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Cornelius Hickey ([personal profile] spotsalone) wrote2025-04-11 07:04 pm
cleansheets: (51 serious)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-06 10:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ For a moment, all Angelo can do is stare at Hickey in bewilderment, too stunned to move from his position by the door just yet. Here he'd been, filled with a nervous tension like an exposed electrical wire, and Hickey is.... Angelo hopes this is a show he's putting on, because the alternative hurts his already grievously injured pride. He refuses to be the only one who hasn't been able to put the matter aside, the only one agonizing over the destruction they are inevitably headed towards. But if Hickey is not going to acknowledge it, well, neither is Angelo. Despite what it may seem, he's had a lot of practice in holding back.

So as Hickey goes through his preamble, Angelo focuses on shifting gears. He does not need to measure the appropriate level of seduction if this is what their evening is going to start off as. It becomes easier to relax his shoulders once he rids himself of imminent anticipation.

By the time Hickey mentions Nelson, he's tuned in enough to be able to frown. The name does not ring a bell even as he strains, but that just means he was not a man worth remembering in the grand scale of history. Only few names from the Middle Ages have retained their spot in common knowledge once mankind branched out among the stars.

Angelo sits down next to Hickey and leans over to glance curiously at the pages as they go past. If that means their bodies are almost touching, then so be it. He's glad he applied his perfume fresh for this.

But why, huh... ]


Three options, as I see it. The first is raw talent - occasionally there are fighter aces who's skill dominates the battlefield too thoroughly to be denied. Any superior worth their salt would want to secure their loyalty, and thus rush to make that soldier become indebted to them. I doubt that was the case here. [ He has never heard of this guy, but being a hater is instinctive. ]

The second is blackmail. He had some dirt on that Nelson guy. And the third is that he was good at making himself appear convenient to the exact needs of the man, more so than anybody else around. People like seeing what they want to see.

[ This is about a man named Hardy, who lived hundreds of years before Angelo was born. So the generalization he makes so casually cannot touch him. It is not hypocrisy, if it has nothing to do with him at all. ]
cleansheets: (57 smile)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-07 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The conclusion to the puzzle hits Angelo so unexpectedly that he actually laughs. They were fucking? And here he thought he was about to get a lesson in the nature of power and influence. ]

Really now? Talk about hiding in plain sight.

[ He pauses here, to actually read the passage for himself, an amused smile playing at his lips all the while. It's only during that short break in conversation that a part of him begins to question the ulterior motives Hickey may have in pointing this out - is this a story Angelo is meant to use as a point of comparison for something? Love and command, being the second to your lover... He can't make heads or tails of it, but it's irritating that he's gotten so used to mindgames that the second-guessing is starting to come naturally.

It's exhausting and irritating, so Angelo decides not to bother with it. If Hickey has something to say, he'll have to say it outright. He looks back up from the book. ]


Guess he must have liked the guy for real if he took the risk of writing this all down.
cleansheets: (26 smile)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-08 08:15 am (UTC)(link)
[ Admire.

The word hits Angelo completely unprepared and unguarded surprise shows on his face as a result. It shouldn't come as a shock, not after how many times Hickey has voiced similar sentiments, but... Who would ever have thought that the man he punched all those weeks back would become so strangely uplifting to be around?

Angelo looks down at his hands for just a second, a little bit bashful. ]


You really lay it on thick...

[ And yet it's clear he's happy about it. After their horrid conversation just earlier today, this feels like balm on a wound. It's a false comfort, he knows, but sweet all the same. He really is making himself far too vulnerable. ]

I'm going to be seen for what I am sooner or later anyway. It's better if it's on my terms. They find it offputting.

