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lonelybritAfter much grief and general wielding of sporks, the fish!verse bunny finally settled and lo, there is ficlet. Utterly dedicated to the lovely lovely ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eloise_bright who is dealing with workloads from Hades during the day and my Franz babblings during the evenings. Here be a little fluffy snapshot of an evening in the life of Liam and Pryce. It's been a while since I visited this verse, so apologies if the language is a little dodgy.
Title: Time and Ties Wait for No Man
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Liam/Pryce
Notes/Disclaimer: Set sometime after A Fish Out Of Water, in a land where rainbows and kittens reign supreme. The characters still mostly belong to Joss and ME.
The sun had set, the birds bedding down for the night and the fox no doubt beginning to eye the dozy chickens. I tumbled up the last few steps and flung myself through the suite door to find a reproachful looking Pryce awaiting me.
“I know I know,” I said hastily, noticing his indrawn breath that no doubt pre-empted a well worded reprimand, “Dinner’s at eight. We have less than an hour, I am well aware of the time.”
I finished shrugging off the coat into Pryce’s capable hands and made a beeline for the wardrobe.
“Yes, sir,” said Pryce with a cool air of polite disapproval. “I’ve already laid your suit out for you, I fear you will need to skip the usual bath, perhaps if you would stay still, sir, and I will disentangle you.”
I obeyed in meek silence as Pryce came over and gently untwined the coats and ties that enclosed me. That wardrobe was a tricky place, to look at it you would think it harmless, but try to tweak any item from its depths and that wooden cupboard became frankly hostile.
“The car broke down,” I said, by way of an apology. Pryce met my eye and I caught the smallest twitch of an eyebrow.
I was ridiculously fond of the fellow, but sometimes his habit of finding amusement in my bad fortune was a little disconcerting.
“I am sorry to hear that, sir.”
“Will and I had to run the last few miles here,” I continued, trying to coax some pity out of him.
“Exercise is a wonderful thing, sir.”
“Yes, I suppose it is,” I sighed, giving up a lost cause. I removed my jacket and moved on to loosening my tie before attacking my shirt. As my gaze roamed over the room, I spied a small pile of papers on the side table. “Is that post, Pryce?”
To my surprise, Pryce resolutely averted his gaze. The seed of concern was sown.
“Ah, yes, sir. I was hoping to discuss that with you after dinner, seeing as how time is short at present.”
“Not that short,” I said firmly, finally peeling the shirt loose and draping it over the back of a chair. “What’s buzzing in your bonnet?”
“There was an invitation, sir, from my cousin.”
The seed of concern promptly blossomed into the full-grown weed of dread. “Your cousin, Pryce?”
“Yes, sir. He is organising celebrations for the birthday of a close friend, to be held over the second weekend of next month.”
By now I had disposed of the rest of my outfit was trying to fit the self into the flawless black trousers of my dinner suit. It is trying to keep a calm façade and a haughty air whilst hopping on one foot, but I thought I did so admirably.
“Do you have something in your left eye, sir? It appears to be twitching.”
I braced myself, for no employer likes disappointing a loyal employee and good friend. “I’m sorry, Pryce, but I simply cannot spare you.”
“Sir?”
“You’ve seen our social calendar,” I continued, attempting to wave a descriptive hand without letting gravity claim the trousers. “We’re booked up, I’m afraid I need you here, family celebrations or no.”
Pryce paused and gave me that slow, blinking gaze that by now I knew signalled some probably snide phrase being silently voiced. If this had come from Will the snide would have been less silent and more along the lines of ‘pillock’, but Pryce merely blinked.
I fidgeted a little under the gaze, suddenly feeling the need to add a more worthy reason to my refusal. Fortunately, it didn’t require much stretch of the imagination to provide one.
“Besides,” I said calmly, “your cousin wasn’t exactly friendly last time we went down, was he?”
I saw my words strike home as Pryce stiffened ever so slightly, drawing himself up.
“Admittedly our reception was a little less than cordial-”
“They ran us off the road, Pryce!”
“They did apologise, sir,” Pryce said, though I caught the hint of caution in his tones.
“Yes, but only because they didn’t know who you were,” I said, and I don’t mind admitting my tone was heated. It stung seeing people treat Pryce with anything other than polite respect. “The moment they got your name they… Oh, never mind.” I lowered the gaze and sat down on the edge of the bed to pull on the socks.
“You have to remember the circumstances of the visit, sir,” Pryce said in a rather small voice. “The demeanour of Master Huntley and his companions was considerably warmer by the time of our departure.”
