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Joe Blake is still alive.
That’s what Will realizes when he makes it to the secondary line through the communication trenches. He knows this because he saw him, standing there in the trenches with another officer at his side. He knows this because their eyes had met, even if for a fraction of a second, and there was some kind of recognition between them, one that Will hadn’t acknowledged as anything substantial until after the moment had passed and Joe was lost among the rest of the soldiers.
Joe Blake is still alive, and Will knows this because he sees Joe again behind the reserve trenches, and Joe approaches him with an incredulous, “Will?” and it makes his stomach churn. He never knew that he’d be this grateful to see him again, this relieved to see Joe smile and say, “I’ve wondered about you,” because Will has wondered about him, too. They talk for a while, about Tom and the war and life back home, and when they see each other again the next day, they do it all over again.
Joe Blake is still alive, and Will knows this because the way Joe looks at him on their third day together leaves him feeling uneasy. “You have a wife?” Joe asks him, and Will can tell where this is going, because he’s heard of other soldiers like Joe, and he knows what happens to soldiers like them .
“Yes,” he tells Joe, because he can’t lie, but not too long after, he sighs a mournful, “I’m so lonely.”
“I am too,” Joe says.
Joe Blake is still alive, and Will knows this because Joe suggests they meet each other at the edge of the forest when dusk falls with a sense of urgency flashing through his eyes. The air is cool and fresh and the ground is finally dry for the first time in a month, despite the fact that the artillery that rumbles throughout the day and throughout the night is indistinguishable from thunder. And Will has no idea what he’s doing, really, as he heads past the pockets of soldiers laughing and playing cards and dozing, and he knows it’s a bad idea, but he can’t stop himself.
He doesn’t let himself think about what his wife might think if she knew what he was doing, and he doesn’t let himself think about what actions the military might take against him if he was caught. The war drones on and on and he feels so hopeless, and for the first time in a long time he thinks he might be on the brink of something , whether it be euphoric or even more soul-shattering. He can’t care. He can’t afford to care, not at this point.
Joe Blake is alive. Will knows this because he’s standing just at the edge of the forest, and he’s utterly breathtaking.
“We have to be quick,” Joe tells him, as if Will didn’t already know.
Will just nods.
Joe leads him a few feet into the woods, and then behind a large tree. The artillery continues booming. Stray shouts from the soldiers a hundred yards away echo. Will’s heart pounds in his ears. Joe’s eyes flit down to his lips as he takes an audible breath.
“Have you done this before?” Will asks.
“Have you?”
Will hesitates. “Not here.”
Joe cups his hands around Will’s jaw. “Just be quick,” he repeats, and he leans forward so that their foreheads touch. “Don’t think about anything else.”
“Alright.” Will’s mouth is completely dry.
“Stay with me,” Joe says. Then he inhales again and presses his lips against Will’s.
And time stops.
Will exhales when Joe slowly pulls back. His eyelids slowly open, so he can see Joe’s eyes burning into him. And then Joe leans forward once more and kisses him, this time with much more vigor, meeting him with lips hot and parted. Will accepts, almost a little too eagerly, and he doesn’t let himself think about anyone noticing that the two of them are gone, or that someone might have seen them disappear into the trees and followed suit, or anything else. He can only think about Joe, how Joe’s calloused hands cling to the back of his neck now, how he sighs so sweetly as they kiss, how naturally musky and masculine he smells, and how it all drives Will mad.
Will’s cock throbs. It’s starting to stiffen. He doesn’t let himself feel humiliated by it. There isn’t any time.
“What do you want?” Joe breathes.
Will pauses. “Hm?”
“What do you want me to do to you?”
Will doesn’t answer. He realizes that he had no idea what to expect from this, no idea what to even hope for.
“There must be something,” Joe continues. He leans forward and nestles his face against Will’s ear. “My hand on your cock? Or maybe my mouth instead?”
Will gasps at the sensation of Joe’s groin pressed up against his. He thinks of his wife, how she had been so timid about the very things Joe was suggesting now. It was lovely then, how demure she was, how sweet her eyes had been, but this was something different. This is hot, brutal.
“Use your mouth,” Will groans as Joe grinds their hips together.
“That’s what you want?”
“Yes.” His responses are clipped, strained.
“As you wish.”
Joe kisses Will once more, excitedly, searingly, and then he sinks down to his knees. Will closes his eyes and leans his head back against the tree as Joe undoes his trousers. He shivers when the air touches his skin, and then moans when Joe presses his mouth against his hip bone. Joe’s fingers continue to pull down on the hem of Will’s briefs, until his cock is free to bounce up towards his stomach.
“Lovely,” Joe breathes, and he kisses each of Will’s thighs. “So lovely, William.”
Will swallows. He thinks of his wife calling him the same thing.
Then Joe closes his lips around the tip of Will’s cock, and the world stops spinning.
“God,” Will spits out immediately. His hands scramble to find Joe’s hair, and he takes large handfuls of it while Joe sinks lower onto his cock. Joe grips a hand of his own around Will’s base and squeezes, and then he swirls his tongue around Will’s shaft, and he goes back and forth, back and forth, slowly, carefully, and even then, it’s still too much. It’s been so fucking long since Will had been touched like this, cared for like this, and there’s a sense of a guilt, a sense that he’ll be struck down at any moment, but he can’t care about it, not right now. Not when Joe sighs around his cock and sends him a tender look. The sight of Joe like this, his brilliant eyes peeking up from under the slight curls of his hair, mouth entirely preoccupied -- god , it’s fucking unreal .
“Can I--” Will struggles out, and Joe nods. He lets out a sigh of relief as Joe stops moving and he begins to thrust his hips forward, not so deep as to choke Joe, but quick enough that the friction almost drives him insane. His breathing shallows as he rocks his hips into Joe’s mouth, and he stops, suddenly, as his cock twitches and a small spurt of cum leaks from it.
