Author: Athea (athea_holmes@yahoo.com)
Fandom: Horatio Hornblower
Title: Shore Leave
Pairing: Horatio and Sir Edward, oh yeah!
Summary: This is a wedding night they won't forget. Oh, and a four-pounder is a cannon.
Date: 25 August 2001
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Sir Edward, part five
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I stilled just inside the first ring of muscle while he panted through the pain. I'd never experienced a tighter or hotter place in my life. It took all of my considerable will power not to thrust deeper until he relaxed. His cry was that of a wounded bird and I hugged him closer.

"Edward." His voice was faint.

"Let me know when you want me to move, Horatio." I petted his stomach muscles with both hands before sliding one around his deflated cock. Gently, I slid the foreskin back and forth until it began to grow more interested in my hand than in the pain of my entry.

"It feels like a four-pounder is lodged inside of me." The trace of humor reassured me that he wasn't regretting our loving. "What do you need me to do?"

"Relax for me. This was the hard part, it truly does get better." I kissed behind his ear and nipped the sensitive ear lobe while he shivered against me. And there was the relaxation I needed to slide further inside. He gasped and I hoped that meant that I'd struck his sweet spot.

"Edward, are you all the way in?"

I heard the plea within the simple statement. "Almost, Horatio, you're doing very well."

And finally, I was balls deep. I took a deep breath and kept stroking his limp cock. Kissing all the spots that I could reach from his jaw back to the tender skin hidden by his hair, I soothed him the best I knew how. Rocking him gently, I gave small nudges to his sweet spot. Finally, he began to move with me and his cock began to harden again.

This time would be fast if only because I'd been on edge for so long that I was already leaking. My hips thrust in short precise movements that targeted his gland on each inward stroke. He was panting again but it wasn't with pain and I gave him more of me with every thrust.

"Edward!" One hand came back to clutch my arm. "More Edward, please more."

I smiled into his hair and added an extra fillip to my strokes. The nice thing about my experience, even though it was many years in the past, was the ability to pace myself although his heat sorely tried my will. "Slowly, Horatio, I will not hurt you."

"The pain is gone, Edward and you are torturing me." The note of humor was back in his voice and I rejoiced at his new ease with our lovemaking.

"Ah, but that is what captains do to their acting lieutenants." I thrust in and felt myself begin to shudder in need. My hand stroked him harder and his cry this time was a low keen. And my cock burst within him without any warning, flooding him with my seed.

He gasped and spilled over my fingers, shaking so hard that he pulled even more of me inside of him. I jerked, coming again and again. I finally rested, wrapped around my dearest love and dozed for a moment. When I next opened my eyes, he was licking the last of his seed from my fingers and my well-loved cock was finally slipping from his body.

We both groaned when that happened. Then he was turning in my arms, tears on his cheeks and a smile on his face. He kissed me hard with his new knowledge and I quietly thanked God that he was all right. I couldn't have hurt him too badly if he still had the energy to kiss me.

When we needed to breathe in air instead of each other, Horatio gazed at me in wonder. "How did you know to do all those wonderful things to me?"

"Long ago when I was a midshipman, I experimented as young men will." I smiled and thought back twenty or so years. "It is enjoyable if care is taken and the heart is involved. Anything else is just fucking."

He blinked and I could see him thinking about what I had said. Then he confirmed what I had thought when he blushed. "When I came on board, I think I would have been fucked if Archie hadn't explained things to me. We watch out for each other."

Jealousy raised its ugly head but I managed to choke it back. "I'm glad. Rape can be a devastating blow to an innocent. What else have you done?"

He blushed even harder. "Touching each other. Sometimes we'd hold each other and I'd stroke his cock while he did mine."

"Ah, then you know how pleasant that is." I said through gritted teeth, beating back my possessive urge to immediately find young Kennedy and rip out his heart.

Horatio shook his head. "That was nothing compared to what you've shown me. I don't know what I'll tell him when next we meet. I can no longer touch anyone but you or bear to have anyone else touch me."

