Johnny and Will. New Vocabulary.
Mar. 15th, 2005 01:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
palace_will[Takes place the day after the fence-building party and references Will's dust-up at the cafe.]
Will wandered around the new fence line from the outside of the barrier, checking that the decorative picket fence they'd erected the day before was straight, true and had held up to last night's high winds. On the other side of the barrier, Shannon and Willow were sleeping in the sun, but Oberon was following Will, pacing the other side of the fence with a determined look on his little face. Will sighed. He wasn't in a really good mood this morning, his belated realisation of how he'd been duped by Marton left him in dire need of some way of acting out. Maybe a cuddle from the pup would sort him out? His bracelets let him in through the invisible wall across the gate but the animals couldn't get out unless accompanied by a human wearing a set. He settled down on the grass just inside the fence and stroked the happy pup's belly. Christian was at work and he wasn't sure where Johnny was, but neither of them would mind the intrusion. Oberon licked his hand, encouraging him to continue with the pats. "Nice to be some people," he told the dog. "Least no one's picking on you today!"
Johnny clicked his com off and slipped it into his pocket. Things had calmed down back at Liam's, at least mostly. Enough for Liam to have time to dig up five articles he wanted Johnny to read within the next week. They were safely stored in his com and he really should get started, but he'd been cooped up in the house all morning and wanted some fresh air. He compromised by taking his com with him -- he could always settle down and read somewhere. Maybe. He grinned and grabbed a handful of dog cookies out of the jar in the kitchen before heading outside.
Will looked up when Oberon barked and abandoned him, scurrying across the lawn in typically clumsy puppy fashion to greet his master who had just appeared in the doorway. A bit self-consciously, Will got to his feet, brushing off the grass. "Hi," he said. "Just came out to check the fence and Obie looked like he could use a good belly rub. Hope you don't mind."
"Hey, Will! Of course not, silly!" Johnny knelt down in the grass next to Will, Obie bounding along behind him. He broke a cookie in two and hid half in his fist. The pup could smell the cookie and followed along as Johnny's fist led him in figure-eights across the grass. When the fist stopped, and Johnny said, "Sit," the puppy scrambled to a halt and ended up on his haunches. "Good boy!" Johnny said, and gave him the piece of cookie. This was repeated several times, until all the cookies were gone. Johnny smiled up at Will, looking pleased. "A few more practice sessions and he'll have the command down." He scritched Oberon, who, having figured out that the cookies were gone, romped off to see what Willow was doing. "So, what's new?"
Will watched with interest the puppy's antics and how fast it seemed to be picking up on the idea. "Don't suppose you could train.... No, probably not. Never mind." He leaned back on his arms and looked at Johnny. "Life sucks," he told him. "That's what's new. And men, especially the royal kind are not to be trusted. Snakes in the grass, the lot of them!" Having served up his pronouncement, he tipped his head back to the sky and closed his eyes. "But I shall be revenged," he added. "Maybe."
Johnny grinned and stretched out on the lawn, his head propped on one hand. "So, which one are you mad at, and what'd he do?"
Will tipped his head, screwing up his eyes so he could see Johnny properly. "Dunno what you're so all-fired happy for," he said darkly. "You'll get one too." Johnny simply blinked at him, so Will, feeling more relaxed and benevolent now he'd realized he was not alone, filled him in. "You know I moved into Christian's old room, right?" Another nod. "Well, it was Marton's idea and, I suspect, convenience for me was not the sole motive. In fact, I'm pretty sure of it. Know how his mind works, see?" He tapped the side of his head, noticing that Johnny still looked blank. "Bodyguard," he said. "I've got a sodding full-time bodyguard! Went to go downstairs this morning and there he was, large as life and twice as ugly. I hightailed it back up here and I am not going back down there! Not yet, anyway," he conceded.
"Oh, that's right." Johnny rolled over and stared at the cloudy sky. He looked thoughtful, neither happy nor annoyed. "Harry and I talked about it while he was in the hospital. We were wondering if I'd get one just 'cause of Christian, even though I wasn't living here then. Not that it would've helped, given what happened. But yeah, now that I'm here, I get one too, huh? I wonder if I've been assigned to anyone yet?"
