They’re old ones,” Thomas argued. “It was the best I could do.”
“James, will you help me convince him to let him buy some flip flops?” And then she looked at his feet. “Please tell me you do wear them.”
“I do,” he said with a laugh. “Driving for close to two hours in those or barefoot wasn’t the best option.”
“So that means if we take you with us for a beach holiday, we’ll get to see you in sandals.”
“Yes. Flip flops,” he said with a laugh. Today he had opted for some simple sneakers – they were new, they were something new altogether, he didn’t wear sneakers, even as a kid they weren’t his favorite, but then at university he saw them all around, so for Christmas he got his first pair for himself, this was now his summer pair – he had been told it was essential to make a difference between the seasons.
“There’s a spot there!!” Thomas yelled, pointing ahead, letting go of Miranda and speeding to it. There was this excited look on his face, the same as when a student asked a question he found interesting, and everyone in the class understood they were taking a thirty minute detour into something completely unrelated, either it be common foods from different ancient Mesopotamian empires or a long discussion about Oscar Wilde’s trial.
“I guess Thomas has picked. Does that sound good to you?” James nodded as an answer and dropped her bag on the sand, as they pulled their towels.
James observed as Miranda laid her too big cloth towel on the sand and Thomas fit himself to her, he tried to choose where to go – there was more space next to Thomas, but he didn’t know what to do next to him, he had invited Miranda.
“Ohh, you better take that side, James,” she said as he approached hers, wondering why she was now caring about other beach-goers comfort. “I promise I have space for you in my towel if you miss me.”
He didn’t argue with her, and laid his towel next to Thomas’, finding him smiling at him, and James didn’t know what to do when he kept his eyes on him, as he took off his shirt – the glimpse he had gotten of his chest before had nothing on his naked chest. His skin was light and fair, and mostly hairless, he wasn’t as well defined as himself or the men he lived with in the Navy but he wanted to touch him, to run his hands through his torso, more than he had before.
He knew he shouldn’t be looking at him like that, and as he tried to look away instead he found Miranda, she was already off her dark green summer dress, she had her head turned back as she pulled her hair up in a bun to fit under her hat, as his eyes drifted down, she was in a two piece, dark green as well, but black stripes, it looked beautiful on her, her chest impossible to not hold someone’s eyes, she looked exquisite and everything about her was screaming expensive.
What was he doing here? How did he even belong with both of these people who had single outfits more expensive than his entire wardrobe.
“You’re okay, James?” he asked. He looked down then, both Miranda and Thomas were lying down then, and he couldn’t help but notice that he was wearing something only slightly bigger than a speedo, and left very little to the imagination, and James’ was fertile.
“Yes,” he said, feeling himself flush, and distracted himself by pulling his own t-shirt off, he had opted for beach shorts and he felt overdressed around them both. “I’m going for a swim.” Hopefully that would cool him down, he waited the appropriate time for any of them to offer to go with him, but luckily it was just him and he disappeared down to the water.
“He’s a sight,” Miranda whispered to Thomas as she rested on her elbows as he lay his head next to her.
“He really is. I feel the university should rethink the need for shirts in class.” She sent him a look at that. “I’m not saying mandatory nakedness, but if someone wants to be shirtless.”
“You wouldn’t teach a single thing if James showed up like that in the classroom, and nobody else in the class would be interested on what you’re saying.”
“Hey!! I have very interesting things to say,” he pouted at her.
“I know, my dear,” she said, running her hand through his hair. Before reaching behind her for her book once more and opening it to continue to read where she had left off in the car. She had gotten through two chapters, before falling asleep, and she was happy to read it again, she had heard good things, and she wanted to watch the adaptation – hopefully she could convince Thomas to watch with her.
While she read, she knew Thomas was still observing James in the water, every few minutes she would peek over her book and see him either swimming, talking to some kids, before getting back underwater. She read a bit more and even before he spoke, she knew Thomas was thinking of something to say.
“Are you sure I should have come?”
“Thomas…”
“He could be here with you instead of--”
“He loves the sea, it was the same thing last time.”
“But isn’t he--”
“Don’t worry your pretty brain.”
“Miranda!!”
He would not give her any peace of mind now, she was sure of it, and settled the bookmark on the book and put it aside.
