two prompts for you~ the way you say i love you: 32. In a way I can’t return and 35. As a goodbye. Thomas/James, obviously

complaininginthedark:

(I couldn’t bear to make it sad so here have post series fluff)

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For all the years they had, and had not, been together, James had learned one immutable fact; there was no singular word to describe the man he loved.

Thomas was endlessly forgiving, kind, intelligent, and scathing when he needed to be. He could knock you from your foundations with a single sentence and build a castle for you with another. His love made James feel safe and real. He had forgiven James’ sins from the ten years they had been parted and provided a font for his baptism into the light once again.

Every day before James left the house to work at the dock lending help for fixing or loading the trade ships, Thomas would kiss his forehead and cheeks. He would take his hands and kiss the knuckles.

“Be safe, love,” he hummed each day. “I’ll be here when you return.”

James would toil during the day, enjoying the ache of hard work in his muscles, and come home to a lit fire and Thomas’ welcoming arms.

Thomas held him close after dinner. He read to James in his beautiful lilting voice, the rasp of his beard as his jaw brushed James’ head. It was nearly the same every day, even though the books and plays changed as time progressed. They laughed their way through the Odyssey, Thomas imitating James’ voice with every word the tragic hero said. James even said parts he had memorised and soaked up every laugh it brought from Thomas’ lips.

And again, in the morning, they would part for the day with kisses and reminders that even if they were apart they would find themselves together again.

Some nights he dreamt of Miranda and ached with sadness. But Thomas would touch him and whisper of how happy she would be, how she was an angel in life and would attain such heights even in death. She was in the food they ate, the very breath they shared in kisses and soft words. Miranda was part of them even after years without her. Thomas wept sometimes, his eyes red and his face pale as the past echoed in his mind. He let James hold him on those days and hush him with sea songs and some of the less troubling tales of his captaincy. They shared their sorrows and soothed one another’s pain with their words and love.

And then another day would dawn.

“Be safe, love. I’ll be here when you return.”

James accepted the kisses and decided he wanted to change their routine.

“I’ll not go today. I think we deserve a day off, don’t you?” He said smiling and leaning to kiss the edge of Thomas’ jaw.

Thomas laughed and cradled the back of his head, fingers gentle after years of labour and toil of his own. “I suppose we do, love… I suppose we do.”