(no subject)

[extendedmetaphor]

Or, perhaps, somewhere, they did go for that drink.

There was a lot that Irwin was still trying to adjust to. The weather, for a start. The lack of palpable history is disconcerting. He's refusing to address the dinosaurs.
And then there's Dakin. Of course, there's Dakin. Inevitably. Irwin might have been the only one who was actually surprised.

They skirted around it for a few weeks but, in the end, it just felt inevitable. That he'd find himself waiting for Dakin with a drink in front of him.
It was just a drink. And everything would be fine.

Comments

[extendedmetaphor]

Oh, Christ. Irwin had seen that look before, as it happened and on Dakin's face, too. Right before the word gerund rather suddenly entered the conversation.

Irwin cleared his throat.

"Or it could just be a drin."

[thesubjunctive]

Dakin shrugged, the look in his eyes barely diminishing. "It could. But that's denying a whole slew of possibilities. Some things don't deserve to stay subjunctive forever."

[extendedmetaphor]

"It's probably safer if they do, though," said Irwin, taking another sip of his drink and then leaning back in the chair, arms folded across his chest. "Things have a way of getting out of hand."

[thesubjunctive]

"Yeah?" Dakin leaned in a little closer as the older man leaned back. He was a master of invading personal space and knew just how far to go for the moment. "Don't know until you try it though. Or are you basing this on historical precedent?"

[extendedmetaphor]

He was intensely, acutely aware of how close Dakin was to him, just then. God, he hoped he didn't blush.

"History is doomed to repeat itself," he said. "How did Rudge put it?" His eyebrow lifted. "One fucking thing after another."

[thesubjunctive]

"Only once someone does something about it." He inched just the slightest bit closer. "Someone has to started something. Cause a reaction."

[extendedmetaphor]

"See, that sounds very like chemistry," he said, and he refused to pull away. "Not my area of expertise."

[thesubjunctive]

Dakin stopped his leaning forward, content to just sit smugly where he was. "So history isn't cause and effect, then? Choices and events and reactions to them?"

[extendedmetaphor]

"That's very glib," said Irwin, not leaning back anymore, staying where he was, even though there wasn't much space between them. "Even for you. You can do better."

[thesubjunctive]

Dakin's eyes narrowed a bit at the 'you can do better' and he sat back somewhat. He'd thought he'd been doing quite well up until then. "Is there a problem with glib? This is a bloody bar, not the examination for Oxford."

[extendedmetaphor]

"Yes, I can see it's a bloody bar," said Irwin, feeling a little bit better, a little more in his element. "And glib might serve you very, very well most of the time. But not here. Glib's not interesting. Glib's...expected."

[thesubjunctive]

Expected. Fucking expected. He had not spent all his time and energy on this for Irwin to critique it like another essay on the reformation.

"So what would be interesting and unexpected?"

[extendedmetaphor]

He'd seen that sulky look before and, of course, it followed that it would look so bloody attractive on Dakin's face.

"Well, it wouldn't be either if I told you, would it?"

[thesubjunctive]

"Perhaps." Dakin shrugged and took a sip of his drink, trying to look as if he could have cared less whether or not the other man was interested or not, though nothing could be farther from the truth. If only the bar allowed smoking. Nonchalance was so much easier with a cigarette.

[extendedmetaphor]

"Perhaps," echoed Irwin, feeling more and more himself, if only because he thought he could see a flicker of uncertainty on Dakin's face. "But then, we are both here. The subjunctive doesn't really apply, does it?"

[thesubjunctive]

"Not quite." Despite any uncertainty, Dakin ploughed on ahead, unwilling to quit. "Events are already in motion, whether we want them to be or not."

[extendedmetaphor]

"And do you?" He couldn't believe he was asking. All he could think about was that day in his classroom before everything went to shit. "Want them?"

[thesubjunctive]

Dakin's smile was back, not quite as focused and particular as before, but present all the same. "Would I be here if I didn't?"

[extendedmetaphor]

"Well, I don't know," said Irwin, tilting his head a little as he studied Dakin. "I think you might do things just to see what happens."

[thesubjunctive]

"Isn't that almost the same thing? Wanting to be here and wanting the result? It all comes down to a reaction in the end." He could tell that Irwin was studying him and he shifted slightly in his seat, knowing full well just how he looked and just how to take advantage of that fact without seeming like he was taking advantage.

[extendedmetaphor]

That was the thing; it was that Dakin was so knowing, so precise, and Irwin...he really didn't have any defenses for that. But it was beter than the first time. He wasn't as scared shitless, for a start.

He'd come around to the idea.

"Ah, but it isn't, is it? Not quite. Because the result could be so many different things and they'd all come from being here."

[thesubjunctive]

Dakin was getting bored. Not that he didn't usually enjoy that sort of dancing around the subject and wordplay, but he was beginning to wish they'd just get to the point.

"And what result do you want?"

[extendedmetaphor]

And that was direct enough to make Irwin blush. He hated himself, just a little, for that.

"I want..." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "You have to know, at this point. It's...cruel to pretend that you don't."

[thesubjunctive]

"I know." Dakin nodded, stretching briefly in his seat. The blush was a nice sign of progress. "But specifics are good, aren't they? You heard what I want. Now I want to hear from you." He smiled.

[extendedmetaphor]

He was powerless not to watch the stretch, the irrestistable pull of cotton up over Dakin's belly. Which wasn't helping. At all.

"Here?" He shook his head. "Not here."