calliope_love: (Break/Liam: Angsty)
Callie ([personal profile] calliope_love) wrote2011-01-03 05:50 pm

017: I do this in boring meetings too. Who doesn't?

Title: Can Be Deceiving
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Still not mine.
Summary: Spontaneous Break/Liam character babble sort of fic. Also Break is not interested in your boring official stuff, srsly.
Length: 826 words


Break would never admit to Liam — or to anyone else, of course, but mainly not Liam, never to Liam — how glad he was that the two of them had begun the more intimate side of their relationship before Break lost his eyesight.

Because it was fine, really, not seeing Liam while he loved him; it didn’t stop the way Liam’s hands were always so determined to ferret out every little thing that made him writhe and log it all away like so much extraneous data. It didn’t stop the way Liam was the perfect size and shape to make Xerxes Break of all people feel safe while being held, rather than clung to or almost squished, and it certainly didn’t stop — it didn’t stop Liam from being Liam. That was the most important part, Liam being Liam, because that was what made Break trust him enough to — ah! Another thing he had never admitted, but would if he ever found a way — fall in love with him properly in the first place.

Liam was Liam, and the others were finally starting to see just how good a thing that was, and truth be told Break was starting to feel a bit possessive over him. What if someone else decided they wanted him, someone of more value than a dying old man? Liam was never going to be the kind who had to flee from hordes of ladies at parties the way Gilbert and his stupid, smarmy brother did, or the kind who could manipulate an entire room into groveling, and oh, Break treasured him for that. Liam was so much better when he was a secret for Xerxes to keep, with that mind churning away where no one could see it and those pretty eyes of his hidden behind his glasses.

Break was so glad he’d bothered to look at those eyes while he’d still been able to see them, not to mention the rest of him. Liam had a certain — a certain way of appearing that you’d never really suspect him of unless he’d decided he loved you. It was all in the little details. His hair stuck up just so when Break ran his hands through it; his earrings would drape across his cheeks when Liam was bending over him, and catch the light if there was any. Those hands out of his gloves — they were as elegant as Break’s, long-fingered and looking like they were meant to be on his skin, though that could have been Break’s tiny, oft-crushed romantic side talking.

Once, Break had made a snarky comment about the whole thing while Liam was busy kissing his way down Break’s stomach, and those eyes had snapped up and stared at Break like they owned him.

He’d never been so breathless in all his life. If anyone else ever looked at him that way, the expression would be kicked from their face before they even knew Xerxes Break was moving. That was Break’s distinctly unromantic side talking.

That look was the big one, the one that Break often thought of in the middle of the night (or, more inconveniently, in the middle of a meeting), but there was also — ah, the way their skin looked together, the subtle differences in tone that became so much more obvious when they were right next to one another; the way the waistband of Liam’s pants sat across his hips. His shoulders with firelight on them — he went very well with firelight — and the way his eyes would fall shut for a moment whenever Break shoved him down and climbed on top of him only to snap open again and watch him like a story moving up and down —

“Xerxes. Are you alright?”

Break stirred. That was Liam’s breath in his ear. “You ask me that so often,” he mused, recovering from his thoughts.

“Well, I wonder,” Liam said peevishly, but oh, so quietly. “I know you’re bored, but it’s rather obvious that you’re staring at the wall. Pay attention. I think we’re getting to the important bit now.”

Ahaha! In the middle of a meeting.

Break didn’t bother to disguise his sigh as he turned his attention back to whatever Duke Nightray was babbling on about. He would manage to hold it there for maybe thirty seconds before his mind wandered again, most likely. And the man standing just behind him and a little to his right, who no one ever really saw, would keep trying to drag him back; and he’d also be coming to visit later that night, because he somehow always knew when Break wanted his attention.

Xerxes couldn’t really see him anymore either, of course. But he had. And what a difference it had made.

[identity profile] their-kingdom.livejournal.com 2011-01-04 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
... :)

Ah, this is just what I the fandom needed. I'm always a little sad when I read fics where they get together after Break starts losing his sight, sad that he would miss out on seeing Liam during their intimate moments. (Seriously, this was a big thing of mine for a long time.)

You sort of did this to some extent in TAIGTS and it did wonders for me then, and this is even more wonderfully comforting. (And here I am referring to this kind of thing: ...and truth be told Break was starting to feel a bit possessive over him. What if someone else decided they wanted him, someone of more value than a dying old man? .)

But of course, Break fussing over how pretty Liam is, from his point of view... I don't think anyone's ever done that before. Liam thinking about Break's body, Glen about Jack, Oz about Gil, all over the place, but not this, and the way you did it is very nnf convincingly Break and... that's what's important. Liam is such a fox.

[Oh also: Liam was Liam, and the others were finally starting to see just how good a thing that was.

Oho the irony.]


Thanks for writing/sharing! Sooooo much sexyyyyyy

[identity profile] calliope-love.livejournal.com 2011-01-06 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
What your rant had me thinking about was the difference between, say, Break-and-Liam and Xerbert, and the way the difference would carry over into physical intimacy. As we've agreed, Xerbert is a very shallow pairing; they might look pretty and they might have excellent sex, but they're not going to be able to build a solid relationship. On the other hand, Break-and-Liam have that solid relationship, and so the way they would find themselves attracted to one another is thus more complex. Like I said, Liam may not attract hordes of fangirls, or even be noticed there in the room half the time; but because Break is invested in him on a far deeper level, he's going to notice things like the way one hand would stretch out to hold a book open while he writes with the other, things he himself might not notice on anyone else. Because it's Liam, and he's attached, he sees these things and they stand out. And what's attractive isn't the obvious physical features so much as the comfort of who you're with and how you know the ways in which they exist so very, very well.

[identity profile] kira-douji.livejournal.com 2011-01-04 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
... I love Xerxes' inner romantic. Can so see him gushing over Liam in his mind exclusively. Man knows what he caught. <3

[identity profile] calliope-love.livejournal.com 2011-01-06 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
He totally has an inner romantic. Even if it is less "*swoon*" and more "Ohoho mine. *grabby hands*"

Somebody should write one where some random bint starts eyeballing Liam and Xerxes has a private territorial snit fit over it, and says nothing, but Liam totally knows he's doing it and is like, "Oh, Xerk. <3"

[identity profile] their-kingdom.livejournal.com 2011-05-10 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. Someone should. *pointed stare*