“The man, tall and blond, was turned away from her, bent down to sort through a crate of their most recent shipments. “Yes, of course, Miss Hattery,” he said, leaning up and turning around with a smile that made Miranda’s heart flutter. “It’s lovely to meet—” He stopped, taking in Miranda fully, his jaw actually dropping.
Miranda frowned. “Is there something the matter, Mister Barlow?”
—
Or, Miranda lives through Charlestown, but has amnesia from head trauma. Five years later, she, Thomas, and James all end up in Boston.
So, turns out I’m a huge liar, and did indeed start this Miranda lives AU against all common sense
Tag: fic rec
4 and/or 34 and or 66 (let thomas come bACK)
insert “why not both” gif here omg okay
4 – ❝i couldn’t care less. i’m with you right now, that’s all that matters.❞
34 – ❝i never wanted any of this to happen to you.❞
66 – ❝you know we belong together. i knew it the first time i saw you, and you know it, too. i know you do.❞set post series because I have been too kind to these two but i still want some kindness to happen
–
“I never wanted any of this to happen to you,” James whispered into the darkness, thinking Thomas was asleep. “I only wanted you, with no regard to your safety… forgive me.”
He sounded so melancholy and to Thomas it sounded as though James were talking at his grave. He sat up, turning with speed to grasp at his love’s arms.
“Never say that again. Promise me;” he hissed.
“Thomas, I-”
He kissed James fiercely, grasping at him and swallowing the broken sob that came from him. “I couldn’t care less about the past, not any more. I’m with you right now, that’s all that matters. I love you and that is all that matters.”
James eyes brimmed with tears, glittering in the low light and his broken heart on show for Thomas to see. He nodded, lips quivering, and rested his head on Thomas’ shoulder.
“We have known such loss. You have suffered more than any man should… To have seen what you have seen, to have done what you had to do! I don’t know how you survived. But I thank God every day that you did. Through all our shared grief, there is a reason we have ended up together; we belong together James, I knew it the first time I saw you. And you know it too, I know you do.”
He kissed James’ hair and stroked his shaking back, desperate to convey his love for the man who was so broken and unused to feeling love. James clung to him, his breath jerky as he tried to control it. It was hard to see him this way but Thomas would do anything if it meant James would feel loved.
“I love you,” he whispered again, “I love you and nothing will change that.”
James looked up with a small crooked smile. “I love you too,” he said with a surety Thomas was relieved to see he still had. It brought tears to his eyes. James, his James, was still in there. He was still that beautiful man Thomas met in London all those years ago.
“I’m glad. Now, let’s get some sleep.”
He tucked James against his side, his arm would no doubt be numb come morning but it was worth it to feel the soft and happy sigh James made as he pressed close.
If you’re still doing the ‘the way you said “I love you'” thing could you do 31 with Thomas and James please?
31 – In awe, the first time you realised it
–
It was, Thomas thought, almost inevitable. After first meeting the Lieutenant they had spent almost every day in one another’s company. Eating, talking, arguing, sharing ideas day after day and night after night.
It was unavoidable for someone like Thomas; he formed attachments, deep ones, quickly. He was bound to fall for a man as sure and decent as James.
The first moment he realised it, they were side by side looking down at a map of England to settle an argument about distances between points. It was a silly argument, one Thomas kept going out of sheer enjoyment of seeing James so riled up. He had a hand on his lover’s back and would lean in to kiss his neck just to see his skin darken.
And it hit him.
What would he feel if James were to leave him then? What would he feel if James were taken from him? He was sure that the sun would set, never to rise again. There would be an absence in his life he would never be able to fill. He loved James, undoubtedly. The feeling was not foreign, for he knew he loved Miranda, but this… it made his breath catch and his eyes water. Before he could gain control of himself, James touched his cheek.
“Thomas? Gods, Thomas what is it?” His voice was so gentle and Thomas felt a sob rising in his chest. James urged him to speak, to tell him what was wrong, panic clearly clawing at his own chest too.
“I- I think I-” Thomas swallowed the lump in his throat, panic giving way to elation. “No, I’m quite sure I’m in love with you. Ridiculously and irrevocably in love with you!” A grin formed on his lips and spread wider as James returned it.
The lieutenant dragged him into a kiss, more gentle and more perfect than any kiss Thomas had ever been given before. When he pulled away there was wetness on his cheeks, both from Thomas’ tears and his own.
“I love you too, you buffoon.”
They laughed and kissed again, forgetting distances and maps and anything beyond one another. Thomas said the words again, breathed them into James’ mouth, onto his cheeks and neck, into the palms of his hands, to be kept there in James’ very being until there was nothing left of the universe.
James/Thomas peach verse drabble
It was an unusually hot day, cloudless and even with the shade of so many peach trees they found they had to stop and rest every few hours.
