We do make a good team, at just about anything we do. Who: Billy and Cora Where: Ancient Europe in the time of legends and myths before history What: a massage and a necessary conversation. When: four years into their time in the past Warnings/Rating: PG-13 Status complete
A year later, settled in a magically protected and fortified home in the depths of Europe, Billy smiled as he flipped pancakes, nodding as he finally managed to make them not splatter. It had been a long year, full of fighting, growing, and near misses, and they had finally found an area to settle in where as long as they did not bother others they were not bothered. And the skills he and Cora had picked up in Egypt helped here, as did their magic. Able to help with small illnesses, and able to teach a few things, they settled in as the wise and strange people from afar.
It was tough. They worked with the villagers to farm the land and hunt animals, and helped with repelling a few bandits, and things slowly got better. Billy was able to work with Cora and improve their hut into something that magic made a lot more like a home back in their time, with flowing cold or hot water and air, a magical oven and dishwasher, and even a place to clean their clothing. Though sometimes, Billy took it down to the stream to wash with the others, just to be sociable. It was hard, but it was not a bad job, nor a bad thing.
Billy had turned 21 this year, and Cora 20, and they had celebrated with the entire village this time, as well in their own private ceremony. Of course, the villagers thought them in their thirties, but that was okay. Billy was finding that his inner body and his outer one were slowly getting closer to looking the same. And he had noticed similar things with Cora.
Nonetheless, hard life or not, it was a good one and a happy one with Cora there. He missed Barbara, fiercely sometimes. But he also lived in the now, for now.
Cora was used to working hard, by then, and she liked to think they could have managed without their magical ‘cheats,’ but she was glad of the comforts at the end of a long day. She wasn’t sure when, exactly, she had stopped looking like an awkward teenager and started looking more like the lean, athletic woman that she purported--and aspired--to be, but it wasn’t a bad thing. She felt more and more like she could be herself, with or without the magical mask.
Billy turned toward the door, smiling as he saw her coming in and as she shifted back to her own form. “Hello, Cora.” He swept her into a hug and a kiss along her cheek, near her mouth, as was his custom now. Something warmer than friendly, but not crossing a line too far. His arms held her close, and he nodded, breathing her in. “How did things go today?”
Cora hugged him back, nuzzling his cheek in return. A lot of the awkwardness between them had disappeared since their long talk in Egypt, and she liked that. Sometimes, the closeness made her miss Nate, but most of the time it was a balm. “Things went well for me. How about you?”
“Pretty good. Did some woodwork for Maester Palmer, and helped Widow Just with the feverbark for her eldest. He seems to be getting better,. but maybe tomorrow you can drop by there?” Cora was far better than he was at healing magics, and while he tried to be subtle, his specialty tended to be strength instead.
He snuggled her close, then pulled back and tapped her nose. “There are pancakes and something like bacon, and we can use the syrup we got from old man Johansen for repairing his fence last week with them.”
Cora nodded. Of course she would be happy to check up on their neighbors. She was definitely her mother’s daughter when it came to healing. She smiled up at him, inhaling the scent of supper, and hummed her approval. “Thanks for cooking.”
He smiled to her and led the way to the table. “Sit! Food is almost ready!” Their two chairs, rough cut out of wood, barely supported them. But they were the only furniture they had other than the bed.
He soon had the food dished out on the fired kiln plates, and handed them over with the two eating knives. As yet he had not managed to get the smith to make him forks and spoons, but he was trying.
At least pancakes were easy enough to turn into finger food. Cut them into strips for dipping, roll them up and eat them like a buttery wrap. And if she really, really didn’t want to get her hands dirty, chopsticks were simple to contrive. “You’re the best, Billy.”
“Nah, I’m just inspired by the company.” He grinned at her as he ate, enjoying himself in this company. She was warm, kind, and the sort of person who made you try to be better. Or made Billy that way, anyway. She had grown and her body caught his eyes sometimes when he least expected it. Those lips, and that curve of her top, and of her bottom… he shook his head, closed his mouth, and went back to eating.
Cora hardly ever felt self-conscious anymore when she caught him watching her. Four years of sharing the same bed, the same house, and sometimes the same bathwater would do that, she supposed. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t felt the stirrings of her own body when she looked at him, or when she woke up beside him. But still, she held back; wary of rushing into the physical side of things.
