Title: Butrinti

Rating: NC-17 for sexual scenes and swearing

Summary: James and Destry have never been the perfect couple. Work and personal problems have always played a part in making their long-term relationship difficult. Now on Holiday, one is hoping to change all of that but it’s going to take more than sun, sea and sand to fix their problems.

Warnings: Male/Male if you don’t like that, then don’t look here.

Prologue

“You said you would be home by eight.”

It was nearly midnight, outside it was hot and sticky and that alone was causing just about every person in London to act crazy. Destry Townsend had lived in London since he was 18. That was seven years ago now and yet every year he was surprised at how the simple turn in the weather could change the whole population’s behaviour within a day. Sure the humidity was insane, but then again it happened every year, the summer brought the sun, the smell of pollution, the longer days and eventually that horrible humidity that made everything seem like such an effort. Of course with it came the shorter tempers and thus, a slight rise in murders. It was understandable that he might be late home every now and then especially when he would unexpectedly get pulled into work just as his classes were finishing. It had happened before, his whole summer had been like it in fact, he had to cancel dates, had to leave parties early and make sure his breath didn’t smell of Stella Artois before he got to the morgue, he had to climb out of bed at four in the morning after already working a fourteen hour shift, stiff and sore, to attend a crime scene that would make him late again for classes and even further behind in his studies. Sure it sucked, but it was only for a year, by December, he would have the experience to add to his CV and hopefully impress his professors. Of course, December was a long way off as yet...it was only August.

Destry sighed, shrugging tiredly out of his jacket which he hadn’t needed at all but took with him out of habit. Yes, he was late, four hours late, he had promised to be home by eight, hell he had been looking forward to it but then he was called in, a double murder, his mentor, one of the top Coroners for the London police requiring his assistance as well as demanding he learn a few more things about crime scenes and the job of a Coroner in one of the busiest cities in the world. He couldn’t say no, it would show he wasn’t all that serious about this career path and he really wanted this, he had always wanted to find a way of helping people. Still, that didn’t stop the arguments, nothing ever did. Dropping his bag at the foot of the stairs, he finally peered into the living room, staring at the back of James’ head. The living room was pitch black except for the icy blue light from the TV, an advert for car insurance lighting the room up in a mass of colours, the faint scent of Chinese spices hung in the air giving away James’ quick dinner of take away noodles from the Golden Dragon. It was another reason to feel bad, it had been Destry’s turn to cook that evening, he had even gotten James to pick up the ingredients from Tesco’s on the way home from work. Moving into the living room slowly, he sank down into the old armchair he had found when someone was cleaning out their home for redecoration. His legs hurt and his eyes as well but he knew it would be a fair while before he got any sleep.

“I meant to call...”

“But you didn’t.”

“Bad reception.”

“In Hackney? Give me a fucking break, Des, I wasn’t born yesterday.”

The stark light of the TV certainly didn’t hide any of the emotions on James’ face. The older man looked annoyed, his eyes dark with anger and tiredness, no doubt his own day had been long, running around after models and magazine editors. He looked a bit like Josh Hartnett, had the same hair style and soft goatee but his eyes were a lighter brown and always looked tired. They didn’t share the same style in clothes either, or profession for that matter but that didn’t bother Destry, after all he wasn’t with James because he looked like some famous actor. The older man sighed and leant forward in his seat, elbows resting on his thighs as he rubbed his hands over his face, a heavy sigh leaving him. It was times like this that Destry felt like a child in James’ presence, after all Destry had only just turned twenty-five and James was nearly thirty-one. Bowing his head, he looked at his hands, nails short and raw from the number of times he had to scrub his nails each day whether it was for practical work in class or for work.

“I got caught up in work, I couldn’t get away.”

“A text would have sufficed something to let me know where the fuck you were and when you’d be home.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah well, it’s just as well DC Jacobs called isn’t it?”

