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Later, assuming you don't bleed to death this night.

[ casual, all of it, even though on the inside he's anything but. the thought of freddie almost dying in a dragon-induced disaster is just as unsettling as the thought of him bleeding out on the debris-strewn floor of jem's now uninhabited room. but cassidy's the best version of himself under pressure. at least, he's the version he always strives to be: calm, confident, and in control.

it's only once the danger passes that the gravity of it all really hits him and rattles him to the bones. it's only once he's alone that he lets himself feel the full weight.

freddie's pathetic noise tugs at something in his chest, and almost makes him want to stop whatever he's doing to cause it. but he tries to keep his claim on freddie's hand now that he has it, holding his wrist tight. he does lighten up on the pressure, though, and switches focus to another splinter.

his fingers pause over the shard, and his eyes flit to freddie again. he can't see his face this time, since it's hidden against his shoulder. it's just as well, because then freddie can't see his face either, or the shadow of emotion that passes over it. his voice is a bit rough around the edges when he says, ]

You know that, do you?

I knew the second I looked at you. You looked... shipwrecked.

[The second he looked at him, and he hasn't mentioned it until now. Wouldn't be mentioning it, if he hadn't drunk enough to make things bubble over, and the chances are he may not remember mentioning it in the morning. He'll still think it, though, although the thought won't be enough to make him tread lightly around Cassidy. That's not what he does.

He does, though, wonder at what it is that's eaten away at him. Tells himself he doesn't care: it will be fixed and Cassidy will leave, and that's the way of the place.

But he cares more than he'd like to, navigating around those emptier places.]

Always were, a bit.

[Maybe it's just worn on him more, in the time he's been gone. Not as long for Cassidy as for Freddie, so they discovered, so it shouldn't have managed to hollow him out quite so much.

He takes a long breath, a longer exhale, and looks up.]

Anyway, I'm going to punch you in the face if you don't hurry up, it can't hurt much worse.

[ while freddie might be drunk enough to say what he's saying, cassidy isn't drunk enough to hear them. he's not drunk at all. he's actually never felt more sober than he does right now.

it's not that he hasn't talked openly about himself to a few people here and there, when it fit the flow of the conversation. but he hasn't had anyone cut to the heart of him without him offering anything first. maybe that's not true. maybe he's been offering parts to freddie since he met him. or maybe freddie's just that perceptive. either way, he feels exposed. found out.

freddie didn't ask a question, so cassidy doesn't feel obliged to give an answer. he doesn't say that he's been lost for as long as he's been at sea. he doesn't say that there are only a few people that make him feel less hollow, and freddie might be one of them. he doesn't say that he's afraid to go back. he doesn't say that he's tired tired tired.

what he says is: ]

Drink makes you prattle more than usual, though I'd not thought it possible. [ he blows out a breath, wiping at another spot of blood. then, he admits, quietly, ] Aye, but perhaps there's truth in it.

[ with that, he removes the last of the glass pieces that he can get with his fingers. ]

Now, don't stir.

[ he eases away from freddie and maneuvers back to the bed, where he left the rest of the supplies he brought. the one he brings back to the dresser now is a bottle, half-empty. if freddie really thought it couldn't hurt much worse, cassidy is about to challenge that. taking hold of freddie's wrist again, he removes the gauze he already placed on the one cut and pours the bottle's contents, which smell like whiskey, over freddie's hand. ]

[Cassidy's offered enough, and Freddie watches far more than he lets on. He learns people, when he allows himself the time and space to bother. He's an artist's eye, and no real artist only marks out the surface of a landscape. It's what lives in it that gives it substance and colour.

Besides, like knows like, and if there's anything true about Freddie Baxter it's that he's full of hollow places.

Things have started growing in a few of them, though, lately. He breathes sharply through his nose as Cassidy works the last of the glass out of his hand, and distracts himself with pressing his unmolested fingers to the side of the man's jaw, testing how rough it is, finding its angles. He does nothing more than nod acceptance that what he's said is true. He already knows.

He allows himself to be lead to the bed, all skids and stumbles until he's sat on the edge of it Cassidy takes to medicating him again.

Never will Freddie ever let a man used to ship's doctors treat his wounds.

It's a fucking blessing they don't have neighbours. There are probably noise complaints from half way across the city with how loud Freddie screams, and his good hand finds Cassidy's jaw again - this time with his fingers curled in on themselves.

Then his bleeding hand, a similar fist, pushes into Cassidy's chest - all of it automatic response, a series of punches and smacks and shoves as he crashes out of the room in the direction of the kitchen sink. The reason why might become clear once the noise of his yell stops echoing.]

