WHO: George Weasley and Jiang Cheng WHAT: A beach date involving a wish gone wrong and a surprise haircut WHEN: June 27 WARNINGS: none! STATUS: Complete
Jiang Cheng had not spent a great deal of time at the ocean at home, and he hadn't changed that tradition here. He could handle more sun than his skin tone would suggest, but he generally had to lather on protective cream and carry around a sunshade of some kind. It appealed to him that George's skin meant much of the same.
And yet here he was, arranging a date on the beach. He had never claimed to be kind, to be fair. And a very base part of his brain wanted to see more of George's skin on display, freckled by the sun and damp from the sea. He didn't give in to this part of his brain very often, so he was allowing it.
"I thought about buying these lounging chairs I saw at the store, but I didn't want to carry furniture through the sand." He had a giant beach umbrella tucked under one arm and two bags slung over the other. He sat everything down and dug out two oversized towels. One was tossed at George's chest. "You will have to make do with a towel, but there is food and drink in the bag to make up for it."
When JC had arranged for this date and had told George to bring something suitable to swim in, he had gone through his collection of faded and worn swimming trunks and found nothing satisfactory to fill that requirement. So he had made a quick stop to one of the shops on Main Street that specialized in swimwear and bought the most obnoxious swim trunks that he could find. Because of course he would.
He was wearing them as they made a little area on the beach for them, setting up the umbrella and spreading out their towels. “It’s fine, I’m not here to lounge around the whole time anyway. Just long enough to get this sunscreen on so I’m not a lobster. We’re going in the water, right?” Because despite the fact that George burned even when it was a mostly cloudy day, he still loved running around on a beach and getting in the water on a nice day. Pale, sunburned Weasley skin be damned. He was going to make the most of this afternoon off. “Remind me to enchant a basket for you next time. I know an extension charm that will let you carry a whole damn house if you wanted to, in a bag.” It always made camping easier.
The shorts were an affront to humanity and Jiang Cheng had been sure to say so as soon as he laid eyes on them. But he could admit the longer he looked at them, the more they were an amusing affront to humanity. Likely that was a side effect of George himself and not the design. Jiang Cheng was sensibly dressed, himself. He had found long board shorts in a suitable dark grey and a short-sleeved purple shirt they had called a rash guard. He had every intention of taking it off, but for now he helped lay out their items and finally dug into the bag for the sunscreen.
"We are going into the water, calm yourself," he teased. "I would not make you come out into this sun for no purpose but to bake." He gestured at one of towels laid out on the sand, his usually serious face looking a little eager. "Lay down and tell me more about this enchantment. What do you need to make it happen?"
Honestly, it was a little ridiculous how well put together Jiang Cheng was at all times, even when they were in swimwear. George loved his robes and how good JC looked in them, but he was curious if he'd ever get the other man to dress down one day. He himself had long since switched back between Muggle jeans and robes like it was nothing, but not once had he seen Jiang Cheng in anything but robes.
Well, other than that memorable time in Lotus Pier where they had gone swimming. And now.
He was also wondering about the rash guard and whether it would be coming off, but that had more to do with him being an overeager bastard that wanted to see the other man shirtless. So he was horny, could he be blamed? Jiang Cheng was ridiculously good looking, enough so that George felt downright slobbish around him.
George hadn't even bothered with a shirt, his pale, freckly self already exposed to the elements. He had all sorts of scars and burns across his body from the war, experimenting with pranks, and life in general, but there were some new ones gained during their adventures in Dark Vallo and Vallo. They were more fresh, but everything was long healed. He felt very little self consciousness over them, after having spent a good chunk of his life lacking one ear, with a chunk of scar tissue in its place. Once he got over people staring at that, he got over it all.
Laying down on his stomach as he directed, George grinned and said, "I'm half convinced you let me hang around you so you can learn all my secret magic tricks." He was mostly sure that wasn't true though. "But an extension charm is a tricky bit of magic. They highly control it back home, but if you're familiar enough with it and discreet, you can get away with casting it. Wizarding luggage and tents are allowed to have the charm cast on them, but they keep an eye on everything else. But the charm allows the interior of the object to be extended to hold much more than originally capable of and it causes everything to be lighter in weight, so you can easily carry it around."
Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes and knelt down into the sand next to George. "I am curious about magic, and yours especially. I don't think that's a crime."
With George spread out like this,Jiang Cheng was confronted with the realization that he was still a little too touch starved to retain his usual level of propriety. He really needed to do something about that. But as forceful as he tended to be, he'd never been very good at asking for intimacy. He frowned and squeezed some of the sunscreen into his palms. George's skin was already sunwarm and sweeping his palms across it made Jiang Cheng dry at the mouth.
