Bombers Moon

The rain stopped after midnight, poured down again early the next morning, and showed no signs of abating by noon.The Duchess' trip was delayed as a result, giving Chuck an extra 24 hours to brush up on etiquette from another world.Louie supervised the impatient student across the table, tapping his fingers on the tablecloth.

"Like math class," Chuck complained to Spoon, "how did you remember that?"

"Practice, and it's really not that hard."

"It's not difficult, it's just redundant." Chuck threw the spoon into the plate and made a loud noise, "It's time for you to understand that no matter how you put the spoon, the taste of the soup will not change. Also, what What kind of fool would think of eating a banana with a knife and fork?"

"A well-bred idiot."

"Actually, all you need is a pair of healthy hands."

"We're not chimpanzees, Sergeant."

"By this standard, three quarters of the world's population are orangutans."

Louie seemed to want to say something more, perhaps pointing out the similarities between Americans and chimpanzees, but ended up not opening his mouth.He grabbed the bell with the ceramic handle and shook it, and Roger appeared in the doorway without a sound, and Chuck suspected that he was perched in the mezzanine of the ceiling in the first place, flying down at the master's whistle.Louie grabbed his crutches and moved toward the door, and Chuck tossed the crumpled napkin onto the plate and stood up after him.

"No, Sergeant Sinclair, you stay here." Louis half-turned, "Roger will teach you how to dance next."

Chuck looked at him, then at Vulture: "Is this a joke?"

"I've taught ballroom dancing to young ladies in half London, if that's what the sergeant is worried about." The face of the older manservant looked like a carved wooden mask that had been sitting too long in a damp corner of a basement.

"That's not what I thought—you wait." Chuck squeezed past the vulture, stepped into the corridor outside, and grabbed Louis' elbow, "I don't need to learn how to dance."

"Of course you do, a gentleman always—"

"you do this delibrately."

Louie had that smile that Chuck knew so well again, like a cat pushing a vase to the floor while pretending it wasn't his fault: "Are you afraid of Roger, Sergeant?"

"How is it possible?"

"Of course not." Louis agreed mildly, which was too gentle, which made Chuck very disturbed. "After all, you are the hero who disobeyed orders and flew a bomber to attack Saint-Nazaire."

"Shouldn't you plan to take revenge after so long?"

"I'm going to the Turkey Room now for a cup of tea and a few pages of the book, but I think I'll probably fall asleep," Louie said, as if he didn't hear Chuck's complaint. "Don't keep poor Roger waiting, China." Sir, I wish you a good time."

-

When Chuck opened the door and walked into the Turkish room, the tea on the low table was already cold, and the small plate of desserts wrapped in shredded coconut showed no signs of being disturbed.Louie slept by the window, buried in a pile of cushioned and fringed blankets, outside with a light rain, and the wet gray sun and the long, curved shadows of the carved iron fell on him.Chuck leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, and Louie made a muffled noise, shifted, and the open book slipped from his hands onto the carpet.

"I hate you," Chuck said.

"Good afternoon to you too, Sergeant," Louie replied, tilting his head so he could see Chuck's face clearly, "I believe you've had three instructive hours with Roger."

"One more minute and I'm going to strangle him, or he strangles me, and only one of us will walk out of the restaurant alive."

"We don't say 'choke to death', we say politely 'you broaden each other's horizons'."

"So what's the 'polite' word for what we've been doing these two days?"

"Summer pastime."

Chuck sighed and kissed him, and Louie smiled against his lips, warm breath on the tip of Chuck's nose.The kiss quickly turned from lazy to eager, and Chuck unbuttoned Louie's shirt one by one, but was stopped before he reached the last one.Chuck made a frustrated noise, lowered his head, and bit Louie hard on the collarbone.

"Leaving any marks on these rugs is a crime." Louie rubbed the back of Chuck's neck lightly. "You know what boarding school boys do after the lights go out?"

"Why did you bring this up all of a sudden?"

"Come to me tonight and I'll tell you."

The promise kept Chuck restless all evening, and dinner became longer than usual.He ate something mechanically, not remembering what he put in his mouth.Louie picked up a few irrelevant topics to shore up the dry conversation, and each knew that the other wasn't really interested in the weather or the origin of the ham.Chuck excused himself from the table shortly after dessert was served.Louis wished him good night, motioned for the footman to refill his glass, and seemed in no hurry.

