Oscar tended to have some quiet nights. Thankfully not as early as before, but he didn't want to stick around the Lounge for socializing. He'd embarrassed himself enough lately, thank you.
But when he came to the door, Oscar was dressed down, wearing his reading glasses, and looked rather cozy in his housecoat and slippers.
"Oh, Clement." He smiled tentatively, and tilted his head. Checking, it seemed, to see how sober his friend was. "This is a surprise. Did you want some tea?"
No more nightcaps. But he now had an amazing tea selection, thanks to John.
Oh no. Varker's anxious look turns predatory smile as he looks Oscar over, "well aren't you dressed to the nines, Oscar? I like your slippers." The glasses could stay too, straightening from his lean and stepping up to him, still smiling the few inches up at him.
One might question whether he is sober, but his breath at the very least is lacking the usual scent of alcohol. "I'll take some tea, thank you. And point me in the direction of your plant, I'll give her a top up."
Oscar huffed, and felt his face flush from the sheer audacity. He wouldn't be moved if, say, Norton did this, but it was Clement who...didn't have alcohol on his breath? That was good to know. Or smell.
"I'll make your tea, and you can go to the couch once you've topped her up." He offered an affectionate touch on the shoulder, giving Clement a squeeze. "I'll join you. Thank you for the water, Clem."
That flush gets some confidence flooding back in place if what he might get from a glass of whiskey. Nice to know he still has it, but also trying not to be too embarrassed with himself that he's literally flirting over a god damn house coat.
Maybe he really is old.
He slips in, spotting the plant to give it a good drink, whispering something sweet to it before setting the water down, the glass clean even if the water isn't.
"That should last you a week If you water her a little more every few days. Just remember not to drink it." He finds his way to the couch, flopping onto it and trying to ground himself with his eyes closed as he waits.
Considering Oscar had seen people flirt for less, he's not surprised about the house coat being the inspiration for that smirk. And it was...so cute and hard to resist.
"I think I know where you got it. So I won't drink it." He might still put something on top of it, just in case. He took a few minutes to prepare the tea, before coming back with milk and sugar and two mugs on a tray, and setting it on the coffee table in front of the couch.
Which meant he took a moment to sit on the edge of the couch itself, watching Varker sprawl.
"Long day?" He looked tired. Or maybe just antsy for whiskey.
He regularly makes fun of Norton's old man pajamas, so its the little things like this that he's sure are a dead give away. He isn't just being polite about it, he's actively enjoying the look of a man in his casual nightwear, ready to turn in early.
It does do the trick of convincing himself he needs to be here to have this conversation though, rather than letting it sit.
He cracks one eye open, looking at Oscar, "not particularly." He isn't going to say the chronic pain is more forefront when he's sober, Oscar doesn't need to know.
"Are you going to sit next to me, or stay over there? Afraid I'll bite?"
He'll save any teasing about whether or not he should be scared of him biting for later, opening the other eye and sitting up properly rather than just melting into the couch.
"Oscar, I'm not eighty, I can sit on the couch without falling asleep." Excuse you.
The brush of skin to scale has him tensing a little, but he's trying to let it go, enjoy the contact. "I take a little sugar in mine, no cream. And when you're done with that, you can tell me what you want." He drops that in, turning his hand and holding his wrist instead, the buffer of house coat a comfort.
He might have taken the first step in being here, but he's hoping Oscar will take some pity on him and start them off.
He looked as if he was relaxing, and Oscar liked seeing it.
"You looked like you wanted to have us intertwined and drooling together."
His voice was soft, teasing, but he stayed when he felt Clement's hand on his wrist.
And he blew out a breath.
"Clem, I know you're in mourning and grieving. You may be that way your entire life. However- I want to let you know. My feelings about you doesn't have anything to do with the breach. And I find you attractive because of my feelings towards you."
He blew out a breath. "Which is not that of friendship entirely. It is romantic."
"I dont drool, that's all Audrey." She chirps as if she's proud of it rather than just happy to be thought of.
Varker had been expecting something, maybe Oscar getting his feet wet, but this felt more like jumping into the deep end. His shock at the easy way Oscar says what he wants to is quickly covered up as he clears his throat, his other arm thats resting along the back of the couch gripping it to minimize the shake.
"That's-" ahem, give him a moment. He likes a man who can shoot straight, but then he's entirely sober and the weight of grief, acknowledging Steward first before his own feelings, well?
"You really are playing hard ball, aren't you?" Where he learned to do that, he doesn't know.
He offered Audrey a fond smile, before looking back to Varker. His smile was a little crooked.