“Come here. Let me put some sunscreen on you.”
He turned around, his head on his arms, as she spread some sunscreen on his back and legs – he hadn’t made it outside since the start of the summer, a bit in the garden at least, which explained some color on his arms, but his legs were white as paper.
“You shaved your legs,” she said as she moved down.
“I thought there was an occasion for such,” he told her, a flirty look on his face. Thomas went through phases for when he shaved or not his legs, he particularly enjoyed them when he planned to put on lingerie, which he may be considering his bathing suit as that.
“Turn around,” she ordered, finishing with the sunscreen on his legs, chest, shoulders and then carefully his face, stopping him from talking only for a bit, as he continued to blabber about James. Before turning to herself, covering her chest and legs in sunscreen.
“Thomas, my back.” She squeezed some sunscreen to her hand, bringing it to her face, as Thomas then took the bottle and starting to rub her thighs. “Please be careful with tanning lines.” His hand pushed under her bottoms, patting her butt cheeks with sunscreen, as he did such, she felt a shadow over them.
“Welcome back, James,” she greeted, looking at him, just in time to see his cheeks redden. “How was the water?”
“Just good.”
“Not cold?”
“No, not at all,” he said sitting down, before rephrasing it as Thomas climbed over her waist. “Maybe a little bit.”
“Ahh, of course a man like you is not minded by cold water.”
“I feel like this is an attack on me,” Thomas commented from behind her.
“He showers with scalding hot water.”
“It’s not scalding,” he argued. “And in case you haven’t noticed I’m helping you.”
“I’m sure James would be happy to help,” she winked at him, flustering him once more. Thomas continued applying the sunscreen and reaching for under the strings and making sure she was well covered.
“Do you normally get to go in the water in the Navy?” Thomas asked.
“Never a good sign if I’m tasting the water,” he told him with a laugh, and Thomas laughed back, stopping James as he was about to apologise. “But if I’m out of service somewhere, I like trying the beaches.”
“Which is the best one you’ve visited?”
“I don’t know. They all bring something different, depending on my mood and what I want to do.”
“Ohhh, what do you do?” Miranda asked interested as Thomas finished her shoulders.
“I sometimes surf or dive or sometimes just swim around.”
“Thomas has been meaning to try some water activities. He did row in university.”
“I wasn’t good at it, but it was expected of me.”
“What had you rather be doing?” James asked him, and she knew Thomas was smiling now – he was so used to people not wanting to know what he wanted.
“I wanted to join the paper. My father thought it was useless, I was doing law with Miranda before and he was paying for it, and I was supposed to join his firm.”
“He was taking History classes as electives,” Miranda shared as he climbed off her back.
“She convinced me do what I wanted. We moved in together, both got side jobs to pay for my university on my own, until I was twenty-one and my father couldn’t keep me out of the money anymore.”
“Who’s your father?” James murmured. He had heard rumors around school, but he had not known who he was.
“A piece of shit,” Miranda said. But Thomas shook his head, saying he’s not important. “Hey, James, you should get some sunscreen. Come here.” She called James over, he was uncertain at first before sitting himself between her legs and she could spread sunscreen on his back. “So many freckles.” She traced them with her finger, she wanted to count them, each one. “Thomas, help me, I’m sure here James could use help with sunscreen.”
“I can perfectly do this, Miranda,” he started, but Thomas had already taken the tube.
“Do you mind?” he asked, stepping between his legs. He was so close and he could see how blue his eyes were, they reminded him of the sky more than the sea, but they were hopeful and bright, and James was taken by them and he couldn’t help but nod.
James could still feel Miranda’s full hands on his back, and then Thomas’ fingers reached for his face, just under his eyes before rubbing into his cheek.
“The face burns easily.” He moved up his nose and forehead, and then moving aside down his ears.
“I’m pretty sure the back of my ears is safe from the sun, sir.”
“Sir?” Thomas asked with a smirk, James hadn’t meant to say it, but it slipped up, Thomas continued with his hands, moving them behind his neck, Miranda’s were there too, he felt two sets applying pressure there, and then her lips before she moved down his arms.
Thomas squeezed more cream into his hands and rubbed his chest.
“What are we doing?”
