WILLIAM LAURENCE + TENZING THARKAY
MAGIC CARPET RIDE + BOOZE = BAD
PG | COMPLETE
It was tricky, learning one’s alcohol tolerance when the drinks themselves were fun, sweet and jiggly. Laurence was no newcomer to spirits, and typically was no lightweight. Not that he often went too deep into his cups, but these “candy corn jello shots” went straight to his head, three of them later. Every shot seemed to bring around a ghost that he stared at with increasingly widening eyes, as he was given some ridiculous bit of advice.
It wasn’t until ”Don’t miss a chance at love while you have it in front of you.” that he actually gave pause to the advice. The evening had been chaotic, but friendly and full of laughs. His company was primarily Tenzing, of course, but Isabela and Ezio had stolen him away several times throughout the evening.
With a little sway in his step, Laurence found himself back near Tenzing’s side, face flushed slightly but with a friendly grin on his face. “I’ve found something I think you might like, would you care to join me?”
Tenzing had always enjoyed seeing Will Laurence relax - it had happened all too seldom for much of their acquaintance, what with all the war and spying and treason and traveling. There had barely been time to breathe, much less have a few too many drinks at a party. It was only in the months since Laurence and Temeraire had joined him at his estate in England that he’d seen much of this Laurence, the one with a ready smile who loved a good social gathering. Tenzing was typically more of an introvert, himself, but he wasn’t completely against the occasional party, and being crammed in with so many people was worth it to see Laurence happy.
“I would be delighted,” he agreed, and gave his very best courtly bow, in keeping with his borrowing of Laurence’s old naval uniform for the night. He didn’t quite manage to fill out the shoulders of the coat, and the sleeves were a touch long, but one could hardly demand perfect tailoring for a costume. He still thought he looked rather good in it, if not quite so good as Laurence did in his pirate getup.
It was sinful, how Tenzing looked in his old uniform, and took every bit of willpower Laurence had to not blurt as much out in a very blunt Temeraire-way. Though he could have brushed it off as the alcohol in his system, no doubt, that seemed unfair. He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again and bowed back, as steady as he could.
It was likely the booze in his system that had him grabbing Tenzing gently by the arm and leading him back towards the way he had come from. It was dim enough that he bumped into at least one side table, gently, and stopped to give it his sincerest apologies, before continuing to lead his friend on the path. Upon reaching the levitating carpet, near an open balcony, Laurence beamed quite proudly before dropping down to a hushed whisper. “Look. But don’t tell Temeraire, it may make him jealous.”
Upon seeing it, Tenzing let out a delighted bark of laughter. “A magic carpet!” He turned to look at Laurence with a grin. “I promise not to tell Temeraire, but I cannot possibly pass up the opportunity to live out a scene from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Shall we go for a ride?” He assumed Laurence was coming along, regardless of the rather small amount of space on the carpet and the air of romance that surrounded the idea. Maybe it meant something, maybe it didn’t, but it was not an experience to be missed.
Laurence was feeling rather proud of himself for this, now, and his chest puffed out slightly. It was a book he’d read Temeraire a few times, the dragon having happily taken a break from the meaty mathematics to read something more enjoyable. He had never been the most romantic of persons, but flying alone on a cramped carpet? Surely that was.
It proved a little more difficult to fit them both onto the carpet while he was drunk, however. But wobbly mounting aside, they settled in, very close for comfort, and the carpet took off on the tour of Atlantis. “I never thought of myself as a man who would like to be in the air all the time, when I wore this,” he tugged on his uniform, from his place behind Tharkay. “But now, I feel more comfortable here than on water.”
Tharkay chuckled, and he didn’t really intend to slightly lean into that casual touch, but he did. It was hard not to be touching all the time on a flying rug, anyway. “Funny how we can accustom ourselves to all manner of strangeness, isn’t it? Traveling through the air, the sea, time and worlds...soon we will find ourselves comfortable with anything at all.”
Laurence had always been someone that liked touch, and leaning forward so he could brace a hand on the carpet next to Tenzing’s leg put him right in the comfort zone that he enjoyed. The alcohol worked to make him a little more uninhibited, since he let his hand brush Tenzing’s, to go with it.
His voice was low, as the carpet soared over the beauty of Atlantis. “I have found myself growing very accustomed to many things that I would not have ever thought possible. It is amazing what time and experience has taught me.”
This was considerably closer than they had ever been before, Tenzing thought. It put him in mind of one of those last nights in Colorado, when he'd quite shamelessly used Laurence's lap for keeping his broken ankle elevated. There had been something between them there, unspoken but tangible. Tenzing found that his feelings were no different here in Atlantis—that they hadn't truly been different even back in England. He loved Will Laurence, and not only as a man loved any close comrade or brother in arms. And here, now, with the twinkling lights of the city below them and Laurence close enough to kiss if he simply turned his head, he could believe that feeling was returned, or at least something very much like it.
Tired of hesitating over and over and playing the coward, Tenzing shifted his hand to the right, placing it over Laurence's. He didn't speak, not yet, waiting first to see if the hand would be abruptly snatched away when Laurence realized what was happening.
Laurence didn’t even flinch, though his eyes did widen a little. It was something even sober-Laurence wanted, the closeness that Tenzing had always provided him. The comfort of a man that he had been willfully pushing back against, thinking the idea so out of character for himself. When in truth, it had been right there in front of him.
He opened his mouth to say as much, but the carpet moving under him sent his stomach into a spiral strong enough that he closed it again, and took a deep, steadying breath. He thought he had it under control (the slight green sheen to his face said another story), so finally, Laurence allowed himself to continue, testing the waters. “Tenzing, I-”
Tenzing assumed Laurence was just as nervous as he was. It was quite a gamble to take, risking a comfortable friendship on a possibility of something more. It was even more of a gamble for people like them, men who came from a world where love was still punishable by death or imprisonment. Of course that risk could make a person look a little queasy. Tenzing didn’t want to interrupt or keep Laurence from speaking his mind and heart, so he offered encouragement through touch, simply curling his hand around Laurence’s and turning to look at him with an expectant expression.
“I-” Again, he started. Only this time he said the words directly into his head and not out loud. You should know that I enjoy your company above all others or, better, Tenzing, my feelings for you are not strictly platonic, and have not been for quite some time. Nothing quite so endearing came out, though, as he turned a little more pale. “I am afraid I am going to be quite sick, please forgive me.”
And promptly flattened himself across the flying carpet to lean over the edge, stomach rebelling from the alcohol.
Tharkay winced on his behalf. Too many sweets mixed with alcohol, he had to guess. That was the sort of combination to bring ruin upon a man, even one like Laurence, who was tall, broad, and hardly a teetotaler. Conversation, it seemed, would have to wait for another time; for now, Tharkay gently patted his friend’s back as he vomited.
“All is forgiven,” he said. “Let me see if I can convince this thing to land so we can get you home.”
Eventually, Laurence was able to let himself collapse back against the flying carpet, his head close to Tenzing’s lap without realization. His eyes fluttered closed, and he nodded unhelpfully. At least they’d both seen each other in worst positions, so it could have been even more of an embarrassment than it was. But drunk Laurence just reached up to pat Tenzing’s thigh instead. “Thank you for being so good to me, Tenzing.”
Tharkay chuckled and took Laurence’s hand in his. He thought that much affection was allowable between them, based on the slowly changing rules. “No thanks is necessary,” he said. “We have been good to each other in turns for the better part of a decade now. The scales always balance in the end.”