Summary: There's nothing like a good, old-fashioned roll in the hay
Category: Romance, PWP
Pairing: Horatio/Archie
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers/Warnings: none
Notes
Disclaimer

“Up here, Archie!"

Archie watched as Horatio scrambled up the rough hewn ladder with his typical loose-limbed grace, pausing for a moment to admire his agility, as well as the play of muscles barely visible beneath the thin linen of his shirt and the cotton of his trousers.

As if sensing Archie´s dawdling, Horatio stopped a few rungs from the top, glanced down at Archie and threw a bright, thoughtless smile in his direction.

“C´mon!" Horatio directed, the impatience in his voice tempered by the lightness of his tone. Horatio flashed him another smile before he continued up the ladder and disappeared from sight.

Shaking his head, Archie followed, wondering not for the first time why he had ever agreed to come here in the first place. When Horatio had invited Archie to accompany him on a visit to his father´s home in Kent, Archie had acquiesced without a moment´s thought. Perhaps it had been Horatio´s anxious shyness; perhaps it had been the unwelcome prospect of a leave deprived of his dearest friend´s companionship. Whatever the motivation, Archie had been incapable of refusing and Horatio´s relief had been so palpable and his answering grin so warm and so genuine, that any doubts Archie might have felt at the idea of spending his leave so far from the urban delights he so enjoyed had evaporated like the morning dew.

Still, Archie hadn´t been quite prepared for something so…well, rustic.

Archie couldn´t say that it wasn´t a pleasant place. The village in which Horatio had been born and raised was a sleepy little hamlet, surrounded by farms and fertile fields as far as the eye could see, the air redolent with the rich, heavy scent of living things. The people they had met had been equally pleasant, and certainly far more wholesome than the rough characters one encountered in the portside towns they normally frequented. Nor could Archie complain of the hospitality. Dr. Hornblower had been very kind to him and Mrs. Appleby, his housekeeper, seemed determined to feed Horatio and Archie—both of whom she declared much too thin--to near bursting. All in all, it should have been a perfect idyll: fresh air, good food and respite from the rigors of shipboard life. Only one thing was truly lacking: privacy.

Here in Dr. Hornblower´s cozy cottage, there was no place where he and Horatio could be truly alone. It seemed odd--and more than a little ungracious--to be pining for a dingy, clapboard room with a leaky roof and a sagging cot infested with Lord only knew what vermin, when Archie had a warm bed with clean sheets and a dry roof overhead, but that was the truth of it. Archie missed that privacy. He missed having Horatio all to himself.

Archie felt a pang of guilt at that thought. He at least got to see Horatio every day aboard ship. Dr. Hornblower, however, had seen his son only once in the five years since he´d gone to sea and had to content himself with erratic correspondence carried by packet boat. Archie was lucky and he knew it, but that didn´t keep him from wanting more. He doubted anything ever would.

The wood was rough beneath his palms as Archie began his ascent up the ladder. Moments later, he arrived at the top and instinctively ducked his head to avoid the heavy beams overhead. He cast his gaze around him before his eyes came to rest on Horatio who was sprawled out at his feet, arms folded beneath his head and legs loosely crossed at the ankles.

“It´s a hayloft," Archie stated, quite unnecessarily.

Horatio rolled his eyes. “Of course it is. What else did you think you´d find at the top of a barn?"

Archie shrugged then dropped rather ungracefully at Horatio´s side, the motion sending bits of hay flying in all directions. Horatio brushed the errant stalks from his shirt then rolled over on his side to face Archie. Afternoon sun streamed through a small window and between the wooden slats of the walls to spill across the loft, making the hay gleam like gold in the light. It caught the bits of hay trapped in Horatio´s hair like shards of glowing amber and gilded his profile, softening the angles of his face, transforming him into a strangely ethereal creature. Archie´s breath caught at the sight, so familiar yet never ordinary. Not Horatio. There was nothing ordinary about Horatio.

Expelling a long, slow sigh, Archie stretched out and turned to face Horatio, his posture a mirror image of Horatio´s own. Horatio´s eyes were upon him, the light reflected in their depths, a small smile tracing his lips.

“I used to come up here when I was a boy," Horatio explained. “Mr. Scroggins--he´s the man who owns this farm—he never seemed to mind. I would come here whenever I wanted to be alone with my thoughts."

“I imagine that was quite often," Archie hazarded.

Horatio nodded, his smile broadening a fraction. “Yes, yes it was." Horatio picked up a stalk of hay and twirled it slowly between his fingers. It sparkled in the sunlight like a lady´s jeweled hairpin. “I always loved to come here in the afternoon, when the light turned the hay to gold, like it is now. It always made me think of the caves where fairies were said to hide their treasure."

