Work Text:
Feeny's Paradise
by Pirate Turner
"Lie to me."
"What?" He pulled back to examine the handsome face of his young lover. His fingers froze on his cheeks as he looked at him with dread and puzzlement etching his own gray-haired face.
"Lie to me," the boy repeated, a begging look entering his eyes that melted George's heart and knees simultaneously. He would have found it hard to stand if not for his determination to hold on to his beloved. "Tell me you love me."
A mixture of emotions washed over the old man who had taught the boy so much and yet pulled away out of fear that Eric would become too attached and never be able to let go. "I . . . I . . . " His fingers trembled against his tender flesh.
"Please, Feeny, just for tonight, tell me. Tell me you love me. I know you don't. I know you could never! I know I'm young and stupid and not worthy of a man as grand and smart and super cool as you, but please, just once?" His bottom lip trembled, and George sighed as he saw tears welling in his love's eyes.
"I won't do it," he said simply, shaking his head. "I can't do it. I've held back for so long now, Eric. I didn't want you to become too attached. This may not last. I don't want you to get hurt."
His face fell, and a tear broke free of his guard. It rolled down his face and splashed down, falling against the thread-bare material of George's favorite sweater. "I know it won't last. I know you'll move on. I know . . . "
"No." He spoke firmly as he crooked a finger under his chin and raised his head to where his gaze met his directly. "No," he repeated, and Eric trembled, thinking that he was saying no to his plea when, in truth, he was saying it to both of them. "I'll never move on, not willingly at least. I love you, Eric Matthews. I have for years, but I never should have acted on that love. I'm a dirty, old man, and you deserve better."
Eric's mouth twitched as he began to slowly smile. "I've always thought I deserve what I want to get, and the only one I want is you, George."
Feeny's eyes widened at the name. He hadn't even been sure that Eric had known his first name.
"That's right. I know your name isn't just Fah-eee-ney," he said, drawing his last name out in the manner that he loved to tease him with. "I know it's George, just like I know that you prefer Old Spice cologne, love the purr of a kitten and the way I rub my forefinger over your tailbone just so . . . " He reached around him, slid his hand underneath his clothes, and performed the very maneuver he spoke of. George shivered in delight. "I know you, and I love you, and all I want to hear is that you love me too."
"I do," he answered in a soft breath of a whisper that washed over Eric's face and sent tingles shooting all throughout the lad's being. "I love you with all that I am now and always! I love you! I love your vigor and your charms! I love your jokes and your attitude and the way you always know just how to react to me! I love you, Eric, inside and out! I always have, and I always will!"
The biggest grin he'd ever seen exploded onto his love's face as Eric exclaimed, loud and proud, "YESSSSSS!" George almost thought the boy was going to start his victory dance, but instead he reached out and touched his lips to his, sparking an entirely different celebration dance.
Tonight, Eric swore, he was going to show Feeny just how much he did love him. He was going to rock his world to the point of no return. Little did he know that he had always rocked his world and that he could fly no higher through the cosmos than his mere declaration of love had already sent him, even if he burned him to supernova stage. Eric loved him, and that made Feeny's world, at long last, a completed paradise.
The End