Burning my fu-uhk. Burning my fucking hand off...

[ for a moment after freddie's disappeared, cassidy remains seated on the bed, the bottle of whiskey in his hand. there's more blood on his shirt now, though it's less of a large blot and more of a frantic smear. it's late, or early, depending on one's perspective. the sky outside jem's window is lighter than it was when cassidy woke with a start, and the adrenaline is starting to wear off.

he wonders if he should even follow freddie this time, or if he should leave him alone to lick his wounds. but even as the thought crosses his mind, he's already rising from the bed and trailing freddie into the kitchen. ]

Better than it rotting off.

[ moving to the sink, he sets his makeshift medical supplies on the counter and washes the blood off his hands under the tap. ]

By Christ, you'd not last a week at sea. Jumping all over like a man being stuck with a hot iron.

[ then he grabs the bottle and turns to lean against the counter. rather than using the whiskey to tend freddie's wounds or torture him further, he puts the bottle to his lips and takes a long drink. ]

Will you cease your running and allow me to finish the job?

I don't want to last a week at sea.

[He's more sullen than sweary by the time Cassidy catches up to him, sitting wobbly on the kitchen counter with his fist submerged into only slightly murky dishwater. He eyes Cassidy with an equally murky look, then turns his suspicion to the bottle.]

If we're lost at sea you can feed me to the sharks. [A soft, slurry mutter.] Could've called John.

[Except he wouldn't, would he. All this time and he's never once asked for help, despite all that's been given. He doesn't ask. Can't. Because he's only got one thing to give back, and he's already given that. He won't ever ask.

Instead he lifts his hand, dripping, and gives it a wary look.]

'S better. I'm fine now.

You'd like tempt me to it, though the sharks may take one bite and spit you back out.

[ he takes another drink. someone with a better understanding, or any understanding, of germ theory might protest freddie holding his hand in the dirty dishwater. someone like john. cassidy blows out a breath. ]

Aye, you could've called him. Perhaps you ought to move in with him, and so the next time you see fit to slice your hand to pieces at four the morning, you'll have someone to tend you to your liking.

[ his tone carries more heat than he intended. as he silently berates himself, he stares at a spot above the sink and tips the bottle against his lips one more time. then he sets the whiskey aside, grabs the gauze and bandages instead, and reaches for freddie's hand.

it's not fine, but it'll keep until he can see a proper doctor, at least. ]

Oh, it'll smart something awful, I swear to it. Once the drink wears off. [ he places the gauze on the deeper cuts to staunch the bleeding, which is already more sluggish than before, then wraps freddie's hand with the bandages to keep the gauze in place. he may not know anything about bacteria, but he knows how to tie a knot. ]

Could just keep drinking.

[This part seems gentler at least, and almost leaves Freddie a quiet observer - reaching across to steal Cassidy's bottle and lift it to his lips, stealing a swallow.

And spitting said swallow out in the sink beside them.]

Jesus, I forgot you drink burning piss. [He opens his mouth to try and evaporate the taste, spluttering softly to help things along. There are some of Cassidy's favoured liquors he'll try, and some that only a man whose sanity left him on a sunny noon on the high seas could force down.

Touching his tongue to the slope of his palate, he tests the current revulsion level and closes his mouth again. Watches, for a moment, as Cassidy works.]

He gave me a key. [Obvious who, surely, though he's replying with a delay.] Haven't used it. And I don't ask him to tend me.

[It's almost the reverse, though it ends up happening. Freddie just finds disaster with more skill than most.]

I was in hospital. He didn't know.

[And he works there.

It's a point of pride, a stubborn fucking point of pride with no logic or reason, but there it is.]

What, did you think I were wasting the good liquor?

[ he gives freddie a look with a raised eyebrow. then he drops his gaze to his handiwork, tucking the end of the bandage. he's standing between freddie's legs now, his hip bumping freddie's knee.

the significance of the key isn't entirely lost on cassidy, though it doesn't have the same meaning in his time. he's not sure what to do with the new information. for now it sits in the pit of his stomach like a small stone. he's looking at the gauze peeking out between the bandages, but what he sees is freddie lying in a hospital bed. after the incident with the dragon, he assumes, though he hasn't seen any pictures yet.

he catches his bottom lip between his teeth. releases it. ]

Didn't say nothing about asking. When you've people who care about you, you needn't have to ask.

[ he didn't ask cassidy to help him. though he might've asked him not to help, if he'd known the methods he'd employ. ]

Why've you not used it?

[ that part is a bit lost on him. maybe he understands less than he thought about why it was given in the first place. ]

[Freddie's response to Cassidy suggesting people care about him is to pull a face and stick his tongue out - almost forgetting to tug it back in before responding to the rest.]

