my bounty is as endless as the sea

She'd started the night looking lovely, the envy of every beautiful girl and boy pining after her date for the night. They were unaware he was lovesick for another blonde, although Ariadne wasn't sure if this was her kind of party. Sullivan May certainly wouldn't be caught dead standing on a street corner at the end of the night, red wine splattered down one side of her dress like so much gore.

Ariadne had kissed Wally goodbye and fished around in the bottom of her bag for her phone, enough alcohol in her system to justify calling Jasper. She'd found herself smiling despite herself as she yelled down the phone, that gorgeous accent flooding her with warmth as he promised to come and get her. Lovely, loyal, gorgeous Jasper.

The click-clack sound of her boots against the pavement sped up as she saw Jasper's car in the distance. No longer feeling the cold, she rounded the side of the car and tapped her nails against the glass playfully, catching sight of Jasper in the driver’s seat. She gave the handle an almighty tug, still fighting with the thing when suddenly, Jasper was beside her.

"Oh, hello." she greeted, giggling as he leaned over to jimmy the car door open. For a split second, she'd thought he was actually leaning in to hug her, and she swept her arms upwards in a half-aborted movement, the misunderstanding heightening her fit of giggles when the door swung free.

"Thank you, darling." she chirped, sliding into the passenger seat. She'd never been in Jasper's car before, but she already decided she liked it. Ariadne let her eyes slide shut for a moment, imagining all the times Professor Kent had sat where she sat, the two of them driving to work together, drinking tea and discussing fine literature. A dopey smile crossed her face. It was sickening how badly she wanted to be their friends - both of them. She really was a teacher's pet.

Her eyes flew open as the car door beside her shut, and Jasper retook his place at the wheel. It was only now she was able to get a proper look at him. Gone was the well worn Professor's garb, replaced by a plain tee and a soft-looking Jasper, stubble creeping in around his jaw. How was it possible that he looked even better dressed down?

"I spilled my drink." she pouted, hitching up the stained skirt of her dress around her thighs, displaying the damage for all to see. "And after that, the party got very dull very quickly."

She reached out, hand finding Jasper's forearm and closing around it, the tips of her acrylics just kissing his skin.

"I don't want my roommate to see me like this." she said, "Even though she's probably too busy boning her skinny boyfriend. I just wanted somewhere... someone to sober up with."

As he made his way around the car, it gave him a moment’s reprieve to catch his breath. He inhaled the rank city air, the fumes from his car leaving a sour taste as he exhaled once more before climbing into the driver’s seat. With his hands wrapped firmly around the steering wheel, Jasper focused on reversing out of the spot he’d pulled into, his foot gently tapping the gas pedal as he carefully got them out onto the road again. 

“Ah, you don’t strike me as the clumsy type,” Jasper noted, if only for something to say. 

On cue, he glanced to his side, stealing a quick glance at her sodden dress. He’d been expecting to catch a stain across her front or along her sleeve, only to feel his stomach flip as she lifted the hem of it entirely, exposing her thighs to him. Jasper’s throat constricted as he felt himself grow tighter elsewhere, too, a bottomless pit of shame seeming to open up inside of him. 

For a second, as he sat there with his hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, he couldn’t help but think of Benjamin. It was hard not to think that the two of them – Benji and Ari – were like two peas in a pod, sent down to earth to make Jasper’s life exponentially more difficult. With the rate that the two of them seemed to taunt and tease him, unyielding in their flirting, he wondered if it was a bit of a game to them both. Perhaps they were trying to see just how long it might take to break him completely? 

Jasper flinched, surprised as he felt the touch of Ari’s hand against his arm. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, not by a long shot, but he hadn’t been expecting it. He shot her another glance, this time offering up a sheepish smile, his cheeks tinged pink. 

“Sorry. Cold hands,” he laughed breathily, only a half-truth. 

It was only when Ariadne spoke that it occurred to him he didn’t know where he was taking her. He’d simply been driving, almost on instinct; the familiar streetlamps guiding him back to his own apartment. It was muscle memory, he supposed, though he suddenly found it hard to imagine Ariadne in his little flat. They were well on their way now, though, and he simply nodded, respecting her request. If she didn’t want to go home, it wouldn’t be fair to make her. He’d take care of her until she was ready. 

“You can come back to mine,” he reassured her, fingers tapping nervously at the edge of the wheel. 