"Harry." Will groaned. "I'd forgotten about Harry. He's gonna give me Hell! Lucky I didn't rag on him too much about his." He cast a glance sideways at the puppy. "He supposed to be doing that?" he asked, pointing at Johnny's com which the puppy was slobbering on. "They're waterproof, but I don't think they're drool-proof." He watched with some amusement as Johnny grabbed the unit, scolding Oberon with a wagging finger before he addressed the question. "You probably have," he told him. "We could wander over to the office if you like, find out?"
Johnny wiped his com off on his T-shirt and stuck it back in his pocket, then picked up a stick -- a leftover from the picket fence installation -- threw it across the yard, and watched the puppy dashing after it. He grinned up at Will and said, "We could head down to the pub and find out, for that matter?"
Will brightened immediately. "Yeah, we could!" Leaning over he pressed a quick kiss to the side of Johnny's mouth. "You're a genius!"
"Of course I am," Johnny teased. He stood up and brushed off, then called, "Shannon! Take care of the kids, OK?" Shannon picked Willow up and trotted over to where Oberon was gnawing on his stick, set the kitten down and settled between them. Willow immediately pounced on Shannon's tail.
"There, they'll be fine. Let's go!"
Will led the way to the lifts and pushed the button once they were inside. "The alarm in the security office goes off," He commented as the lift began to descend. "Panic stations all round as the appropriate muscle man leaps into action, sliding down the Super Secret Fireman's Pole of Doom in an effort to reach Royal before...." The lift stopped and the doors slid open. "Aaaaand they succeed!" Will announced grandly, spotting Jess immediately.
He held a hand to his cheek, whispering out of the corner of his mouth to Johnny. "Always check their trousers," he advised. "If the arse-end of their suits are shiny, they're Security." He straightened up. "Morning, Jess." He nodded affably, stepping clear of the lift with Johnny by his side. "And who might you be, cute stuff?" He raised an eyebrow at the newbie.
The "newbie" glanced at Will, then stepped in front of Johnny and gave him a shallow bow. "Li Lian Jie," he said, then smiled and added, "Call me Jet. I'll be accompanying you, sir."
Johnny stared... down. This was the first guy he could remember running into at Palace who was actually shorter than he was, and by several inches. "Umm, hi. Sure, that's fine." He held out his hand and they shook -- Jet had a firm grip, but obviously had nothing to prove with it. "We're going to the pub. And call me Johnny, please?"
"Sure, Johnny." Jet nodded and fell in behind him as the group headed for the other lift.
Will stood beside Jess. "Hi, Scout," he said, grinning. "Boring morning?"
Jess looked sideways. "Had its ups and downs," he rejoined. "Mostly yours."
Will shut up and shot Johnny an evil look when he heard him snickering.
Johnny pulled a straight face but his eyes were still laughing.
In the pub, thank God, the two 'protection officers' sat at another table. Will slid into a booth with a sigh of relief, even though he was still getting strange looks from friends as he had all the way down here. "I'm never going to hear the end of this," he complained, still miffed by Jess's wit. "Bad enough I'm copping it for being with Marton in the first place, now this. Shoulda stayed on Uppers."
"People are hassling you 'cause you're with Marton?" Johnny looked shocked. "That's, well, really rude. It's no one's business but yours and his."
"Teasing mostly." Will shrugged, his mood lightening once more. "Good natured stuff. But I did deck a bloke the other week for...." He shook his head, a cascade of gold and brown falling across his face which he impatiently pushed aside. "Never mind. It was just... off, is all." He looked at Johnny. "Don't mind me," he said. "I'm in a weird mood."
Johnny laid a hand on Will's arm and squeezed, just as Kevin came up to the table. They ordered beer, and Johnny asked for a plate of wings. When Kevin had gone away again, he said, "So do you get a lot of... you know, attention? For being the king's boyfriend? I'm trying to figure out if the fuss at Liam's was a fluke or if I'm going to have people chasing me around whenever I step out the door."
"Nah, can't help you." Will told him. "Folk're only just finding out bout me and, well, nothing much has changed so far, 'cept for the Super Duper Secret Police over there." He hiked a thumb at Jess and Jet. "I'm not his boyfriend anyway. We're just fucking."
"Oh." Johnny thought about that. "So it's different anyway, then." He nodded and glanced around the pub, but no one was paying them any attention. "I guess I'll find out. I really hope it'll all die down, especially since we talked to the press. They've seen me now, talked to me, asked some embarrassing questions -- that should hold'em for a while, yeah?" He sounded more hopeful than sure.