Because. [And that should be reason enough. For a moment it almost seems like it will be - Freddie's distracted with a body between his legs and all the usual, habitual responses to that, not to mention that it's Cassidy so most of them go double. Too bad his co-ordination's bad enough just now that he barely manages to hook a knee around one thigh.]

Because it's not my house, is it. And if I've got a key and I start letting myself in then it may as well be our house. Suddenly I own a house and he owns me. I'd rather swim with the sharks.

[Cassidy tugs the bandage a little too tight and Freddie responds with a little intake of breath, his free hand pressed to Cassidy's chest as though he might push him away.

He doesn't, though. Lets it slide upward, instead, until it finds skin contact at his collar bone. Rubs slowly over his shoulder.]

You're so tense. [Might be that pebble in his stomach.] Someone should help with that.

[ a small, fond smile is given at freddie's antics. a hand drops to the knee that's trying to hook around his thigh. he doesn't do anything except rub his thumb lightly into the indent between bones. a thoughtful silence follows freddie's explanation, though ultimately cassidy is too tired to make sense of the logic acrobatics freddie does to justify why he doesn't get close to anyone. he has his own hoops and backflips to contend with already without figuring out someone else's. they both end up at the same place, anyway.

instead, he glances from freddie to the wall behind the counter to the part of the kitchen to his left, picturing the rest of the flat beyond it. picturing what it would be like to live here by himself, finding it lonelier than he expected. but none of them are meant to stay- in the flat, in the city. it shouldn't matter if freddie stays here or elsewhere.

as he tightens freddie's bandages, he has half a mind to reach for the whiskey again. the hand on his chest stops him, and he lifts his gaze and one of his eyebrows in unison. it's tempting to let freddie carry on, because it's far more familiar than the ground they're on now. and maybe he would, if he thought they would get anywhere. ]

Aye, someone who's not drank half their weight in tipple.

[ he wraps his hand around freddie's wrist to stay its course, and doesn't let go right away. ]

When I was a lad, the surgeon aboard my father's ship favoured sawing off limbs over any other remedy for injuries, [ he says, thinking it will distract freddie from making further attempts. ] Lose the finger to save the hand, he'd say. [ he lowers freddie's unmaimed hand to his lap and flattens it, trailing his finger down one of freddie's. ] Lose the hand to save the arm, lose the arm to save the man.

[ a smile touches his lips. a silent laugh at the memory. ]

Once, I'd gotten a splinter stuck 'neath my nail that I'd not been able to remove myself, and I swear to Christ, I was too scared to see the man, fearing he'd take the whole thing off.

[Lets make no mention of the key they both have to this apartment. It can hardly be called shared ownership, can it, when the place is gently falling down around their ears and neither of them pays any rent. There are far better things for a monthly stipend to be spent on than one of the white boxes this city offers to new arrivals. It's practical. And Cassidy's hardly been a regular occupant, in the time that Freddie's lived there.

He lived by himself, in this flat, for close to a year.

Kept meaning to advertise it but... it's such a commitment. If Jem hadn't found herself with nowhere to go, and not made a fuss over the offer, he'd have been living alone when Cassidy returned, too.

And Jem's gone and Freddie hasn't got much more than a bloodied hand a a room full of things that smell like her to show for it.

And a toaster.

And pretty much anything in the flat that works. Though evidence of her regular cleaning is rapidly vanishing under new layers of muck.

And Cassidy wonders why Freddie won't give the fucking hat back: he lived alone for a year and it's not a thing that he's cut out for. It makes life easier, maybe, when there's a stream of strange faces coming in and out on a nightly basis. But Cassidy might have noticed that stream's dried to a trickle since his return. There was a while where it was practically a flood, and Freddie seemed to have no concern for himself. The door didn't even lock.

Another thing Jem moving in changed. Not for himself but for her.

He looks just the same as when Cassidy left, but he isn't, not really. It's so much easier to impose on other's space, than invite anyone to impose on his. Easier to impose in general, than feel like he's wanted. He still understands want in specific, shallow terms.

He turns his hand over to catch Cassidy's fingertips on their downward trail.]

A tipple's what your gran has after sunday lunch.

[Look, this is important. Also it makes him laugh - and again as he carefully examines Cassidy's fingertips, lifting their joined hands close to his face until the world stops blurring.]

Do you think it's still there? [If it is, it seems like Dr Baxter's treatment is to try and remove it with the lightest drag of his teeth.]

