sixthiterationlogs | Sink or swim you gotta give it a whirl

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Sink or swim you gotta give it a whirl

WHO: Joshua Faraday, Vasquez, Open
WHERE: Around the villages
WHEN: Niddle of December
OPEN TO: All unless marked
WARNINGS: PG, updated as needed

Horses are horses are horses: Around the villages

They're horses. Yep. That's what they are. Long legged horses, with weird tails, and patchy things on their backs... and horns. Okay they're not horses, but they have horns, and he's told one day he can ride them, and so he's going to work with them the best he can.

Which means getting them adjusted to a rope harness. One at a time usually, dealing with their attitudes and confusion, and being as friendly and gentle as he can be with them. Often feeding them treats of peaches from a can he found in the kitchen, and trying to coax them into listen and following and not fighting back against him.

It will take days, weeks even, but much as he might be all attitude with much of life, with the kirin he is tender and kind, working the best he can to get them to work with him and not against him.

Cold air and hot headed: Springs

Part of it all is trying to get his thoughts straight. A large part of it is the long hours of working on the homestead that they're trying to put together, working with animals, and land even before the winter hits, and the lumber and gathering that will help them set up their home. So a couple of times a week he grabs a bag with his change of scrubs in it, ignoring the color that does little for him, and heads for the hot spring.

Stripping down in the cold air, hurrying into the soothing warmth of the water. Staying there as long as he can until his skin starts to prune and the ache leaves, not realizing it's more than just the warmth helping.

Eventually he'll rush out of the water, grab the sheet he brought with him to use to dry off and hurrying into his clothes as fast as he can before he loses the warmth of the water.

Homestead: For Vasquez

All that Joshua's been doing is giving him time to think. Taking time to think about what he wants, and how he feels, and what the hell this place means to him and who he thinks he is. What life he wants as well, though that he's focusing on more than the rest. All that he's been doing to tame the kirins, and cope with the land, and work on ensuring the house is ready for winter.

But he can't avoid it forever. Not his feelings and not Vasquez. He isn't going to turn himself into a wolf, after all.

Eventually he heads back for the house, knowing Vasquez is there and heading upstairs to try and find him.

"Alejandro? You here?"

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"Where did it come from?"

He asks that before he even moves in closer to open the box, blinking as he lets the lid slide down onto the bed, forgotten as he sees the clothes within.

"How'd you get my things?"

Confused and not even accusatory, just uncertain with things he's been told by others. Even as he moves to brush his hand over the vest, looking up at Vasquez.

"Somehow you got this? For me?"

"Same as my cigarette boxes, I think," he admits, because it had looked the same and felt the same. It's just that when he'd opened it up, it had been Faraday's outfit, but with no guns, the same as he's been dealing with.

Shifting slowly down the bed, he gets to the end of it and leans forward, hands gripping the sheets as his eyes take in Faraday, not sure how this changes anything, but he wants to see how Faraday's face looks, for the gift. "I thought maybe you'd like it better than your yellows."

Someone who brought them here had given Vasquez this to pass onto him. His fingers brushed against the fabric once more, testing it, almost as if he's not sure that it's real. Smiling as he lifts out the jeans, holding them up and chuckling softly. "So glad to have something real on and not these pajamas," he says, grinning at Vasquez.

"Thank you. I mean, wouldn't do you to keep them," he says, obviously taunting him. "But I'm glad to have them. Thank you." And it means a lot to him. Somehow this has to be because of Vasquez, and he's touched by that. "Guess I need to clean your shirt and give that back now."

But he turns to Vasquez, smiling at him. "Thank you. I appreciate." He shifts, then hesitates, wanting to show his gratitude because it means a lot to him, but not being a man with experience in it.

Vasquez rises to his feet so he can be closer to Faraday, even if he's not so sure what he wants to do. In the end, he reaches out and lightly tweaks the fabric at the hem, giving him a slow-building smile. "You can wash it first," he taunts, because he wouldn't know how to do this unless he does it with teasing.

"You going to go change now? Or you want to stay in your pajamas more," he says, though Vasquez already knows he plans to steal those pajamas to wear, see if he can't convince Faraday to keep wearing them.

"Are we going to talk again about what you want?" he asks, keeping just an arm's length away, even if he's still got his hand tangled in Faraday's shirt and hasn't let go.

He makes a face, considering the cold and all. "I should get a bath," he admits, not that he minds the bath so much as the being cold after it. This place is colder than they're used to and only getting worse, it seems. "Maybe that's how I'll wash your shirt," he teases.