"Clem, I've always been capable of playing hard ball. I just don't unless it matters." His smile was warm. Soft. "I think it's telling when I say that one of my favorite people is Arthur Lester."
"Arthur Lester is a twat." That might be a little harsh, but he thinks maybe its also fair most of the time. Arthur might even agree with him.
He blows a breath out himself and turns to stare down at their teacups, too hot to drink quite yet. "I am still grieving. I won't be taking his ring off, I have no plans or desire to suffer my trials here sober, and I'm a dead man myself, some days more so than others." What chips he has are there then, pushed forward.
"Why you feel like any of that weighs less than what you think you see in me, I couldn't possibly understand... but I do think I have been failing miserably at being your friend. Probably because I want more than that. Funny how I never seem to get that right no matter what the reason."
"He can be, yes." Oscar wasn't going to deny it. Arthur knew he could be an twat of the highest degree.
Gently, he moved to pull away, if only to serve Clement his tea, and offer it to him.
"We don't have to despair at you, when I've been a terrible friend, wanting you too." He shook his head. "But...I know too, that I can't return to your world. Rather, I don't want to leave my flock. Not forever."
"You've been far better than I have." He huffs, taking the cup, pulling his knee up and resting it there. Its warm even through his pants.
"I wouldn't ask you to do that for me." He sucks his teeth, considering his wording. "And...if I could leave, I wouldn't go home anyways. Not...not until I can try again." He glances up, finally catching Oscar's eyes again, "this...has an expiration date. Not that I'd forget you, I couldn't. Just- a divergence."
One neither of them will budge on, and he respects that, but cant in good consciousness assume Oscar will be okay without telling him up front.
"But that doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my time in hell pretending I don't care about you, because I do."
Once Varker had his cup, he picked up his own, letting it rest on his lap.
"You have your own people you wish to save. And I would never deny you that either. This is...only while we're here." He sighed. There was a heaviness to having it spoken out loud, but a relief too. They knew where they stood.
"Then let's have what we have. And consider it a blessing while we are together- as friends, or lovers. I won't ask what you can't give."
He doesn't like that it feels this way, that Oscar looks so sad thinking about how it might be over when they've only started putting a name to it.
"It doesn't end, Oscar. Not in separation, not in death." He thinks the only way it does is how Norton had literally erased the traces of it from his mind, and still there is a longing left behind. To know what he forgot.
He can wait to have tea a little longer, setting the cup aside, "come over here."
They had been through so much, that it felt sad that in a way, it felt like giving up. But Varker was right- they weren't giving up. They had the blessing of time together.
Oscar set his cup back on the table, and moved so they were sitting together properly, hip brushing against hip.
It's cute that Oscar thinks thats all he wanted, sitting up to settle himself in the other man's lap, facing him.
He doesn't drape, so much as take up his space, running a hand through his curls for both the comfort of it and the control. He looks into his eyes a good long moment as if daring him to continue being sad before he says, "stop saying 'lovers', that's far too much detail. There should be a very limited number of people spending time thinking about how you look on your back, Oscar. Pick something else."
Oscar knew Clement would sit where he wanted. He just didn't expect there to be hair petting too.
There was a part of him that thought he wouldn't mind it if Clement jerked his head back with a bit of hair pulling.
"Well...I'm not going to call us boyfriends. We're not boys. We're men." He huffed. "I'm sure there's other men here who'd love to see you on your back. What do you suggest?"
Oh, he can Oscar, you just have to ask for it. "A little juvenile, isn't it?" He agrees. He hasnt had a boyfriend since college, and he hadn't called Steward that either.
"They might want to, but they won't. I'm not twenty any more, and I'd rather be picky than spoiled for choices." He pushes some of his hair out of his face, tucking a curl behind his ear, "partner leaves more to the imagination."
He didn't think Steward would like being called a boyfriend. The hair pulling...they'd get into that later.
He still leaned against his hand.
"Partners sounds wonderful. But with partners- you want it to be only you and me, romantic and in bed?" Just to clarify. Oscar wasn't exactly known for going after everyone on board.
Varker considers the question, unsure how much he would need to worry about, though he does think its important to know basics. Finer details could be talked about later, "I'm not going to stop you from making connections, but I would like to know about them. It wouldn't feel safe if I wasn't aware of other partners, even if disease isn't a factor here. And...I'm not going to say that I won't be jealous if it's more than sex, but I will try and not be a bitch about it."
He tilts his head, curious, "does that sound fair to you?"
"That would be more then fair." He considered, before nodding. His arm went around Varker's hip, his hand lightly touching his back.
