Killian Jones | Captain Hook (onehandedpirate) wrote in blackpoint, @ 2014-05-06 13:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | captain hook, mad hatter |
Who: Jefferson & Killian Jones
When: Today, May 6th!
Where: The HookHatter B&B
What: Strife! Angst! Killian gives Grace permission to date without Jefferson’s approval. Uhhh oops?
Rating: PG-13 at most.
It was an innocent enough event - Half of the week, Killian was the one that escorted Grace to her tutor. On the way, the teenage girl usually talked his ear off and he always returned the favor by telling stories and tall tales from his days on the Jolly Roger. This morning, she’d been more quiet than usual, eventually opening up about the idea of dating and a boy she’d taken an interest in. Killian had been receptive, and his normal, joking, sarcastic self. He hadn’t expected to meet the lad that very morning, but the boy shared a tutor and was a native to the island. Mistaking Killian for an actual parental figure, the lad had asked his permission to “hang” with Grace after their session - he’d given his permission, with only a little good-natured threatening, and received a hug from Grace for his efforts. Returning home, he set to work and made inquiries to the couple they currently had staying with them for the week before seeking Jefferson out. It hadn’t been a thought to ask Jefferson’s permission, not realizing what a decision it was to let a man’s daughter spend time alone with a lad that he hadn’t even met, so the topic didn’t come up right away. Only a short time later, with chores being completed on their usual schedule and a few stolen moments on their end of the house, did Killian finally bring it up. “Oh!” He glanced up from task to bestow a smile on his lover. “Grace is interested in a lad - met the boy today, seems nice. Think I might have managed to put the fear of God into him when agreeing to let her spend time alone with him.” Jefferson had been busy with bed and breakfast details all day. Bills to sort out, minor repairs that had been missed in the renovation. Even now, his mind was still scattered enough that he’d forgotten Grace had approached him earlier with a hypothetical ‘so if I wanted to go on a date’ conversation starter and he’d been stupidly grateful that he actually was too busy at the moment to get into it. Now, as he moved away to hang up some laundry he’d done, it came back to him as Killian’s words hit him like a punch in the gut. Jefferson hadn’t felt this particular combination of emotions in a while: anger, fear, and oddly, betrayal. Even if a quiet part of his mind knew all of that was overreacting, he still slowly turned around, tension clear in the set of his shoulders and the tilt of his head. “You did what?” he asked quietly, with a lack of emotion that was probably more telling than anything else. Killian was still blissfully unaware that the atmosphere had changed in the small room, in the middle of draping a towel across his leg and folding it with his true hand. He glanced up quickly, and faltered slightly when he saw piercing eyes staring at him with quiet calm. It was almost like his heart skipped a beat, seeing the tense shoulders and stance that clearly proclaimed You Fucked Up. It was a sight he knew well - just not from Jefferson. They’d had their moments, of course, as all couples did, but for the most part, Killian preferred to think of them in domestic bliss. Domestic bliss that he was perfectly happy to maintain and move forward, even. Not take a step back. Which had him scrambling to figure out if he was in actual trouble or if it was his imagination. Speaking slowly, Killian shifted forward slightly in his seat. “I met a lad that Grace has been schooling with, and perhaps I gave permission for her to spend time with him, when asked?” His eyebrows creased, worried look creeping up to his forehead. “He seemed harmless, love.” With the confirmation that he hadn’t misheard, Jefferson closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It did absolutely nothing to calm him, but then he hadn’t really expected it to. When he opened his eyes, it was to level a sharp squint at Killian. “Did you think I wouldn’t want a say in whether my daughter spent time alone with a teenage boy, no matter how harmless he may have seemed?” There wasn’t special emphasis on the “my” in my daughter, but there may as well have been for the stab of guilt he felt for phrasing it that way. They hadn’t come up against this wall yet. The one where he had to let Killian into his family completely and not just when things were cruising along nicely without any hiccups like teenage daughters wanting to date. Still, Jefferson did want to let him in. It was where he belonged. That just didn’t stop the fact that being casually sidestepped made him see red and bite off his words, one at a time. “Did you think about me at all, Killian? Or were you too caught up in being the charming pirate to wonder if I might disagree with your decision?” It was like a light switch came on when Killian truly realized he was in hot water. There was no backtracking now, he knew that, but perhaps, with a little charm and cajoling - something he considered himself good at - he could get himself out of the hole he’d dug unknowingly. Killian stood slowly, stepping forward with eyebrows still furrowed together. “Jefferson-” To him, trying to make light of the situation seemed the best option, rather than doing what he should have - which was grovel. “I am powerless against the female pleading eyes, even when they’re in the form of a teenage girl that I’m quite fond of.”He held his hand out, as if trying to make peace. “I wasn’t thinking, obviously. Of course it’s your decision that matters when it comes to your daughter.” Even he was powerless to keep the slight edge of bitterness out of his voice, the more he spoke. “I clearly shouldn’t have made assumptions.” Unfortunately, Killian’s joke only stoked the fire in Jefferson’s gut. He huffed an annoyed breath out through his nose and made a point to turn back to hanging their laundry when Killian reached out. It wasn’t intended as a harsh dismissal, but he knew all too well that he was weak for this man and damn it, he felt like he had a right to be angry about this. It didn’t help that even Killian’s apology didn’t sound like much of one. Between the slightly sour tone and word choice, Jefferson suddenly felt like he was being “the bad guy” in this scenario. He rounded on Killian, the reasonable part of his brain still keeping his tone carefully modulated. “No, you really shouldn’t have. She wanted to talk to me about it this morning, but I was buried in work, so I put it off. She went around me and used you to do it. Quite masterfully, actually. She knows you and your affable nature, and likely figured you wouldn’t want to let her down.” Taking a step