He fell quiet for a moment, letting apartment complexes and night clubs flash past them in a blurry haze. In answering Ariadne’s call, he’d wanted to do the right thing in helping her, but now he wondered if he’d simply been playing with fire. What possible good could it do to have a woman like her in his apartment? She’d been clear in her intentions more times than once. 

Now seemed like as good a time as any to set some boundaries, to make it clear to her that there’d be no funny business. 

“I’ll get you a t-shirt to change into, something to cover up that stain,” was, in fact, the idiotic sentence he settled on instead. 

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He wondered just how much Jasper had hidden from him regarding the true nature of his relationship with Charlotte, about just how awful it had been. Benji wouldn’t be shocked to hear that there had been very little happy moments shared between them, but it would fill him with a sense of disappointment anyway, knowing that his best friend had endured such a long period of time attached to someone who didn’t know a good thing when they had it.

Benji knew the basics of just what an utter hellion Charlotte was, but it had taken Jasper a while to allow himself to be encouraged into talking badly about her. The other man, perpetually sweet as honey,  often downplayed the negative things that affected him, pocketing his own feelings away neatly so as not to impose on anyone else. Benji only hoped he hadn’t squirrelled away information about Charlotte to suit Benji’s temperament. It’s not like it would have made much of a difference; he’d never liked the woman, and never would. Anyone who put a frown on his dearest friend’s face was never in the running for companionship as far as Benji was concerned.

He narrowed his eyes at Jasper’s further explanation, still perched on the edge of the other man’s desk as his fingers gently massaged Jasper’s scalp.

“So she was… jealous? Of us?” he said eventually. Benji tilted his head to the side, considering this.

Of course, he and Jasper had always been close. Neither of them subscribed to the toxic ideals that shadowed the friendships of all the other men they knew. It had been that way from the start, Jasper and Ben, side by side, always open and loud about how much they adored each other. Benjamin Kent was a man who loved unabashedly. He would never dream of hiding just how devoted he was to Jasper, and he supposed, to some people, that might paint their friendship in a rather odd light.

“It sounds to me like she was just a tad insecure,” he pointed out, a smirk playing on his lips. Now who was downplaying the situation? Teasingly, he continued.

“She just couldn’t cope with the fact that no matter how much she loved you, I would always love you more, hm? Sorry to say, old chap, but a woman like Charlotte just isn’t built for that level of competition, you know.”

A part of him wanted to genuinely say sorry. Again. But he stopped himself. He didn’t think he could ever bring himself to apologise for how much he loved his friend. Yes, he hated that it had been such a point of contention between Jasper and Charlotte, but if the alternative was to put some distance between himself and his best friend in the world, then selfishly Benji was rather glad that Charlotte had bowed out.

Edging closer across Jasper’s desk, his thumb brushed the shell of the other man’s ear.

“You know the right person isn’t going to be bothered by anything like that, right? Friendship can’t be such a foreign concept to everyone. You’re going to meet someone who loves you so entirely, they’ll just have to make room for me and my tea collection as well,” he joked, although that was exactly what he wanted in a partner for Jasper, someone who loved the man wholly and wasn’t threatened by Benji being ever-present in his life.

Leaning forward, he used his grip in Jasper’s hair to tug the other man forward so he could press a kiss to his forehead.

“I love you, poppet.”

A wry laugh caught in Jasper’s throat at his best friend’s words and the sheer irony of them. Benjamin had hit the nail right on the head, and he had absolutely no clue. Charlotte’s problem with the two of them had been exactly that; She had spotted Jasper’s feelings for his best friend from a mile away, and knew she’d never be able to compete for his affections. What she hadn’t known was that even if Jasper’s feelings were wholly platonic, she still wouldn’t have been very high in the running on account of the fact that she wasn’t a very nice person. All the same, she’d been really quite sour over the closeness of their friendship. 

“Yes, well. It’s quite her own problem if she wants to believe you’re madly in love with me and were just waiting for your chance to whisk me away,” he joked, if you could even call it that. It fell flat even to his own ears, and he was quite grateful that his face was tucked away, angled towards Benjamin’s chest while the other man caressed his scalp, so as not to expose the blatant wince that had crossed his features. Surely jokes were only funny when they weren’t soaked in the bitter truth. 

