I think I'm shipping James/Liam to the exclusion of almost everything else. So pretty and hot and intellectual and passionate and conflicted, even when the foe-yay crosses into something else, something the two of them have to tentatively feel their way through, and their relationship is like a microcosm of the reconciliation that must take place throughout the ship. Only with more hot sex, of course.

Every day, they reforge détente.

"Shouldn't've kissed you, that first time," James confesses one night, almost carelessly as they're shucking their clothes off for bed..

"Yes, it certainly opened up a new world of possibility for me," Liam says dryly. He doesn't remember the kiss specifically thanks to that drug cocktail James had injected him with, but he remembers going around for days feeling like a hot brand had been laid upon his mouth and not knowing why, only that his every interaction with James had been laden with something explosive and indefinable after that.

James shakes his head with a rueful smile and they're tumbling into the bunk. It's one of the rare few nights their bedtimes actually line up and judging from the way Liam's hands haven't yet lifted away from his skin, he's fulling intending to make the most of it. "Couldn't stop thinking about it. It almost got distracting at a few crucial moments."

"See, I knew you always took a little too much pleasure in tying me up," Liam whispers in James' ear, and James has a reply all ready and loaded up, but he figures they'll get to the sex faster if he just kisses Liam instead.