James was never one to be lazy even on a day such as this, but while he took his break and Thomas went back to plucking the yellow-orange fruit from the trees James found it not so bad.
Thomas had finally given in and removed his shirt, wrapping it around his head and letting it cover his neck. He wore a pair of plain brown trousers and light boots. He could have been a pirate, James thought, if it weren’t for the too pale and too smooth skin of his chest and back. James watched Thomas’s long fingers reach up and curl themselves around a fat peach and yank it off, arm muscles flexing as he dropped it into the barrel below. He twisted on the stool and James watched the well-toned muscles of his stomach work, watched as the sweat trickled down the back of his neck. His cheeks were flushed and his hairline was damp. He wiped a forearm over his brow and James traced the veins in his arm. James licked his lips.
“I think you should cool off,” he said from where he sat in the shade. Thomas turned to him, then eyed one of the buckets of water they always brought on hot days. He finally nodded and shrugged, stepping off the stool and dousing the water bucket over his head. It cascaded like a mini waterfall over him, soaking his hair and body.
“Come here,” said James.
Thomas sat the bucket down and ran a hand through his hair, scratching it so it was spiked at odd angles when he was done.
“I don’t think we’re going to get much more done today,” he said as he made his way over to James. “We might try again before dusk, when it’s cooled off some– oh”
James had grabbed Thomas’s wrist and gently yanked him down over top of his lap. Thomas straddled him, letting his legs sink into the soft ground on either side of James’s. James let his back rest against the tree trunk and pulled Thomas into a kiss. His hands roamed over Thomas’s back and along his ribs, wet and cooling from the water. Thomas sighed into his mouth, thumbs stroking his cheeks.
“I see now it’s counter-productive to allow you to watch me work,” he said, blue eyes glinting mischievously. James let the tips of his fingers slide under the tops of Thomas’s pants and skim along.
“I’m fairly certain I could have watched that all day,” James muttered in reply. He cut off Thomas’s playful retort with another kiss.
***
(so @flintsredhair said there should be a sequel to that last fic so have some post series flinthamilton get married fluff)
–
It was quiet in the house, warm air carrying the faint sound of birds singing their dawn chorus through the cool hallway and into their bedroom. Thomas let sleep fall from him slowly and blinked his eyes open. It never ceased to amaze him, that he was with James again after all those years apart.
None of it was quite what he expected; Miranda was gone, James was different and so was Thomas, both of them had scars they hadn’t had ten years ago…
But that didn’t matter, not in these hours when Thomas was able to watch his lover sleep peacefully at his side. It didn’t matter that they lived under different names in case James was found by an old enemy, because they got to live together and slowly grow old as they’d always wanted. Thomas missed his wife terribly, felt her absence every day like a gaping hole in his chest, but he had part of his soul back. He had James.
James, who had reminded him the night before in a small voice that he knew a captain. And a captain, he said, had certain abilities.
A captain could marry people.
They didn’t have rings, and James’ captain “friend” was in England with his wife, but the seeds of that idea were planted.
Months later they had visitors and Thomas’ stomach tightened in anticipation as a box was presented to him. It was small, wooden, lined with velvet, and inside were two plain gold bands. James had, apparently, sent word to Silver of his intentions and had him find suitable rings. Silver married them on the hill behind their house, under the large tree that stood there. They said vows, not entirely traditional ones but honest nonetheless. James promised to protect and honour him, to live every day with him as if it were their last. Thomas, in turn, promised to love and treasure James, to hold him up when he doubted himself. They kissed, embraced each other and cried. They put flowers on the headstone with Miranda’s name carved on it.
That night they made love slowly. After, their skin still cooling and their bodies pressed together, James planned the garden out loud. There would be squashes in the far end, potatoes and tomatoes and lettuce further up. He wanted to plant an apple tree. Thomas hummed in agreement, watching the low light glint on his wedding rings and smiling to himself.
No, it wasn’t what he had imagined, not really, but it was real. He had James with him, and he would never be parted from him again.
“I want to marry you.”
The words were softly spoken, not a whisper but quiet enough that Thomas would have missed them if he hadn’t been leaning on James’ chest. His first thought was of Miranda, asleep in bed just down the hall. He was already married. He had been for years, and James was a man, how would it be possible?
“I know it can’t happen,” James continued as if hearing Thomas’ thoughts, “but I still want it. I want to bind myself to you forever, both of you, and fuck anyone who tries to get in the way.”
There was a quiver in his voice, his arms tightening around Thomas on the guest bed. Thomas felt himself shiver in response. He imagined himself in white, James matching him, and tears came to his eyes.
“I want it too, love,” he whispered, burying his face in James’ neck and breathing in his scent.
James kissed the top of his head. “I can’t stand the thought of being away from you. I want you with me when I go to Nassau…”
Thomas leaned up, bringing their lips together, and pressed his forehead to his lover’s. “I know, I know. But I can’t go… not yet. But when you return I’ll be here, and we can go together. A new life in the Bahamas with no one to answer to but ourselves.”
