Max Davies (familylaw) wrote in lazarustheic, @ 2017-12-11 19:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, character: chloe pucey, character: max davies |
who ? Max Davies and Chloe Pucey.
when ? Monday 10th December, after work.
where ? Oxford Street.
what ? Christmas lights and discussion of sex.
warnings/rating ? Non-explicit discussion of sex.
status ? Completed in gdocs.
The snow, at least in central London, had mostly melted, or been cleared away, and the crowds hadn't stopped people coming out for Christmas shopping and to admire the lights. Max shoved one hand into the pocket of his coat as he waited for Chloe to arrive, the other clutched around the handle of a shopping bag. He felt just a little nervous, but he was determined to go through with his plan to tell Chloe her present had been unexpectedly well received. Higgs had promised Max he didn't have to, and he knew that, but he also knew Chloe would be glad if he did. The more Max let himself drift away from those friends who would have a problem with his sexuality, the more Max wanted to appreciate those friends he had who wouldn't.
He smiled when he spotted Chloe coming, waving to attract her attention. He was looking forward to how excited she'd be about Christmas lights. "Apparently, there's a bike tour you can take of the best lights in London," he informed her. "But I got a map and I thought we'd walk as much of it as it takes for us to get too cold." Talking while riding a bike and looking at lights seemed like it would be a challenge. "And this is for you," he said, handing her the Hotel Chocolate bag containing a chocolate wreath that the woman in the shop had assured him would feed ten. It thus seemed, hopefully, just enough chocolate for Chloe. "It's a thank you present," Max said, managing to both blush and smile simultaneously. "For introducing me to the potential pleasures of whips."
--
Chloe was, of course, late. She'd been running late getting home and then she'd gotten distracted by Arran and his sheer existence (and kissing) and then Chloe had needed a better coat for all the non-snow (because there was fuck all snow left) and then she'd had to find a good place to apparate to and finally, Chloe got to where she was meeting Max. "Sorry, sorry, so sorry," she offered sure that Max would've been there before their agreed time. She took the present from him not actually sure what it was for until Max explained and then Chloe's eyes widened. Whatever she might've expected when she'd owled Max that whip, she definitely hadn't expected him to thank her in the street using the words 'pleasures' and 'whips' like this was a thing Max chatted about.
"Are you okay?" Chloe asked and pressed one gloved hand against Max's forehead like that was going to be indicative of anything at all. Then, she smiled widely at Max. "You are so super welcome, Max," Chloe told him. Taking a step closer, Chloe linked her arm through Max's and started walking towards the shiny lights. "So you did ask? What did he say? Did he tell you how he made Arran sing at me? About his love of whips?" It hadn't actually then led to any whips, but Chloe definitely wasn't complaining about what it had led to.
--
Max, for all he was blushing, quite enjoyed having surprised Chloe. It felt easier, paradoxically, among the crowds where he was quite sure no one had time to stop and listen, and where anyway they were all absorbed in their own conversations, a fair number of which weren't even in English. "He did," he confirmed. "He laughed for a long time first. I think he appreciated your joke more than I did." Mostly because Max hadn't known it was a joke, or what the joke had been. Higgs had cleared that up, as soon as he was able. And Max had definitely enjoyed the results, even if he had felt briefly awkward about being in the dark. "He played me the song, too," Max added, blushing as he remembered Higgs' instructions. "He told me to tell you, actually, that we played it all the way through." They hadn't been able to hear it for most of it - or Max had been too distracted by Higgs to concentrate on Rihanna - but it wasn't untrue.
Now that he'd got the telling out of the way, Max felt all his usual awkwardness when Chloe talked about sex come rushing back. He just didn't know what to say. "I mean it," he said after a moment, gesturing to the gift. "Thank you." He knew Chloe had probably sent it more as a joke than a suggestion, but that somehow made Max feel more comfortable with it. Having Chloe dictate his sex life via suggestions would have felt odd. Having it come out of a joke, more at Higgs' suggestion than anything else, felt a lot more natural.
--
Chloe smiled happily when Max confirmed that Terence had laughed, but she did then also frown when Max added that Terence had appreciated the joke more than Max had. "I'm sorry," Chloe offered genuinely. "I wasn't having fun at your expense, Max," she promised Max. It wasn't actually something Chloe had even considered the present might seem like. She mostly had just wanted to offer Terence the same sort of serenading success that Arran had had. She did smile when Max added that he had been played the song and then laughed when Max also informed her that Terence had told him to tell Chloe they'd played it 'all the way through'. "Hopefully the album not the one song," Chloe teased.