“So I should bloody well hope,” I muttered, giving my left sock a slightly harder tug than was needed.
“And the invitation was for the both of us,” Pryce continued placidly.
This gave me cause for a moment’s thought.
“The both of us, Pryce.”
“Yes, sir.”
I stood and began the tricky task of trying to fix that most dreaded piece of the evening fish suit. The bow tie.
“The second weekend, you say?” I mused, looping the length of black silk around my neck.
“Yes, sir.”
“Isn’t that the same weekend as Miss Kendall’s fairy themed fancy dress birthday ball?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Charming fellow your cousin,” I said brightly. “A little spirited, but you can forgive it in one so young.”
“Yes, sir,” said Pryce, the corner of his mouth giving the slightest quirk.
“So, you’ll send a telegraph back? Say we’ll see them then?” I gave the tie a triumphal tweak and turned to face Pryce fully. “What do you think, all those hours practice were not for nothing, eh?”
Pryce visibly winced. “Perhaps I could-?”
I sighed and sagged in resigned defeat, letting him come forward, his hands deftly untying my efforts. “I’ll never get the hang of these things, Pryce.”
“It merely requires a little extra practice, sir.” Pryce’s breath tickled cool and soft over my cheek. He moved behind me, and applied a little pressure on the shoulder to rotate us into full view of the mirror by the far window. “If you would care to watch, you simply take one end like this-”
His hands began moving beneath my chin, his arms brushing over mine as he reached around me. I could see the both of us in the mirror, the silk slipping easily through those fine fingers. He could always make these things seem so easy it was positively unfair. The tie seemed to spring into perfect form beneath his careful touch as if it wanted nothing more from life than to sit perk and symmetrical on my collar.
Pryce stopped whatever it was he was saying, and the silence brought my thoughts back to the present. “Sir?”
“Sorry, Pryce, you lost me,” I managed. I raised my own hands to cover his, which still rested lightly on my collarbone. “Can we take that again from the top?” I felt rather than saw the way he tilted his head to look at me more clearly.
“Of course, sir.” I loosened my hold and attempted to concentrate the brain on the matter in hand. The soft light from the shaded lamps caught the shadows and highlights of his knuckles. That man really did have the most wonderful hands. I may have mentioned this before. His fingers grazed the sensitive skin under my chin as he undid the bow tie. “As you can see, sir, it really is a quite simple procedure.”
So I watched. It would have been easier and speedier if Pryce had simply stood in front of me, but he remained so as to give me a clear view. I find it hard enough to do ties on myself, so I can’t imagine what it’s like trying to do it in reverse whilst peeking over someone’s shoulder. As it was, Pryce’s words of instruction faltered quite a bit, and in the mirrored glass I could see the way he frowned a little in concentration, his lashes dark against his cheek when he narrowed his eyes and leant forward to see more clearly.
It would probably also have been easier and speedier if I hadn’t found it so distracting to have Pryce standing right behind me with his even more so distracting hands moving so close that one only had to dip the head a little to be able to lightly press a kiss onto the knuckles. And no doubt the entire situation would have been even more rapid if I hadn’t of caught one delicate wrist between finger and thumb and told Pryce to hang the ties.
By which time I think Pryce had reconciled himself to the failure of that particular bowtie lesson, his rather unsteady ‘Yes, sir’ certainly lacked any notable disappointment. And I took that to be a good sign and promptly executed a smart about turn, catching Pryce about the waist, his jacket riding up to allow my hands a firmer hold over the smooth planes of his waistcoat.
The buttons, as always, caused a little consternation on my part. It has always struck me as a little unfair when it comes to the matter of mine and Pryce’s individual outfits. Mine, apparently, comes off at a sneeze. Certainly Pryce had somehow managed to divest me of jacket, tie and shirt without any noticeable effort. But for me, well, it is rather hard to concentrate on those frankly ridiculously fiddly buttons when Pryce has one hand on the back of your neck whilst his mouth moves over your own mouth and throat, your skin moist and tingling in his wake. I did manage to work him loose of the jacket, but in the end I had one hand braced on the bedspread and the other ready to simply wrench the damn things loose by force when Pryce awoke to my predicament.
“Don’t you dare.” He drew back enough to give me The Look before returning his previous ministrations whilst also propping himself up on one elbow. From my point of view this was no bad thing, and I happily availed myself of the new possibilities offered by the increased curve of his throat. By the time I drew back again, I was only just in time to see him slip loose the last button with his free hand. I took a moment to marvel how he could make such a tricky task appear so simple. “Honestly, sir, you can just ask, you know.”