He sighed, lifting his head slowly as he felt Benjamin’s fingers brush the underside of the ear and suppressed the shiver that threatened to run loose down his spine. He thought his heart might explode right out of his chest if the other man came any closer, yet it didn’t seem to stop him. His bottom was sliding smoothly across his desk as he tightened his hold on Jasper, his words earnest and true as he reassured him of his worth and his right to be loved. If only he could take that sentiment and fold it into the depths of his own heart, shaping it into a love they could share without intrusion. 

Jasper’s eyes fluttered shut as he felt Benji’s lips press against his skin, and he quietly savoured the moment before they broke apart. Benji had always been generous with his kisses, bestowing them along every inch of Jasper’s face over the course of their friendship, always falling just shy of his lips. He supposed he should be grateful for what little he did get, as any amount of Benjamin Kent in his life was more than he could possibly deserve. 

“I love you too, honey,” he insisted, though it rung true in a completely different way. 

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“So you are getting some,” Benji teased with a grin. He was pleased that Jasper wasn’t as buttoned-up as Benji had presumed him to be.

For two men who were the best of friends, Benji supposed that was one thing the two of them rarely spoke about: their sex lives. True, Jasper had been with Charlotte for a good long while that Benji simply knew who his friend was sleeping with. And although Benji himself - and he knew it sounded dreadfully boastful - was hardly lacking in partners, he didn’t talk to Jasper much about it.

On the few occasions that he had, after one particularly comical morning when Jasper had walked in on Benji in a rather compromising position with Kim on his sofa, it seemed like Jasper would rather talk about anything but. He would blush, turning an absolutely delightful shade of crimson, and as much as Benji thought it fun to poke at his friend just to hear that shy little laugh he was so fond of, he didn’t want to steer Jasper into territory that made him uncomfortable.

So these days, they rarely talked about who they did and didn’t sleep with. Benji had been rather fearful that Jasper hadn’t been with anyone since Charlotte, so it was mildly reassuring to know his friend was getting some sort of release. Although he was a little curious about the where and the who. Sue him for being nosey!

He tilted his head to the side as Jasper leaned away from him, wondering if he had spoken out of turn by bringing up Charlotte. At Jasper’s quiet revelation though, his eyes widened in surprise.

“What?” he breathed.

Of course, it was no surprise at all to discover that Charlotte had never liked Benji. That had been apparent from the off. He had tried the best he could to be perfectly pleasant to the other woman who, upon meeting him, had narrowed his eyes as soon as she heard his name, said, “Oh. Benji.” like she was reading the name of a particularly nasty and incurable disease, and had turned her attention away from him and onto Jasper, pointedly gluing herself to his best friend’s side with a possessive hand in his hair.

He had no idea what it was about him that she had taken such an offense to, but he’d ploughed through each and every interaction with Charlotte with steel-toed determination to make it out the other side without argument. Not because he particularly wanted to be her friend, but because he didn’t want to make things difficult for Jasper.

To hear that he hadn’t quite managed that was a shock to the system and he felt his shoulders drop at once.

“Bloody hell. I knew she didn’t like me, but… She broke up with you because of me?” He was appalled. He’d simply thought that the two of them had realised they weren’t well-matched for each other, and that Jasper had come to his senses and now knew he could do much better than Charlotte. Now he was hearing that it wasn’t even his friend’s choice.

“Jas,” he admonished quietly, slipping a hand into the other man’s hair and frowning. “If I had known I would have tried harder with her. Or… I don’t know. Apologised for whatever it was I did to offend her.”

Then, on days like today, it became painfully clear that Benji was the most clueless man in the world and hadn’t the foggiest about Jasper’s feelings. 

Admitting that Charlotte had broken up with him because of Benji had, admittedly, been a risky move on Jasper’s part. His ex-girlfriend had caught wind of his feelings for Benjamin long before he’d even admitted them to himself, so it was of no real surprise when their relationship had come crashing to a halt. Not that it overly mattered. Reflecting back on their time together, she’d never been especially good for him. She was cruel and demanding, always taking the time to put Jasper down and belittle his feelings and interests. She’d been emotionally abusive at the bare minimum, and he’d simply stuck his head in the sand and ignored it. Still, not even the revelation that he had been the catalyst for their breakup had been enough to make Benji understand. Perhaps that was for the best. 

“Yes, well. You didn’t exactly like her, so you don’t need to look so horrified,” he lightly teased. 