That sounded much better and would save me having to hide a dead body. "I'm glad for I find that the thought of you in someone else's arms stirs rather homicidal tendencies in me. Most disconcerting at my age."

He laughed out loud, obviously thinking that I was joking. "No fear, my dearest Edward, no one shall touch me but you." He nestled into my arms and sighed. "But you must needs hold me often and closely too or I shall be bereft. Even if it is only a hand on my shoulder when we are in public for I crave your hands now that I know what they feel like on my skin, in my hair and inside of me."

I shivered at the wanton thought. "Indeed, Horatio, I was hard pressed to keep from touching you inappropriately before this. Now, I fear it will be impossible."

"Our weekly lessons will prove much more engrossing then learning trajectories or wind patterns." He grinned at me from the pillow, which held both our heads.

"Young reprobate, your punishments will be more interesting as well if you tease your poor old captain." I threatened him with a fierce look.

His eyes widened then he moved an inch closer so we shared a breath. "I shall have to misbehave then if I want to know what my ... punishment will be?"

He was going to be the death of me, I thought fondly. "Indeed, I'll have to introduce you to the paddle ... the chains and perhaps even ..." I lowered my voice to a deep whisper. "You shall have to walk the plank for the most heinous of crimes."

Horatio looked interested in my threats. "I will like to experience everything with you."

Good Lord, I thought in astonishment, the boy has depths yet unplumbed. I felt a smile break forth and he matched it with his bright grin. "Very well, Horatio, I promise you that over the next few years, we will explore the pleasures of occasional pain."

He wrinkled his forehead endearingly. "Like when you first came inside of me and it hurt so badly that I thought it would never stop? But then it felt better and all at once it felt more wonderful than anything I'd ever felt before, like that?"

"Exactly, my dear Horatio, sometimes pain leads to pleasure so good that it takes your breath away." I smoothed the lines between his eyes away with my thumb. "And in time, there will be little pain and only the pleasure will remain."

"Good, you must come inside of me often to hasten that time." He reached up and brought my hand to his lips so he could nip each fingertip.

"I shall be hard pressed not to take you five or six times a day, Horatio. In fact, I was thinking about the billiards table." I smiled at his bewildered look. "Yes, I think that playing while naked would enhance the game immensely." I slid my other hand down to his cock and found it ready to play again. Ah, the recuperative powers of youth. "Just think which hole my ... pole could shoot into." Sliding my fingers past his balls to his stretched hole, I lightly rubbed the entrance only. He would be sore in the morning and I wished no more pain for him.

"Oh," he rocked on my hand and his cock began to lengthen. "Can we do that tomorrow? Oh, there, please there."

I pushed him onto his back and slid down to take his beautiful cock in my mouth. Both his hands came to my head, not holding hard but just resting there while his hips tried to pump up. But my leg across his kept him from moving and his head thrashed on the pillow while he whispered my name, over and over.

His taste was like the sea, wild and free yet quenching my ravenous thirst with the first release of his seed. I'd lost track of how many times he'd come tonight but I relished each climax as if it was the first. There was a little less bitter liquor this time since even youth has a limit. I chuckled around his slim shaft and felt him twitch again. Or not.

I was a very lucky man to have won this prize to my bed and my heart.

He drew me back up his body with loving hands that stroked my face. "Thank you, Edward. I will do the same for you in a little while. I want to learn everything that brings you pleasure."

"We have all the time in the world, Horatio. But at the moment, let me up so I can bring a cloth to clean us both. I want to check and be sure that I wasn't too rough." I kissed his kiss-swollen lips and pulled reluctantly away from his hands.

A bowl of water on the hearth was fire-warmed and I collected it with a small towel I'd put aside. I wiped myself down first before coming back to the bed and I had to stop for a moment at the beautiful sight awaiting me. Horatio was sprawled across the bed, his long dark curls tangled on the white linen pillowcase and his gaze wanton as he locked it on me.