She smiled at him softly, and went on dipping her pancakes in the syrup that she’d drizzled on her plate. It was such a sweet treat, she wanted to make it last, and savor every sticky drop.
Billy, as always, ate faster, and was soon up, and plucking out a small wooden box. “I got you something. A Caravan that comes through every year? Sadarman’s? Well, I put in an order last year and it came in with the caravan last week.” He held the box out to her, grinning
Inside, polished from the stones of the Nile was a small statue of the Egyptian cat, like the one they had briefly had in Egypt.
Cora smiled as she opened the box, her eyes getting a little misty at the memories he statue brought to mind. Billy was so thoughtful. He'd make somebody very happy someday, if Cora didn't get to keep him. Maybe they'd be able to bring some keepsakes of their travels home with them. "We should find a place to show it off."
Billy nodded. “I was thinking on the shelf in the main room, where the evening sun from the high window will catch it?” He loved the look in her eyes that showed she liked it, and nodded. Yay!
Cora looked up, eyes dancing as she nodded. "I think that's perfect."
So he hugged her, then went with her to the shelf and lifted her, carving and all, to put it on the shelf, grinning, before putting her down and hugging her with one arm, looking as the sun did catch it, and brought it to shimmering life. “Good.”
He nodded to her and brushed a kiss along her nose and eyebrows. “I like it when I make you happy.”
Cora giggled, and wrapped her arms around Billy’s waist once he set her down. He did make her happy, and she loved him very much. Maybe they weren’t lovers yet, but they were certainly more than just friends. “What about you?” she asked, “Are you happy?”
“With you? Here? Yes. I miss the other world sometimes, but… I’m starting to really like living with you, loving you, and being with you, Cora. Doesn’t matter what world we’re in. That much is true.” He hugged her tight and kissed her nose, then her forehead, and sighed happily.
“I like being with you, too,” she said softly, snuggling against him. Was it enough, just to snuggle and be close? She knew they both fantasized about more, sometimes. But there was a contentment, too. It felt good.
For now, for Billy, it was enough. And he could hold on to that. He loved her. As he had loved Barbara, as he might again, if they ever got home, which seemed so unlikely now. He inhaled her scent, and smiled a little, then nipped at her ear, just because. Hehehe.
Cora laughed, and squirmed--not uncomfortably, but just because it tickled. She poked him in the ribs, and pushed him toward the bed, which was actually way more comfy for lounging on than the kitchen chairs. “You want a shoulder rub, Captain Mallory?”
“I’d like that.” He skinned out of his shirt and settled facing away from her, settling and rolling his shoulders as he rested. He had gotten a lot more comfortable with her, and found it was easy to take his shirt off now, with her, at least.
Cora kicked her shoes off, and knelt on the bed. She made sure that her hands were warm before she placed them on Billy’s back, and began to knead his muscles gently but firmly. “Anything particular you want me to concentrate on?”
Billy groaned lightly, and he blew out a long breath of air. “Nngh, can you start just on the neck? It’s been aching a lot.” Working as a woodworker, meant a lot of tension there.
"Mhm," Cora said, sliding her hands up to curl around the tops of Billy's shoulders where they joined his neck. She flexed her fingertips, palpating each of his cervical vertebrae and rubbing the muscles that surrounded them. "Does it bother you more on your dominant side?"
Billy nodded, mmmhmming. “Yes. I think I’ve been working harder on the wood, trying to work it better, you know? Maybe too much?” He didn’t know. He liked the work, but sometimes he pushed himself a lot, even in Marvel form.
“I can tell,” she said, pressing her thumbs into the muscles that overlapped his occipital ridge on the right side, and rocking gently back and forth to loosen the tissue. “It doesn’t feel happy.” She leaned down, and kissed the back of his head. “We’ll fix that.”
Billy groaned, feeling like her hands were working magic, and relaxing slowly under her hands. “I don’t know how you do that, but nnnngh.” As she worked, though, he became a lot more aware of her weight and heat on his back, and one part of himself did not relax at all…
“Well, I could explain, but it would take too long,” she teased. “I just kind of go by feel, really.” And a little tiny bit of Shazam, to tell her what muscles went where. “I find the spot that’s hard and angsty, and rub it until it goes away--aaand that sounded better in my head.”
