(no subject)

[captainhornblower]

Who: seventeensir, noprevaricating
What: SHIP. And twin bonding.
When: November 3rd
Where: Luceti ocean, Britannia
Summary: The Britannia needs painting, and the sailors want time on their ship.
Rating: PG-13 (rating subject to change, depending on topics discussed)

It was, perhaps, overly nostalgic.

But when tan paint and blue paint had been found in the item shop and the large brushes needed to apply it, Horatio Hornblower had not been able to stop himself from grabbing it and carting it through the transporters to Britannia. It had taken some time over the last couple of days, but enough had been found to paint the whole of the ship. White for the deck and the other two for the rest.

The colours of the Indefatigable.

Britannia was... Horatio smiled at the thought as he put a few cans of the gold paint into one of the jolly boats ready to be lowered down to paint her sides. Britannia might well be a daughter of Indefatigable. Not the same ship, not in the slightest, but some parts of that lovely frigate seemed to have found their way into the design of the ship the two men who'd served on her had fallen in love with.

All he was missing-- safely tucked away in the captain's cabin-- was his uniform coat, but without it and with the first three buttons of his waistcoat undone, Horatio Hornblower looked remarkably more casual than he usually did. Then again, he knew all too well how easily paint could get everywhere.

Comments

[simplestgift]

Archie was actually wearing nothing that came from home, but a pair of sweat pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt with a hoodie. He might have been a modern man, to look at him, but he didn't trust himself not to get paint all over everything he owned. He was so, so very ready for this.

"Very well, Mr. Hornblower. Do you choose blue, or gold?"

[captainhornblower]

It would have been practical to find clothes that fit him other than what he had on. Not only because of the mess of the paint... but because the wear was beginning to show on these. He'd found, at one point, an extra shirt that looked as if it could have come from his sea chest, but he had been here since May. Trousers and shirt both had needed patches, loathe though he was to admit it. His coat, at least, had not suffered too badly. A few holes to be mended and a few singe marks to patch over from the draft, but...

But he could still look decent.

Practicality, however, was outweighed by his love of the familiar. He knew these clothes and, thus, was not keen to part with them.

"I thought we might start with gold, Mister Kennedy, on," it hardly needed saying, as the jolly boat was rigged there, "the larboard side."

[simplestgift]

"Gold it is, then." He took one bucket, leaving the other for Horatio as he headed for the jolly boat. "Never will a handsomer ship sail this ocean."

[captainhornblower]

Horatio took up the remaining bucket and followed. "Certainly not. She'll be a beauty beyond compare." He stopped, smiled, and shook his head. "Even more so. She's already that much, at least."

[simplestgift]

Archie climbed into the boat and flattened a loving hand against her hull. "And she's ours, Horatio. Not the navy's, either. Ours."

[captainhornblower]

"Ours." He smiled at the word, resting his own hand against the hull of Britannia for a moment. "Not a thing to drag us away from her. No transfers or new commissions."

His thin fingers drummed against the wood. It didn't matter here, but the thought still struck him. "I couldn't keep Hotspur. Natural, of course. Twenty-gun... A commander's ship."

[simplestgift]

"This one's yours as long as you like." Archie was almost sorry to paint her, but he knew she would shine when she was finished. "As is your lieutenant."

[captainhornblower]

Horatio chuckled faintly. "No, not mine. Ours." So very much theirs. But he smiled wider. "That second sentiment, though, I plan to hold you to, my friend."

That had been the worst of losing Hotspur. Some of his men planned to follow, but all that could be spared from her officers, Pellew had warned him, would be one midshipman, if even that. The rest, her new commander was in full need of. Particularly a reliable first lieutenant. Which had been as gentle as Pellew could be in insisting that Bush would not be joining Hornblower on Atropos.

[simplestgift]

"The Devil himself couldn't drag me from your side." Not now. Not after God had brought them back together. He opened the bucket of paint and grabbed one of the brushes. "Beautiful color, by the by. Very familiar, although a bit less mustard-like than the Indy."

[captainhornblower]

"I always thought the Indy looked her best when she showed her wear a little. Dulled that yellow." But, as soon as that had really begun to show, men would be sent out to paint her over again, keep her looking fresh. Horatio could understand that, certainly, but he could still prefer her a little dimmer. And Britannia. Lovely, lovely Britannia. Theirs to pain as they wished.

[simplestgift]

Archie glanced sidelong at him, dipped the brush, and passed it over. "The first sweep is yours to make, Captain."

[captainhornblower]

Horatio smiled wide and took the brush, first settling his hand over Archie's and giving a single soft squeeze. It was a gesture into which-- along with the look that came with it-- so much gratitude was packed. Archie's presence, the ship...