Then that question, and he knew it was coming. Sooner or later, they were going to come back to this.

"You going to be patient with me if I act like an idiot?" Because he knows he's going to. It's new and some of it's confusing, but he knows what he wants. "I meant it when I said I wanted to do this with you. Our life. Our homestead. Not anyone else I ever wanted that with."

Which he knows isn't entirely answering the question.

"I mean you did kill McCann, so way I see it? You've got to prove that title to me."

He's still not great at finding the right words for it, but that's as close as he can come.

Vasquez knows he could use a bath, but he doesn't want to see Faraday go, not right now. He drifts a little closer and gives him a teasing look, laughing at the reminder of Faraday's words. "World's greatest lover," he echoes. "I shot that man into a coffin for you, six times," he says, with a sure not as he walks Faraday until his back hits the wall.

"If you don't say for me to stop, you're going to find out if I'm also the world's greatest kisser," he tells Faraday, low and with intent, eyes on his lips.

He backs up but not trying to flee. Only moving enough that they're moving together, Vasquez close to him. When his back hits the wall, his eyes open a bit wider, reaching for Vasquez. He stops then, blinking at him as his gaze drops to full lips and then back up to his eyes.

"I'm not saying that," he manages, a soft whisper as he cants his head, just a bit, leaning in towards him.

Vasquez is feeling pretty good about this. He gets him to the wall and laughs softly, leaning the remainder of the distance so he can do what he's been thinking of ever since Faraday stumbled off a horse, drunk off his ass, and right into his life.

His breath catches as his lips meet Faraday's, stomach swooping with the disbelief that this is happening at all, and he's so fucking happy that he gets this chance, because Faraday's lips are warm and he's here and not dead.

He can't say he hasn't thought about this, even before this place and the things that Vasquez has told him. Not that the reality is anything like the images he'd held, or the ideas of what this might be like.

It is so much different. The brush of hair against his lips that isn't his own. The solidness of Vasquez's body pressing him to the wall. Both hands gripping at Vasquez's shirt, almost clinging to him, knowing he didn't want him to move away.

He keeps grabbing at Faraday's shirt to tug him in for a deeper kiss every time it feels like he needs him more, like he doesn't want to breathe if he can just kiss Faraday. It feels like that grief in his chest might burst and explode, the gratitude that he's alive to do this, but he lets it simmer and stay.

"Faraday," he moans against his lips, but that's not right. No. "Joshua," he murmurs instead, eyes closed and feeling so warm and right.

The initial kiss, that moment, he's almost shy, hesitant, holding himself back for a moment just to try and adjust himself to this. But that is all it takes. Hearing his name like that, feeling the eager way with which Vasquez kisses him, and he finds himself quickly giving into those kiss.

Arching into him, groaning softly as one hand slides along the other man's side, gripping at the small of his back. It's so new, and exciting, and he finds himself just wanting more.

His fingers are still twisted up in Faraday's shirt and he'll wrinkle it before he intends to let go, because he doesn't want him going anywhere. It's also a good way to guide him where he likes him, pushing him against the wall with a little force because he can get him there, deepening the kiss.

It's as rough and as hot as he'd imagined. Then again, this is a lot of months for him, pent up, imagining this. Laughing softly against his mouth, he eases back to stare at him, in wonder. "You can put on your clothes," he offers, "but then I'm just going to strip them off you."

The wall is solid and cool against his back, a near perfect balance to the heat of Vasquez's body pressing against him, hips to his, chest to chest, only their hands between them.

Not quite using them to keep Vasquez away, just not wanting to let go of that hold he has on him.

Those words though remind him that there is more to this then kisses, savoring them, but those words make it clear that Vasquez is still thinking of it.

"So... we..." He clears his throat. "What are you thinking?"

He's not so sure that he'd ever imagine Faraday would be so nervous, but now that he is, he has to let out a huff of laughter, because 'world's greatest lover' is apparently having some doubts.

"I was thinking maybe I could take it easy on you," he says, because he doesn't want to scare him off completely. "I could use my hand or my mouth on you, give you another gift on top of your clothes?"

He never remembers being like this with anyone else. Not ever. He can't help but think that it's because of the moments being shared with a man, but he knows it's more than that. It's that it's this man. It's Vasquez, who has meant more to Joshua in the short time he's known him than anyone else in his life.

"I was thinking you're a wicked man who just wants to see me whimper," he admits, gaining back a bit more of his smile. Not assuming, not knowing how to pressure in this circumstance and yet knowing even before that kiss how much he wants this.