The thanks was really unnecessary and Chloe shook her head. "I'm glad the serenading worked, even if Rihanna had to do it," she commented. "Do you think she's just that good? Because I could owl some CDs to Marcus and Kip! Or is it just a Higgs thing? Or maybe it's only a kink thing? Did you use the whip? I could send Marcus a whip, but I think he'd just stop talking to me." She certainly didn't think he'd actively go and ask Kip if they could use it, which was pretty disappointing.
--
"I know," Max assured. "I just - didn't know why it was funny, until Higgs explained." But Higgs had explained, and then it had been fine. And they had successfully been serenaded, which would have made it very hard to be annoyed at Chloe even if Max had been inclined to be in the first place. He laughed, shaking his head. "I honestly have no idea whether it was the album or the song," he said. "It was playing in the kitchen and we'd moved." Also, stopped paying attention, but Max assumed that went without saying.
Max frowned slightly as he tried to follow Chloe's train of thought. "Are Marcus and Kip dating?" He hadn't known that, but then there wasn't really any reason that he should. He still hadn't told Marcus he and Siobhan were dating Higgs, which only meant that it was high time they caught up with each other. "I think I might've stopped talking to you, a year ago." It would've felt like a much crueler joke, then, and Max was pleased things had changed. "We did use the whip," Max confirmed, which he felt had been implied by thanking Chloe for introducing him to the concept, but he managed to repeat it with only a blush. "I don't know if it would be effective if at least one person didn't already know they were interested in whips." But maybe Max was wrong, other people might be much more open to experimentation than Max would've been.
--
Chloe laughed at Max's explanation how he didn't actually know whether it had been just the song or the album. It seemed fair, and encouraged, not to know such detail when sex elsewhere was taking priority. Chloe gave a dramatic sigh and Max's question about whether Marcus and Kip were dating. "No," she half-whined. "Well, I suppose, maybe? But like very much in the sense that dating means having dates," she explained. "Maybe in like five years they'll get to a point where I can suggest whipping," she commented. Though, really, if Chloe was very honest, she wasn't sure whips was something that Kip would be interested in. Then again, predicting people's kinks without having sex with them was very difficult. Unless they sang sexy songs at your husband.
When Max actually confirmed that the whip had been used, Chloe smiled widely. "This is so exciting, Max," Chloe informed him. "Not you and your boyfriend - and wife? - using a whip during sex, though that is exciting, too, but you telling me!" It certainly wasn't something Chloe had ever actually expected to happen, but it was very exciting, even if she couldn't tell whether the red against Max's cheeks was blush (probably) or cold (also). She hummed at his comment. "I guess perhaps that's true. I don't think I've ever tried something new with someone who hadn't done it before, or if I hadn't done it before." It wasn't something Chloe had thought about before but it was true. All of the things she'd tried for the first time had been with someone who'd done it before and all the things she'd then showed others had been things she'd tried before.
--
"Having dates is nice," Max pointed out, though he did realise as he said it that he, Siobhan and Higgs had progressed from dates to sex in the living room rather faster than Max would've assumed himself capable of. Evidently, the fact that they were adults who didn't have to sneak around Hogwarts made a difference. Max knew Marcus rather better than he knew Kip, so he said, "Marcus has been friends with you this long. I don't think he'd actually stop speaking to you. He'd know you didn't mean it to embarrass him." Still, it might be safer not to send it - especially since there wouldn't be any other context.
Max hadn't, yet, mentioned the whip to Siobhan, but he assumed it was only a matter of time. He didn't keep things from her, and it would be rather easier to tell her than it had been to tell Chloe. Especially since Max assumed Siobhan would enjoy the results as much as he had - Higgs had definitely been worth seeing in his reaction. "I thought you'd be excited by me telling you," Max agreed, pleased that he'd been right. He couldn't, yet, quite imagine telling any of his other friends, but he'd known Chloe would be nothing but pleased for him. He couldn't quite understand why it was exciting, but then Chloe did get excited about most things, so it wasn't out of the ordinary. "Even if they hadn't tried it, some people might know they were interested." People more in touch with their sexuality than Max had been. "And that might be enough."