Joe hums and slides his lips off of Will’s cock. “That was a surprise,” he laughs.
“Sorry,” Will pants. “I couldn’t help myself.”
“I said we had to be fast, didn’t we?”
“Not that fast, surely.”
“You’re not finished yet,” Joe says, this time dragging his hand casually along Will’s length. “Can I touch you?”
“Aren’t you already?”
“Like this, I mean.”
Joe gets back up on his feet, unbuttons his own pants, and pulls them down. Soon, his cock is also revealed, long and thick and red, standing up amidst a thick patch of curly hair. There’s a slight curve to it, and the tip is shiny with pre-cum. The sight of it makes Will even harder, somehow. His cock throbs and aches as he takes in Joe’s.
“Like what you see?” Joe asks, but he doesn’t stop for an answer. He pushes Will back against the tree and then kisses him. Will greets Joe’s tongue between his lips with his own, and they kiss with an unprecedented ferocity as Joe ruts his hips forward, so that their cocks bump against each other.
“Oh,” Will sighs into Joe’s mouth, and he tilts his hips so that the pressure is increased. They quickly fall into a steady tempo, and Joe holds himself so closely to Will that the bark of the tree burns into his skin, but he can’t tell him to stop, not when this is so rapturous. Then Joe reaches his hand in between them, and he fits both cocks into his hand, or as well as he possibly can, anyway, and the added guidance is enough to finally, finally send Will over the edge. “Oh my god,” he cries out, and he lets out an ecstatic moan as Joe grinds his hips down harder. “Don’t stop, don’t stop!”
“Will,” Joe exhales, and he leans forward to press a kiss against his ear. “God, Will, you’re beautiful, you know that?”
“Not as beautiful as--oh my god , Joe.” He cranes his neck to the side as Joke sinks his teeth into his throat. It’s light, ever so light, but still enough pressure to make him come completely unglued. “Joe, Jesus fucking Christ, Joe--”
“Will--”
He’s close, way too close. He doesn’t want this to end, he doesn’t want to have to clean up and walk back down to the rest of the soldiers like nothing had happened. He doesn’t want Joe to head off with the other officers and pretend like nothing happened, and he doesn’t want them to split up and go on their merry ways and that’s that. It’s a dangerous game he’s playing, one that he knew would be dangerous, and yet, didn’t quite expect at all. He’s overwhelmed, mind reeling, body screaming, nerves alight and spinning out of control, and oh, god, Joe is there, and Joe is real, and Joe is so fucking beautiful.
“I’m cumming,” Will gasps, “oh, shit, I’m cumming.”
Joe is quick to move his hand over the tip of Will’s cock, so that ropes upon ropes of cum spill from his palm down onto the ground. His body seizes over and over, and his eyes roll back into his head as he cums, harder than he’s ever cum in his life, or, at least, it feels like it, just because it’s been so damn long.
“Darling Will,” Joe murmurs as he topples against the tree.
“Why did you--”
“Didn’t want any stains on our uniforms.”
He’s right, Will supposes. They had just washed them, after all.
Will’s eyes drift to Joe’s cock. It’s so red it’s almost purple.
“Let me help you,” Will murmurs, and he begins to unbutton the jacket of his uniform. Before Joe has a chance to ask anything, Will’s on his knees, shrugging the jacket off, taking Joe’s cock in his hands, caressing it, stroking it.
“Are you sure?” Joe murmurs, and Will nods, because it’s the most sure he’s ever been of anything in his whole life. He slips the tip of Joe’s cock in between his lips, just like Joe had done for him, because it feels right. It feels important.
It’s Joe’s turn to clench his hair, to arch his back and cause Will to gag, but it doesn’t stop him. He’s much clumsier than Joe, just because he’s so out of practice -- there was a boy, once, way back when, right before he had gotten married, when he was curious about what else life had to offer -- but Joe doesn’t seem to mind. Will does what Joe does, and he swirls his tongue and bobs his head and uses his hand as an anchor, until, suddenly, Joe pushes him back.
“Keep using your hand,” Joe commands, and Will listens. Joe huffs and sighs and groans until, finally, he cums, gently, tenderly, strings of cum dripping from his cock and splattering across Will’s undershirt. “Sorry,” he laughs when he sees the mess he’s made. “I should have told you I was about to cum.”
“It’s alright,” Will answers. “I’ll have my jacket on, anyway. I can wash my shirt out tomorrow.”
There’s a brief pause. Will thinks about tomorrow.
“We’ll have to be back on the front lines soon,” Will says.
“Yes.”
And then what? he thinks, but he can’t bring himself to say it.
“We’ll just have to treasure our time away now,” Joe continues. “That’s what I always do.”
“This is different, though, isn’t it?”
Joe frowns, just slightly. “I didn’t mean to make things complicated.”
“I’m the one who agreed,” Will tells him. “It’s just this godforsaken war.”
“So you take it one day at a time.”
“Seems pointless when it never ends.”
“Sometime,” Joe says, and he casts his gaze towards the direction they came from. The artillery still booms. The soldiers behind the reserves still shout and play.
Will thinks about Joe. He thinks about seeing him again, and what that might look like. He thinks about surviving the war, and Joe surviving the war, and he thinks about meeting him again, back in England, away from all this. He thinks about parting from this location and never seeing Joe again, regardless of what may happen. It scares him.
“Will?”
“Hm?” Will’s eyes meet his.
“We should head back before anyone gets suspicious.”
“Yes,” Will says.
They pull up their pants and button them. Joe helps Will get his jacket back on. Will doesn’t look back as they leave. He can’t bear doing so.