“Sunscreen, James, it’s important,” Miranda reminded him. As Thomas joined her hands once more, in his arms, moving below the elbow, both massaging his skin, but before either could get more sunscreen in their hands, James took the tube.
“I think I can do the rest,” he pushed for some space and stood up. He was still looking at them there, both below him, trying to wait for his next move. He looked away, their stares were too much and went to his own towel to cover his stomach and legs, but he still found them again, as Thomas tried to lay between Miranda’s legs, but she kicked him off.
“You’re going to ruin my tan, Thomas, move to your side.”
“But I want to cuddle.”
“Ask James.”
Please do not. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to say yes or no. But Thomas didn’t turn to him, he continued to annoy Miranda until she gave him a book to read, and both of them turned to their own thing, and James was left to his own devices.
He lay back down, arms behind his head and looked at the sky. It was a new thing he liked doing – something Thomas had mentioned in class at one point – something he had never had time to do before, always needing something to do, and not just look at the clouds and see the shapes in them to imagine something else. His imagination hadn’t been something he had been allowed to indulge in a long time, though it had always tried to get out.
It was in his head and in that silence he created that he fell asleep, waking not to the sound around him, but to Thomas’ hand on his leg and his face over his.
“You fell asleep,” he informed him. “Not the best to do in the sun.”
“The sun is not bright and strong enough yet to cause problems,” James argued rubbing his face and leaving Thomas with sheepish look.
“It was Miranda who said it,” he said. “Also Miranda wants you to take me in the water.”
“That’s not what I said, Thomas, it was a suggestion,” she was exasperated but smiling, and with an apologetic look, she found James’ eyes. “I’m reading and in an important part and I don’t want to break yet, and he’s desperate to go to the water.”
“And it’s more fun with company!!” Thomas wined, which James knew it was true.
“I’ll go with you. I need some refreshment.”
“Ahh, thank you!!!” he said excitedly and getting up quickly, giving him a close look into his tight swim shorts, and how much they shaped his behind. James looked away, and instead he found Miranda’s eyes and a smirk on her face, and he had to look away again – he couldn’t look at any of them as he got up.
Thomas was midway to the water, but he had stopped before getting there, waiting for him. He was smiling at him.
“Do you remember when you first got into the water?” Thomas asked him when he joined him.
“No. But I can only remember myself in the water. I grew up in Padstow.”
“You mentioned that in class. In our first one.”
“You remember?”
“I remember everything you said.”
“It would take a lot of memory to remember all your students, more than seventy a semester.”
“I said I remember everything about you,” he repeated, turning his back to the sea and pulling on his hand, pulling him along to the water. “I do try to remember everyone’s name. I try to do that, especially if they are the ones who show up to class.”
“At least you don’t ask us to write down our names on a paper at our table like we were in primary school.”
“That’s actually a good idea,” he told him with an evil smile. “I’ll tell the students you were the one to come up with it, I’m sure they can find you in the university to thank you,” he had just finished before jumping off the water. “It’s freezing.”
“It’s not.”
“It is. How can you stand it?”
“You did realise we are in England not Spain?”
“I feel Miranda should have warned me.”
“Yeah, she didn’t like the water either.” She had reacted the exact same way Thomas had, he would not be surprised if she decided not to come in this time.
“Okay, I’m going in,” Thomas committed himself to it. “Please just let me hold your hand.”
Really?! But James was learning there wasn’t much he could or wanted to argue about with these two, so he let Thomas take it, his fingers were long and wrapped around his hand tightly, and James wondered if he would be able to feel his callous on his own soft hand – so unlike one another.
“I don’t want to go in, James.”
“You do have my hand, I guess you would have to go where I take you.”
“It would my pleasure to follow you.”
James blushed at the wording, but pulled Thomas along.
“Come on, just your feet. A professor should set an example.”
“I don’t know, when it comes to the water, a strapping Navy man like yourself seems like a better example.”
“You would think so, but I don’t seem to convince you to come in.”
“I have two feet in the water now, James.”
“You do!!” James was smiling now, big, and it may become Thomas new favorite sight. “Come in a bit more.”
Thomas held his hand tighter and let himself be pulled in a bit deeper, until the water reached his knees and he could now feel the wave break against him. It wasn’t enough to knock any of them off their feet for now, but it was definitely not the water he was used to.
