Commentary meme part the second

[oneiriad]

The Sparrington ficlet Status Quo, as requested by pyrites_gold.

Some nights James will say “no” and try to push him away, but so far it’s been possible to change that tune into the far sweeter one of “oh-please-don’t-stop-oh-God-Jack-please-oh-yes!”. Amazing, really, what a little expert application of lips and tongue and some strategic groping can accomplish. Why do some stories get written and some don't? Why did I write this and not so many others - like the amnesiac James waking up next to Jack and eventually reclaiming three drops of memory-story or the epic time travelling Black Pearl with 21st century time travelling anthropologist Jack and very confused James - or just the James tied to chair and Jack  doing dirty things with a knife while channeling voices that the reader would totally know was Sparrington fangirls... Ah well...

And then Jack will fuck him and Jack will suck him and Jack will ride him and Jack will do whatever he wants to him yeah - my attempts at explicit sex never does seem to manifest as more than this sort of thing, does it?, driving him wild and beyond wild, beyond conscious and subconscious and unconscious, until there is nothing left of him but a sweaty lump of boneless flesh.

They don’t kiss. The one time Jack tried, he walked around with a swollen tongue for the better part of a week poor Jack - *pets him* - must have been torture, not being as talkative as usually for nearly a week.

James tends to ignore the rest of the crew, within the bounds of common courtesy, and they usually return the favour. The sole exception is when some new recruit gets the wrong impression of the chains he is always wearing. Usually, one of the old hands are around to handle the matter, although if not, then the sharp knife and the loaded pistol he always carries have so far been quite sufficient to set them straight.

In the evenings Jack will read or chart a course or simply lounge on the bed, watching through half-lidded eyes as James rubs the pungent ointment onto his wrists and then goes over the irons with an oiled cloth, before putting them back on and returning the tiny key to its place on the silver necklace he wears – the only present from Jack he has ever accepted.

Jack hates the chains and the key. Jack would hate them - Jack is a creature of freedom incarnate, IMHO Every time he sees them, it itches in his fingers and all he wants to do is throw them overboard, but he never does. The only one throwing things overboard is James, every time after the first that Jack has tried to give him a gift. At first he thought it might have something to with the kind of gift, so he racked his brain, but gave up on the day that a leather-bound translation of Dante was swallowed by the waves bad James - no hurting the book!(a waste, in Jack’s humble opinion, since he strongly doubted that Caribbean fish were capable of appreciating Italian poets).

Now Jack keeps things for himself – books are simply put on the shelves in the cabin, clothes too large for himself placed in a random sea chest. James will take the books down and read them before putting them back. James will wear the clothes. Jack never asks him why it has to be this way.

There are a lot of things that Jack never asks him. Like how come James does not respond to his title, will pretend to have not heard it – and if someone persists in calling him “Commodore”, that someone will be treated to one of James’ rare glares.

Jack never asks what James was doing on that French merchant ship or why he – freely and of his own choice – walked across to the Pearl, but unlike the two sailors who did the same firmly refused to sign the Articles and go on the account. Or why it is that every time the lookout will cry “sail ho!” he will go below or aloft and not be seen again until the pillage-and-plunder part of the day is past. I'm not entirely sure why James is aboard the Pearl, what has happened to bring him to this state - back when I wrote the story (six years ago... six years? Oh. okay, øh. - right, I remember having this idea that he was punishing himself for something awful, perhaps having lost his ship, his men, his friends. But punishing himself on his own terms, not anybody else's.

Jack never asks about the sword – or to be more specific, the shards of the sword (which was obviously very fine, folded steel and gilding and all) – that he has found wrapped in an old shirt and hidden under many more in one of the sea chests in the cabin. Rereading this, I'm adding to my old idea - I think he did loose his ship etc - that he probably managed to somehow be the death of his friends, perhaps giving in to his pirate hunting obsession - only, I think he also got kicked out of the Navy. That would explain him refusing the title that's no longer his and his sword being broken - I seem to remember swords getting broken - except I think he himself doesn't think the punishment was enough. Maybe he had friends in high places (*cough*Weatherby Swann*cough*) speak for him, stopping the worst of the punishment - except that meant it wasn't punishment enough for James and so he went off in search of his own...Never as much as mentions it.

Jack does not even ask when he sees James, on the (admittedly rare) nights when he has done nothing to him, and the man tosses and turns, cries out in his sleep and is covered in cold sweat. Never asks – just tries his damnedest to make sure those nights are few and far between. Back when I wrote this, I was trying at a sequel - only, the only thing my mind would offer me was a pretty fucked up plot involving James finally saying no and not letting Jack change his mind, so Jack wound up raping him "for his own sake", and - yeah. Like I said. Fucked up. Eventually, I just sort of backed away slowly and stopped trying, you know?

Sometimes late at night, when he is right on the verge of post-coital sleep, cock still buried balls-deep in the limp body beneath him, he will admit to himself that what he fears is not that James might refuse to answer. (Tell you  the truth - I have no idea what preciselyI meant with this line - I'm not even sure I knew what it was supposed the mean when I wrote it - it just sounded sort of right - please don't tell anybody)

 

Comments

[pyrites-gold.livejournal.com]

Wow! Thanks, that is so cool and interesting. This is one of my favourites, I love how you can say a page worth in one sentence.

I love the idea of him seeking his own punishment because the standard one wasn't enough for him.

And I really love the last two paragraphs, how there's so much in just a few lines. The planned sequel sounds fascinating, but I can totally see why you backed away from it. That something has to be truly broken before it can be mended. It would be kind of scary.