They lay in silence, bathed in love and one another’s warmth, and Thomas imagined them growing old together. James took his hand a moment later and pressed something to his palm.
“James, what-”
“I can’t marry you in the eyes of the law, possibly not even in the eyes of God, but I can damned well marry you in my own eyes.”
It was a ring, a tarnished silver with the image of an anchor and a dove on it. Large, too large for his ring finger on either hand, and heavy. Thomas held his breath as he slipped it on his thumb. He kissed James fiercely, pressing himself to the man he loved until he thought they might become one being.
“I love you,” he breathed into the space between them, “now and forever. Gods, James I- I’ll marry you. We’ll retire and live quietly, the three of us, and you’ll never leave again.”
James hugged him tightly, his breath unsteady where it hit Thomas’d neck. He was shaking, Thomas was too, with the idea of it. Their happiness was almost in reach and Thomas wanted nothing more than to stay with James forever and eternity.
They didn’t sleep. Thomas made plans in his mind of their future; a small cottage, maybe poultry and a garden, James in his bed and wearing a ring on his finger, the two of them waking to one another every morning without fear of being discovered… he saw it all so clearly in his mind it was almost a shock when James had to leave for his own lodgings just before sunup. They kissed, grasping at each other desperately with the need to feel once more before separation.
Thomas fiddled with the ring all day. Miranda saw, but said nothing. She had no doubt understood it’s meaning and Thomas was grateful for her silence on the matter. He didn’t know how to talk to her about this, not yet.
But when James returned they would talk, and they would never be apart again.
James/Thomas peach verse drabble
He was about to put the last barrel of peaches into the wagon when Thomas’s voice reached his ears, a distant yell.
Mildly alarmed, James left the wagon in the northwest corner of the grove and followed the yell, which repeated itself. The day had grown dark with storm clouds-another reason to pack up early- and a rumble of Thunder followed on the heels of Thomas’s voice.
He reached the edge of the grove where the peach trees gave way to a tall oak. There was the ladder lying on the ground under the tree. Thomas was in the tree, straddling two branches, and above him on a limb was Betsy. The cat let out an unhappy meow. Both man and feline appeared to be stuck.
We Are Fools To Make War – dornfelder – Black Sails [Archive of Our Own]
They are brothers of steel and blood and the salt spray of the ocean, that, and the fucking freedom they’ve claimed inside this realm of darkness which they’ve made for themselves. Fuck England, fuck everyone who thinks they’ll ever come to heel again.
The post season 2 Flint/Vane fic I simply couldn’t not write.
Where Flint and Vane fuck after Charles Town, and that’s pretty much it.
We Are Fools To Make War – dornfelder – Black Sails [Archive of Our Own]
The Unquiet Grave – Chapter 6 – Belewitts – Black Sails [Archive of Our Own]
“How did you know?” Thomas finally asked him. “About Peter?
“I don’t for sure,” John replied.
The Unquiet Grave – Chapter 6 – Belewitts – Black Sails [Archive of Our Own]
James/Thomas peach verse drabble
inspired by @vowel-in-thug and her orange verse fics ❤
——-
He wasn’t aware of he’d dozed off under the tree until two warm hands were suddenly over his eyes.
“Open your mouth,” said the familiar voice. James raised an eyebrow at the request but complied. One hand left his face and something else familiar was placed in his mouth- wet and cool and round. He bit into it. It was ripe.
The hand left his face and James looked up from where he lay. Upside down, Thomas’s blue eyes and dark blonde hair drooped down over him, a smile planted on his lips.
“Mmm,” said James. “Good.Though I admit I was half expecting to taste something else.”
Thomas’s grin widened.
“You fiend,” he muttered. James finished chewing the chunk of peach and swallowed. Thomas bent down and kissed him. James sighed into it, never tiring of Thomas’s lips, whether it was a quick peck or a long and passionate dance or this; a little tease in-between.
James sat up and Thomas sat down next to him, under the shade of one of the many peach trees surrounding them in the grove. It was late afternoon and hot, but already it was cooler than midday. A faint breeze blew, feeling good on James’s neck and bare calves. He was also barefoot, with just a shirt on. Thomas was dressed in similar fashion; it had been a while since either of them had worn a long coat, or sailor’s boots or gentleman’s shoes, or had wielded a sword or pistol.
Here, in the midst of summer green-leafed peach trees thriving under the Northern Florida sun, that and so many other things had faded into the background.
They sat with their shoulders and legs touching, quiet and content. James was still learning how to enjoy these moments, how to embrace the serenity.
They remained side by side under the tree until the light began to fade. It had been another Day of Peace, and James was as grateful for it as he had been for yesterday and every other such day here.
Meg's Mumbles 