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Linus had woken up to the warm weight of Arthur's arm slung over his middle and Arthur's breath and lips ghosting the back of his neck, which soon turned into Arthur pulling him even closer and kisses once Linus mumbled a "Good morning". Linus and Zoe had made pancakes for breakfast, filled with ripe blueberries and drizzled with maple syrup. Merle had hardly grumbled when he met them at the dock and boarded his boat.
A week or so ago, Arthur had told Linus that the village did actually have a small museum on the area's maritime history, and they started planning a trip to take the children there. They had pre-arranged with the museum staff for the children to be given a tour, like any normal school group visiting the museum, which the museum had readily agreed to.
As he pulled the van into one of the many free spots in the museum's gravel parking lot, Linus just hoped there wouldn't be any unexpected surprises (the existence of unexpected surprises would indicate the existence of expected surprises, something he had been getting very good at anticipating, even welcoming, as he settled down with the kids and Arthur and Zoe on the island).
Arthur squeezed his hand, giving him one of his small smiles Linus loved so dearly as the children had already begun to hop out of the van, excited for this new adventure. When they had learned that this museum specialized in boats and seafaring, fishing and naval history, of course Lucy had decided immediately that this must include bloodthirsty pirates, and the rest of the children followed suit, playing pirates on and off for days leading up to today's trip.
Zoe was back on the island, as Linus and Arthur thought she needed some well-deserved time off. As they had exited the ferry that day, all of them had waved to Helen as she waited her turn in her rusty truck to board the ferry, which, to Merle's displeasure, was immediately heading back to the island. "You do run a ferry, don't you?" Helen had shouted out the window when Merle had looked at her the wrong way. "Then ferry!"
Arthur surveyed the children who were waiting excitedly outside the van. Theodore was walking in circles around Sal, tail thumping on the ground, as Sal listened to Theodore's trills and chirps. Lucy, Phee, Talia and Chauncy were all discussing the giant anchor they had spotted by the museum entrance, how it looked almost as tall as Arthur, and whether it had been used to weigh down a body in the past. "Lucy, Talia, and Chauncy, your buddy for this trip is Linus, Sal, Theodore, and Talia, you're with me."
The tour started off innocently enough. The museum employee who had been assigned to give the tour introduced himself as Lincoln. ("Like the president?" asked Phee. "Yes, just like the president, but unfortunately without the cool hat," Lincoln responded. "And the president is very dead and just bones," Lucy added, with a big smile. "I bet we could-–" "And yes, that's enough, thank you Lucy," Linus jumped in before Lucy could scare the tour guide too much, this early in the tour. He thought it would be best to at least get through most of it, if that was to happen.)
To his credit, Lincoln only looked slightly startled when he first saw in person who he'd be giving a tour to, and recovered quickly. Linus was sure Lincoln had seen it on an email or told by a supervisor, but hearing about someone and seeing someone were two separate things. He was maybe in his late 30's, average height, slim, and had dark, curly hair, and while Linus could acknowledge he was attractive, a knot formed in his stomach at the sight of him next to Arthur that he immediately did his best to ignore.
"All right, is everyone ready to begin? I think we'll start with a Frensel lens that used to be a part of the lighthouse in this very town!" The children's "Oooh" at that made Linus smile.
The tour itself was very informative, and even delved into some history of pirates that had sailed the local waters, which the children listened to, enraptured. Lincoln would smile, at Lucy's pirate impression, at the children crowding around a small submersible to peer through the tiny, thick-glassed window, at Theodore humming along to a sea shanty that a kiosk played. And at Arthur, who would periodically ask questions about some of the exhibits or to the children to get them thinking. A smile that Linus definitely didn't hate, nope, he was completely fine. Totally, completely fine.
Linus hoped with everything he had that Arthur didn't notice that smile, because then… Well Linus didn't really want to think about that either, but sometimes thoughts cannot be helped. He still didn't quite get what Arthur saw in him, despite all of his assurances and kind words. Arthur insisted he was wonderful, beautiful. But it was so desperately hard to convince himself of that, and lord knows he'd been trying. And really, Arthur had spent so much time on the island with the children, and before Linus there had only been Charles Werner (Linus couldn't help but scrunch his nose up in distaste). Other than that, there had been no one else, as far as Linus knew.
What if, with more trips to the village or maybe elsewhere, Arthur saw someone else, someone more handsome, smarter, thinner , more clever, someone just as wonderful as Arthur was, and Arthur compared him to Linus and found Linus lacking and then…. In all truthfulness, could he even blame Arthur for that? However, the part of himself that sounded a lot like Arthur told him he was being absurd, Arthur would never do that, Arthur loved him and only him. Seeing a few other men would never change what Arthur saw in him.
The sound of Arthur's lovely laugh at something Lincoln was saying brought Linus out of his spiraling thoughts. The knot in his stomach jolted to his heart. Enough of that , he thought sternly to himself. But the fear and twist of jealousy remained, as stubborn as anything.
