Page 97 of These Old Lies
“You.” Ned’s voice was rough. “I would like you.”
Charlie leaned over to kiss Ned, softly, full of affection and familiarity. The kiss of a husband.
They knew each other’s bodies so well that the slide towards a quick frotting was all too easy. They were halfway there already, Charlie grinding his hardening cock into Ned’s thigh, Ned moaning in pleasure as he rolled his own hips. Getting off like that would be good, but today wasn’t an ordinary morning.
“God, your lips are perfect. You are perfect.” Ned’s voice was low, his accent sharp with emotion.
Charlie rolled on top of Ned and continued his kisses, pushing off Ned’spyjama shirt, ignoring all of its damn buttons, and exposing Ned’s lush chest. He relished in the feel of Ned’s coarse chest hair against his fingers and lips. He knew Ned often felt at odds with his hairy chest, that it sometimes didn’t match his internal vision of himself, so Charlie was always careful to check that Ned was happy with Charlie paying attention this way. Charlie quickly glanced at Ned’s face, which showed nothing but relaxation and happiness, so Charlie took extra time to lick his dark nipples.
“Charlie… please,” Ned panted.
To be honest, Charlie was getting close to desperate himself, and he pulled back so both of them could yank off their remaining pyjamas. The hair across Ned’s arms, chest, hips, and legs had flecks of grey, like he was a statue covered in frost. Charlie loved how broad Ned was—a massive man. Seeing him naked, laid out for Charlie, was a fantasy come to life.
Ned sat up and nipped at Charlie’s fingers, sucking them into his mouth, perhaps guessing what Charlie had in mind for them this morning. Ned’s soft, warm tongue swirling around Charlie’s fingertips was magic. “Oh, fuck. We’re not going to get any further if you keep doing that.”
Ned released Charlie’s fingers and laid back down on the bed, his big hazel eyes waiting for Charlie.
With an embarrassing lack of finesse, Charlie straddled Ned and then spun around so that he was lying over him, his cock brushing against Ned’s lips while Ned’s cock jutted up against his face.
Charlie’s mind was hazy with desire. He took Ned in his mouth as Ned did the same to him. The groan from Ned rippled through his whole body as Charlie licked up and down Ned’s cock.
This wasn’t a position they did often, sucking and being sucked, yet this morning that circle of focus and need was exactly what they craved.
Charlie tried to hold himself back from thrusting into Ned’s mouth, not wanting to be too rough, but Ned wasn’t having any of it, the bastard. He grabbed Charlie’s arse and pulled his cock deeper. Charlie’s hips bucked, unable to stop himself. He was rewarded with a rumble of appreciation from Ned.
Together they spiralled higher and higher and higher. Charlie’s moans were Ned’s gasps; Ned’s shudders Charlie’s. They didn’t have the sametechnique—Charlie caressing and licking, Ned sucking down as much as he could. Ned arched under Charlie when the tip of a finger entered him, and Charlie mumbled a curse when Ned played with his balls. How, after all these years, was this still so necessary? Surely some of the passion should have worn off by now?
Charlie sucked deeper, or was sucked deeper, he no longer knew. The inside of a thigh was nipped. A muffled scream. Sloppy and wet and right on the edge.
And then Charlie fell over the cliff, tumbling, gasping, jerking, unable to do anything but let the waves of pleasure wash over him, holding on to just enough of his sanity to make sure that he was swallowing Ned’s release down. Ned’s sensitive cock tumbled from his lips, as he twitched against Ned’s mouth.
They came down together, slowly stroking each other's bodies, fingers intertwined, tender kisses, the taste of one another still lingering in their mouths. Charlie could stay like this forever. Except, he reminded himself, they had a wedding to attend.
???
Ned
They cuddled afterward, kissing and not saying much, but eventually the clock revealed that they really did need to get moving if they were going to catch their train.
Neither man had bought a new suit for the occasion, but a tailor had smartened up an old suit of Ned’s, and they’d managed to find a second-hand suit for Charlie. Ned’s was a dark blue and Charlie said it made him look like a star from the cinema. Charlie’s was a soft grey and made Ned’s knees go weak when he put it on.
They shaved together, slowly taking the time to look their best. Charlie almost always rushed and cut himself, so Ned insisted on shaving him, running the blade slowly over Charlie’s curves and crevices, his flush of happiness at a good shave worth the extra time.
Charlie had wanted Ned to be boldly camp. “We are on the offensive now, Pinsent,” he’d insisted. But Ned had told Charlie he was happy with his little flashes. He wore a bright silk tie with patterns of colour outside offashion, and he’d added a bit of make-up, some lip tint and colour on his eyes. Ned never could explain why he liked the feeling of make-up. He enjoyed the creativity of it, the ability to make yourself as you wanted to be.
He reached for a small box on his dresser and slid on the small signet ring with his family’s crest—a present from his parents on his twenty-first birthday, a marker of becoming a man. He slid it easily onto his finger; he would be his full self today. The man who would one day be a viscount.
Ned wasn’t the only one thinking along these lines. Once shaved and combed, Charlie had less to fuss with than Ned. But he had reached into his bedside drawer and pulled out a long thin box, staring at its contents.
After a moment, Ned spoke. “Wear them, Charlie.”
Charlie extracted a line of medals. Ned had never seen them before. He hadn’t known Charlie had quite so many.
“Are you going to wear yours?”
Ned hadn’t thought of it before, but they would be appropriate to the moment. The war was part of their love story. “Yes, I will.”
As they fussed with the pins, Ned took a look at them in the mirror and couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride. They weren’t in the flush of youth, but they were still a handsome pair.