"I guess so." The beer had arrived and Will took a sip, flicking foam from his top lip with his finger. "Ahh, that's better!" He toasted Jess who was sipping lemonade. "I don't remember them crawling all over David all the time, so yeah, prolly. Few pics and some quotes and they should be cool."
Johnny nodded, then took a slug of his own beer and nibbled on a wing. He swallowed, then said, "I hope so. I mean, it's not like I go out much anyway -- well, never, actually -- but I've always known I could if I wanted to."
"Yeah well, might wanna rethink that philosophy," Will told him. "Like I said, they pretty much left David alone, but then Craig wasn't Crown Prince, was he? Still, only time will tell. Long as you're careful and listen to him," he hiked a thumb at Jet, who looked back at Will, his face expressionless, "you should be fine. Much as I hate to admit it, they do know their stuff." He must have spoken a little loudly, because Jess immediately grinned and Jet gave him a nod of agreement. "Damn!" Will muttered, glaring at Jess. "Insufferable twat!"
Johnny looked over and grinned at Jess, getting a smile back. "I don't know, he seems nice enough."
"I'm used to taking care of myself." Will took advantage of Johnny's momentary distraction to steal a wing.
Johnny sent him a theatrically exaggerated glare of outrage, then giggled. "Here," he said, shoving the plate to the middle of the table, "you can have as many as you want. I'm used to sharing with Harry. Who was also used to taking care of himself and look what happened to him. He doesn't like it either but I'm just as happy he has someone looking out for him."
"Dear God!" Will rolled his eyes extravagantly. "You sound like them!" He took another wing. "I dunno how many times I've heard that speech from Christian. Expect I'll be getting it from Marton too, any bloody time now." The thought of Marton bought him up short and, remembering yesterday's shower, he fell silent.
At the next table, Jess leaned over until his head was right up next to Jet's and whispered, "Trade you?"
Jet rolled his eyes and snorted. "You wish," he whispered back.
Johnny cocked his head at Will. "What's wrong?"
"Nothin'." Will glared at the two guards. "Just thinkin' bout something I've got to do." He stared grumpily down into his glass, telling himself to snap out of it, now wasn't the time or place and his mood was fluctuating like crazy. He was even beginning to annoy himself.
Johnny looked at Will thoughtfully. "It have anything to do with Christian and Marton?"
The words gave Will a start! "Smart of you," he said with a rueful grin. "And yeah, the vaguely incestuous nature of it is giving me pause now you ask." He nibbled on his wing and wiped his mouth with the napkin.
Johnny blinked. "The what nature?"
"Incestuous. You know, incest?" Will looked over the table at Johnny who was still looking blank and sighed. "Never heard of it, huh?"
"No, sorry. What's it mean? Something royal?"
Will couldn't help but laugh. He didn't want to talk about himself and had been searching his mind for a diversion, but this would do nicely, strange as it was. "No," he explained. "Incest is a legal term for non-consensual relations between, well, relations. Like brothers and cousins and stuff."
"Oh." Johnny frowned. "There's a word for that? Huh. I guess if lawyers didn't have a bunch of words no one else understood they'd be out of business, yeah?" He grinned and snagged another wing.
Will shrugged. "Used to be a common word," he told him. "Now only lawyers and Fundamentalist Sects use it. They still consider it taboo." He saw Kevin looking in their direction and indicated he wanted another drink. Kevin nodded and began to pour. "Long time ago, long, long fucking time ago, they used to stone you to death for such shite. Weird but true. Now 'course, no one much cares, the decision is entirely personal, you know? A lot of people wouldn't do it, even nowdays, but no one stones anyone else if they think it's valid. No one 'cept the religous nutters." Like my family.
"Well, but if it's non-consensual then I can see why they wouldn't like it. Rape is rape whether it's your family or some stranger and I sure wouldn't mind throwing rocks at any fuckwad who did it." Johnny was practically snarling by the time he finished speaking. This was a hot-button for him and he figured it probably always would be. He took a long drink of his beer and concentrated on relaxing and calming down.
"I think they cracked on to any indication." Will said, grabbing the beer as Kevin put it down. "Not necessarily only non-con. I know the Sects still do." He'd just about run out of information to impart, but that was okay, Johnny seemed to have forgotten that the conversation began with his question about Marton and Christian and showed no sign of going back there.