[ A beat, and then his smile grows nastier. ]

And it's delicious, to see all those manly grizzled soldier types barely manage to mask their disgust as I order them around.
cleansheets: (06 smile)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-08 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Angelo quirks an eyebrow at 'just getting started'. It's a pointless game to try and seduce him at this stage of things, but he can't bring himself to voice that protest. If Hickey is truly committed to this game of pretending they hadn't just been clawing each others' hearts out, then Angelo is not going to break the illusion just yet. How easily he's become somebody who willingly gets captured by smoke and mirrors. (Has he always been this way? Had Banagher Links had the right of it all along? Angelo won't let himself consider is, not as Hickey's fingertips tickle over his pulse point.)

For a moment, Angelo's eyes trace the light touch of hands to hands, and when he looks back up at Hickey, his smile has gained a bit of confidence. Mean, huh? He wonders, does Hickey want him to be mean to him later? It's hard to imagine, but then again they did start with a punch to the nose... ]


I'll consider stopping to be mean once they stop inviting it so readily.

[ Thankfully, Tozer can't hear them in here... ]

It's too bad you never saw me as a proper soldier... but I'll work my way back to having skill speak for itself to justify my orders. Can't keep being only your 'witch', right?

[ A little tentatively, a little experimentally, he curls his fingers so they run over Hickey's palm in turn. ]
cleansheets: (06 serious)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-08 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Angelo has spent a fair amount of time agonizing over his hands lately. Though he is no stranger to rough conditions, he's never had to perform so much manual labor in such hostile air, and the effects thereof show at the knuckles first of all. Unpleasant roughness is the reward for his hard work. So of course Hickey would carass his hand so gently, wouldn't he? Angelo's efforts prove that he's alive, that he's committed to staying alive, and that he's willing to use all he can. If anybody would appreciate as much, it's Hickey, isn't it?

With Hickey holding his hand close, there is no room for him to move away either. They're shoulder to shoulder, and the room feels almost warm despite the season. ]


I don't think any distance in those cramped piles of fabric can be counted as 'far'. It was miserable.

[ They'd still been far too close! He doesn't like proximity! These are thoughts in his head as he comes to rest his head on Hickey's shoulder. How much further can he probe before it becomes unpleasant? How much more until his heart stops fluttering? ]

Feels like a lifetime ago. Back when I still thought I'd never again tolerate somebody touching me.

[ And more quietly, without further elaboration: ] Now's different.
cleansheets: (68 smile)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-09 08:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ Now this is a familiar script. An arm locking him close to another body, a hand on the thinness of his waist...It's how he'd wanted Hickey to react all along. He'd been so certain this desire existed and he'd thought it would be better received to offer to sate it. He doesn't mind, he thinks, if it's Hickey. He wants to seal the deal with something that is special, even if that special is not necessarily an intrinsic desire of his own.

Nothing could be more special than this, giving up the chastity he fought for so hard. ]


You said something similar to me, way back then. That it was a shame.

[ It's strange to think back on that. Amusing, too. Many things have changed. Proving that point, Angelo takes his hand from Hickey's lap and brings it up to his cheek as he turns his face towards him. The beard feels rough under his equally rough palms. Angelo wonders if they'll be able to hang on long enough that they'll have access to proper hair care again. He dares imagine it, both of them well groomed and the bed wider and smelling softly of detergent. How nice... ]

What kind of promise?

[ His voice is equally quiet, but he consciously holds back on the seductive drawl that had been second nature to him for years. That's not who he is now. That's not who Hickey is speaking to. Not yet, at least. ]
cleansheets: (06 serious)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-09 10:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's a condition that Angelo expected at least, though he's not sure how to put it into practice. What is 'too much'? He's never had the option to define that limit before, and he's gotten through all his encounters all the same. To begin with, he doesn't know how this will feel. The notable absence of repulsion when they were kissing had already felt revolutionary. Hickey seems to believe he can make him feel actual pleasure if he tries hard enough, but Angelo isn't as optimistic. The capacity for such a thing may have been wrung out of his body before it ever had a chance to blossom.