[ the significance of them both having keys to this apartment doesn't leap out at cassidy, but if he ever stopped to think about it, maybe it would. maybe he will stop to think about it, after the revelation about john. regardless of who owns keys to what, he understands this much at least: the apartment would cease to feel like a home if freddie weren't there.

he understands, too, why freddie kept the hat, and he suspects it doesn't have anything to do with the intrinsic value. it's the only reason he hasn't reclaimed it, even though it goes much better with his wardrobe than with anything freddie owns.

and maybe he's noticed that there are fewer strangers coming and going. he never thought too much on it, since it suited him just fine. he never thought too much on why it suited him, either, except that he never sleeps half as well anywhere else as he does in freddie's bed. it could be that it's more comfortable, or that the light doesn't shine directly through the window in the early morning, or that the pipes creak less in his room. it could be.

his mouth hooks into a smile at the sound of freddie's laugh. it only grows as freddie's teeth graze the end of his finger. he laughs, then. dr. baxter might just be worse than dr. hawking. but cassidy's not complaining. ]

Christ, no.

[ his finger catches freddie's lip, his thumb the underside of his chin. ]

It smarted like the Spanish torture, such as I'd not been able to do my duties. So my shipmate nicked the forceps from the surgeon and removed it for me.

[ he turns his hand, so his thumb is on freddie's lip instead, and his finger is beneath his chin. it's tempting. ]

Besides which, it was the other hand.

[ said hand is lifted from freddie's knee, the fingers waving in demonstration. ]

Forceps.

[Something Freddie's more familiar with as instruments for dragging out babies in the distant past, rather than splinters. For a moment he's distracted wondering how big the thing must have been. And then he's distracted by the gentle brace of Cassidy's hand against his jaw, pressing his face closer so he's cheek-to-palm.]

If it happens again I can get some tweezers for work. Or just let me get it. I'm good with my hands.

[He holds up both, noting the bandages around one with faint surprise and a mild huh, the pain and events of the night apparently having floated just out of reach for a moment.

They're gone again as Cassidy lifts his hand and Freddie's stirred to protest immediately.]

Ah- ah, no. Put that back. [His smile's stupid, pressed half into the heel of Cassidy's other palm.] Higher.

Aye, small ones.

[ also known as tweezers, though not as small or fine as the ones with which freddie's familiar. a knife point may also have been utilized. at one point he wished he would've just had the finger removed. less so, after the fact.

his thumb passes over the corner of freddie's mouth. though there are bandages on freddie's hand and blood on cassidy's shirt, and it's nearly dawn and jem's room has been partway destroyed, cassidy's chest expands, just a little, to see freddie's smile. ]

You'll not be good with them for a while, I reckon. Not with one of them, at least.

[ if he were the responsible, twenty-first century type, he'd give freddie a painkiller and several cups of water and put him to bed, then devise to call a proper doctor in the morning.

but cassidy is a responsible-when-it-suits-him, eighteenth-century type, who doesn't fully understand the relationship between alcohol and dehydration, and he puts his hand back where it was before, on freddie's knee. after a moment, he shifts it higher, so his palm is on the center of freddie's thigh. his grin is teasing. ]

High enough?

[Freddie tests his movement against the bandage and finds it more restricted by the strapping than the pain. The bandage will go in the morning, picked away from raw skin and replaced with a couple of plasters, perhaps, the rest of the mess left to dry out in air. He won't be seeing a proper doctor. He's responsible - goes to the clinic once a month, keeps condoms in his wallet even if they're not always used - but it's not like it'll kill him.

He's young enough that mortality doesn't exist yet, except for those bleak intrusions (like Lance) that he's here to fix.]

I'll figure something out.

[Or god help you, Cassidy, because you'll find out what a hand job feels like through ace bandages. It's the hand Freddie usually uses, just as he uses it to paint and sketch and do the majority of texting, so he'll have little patience for waiting for anything to heal.

Then again, patience has never been much of a watch word. He hums a little, shifting his hips.]

Could be higher.

[ mortality is constantly looming for someone in cassidy's line of work, from his century. even so, he likely won't object to whatever methods freddie wants to use to heal his hand, once he's sober enough to realize what he's done to it in the first place. cassidy's fared just fine without modern medicine, although he has far more scars to show for it.

he makes a noncommittal noise. ] Certain I am that you will.

[ he's going to miss the hand jobs in the meantime, because there's on way he's letting freddie jerk him off through the bandages, or while freddie's hand is still injured, bandages or no.

a laugh vibrates in his throat as he slips his hand higher- and higher still, until it's resting on freddie's hip. purposefully north of where freddie probably actually wants it. ]

Here?