"Oh." Johnny looked confused again. "Anything? Even if both people wanted to? That's... weird. I mean, I can see slamming someone who's forcing someone else, but if everyone's having fun then where's the harm?"
"Dunno mate." The subject had died a natural death and there were a few moments of pleasant silence which neither of them felt compelled to fill. It was nice. Comfortable. Will looked casually around, watching the customers come and go while he sipped his beer.
Johnny was still thinking. "So... what does that have to do with Marton and Christian and you? Are they fucking? Or... all three of you together? I guess that'd count as 'incest,' yeah? To the religious nutters?"
"What? No!" Will was pulled abruptly out of his false sense of security and had to scramble, forced to explain. "My family," he said hesitantly, "is in one of those Sects. I was raised on that shit. 'Course, I don't believe it, but...." He took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly through his nose. "Thing is, that stuff's hard to shake, you know? And that bastard in the cafe didn't help any with his fucking asinine remarks. I just.... " He realized he was beginning to ramble and so squared his shoulders and looked Johnny in the eye. "There's one degree of separation there, okay. But that degree is me and, like I said, 's hard to shake."
"Wait, so it counts as incest because you're fucking both of them? Even though you're not related?" Johnny shook his head. "You're right -- they're nutters."
Will laughed and it was half genuine mirth and a goodly portion of sheer relief. "Yeah, they are. Bent my brain a bit too hard, I think. Still, I mostly survived it."
"Lucky, that," Johnny teased. "Just think, you might have to demand to see the family tree of every client, making them wait while you compare it with the family tree of every other client you've ever had to make sure you don't end up fucking people who are related! After you'd been here a while you'd have had to schedule on an extra hour or two just for the incest-check!" Johnny snickered into his beer.
"I like the way you think!" Will grinned, his good humor once more restored. He'd said it without saying it and felt immeasurably better, despite the fact that he still felt compelled to tell Marton what had happened and no matter the consequences of that telling. Johnny was right, it was ridiculous! It'd be fine! He proposed a toast. "To incest," he said loudly, garnering him a raised eyebrow from Jess. "May it always be family-friendly!"
Johnny laughed and nodded and clunked his mug against Will's. "To incest!"
Will wandered around the new fence line from the outside of the barrier, checking that the decorative picket fence they'd erected the day before was straight, true and had held up to last night's high winds. On the other side of the barrier, Shannon and Willow were sleeping in the sun, but Oberon was following Will, pacing the other side of the fence with a determined look on his little face. Will sighed. He wasn't in a really good mood this morning, his belated realisation of how he'd been duped by Marton left him in dire need of some way of acting out. Maybe a cuddle from the pup would sort him out? His bracelets let him in through the invisible wall across the gate but the animals couldn't get out unless accompanied by a human wearing a set. He settled down on the grass just inside the fence and stroked the happy pup's belly. Christian was at work and he wasn't sure where Johnny was, but neither of them would mind the intrusion. Oberon licked his hand, encouraging him to continue with the pats. "Nice to be some people," he told the dog. "Least no one's picking on you today!"
Johnny clicked his com off and slipped it into his pocket. Things had calmed down back at Liam's, at least mostly. Enough for Liam to have time to dig up five articles he wanted Johnny to read within the next week. They were safely stored in his com and he really should get started, but he'd been cooped up in the house all morning and wanted some fresh air. He compromised by taking his com with him -- he could always settle down and read somewhere. Maybe. He grinned and grabbed a handful of dog cookies out of the jar in the kitchen before heading outside.
Will looked up when Oberon barked and abandoned him, scurrying across the lawn in typically clumsy puppy fashion to greet his master who had just appeared in the doorway. A bit self-consciously, Will got to his feet, brushing off the grass. "Hi," he said. "Just came out to check the fence and Obie looked like he could use a good belly rub. Hope you don't mind."
"Hey, Will! Of course not, silly!" Johnny knelt down in the grass next to Will, Obie bounding along behind him. He broke a cookie in two and hid half in his fist. The pup could smell the cookie and followed along as Johnny's fist led him in figure-eights across the grass. When the fist stopped, and Johnny said, "Sit," the puppy scrambled to a halt and ended up on his haunches. "Good boy!" Johnny said, and gave him the piece of cookie. This was repeated several times, until all the cookies were gone. Johnny smiled up at Will, looking pleased. "A few more practice sessions and he'll have the command down." He scritched Oberon, who, having figured out that the cookies were gone, romped off to see what Willow was doing. "So, what's new?"