His hands twist, tightening in the fabric of Vasquez's shirt. "I want this. You. I knew even before. I knew when you got sick," he admits. "When I got scared you were gonna die? I knew then." And he's admitting to more than sex, though right now his mind is really caught up in what Vasquez is offering, but he needed to say that before things went further.

"I want to make you beg, not just whimper," Vasquez guarantees with a sly grin, but he pauses and gives him a long look when Faraday goes and gets more serious than he'd been expecting him to. Sure, he'd been very sick, but to hear how worried he'd been?

He swallows back the teasing and the impulse to treat this lightly, knowing he needs to be honest, too. "I knew I wanted you and you did die," he points out heavily. "I'm trying to take everything I can." He leans in to slow things down, his kisses over Faraday's neck slow and steady. "Besides, I have something else to gift you," he adds, tugging on Faraday's earlobe before nipping.

"I'm not going to sleep with anyone else from now, not even Bobo."

"Ain't no one ever managed that," he says, all of his bravado kind of rushing back in an instant with that proclamation and unable to help himself throwing that back at Vasquez, feeling more himself with those words.

Groaning though at that first kiss, the sensation of prickling hairs and soft lips on the sensitive skin of his neck. Loving the sensation, arching back to offer his throat. Those though words bring him still, even if his heart is racing.

"You're... you told him this?"

Vasquez eases back and tries not to feel shy or wary about any of this. He knows that it's a big thing, especially for him, but he thinks it's the right decision. "I maybe didn't tell him in those exact words," he clarifies, "but I told him that I have to talk to you and make an effort."

To him, effort means not fucking other people, and he'll say it in words, eventually. "Unless you don't care...?" But he's only teasing.

"I care," he says, the words coming suddenly. "I do care."

He's not sure if he's saying he cares about Vasquez, or cares who he's fucking. Maybe it's all of it. Either way, he moves in even as he eases back from the kiss, not wanting to lose that contact between them.

"That means a lot to me. I mean, maybe it shouldn't be my business, but that's the thing. I want it to be."

Emotions are harder than he's thought about, but he is trying.

Vasquez shifts his hand to cup Faraday's neck with his palm, lightly holding on and keeping himself comfortably close as he eases in to study him fondly. "Good, I want you to care," he insists, because he wouldn't just stop fucking around for anyone.

"It is your business now," he points out. "Now that I'm not with anyone else, I'm all yours, until you fuck it up," he teases, with a smirk, because he's not planning to let that happen. "Don't worry. I'll keep you from doing that," he adds quickly, so Faraday doesn't get frantic.

Intimacy is not something he's entirely had before. Not like this. Already he's finding how much he enjoys this. Really enjoying the nearness, that it's with Vasquez.

"You think you will, but you also know me," he says, because banter is easier than emotions. Even as his hands slide along Vasquez's chest, learning lines he's watched but only dreamt about touching before. "So there may be more work than you think there is making sure that doesn't happen."

"The work just makes the reward even better," he guarantees, his eyes fixed on Faraday as he grins and leans in to kiss him again. It's not as heavy or slow as before, more of a pressed and soft thing this time, leaning into those hands of his.

He grins, because how can he not? "What if it does? You screw it up, I come find you, we start again. You going to promise to do the same if I manage to make a mess?"

The kisses are causing his body to react, stirred up and feeling struck through with electricity. But the promises that were being made, in both word and deed, those were truly getting through to Joshua in ways that no one had ever done before.

Not that it's new that Vasquez of all people had that effect on Joshua, but now it is going deeper than a desire he'd never felt before. It went to emotions he truly never thought he might feel, but he is now.

Drawing back from the kiss, Joshua's eyes meet Vasquez's. Suddenly solemn as he gives him a single nod. "Yeah, I promise," he says. Maybe he'll fuck it up, and maybe Alejandro will, but giving his word is important to him. It's why he avoids it so much, as often as he can. Until now.

Vasquez keeps leaning in, not just for kisses, but because he wants the warmth of Faraday's body, now that he can have it. It's a good thing he got that promise, because it means he can tug on Faraday's hands and lead him back towards the bed area.

"I'm going to lie down," he says. "You can change or do what you like, but I'm just going to be here. If you want to come with me..." He shrugs, like it's no big deal. "That could be fine."

"You tease in everything you do," Joshua says, smirking as he certainly sounds more amused than he does upset by such things. "Come on. Let's lay down," he says, pushing forward, staying chest to chest with Vasquez. "Could use some rest," he says, again as if that's all this is between them.

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