towards him, Jefferson reached to tug at his scarf, only belatedly realizing he wasn’t wearing one. It was a subtle, and well-timed, reminder that he was exposed where Killian was concerned. But, more importantly, willingly so. He dropped his chin and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not angry you got involved, Killian. I’m angry you did it without me.” Killian was already backing off from being rebuffed, his hand dropping back to his side and stepping away. He didn’t want to force tactical connections on Jefferson with the heavy topic, and was instead taking a few steps out of way. It had never actually occurred to him that Grace just knew he’d agree - he always did, though - and was using that to her advantage, and Jefferson’s words caused his eyes to widen and narrow again. “Of course she did.” He had the grace to look somewhat ashamed, hand flicking up to fiddle with his ear as his head ducked down. An apology would be apt here, he knew that, but Killian’s pride was causing it to stay stuck in his throat for the time being. “Have I said I’m rather new at this? I haven’t the magical ability to know when you’re going to take offense and should involve you, you know. But I suppose I should just steer clear of decisions made of your daughter, regardless.” It was a non-apology, and one that came across as slightly childish as it was. Spotting Killian’s nervous tic almost soothed Jefferson’s anger. A small twitch of his mouth hinted at a reluctant smile, but then the pirate was talking again and it faded back into a tense line quickly enough. He did step closer though, lowering his head at an angle to give Killian an irritated lift of his eyebrows. “Don’t do that. Don’t get defensive and act like I’m pushing you to the sidelines because I’m offended.” Jefferson’s voice was still quiet, but not quite so careful now. It did ease into something closer to heartfelt, though, as he continued speaking with another step closer. “You are as important a part of her life now as I am and I want you to be happy to be there. I just don’t want you helping her get around me like I’m some nuisance she can shrug off when she thinks I won’t give her what she wants.” Killian stilled for a moment, head rising slightly to give Jeferson a wary and far less determined look. His stubbornness finally died down a little, brain waking up to the point where Jefferson wasn’t trying to shut him out so much as feeling betrayed - an unintentional side-effect of Killian’s desire to make Grace happy. He stepped forward to meet Jefferson halfway, hand sliding up to cup his partner’s neck. His thumb grazed very lightly over the scar there, on purpose. “Hatter-” He cut the nickname off as quickly as it started, beginning again. “Jefferson. I’ll never be as important to her as you are - her father - and as much as I love and adore the girl, I am fine with that. But this wasn’t born out of a specific need to shrug you off, at least not from my end.” He sighed, head dropping down just an inch. “But I should have checked before making a rash decision, I wasn’t thinking it’d bother you, only just that pleased her.” Jefferson felt some of the tension bleed out of him with Killian’s touch and he exhaled some of the rest. “Well, maybe not as important, but the point still stands.” As his anger dissipated, so did the need to keep Killian at a distance. Jefferson curled his arms around him, unconsciously rubbing wide circles across Killian’s back with his palms. “I know you didn’t do it with any bad intentions, Killian. If you had, we’d be having a very different conversation,” he smirked grimly, quirking a brow. Rolling his hands up to Killian’s shoulders, he leaned forward to rest forehead to forehead and mustered up a more gentle smile. “And to be fair, it’s partly my fault she’s got a little bit of a manipulative streak, even if that is something that many teenagers pick up. Just keep it, and me, in mind in the future?” After a pause, his voice took a turn towards dangerous, with a side order of darkly amused. “And tell me everything about this boy. Did you get his address? At least tell me you know his full name...” “I like this part of the conversation where you take some of the blame on yourself, let’s keep that part up.” Killian leaned in, smirk finally gracing his lips as he touched his mouth to the stretch of Jefferson’s neck that he’d just thumbed. He chuckled against the column of Jefferson’s throat bringing his hips in at the dark turn the conversation took, obviously enjoying it when Jefferson became more devious. “Am I going to find myself in trouble again if I don’t know any of these things?” Suddenly worried he might, Killian leaned away slightly and qualified his answer. “But lucky for you, you fell in love with a pirate. A pirate that’s quite good at following people around and keeping out of sight.” Slowly, a devious smile started creeping up his face. “It’s been a long time since we had a stake out and stalked anyone, you know.” Jefferson’s face fell into an exaggerated frown of disapproval before he let a stifled laugh curl the edges of his mouth back into a smirk. “As disappointed as I am in her scheming, I don’t think I want her feeling that distrusted. I’ll…we’ll just have to sit her down tonight and have a talk. I’ll find out enough about him then to satisfy my overprotectiveness until I can meet him for myself.” A thoughtful frown inched his eyebrows together for a moment when it occurred to him that this was hitting a new wall with Grace as well as Killian. As much as she sassed, she’d never really done anything that forced him to consider discipline. And frankly, with their history, he wasn’t sure he was ready to start. Deciding he’d see what she had to say before even peeking down that path, Jefferson shrugged off his frown and zeroed his focus back in on more pleasant thoughts. “In the meantime…,” he murmured, shifting his hands down to Killian’s hips to pull him in snug, “...I think this is where you make it up to me.” “Blast, I was looking forward to stalking the poor lad.” Killian laughed against Jefferson’s lips, pulling him in for a quick kiss. “I suppose I can handle a talk, though. But I think I’ll let you do that talking, as I’m most likely to muck it up and then I’ll have to apologize and make it up to you all over again…” Killian trailed off, and the muppet frown that formed on his face was a clear indicator that maybe that wasn’t a bad idea after all. Even less of a bad idea now that they were in close proximity. Killian wasn’t the sensible one, by any means, which left him without the second guess to making it up to Jefferson and not thinking twice about being in a semi-public area. It was unlikely they’d be walked in upon in the middle of the day, which had Killian already fumbling with the buttons on Jefferson’s clothing. “But for now… As you wish.” |