Will watched with interest the puppy's antics and how fast it seemed to be picking up on the idea. "Don't suppose you could train.... No, probably not. Never mind." He leaned back on his arms and looked at Johnny. "Life sucks," he told him. "That's what's new. And men, especially the royal kind are not to be trusted. Snakes in the grass, the lot of them!" Having served up his pronouncement, he tipped his head back to the sky and closed his eyes. "But I shall be revenged," he added. "Maybe."
Johnny grinned and stretched out on the lawn, his head propped on one hand. "So, which one are you mad at, and what'd he do?"
Will tipped his head, screwing up his eyes so he could see Johnny properly. "Dunno what you're so all-fired happy for," he said darkly. "You'll get one too." Johnny simply blinked at him, so Will, feeling more relaxed and benevolent now he'd realized he was not alone, filled him in. "You know I moved into Christian's old room, right?" Another nod. "Well, it was Marton's idea and, I suspect, convenience for me was not the sole motive. In fact, I'm pretty sure of it. Know how his mind works, see?" He tapped the side of his head, noticing that Johnny still looked blank. "Bodyguard," he said. "I've got a sodding full-time bodyguard! Went to go downstairs this morning and there he was, large as life and twice as ugly. I hightailed it back up here and I am not going back down there! Not yet, anyway," he conceded.
"Oh, that's right." Johnny rolled over and stared at the cloudy sky. He looked thoughtful, neither happy nor annoyed. "Harry and I talked about it while he was in the hospital. We were wondering if I'd get one just 'cause of Christian, even though I wasn't living here then. Not that it would've helped, given what happened. But yeah, now that I'm here, I get one too, huh? I wonder if I've been assigned to anyone yet?"
"Harry." Will groaned. "I'd forgotten about Harry. He's gonna give me Hell! Lucky I didn't rag on him too much about his." He cast a glance sideways at the puppy. "He supposed to be doing that?" he asked, pointing at Johnny's com which the puppy was slobbering on. "They're waterproof, but I don't think they're drool-proof." He watched with some amusement as Johnny grabbed the unit, scolding Oberon with a wagging finger before he addressed the question. "You probably have," he told him. "We could wander over to the office if you like, find out?"
Johnny wiped his com off on his T-shirt and stuck it back in his pocket, then picked up a stick -- a leftover from the picket fence installation -- threw it across the yard, and watched the puppy dashing after it. He grinned up at Will and said, "We could head down to the pub and find out, for that matter?"
Will brightened immediately. "Yeah, we could!" Leaning over he pressed a quick kiss to the side of Johnny's mouth. "You're a genius!"
"Of course I am," Johnny teased. He stood up and brushed off, then called, "Shannon! Take care of the kids, OK?" Shannon picked Willow up and trotted over to where Oberon was gnawing on his stick, set the kitten down and settled between them. Willow immediately pounced on Shannon's tail.
"There, they'll be fine. Let's go!"
Will led the way to the lifts and pushed the button once they were inside. "The alarm in the security office goes off," He commented as the lift began to descend. "Panic stations all round as the appropriate muscle man leaps into action, sliding down the Super Secret Fireman's Pole of Doom in an effort to reach Royal before...." The lift stopped and the doors slid open. "Aaaaand they succeed!" Will announced grandly, spotting Jess immediately.
He held a hand to his cheek, whispering out of the corner of his mouth to Johnny. "Always check their trousers," he advised. "If the arse-end of their suits are shiny, they're Security." He straightened up. "Morning, Jess." He nodded affably, stepping clear of the lift with Johnny by his side. "And who might you be, cute stuff?" He raised an eyebrow at the newbie.
The "newbie" glanced at Will, then stepped in front of Johnny and gave him a shallow bow. "Li Lian Jie," he said, then smiled and added, "Call me Jet. I'll be accompanying you, sir."
Johnny stared... down. This was the first guy he could remember running into at Palace who was actually shorter than he was, and by several inches. "Umm, hi. Sure, that's fine." He held out his hand and they shook -- Jet had a firm grip, but obviously had nothing to prove with it. "We're going to the pub. And call me Johnny, please?"