Archie gave Horatio a fond smile. “So fanciful, Horatio."

Horatio´s own smile turned a bit rueful as he gave an embarrassed shrug. “I suppose so. I was just a boy, after all. Boys should be allowed to indulge in the occasional fancy."

Archie reached over and gently rested his hand atop Horatio´s, stilling the motion of the hay stalk. “So should men."

Horatio gazed back at him with an arch expression. “And what kind of fancy would you have in mind, Mr. Kennedy?"

Archie plucked the stalk of hay from Horatio´s hand and tossed it aside before he leaned in and kissed Horatio. He could feel the curve of Horatio´s smile beneath his lips as he slid his hands into Horatio´s hair, dislodging bits of hay then rolled them over until Horatio was pinned beneath him. When Archie broke the kiss at last, he gazed down at Horatio´s smiling eyes and silly grin, knowing that he surely wore an identical expression.

“So, does my fancy meet with your approval, Mr. Hornblower?"

“Very much so." Before Archie could respond further, however, Horatio took advantage of Archie´s inattention and neatly flipped them over until Archie was pinned beneath him. Horatio´s expression was insufferably smug.

“You have hay in your hair, Archie," Horatio observed mildly.

Archie grabbed a handful of hay and tossed it at Horatio. “So do you," Archie replied, snickering up at Horatio´s outraged expression. “You look like a Guy Fawkes!" he said, peals of laughter bursting forth despite his rather half-hearted attempts to hold his merriment in check.

Horatio´s eyes narrowed. “I do, do I? Well, I´ll have my revenge, Mr. Kennedy."

Archie gave a startled squeak as Horatio pulled his shirt free from his trousers in one swift movement and then proceeded to tickle Archie mercilessly.

“Stop, Horatio, please," Archie gasped out between laughs as he twisted and writhed and tried to escape from Horatio´s pitiless fingers, to no avail.

“Do you surrender?" Horatio asked, his stern expression undermined by the comical effect of the mad crown of hay trapped in his hair. Archie responded in the only way he could: he tossed another handful of hay at Horatio.

They tussled and rolled about in the hay, each trying to gain the upper hand. Archie had the greater bulk, but Horatio had a long and intimate knowledge of Archie´s body at his disposal and he ruthlessly turned that to his advantage as clever fingers unerringly found their way to every ticklish spot on Archie´s body. The sound of their mingled laughter echoed through the loft.

In the end, Horatio was the victor. He rolled them over once again, and managed to trap Archie´s heaving, gasping body beneath his own.

“Oh God, Horatio, stop, please, stop" Archie begged, gulping for air. Horatio had learned his lesson; this time he grasped Archie´s wrists and held them firmly against the hay before he leaned in, his flushed face scant inches from Archie´s.

“Do you yield, sir?" Horatio asked, his voice a raspy purr.

Archie shifted experimentally and flexed his wrists, but this time he was well and truly caught. There would be no chance for retaliation.

“And what incentive will you offer for my surrender?"

One of Horatio´s eyebrows rose at that. “Incentive?"

“I´m the King´s man," Archie said. “Surely you don´t expect me to yield so easily?"

Horatio moved even closer until their lips were a whisper apart. Archie could almost taste Horatio´s breath on his tongue. “Fair enough," he said at last before he took Archie´s mouth.

The kiss was slow and sweet and so very, very good. It was always good with Horatio. Archie tried to move his hands, wanting nothing more than to wrap his arms around the other man and pull him closer, but Horatio held him fast, trapping his wrists in a firm grip and pinning his body beneath the length of his own. There had been a time when such an arrangement might have sparked a flare of panic, but surprisingly it never had with Horatio. He always felt oddly sheltered with Horatio´s weight upon him like it was now and though Horatio held his hands still, Archie could feel the way Horatio´s thumbs slid back and forth across the bones of his wrist, the rhythm gentle and soothing. He had nothing to fear from Horatio, of that he was certain.

When Horatio released his wrists at last, Archie wasted no time. He wound his arms around Horatio´s back and grabbed fistfuls of linen and pulled upwards. Once Horatio´s shirt was free from his trousers, Archie slid his hands beneath. He felt smooth skin under his questing palms, delighting once more in the play of Horatio´s muscles as they shifted and moved, now from the more intimate vantage of touch. Impatient to see as well as touch, Archie tugged at Horatio´s shirt, dragging it up across his back and over his head. The motion dislodged some of the hay tangled in Horatio´s hair and scattered it across Archie´s chest.