Benjamin had always been civil with Charlotte, even when she hadn’t deserved his kindness. But he’d comforted Jasper on endless occasions after various arguments, and had been the first person he’d turned to after they’d split. Only then had he allowed himself to unleash the full scope of his feelings about the woman, and Jasper had sheepishly allowed his best friend to let rip, knowing that he had no real loyalty to her to begin with. Sometimes, he wondered if he’d have broken up with her himself had Benji simply asked him to. 

Jasper’s eyes fluttered shut momentarily as he felt Benji’s fingers slide into his hair, finding comfort in the other man’s touch. His stomach seemed to flip at the sensation, and he happily nuzzled closer as he sought out the other man’s gaze. He was like a pathetic, needy little puppy. 

“You didn’t have anything to apologise for, love. She didn’t... It wasn’t what you’d done,” he sighed, searching for the right words. He was treading dangerously here. “She was just jealous, mate. Of us, of our... She thought we spent too much time together.” 

His eyes found Benji's and he blushed, the word jealous still ringing in the back of his mind.

"Best behavior. Promise." she stated, lazily crossing herself, the way she'd seen people do on television or read about in books.

The noise from the party felt as though it had dulled significantly in the time she'd been standing in the garden with Jasper. Maybe it was the acidic taste of lime still heavy on her tongue, or the quiet, earnest way he was speaking to her. Everything but him felt blurry and inconsequential, Jasper standing in front of her in his ridiculous Paddington Bear costume, all soft edges and sincere looks. Her eyes widened at his insistence, her tottering forward in her heels a little as she leaned closer.

"I just thought..." she trailed off, unsure how to end her sentence.

It was true, Jasper didn't hang around at the end of class to flirt via Sylvia Plath references, nor did he respond to her tipsy late-night texts insisting he came out for drinks. But he had never suggested she couldn't talk to him at all. The problem with Ariadne is she didn't know how to not come on too strong, how to turn off the brazen flirting, the parts he had a problem with.

"I thought you didn't want to be friends anymore, that's all."

She lifted her shoulders in a gentle shrug, looking up at Jasper from beneath her eyelashes - thick and wet, with clumps of mascara drying in them. She helped cup her hands around the flame, shielding it from the nonexistant wind as Jasper lit her cigarette, taking a quick drag and trying not to exhale directly in his face.

"Had a bit of a falling out with my best friend, well, sort of... my ex-girlfriend." she mumbled, gesturing with her cigarette. "It's all fine now, just... not feeling particularly Halloween-y."

She smiled, feeling goosebumps rise up on her skin where he touched her, huddling in closer despite herself.

"This is nice. Worth the sniffles." she insisted, "I didn't expect to see you here."

“I’m sorry I made you feel that way,” Jasper breathed. He took care to meet her gaze, wanting her to know his apologies were sincere. He hadn’t meant to be so careless with her feelings. “I’d bloody love it if we could still be mates.” 

The two of them stood in the cold, Jasper with one hand now tucked into the pocket of his – admittedly ridiculous – duffle coat as Ariadne took long, slow drags of her cigarette, his other hand gently soothing the cold expanse of her forearm. She was notably cold to touch, and he almost wondered if the chivalrous thing to do would be to give her his coat. The sentiment was soon lost in the back of his mind, however, when it occurred to him she wouldn’t accept it. Not only was Jasper positive that Ariadne would declare that it didn’t go with her outfit, but he was certain that – much like Benji – she'd happily freeze to death if it meant getting to see Jasper look like a total fool in his silly outfit. 

Jasper didn’t bother to hide the look of surprise on his face at Ariadne’s admission. For some reason, it came as a shock to him that Ariadne had any exes of note. She was a beautiful girl, of course, and he had no doubt she’d broken a few hearts in her time. But he’d always gotten the impression from her that she didn’t do dating, so to hear of an ex-girlfriend that might still be in the picture was certainly a twist. 

“What happened, love? Still hung up on her?” he mused, feeling particularly nosy. 

It wasn’t in his nature to pry in other people’s love lives – that was more Benjamin’s area of expertise than his own – but he wanted to prove to Ariadne that he was still happy to be her friend. And, from his experience, this was the sort of thing that friends talked about. Benjamin loved to hear about Jasper’s non-existent love life, even if Jasper loathed to hear about the other man’s... encounters. 

“Yeah, well. Benji loves a party, and he was probably tired of his best mate being a big ol’ bore... Not that I’ve seen him in a few hours,” Jasper grimaced, remembering that he’d last seen Benji with his tongue down Kimaya’s throat several hours too early. 