"Sure, Johnny." Jet nodded and fell in behind him as the group headed for the other lift.
Will stood beside Jess. "Hi, Scout," he said, grinning. "Boring morning?"
Jess looked sideways. "Had its ups and downs," he rejoined. "Mostly yours."
Will shut up and shot Johnny an evil look when he heard him snickering.
Johnny pulled a straight face but his eyes were still laughing.
In the pub, thank God, the two 'protection officers' sat at another table. Will slid into a booth with a sigh of relief, even though he was still getting strange looks from friends as he had all the way down here. "I'm never going to hear the end of this," he complained, still miffed by Jess's wit. "Bad enough I'm copping it for being with Marton in the first place, now this. Shoulda stayed on Uppers."
"People are hassling you 'cause you're with Marton?" Johnny looked shocked. "That's, well, really rude. It's no one's business but yours and his."
"Teasing mostly." Will shrugged, his mood lightening once more. "Good natured stuff. But I did deck a bloke the other week for...." He shook his head, a cascade of gold and brown falling across his face which he impatiently pushed aside. "Never mind. It was just... off, is all." He looked at Johnny. "Don't mind me," he said. "I'm in a weird mood."
Johnny laid a hand on Will's arm and squeezed, just as Kevin came up to the table. They ordered beer, and Johnny asked for a plate of wings. When Kevin had gone away again, he said, "So do you get a lot of... you know, attention? For being the king's boyfriend? I'm trying to figure out if the fuss at Liam's was a fluke or if I'm going to have people chasing me around whenever I step out the door."
"Nah, can't help you." Will told him. "Folk're only just finding out bout me and, well, nothing much has changed so far, 'cept for the Super Duper Secret Police over there." He hiked a thumb at Jess and Jet. "I'm not his boyfriend anyway. We're just fucking."
"Oh." Johnny thought about that. "So it's different anyway, then." He nodded and glanced around the pub, but no one was paying them any attention. "I guess I'll find out. I really hope it'll all die down, especially since we talked to the press. They've seen me now, talked to me, asked some embarrassing questions -- that should hold'em for a while, yeah?" He sounded more hopeful than sure.
"I guess so." The beer had arrived and Will took a sip, flicking foam from his top lip with his finger. "Ahh, that's better!" He toasted Jess who was sipping lemonade. "I don't remember them crawling all over David all the time, so yeah, prolly. Few pics and some quotes and they should be cool."
Johnny nodded, then took a slug of his own beer and nibbled on a wing. He swallowed, then said, "I hope so. I mean, it's not like I go out much anyway -- well, never, actually -- but I've always known I could if I wanted to."
"Yeah well, might wanna rethink that philosophy," Will told him. "Like I said, they pretty much left David alone, but then Craig wasn't Crown Prince, was he? Still, only time will tell. Long as you're careful and listen to him," he hiked a thumb at Jet, who looked back at Will, his face expressionless, "you should be fine. Much as I hate to admit it, they do know their stuff." He must have spoken a little loudly, because Jess immediately grinned and Jet gave him a nod of agreement. "Damn!" Will muttered, glaring at Jess. "Insufferable twat!"
Johnny looked over and grinned at Jess, getting a smile back. "I don't know, he seems nice enough."
"I'm used to taking care of myself." Will took advantage of Johnny's momentary distraction to steal a wing.
Johnny sent him a theatrically exaggerated glare of outrage, then giggled. "Here," he said, shoving the plate to the middle of the table, "you can have as many as you want. I'm used to sharing with Harry. Who was also used to taking care of himself and look what happened to him. He doesn't like it either but I'm just as happy he has someone looking out for him."
"Dear God!" Will rolled his eyes extravagantly. "You sound like them!" He took another wing. "I dunno how many times I've heard that speech from Christian. Expect I'll be getting it from Marton too, any bloody time now." The thought of Marton bought him up short and, remembering yesterday's shower, he fell silent.
At the next table, Jess leaned over until his head was right up next to Jet's and whispered, "Trade you?"
Jet rolled his eyes and snorted. "You wish," he whispered back.
Johnny cocked his head at Will. "What's wrong?"
"Nothin'." Will glared at the two guards. "Just thinkin' bout something I've got to do." He stared grumpily down into his glass, telling himself to snap out of it, now wasn't the time or place and his mood was fluctuating like crazy. He was even beginning to annoy himself.
