"Any luck with that?" Theo grimaced and shook his head in disapproval. "It's something to pass the time. Plot-wise it has a lot of issues. Content-wise mm, they do a lot of physically impossible things that definitely ruin the escapism of it all. This author is always a bit hit or miss. Some books are passable and some are just pitfall trap after pitfall trap. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this one. The changing of my guard is certainly a much lucky and desired distraction."

"Yeah. Sorry. I didn't mean to just — you, erm — do what you've got to."

He watched Theo make his hasty retreat, grimacing at how much of a fuck-awful tease he'd just been. "Sorry, love," he said again to nobody. Still, he wouldn't deny that it had bolstered his confidence. Theo hadn't been lying. He did want this. Or...maybe the book had just gotten him worked up. Who knew, really.

Fletch sighed and leaned against the door, arms crossed and eye aimed pointedly away from the screen. They were both so drunk on this thing that neither of them was thinking clearly, and it could have just spelled the end of their affair. They had to be more careful. Maybe he shouldn't be in this room at all without a chaperone, like they were a couple of handsy teens and not men bordering on middle-aged. 

When Theo re-emerged, he seemed to have calmed himself, though his question made Fletcher laugh a little. "I have now," he joked exasperatedly as he flailed his arms and let them fall to his sides. "Went clock shopping in town. Fuck all else, though. Enjoying your book?"

He gasped softly and whimpered as Fletcher came and went like the tide. "Then it shall wait," he replied with calm finality even as his eyes hungered for Fletcher. Theo swallowed and carefully sighed out a breath while stepping back from the other man.

"I need to mm—wash my face. I'll be right back." Theo tossed his book gently onto the bed and dashed off to his bathroom with a slight waddle to his stride. The water ran but it was several longer minutes than it needed to be to wash one's face before the nobleman returned looking more poised.

"Did you have a good start to your day?"

Fletch leaned a little closer with each shuddering breath. This was a terrible idea. They could so easily get caught. Somehow, he didn't care. Somehow that made it even more tempting. "Do I look like a man who wants a book and a walk, Theo?" he asked. He drew closer still until his fingers wove in between Theo's. Until his lips brushed against the man's. Then, like a spell broken, he stepped away and drew a deep and centering breath. He let it out, casting an anxious glance at the door. "It can wait," he breathed. "It's got to wait. We can't be doing this in broad daylight, lock or no."

He hesitated looking between the man's eye and his lips and back again. "Do you want to? We can just sit and read or go for a walk. Simple."

"Oho. And he spanks me, too. No. No, I didn't. I didn't really expect this to be our first order of business," Fletch replied, jerking his chin towards the book. Then he noticed the way Theo was looking at him, and it caught up to him what the man was asking. His smirk quieted a little, though his gaze grew fiery. "I can if you want," he murmured.

Theo went barreling after the book and tried desperately to get the book back. By the time it was relinquished he was very red in the face and lightly smacked Fletcher on the rear with it.

"It's just a silly book. Nothing to see here—did you lock the door?" He eyed the other man with dark eyes as he seemed to realize finally how close they were standing to each other. 

"Few minutes," Fletch replied quickly as he seized the opportunity without a moment's hesitation. He stood, bent, and snatched the book up before making a hasty retreat. As he walked, he thumbed through it, stopping to linger on a particularly graphic scene that seemed, like the book about pirates, to involve two men. "Huh," he chuckled. "Oh he's got his trousers down at a ball? Oh and so has the other one? Bit rude." He noticed Theo's approach just in time and scooted off again around the room, weaving and blocking the man's snatching hands with his body. "Ooh, that's raunchy, though," he went on, smirk growing wider and wider. At last, he slowed down and allowed Theo to reclaim the stolen prize, though by that point he'd read quite enough to know what sort of book it was. 

"It's good. I approve," he grinned. "I'm borrowing it when you're done."

"I surrender to it," he mumbled back between loving kisses. Theo dozed a bit but startled awake some time in the night for the fourth or fifth time and decided enough was enough. Reluctantly he slunk back into his own bed, shivering at cold sheets after having scrubbed himself of his lover's scent for the second night in a row.

The following day was a peaceful blur for him. Post breakfast he had kicked off his shoes and coat in favor of sprawling out in his bed to read. The hours whittled away as he rolled this way and that into each new comfortable reading position. 

He was so engrossed in fact that come afternoon, he completely missed Fletcher's arrival into the room as he lay there kicking his legs and enjoying the adventures of a streetrat who had managed to gain the attentions of a cold-hearted Duke. 

Nose still in his book, Theo got up and distractedly poured himself some more water. He leaned against the side table, half sitting on the edge as one hand held the book and the other raised the cup to his lips.

"That simply cannot be physically possible," he exclaimed quietly to himself. He dropped the book down against his leg and was halfway to taking a gulp of water when he caught sight of Fletcher from the corner of his eye and let loose a high-pitched squeal of surprise that resulted in him defensively chucking the book at the other man. 

"Oh I'm sorry I'm sorry," he claimed immediately afterwards, while trying to reclaim the book before his lover did. "How long have you been sitting there?"

Fletch stole another kiss, this time lingering in it, besotted with whiskey and the man alike. What Theo had said — his fear that Fletch would want more than the man could ever give — echoed in his mind. It scared him, too, to burn this badly for someone. To ache for them and wonder if what he got would ever be enough to quench his thirst. To hold so much back that he thought he might burst. He stole another, and another, until he was sure he'd worn out his welcome. "I'm not real? You take the words out of my mouth, I'm going to steal them right back," he smirked, just barely readable for how close he'd remained to the man. "You've been warned."

He snugged up close, pulling Theo in to rest the man's head on his chest. "Balls," he muttered as he immediately began to drift. "Going to fall asleep like this. You really do it to me."

The next thing he knew, he awoke to an empty bed again, and to Theo's lingering scent on his pillow. He rolled over and buried his face in it and breathed deep, grinning like a happy cat. Today, at least, would be simple: there were no visits or piano lessons or obligations. He could be near Theo without the whole exhausting bullshit affair of playing the game. Maybe he could even make the man blush again for the fun of it. Besides. His shift would start that afternoon, and that meant that he had just enough time to run into town and fetch what Theo had been referring to: a means to allow them both some time to sleep without the fear of being caught.

He was late in relieving Niles. "Are they even open at this hour?" the man teased him mildly. "He's just reading. Nothing to report."

"I was shopping, you cock," Fletch snorted, holding up a bag as evidence that he had, indeed, not been out whoremongering for once. "Afternoon, then."

"Aye, afternoon."

He waited for his fellow bodyguard to disappear down the stairs and completely out of sight before he ducked into Theo's room. The nobleman had flopped down on his bed and appeared to be deeply invested in a book. Fletch wondered if it was one of the scandalous ones this time. He dropped the bag off next to the nanny door and found himself a chair to rest his feet. It was just by coincidence that that chair allowed him to watch the man in his quiet contentment for as long as the moment would allow.

He was lovely. Soft and sad and achingly beautiful. Fletch thought he liked Theo best like this: at peace in his own world, with nobody to impress and no expectations to uphold. No makeup, hair a bit of a mess, clothes picked for him and not for the day. He wasn't stiff, either. He was so at ease. Maybe Fletcher wanted the pretty boy he'd seen before the ball, but he thought this was the one he loved.