He offered Ariadne a polite smile as she shuffled in closer to him, seemingly trying to leech off of his warmth. He didn’t mind, and he wrapped a careful arm around her shoulders as he tugged her in a little closer, careful to dodge the fresh cloud of smoke. “C’mere, you.” 

"Well, technically, you did a wonderful job." she insisted, perching her bum on the edge of his desk. Her nails tip-tapped against the wood as she searched back through her previous conversations with Jasper, wondering if he'd dropped his profession into casual conversation and she'd merely missed it. She'd assumed he was a pianist by trade, and perhaps he'd let her believe it. Then again, he had no reason to lie. She'd led him to believe she was first and foremost an actress.

"One of his students finally gave him a shove down the stairs, hm?" she teased, her legs swinging off the edge of the desk. Calahan wasn't a bad old goat, really. Just snobby and uptight and harsh when it came to grading. And nothing to look at, not like Jasper.

She let out a bark of laughter, straightening up as she raised an eyebrow at him. So, he was still doing that awkward flirting thing with her, that was promising. Or should she think of it as a lighthearted brush off?

"Such a shame I never sent something more risqué." she drawled, looking at the desk rather than the man sitting across from her. Their texts had been very PG, lighthearted banter and yes - one too many texts about Chaucer. She thought she'd been playing a very delicate game, that eventually the silly little back and forth would tip over into something slightly more hot and heavy.

"And here I was thinking you fancied me." she tutted, lifting a pencil from his desk and shoving it through her tousled up-do, holding fast in her hair. "Guess there's nothing to be done about that now."

There was nothing inappropriate happening, nor would there ever be. Yet, Jasper couldn’t help but think that if somebody walked in right now, it might look a little... untoward. He fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat, tugging nervously at the lapel of his suit. He wondered if it was warm in here, or if that was just him? 

“Ariadne,” Jasper warned, gently. 

He shook his head as a fond, albeit thin, smile worked its way onto his lips. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t heard the mutterings about Calahan. There were many of his colleagues who had spoken ill of the other man, as well as his own students. Jasper liked to think he was a non-judgmental person, and he hadn’t known the other professor nearly well enough to be making harsh assessments of his overall character. Still, the smile had slipped out now, and he ducked his head in avoidance of it. 

It was just as well, as his cheeks immediately flushed under the blonde’s words. He shook his head, not for the first time, and avoided her gaze. He’d walked himself right into that one, of course, but it would obviously take Ariadne to immediately jump straight into dirty jokes and teasing. He said nothing in return, not wanting to encourage her. He was quite pleased she hadn’t sent him anything risqué. As beautiful as Ariadne Halliday was, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to talk him out of their current predicament if either of them had ever acted upon her flirtations, or followed up on them. 

“Well, I am sorry if I gave you any false impressions,” Jasper apologised, sincerely.  

The truth was, he had found her quite lovely and enjoyed talking to her enormously. He wasn’t daft enough that he’d missed the cues or been totally oblivious to her flirting, but that’s all it had been. Jasper was in no position to be dating right now, and he hoped he’d never given her the allusion that he was. Sometimes, all he sought was great conversation with a good friend. 

“I would still very much like to stay friends, in whatever capacity you’ll have me,” Jasper admitted. He knew it was a risky move, to even go down that line of thinking. It wasn’t that he thought there was anything wrong with the two of them remaining in contact – they were both adults, after all – but he knew how easily student/teacher relations could be misconstrued. The last thing he wanted was for Ariadne to get a poor reputation based off of an inaccurate assumption or an assassination of her character. 

He watched, curiously, as she nabbed his pencil from his desk and pushed it into her hair. There it was again, that same fond smile of his. Trust Ariadne to turn a pencil case into a fashion statement. 

“And I’ll be having that back, thank you,” he laughed. Reaching up, he pinched the pencil from her blonde locks and dropped it back down onto his desk. A few strands fell free, framing her face. Carefully, he lifted his hand again to brush the hair from her cheek, tucking it neatly behind her ear as his fingers brushed her jaw. He cleared his throat, smiling apologetically. “Sorry.” 

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Pine is such an inept word to describe whatever I go through. It's more like... detatched daydreaming, followed by slight yearning, followed by a week of non-stop masturbation to get the person out of my system. If they're still there after a thorough detox, they've won.