“I’ll try and remember next time.”
He gave me one of his rare smiles and as usual it gave me that feeling that someone had just flicked a switch on inside me, everything light and full of rainbows. The waistcoat had fallen half open of its own accord, the white cotton underneath wrinkled as it curved over his stomach before vanishing into the smooth black of the waistband. There was something oddly vulnerable about the sight, rather like a creature rolling over to expose its soft underbelly, and I won’t deny I felt a little proud thrill in knowing that there would be few other people who would see this side of my valet.
I pressed a slow, lazy kiss on him, closing the distance between us as I eased the waistcoat over his shoulders. His arms, once free, returned to their previous position about my shoulders so his hands traced those endless patterns across my back and through my hair.
Suffice to say that things progressed in a manner most satisfactory to all. Although later Cordy did give me a look that could have felled a charging ox when I ran into the drawing room mere moments before dinner was called. Then again, Pryce also gave me a rather startled look when I finished my dress in record time. Fortunately my clothes had not been overly rumpled and I found the tie still draped neatly over the chair and hastily attached it to my person.
“Is it straight?” I had asked as I wrenched on my jacket, twisting the body so as Pryce could see my front.
“Yes, sir, tied most adequately.” He blinked at me and I saw the thoughtful light gleam in his eyes as he added in a suspiciously dry tone: “Sir does seem to have picked up the knack with astonishing alacrity-”
“Yes, well, I took your lesson to heart, Pryce,” I said hastily, watching the cogs of his mind continue to turn with increasing speed. “Anyway, time and current wait for no man, erm… See you in a bit then.”
Even the swinging shut of the bedroom door couldn’t hide the dark edge to his responding, “Indeed, sir.”
fin
eloise_bright who is dealing with workloads from Hades during the day and my Franz babblings during the evenings. Here be a little fluffy snapshot of an evening in the life of Liam and Pryce. It's been a while since I visited this verse, so apologies if the language is a little dodgy.Title: Time and Ties Wait for No Man
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Liam/Pryce
Notes/Disclaimer: Set sometime after A Fish Out Of Water, in a land where rainbows and kittens reign supreme. The characters still mostly belong to Joss and ME.
The sun had set, the birds bedding down for the night and the fox no doubt beginning to eye the dozy chickens. I tumbled up the last few steps and flung myself through the suite door to find a reproachful looking Pryce awaiting me.
“I know I know,” I said hastily, noticing his indrawn breath that no doubt pre-empted a well worded reprimand, “Dinner’s at eight. We have less than an hour, I am well aware of the time.”
I finished shrugging off the coat into Pryce’s capable hands and made a beeline for the wardrobe.
“Yes, sir,” said Pryce with a cool air of polite disapproval. “I’ve already laid your suit out for you, I fear you will need to skip the usual bath, perhaps if you would stay still, sir, and I will disentangle you.”
I obeyed in meek silence as Pryce came over and gently untwined the coats and ties that enclosed me. That wardrobe was a tricky place, to look at it you would think it harmless, but try to tweak any item from its depths and that wooden cupboard became frankly hostile.
“The car broke down,” I said, by way of an apology. Pryce met my eye and I caught the smallest twitch of an eyebrow.
I was ridiculously fond of the fellow, but sometimes his habit of finding amusement in my bad fortune was a little disconcerting.
“I am sorry to hear that, sir.”
“Will and I had to run the last few miles here,” I continued, trying to coax some pity out of him.
“Exercise is a wonderful thing, sir.”
“Yes, I suppose it is,” I sighed, giving up a lost cause. I removed my jacket and moved on to loosening my tie before attacking my shirt. As my gaze roamed over the room, I spied a small pile of papers on the side table. “Is that post, Pryce?”
To my surprise, Pryce resolutely averted his gaze. The seed of concern was sown.
“Ah, yes, sir. I was hoping to discuss that with you after dinner, seeing as how time is short at present.”
“Not that short,” I said firmly, finally peeling the shirt loose and draping it over the back of a chair. “What’s buzzing in your bonnet?”
“There was an invitation, sir, from my cousin.”
The seed of concern promptly blossomed into the full-grown weed of dread. “Your cousin, Pryce?”
“Yes, sir. He is organising celebrations for the birthday of a close friend, to be held over the second weekend of next month.”
By now I had disposed of the rest of my outfit was trying to fit the self into the flawless black trousers of my dinner suit. It is trying to keep a calm façade and a haughty air whilst hopping on one foot, but I thought I did so admirably.
