Chapter Text
Bunny considered himself to be, generally, a deep sleeper.
There had been more than a few sleepless nights in his past. Several times his dire financial straits had preyed on his mind with dreams of eviction and penury and disgrace. Then he’d thrown himself on Raffles’s mercy. Since then, a few times in the small hours he’d fretted over being caught cracking a crib and ending up in the dock, in the pent and in disgrace. But those bad dreams had faded with his fears as Raffles showed time and time again that he was untouchable. And by association, Bunny reasoned that he must be untouchable too.
Tonight he was dozing fitfully because a week-old argument with Raffles had made him doubt that his friend returned the same level of devotion as he offered. He had not seen Raffles or heard from him since. This is natural he tried to convince the inner voice that fed his doubts. Raffles was smooth, suave, famous. He ought to be content with being merely useful to him, but not essential. “I’m just an extra set of eyes and hands,” was the last thing he had said to Raffles, apart from, “I’m going home. I suppose I’ll hear from you when they’re wanted.”
So when a sound alerted Bunny that all was not as calm and silent as it should be in his Mount Street flat, he froze to his sheets.
He listened.
No, he was not mistaken. His bedside clock said it was three in the morning and he had no reason to doubt it. A scrape and a slow series of clicks came from the little hallway that opened one way into his sitting room and the other way into his bedroom. Then came a slight creak and a soft but definite thunk as the door was closed.
Someone was in his flat.
Bunny quickly considered his options. He could pull up the covers and pretend to be asleep, then whoever had come to deprive him of his belongings might think they’d escape undetected and leave him be. He could roll under his bed and hide there, but what if the burglar heard him and looked for him? He’d be trapped. He might lie in wait behind the bedroom door, ready to leap out and defend his property. His shooter, unfortunately, was in a drawer in the sitting room, and he did not fancy his chances unarmed.
Slow, soft footsteps paused outside his bedroom door. The door handle began to turn. As quietly as he could manage, Bunny pulled the bedcovers over his head and tried to keep his breathing calm and even.
He screwed his eyes shut. How Raffles would laugh at him for being so useless when his own crib got cracked and all their pretty baubles, stashed in a false-bottomed drawer until they cooled enough for the receiver, got stolen again.
The bedroom door opened and closed softly. Bunny tracked the burglar’s steps as he walked around the room, imagining him opening drawers and rummaging and closing them, finding the false bottom in the chest of drawers and pulling up the wooden panel to get to the boodle stashed beneath.
He tensed, fists clenched against his mouth lest he yell out. The footsteps came close.
keep still keep still keep still
A weight dipped the edge of the bed and a hand landed on his shoulder. Bunny yelled incoherent threats, sat up and grappled his would-be attacker onto his back. But instead of fighting or fleeing, the man laughed in delight.
“Bunny, my dear boy! Had I been a real burglar after your family heirlooms you would have lost the lot but kept your life.”
“Raffles!”
Bunny turned on his bedside lamp. In the electric glow, the familiar face of his friend became serious.
“Really, Bunny, you did very well. I only knew you were awake because I know how you sound when you are genuinely asleep. You kept up the pretence admirably. If someone was foolhardy enough to break in to your bedroom, I’d far rather you avoided a confrontation that might turn a burglar into a murderer.”
Warmth flooded Bunny’s chest. “What are you doing here? You scared me out of my wits!” He pressed his hand to his chest where the top two buttons had come unfastened and his silk pyjama shirt gaped. “My heart’s thumping.”
Raffles glanced at Bunny’s hand. His lips parted but whatever he had first thought to say was lost. He smiled. “I brought you a little something for your trousseau. I was going to slip it in with the rest of the loot and you’d find it tomorrow. I didn’t want to wake you in case you were still miffed at me for being dismissive of your contribution to our partnership.” Raffles at least had the decency to pretend to look chagrinned. “I didn’t mean for my words to be taken as an insult. I value your company immeasurably.”
Bunny sighed. “So after we argued about you not telling me things, you went and cracked a crib without me, then broke into my flat so you could drop off the boodle without telling me that either?”
“It was for the best of reasons, Bunny, my dear!” Raffles gripped Bunny’s shoulders. “I wanted to surprise you.”
“Surprise me?” Bunny’s eyebrows rose. “How?”
“You’re my dearest friend, Bunny, and I couldn’t let our argument fester without making amends somehow. What better apology than to present you with this?”
Raffles put his right hand in his pocket and pulled out an unremarkable gold watch chain with a gold sovereign hanging from it as a kind of charm.
“Do you recognise it?”
Bunny held his breath. He took the chain and examined it under the lamp.
“I do indeed! A.J.! This is marvellous! What else did you take?”
“Just that. I don’t want to provoke him too much. Besides, from what I could see he lives in rooms less opulent than mine or yours and even then he has to share the rent with a friend. Did you know he takes drugs?”
Bunny raised his eyebrows. “Plenty of gentlemen do. I don’t really see the attraction, myself.”
“Good for you, Bunny. Whisky, Sullivans and the thrill of breaking and entering are enough for us.”
Bunny smiled, but he sighed. “I can’t keep it, can I.”
“I’m afraid not. But you can have it for a day or so.” Raffles smiled. “Am I forgiven?”
“Did you really steal this and come to show me just because we argued?”
“Of course. You’re still my man, whatever silly words we threw at each other.”
Bunny examined the watch chain again. It wouldn’t fetch much if he took it to a receiver, and he suspected any fence who knew of its owner would call him a fool and send him packing. When he looked up again, Raffles had moved closer to look at it under the lamp too. Their heads might have bumped if he were less careful.
“It’s a rather plain gift but I knew you would appreciate it.”