"I…" He had to scramble to remember what they'd been talking about. "Is it dangerous then? This charm?" Regulated magic at home tended to be very dangerous in the hands of anyone but the most powerful.
"It's not. Your big brain is pretty sexy, I just don't tell you that because only one of us can have an ego and I'm claiming it," George kidded, as he folded his arms in front of him and put his head down to close his eyes and relax.
Jiang Cheng's hands on his back felt nice. More than nice, really. It was still taking some time getting used to being touched again. He wasn't as touch starved as JC was, but he usually limited touching to friendly hugs and handshakes. The occasional punch, maybe, but intimacy? Sex? It had been awhile. Maybe not since Angelina last year, while they were mourning Fred and caught up in the past. And that had been a whole other thing, full of grief and trying to feel something other than guilt for surviving. It hadn't been about sex or touch, it had been trying to feel better for a few moments with someone who understood what he was going through.
Now, touch was a whole new ball game. He had never had a proper relationship in his life and while he wasn't sure how they were defining what they were doing, he knew he cared about the other man. Wanted him to keep touching him and hanging out with him, for as long as he would allow. So the hands on his back felt like a solid step in a direction that led to that. They also felt really, really good.
If he wasn't already red over, he would be now. "It's not inherently dangerous, but say a Muggle walks into your tent and sees how big it is without the dimensions matching the outside. They know magic exists now. Or they see you pull a whole wardrobe out of your purse? Not happening, mate, not on the Ministry's watch."
Jiang Cheng was a very focused individual, so he heard every word. But he also drifted off on a cloud of warm freckled skin and sunscreen. It was more of a massage than an application technique but it wasn't like he'd ever done this before. He glanced over a shoulder to make sure this stretch of beach was still empty, just to squash the wave of self-consciousness that threatened. With that done, he got a little more sunscreen and stroked it up the back of George's neck.
He wished George's hair was longer. More out of curiosity than anything else at this point.
The thought was idle and he immediately paused, wondering if George's hair would grow before his eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief when it didn't - utterly unaware that his own hair was currently shrinking to be shorter than George's.
"Ah, right. I forgot you have all of that secrecy." He shuffled down the length of George's body on his knees. "I'm doing your legs before I get you to flip. I had to kneel for hours once with a sunburn behind my knees. I learned my lesson."
Was the impromptu massage threatening to send George off to a quick nap? With the warm sand under him and the sounds of the ocean nearby, it was very possible. He would have too, mumbling about the Ministry and its need for secrets, if Jiang Cheng hadn't spoken. It was a good thing he did, because the feeling of those hands on his legs were absolutely divine and he didn't want to miss a second of that.
"What were you doing that you had to kneel for hours for? Because I gathered it wasn't for anything fun." There was a very good chance that JC was being thorough out of real concern. But George would put money on it for another reason.
Seduction achieved, he thought, as a coil of warmth unfurled low in his belly. It was definitely going to be a little awkward when he was asked to turn over.
Since he'd set himself up for that question, Jiang Cheng couldn't very well be annoyed with it. And he wasn't really, even if it did make him scowl and his ministrations slowed in a distracted way. He didn't like speaking about his mother. It provoked complex emotions and he was really terrible at those. But he sighed and forged on.
"I was disrespectful to my parents. I was young and foolish, and decided I didn't want to do my lessons with my mother that day so I went to the far side of the lake instead. By the time I came back it was very late and I was very very red." He finished sweeping rubbing lotion into George's calves and sat back on his heels. His expression was carefully neutral. "The kneeling was rightfully part of the punishment. Turn over."
While George’s idea of punishment was a little different from Jiang Cheng’s, he didn’t judge. Different culture, different era, and, honestly, pretty comparable to being made to de-gnome the garden after getting in trouble after countless pranks. What George locked onto was the way JC spoke of his mother. It was very, very rare he mentioned his parents and any time he did, the tone he had was closed off. It didn’t invite questions, just like today’s mention didn’t, so George took the hint and made a note to talk to Wei Wuxian about it sometime.
Without thought, he turned over, following the command. Thankfully, his dumb swim trunks were baggy enough that nothing was very noticeable unless you were really looking. So George blustered onto a new topic. “My worst punishment was probably when our parents separated Fred and I for a week, sending us to different bedrooms at bedtime and not letting us scheme together. All because we shaved Percy’s hair off while he was asleep.” So dramatic, their older brother.