“Do you have something in your left eye, sir? It appears to be twitching.”
I braced myself, for no employer likes disappointing a loyal employee and good friend. “I’m sorry, Pryce, but I simply cannot spare you.”
“Sir?”
“You’ve seen our social calendar,” I continued, attempting to wave a descriptive hand without letting gravity claim the trousers. “We’re booked up, I’m afraid I need you here, family celebrations or no.”
Pryce paused and gave me that slow, blinking gaze that by now I knew signalled some probably snide phrase being silently voiced. If this had come from Will the snide would have been less silent and more along the lines of ‘pillock’, but Pryce merely blinked.
I fidgeted a little under the gaze, suddenly feeling the need to add a more worthy reason to my refusal. Fortunately, it didn’t require much stretch of the imagination to provide one.
“Besides,” I said calmly, “your cousin wasn’t exactly friendly last time we went down, was he?”
I saw my words strike home as Pryce stiffened ever so slightly, drawing himself up.
“Admittedly our reception was a little less than cordial-”
“They ran us off the road, Pryce!”
“They did apologise, sir,” Pryce said, though I caught the hint of caution in his tones.
“Yes, but only because they didn’t know who you were,” I said, and I don’t mind admitting my tone was heated. It stung seeing people treat Pryce with anything other than polite respect. “The moment they got your name they… Oh, never mind.” I lowered the gaze and sat down on the edge of the bed to pull on the socks.
“You have to remember the circumstances of the visit, sir,” Pryce said in a rather small voice. “The demeanour of Master Huntley and his companions was considerably warmer by the time of our departure.”
“So I should bloody well hope,” I muttered, giving my left sock a slightly harder tug than was needed.
“And the invitation was for the both of us,” Pryce continued placidly.
This gave me cause for a moment’s thought.
“The both of us, Pryce.”
“Yes, sir.”
I stood and began the tricky task of trying to fix that most dreaded piece of the evening fish suit. The bow tie.
“The second weekend, you say?” I mused, looping the length of black silk around my neck.
“Yes, sir.”
“Isn’t that the same weekend as Miss Kendall’s fairy themed fancy dress birthday ball?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Charming fellow your cousin,” I said brightly. “A little spirited, but you can forgive it in one so young.”
“Yes, sir,” said Pryce, the corner of his mouth giving the slightest quirk.
“So, you’ll send a telegraph back? Say we’ll see them then?” I gave the tie a triumphal tweak and turned to face Pryce fully. “What do you think, all those hours practice were not for nothing, eh?”
Pryce visibly winced. “Perhaps I could-?”
I sighed and sagged in resigned defeat, letting him come forward, his hands deftly untying my efforts. “I’ll never get the hang of these things, Pryce.”
“It merely requires a little extra practice, sir.” Pryce’s breath tickled cool and soft over my cheek. He moved behind me, and applied a little pressure on the shoulder to rotate us into full view of the mirror by the far window. “If you would care to watch, you simply take one end like this-”
His hands began moving beneath my chin, his arms brushing over mine as he reached around me. I could see the both of us in the mirror, the silk slipping easily through those fine fingers. He could always make these things seem so easy it was positively unfair. The tie seemed to spring into perfect form beneath his careful touch as if it wanted nothing more from life than to sit perk and symmetrical on my collar.
Pryce stopped whatever it was he was saying, and the silence brought my thoughts back to the present. “Sir?”
“Sorry, Pryce, you lost me,” I managed. I raised my own hands to cover his, which still rested lightly on my collarbone. “Can we take that again from the top?” I felt rather than saw the way he tilted his head to look at me more clearly.
“Of course, sir.” I loosened my hold and attempted to concentrate the brain on the matter in hand. The soft light from the shaded lamps caught the shadows and highlights of his knuckles. That man really did have the most wonderful hands. I may have mentioned this before. His fingers grazed the sensitive skin under my chin as he undid the bow tie. “As you can see, sir, it really is a quite simple procedure.”
So I watched. It would have been easier and speedier if Pryce had simply stood in front of me, but he remained so as to give me a clear view. I find it hard enough to do ties on myself, so I can’t imagine what it’s like trying to do it in reverse whilst peeking over someone’s shoulder. As it was, Pryce’s words of instruction faltered quite a bit, and in the mirrored glass I could see the way he frowned a little in concentration, his lashes dark against his cheek when he narrowed his eyes and leant forward to see more clearly.