The hay did not remain there long, however, as Horatio returned the favor and removed Archie´s own thoroughly disheveled shirt. Horatio tossed the shirt aside and gazed down at Archie with covetous, hungry eyes. Archie shivered in anticipation as Horatio´s gaze raked his body with enough heat to set the surrounding hay alight and reduce him to a pile of ash.

“Beautiful," Horatio said, his voice rough, yet oddly reverent, before he leaned down and claimed Archie´s mouth once more. This kiss was even better than the last, if such a thing was even possible, the smooth glide of lips echoing the slip and slide of bare flesh as they pressed closer and closer still, limbs and tongues tangling in a slow, lazy rhythm.

The sun was warm on Archie´s skin and it bathed them in gold, as if someone had tipped a pot of honey over them both. Horatio broke the kiss and smiled down at Archie, his face shining brighter than the sunlight streaming through the window above them. Archie could no more stop his answering grin than he could resist the urge to twine his fingers in Horatio´s disordered curls and tug his head downwards for another delirious kiss.

Archie could feel Horatio´s hands moving over his body, tracing invisible patterns in the sweat beginning to form on his skin. For a brief moment, Archie froze as he felt Horatio´s fingers trail across the underside of his ribs, ghosting over one of the spots that had so recently made him twitch and gasp with breathless, helpless laughter. Now, however, the touch, stripped of its previous mischievous intent, was unbearably erotic and Archie shivered again as those all too clever fingers stroked his skin and made his nerves crackle with electricity.

“Horatio," he murmured against the other man´s neck. Archie nuzzled the damp skin, tasting salt and musk on his tongue. He licked the column of pale, smooth skin from collarbone to jaw like a cat. He smiled as Horatio shivered and gave a soft breathy gasp, his body pressing downwards even more insistently. It was good, so very good, but Archie wanted more.

When Horatio moved to kiss him again, Archie—with some reluctance—put a hand against Horatio´s chest to stay his forward motion. “Wait, Horatio. We won´t be interrupted, will we?"

Horatio shook his head. “Market day. Mr. Scroggins won´t be back until well after dark."

Archie couldn´t help but chuckle. “Well planned as always, sir."

“Sound strategy is the key to victory in any endeavor."

“In love as well as in war?"

“Indeed." Horatio said with a lazy grin before he leaned down to kiss Archie again. This time Archie did not stop him; instead he wrapped his arms firmly around Horatio´s back and pulled him into a tight embrace while Horatio did his best to devour Archie´s willing mouth.

Archie felt Horatio´s hands trailing along his sides once more and then his fingers began to trace the waist of his trousers, sliding gently beneath the edge of the fabric, tantalizing the skin beneath. Archie´s own hands began to roam as well; down Horatio´s back, now sheened with a thin layer of sweat, then across his ribs before sliding south to where fabric met skin.

Archie gave Horatio a nudge with his knee and Horatio responded, rolling them both onto their sides. Archie turned his attention to the other man´s trouser buttons with the kind of alacrity normally reserved for firing the guns in an action, half aware of Horatio´s nimble fingers as they worked to divest him of trousers as well.

Horatio finished first, but only just and he yanked Archie´s trousers down past his knees before Archie followed suit. Free of clothing at last, they pressed against one another, their skin sweat slick and blood hot. Archie wrapped his legs tightly around Horatio´s hips and heaved up, twisting their bodies until he could gaze down at Horatio with challenge in his eyes. Horatio yanked his head down into another furious kiss before he flipped them back to their original positions. Archie could feel Horatio´s laughter as it rumbled against his chest and slipped between lips and then their positions were reversed once more.

They continued to tumble their way across the hayloft, trading places and laugh-filled kisses as they playfully vied for dominance until they were both hard and aching and the desperate need for release overtook them. Horatio ended up on top once again, more from chance than any true intent. Their bodies ground together, slippery from sweat and the pearly liquid that began to leak from their needy cocks. The sound of harsh gasps and breathless moans filled the hayloft as fingers dug deeply into flesh and limbs clutched with the tenacity of clinging vines.

Archie could feel the tension coiling in his belly as he bucked upwards against Horatio´s body. His cock was painfully hard and he could feel the tiny jolts of exquisite pleasure racing along his spine each time it made contact with Horatio´s equally hard prick. He pushed upwards again and felt Horatio suddenly stiffen above him, his limbs tightening around Archie´s body like bands of steel. Horatio gave a low, strangled moan before he buried his face in the crook of Archie´s neck. Archie felt the sudden, sharp pain of teeth biting into his shoulder and then spurts of warm wetness against his belly and thighs as Horatio spent.

