Gibraltar, Six months later.
He was sure he'd done well this time. Archie was so certain of the fact
that he whistled as he made his way through the streets of Gibraltar. Perhaps
it was the contents of the letter that Captain Pellew had given him to
present to the three Captains on the Examination board that had tilted
their opinion in his favour. Archie wondered what his Captain had written
but hadn't asked. He'd been nervous as usual, thinking of failure yet again.
But the day had suddenly turned bright and now Archie felt like celebrating.
The other midshipmen had gathered in a tavern not far from the docks to
celebrate Jonathan Riley's sixteenth birthday and although Archie had earlier
made his excuses, he now decided to join them.
The tavern was crowded but he had no trouble finding his friends. Lionel
Thockmorton's voice could be heard clear out in the street. Archie was
greeted warmly by his friends and Peter Crittenden slid across to make
room for him on a low bench.
"Didn't expect to see you , Arch. How did you go?" The dark haired midshipman
asked quietly. They all knew that the Lieutenants Examinations were a repeated
trial for Archie and tended to avoid the subject.
"Fine I think," Archie replied with a big smile as a tankard of frothy
brown ale appeared in front of him. He looked around, "Where's little Pip?"
The youngest midshipman was strangely absent.
Lionel Thockmorton leaned across the table and lowered his voice as
if he were about to impart a national secret. "I think the Captain got
wind of our planned caper and ordered young Moseby to remain behind. He
must think he's a bit too young to be visiting a whore house."
Archie looked over at Jonathan Riley just in time to catch the young
man's blush before he looked down trying to hide his grin.
"Are you sure YOU are ready for this Jonathan?" Archie asked. He had
been surprised that Riley had agreed so quickly when Thockmorton first
brought up the suggestion a week ago. Riley had grown up, that much was
more than apparent. He was no longer the quiet young midshipman that Archie
had befriended 18months earlier but a confident young man.
But was this what Riley really wanted or was he going along with Thockmorton's
idea so that the worldly young aristocrat wouldn't think him still a boy?
"I'm sure Archie," the gentle blue eyes met Archie's so as to leave
no doubt. "You said I'd know when I was ready. This is what I want."
Archie felt a pang of disappointment, not because he wanted Riley for
himself, but because he had hoped that Riley might somehow be different.
Had Lionel Thockmorton's tales of endless rogering made him long for what
he didn't know?
"Then congratulations Jonathan. I hope it is all that you expect." Archie
raised his glass in a toast.
"Well finish up gentlemen, the night awaits." Thockmorton declared as
he downed the last of his ale. Archie stared into his glass. This was one
part of the evening that he would pass up.
"Are you coming Archie?" Riley asked expectantly, and Archie wondered
how to decline without causing Thockmorton to cast aspersions on his manhood.
"You two go on ahead. Arch and I will be along when we finish these
ales." Peter Crittenden took another slow sip of his ale and sat back confidently.
"We can wait a little longer, unlike you two. Mind you don't come in your
breeches just thinking about it, Lionel!" There was jovial laughter and
good natured teasing as Riley and Thockmorton bid their good byes.
Peter Crittenden sat back with a sigh. "Thank God you came along Archie.
I had no idea how I was going to get out of going with them. You're a life
saver." Archie frowned, surprised by Crittenden's words. In the past he
and Harry had always been more than eager when it came to visiting brothels.
What had happened to change that? He glanced sideways at Crittenden but
was reluctant to inquire.
"Do you remember the first time you ever went to a brothel Archie?"
Crittenden put his glass down, turned his head so that he was looking at
Archie and rested his chin on his hands. "I do, I'd just turned 15 and
I was aboard the Thebes. Harry took me along. He said it was time. I thought
he was only taking me because for the last two months I'd spent too much
time in his hammock with him doing ..well...we'd been doing to each other
what I usually did to myself, only Harry had showed me it was more fun
to do it with a friend." Archie felt a slow blush creep up his cheeks.