--
Chloe wasn't all that convinced that Marcus would appreciate her sending him sex-aids, but she also wasn't really planning to so that was fine. Chloe did shrug when Max expressed that having dates was nice. "Yeah, but having sex is also nice," she argued. "You can even have sex on dates. I certainly do." Chloe wasn't actually sure whether her and Arran now going out doing activities counted as going on dates, but they had definitely had sex when they had gone on dates. Twice on the first one. It was very memorable and had ended in marriage (seven months later), so clearly it was a pretty good strategy.
"I am excited," Chloe nodded. "I'm also very happy for you." She really was, it was nice to see Max so relaxed. It was still far from the sort of relaxed Chloe felt Max's boyfriend was with sex, but it was definitely a nice start. "He's good for you, isn't he?" She commented with a smile. "You seem so much happier. Not that you didn't seem happy before but there's... I don't know, like a lightness to you?" It was hard to quantify but Chloe knew it existed. She hummed again when Max explained his point further. "I suppose maybe if you watch a lot of porn you kind of know what you'd like to try?" She pondered. "But alternatively, there might be things you just don't know are, you know, things? So it helps if your partner's tried it before." Chloe knew she was hardly shy about sex, but she was sure that there must've been a lot of people out there having bad sex just because they didn't know what good sex for them would be.
--
Max laughed, hardly able to deny that having sex was definitely nice. "You're right," he agreed. "I think both is probably the ideal." Max and Higgs and Siobhan hadn't really been out on a date, but they'd had dinners, and Max counted those as dates. Plenty of them had also lead to sex. "Siobhan, Higgs and I are going to go out for our anniversary. I need to pick a really good restaurant." Max was quite proud that they were going to go out, and he knew without them needing to say it that Higgs and Siobhan had been pleased with how he'd made the effort to suggest it. "Higgs likes good food, but I don't want to go somewhere too fancy." And, of course, there'd have to be light options for Siobhan. Somewhere with a million courses, even if they were small, was going to seem intimidating. Probably, Max was going to put entirely too much effort into choosing somewhere. Still, he didn't mind that.
"I'm happy for me, too," Max said, smiling. He nodded easily at Chloe's question. "He definitely is. They both are." Siobhan had never been as hesitant to talk about sex as Max was, but before Higgs she hadn't pushed Max as much, afraid to make him uncomfortable. Now, she balanced Higgs well, Max thought. They both supported him, and he wanted to improve for both of them. "I'm not afraid the world's going to end if someone finds out I like men," Max said. "I think that makes a big difference." He would have known Chloe wouldn't care, for herself, but he had thought she'd think - not wrongly - that he ought to be open with Siobhan, and Max had always feared what would happen if he did that. Now, he didn't have to. "I imagine you feel a lot less self-conscious if you're not both trying for the first time," Max agreed. "But not everyone feels self-conscious, so maybe it depends on the person."
--
Chloe gave a small 'ooh' when Max shared his anniversary plans with her. She mostly just kept forgetting to ask Arran if they were having plans and what they might be and if Arran had any fucking idea when their anniversary even was. "Oh, I can help you with that," Chloe promised when Max talked about picking a restaurant. "I'll ask my mums, they're foodies, I'm sure they'll have some excellent recommendations." They would definitely be able to suggest something that might fit all of the things that Max was after, or wasn't after. "Are you surprised?" Chloe asked. "That it's been almost a year?" She kind of was for herself and Arran, it felt like no time at all. It was thrilling to think that they had so much more time still left to do fun things together.
Max's confirmation earned him a wide smile from Chloe. She truly was very glad to see Max so happy. When Max explained how what made a big difference was how he felt, or rather how he didn't now feel afraid. Chloe got that, understood how such worrying would've made Max... well, sad. "I'm very proud of you," Chloe told Max honestly. She laughed when he mentioned being self-conscious. Chloe definitely agreed that it wouldn't help. "Did I tell you that when Arran and I turned into teenagers we had sex? That was an interesting experience. Neither of us had done it before." It was certainly a very different experience than the sort of confidence both of them felt when it came to sex now. "I think it's just something you work up to. Feeling confident about sex."
--
Getting a recommendation from Summer and Signia seemed quite likely to result in going to a restaurant Higgs would actually like. Probably more so than if Max picked by himself. "I'd appreciate that," he said, smiling. "Yes and no," Max answered, unhelpfully. "It feels right. The longer it goes on, the more right it feels." The more, if Max was honest, he couldn't imagine not being with both Siobhan and Higgs. They made him happy in a way he hadn't been happy before, and Max didn't know how he'd carry on without their support. He would, at least, still have Chloe, and Roger, and that knowledge felt comforting. It wasn't something Max had trusted a year ago, when he'd imagined that Siobhan would leave him and Roger would be furious and Chloe would think him a coward. "At the same time, it feels like more's happened in one year than ought to be possible." Max didn't think he was blowing his own trumpet when he thought about how much progress he had made. He'd gone from never having had sex with a man at all to not only whipping Higgs, but telling Chloe about it. It was a greater transformation than Max thought any other year of his life had produced. "Are you?" he asked. "You and Arran went from not knowing each other to being husband and wife, that's quite a change."
