three months. for three months, jimmy watched curly play captain in front of the crew. he was always smiling, always laughing at their jokes, always the first one awake and ready for work, always taking on extra tasks when their useless nurse couldn't keep up, or the intern broke something yet again. always making sure everyone was healthy, always handsome and tall and perfect and friendly and smiling. jimmy was sick of it. he was sick of hearing about how great of a captain curly was. before the tulpar, before curly even was a captain, he was a great student, athlete, son, that bitch in high school's boyfriend-- something small and ugly had been eating away at jimmy's stomach lining for a long time. maybe that's how the game started, between him and curly. a game that only jimmy was privy to, where he would push curly in hopes that he would finally break, that jimmy would be the one to finally ruin curly's perfect record. the problem being, curly was really, really good at shrugging things off, acting like nothing bothered him. always smiling. therefore, all of jimmy's attempts to chip away at curly ended in failure. until last week when, miraculously, something happened. it was small, a reaction that would have been easily missed if someone else had been there instead. but unfortunately for curly, jimmy saw it. and jimmy knew curly better than anyone. early in the morning -- or whatever passed as morning when you were floating through space for months on end -- jimmy found himself restless and unable to fall back asleep. that's when he heard the door to curly's quarters slide open, then closed, and jimmy counted in his head how many steps it took to get from their quarters to the measly kitchen in the lounge, before he slinked out of his room and followed.

he found curly at the coffee machine, sluggish, his head slightly bowed. it reminded jimmy of their shared dorm in college, curly waking up at the ass crack of dawn to hit the gym before classes started, making some kind of protein drink while jimmy listened from the warmth of his blankets. it had been a minute since he saw curly's defenses so low. of course jimmy had to take advantage of the opportunity. quietly, he slipped into the kitchen and right behind curly, snaking an arm around him to grab at a clean mug on the counter. the slight brush of skin on clothing made curly jump, and curly half-turned, eyes suddenly a lot more alert. "oh!" there was that smile again. "jim. good morning." "morning." jimmy held back a smirk, his free hand grabbing at curly's waist and nudging him over. curly moved easily, allowing space for jimmy to open the silverware drawer and nab himself a spoon. "did you sleep well?" now turned to look at jimmy, curly seemed to forget all about the coffee machine. "mm." once again, jimmy grabbed curly by the waist, fingers squeezing just a little bit tighter than before. "you're in the way. go sit down if you're not gonna get anything." "oh, right, sorry-- still half awake, haha." curly awkwardly shuffled out of the kitchen, finding himself a seat at the ship's bare-bones dining table.

as amusing as it all was, jimmy felt a bit charitable. so, he filled up curly's usual mug, even going as far as adding his preferred amount of creamer and a spoonful of the honey jimmy had smuggled onto the ship. no one had even found it yet, tucked high and deep in the cupboards, under a mug that jimmy had scribbled his name on with permanent marker even though he never used it -- and maybe it was against pony express's protocols (both the smuggling and the mug graffiti) but curly never brought any of it up. especially not when he was the reason jimmy brought the honey in the first place. when jimmy wandered over, when he leaned over curly from behind to set down his mindful gift, jimmy didn't miss the way those broad shoulders tensed up. he especially didn't miss the way curly's cheeks were splotched with red that migrated to the tips of his ears. in all honesty, it wasn't what jimmy had expected when he started this game. he figured curly would eventually pull him aside, point out his "inappropriate behavior in the workplace" (as if he didn't do worse in college) or at the very least start putting more distance between the two of them. he never thought that curly would simply let himself be manhandled, let his personal space be frequently dismissed, let another man get so close and intimate to the point where lips could purr along the shell of his ear with a whispered, "just how you like it, captain." the smallest sound, a choked gasp, caught in curly's throat.

part of a oneshot smut fic that i never finished, in which jimmy tries to get under curly's skin (and eventually his clothes. i didn't get that far though. rip.)

#Mouthwashing #MouthwashingGame #JimCurly #Fanfic #Writing #WillowWrites