This wasn't the sort of conversation he and Crittenden usually shared.
He wondered if the younger man was drunk.
Crittenden closed his eyes and leant back against the wall again,lost
in his remembrances. When he spoke again his words slow and clear.
"So we went together, Harry and I, and because we were both short of
money we decide to share the girl, that way Harry said he could show me
what to do. He wasn't that much older than me, but he had been at sea a
lot longer and he knew so much more. I always felt like a child beside
him." That was understandable, Archie mused. Harry Stratford had stood
a good half a foot taller than Peter, who was fine and slim and at 19 still
had not attained his adult strength.
"So I watched while he took the girl. I couldn't help but get aroused,
but it was the sight of Harry that made me hot, not the woman. When he
had finished he came over to me and said it was my turn. But I told him
that I didn't want the woman, that all I wanted was him." Slowly Crittenden
opened his green eyes and fixed Archie in his gaze. "You see I don't fancy
women Archie, not at all and I think Harry understood that then, for he
dismissed the whore and took me over to the bed and proceeded to show me
what two men could do together. He showed me everything and it was amazing.
I always wondered who his teacher had been. He never told me, but I was
always thankful to whoever he was." Crittenden ran his slim hand through
his hair and closed his eyes again. "So now you know. Every time we went
to a brothel we always went together. The other lads thought nothing of
it, if anything they were envious. But it was Harry who always fucked the
whores and then he would make love to me."
Archie's mind was in turmoil trying to fathom what Crittenden was saying.
"Are you asking if you can come in with me Peter and watch while I ..while
I ..do it?"
"Oh Archie," Crittenden laughed, his serious tone, lost. "I know you
never visit the brothels when we are in port. I doubted you were going
tonight! No, I am simply suggesting that we cover for each other. We could
say we picked up a couple of lasses here and took them upstairs. If we
get a couple of rooms no one need know the truth."
More ale arrived and as they drank Archie considered Crittenden's words.
It seemed a sound idea. He leaned back and made himself comfortable against
the wall as the ale started to take effect. Perhaps a night spent drinking
with a friend was just what he needed.
"I know now what you tried to tell me when Harry died, Archie." Crittenden
was speaking again, his voice slightly hushed, the words coming slowly.
"I didn't really understand it then, but it was the only thing I had to
cling to and I trusted you." He took a long drink then turned back to Archie.
"But I don't want to live on memories Archie, I can't. I know I'll never
find exactly what I had with Harry again, but I don't want to be alone
all my life either. That's no way to live."
The silence stretched out between them as Archie waited for what was
to come next, but Crittenden just stared into his glass.
Loneliness was something Archie understood well. It had been his companion
for many years. He found himself thinking of Horatio and what they had
briefly shared together.
"It's getting late, " Crittenden declared disrupting Archie's reminiscences.
The tavern was nearly empty and the tap man was wiping the tables. He blinked,
downed the last of his ale and looked into Peter Crittenden's green eyes.
"Perhaps we could get a room together Peter?" Archie wasn't sure exactly
what prompted him to ask. He only knew that Crittenden's words had touched
a chord inside him and that he too wanted to find again the ecstasy he
had discovered in Horatio's arms.
"Are you sure Archie?" They were the same words that Horatio had used.
"Yes Peter, that is if you want to. You don't have to....I wouldn't
expect..." But Crittenden leaned over and placed a gentle finger on Archie's
lips, "Shhh Archie, yes I want to, I have for a while now but I wasn't
sure if you would."
The room was arranged and they were shown up to the first floor. It
was small and neat with a bed just big enough for two. Archie smiled to
himself and crossed to pull back the curtains so that the sun would wake
them in the morning. But as he turned back to Crittenden he felt the first
tremors of fear start in his stomach.
"What's wrong Archie?" Peter asked, his face going from hopeful anticipation
to deep concern.