[Like playing a game with a difficult toddler - although tricky to say which one of them takes that part. Freddie lets another laugh roll in his chest, shaking his head.]

Back where it was.

[If you want something done properly, do it yourself. And it only takes him a couple of swipes to take Cassidy's hand and push it to that relatively demure place on his thigh.

There's more than one way to sway a ship and Freddie, unsteady vessel that he is, still has enough wherewithal to shift his hips forward until Cassidy's hand gets nudged further up his thigh.

A little more and he'll tip straight off the counter, but spatial awareness isn't his strongest suit just now. He tries it anyway.]

[ this game is much preferable to the one they were playing before, where cassidy had to stop freddie from smashing furniture. now he just has to keep him from falling and causing further damage to himself.

he shuffles closer to the counter, until his hips are flush against it and freddie's knees are on either side of him. a human shield between him and the hard floor. now if freddie tips too far forward, he'll just tip right into cassidy.

the hand on his thigh moves again, and is joined by the other to bracket freddie's face, holding it steady. ]

Come now, [ is all he says before he leans in and presses his lips lightly against freddie's. ]

[Freddie tastes much like he smells, though enough of the liquor on his skin has likely evaporated through panic and pain. Still, Freddie's seen Cassidy near enough drink a bar dry, so tasting like one shouldn't raise too many complaints. He claims the kiss like a small trophy, chasing it back when it seems too light.]

I don't do it on command. [There's a hiccup that was probably meant to be a laugh and another light bump of mouth to mouth, his teeth just catching the edge of Cassidy's lip.] At least, not without a bit more build up.

[ the liquor taste doesn't deter him, especially when he has whiskey on his own tongue. all of the men he's kissed since he started kissing them have tasted like one alcohol or another, and some of the women have, too. it's only when he came here that they started tasting like other things: mints, toothpaste, sugar, a rainbow of flavors. but the taste of alcohol is practically a comfort.

his laugh is a warm huff of air against freddie's lips. he kisses him again, more firmly than before, and again, and again. and somewhere in between he says, ] Reckon something could be done about that.

[ his hands travel down freddie's front, seeking the hem of his shirt and the skin beneath. ]

[Freddie makes him work blind, cupping his good hand against the side of Cassidy's face and blocking his view with kisses that trail lower, nosing against his jawline and nudging his chin up to expose the slope of his throat. His lips press butterfly-light, or clumsy and bumping, lips pressed close or parted enough to breathe hot against his skin.

Somewhere around the seam of throat and shoulder, more a stitching of muscle and sinew on Cassidy's body than Freddie's own boyish lines, there's a muttering.]

I think I'm drunk.

[And dizzy laughter. Freddie looks up with eyes that swim black to blue in the sudden light, reaching to tangle his arms with Cassidy's in an attempt to remove his shirt at the same time as his own comes off.]

[ it takes the maneuvering of the soberer one between them before both shirts are removed. cassidy's glad to be rid of the blood-stained mess, letting it drop to the floor. he blows out a breath- ]

You think so, do you?

[ being reminded of how drunk freddie is just serves to highlight how drunk he isn't. a hand under freddie's chin draws him back up so cassidy can kiss him again. afterwards, his mouth shifts to the side of freddie's face, then his ear, his voice low like he's telling him a secret. in fact, it's not much of a secret at all. ]

Come to bed with me.

[ that way, if ( when ) freddie passes out, cassidy won't have to haul his dead weight, and freddie won't have to wake up on the kitchen floor when cassidy ultimately decides to leave him there rather than haul his dead weight. ]

Fuck me here.

[Like it's a counter offer in a bargain being worked out between the two of them. Freddie swipes his bandaged hand along the counter, 'dusting'.]

Probably as many crumbs in bed.

[The bedclothes get cleaned more than anything else in the flat, but still.

His dead weight is barely a burden, but he's still awake right now and playing the game of chasing Cassidy's mouth wherever it goes, so his lips aren't by Freddie's ear for long but by his mouth instead. It's Cassidy's mouth that Freddie murmurs his name into, a low persuading purr.]

[ it's hardly fair that freddie can be this drunk and still make cassidy want to do everything he says. his hands are braced on the counter behind freddie, and one comes up to skim the path of his spine as he swallows the sound of his name. it travels to the pit of his stomach, warming him from the inside out better than the whiskey. even after all this time, he marvels at the smoothness of freddie's skin.

he catches freddie's bottom lip between his teeth and releases it with a sigh. tempting though the counter offer is, cassidy has a still greater counter argument. ]

Everything we need's in the bedroom. [ unless freddie has lube stashed in the kitchen cabinets- cassidy wouldn't put it past him. ]

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