Billy laughed. “I dunno, that sounded just fine to me, if not what you meant, exactly.” He chuckled. “You are good at rubbing things the right way.” He was a little aroused, but these days, he was more comfortable with being aroused by her and it didn’t make him too embarrassed, despite the flush that lit up his face, and neck, with a bright red color.
Cora laughed with him, and continued working her way down his neck, toward his right shoulder. Her cheeks were a little pink, too, but that wasn’t unusual, and she was used to working through the blushing. “I’m glad you think so. Are you sure you don’t want any extra help? With the woodwork, I mean?”
Billy laughed again.”A little extra help, huh? There are entirely too many jokes about wood and hands that come to mind, but sure, why not? I do love the way you work, and you and I make an awesome team.” He paused. “When we work together doing things, yes.” He chuckled, still flushed.
Cora groaned under her breath, giving his upper trapezius muscle a little shake. Clearly, she was going to have to be more careful where she steered their conversations, but she wasn’t too worried. “We do make a good team, at just about anything we do.”
Billy laughed, then and relaxed more. “Very true. I have every confidence that you and I would be awesome no matter what we did.:” He paused for a little bit, then smiled. “Do you think you could teach me a little about massage?” It wasn’t fair she never got one back.
"Sure," she said, palms circling his shoulder blade. "I don't know as much as mom, but I can tell you the basic strokes. The light ones like this are called effleurage."
Billy listened and nodded. “They feel good.” He smiled at her over his shoulder, before relaxing again. He was enjoying this, this closeness. “Thank you, Cora.”
“You’re welcome.” She circled his opposite shoulder with some more effleurage, then grasped his upper trapezius and began to knead again. “This is petrissage. You want to sort of lift the muscle away from the bone and the surrounding tissue so the fascia doesn’t stick together. Mom says fascia is like saran wrap around the muscle--if you’re not careful, it sticks all over itself.”
Billy listened and smiled a little. “Sounds like you’ve been learning a lot from her.” He missed Miss Mallory, too, and hoped someday to get back there to see her again, as well as everyone else.
“Mom always said I was like a little sponge,” she said, laughing softly, and then sighing wistfully. She felt at home with Billy, but she still got homesick sometimes. “Not so little anymore, I guess.” She pressed her thumbs between his shoulder blades, and slid her way up toward his scalp again, working her fingers through his hair.
“Do you think it’ll be hard for us to readjust if--when--we ever go back?”
He groaned softly as she worked and sighed, thinking. “Yeah, for a while. But I think we’ll be able to. We both have people who will support and help us there. And we’ll have each other, too.” He reached back to poke her side, being somewhat ambidextrous, and grinned. “No matter what,. I’ll always be here for you.”
“I know,” she said, smiling, and wriggling a little as he poked her. “I love you, Billy.” She hoped it wasn’t weird to say. She hoped not, anyway.
“I love you too, Cora, very much. I never knew I would love two women in my life, but it’s true.” He shifted under her, then grinned. “You are an amazing partner, and an amazing wife.” He nodded.
And hot. Very hot. The feel of her on his back was making it hard for him to not be… hard.
“You take such good care of me,” she praised, simply stroking his back and his shoulders for a moment. He seemed to be gaining more and more muscle all the time, but it wasn’t just his outward strength that attracted her. She stretched out alongside him and draped her arm around his waist. “Any girl would be lucky to have you.”
Billy blushed hotly. “We work together, you and I, and you took a lot of care of me, too.” He shifted on his side when she slid down next to him, and he hugged her close with one arm, kissing her ear. “And any man would be lucky to be with you.” He tapped her nose lightly, then kissed it, just because.
“And I am very lucky here and now.”
"Me too," she said, letting her lips brush his cheek and chin. She liked being close to him, loved the comfort that had found in each other's arms. She was starting to accept that maybe you could love two people equally well in different ways without loving either one of them any less. What she ought to do with that love, she didn't really know, and maybe couldn't know until she could see them both in the same place and time. And Barbara made four. But even though Cora still had questions, she was content.
"Welcome home," she whispered, though she'd said it once before dinner. It seemed to be the right thing to say.
Billy smiled softly and then kissed her lips ever so softly. And he nodded. “Welcome home, Cora. You’ll always be welcome where I am.”