"You look like Poseidon, god of the sea, Edward, strong and massive like a force of nature." His wondering tones might have made me blush except for the flush of desire that suffused my entire body at his words.

"Then you are a sea nymph, Horatio, come to tempt me to frolic." I set my supplies down by the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. "Turn over for me so I may soothe the ache you're feeling."

"It is a good ache, Edward." He said with a smile but obeyed me and turned onto his stomach.

I feasted my eyes on him while my hands soaked the cloth in the hot water. He had all the long lean lines of youth with the beginnings of muscle that would grow and lengthen over time. Being a seaman was not a job for an idle or lazy man. It was hard work and long hours spent both above, below and on tilting decks in all kinds of weather. Horatio was growing into a prime example of our calling.

But it was his beauty that drew my hand slowly down his spine to the downy mounds of his inviting ass. He hissed a little at the first touch of the wet towel to his crease. At once, all my concentration was focused on the small hole that had been deflowered this night. He was reddened but thankfully no blood appeared when I gently wiped the evidence of our passion from him. Reaching for a different jar on the bedside table, I opened it and smeared my fingers generously before coming back to his crease.

Horatio watched me curiously over his shoulder while I tenderly stroked the abraded skin around his hole before sliding back inside to soothe the hurt within with two fingers. He caught his breath and when I looked up, he was biting his lip while rocking a little back and forth. I smiled at his renewed interest and saw his cock begin to fill again. I was going to be a withered up husk by the time this wonderful wedding night was over.

"Oh, more please, deeper where the fire is." He rocked back onto my fingers and my cock, which had been quite satiated earlier, decided to wake up and seek new delights.

Very carefully, I turned him onto his back, my fingers still deep inside of him. That beautiful cock of his arced above his stomach and I was quick to draw the crown into my mouth. He moaned aloud and couldn't seem to decide whether to thrust up or back. That dilemma, I was quite prepared to make a long drawn out affair while I sucked more of him into my throat.

The old skills were coming back to me and I smiled around my mouthful. Some things are never forgotten even after almost twenty-three years and fellatio had once been one of my favorite pastimes. My name was being whispered over and over while I pleasured us both. My cock hadn't come back to life completely yet but it was definitely showing new interest.

"Edward, Edward, Edward ..." he whispered, wantonly pushing back on my fingers which had stopped soothing him and now seemed to be tormenting him. "Please, more. Please come back inside of me."

I let him go gently, leaving his cock shiny. "It's too soon, love. I'll only hurt you."

"No you won't, my Edward. All I'll feel is the pleasure. If you spread that second salve on that wonderful ... pole of yours then it will reach the last deep ache inside of me." He tempted me and I fell. "Let me help."

And when I removed my fingers from him, he held the jar and slowly coated my cock with tender fingers while I pondered the miracle of my speedy recuperation. He truly was the sea nymph I named him, a magically wondrous creature. I thanked the Almighty for bringing him into my life and prayed that Horatio would never regret our loving.

"Are you ready for me then, sweet Horatio?" I stilled his instinctive move to go over on his side. "If you like, I can come inside of you just like this."

His eyes widened and he nodded slowly, his busy mind trying to make all the pieces of our puzzle fit together. I guided his hands to his own knees and bent them apart and up until he caught on. He was blushing at the lewdness of the position but when I pressed against the small hole, he shivered and pushed out as I had instructed him before. I gave a little thrust to breach his guardian muscle and he bit his lip at the sudden pain.

But I leaned down and kissed each nipple, tugging gently with my teeth while he caught his breath and relaxed all over. Sliding into his hot, tight channel was a revelation to me. In this position, he felt completely open and I wanted to stay like this forever. "All right, Horatio?"

"Better than all right, Edward. I was right," his eyes shone up at me. "You reached the ache and now it's all gone. Can we kiss while you take me?"

"I hope so," I matched his smile with my own. "Straighten your legs and rest them on my shoulders."