"I mean- there is currently someone, though it isn't romantic. It is...complicated. but er- you'll have to show me how modern condoms work. And, to clarify- I don't need sex. So please don't feel the need to push yourself."
He remembers vaguely that Oscar had said so before, but he had been very drunk, and he doesn't think there had been more detail beside that. "More complicated? I'm starting to think you might go looking for it instead of complicated coming to find you." Its more a tease than anything.
Audrey thrums, voicing Varker's own pleasure at being held and he's trying not to be irritated with her at vocalizing it. "That isnt a hard thing to learn, though I'm...working on that myself. I can't say I've enjoyed being celebate." He is working on ways to get himself more comfortable, but he certainly isnt there yet.
He mulls over what they've presented and nods, "was there anything else you wanted to set a ground rule on?"
"Me? Never. It always springs on me from behind." He smiled, rubbing Varker's lower back. He would have to give her some affection too- she might miss the feeling of having their shared head rubbed.
"I think, the only obvious thing is...sleeping over and liquor. For me, I won't be angry if you come over drunk, or have your own flask. But I stopped drinking for Vincent’s sake, and I want to keep it going."
He shook his head. "So none for me. And...how would you like the sleeping arrangements? Set times a week, text messages if one of us can't come over? Do you want me to sleep over?"
He considered something else. "Would Audrey...witness us...being intimate?"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: After dinner unannounced
But when he came to the door, Oscar was dressed down, wearing his reading glasses, and looked rather cozy in his housecoat and slippers.
"Oh, Clement." He smiled tentatively, and tilted his head. Checking, it seemed, to see how sober his friend was. "This is a surprise. Did you want some tea?"
No more nightcaps. But he now had an amazing tea selection, thanks to John.
Re: After dinner unannounced
One might question whether he is sober, but his breath at the very least is lacking the usual scent of alcohol. "I'll take some tea, thank you. And point me in the direction of your plant, I'll give her a top up."
Re: After dinner unannounced
"I'll make your tea, and you can go to the couch once you've topped her up." He offered an affectionate touch on the shoulder, giving Clement a squeeze. "I'll join you. Thank you for the water, Clem."
Re: After dinner unannounced
Maybe he really is old.
He slips in, spotting the plant to give it a good drink, whispering something sweet to it before setting the water down, the glass clean even if the water isn't.
"That should last you a week If you water her a little more every few days. Just remember not to drink it." He finds his way to the couch, flopping onto it and trying to ground himself with his eyes closed as he waits.
This will be fine.
Re: After dinner unannounced
"I think I know where you got it. So I won't drink it." He might still put something on top of it, just in case. He took a few minutes to prepare the tea, before coming back with milk and sugar and two mugs on a tray, and setting it on the coffee table in front of the couch.
Which meant he took a moment to sit on the edge of the couch itself, watching Varker sprawl.
"Long day?" He looked tired. Or maybe just antsy for whiskey.
Re: After dinner unannounced
It does do the trick of convincing himself he needs to be here to have this conversation though, rather than letting it sit.
He cracks one eye open, looking at Oscar, "not particularly." He isn't going to say the chronic pain is more forefront when he's sober, Oscar doesn't need to know.
"Are you going to sit next to me, or stay over there? Afraid I'll bite?"
Re: After dinner unannounced
"Was going to give you tea. And I figured if we lie down together, we'll both fall asleep."
Re: After dinner unannounced
"Oscar, I'm not eighty, I can sit on the couch without falling asleep." Excuse you.
The brush of skin to scale has him tensing a little, but he's trying to let it go, enjoy the contact. "I take a little sugar in mine, no cream. And when you're done with that, you can tell me what you want." He drops that in, turning his hand and holding his wrist instead, the buffer of house coat a comfort.
He might have taken the first step in being here, but he's hoping Oscar will take some pity on him and start them off.
Re: After dinner unannounced
"You looked like you wanted to have us intertwined and drooling together."
His voice was soft, teasing, but he stayed when he felt Clement's hand on his wrist.
And he blew out a breath.
"Clem, I know you're in mourning and grieving. You may be that way your entire life. However- I want to let you know. My feelings about you doesn't have anything to do with the breach. And I find you attractive because of my feelings towards you."
He blew out a breath. "Which is not that of friendship entirely. It is romantic."
Re: After dinner unannounced
Varker had been expecting something, maybe Oscar getting his feet wet, but this felt more like jumping into the deep end. His shock at the easy way Oscar says what he wants to is quickly covered up as he clears his throat, his other arm thats resting along the back of the couch gripping it to minimize the shake.
"That's-" ahem, give him a moment. He likes a man who can shoot straight, but then he's entirely sober and the weight of grief, acknowledging Steward first before his own feelings, well?