“After we move over the break, we’ll do better. The water is good today.” Thomas looked at the sea, and it seemed too wild for him, even if he knew it was good for what it usually was in England, he had just grown too used to other waters. “Do you trust me?” James asked him.
“Yes,” Thomas asked without a single insecurity.
“Dive with me. Cross this and dive, the water is just a bit deeper after we cross this, and I promise you won’t knock on the ground or a rock.”
“You do remember I’m taller than you.”
“I’ve accounted for that.”
“Good,” he nodded. “Three… Two… One.”
Thomas counted down, letting go of his hand, James stood still to make sure Thomas actually did it, but with his dive, James followed him, right under the waves and coming out on the other side. James surfaced before Thomas did, and he looked around, not being able to see him, he felt his heart tighten, he had been the one to convince him to go under.
When Thomas finally surfaced, he was coughing and his hair all over the place, and James immediately felt some pity for him.
“Are you okay?” James asked stepping to him.
“I’ll live,” he said, still recovering from the coughing, and then reaching to his shorts, pulling them up, and James couldn’t help but notice the V shape leading to his shorts.
“Don’t turn your back to the waves,” James warned.
“I wasn’t planning too. Those are enormous, are you sure it’s safe?”
“It is,” he promised, and then decided to add. “Just stay with me.”
Thomas nodded, but James could sense he was still wary of the waves, even as he took his hands and told him to jump with every wave. Until he decided to change tactics, pushing him to lay down, to float on the water.
“Relax,” he asked of Thomas, resting a hand under his back. “I got you. Just feel the water.”
“Did you do this a lot?” Thomas asked, trying to stand immediately.
“That’s how my grandfather taught me to swim. To float first.”
“I know how to swim!!”
“Stop fighting it, Thomas!!” His sterner voice seemed to work as Thomas settled into the waves, they came and went, and James held Thomas’ body as it floated up and down. James liked the feeling of being in the water and let it take him, let it take the reins and leave his mind emptied.
And after six waves, he considered Thomas ready and let go of him, he didn’t step away far, but crossed his legs under water and floated himself, keeping close in case he needed.
Thomas hadn’t felt James take his hands away, so he was not ready when the next wave came, and there was no one to support him under the movement and he forgot to hold his head out of the water and swallowed some water.
James got spooked once more as Thomas started to cough, and he moved to him again, rubbing his back.
“I’m so sorry. God, I shouldn’t have let go, I should have held you. I promised you,” James pleaded, as one hand continued to rub his back and the other pulled on his own thumb. “I’m so sorry. So sorry.”
“Hey, hey,” Thomas called between the coughing. “I’m okay. I’m okay, James, I’m safe.” His hands framed his face as he repeated his words, he truly was, he should have been the one better at this. He did know how to swim after all, his parents had paid good money to make sure.
“You sure?” James asked, finally realising how close their faces were, his eyesight moving between his eyes and lips.
“I’m very sure, James,” he said, as his thumb rubbed his cheek, and his other hand reached to move his hair out of the way. And then Thomas knew, he knew first of all, that they shouldn’t be doing this here – he was too distracted to notice any waves and he could say with almost full certainty that James would have agreed.
“Okay. I’m glad you’re okay,” James whispered, he was sure he was the only who could hear him, and Thomas was glad they were both okay, as he moved his face forward, closer, as the hand on his cheek, moved to his shoulder, making him able to pull James closer, but sure James could move his head back if he so wanted.
James did at first, and then he brought it closer again, and their lips were touching, finally. Thomas wanted to deepen the kiss, but the open sea was not the place, as he pulled back, his forehead touched James’ then.
“I want to do that again,” Thomas murmured, their lips millimeters from touching.
“Do it.”
“The sea,” Thomas reminded him with a laugh, turning their heads to the waves that kept coming, all definitely taller than at least James.
“Right.”
“We can make out in our towels.”
“Miranda…”
“I can promise you she was sure this was going to happen,” he told him with a laugh, taking his hand, this time intertwining his fingers and holding him tight. “And she will happy share in with the kisses.”
“Who are you? To each other,” James’ curiosity finally got the best of him, continuing to walk backwards, to make sure his back is not to the water.