Chuck took off his coat, did not turn on the light, and waited in the dark for nearly three or ten minutes before he heard the dull sound of the crutches hitting the floor, and then the soft closing of the door.He waited about 10 more minutes before pushing open the window, climbing out and jumping into the bushes.Because of the torrential rain earlier, the air was clear and cool, the soil was moist and soft, and the leaves were covered with tiny water droplets. However, the barbs of the bushes were not so polite, and they caught his trouser legs from time to time.Chuck could see the light coming from the window, and he stepped on a small protruding stone in the outer wall, climbed up to the ledge, and tapped on the glass.

Louie opened the window and stepped back, allowing Chuck to climb in.A few leaves shook to the ground along with dirt debris.The second lieutenant had already changed into a light gray nightgown, leaning on crutches like a skinny stork. "You should knock like a decent gentleman, Sergeant."

"Sorry, neither decent nor a gentleman."

"There's no cure," Louie whispered, stepping forward and kissing Chuck on the lips.The nightgown slid to the floor, then the cane, with a snap, then Chuck's ill-fitting shirt.Chuck picked up Louis and walked towards the bed, almost tripping over the pants he took off in a hurry, the two of them fell heavily into the soft quilt, giggling like little boys.

"You nearly broke both of our necks."

"Not so exaggerated, sir." Chuck climbed on top of him, taking care to avoid his injured right leg, propped his hands on the mattress, and looked down at Louie, "So what do boarding school boys do now, need Shall I turn off the light?"

"They don't necessarily turn off the lights, sometimes they like to look at each other." Louie pushed Chuck's shoulder, and it took Chuck half a minute to understand what he meant, kissing down his chest and stomach, until between his legs.Louie sighed softly, grabbed Chuck's short hair, controlled the angle and rhythm, "You're a quick learner, Sergeant."

Chuck was using his tongue elsewhere so he just snorted.Louie's left leg rested on his shoulder, trembling slightly.Louie looked drunk, with the same red coloration on his cheeks and ears.Chuck looked up at him, observing the effects of each lick and suck.

"Charles," Louie said to the ceiling, "next step."

Chuck straightened up and licked his lips, not sure exactly how to start next.In high school he'd heard about so-and-so and another so-and-so being bumped into in a barn in the middle of the night and thrown in jail for immorality.He understood how "corrupt" it was, but it was just a concept, and it was not comparable to a living person who had just put his penis in his mouth.Louie quickly sensed this and laughed.

"Need me to teach you, Sergeant?"

Chuck swallowed, feeling himself turn red from forehead to neck. "No, I know how to—"

"I don't deny that, but do you want me to teach you?"

"need."

"Say 'Thanks, sir.'"

"I wouldn't say that."

"Open the trunk—it's at your feet, under the bed, see? There's a white cologne bottle under your shirt, but it's not cologne. Give it to me."

Chuck dug out the cold glass bottle and went back to bed: "Then?"

"And then you watch quietly."

Chuck complied, at least for the first few minutes, and then moved to assist.Louis didn't object, and lay on his side, letting Chuck take over.Chuck held him from behind, pressed his lips against Louie's sweaty neck, first kissed, then used his teeth, biting at the pulse of the artery, fingers continued to explore the depths of his body.Louie's breathing became shallow and rapid, as if he was about to drown.

"You haven't taught me the next step yet," Chuck whispered, pressing into Louie's ear.

The other party gasped and laughed: "Come in, Charles."

His movements were slow, but Louie still groaned hoarsely, clutching the sheets tightly.Chuck paused to kiss him, both of them gasping for words.He held Louie's knees and helped him raise his legs a bit.Skin is slippery from sweat and oil from the bottle.He swayed cautiously, and Louis groped for his hand and held it tight: "I'm not made of ceramic, Charles, hurry up."

It was an order he was happy to obey.Chuck's fingers left bruise-like marks on Louie's waist and thighs.Louie reached down to his stomach, and Chuck ran along his arm, his palm resting on the back of his hand.Their breaths rise and fall in the same rhythm, passing by brief whimpers, and finally slipping together into trembling silence.Chuck hugged Louie a little tighter, burying his nose in Louie's sweaty hair.

The two fell asleep for a while.Chuck woke up from the cold first, his chest was warm from being pressed against Louie's back, but his back was as cold as if a bucket of ice water had been poured on it.With the lights still on, Chakra closed the curtains, turned off the lights, climbed back into bed, and dragged back the blanket that had been kicked to the floor.Louie was fast asleep and didn't wake up when Chuck carefully wrapped them both in blankets.The sergeant briefly considered going back to the next bedroom, but Louie curled up next to him, as if feeling cold.He smells like sex, dried wood and a little musk.Chuck hugged him from behind again, pressed his lips against the back of his neck, and closed his eyes.