Backdated to Saturday morning because I forgot to post it,
The remainder of the day had gone quite well.
They'd eaten, played some more in the sand and surf, showered the sand off once again and as promised Deacon had gotten out a few of the special items. The rest of the night had been spent in bed with Charlie in various stages of submission and by the time they went to bed he was wearing his collar.
The next morning Deacon had allowed Charlie to continue the service and had gotten the breakfast in bed he'd won the day before. Now though they were back out in the hammock with coffee and enjoying the cool of the morning as they swayed - Charlie tucked against Deacon's side and Deacon's arm wrapped around him.
"I might take a nap later," Deacon announced. "Just cuz I can."
Charlie was still on a bit of a high from the sun and the freedom and the long, exquisite and extended loving, so just blinked sleepily and hummed agreement. "Mmm nap," he said, after a moment, "and while you nap I'll make brownies for me and roll some doobies for you. We can let the wind take the smoke and blow it out to sea and make the guillemots happy. If you have guillemots? Or puffins."
"Mmm yeah," Deacon said, half asleep already. He gave himself a mental shake. "Hey I meant to ask you how the stuff for the kids is panning you. I still can't believe Micah wants to be part of it."
"I know," Charlie said. "It's astonishing. The smaller the kid the more they seem fascinated by him. And Nia follows him round like a puppy." He smiled at their hands where they lay, fingers laced, on Deacon's chest. "He's cool. Not at all like he is at work."
"Wonder how he ended up with Max," Deacon mused. "Just - doesn't seem like the right spot for him. But how's the rest of it going?"
"Okay," Charlie said. "Both our sets of classes are going well, so are Andras's with the older kids. He - er - wants to expand them. Set up more and more serious ones. But he won't do that at the gallery. Um - he's using the new community centre. Sean's going to help him."
Deacon raised a brow and his arm around Charlie tightened a bit. It wasn't the words so much as how they had been said that clued him in. "Is he now? Why's Sean gonna help?"
Charlie sighed. He'd been hoping to avoid this subject because he knew how Sean looked up to Deacon and how Deacon looked out for Sean. "Sean has some issues," he said. "He feels the gallery is a bit - elitist - in who we welcome to the classes. Andras is more egalitarian so ..."
"Elitist?" The annoyance could clearly be heard in Deacon's voice. "How the hell are you elitist?"
"Well you have to admit," Charlie said, "that most of the ladies who have brought their kiddies to the taster and play sessions have been - well off. We didn't advertise - word of mouth brought us in plenty of people who are happy to come and play too and they tended to be ladies from the Manor and their friends or relations. Sean - he feels we could have made the sessions accessible to people who honestly can't afford to pay for their children to do anything, rather than giving free sessions to women who happily pay fifty dollars an hour for tennis lessons for their toddlers." He sighed. "He got quite - annoyed about it."
"Well it's not like you'd turn away anyone," Deacon said. "S'not your fault the rich ones are showing up." He shifted a bit until he could see Charlie's face more clearly. "How annoyed? Like grumbling under his breath or is he being more - vocal?"
Charlie tried to chuckle and did a pretty good job of it. "All that youthful passion and righteous indignation," he said. "Yes, he was a bit vocal. And I couldn't help being annoyed and a bit hurt, as well as seeing his point. No I don't know what it's like to be an American teenager. And I don't know what it's like to have nothing at all to do. Christ, at school I hardly had a moment spare for boredom, and at home Grandpa needed all the help he could get and if there was any time I painted. If I sat around on street corners it was because I wanted to not because I couldn't think of anything else to do." he sighed. "So yeah, he's right. But I do try not to be a snob - I guess it's sort of built in to be wary of surly grimy kids who look like they might mug me."
Deacon didn't chuckle. Not at all.
"You gave him a job," he said. "You and I helped him straighten his life out and he has the gall to say somethin' like that?"
"Oh jeez, D, no, we can't hold that over him," Charlie protested. He hitched himself up to look into Deacon's face. "We gave him a chance and he's been brilliant. Just brilliant. He's been helpful, learned all he can, he's taken every chance we've given him to make himself more than he was. You can't blame him for wanting other kids to have the same chance without having to go to jail first."
"I don't blame him for that," Deacon said. "I blame him for sayin' one single bad thing about you. That he could even think you wouldn't want to help others like him - after all we've done for him. No - he and I are gonna have a bit of a chat."
Charlie groaned and dropped his head to Deacon's chest. "It just never occurred to me," he said. "God, two classes a week is pushing it with everything else I have to do. I'm not exactly lounging around eating grapes when I'm there." He nuzzled a bit. "Don't be too - harsh. All that idealism. He's only - growing up."
"He's growin' up. And sometimes ya need a smack upside the head to keep you on track." Deacon wrapped Charlie tighter in his arms and carded his fingers through his hair. "Besides, no one gets to talk like that about my Mouse."
"Oh what would I do without you?" Charlie murmured into the hollow just above Deacon's collar bone. "Everything's better with Deacon. Mmmmm." He stifled a yawn. "let's not think about work any more, eh? Let's just - be."
"Mmm yeah," Deacon agreed, relaxing again and kissing the top of Charlie's head. "Just be - lazy."
"Lazy," Charlie said. "Well I think we've earned it. We've both worked damned hard over the past few months." He turned his head and kissed Deacon's chest then relaxed with a long sigh.