Johnny looked at Will thoughtfully. "It have anything to do with Christian and Marton?"
The words gave Will a start! "Smart of you," he said with a rueful grin. "And yeah, the vaguely incestuous nature of it is giving me pause now you ask." He nibbled on his wing and wiped his mouth with the napkin.
Johnny blinked. "The what nature?"
"Incestuous. You know, incest?" Will looked over the table at Johnny who was still looking blank and sighed. "Never heard of it, huh?"
"No, sorry. What's it mean? Something royal?"
Will couldn't help but laugh. He didn't want to talk about himself and had been searching his mind for a diversion, but this would do nicely, strange as it was. "No," he explained. "Incest is a legal term for non-consensual relations between, well, relations. Like brothers and cousins and stuff."
"Oh." Johnny frowned. "There's a word for that? Huh. I guess if lawyers didn't have a bunch of words no one else understood they'd be out of business, yeah?" He grinned and snagged another wing.
Will shrugged. "Used to be a common word," he told him. "Now only lawyers and Fundamentalist Sects use it. They still consider it taboo." He saw Kevin looking in their direction and indicated he wanted another drink. Kevin nodded and began to pour. "Long time ago, long, long fucking time ago, they used to stone you to death for such shite. Weird but true. Now 'course, no one much cares, the decision is entirely personal, you know? A lot of people wouldn't do it, even nowdays, but no one stones anyone else if they think it's valid. No one 'cept the religous nutters." Like my family.
"Well, but if it's non-consensual then I can see why they wouldn't like it. Rape is rape whether it's your family or some stranger and I sure wouldn't mind throwing rocks at any fuckwad who did it." Johnny was practically snarling by the time he finished speaking. This was a hot-button for him and he figured it probably always would be. He took a long drink of his beer and concentrated on relaxing and calming down.
"I think they cracked on to any indication." Will said, grabbing the beer as Kevin put it down. "Not necessarily only non-con. I know the Sects still do." He'd just about run out of information to impart, but that was okay, Johnny seemed to have forgotten that the conversation began with his question about Marton and Christian and showed no sign of going back there.
"Oh." Johnny looked confused again. "Anything? Even if both people wanted to? That's... weird. I mean, I can see slamming someone who's forcing someone else, but if everyone's having fun then where's the harm?"
"Dunno mate." The subject had died a natural death and there were a few moments of pleasant silence which neither of them felt compelled to fill. It was nice. Comfortable. Will looked casually around, watching the customers come and go while he sipped his beer.
Johnny was still thinking. "So... what does that have to do with Marton and Christian and you? Are they fucking? Or... all three of you together? I guess that'd count as 'incest,' yeah? To the religious nutters?"
"What? No!" Will was pulled abruptly out of his false sense of security and had to scramble, forced to explain. "My family," he said hesitantly, "is in one of those Sects. I was raised on that shit. 'Course, I don't believe it, but...." He took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly through his nose. "Thing is, that stuff's hard to shake, you know? And that bastard in the cafe didn't help any with his fucking asinine remarks. I just.... " He realized he was beginning to ramble and so squared his shoulders and looked Johnny in the eye. "There's one degree of separation there, okay. But that degree is me and, like I said, 's hard to shake."
"Wait, so it counts as incest because you're fucking both of them? Even though you're not related?" Johnny shook his head. "You're right -- they're nutters."
Will laughed and it was half genuine mirth and a goodly portion of sheer relief. "Yeah, they are. Bent my brain a bit too hard, I think. Still, I mostly survived it."
"Lucky, that," Johnny teased. "Just think, you might have to demand to see the family tree of every client, making them wait while you compare it with the family tree of every other client you've ever had to make sure you don't end up fucking people who are related! After you'd been here a while you'd have had to schedule on an extra hour or two just for the incest-check!" Johnny snickered into his beer.
"I like the way you think!" Will grinned, his good humor once more restored. He'd said it without saying it and felt immeasurably better, despite the fact that he still felt compelled to tell Marton what had happened and no matter the consequences of that telling. Johnny was right, it was ridiculous! It'd be fine! He proposed a toast. "To incest," he said loudly, garnering him a raised eyebrow from Jess. "May it always be family-friendly!"
Johnny laughed and nodded and clunked his mug against Will's. "To incest!"