It would probably also have been easier and speedier if I hadn’t found it so distracting to have Pryce standing right behind me with his even more so distracting hands moving so close that one only had to dip the head a little to be able to lightly press a kiss onto the knuckles. And no doubt the entire situation would have been even more rapid if I hadn’t of caught one delicate wrist between finger and thumb and told Pryce to hang the ties.
By which time I think Pryce had reconciled himself to the failure of that particular bowtie lesson, his rather unsteady ‘Yes, sir’ certainly lacked any notable disappointment. And I took that to be a good sign and promptly executed a smart about turn, catching Pryce about the waist, his jacket riding up to allow my hands a firmer hold over the smooth planes of his waistcoat.
The buttons, as always, caused a little consternation on my part. It has always struck me as a little unfair when it comes to the matter of mine and Pryce’s individual outfits. Mine, apparently, comes off at a sneeze. Certainly Pryce had somehow managed to divest me of jacket, tie and shirt without any noticeable effort. But for me, well, it is rather hard to concentrate on those frankly ridiculously fiddly buttons when Pryce has one hand on the back of your neck whilst his mouth moves over your own mouth and throat, your skin moist and tingling in his wake. I did manage to work him loose of the jacket, but in the end I had one hand braced on the bedspread and the other ready to simply wrench the damn things loose by force when Pryce awoke to my predicament.
“Don’t you dare.” He drew back enough to give me The Look before returning his previous ministrations whilst also propping himself up on one elbow. From my point of view this was no bad thing, and I happily availed myself of the new possibilities offered by the increased curve of his throat. By the time I drew back again, I was only just in time to see him slip loose the last button with his free hand. I took a moment to marvel how he could make such a tricky task appear so simple. “Honestly, sir, you can just ask, you know.”
“I’ll try and remember next time.”
He gave me one of his rare smiles and as usual it gave me that feeling that someone had just flicked a switch on inside me, everything light and full of rainbows. The waistcoat had fallen half open of its own accord, the white cotton underneath wrinkled as it curved over his stomach before vanishing into the smooth black of the waistband. There was something oddly vulnerable about the sight, rather like a creature rolling over to expose its soft underbelly, and I won’t deny I felt a little proud thrill in knowing that there would be few other people who would see this side of my valet.
I pressed a slow, lazy kiss on him, closing the distance between us as I eased the waistcoat over his shoulders. His arms, once free, returned to their previous position about my shoulders so his hands traced those endless patterns across my back and through my hair.
Suffice to say that things progressed in a manner most satisfactory to all. Although later Cordy did give me a look that could have felled a charging ox when I ran into the drawing room mere moments before dinner was called. Then again, Pryce also gave me a rather startled look when I finished my dress in record time. Fortunately my clothes had not been overly rumpled and I found the tie still draped neatly over the chair and hastily attached it to my person.
“Is it straight?” I had asked as I wrenched on my jacket, twisting the body so as Pryce could see my front.
“Yes, sir, tied most adequately.” He blinked at me and I saw the thoughtful light gleam in his eyes as he added in a suspiciously dry tone: “Sir does seem to have picked up the knack with astonishing alacrity-”
“Yes, well, I took your lesson to heart, Pryce,” I said hastily, watching the cogs of his mind continue to turn with increasing speed. “Anyway, time and current wait for no man, erm… See you in a bit then.”
Even the swinging shut of the bedroom door couldn’t hide the dark edge to his responding, “Indeed, sir.”
fin
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-17 06:32 pm (UTC)I do think you've captured the fishverse tone perfectly here. The description of the delicate hands and the dark lashes had me floating off in a lovely dream, and the gentle humour made me smile throughout. I love Liam's attempts to maintain his dignity while putting on his trousers, and I love the little note of darkness in Pryce's "Indeed, sir."
Clearly there are other lessons to be learnt later tonight. *g*
*squishes you soundly*
no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 10:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-17 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 10:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 10:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-17 08:19 pm (UTC)I heartily agree, there will certainly be some lessons later. Pryce is not the one to let that sort of deception slide.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, this certainly scratched an itch, I do like those two. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 10:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-18 12:17 pm (UTC)I so love this verse. Your Liam and Pryce are simply devine, my dear.
Bravo
*round of applause*
no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 10:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-18 03:01 pm (UTC)He gave me one of his rare smiles and as usual it gave me that feeling that someone had just flicked a switch on inside me, everything light and full of rainbows.
Awwww, poor Liam. He’s smitten, isn’t he?
no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 10:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 08:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 10:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-24 03:31 pm (UTC)