And still, he wants this. To tie Hickey to him with physicality, to be a proper partner rather than someone so broken that you need to make compromise to love him. They could have remained friends instead, of course, but the idea of Hickey seeking physical comfort elsewhere has started to make Angelo sick somewhere along the way. How foolish that is.

How much is 'too much'? Angelo remains silent for a second as he mulls it over. Before today, he would have simply agreed to the promise no matter what, faked his way through if needed be. But Elias says he wants him, all of him, for who he is. More so than Angelo could imagine. Who is he if he can't meet that commitment halfway?

He swallows hard, and nods. ]


I promise.

[ If the disgust returns, he'll take the out. It's the only line in the sand that he can imagine taking notice off in the thick of it. His fingers brush along Hickey's jawline, handsomely defined. ]

... so come and devour me. I want to know what it feels like, with you.
cleansheets: (58 smile)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-12 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Hickey shifts and just like that, he's the only thing Angelo can see. They're the same height yet now Hickey towers over him, as reassuring as he is imposing. When did he start thinking of Hickey as larger then life? When did he stop looking down on him and begin wishing to look up instead? Impossible questions, nonsensical answers.

And then the first clasp of his collar comes undone and all high-minded thoughts vanish from Angelo's mind. Weeks and weeks spent evading stripping even under threat of death, and now he's letting those careful hands lay him bare. It makes this whole thing seem real. His heart feels like it wants to escape his rib cage, a bird flapping its wings inside his chest.

Angelo takes flight and connects their lips the rest of the way. Earlier in the day, he'd kissed Hickey as if it were a show of force, flaunting all his skills and simulating needy urgency in every move. This time, he lives up to Hickey's quiet order, and takes it slow. No tongue, no teeth, just lips against lips, soft and probing. When he breaks apart again, far too soon, his lips are tingling. How odd. ]


... mhm, of course. You'd better appreciate me thoroughly. It's my first time, after all.

[ He laughs lowly as he says it. It's a joke at his own expense, but one that contains a good amount of truth. It's the first time that matters, the first time he chose for himself. And don't men love taking someone's virginity? Angelo watches for Hickey's reaction from the corner of his eye, while his own hand goes searching for the top buttons of his shirt. He's not going to be the only one exposed here. ]
Edited 2025-08-12 19:43 (UTC)
cleansheets: (23 surprise)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-13 07:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Elias fixes him with that look, pupils wide and dark with desire, and Angelo realizes he'd been wrong. A part of his mind had been attempting to treat this analytically. He'd rather claw off his own skin than act out the professional whore here, but he is invested in Hickey enjoying himself to the fullest tonight. He'd believed that this would involve playing to his tastes a bit, figuring things out as he goes. Even after their arguments, even after all this talk of love, he hadn't been able to imagine being wanted for more than his body and the performances he can put on with it. But the way Elias' pitch drops, gravely and heavy... Is it possible for him to believe that that's more than just the whiteness of his skin freed from its usual covers? He's been looked at with lust so many times. Condescending, corrupting, carnivorous lust, casting blame on him for his own predicament. Their pupils had been dark too, their hands had been clammy and sweaty and domineering. Is it possible to believe this time is different? He wants to.

Elias seems to be looking through the mere facts of his body, and when he touches him, Angelo wants to think that his hands are passing right through his skin, deeper, towards parts that matter more. He's been swallowed up so many times, but this time he wants to give more than hard-to-chew exterior. He wants to offer the sweetness of his flesh out of his own accord. There's a shiver down his spine, and it is not unpleasant. ]


Elias...

[ Angelo just barely has the presence of mind to take his uniform jacket and put it aside at the foot end of the bed, rather than leaving it to be crumpled and stained by what is to come. It's a very quick diversion before his arms reach up to wrap around Elias' shoulders, pulling him in. This body that he hasn't allowed anybody to see, the pale skin unmarred except for a few faint scars, he'll welcome Elias to it.

