Work Text:
They’re on leave and tangled in mosquito netting. The hair of James’ leg is soft where it slides along John’s inner thigh. They’re spent and hot and sweaty, but with the night as sultry as it is, there’s no point in rolling away, so John lies draped half across James’ broad blond-furred chest, with one strong arm holding him in place.
The soft stroke of fingertips across his shoulder gives him courage. “We could get a civil partnership.”
James turns his head, startled. The fingertips stop their caresses, but they cup John’s shoulder comfortingly. Still, John can’t bring himself to raise his voice. He’s not…proposing. But. He’s never met anyone like James, and he knows he never will again. “We’re both career. We’d be apart sometimes. But…" He trails the pads of his fingers down James’ arm. The sentiment’s wedged somewhere in his throat. Maybe thinking it hard is good enough.
Maybe it is, because James hums speculatively and his fingers begin to stroke at his shoulder again. When John tilts his head to look up at him, James’ smile is like a sunbeam.
They’re not either of them good at talking, but John thinks, as James kisses and rolls with him in the tangle of bedsheets and mosquito netting, that this works well too.