âż [ from phae not hodgins i am just lazy as shit and don't wanna change account sdjf ]
Itâs the first time theyâre going out on the boat since Phae showed up at his door that night, stammering and unsure unlike Jack had ever known him to be, and itâsâŚstrange. Some of the tension he hadnât realized was there is now goneââbut thereâs a new sort of nervousness there that wasnât there before.
The weatherâs been holding up for the better part of the week, and even though Jack knows itâs going to rain in a few moments, it wonât be a big enough storm that he wonât be able to sail to their spot and back.Â
As it is, Phae seems a lot more comfortable with working the sails, not so tense when Jack directs him to this and that post while he steers the boat away from the docks, and out of the marina.Â
Itâs only once theyâve stopped that drops of water slowly and gently start to fall from the sky. Jackâs done with the anchor when Phae calls him over to help secure one of the lines, âWhatâdidnât I teach you that knot last time?â
"So teach me again," Thereâs something like mischief in those blue eyes, and Jack squints at him with playful suspicion before he obliges and ties the line firmly and easily to its cleat. He looks up, ready with a comment about the great Generalâs lack of memory, to find blue eyes just a few inches away from his.
Phaeâs hair is wet, messy damp strands of brown kissing his cheeks, and temples, and the skin between his eyes. Jack gets lost in the way that raindrops leave trails of tears down Hephaestionâs faceâand they both hold their breath for an eternal moment that lasts no more than a few seconds.Â
The sky crashes above them then, and Jack finally threads his fingers through those wild, stubborn locks of hair and closes the distance between them. The only reason he doesnât worry about the desperation with which he kisses Hephaestion then, is that the hands clawing at his back spell out the same urgency that currently strangles his heart.
Andâfor nowâhe can breathe.