The unexpected flash of pain was enough to tip Archie over the edge and he came bucking and gasping against Horatio´s body, sparks of light dancing against his tightly closed lids. Archie drew in great gulps of air, no small task, with Horatio sprawled bonelessly across him like a sack of wheat. When he opened his eyes again, it was to the sight of Horatio looking at him through heavy lidded eyes, his lips curled into a smile of almost feline satisfaction. Archie smiled back mindlessly.

“Did my incentive meet with your approval, sir?" Horatio asked with a glint of rare amusement in his dark eyes.

Archie couldn´t help it: he laughed. “You´re turning into a smug bastard, Hornblower."

“I´ve had an excellent teacher," he replied easily, winning him another laugh.

Archie reached up and threaded his fingers through Horatio´s hair, dislodging a few more stalks of straw in the process, before he drew Horatio´s head down for a languorous kiss. Horatio hummed contentedly in the back of his throat then snuggled down against Archie´s chest, sated and well pleased with himself. Archie was right, of course; Horatio was turning into a smug bastard, but he was Archie´s smug bastard and that was what mattered. Besides, there´d be ample opportunity to teach him a much-needed lesson in humility later. For now, this was enough. One hand still entwined in Horatio´s hair, Archie lazily stroked the length of Horatio´s back with the other, lulling first Horatio, and finally Archie himself, into peaceful, dreamless slumber.

When Archie woke, the light slanting in through the window had taken on a deep, ruddy hue and shadows began to stretch the length of the hayloft. Sunset, and with that the inevitable approach of night. Archie yawned deeply then gave Horatio a gentle, but unambiguous, prod in the ribs with his elbow.

Horatio´s eyelashes fluttered, then he opened his eyes and blinked owlishly at Archie. “Hmm?"

“Time to get up," Archie said, applying his elbow to Horatio´s side once more for good measure. “It will be dark soon and somehow I don´t think Mr. Scroggins would be terribly pleased to find the pair of us naked in his hayloft. Unless there´s something you haven´t told me…?" Archie left the question hanging.

Horatio gave an amused snort, then rolled off Archie and stretched his arms slowly above his head. He grabbed his shirt and trousers then tossed Archie his own garments, now considerably more wrinkled than they´d been when he´d donned them that morning. He shrugged carelessly and began to dress. If anyone asked, they´d think of something to say. They always did.

By the time Archie finished dressing, Horatio was also fully clothed and busy trying to pull stalks of hay from his hair, with noticeably little success. Archie chuckled at the sight and Horatio cast a baleful glare in his direction which Archie, naturally, ignored. Instead, he crawled over to where Horatio sat, his long legs crossed tailor style, swatted Horatio´s hands out of the way, and plucked the bits of hay from Horatio´s hair without a word. When Archie finished, he retied the ribbon around Horatio´s disordered pigtail and placed a light kiss on his forehead. Horatio gave him a fond smile and then, just as wordlessly, plucked the straw from Archie´s hair in turn.

Presentable at last, Horatio leaned in and kissed Archie one last time before he rose to his feet, keeping his head lowered to avoid cracking it on one of the beams of the barn´s roof. He extended a hand and Archie took it, letting Horatio pull him to his feet.

“We´d best get back. Mrs. Appleby will no doubt be holding supper for us." Horatio said before he began to descend the ladder.

Archie followed, but not before a groan escaped his lips. “If she keeps feeding us like this, I´m going to look like a biscuit barrel by the time we return to the ‘Indefatigable´!"

Horatio laughed, a bright, warm laugh that Archie rarely heard but treasured more than any mythical cavern filled with fairy gold.

“Has she always been like this?" Archie asked as he dropped to the barn floor to stand at Horatio´s side.

“Oh yes," Horatio said as began to walk towards the barn door. “Mrs. Appleby has made it her life´s work to feed growing young men until they´re groaning young men." Horatio smiled broadly, clearly pleased by his rather questionable sally.

Archie rolled his eyes. “How did you ever manage to stay so thin?"

Horatio gave him a knowing grin. “Exercise."

“Exercise, you say?" Archie´s smile turned mischievous.

“Um hmm. Lots of exercise."

“Well then, we´ll have to see what can be done about that, won´t we?"

As they exited the barn into the gathering twilight, Archie reflected that the opportunity to teach Horatio a lesson in humility might be closer at hand than he´d realized.

Finis

Notes: Big thanks to Janis for the beta, and for the felicitous and unconscious suggestion of title.