"You really are playing hard ball, aren't you?" Where he learned to do that, he doesn't know.
Re: After dinner unannounced
"Clem, I've always been capable of playing hard ball. I just don't unless it matters." His smile was warm. Soft. "I think it's telling when I say that one of my favorite people is Arthur Lester."
Re: After dinner unannounced
He blows a breath out himself and turns to stare down at their teacups, too hot to drink quite yet. "I am still grieving. I won't be taking his ring off, I have no plans or desire to suffer my trials here sober, and I'm a dead man myself, some days more so than others." What chips he has are there then, pushed forward.
"Why you feel like any of that weighs less than what you think you see in me, I couldn't possibly understand... but I do think I have been failing miserably at being your friend. Probably because I want more than that. Funny how I never seem to get that right no matter what the reason."
Re: After dinner unannounced
Gently, he moved to pull away, if only to serve Clement his tea, and offer it to him.
"We don't have to despair at you, when I've been a terrible friend, wanting you too." He shook his head. "But...I know too, that I can't return to your world. Rather, I don't want to leave my flock. Not forever."
Re: After dinner unannounced
"I wouldn't ask you to do that for me." He sucks his teeth, considering his wording. "And...if I could leave, I wouldn't go home anyways. Not...not until I can try again." He glances up, finally catching Oscar's eyes again, "this...has an expiration date. Not that I'd forget you, I couldn't. Just- a divergence."
One neither of them will budge on, and he respects that, but cant in good consciousness assume Oscar will be okay without telling him up front.
"But that doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my time in hell pretending I don't care about you, because I do."
Re: After dinner unannounced
"You have your own people you wish to save. And I would never deny you that either. This is...only while we're here." He sighed. There was a heaviness to having it spoken out loud, but a relief too. They knew where they stood.
"Then let's have what we have. And consider it a blessing while we are together- as friends, or lovers. I won't ask what you can't give."
Re: After dinner unannounced
"It doesn't end, Oscar. Not in separation, not in death." He thinks the only way it does is how Norton had literally erased the traces of it from his mind, and still there is a longing left behind. To know what he forgot.
He can wait to have tea a little longer, setting the cup aside, "come over here."
Re: After dinner unannounced
Oscar set his cup back on the table, and moved so they were sitting together properly, hip brushing against hip.
Re: After dinner unannounced
He doesn't drape, so much as take up his space, running a hand through his curls for both the comfort of it and the control. He looks into his eyes a good long moment as if daring him to continue being sad before he says, "stop saying 'lovers', that's far too much detail. There should be a very limited number of people spending time thinking about how you look on your back, Oscar. Pick something else."
Re: After dinner unannounced
There was a part of him that thought he wouldn't mind it if Clement jerked his head back with a bit of hair pulling.
"Well...I'm not going to call us boyfriends. We're not boys. We're men." He huffed. "I'm sure there's other men here who'd love to see you on your back. What do you suggest?"
Re: After dinner unannounced
"They might want to, but they won't. I'm not twenty any more, and I'd rather be picky than spoiled for choices." He pushes some of his hair out of his face, tucking a curl behind his ear, "partner leaves more to the imagination."
Re: After dinner unannounced
He still leaned against his hand.
"Partners sounds wonderful. But with partners- you want it to be only you and me, romantic and in bed?" Just to clarify. Oscar wasn't exactly known for going after everyone on board.
Re: After dinner unannounced
He tilts his head, curious, "does that sound fair to you?"
Re: After dinner unannounced
"I mean- there is currently someone, though it isn't romantic. It is...complicated. but er- you'll have to show me how modern condoms work. And, to clarify- I don't need sex. So please don't feel the need to push yourself."
He looked him in the eyes. "Is that fair?"
Re: After dinner unannounced
Audrey thrums, voicing Varker's own pleasure at being held and he's trying not to be irritated with her at vocalizing it. "That isnt a hard thing to learn, though I'm...working on that myself. I can't say I've enjoyed being celebate." He is working on ways to get himself more comfortable, but he certainly isnt there yet.
He mulls over what they've presented and nods, "was there anything else you wanted to set a ground rule on?"
Re: After dinner unannounced
"I think, the only obvious thing is...sleeping over and liquor. For me, I won't be angry if you come over drunk, or have your own flask. But I stopped drinking for Vincent’s sake, and I want to keep it going."
He shook his head. "So none for me. And...how would you like the sleeping arrangements? Set times a week, text messages if one of us can't come over? Do you want me to sleep over?"
He considered something else. "Would Audrey...witness us...being intimate?"
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced
Re: After dinner unannounced