He felt at home. More than he had in years.

Rather than say anything, though, Horatio took the brush and drew it along the wood, chuckling after doing so. This would take awhile... and he couldn't wait for every minute.

[simplestgift]

Archie picked up his own brush and joined in. It was therapeutic, painting their own ship together in silent companionship. The minutes passed, and after a while, he spoke again.

"Should we whitewash the captain's cabin at all, or allow Jilly to do whatever she likes? I suspect she'd whitewash it first anyway."

[captainhornblower]

"We'll have to ask her," Horatio said finally, after a bit of thought. "Might as well save her the step if she'll do it anyway, but." He flashed a smile. "It would be our luck we'd assume, she'd have planned something different, and would be disappointed in us."

[simplestgift]

"We can always help her do it, I suppose." Archie catches a few drips threatening to ruin their beautiful (so far) paint job. "You'll have the finest cabin ever was, Horatio."

[captainhornblower]

"I've no doubt of it, Archie. No doubt at all." He laughs a little, flashing a wider smile as he cuts off another area with a stroke of the brush. "She's lovely as she is. Once she's dressed proper? Won't be a thing that can compare with her."

He touches the hull lightly, on an unpainted part... but his hand brushed over a painted part when he pulled it back, leaving a bit of paint on the tips of his fingers. Which only makes him-- ever concious of his appearance--... laugh.

[simplestgift]

Archie grinned at that, remembering another time of painting. "Pity that she isn't here now, and William with her. Very little actual painting would happen, I'm sure."

[captainhornblower]

"I don't know." Horatio chuckled. His smile was slightly dampened but it was no less genuine. Just a slight change in the type of happiness. "I think William would have all our heads if we were careless painting a ship. A wall in a house is one thing, but a ship..." He chuckled again. "A ship is quite another."

[simplestgift]

"The heart of a true navy man." Archie dipped his brush into the bucket and went back to work. "Has anyone told him that, as often as we say a ship is a lady, a ship is not actually a woman?"

[captainhornblower]

Someday, Horatio Hornblower would learn that he could not, in fact, drink like Archie Kenendy.

...No. No, he knew that. But he didn't ever care. It was still enjoyable to drink with him.

What was not enjoyable was the waking up.

Strong as Britannia's hull was, the sharp October air had penetrated it. The blanket on the deck of the captain's cabin for sleeping on contained two bodies, piled under the remaining two or three blankets that had been brought on, one for each of them. Of course, at present, they were communally used.

Horatio Hornblower was curled up to his first lieutenant-- "first mate" would never answer in his mind, nor did he intend to try and train himself to make it answer-- both of them flecked with drying paint from their work on the hull. Hornblower breathed easily, one arm wrapped around Kennedy, holding him close.

He woke slowly, an ache in his head that made him close his eyes again, even if he did not immediately fall asleep. In response to being ever more aware of the cold, he tried to move even closer to his sleeping companion, unconcerned that he could not actually get closer. Archie was warm, and he was content.

[simplestgift]

Someone had stolen three-quarters of the blankets over the course of the night. Kennedy, half-awake, scrunched his nose, then grabbed the blankets and yanked to cover himself fully. This was the trouble with having Horatio Hornblower as a bedfellow. Always. Stupid blankets needed to be bigger.

Once he was covered, he shuffled back against Hornblower, a contented smile settling onto his face as he started to get warm. Except his feet were cold. He should put them on Horatio's just to pay him back.

...Nah, that would just mean movement, and movement would let cold air in. Not acceptable.

Eventually they would need furniture in this thing. But not now. Now, being warm on a cold morning was the most comfortable thing imaginable.

[captainhornblower]

Despite being robbed of blankets almost entirely-- which he both tried to move closer and tried to pull on them with a sleep-riddled grip to to correct-- Horatio was quite content to be curled up with his friend.

Proper cots were in order, he thought as he refused to fully wake. Individual cots with blankets to spare. No shortage in Luceti, no case to worry about anything other than whatever it was they might want. But the thought did not trouble him greatly. No. Even sleeping on a hard deck made him completely content, given the circumstances.

[simplestgift]

His blankets are being taken. In retaliation, Archie curls more tightly against Horatio, drawing up his icy feet and placing them directly on Horatio's bare shins.

[captainhornblower]

Horatio muttered in protest, waking up slightly more at the feeling of the cold, though his reaction was to try and shift the blankets to keep himself warm while half-throwing them to cover the man beside him. And to tighten his hold around Archie as well, curling closer to him.

[simplestgift]

There. Snuggling closer makes the cold go away. The fog of sleep begins to close in again as his feet start to warm, and he finds himself drifting off once more.