The air around them is cold even within the heated cabin, but Angelo doesn't feel the chill now. Elias' body is warm against his. Angelo drops a tentative row of kisses over his collarbones. He's never been proactive or gentle like this if he could help it, it feels novel. He's sure his cheeks are flushed with embarrassment. ]
Edited 2025-08-13 19:45 (UTC)
cleansheets: (27 serious; angst)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-17 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Angelo's breath is coming more quickly now, an unavoidable physical response that he can't neatly place as either arousal or nervousness. His body is not above reacting to the right kinds of touch, heartbeat rushing blood along until he's growing warmer all over. Elias' fingers are all over him - his body, always thin and thinner now for weeks in the scarcity of the arctic, the surprisingly trained musculature beneath the porcelain skin...

As Elias' tongue slips out to tease at his chest, Angelo can feel his breath hitching and his pants tightening. Ah... Arousal is mechanical. Angelo has learned that very early on. No matter how repulsed one may be, push the right buttons and you can make their body work for you. He'd often wondered if it was a defense mechanism, a feeble attempt of the physical form to draw out just enough pleasure to keep on getting by, to keep living. It had been pointless, anyhow. Only good as a selling point, masking just how detached he'd always been when someone laid their hands on him.

But he's not detached now, not in the same way. His mind is hazy, fluttery, uncertain where to linger and what to move on from, but he feels. His hands stay on Elias' shoulders as he moves down, aimlessly wandering just to keep touching, and Angelo's mind keeps repeating words, like a prayer. Elias wants me. He'll take all of me and spit nothing out. I can't be corrupted by him and I can't corrupt him. It's too late for both of us. He wants me.. He wants me... ]


... I like to say it.

[ He's a little slow to answer, too focused on breathing and feeling. This much is nothing, the lightest of foreplay, but he feels more worked up than usual. ]

It means it's just us. Nobody else matters.
cleansheets: (68 smile)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-17 09:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The smile is disarming yet armed, and it cuts through Angelo's anxieties like a sharp blade. It's the kind of smile Elias would give him when sharing a private joke, when assuring him of his worth, in all those other moments when it's only them and the world doesn't matter. The sheets are not clean, but they're as clean as Angelo can make them. Through his own efforts, in this private bedroom, on the washed sheets, they're still themselves.

Angelo exhales very slowly, willing tension out of his body. He wants me, he wants me, he wants... ]


Go ahead.

[ A whisper, a sigh at the tail end of his breath, an invitation. He doesn't have much wiggle room to spread his legs, but he makes an effort anyway. ]
cleansheets: (70 angst)

[personal profile] cleansheets 2025-08-17 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Angelo huffs at that comment, softly indignant. The banter does well to calm his nerves and keep him grounded. They are still themselves. They can speak in ways he never would have with anybody else. ]

Last time you asked me this, you implied there would be nothing worthwhile to see under my clothes either.

[ Comparing that to the hungry way Elias drinks him in now is a difference of night and day. Dark lustful eyes... Angelo spreads his legs wide to accommodate for Elias between them, and ah... How many times has he been in that exact position, someone else looking down expectantly the way that he is now? It's not his first time having the tables turned, but it's the first time he feels something stir in his heart at being desired so.

So Elias swallows him up and Angelo leans back on his hands, fingers digging tightly into the mattress. His body is perfectly capable of responding as it should, even now, he is finding. There's a twisting feeling in his stomach, a light involuntary twitch of his thigh, and his nerves are burning up with the attention of a tongue over his most sensitive parts. How nice it would be, if he could easily pin-point these sensations as pleasure, but it doesn't come together that way so easily. It's as if he has his own body under a microscope. Instead of drifting far far away, he's now all-too-aware of every tingle and surge.

Is Elias enjoying this? Does it feel good to him, does he enjoy the taste and weight of it? Angelo finds it difficult to imagine, but he hopes so. He's quiet, and largely still, but his chest is heaving and his breath comes out in pants. ]

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