"You shaved your brother's head?" Jiang Cheng sounded scandalized in the extreme - it would've been a grave insult to do such a thing to his brother, who was already not a Jiang by blood. This information did do wonders to stop the heat from rising to his face, now that George was facing him and he'd have to apply sunscreen to his chest. But unfortunately, it also made him realize there was an ocean breeze on his neck that he really should not be feeling quite like this…
He let out a string of quiet but vehement curses when his fingers reached up and discovered his hair was very short. He could feel the entire stretch of the back of his neck. Leaping to his feet, he looked around like that might let him find his missing hair just waiting to be recollected. A culprit would've been more likely but it wasn't like he simply didn't notice someone cutting his hair.
"I really, desperately despise magic sometimes," he gritted out through his teeth, hands still clamped to the exposed back of his neck. "This isn't a prank of yours, is it?"
George hadn’t realized, at first, what was going on at first. Too busy caught up on telling stories and Jiang Cheng’s hands-on approach. But when he squinted up at the older man, he realized something very important was missing.
He sat up immediately, getting sand everywhere in his rush. “No! I don’t actually have a deathwish,” George said, eyes wide as his hands went to his own head. Okay, not bald, check. “Hey, come here, stop freaking out.” He held out a hand for Jiang Cheng to take. “Let me make sure this isn’t some kind of curse or something.” He reached out to where his wand was lying on his blanket.
"I'm not freaking out." Jiang Cheng was definitely freaking out.
Gods, he hadn't even considered curses. He just assumed this place was making a fool out of him for laughs. It seemed fond of doing that to people, after all. The mere mention of curses made him think of the Hundred Holes Curse. It had nothing to do with losing one's hair, but it was the most brutal curse he knew and the one that played a part in the destruction of his life so he couldn't help but panic, illogically. He lifted his rash guard, checking his stomach and chest for holes.
"I haven't done anything worth being cursed!" he argued. Okay, maybe that wasn't true. "I--I….ah." He had the grace to look sheepish and mortified, as his earlier wishful thinking came back to him. "I might have had a passing thought about wishing you had longer hair…but that's not the same as this!" He grabbed at the painfully short hair on the back of his head.
Oh. Oh. So a wish gone bad. That was something that could certainly explain this, more than some hair stealing bandit running around. He grinned in relief, his hand closing around his wand and using the hand that he had been holding out to the other man to instead lift himself up so he could stand next to JC.
"Guess Vallo didn't want to be straightforward about that." The grin turned rueful, as he reached out to brush a few fingers over the buzzed look that Jiang Cheng was now sporting. "It's certainly a look, puts your ridiculous cheekbones on amazing display."
Jiang Cheng frowned childishly, but George's attention and flattery helped. "I just wanted to see what yours would look like," he sighed, reaching up to touch the ends of George's hair. "This feels like excessive punishment."
His hair hadn't been this short since he was a very young child. He felt exposed, but he could admit it was cooler under the hot sun, all of that hair out of the way. Still. It had better be temporary!
"Say more nice things." George had wanted him to be more demanding so he did not tack on a please. He did pull off his rashguard and reach for the sunscreen to press into George's hand. "Say more nice things and protect me from this sun," he smirked. "I think now I definitely need the distraction of a good swim. Before I inevitably run into my brother and have to face the teasing."
“It would have looked curly and ridiculous,” George promised, smiling wide with teeth exposed. Shirtless Jiang Cheng. His lizard brain was very happy about this turn of events. He turned and bent down to shake off the blankets, before resettling them and sitting down on one. He pulled his knees up and created a space between the vee of his legs, patting the ground between them. “C’mon on, sit here you gorgeous man and let me get my hands on you.”
Sure, the hair was an unexpected quirk to their plans, but George could roll with it. Especially since JC didn’t seem all that upset about it and now that it was his turn to get his hands on him.
"You keep saying that but I don't believe you." Jiang Cheng was still quietly freaking out and would likely panic more in private. After catching sight of his reflection on a shiny surface, most likely. He wouldn't recognize himself like this. But for now, he was warmed not only by the sun but the look in George's eyes and the promise of prolonged touch. He lowered himself carefully in front George, his back facing George's chest.
"Please be...very distracting," he huffed. "I know that's not much of an attempt at seduction but do it anyway."
Safely nestled under the umbrella providing shade, George dropped the sunscreen onto the blanket beside them. “I mean, if you want me to be distracting,” he said, lightly, shifting closer and running a hand down Jiang Cheng’s back. Coming to a stop at his waist, he gripped it while he leaned forward to press his chest firmly to his back. “I’m capable of beingvery distracting.” Softer, quieter, punctuated with a kiss to the side of JC’s neck.