The tour seemed to be winding down. Lincoln had led them to a realistic-looking scale model sailing ship that the kids were allowed to clamber through. Lucy took the helm, delegating Theodore to the mast to look out for enemies (Linus wasn't sure this crow's nest had actually been meant to hold anyone, but it seemed to be fine for Theodore at least), Talia and Chauncy to the cannons, Sal as his first mate, and Phee as their navigator. Lincoln and Arthur were standing off to the side of the ship, talking. There Lincoln was again, smiling at Arthur, laughing at something Arthur said. After a second's hesitation, Linus half-jogged over to join them. Arthur met Linus' eyes as Linus drew near and gave him a quiet smile, just for him. Linus was helpless to do anything but smile back.
"Linus, Lincoln was just telling me about superstitions on ships, it's fascinating stuff."
"Yes, I'm sure it is," Linus said, and immediately winced at the hint of sharpness in his tone. Arthur, ever astute, raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.
"Well, thank you for the tour, Lincoln, that was most enlightening and I think the children really enjoyed it," Arthur said instead after a few moments of silence.
Lincoln nodded, with another smile. "Of course! It was nice to meet you, all of you."
After the children thanked Lincoln from their places on the play ship, he took his leave. Thank goodness, was all Linus could think.
After watching the children play for a few more minutes, Arthur turned to Linus. "It was an excellent idea, to take them to a museum, to take them here. I really do think they enjoyed learning outside their usual classroom very much."
"I–yes, thank you, I think it went well."
"Quite." Arthur cleared his throat. "Is there something the matter? I'd rather talk about it, if we can. If there is actually something wrong. You were so quiet during the tour, and then just now… with the tour guide…"
Linus cleared his throat, embarrassed. "It's nothing really. Just got caught up in my head, nothing to worry about."
"Linus," and oh how did Linus love how his name curled from Arthur's mouth, softly, with feeling, "If it's, whatever it is, bothering you, I do think it would be important to talk about it."
Linus sighed. "Really, it's all rather silly. Lincoln…"
"Lincoln?" Arthur's brow furrowed, bemused.
"He just… he smiled too much? No. Sorry, that's not his fault, he was being cordial. It's what tour guides do! See? I'm just being silly."
"I doubt that. Linus, what–"
Talia seemingly appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Linus' hand and pulling him forward. "Come on, we need your help, or those lousy sailors will win!"
"Well," Linus said, glancing from Talia to Arthur, "we can't have that, can we?"
"No!"
Linus gave Arthur a little apologetic shrug. "We can finish talking about this later?" Not that he was really looking forward to that conversation, but he knew Arthur, and he wasn't going to just let this go.
Arthur nodded. "Later."
~~~
Later came sooner than Linus would have wished. It was evening, the children were all safely tucked away in their beds, and Linus and Arthur leaned against the kitchen counter top, each nursing a cup of tea. Linus had honestly been hoping Arthur had forgotten, but he was never that lucky.
"Linus?"
"Yes?"
Arthur sighed. "If you really don't want to talk about it, you don't have to. But I personally think it would be good. And I think whatever is bothering you must go beyond someone smiling too much."
Linus bit his bottom lip as he thought about what he would say. "It does, I suppose. It's just, it's a big world out there, and as you leave the island more, what if–what if you meet someone?"
"Meet someone?" Arthur looked confused.
"Yes, I mean, there's-there's a lot of people out there, lovely people, handsome people…"
"Oh." Arthur's face cleared as he realized what Linus was getting at. He set down his mug of tea, and pulled Linus into his arms. "Oh, dearest, that'll never happen–ah no, no." Arthur looked sternly at Linus who had been about to protest. "It won't," he said firmly. "There's no one like you, my dear. No one. You are the most lovely, the most handsome to me."
Linus, as always happened in this case, began to glow bright red. "You say that."
"And I mean it, with everything I have." Arthur cupped Linus' face with both hands, softly, gently, like Linus was something precious. He leaned down to kiss Linus, and it was perfect, as always.
As they stood there, in the kitchen, just existing together, in each other's space, Arthur's eyes grew wide with realization. "Linus, you wonderful man, were you jealous earlier? Jealous of that man spending so much time around me?" Arthur laughed, not unkindly. "'He smiles too much', indeed."
"I– No, of course not."
"You were!" A big grin had spread across his face. Arthur looked delighted by the very thought. "Hm, it's understandable though, yes," he said slowly, as if realizing something about himself, "Yes, if he had been trailing you around, I think I would have been too."
Linus squinted up at Arthur, brow furrowed. "Been what? What, jealous? Of me?"
"No, dearest, of him spending so much time with you." Linus scoffed. "No, really," Arthur insisted. "I'd be worried he might steal you away from me."
If he hadn't been as red as a tomato earlier, Linus must be now. He sputtered. "I–that's ridiculous! As if he could even be a tenth as perfect as you–"
Arthur gave him another quick kiss. "And that's exactly how I feel about what you were concerned about. I'm not going anywhere, not when you're around."
Linus took a slow, deep breath. "Okay."
"Good. Now let's see what else I can do to prove it to you."
"I think I'd be amenable to that."
"Good." As Arthur leaned down again to steal one more quick kiss from Linus, Linus could feel Arthur's smile against his lips.