Raffles turned towards him. Bunny regarded him from mere inches away, then leaned closer and pressed his lips to that tempting mouth. But only for the barest second.
“Thank you.”
Raffles laughed. “You sinner! If that’s how you react to such a commonplace little gift—one that you’ll have to return at that—I should bring you something bigger. The Crown Jewels. What would you do to thank me for the Koh-i-noor?”
Bunny lay back and chuckled. “I would visit you in prison.” He gripped Raffles’s hand in sudden concern. “I say, you’re not actually contemplating—”
“Of course not. But I’m flattered you think I might.” Raffles sat up with a faint smile on his lips. “I should go and let you get back to sleep.”
He made no move to get up. Bunny still clasped his hand lightly.
“Stay if you want.”
Raffles leaned closer again. “No, I’ll stay if you want.”
Bunny met Raffles’s gaze in the yellow lamplight. Without a word, he opened the drawer of his bedside cabinet with his free hand and swept the watch-chain out of sight.
“I want you to stay. I’ve missed you this week.”
Heart hammering again, he shifted aside and flicked back the corner of the bedcovers. Raffles looked startled just for an instant then smiled.
“I’ve missed you, too.”
Bunny watched as Raffles undressed and hung his clothes in the wardrobe. Raffles paused to look thoughtfully at the chest of drawers for a moment then got into bed nude.
“You must tell me how you got your hands on that watch chain,” Bunny said as he leaned across Raffles to reach for the lamp switch.
“Leave it on.” Raffles put his arms around Bunny’s back and held him loosely. “Bunny, it was wonderful and I’ll tell you all about it. Tomorrow.”
Bunny looked down at Raffles. His breath caught at the soft, pleased-with-himself smile on that dear, familiar face and the glint in his eyes. As he made to lie down again, the hands resting lightly on his back encouraged him with slight but insistent pressure to remain where he was.
After a few seconds of absolute stillness, Raffles spoke quietly. “What might a pair of sinners like us want now?”
It was all the confirmation and invitation Bunny needed. He rested his forearm beside the pillow, lowered his head and pressed his lips to Raffles’s in a soft, lingering kiss. Raffles pulled him closer, kissing urgently, hands sliding up inside his pyjama shirt and wordlessly demanding its removal. Bunny collapsed, giggling at the sensation of Raffles’s fingers playing over his ribs. He let Raffles relieve him of the garment then lay on top of him, the contact of bare skin like a hot, electric tingle. Raffles stroked his back with both hands, up and down from shoulders to waist, then lower beneath his pyjama trousers. In a moment, that garment was consigned to the floor too.
Raffles rolled them both onto their sides, facing each other. He stroked Bunny’s hair then ran his fingers down his chest, pausing over Bunny’s stomach, rubbing gently over the trail of wiry hair below his navel. Bunny threw his leg over Raffles’s thigh and reached between them. He cupped Raffles’s balls, rubbed his fingers behind them, and held his cock with the other hand.
Raffles caught his breath then laughed softly. He clasped Bunny’s erection. “Together?”
Devouring each other’s little sounds of pleasure as if starved, they moved their hands in a rhythm neither was quite sure which of them set. Bunny’s hand faltered as he neared his climax. Raffles sped up and slowed down, taking Bunny maddeningly close than back again, teasing him three or four times, until he could be held back no more. Bunny came hard with a series of panting breaths, then lay still, eyes closed, grinning.
Raffles kissed his forehead. “Sleep well, my dear.”
Bunny blinked at Raffles in the darkness, then slowly but firmly pushed him onto his back. Raffles grasped Bunny’s shoulder.
“You don’t have to. I’ll deal with it myself.”
“Do be quiet, A.J. Why defile yourself when I can do it for you?”
Raffles slid the hand that had been gripping Bunny’s shoulder up to cup his cheek then ruffle his hair. Bunny kissed him once more, then shifted down the bed while Raffles propped himself up on both elbows and watched. As Bunny took the head of his cock into his mouth, Raffles let his head fall back and murmured, Oh you wonderful boy!
It took very few minutes for Bunny to feel Raffles urgently gripping his hair. He pulled his head back and stroked Raffles’s cock with his hand, teasing his tightening balls with his lips and tongue, listening with delight to the wanton sounds Raffles could not hold back as he spent over his chest and stomach.
“I had no idea,” Raffles said when he recovered his voice.
Bunny huffed a laugh. “Why not? We both attended the same school.”
Raffles giggled. After a few seconds, Bunny joined in. Raffles turned the lamp off and they fell asleep, fitted together with Bunny’s chest against Raffles’s back and his arm around Raffles’s waist.
When Bunny woke, late, Raffles was gone. If it were not for his discarded pyjamas and the state of his sheets, he would have assumed a visit from a particularly vivid dream. Raffles’s cologne lingered on the pillow and Bunny buried his face in it for a moment before getting out of bed and pulling on his dressing gown. He took the watch chain from the drawer and admired it, letting his mind dwell on how Raffles might have obtained it.
I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, Raffles had promised. But Raffles had broken promises to him before. Bunny dispelled the unwanted, sour thought by remembering how they had pleasured one another then fallen asleep together only a handful of hours previously.
Or did Raffles merely pretend to sleep then slip out once I was dead to the world?
Bunny decided that it didn’t matter whether Raffles remained in his arms for minutes or hours. He’d come to him to apologise with a gift, and Bunny had accepted gladly. He dropped the watch chain into his pocket and went into his sitting room for a cigarette. He smiled when he saw that one had been taken from the silver case he habitually filled with Sullivans each night before bed, and replaced with a rolled-up slip of paper.
Meet me for lunch if you’re up.
It was noon. He just had time to wash and dress, run one errand, and be at the Albany by one o’clock.