Boys to
men
Author: wanderingsmith
may 2009
Summary: An evenin' in an Irish pub
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me
for this. As it is thought, so let it be said; you make the toys, I
play with 'em.
AN: Playing with timelines here. Rem
Steele from S3, John
S3 and Captain
Holland.
in response to this
convo
"Now *him* for example."
Elizabeth followed the pointing finger, tilting her head in
consideration. "Well.. he's good-looking, yes. But... too
boyish. I'd feel like I was escorting my baby brother."
"Boyish? I thought boyish was good??"
She rolled her eyes at the confused complaint, reaching over to pat his
hand, "I like boyishness; playfulness. I'm just not interested in
a boy-toy."
"..You're just saying that because you don't want me to die my hair."
"...Ummm?"
John looked up from his maudlin stare into his beer at her distracted
tone, following her very slightly smiling expression to the man walking
through the door. The commercial pilot's uniform had no doubt
been crisp at the start of the man's day, but at a guess that was a
several hours flight ago and now there were wrinkles around the arms
and thighs. The guy even had his tie stretched to hang
loose around his neck.
Frowning at his straying lady, John looking back at the man before
asking disbelievingly, "What?? That guy's older than *I* am!"
"Umm?" Elizabeth turned back to her table-mate with a happy smile.
He wanted to pretend that she was faking it to prove a point, but
between the fact that he didn't think Elizabeth would do that to him
and the fact that he couldn't see any hint of a lie in her
expression.. He looked back at the pilot, standing at the bar and
sipping his whiskey with obvious enjoyment while staring at the soccer
scores on the TV. "You seriously like white hair?"
Standing up and ruffling said paling hair for the pitiful tone,
Elizabeth gave him a teasing smile, "That's closer to
salt-and-pepper. But yes; I do. Trust me, John, it feeds a
very real feminine instincts. A few creases around the eyes and
mouth, white hairs.. automatic increase in sex appeal," she nodded to
the rest of the pub, "Just look around and count how many women are
staring at the 'old' guy. Trust me, it's not the uniform."
She patted the top of his head and walked toward the ladies' room
without another word and John was left doing as she'd said; counting
the feminine eyes smiling at the tired, scrubby-faced pilot with white
hair.
Not that there weren't plenty of eyes on the 20-something year-old with
the oh so damn perfect movie-star looks. When their eyes crossed
and he lifted his beer at John with a grin toward where Elizabeth had
disappeared, John accepted the accolade by returning the gesture;
swallowing the last of his ale as he watched the serious lady in the
heels hurry to MovieStar's side and jolly him on his way.
He still couldn't help envying him. In his mind, that was still
*him*. The fact that he'd had to up the reps on his workout just
to stay in his usual shape was far easier to deny than the grey he'd
discovered after yesterday's haircut, but both were driving him crazy.
He got up to refill their drinks, ending up besides the pilot as the
barkeep mixed Elizabeth's margarita. Definitely white. The
fellow turned a friendly look on him, eyes that had seen darker things
than the New York to Dublin hop taking instant assessment before
nodding.
About to start the usual bar small talk, John closed his mouth as he
watched the pretty blonde lady with the entirely too-familiar political
mien walk through the door and look around. AgedPilot seemed to
see her the second she appeared and he turned, suddenly smiling, making
the laugh wrinkles show.
But obviously his lady didn't object. John returned to his table
with the drinks as she stepped up and wrapped her.. lover? In a
tight hug, to the palpable disappointment of a chunk of the pub's
population.
Okay, fine, so white hairs and wrinkles didn't disqualify a guy.
He still didn't like the damn things anywhere near his face.
AN: I'd originally hopped more would appear.. lol, I think smut was
requested.. but rather than keep this in the archives.. here it is.
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