He thought for a moment before realizing that would stop the trembling in his arms and relax him further. Then I was pulling out before thrusting back in, slow and sure of myself now that I had come once. We'd see how long I could torment my lover before he came again. My stamina should prove to be all the greater for my second release of the night.

We kissed until we had to breathe then I kept on scattering kisses over his satin smooth skin. He giggled when my evening beard tickled him but all levity died when I settled in for a good long suckling of his beautiful nipples. I stroked in and out, targeting his sweet spot with every other thrust while he panted my name and ran his fingers through my hair.

When his cries began to sound of pleasure turning to pain, I sped up and allowed myself release at the same moment I reached between us to stroke his leaking cock. He uttered a hoarse cry, which might have been my name before going limp beneath me. I held onto my own consciousness with a precarious jerk, his strong inner muscles pulling out every last ounce of seed I had.

He was definitely going to be sore in the morning. Rocking gently, I succeeded in leaving his body. I hastily left the bed for the bowl of hot water and wringing out a cloth, wiped him clean of the thankfully unbloodied discharge. Remembering an old trick from my youth, I took one of the quill pens from the small secretary in my room and slicked the feather end with the healing salve. As gently as I could, I slid it inside of him and twirled it to distribute the cooling cream over the well-used walls of his channel.

"Edward, that feels very odd. What is it?" He'd come to and twisted his head around to see what I was doing.

"I need to get the salve where the pain is and don't tell me that there isn't any." I told him with a smile at his sheepish look.

"It hurts a little but it's already feeling better. Oh," his eyes widened when I pulled the feathered quill out and showed it to him. "Goodness, I shall never see a pen again without blushing."

I laughed out loud. "We shall have to lay in a supply both for writing and for ... comforting."

He chuckled and moved gingerly to his side. "At least a dozen a day should suffice."

"Impudence." I slapped his nether cheek once and he started right before his cock twitched. "Good heavens, you're insatiable."

"When it comes to you, I am." He said with a blush and a little wiggle that told me he was curious about what I'd said earlier about the occasional pleasure of pain.

"Really? I can see that I shall have to satisfy you with something other than my sleeping cock. Would you like to come inside of me?" I offered and watched him think about it.

"Not now, Edward. I want to learn everything you can teach me first. Then, if you still wish it, I would like to come inside of you." He spoke simply and from his heart.

I gathered him close and thanked God once more for sending this beautiful soul to my ship and my soul. "Then that is what we shall do. I love you, Horatio."

He shivered and I felt tears on my shoulder. "I love you, Edward. I think I have loved you forever. Thank you for loving me."

"I could no more cease to love you than I could fight with the French against England." I gave him my strength, rocking slowly to soothe him. It had all been too much for him, the exciting day finally taking its toll on his spirits. "Rest now and I shall wake you in the morning with a kiss."

He sniffed a little before raising his head and looking at me adoringly. "But where will you kiss me and what part of me will awake first?"

Laughing at his not-so-innocent face, I tugged him down to my lap and began peppering his cheeks with little slaps. "Impudence, we shall try a different place each morning until we find one that invariably works." He was squirming on my lap but he was also hardening yet again while I reddened his cheeks.

Judging the punishment sufficient for the crime, I turned him back over and sucked his tasty cock back into my mouth. He lasted for only a few moments before thrusting up and releasing a tiny bit of fluid for my delectation. Then he went boneless in my arms. It appeared that I'd worn him out.

And that was a very nice feeling for my aging self. I washed him off again and tenderly tucked him into my arms under the comforter that Margaret had made for us so many years ago. Silently I asked her blessing for the two vows I'd taken today. The one to Jane was one she would understand but I wondered what she would have thought about Horatio.

She was a forgiving soul and I thought sleepily that she would have loved him the way that Jane did, another son, another boy to raise up to manhood. Almost I could feel her kiss at my temple and a gentle nod of acceptance. I settled in to sleep with my love in my arms while the world retreated into night.

This shore leave had turned out to be the very best one I'd ever had.

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End part five