Max was proud of himself, too, but it was nice to think his friends with proud of him. "Thank you," he said. "It means a lot." He hummed, honestly not sure. Chloe told him so many things that sometimes it was difficult to keep track. "Were you self-conscious?" Max asked. He couldn't quite imagine Chloe being self-conscious, but then he'd never met her before uni. "I certainly was, with Siobhan." Unsurprisingly, perhaps. "I think it helps to have people who make you feel confident." It wasn't, Max realised, something he'd offered Siobhan to begin with. Hopefully, he did now, and Higgs certainly did now.
--
"I'll get them to owl you," Chloe promised when Max accepted her offer to get her mums to suggest some food places for him. She hummed when Max said that it felt like a lot had happened in the last year. "It has," Chloe agreed, both for him and for her. She smiled when Max asked whether she felt surprised by it having been a year. "I suppose? But not really. It feels right, like I should be married to Arran." Which yes, this time last year Chloe hadn't know she'd want or have, but now it felt strange to think she wouldn't have it. "Arran and I are excellent married people together." They really were, to each other at least, which was the thing that mattered.
Chloe smiled at Max's thanks, which was definitely unnecessary but she accepted it anyway. "Oh yes," Chloe nodded with a laugh. "I was fifteen and the most I'd ever done was have a boy touch my breasts. And Arran was so keen - not like pushy or anything, but just nice and interested." He definitely had been that. "And he held my hand when I cried earlier that day, so I knew he would be great to have sex with," she joked. He had made her feel very safe, though. "It honestly was better than my actual first time." Which made Chloe very glad for having been able to have that experience. "He made me feel confident," she commented thoughtfully and then smiled. "He does now, too." Even though Chloe felt perfectly confident about a lot of things, there were also a lot of things she didn't. Having Arran there to help her with the struggles she'd had over her ADHD was something Chloe appreciated a lot.
--
Max smiled. "I'm happy that you're so happy with him," Max said, honestly. Feeling like you ought to be married to your spouse was, as far as Max could tell, a pretty good way to feel. "I'm sure you are excellent married people." At least, Max assumed so. Higgs also seemed pleased about Arran and Chloe, as did Roger, and Max felt they knew Arran well enough to know that he seemed as happy to be married as Chloe did. "Have you got any plans to go and jump off things or tightrope walk next year?" he asked, since that seemed to be something Arran and Chloe liked doing together.
Oddly, Max could sort of see the connection between holding Chloe's hand when she cried and having sex. "I feel like Higgs would be very proud of him for all of that," he said, slightly teasing but also thinking that it was probably true. "I'm glad none of my first times had to involve tears." Either his own or anyone else's. Max had held Siobhan's hand while she cried in the past, but it hadn't happened in a good while, and Max was grateful for that too. He wanted both her and Higgs to be happy.
--
"Everyone's happy!" Chloe exclaimed happily, tugging Max closer for warmth. "And we're seeing Christmas lights, which is also excellent," she announced happily looking around at the shiny lights. "Have you seen the puffskein sleigh I put up on Arran's roof?" Presumably is he had visited Roger he would've by now. "I got up on the roof and everything. Arran was useless." Which was only a little unfair, because he had given her hot chocolate. But apart from that and 'all these angles look the same' he hadn't been very useful in the decorating process. "Not yet," Chloe shook her head. "But you know me, I'm not very good at pre-planning things."
Chloe smiled warmly at Max's words. "I think he would be," she agreed. Teenage Arran had been uncomfortable with Chloe crying but he had still helped. In all fairness, that wasn't actually all that dissimilar from grown up Arran's reaction to her crying either. "He's very sweet," she commented because Arran was and then shook her head. "I didn't cry during sex," Chloe defended. "I cried because we were in the future and everything felt really overwhelming. So Arran talked to me about Jurassic Park and then we went for pizza." It had been a pretty excellent day.