“She’s my wife,” Thomas answered. “Not according to the church. Or the court. Or her. But she’s my wife, we married when we were seven – it was beautiful.”
James looked at him and he was smiling, but with every word he seemed to only be speaking the truth, even as he sounded ridiculous.
“And you’re going out?”
“We are,” James agreed. “I like your wife.”
“You’d have to be a dumb man not to. I stopped going for dumb men a long time ago.”
“We are at the break,” James warned him.
“I’m going over this time.”
“I’m with you. Just wait for one, and go across right after, before another comes.” The plan works just as said, and there were on firm land in mere moments, no more water to distract them, as Thomas cradled his head again, and pulling him closer, this time letting himself deepen the kiss.
“Good?” Thomas asked, pulling back.
“Again,” James requested.
“I will take that as a yes,” he told him with a peck, before moving closer to his ear. “My shorts are quite restrictive, I think I shouldn’t stand around here much longer… you do things to me.”
“I do?”
“You very much do,” he repeated, still moving his lips on his ear. “I will show you what you do to me the moment you ask.”
“But not here,” James guessed.
“It would not be advised.”
James pulled back then, but still held his hand and they walked back to Miranda. She had put her book aside, and she had a knowing look in her eyes.
“My dear boys, what have you been doing?”
“The water is freezing,” Thomas informed her, dropping next to her on the towel, and resting his head on her stomach, but his hand didn’t let go of James, forcing him to his knees next to them.
“I think you needed the cold water, my dear,” she said, running her hands through his wet blonde hair. “James, please join us, don’t just stand there.”
“Join you?!” he mouthed, looking down at both figures, and lying down on the side of Thomas, he didn’t dare to touch his body, but he molded himself around him, his face dropping next to Miranda’s, not sure what to tell her.
“I knew you liked him, James, no need to be shy about it.”
“How did you know?”
“The way you looked at him, this amazement and glee on your eyes when he speaks, I’ve been told I looked like that at him when he planned our next adventures as children.” Thomas turned to kiss her stomach then – he couldn’t ask for better family than her, he knew that as long as she was with him, he would be safe.
“What are we then?”
“We don’t need words or definitions,” Thomas told him, looking up from where he was, and pushed him closer by the hand, James had no chance but to straddle him, hands and legs on either side of him, as Thomas let go of his hand and brought his face down for a kiss.
James felt Thomas’ hands on his hair, holding him tight, pulling on his ponytail, as he forced their mouths to open, and he felt his tongue once more, the two of them together – he tasted like sea water, and it was like coming home at last. Everything he had wanted, and he had kept himself from having in the Navy.
He didn’t know for how long they kissed, but he pulled back as he found another hand, smaller but just as soft holding onto his hair, and both men, turned their faces to look at Miranda.
“If you both continue this, you’ll be called out for public indecency.”
“I do repeat that my shorts are too tight for this.”
James pulled back at that and dropped back in the towel, this time much closer to them, Thomas immediately throwing his legs on top of him, and James turned his face to peck Miranda’s lips.
“My sweet, will you read to us?” Thomas asked her, a bright smile in his face, that James guessed Miranda was as weak as him on trying to say no to.
“Of course.” As she tried to reach for her book, Thomas was forced to move, pushing himself to fit his head between his chest and Miranda’s, his mouth turning immediately to kiss it, his tongue reaching out to his nipple.
“Stop,” James muttered, covering his chest with a laugh and now Thomas tried to grab his finger.
“Why should I stop?” he asked innocently.
“My shorts may not be as tight as yours, but I promise if you continue this train of actions, they will not offer much protection either.”
“So you like my tongue.”
“Yes, he does, my dear,” Miranda answered instead. “And I’m sure he will let you fully know how much he enjoys the touch of your mouth at a later time. Now can I read?”
“Wait, you’re just going to read? What’s the book about?”
“This is about listening to her voice, to get distracted in the beauty and the different--”
“I’ll catch you up, James, before reading,” Miranda interrupted Thomas’ rant much to his chagrin. But that’s what they did.
Miranda summed up the main intrigue to James and then she read and read, sometimes interrupted by one of James’ theories, but she kept reading until the three of them grew tired and fell asleep, under the light of the sun and risking a sunburn, but they did it together, their bodies molded into one. Their first sleep of many.