#eubert

この世にはいろんなPeepy

E U B E R T

Title: Where to Begin Author: @warriorgays​ Artist: @hoosiersblanket Pairing: Leckie/Sledge Rating: M Word Count: 37840+ Summary:  In the summer of 1946, Leckie travels down to Alabama for Sid’s wedding. Once there, he rekindles a friendship with Eugene Sledge. They’re both a little lost, a little broken, a little heartsick; it might not seem like the best basis for a relationship, but to their surprise they find themselves stumbling towards one anyway.

Link to fic

Link to soundtrack

thanks for the prompt! and my icon was made by @sergeant-bullshit, whom tumblr will never let me tag for some reason

“Come here.”

“No.”

“C'mere!”

“Lucky…”

Sledge laughed, and then yelped as Leckie yanked at his hand. He wasn’t drunk, not really, but he was tipsy enough that the tug pulled him off balance. He fell in Leckie’s lap and then they rolled down the hill a few inches, crushing the dry grass beneath them. It was a loud summer night, cicadas and crickets splitting the dark, but even so their laughter felt bold.

they meet when Leckie is just starting his professorship and Eugene is a PhD student; they’re at different universities

the first two times Leckie asks him out, Eugene says no, because he does it in such goofy ways that he has a hard time taking him seriously; the third time, a large cluster of friends have ended up in a diner late at night after a party, and in response to a joking question Leckie recites a stanza of poetry (as Leckie does). the others mock him for it, but Eugene hears the tenderness in his voice and sees the look on his face and starts to think okay, maybe this guy is for real. he tells Leckie he’d love to hear the rest of the poem, and Leckie says “sure. over dinner.” with a Leckie Grin(TM) and that’s how it goes

they have a post-midterms tradition where they smoke a bowl and have sweet, sloppy, stoned sex on the couch. it’s the only time Sledge smokes because he doesn’t have a habit (traditions are different than habits, ok)

also that scene from Call the Midwife, where Shelagh takes puffs of her husband’s cigarettes and he says “you know you can have one of your own” and she says “absolutely not, that would make me a smoker”? that too. he’s not a tobacco smoker if he only steals his boyfriend’s pre-lit cigarettes when he’s feeling stressed

trying to find comfortable reading positions for two people on one couch, while they’re also trying to cuddle, is supremely difficult but somehow they make it work

“is that my pen?” is the most frequent sentence uttered in their apartment, by far.

Andy and Eddie are Sledge’s gay mentors. they own a cafe in the city and it’s their favorite out-of-the-house place to work

Eugene proposes first, in a park after breakfast on their second anniversary, simply but with a heartfelt speech

which causes Leckie a brief moment of panic, because he had already planned a proposal for later that night; he’d gotten Andy to open the cafe at night for a romantic candlelit dinner for two (Chuckler is the waiter, Eddie the live music)

but eventually both proposals go off without a hitch. planning a wedding ends up being so incredibly stressful, and the pressure gets so ridiculous, that they decide to elope. it’s great. Sledge wears a black suit, no tie, Leckie wears a vest and a nerdy tie Sledge bought him for his birthday. the only guests are Andy, Eddie, and Vera, who were all in town, although she does make sure to livestream it for their friends

Sledge has been at college in the north too long to be totally ignorant about winter, but Leckie fusses over him anyway, making sure his coat is thick enough and he has gloves and sometimes giving Sledge his own scarf. he complains but he fuckin’ loves it.

Leckie sometimes makes breakfast in bed - it involves (supposedly) heart-shaped pancakes, orange juice, bacon, eggs, the whole nine yards. when Eugene makes breakfast in bed it involves coffee and blowjobs, which tbh they both enjoy more.

Vera is their Emergency person. she has the key to their apartment, waters the plants when they’re away, etc. Sid is the person they call on to settle “who’s right?” disputes, which always make him fervently wish he never introduced them in the first place

another unfortunate byproduct of their relationship is that Hoosier and Snafu now know each other. on Leckie and Sledge’s first anniversary, they mistakenly thought it would be nice to have a dinner party, because hey, they had gotten together after a lot of group outings. everyone else was courteous enough to clear out pretty quickly, but Hoosier and Snafu took a reaaaaalllllly long time to finish their desserts and their last drinks, because they’re evil bastards

(for context, Leckie re-meets Sledge in this fic about a week after being dumped by Vera)

“Okay.” Leckie stepped back, defeated, and ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Okay, I’m sorry. Listen, Sledge, you’re a nice guy and all, but--”

But I don’t want to deal with the fallout of fucking a broken-hearted kid who needs to be drunk out of his mind to even consider the possibility of taking a cock in his ass.

“Oh come on,” Sledge said, affronted. “Everyone has to start somewhere, don’t they? Like I said, it’s not like I never--”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Leckie lied. “It’s just--Jesus, Sledge, it’s one thing to be a little tipsy, but when you can’t even walk straight, and for your first time--I just don’t feel right about it. I mean, hell, if something hurts are you sure you’re going to notice and be able to tell me about it? I just don’t feel right.”

“Sure I will. Would. I--how likely would you say that would be?” he asked in an anxious aside, and Leckie sighed and reached for his arm.

“Come on,” Leckie said with a sigh. “Let’s get back to the wedding.”

“No, come on,” Sledge said, rallying his spirits. “Leckie, I--can we just--can we talk about it? We can have a cup of coffee, if you like. I…” He took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice, and for a moment Leckie was almost willing to believe he wasn’t drunk. He wasn’t slurring as bad, at least. “I may have gone a little overboard, but--it’s not as bad as you’re thinking. I’m not scared, all right, I want to, it’s just that I don’t know anybody in Mobile so I’ve had nothing to do but sit around and think. It’s--it’s not a big deal. But I feel better because I know you.”

Leckie/Sledge