--
Max laughed at Chloe's enthusiasm, but she wasn't wrong. Max was happy, and Chloe was happy, and their various partners were happy, and Roger was happy too. Max was sure not everyone in the whole world was happy, but all the people dearest to him were, and that had always been rather more important to Max than anything else. "The Christmas lights are very nice," he agreed, though he hadn't been paying that much attention to them as they walked. Still, he'd suggested it more because he'd known Chloe would enjoy it than anything else. "Roger showed it to me," Max confirmed. "And the snowman. And then we made some gingerbread houses." He nodded, because he did know Chloe wasn't great at planning in advance. "Has Arran heard about the Euros yet?" Max had honestly no idea when that happened. Presumably if he had heard, Higgs would have mentioned it.
"Siobhan was a teenager too," Max said, unable to remember if he'd talked to Chloe about that. "I distracted her with wedding photos." Which was true, but Max assumed it helped that Siobhan had known him as a teenager, so although him being grown up had been a shock, she'd at least known she could trust him. He frowned slightly. "And talking to you about Jurassic Park helped?" he asked, puzzled.
--
Chloe beamed when Max said that he had seen the sleigh and Roger's snowman. She also gave a very energetic 'ooh' at the mention of gingerbread houses. "How did it go? Were they good? I've received no gingerbread houses in the post. You have much better cooking times with Roger than Arran, last time I just got disgusting, barbecued pumpkin." Or if there had been anything since then, Chloe didn't remember it. They had gone over for dinner, though, and Roger was a pretty great cook. Just evidently not when it came to a) pumpkins and/or b) cooking with Arran. Not that Chloe could complain, she had had similar experiences. "Not yet," Chloe shook her head. "Christmas or early January, I think." It wasn't long now but Chloe was very confident that Arran would make the team. As far as she was concerned, he was the best Keeper out there. In Chloe's vastly limited knowledge of quidditch.
"Not Jurassic Park on its own," Chloe laughed shaking her head. "No, more that he just talked, let me cry, held my hand. It was... nice," Chloe explained and then gave a small shrug. "Kids weren't always nice to me when I was fifteen. Not about crying," she explained. "Like, I did cry a lot, to be fair, but even so. Emotions were just super hard." Emotions, really, were still quite hard, but at least Chloe didn't burst out in tears every time they happened.
--
"They're quite difficult to eat," Max admitted. The icing had dried very hard, as had the gingerbread itself, and it was just quite a dry, crumbly mouthful. "How do you feel about fruitcake?" Maybe Chloe could help Higgs eat the fruitcake Max was apparently going to make, because Max was doubtful Siobhan or himself would be a very big help. He blinked, finding it hard to imagine how barbecued pumpkin could be anything but disgusting. "Pumpkin ravioli is quite nice," he informed Chloe, in a way that was unlikely to be very helpful. "But I don't imagine barbecuing it is a very good idea." He nodded, filing away the date so he could ask again closer to the time. "Will you go and see him in matches, if he's picked?"
Chloe's answer made more sense than her being cheered up by Jurassic Park on its own, though they had been 15 so Max supposed anything was possible. "Emotions are very difficult," Max agreed, possibly too fervently. He was better with other people having them than himself. Which reminded him that he still had to tell Higgs, at some point, about his mum. It could wait, he thought. Though he was self-aware enough to know he was probably always going to think it could wait. "Happiness is alright, though," he teased, more cheerfully. "I think we can live with that."
--
"I love fruitcake," Chloe decided with a wide smile. Fruitcake was Christmassy and Chloe loved Christmas so thus she obviously had to love fruitcake. In reality, Chloe thought fruitcake was alright. Too hard, but still alright. She'd certainly have some if Max sent it to her. Chloe did snort when Max told her that pumpkin ravioli was nice and then raised her eyebrows at him at the additional statement about how barbecuing a pumpkin wasn't a good idea. "Arran and Roger don't have good ideas together," she pointed out. Chloe didn't even feel bad for stating as much, because she truly believed that if Arran was going to make a dumb decision, Roger was going to be right there with him, probably holding his hand. Unless that decision was too jump off something, because then Chloe would hold Arran's hand. "Yeah, definitely," she nodded. Chloe tried to go to all of Arran's matches, and unless working got in the way she was quite successful.
Chloe laughed when Max proclaimed emotions to be difficult, because he wasn't wrong. But she did also smile warmly at happiness being alright. "It definitely is," she agreed. "Lets go down this park," she told tugging on Max's arm and then leading them down a long path all lit up with lights shaped like stars.