"Peter, there is something I have to tell you," Archie crossed the room
to sit on the bed. It had to be said; now before they started. "You see
back when I was on the Justinian there was a man named Jack Simpson."
"Shh Arch, I know, I know what he did." Peter had come to kneel in front
of Archie, his hands reaching out to clasp Archie's where they lay in his
lap.
"It wasn't what Beddows said, Peter," Oh god surely he hadn't believed
that!
"I know it wasn't. I overheard Jonathan telling Beddows off that evening.
My god you should have heard him, I didn't know the lad knew such words.
But I do understand what happened to you Archie. It was a terrible thing
that Simpson did." Peter rubbed his hands gently. "I'm glad you had Horatio
to help you through it."
"Peter, Horatio and I only ever did it once. I'm afraid that I will
disappoint you in some way."
"Oh Archie, you couldn't disappointment me. Why I consider it even more
of an honour now that you have told me this."
"I'm no prize Peter," Archie replied sadly. Dropping his eyes felt again
the shame of Simpson's touch.
"You are to me Archie," was Peter's soft reply. "Come now, we have all
night and lots to learn about each other. We can go as slow as you want."
Then Peter knelt up and kissed Archie's lips, slowly seeking admittance
and Archie wrapped his arms around the slim figure, so different in feel
to Horatio and pulled him up and back so that they tumbled onto the bed
fully clothed.
It turned into a delightful struggle as they tried in vain to undress
each other without letting go. They kissed and laughed and giggled their
way to nakedness, their passion gently rising but never threatening to
drown them. And when at last the touches and kisses were no longer enough
it was Peter who rolled onto his back and looked up into Archie's blue
eyes silently offering the one thing that Archie had never known.
"I can't," Archie panicked, "I've never done this, I don't know what
to do."
"Of course you can Archie. You know what to do. Just use a bit of spit
to make it easier, that's all there is to it." Peter's voice sounded so
certain that Archie relaxed. He remembered what Horatio had done and proceeded
the same way, slowly and carefully until Peter Crittenden was moaning under
his ministrations in a most alluring way.
Archie lost himself in a maelstrom of sensations. Peter's urgent cries
of pleasure, the salty taste of sweat as he bent low to kiss Peter's neck,
the sharp tangy smell of sex, the hot tight friction that threatened to
steal his senses. But the greatest amazement was that Peter shared the
pleasure with him, that this was something he wanted, enjoyed. Archie watched
in fascination as Peter rose to meet every thrust, his wild green eyes
fixed on Archie, as together they moved closer to ecstasy.
What Horatio had said was true. Archie believed it now as he lay with
Peter Crittenden wrapped in his arms, drowsy and sated. Perhaps when they
were rested, they could try it again? Maybe Peter might....Archie smiled
as he realised that he no longer saw this a something of which to be afraid.
Thank you Horatio, he prayed silently. One day he would tell Horatio about
this and thank him in person. He smiled even more as he thought about that
meeting.
"What are you thinking about?" The sleepy voice brought a pang of guilt
to Archie and he opened his own eyes to find Peter smiling up at him.
"I was thinking about Horatio, thinking how I would thank him the next
time I saw him." Would Peter be disappointed?
"I think I might thank him myself, Arch," Peter said as he leaned up
to kiss Archie's lips.
They spent the rest of the night in a haze of passion, giving and receiving
pleasure and in the morning Archie awoke to sunlight and the warm embrace
of a dear friend.
There were many ways to love, Archie knew now, many shapes and forms
that it could take. In their world, possession had no place, rather it
was the sharing and the caring and the letting go that characterized the
greatest of feelings.
He looked at Peter Crittenden, his fine dark hair spread across the
pillow in disarray and knew that what they had was transient and should
be treasured all the more because of that. Things would change when they
returned to the ship. What they had discovered here would have to remain
hidden. But in the meantime they had a few more hours to themselves.
Smiling happily Archie woke his friend.
The End.