Another bout of silence settled over the couple, one fuming and the other pretty sure he couldn’t feel any worse than he already did. For a while neither said anything, the TV did a fair job of filling the silence even though the volume was right down. It was hard to imagine the couple were in love sometimes; their relationship was very much so based on arguments and the sex that came afterwards. Destry often thought of this when he was sat there, waiting for the yelling to begin. They had met through a friend back when Destry was nineteen and enjoyed partying a little too much. Being from a remote village where the best entertainment was quiz night at the only pub, London was like a completely different world for Destry and he wasted no time partying and sleeping with more men than he could remember. Of course then came James, a Canadian who had only just arrived in London himself only with his head screwed on far more than Destry ever did. They hit it off, the sexual chemistry lead to discovering just how well they connected and for a long time things were fine, except that Destry couldn’t commit to the relationship for the life of him and so the arguments had begun. All of it seemed so long ago, especially since they now lived together, James working a full-time job and Destry trying to finish university while make all the right moves for his career. There had even been talk of adopting; however Destry had always been reserved in subject, unsure of where he stood on it. He knew James wanted children, or at least a child but adoption was simply something Destry wasn’t comfortable with.

“I’m going to bed.” Destry said, getting up and heading towards the stairs.

“Typical.” James muttered, still staring at the TV as if it was to blame for his boyfriend being so late home.

“Well what do you want from me, I said I was sorry.”

“I told you already, I want you to give up that job, it’s ruining our relationship.”

“No it isn’t. It’s just until December. I know it’s taking up a lot of my time but I really need this.”

“Why do you need this? You said none of your other classmates are taking on work experience or internships, why couldn’t you just do the same?”

“Because I want the experience, the more I have the more chances I have of getting a job and moving up the ranks quicker.”

“And as usual, you can’t stop thinking about your job.”

“Oh I’ve had enough of this, I’m going to bed.” Destry muttered, feeling his cheeks flush in anger.

He didn’t give James a chance to react as he turned and headed up the stairs to their bedroom. Normally James would have him sleep in the guestroom after an argument, but Destry wasn’t in the mood for it, he was tired and that was the simple answer to that. No doubt the argument wasn’t over anyway, it wasn’t that simple. He gave James ten minutes before he turned up again either to try and kick Destry out of the bedroom or to attempt to start the argument up again, neither of which he would give in to, no matter how hard James tried. Sure enough, as Destry was pulling his shirt tiredly over his head, he heard James enter the bedroom; the young man’s back turned to the door in hopes of that somehow shielding him from any more attacks. He very much so doubted it though. He didn’t bother taking the shirt to the laundry basket, simply threw it on the floor with his socks and shoes and started on his jeans, ensuring his work card and wallet were out and somewhere safe just in case he needed to grab them in a hurry.

“You know, when we decided to move in together, you promised me you wouldn’t work so much and that you would actually spend time trying to be in a relationship. I’m starting to wonder why I believed you.”

“James, please, just give it a rest.”

“No, I won’t. Destry, you’ve been home on time once in the past month, you’ve not had a weekend off since April and get less than six hours of sleep a night. You even admitted you were falling behind in your studies.”

“So? Sacrifices have to be made.”

“Really? So your education is worth sacrificing?” James raised an eyebrow. “Tell me, what good is this work experience going to be if you fail your course?”

Destry hated it when James got the better of him, out smarted him and sadly it happened a lot in their arguments, especially lately since Destry was too tired to think of quick come backs. Sighing, he let his jeans drop to the floor and shrugged knowing full well James was right but too stubborn to satisfy him with an answer. He didn’t really need to though, it seemed his silence gave James what he was looking for and the older man looked smug for a moment before he moved to the dresser to take off his watch.

“Just as I suspected.” Was all he said before he headed into the bathroom, shutting the door.

Destry stood there for a good few minutes, unable to believe that yet again he had been outsmarted but not surprised in the slightest. After that he gave a small huff of annoyance and headed for the guestroom before James came out again, deciding it he was better off in there.

So much for a peaceful weekend off.