Title: Choices
Author: Ligeia
Fandom: Hornblower
Pairing: Horatio/Clayton
Rating: PG
Category: angst, drabble/ficlet
Summary: Clayton can't let Horatio throw himself into death's arms.
Horatio Hornblower and all related characters were originally created by Cecil Scott Forester and developed in a TV series by Meridian TV. I don't own anything nor I intend to infringe any copyright law.
Horatio drops to the floor. Clayton kneels down beside him, tossing the stick somewhere on the wooden planks, and turns him on his back. So young, he thinks, softly stroking the boy's dark, unruly hair. So inexperienced. You shouldn't talk back to older officers. You shouldn't say no when they ask for your food. You shouldn't do your Mathematics exercises right when everyone else failed. But how are you supposed to know this? You're only seventeen.
Clayton studies the young face carefully. Still a child. Why did you board this ship? Why did you enter the Royal Navy? You could have been a doctor, a lawyer, anything you wanted. Yet you chose this life. Did someone choose for you?
The officer sighs. I can't let you throw yourself into death's arms. Simpson is too skilled, he'll aim straight at your heart. And you don't deserve to die like that, by the hand of an arrogant bastard who wants to destroy everything he can't have. For he will never have your brain, your courage. Your beauty.
He bends forward, eyes closed and lips parted, and his mouth brushes Horatio's. Soft and warm, and sweeter than the sweetest wine. It lasts only a moment. Clayton pulls back and caresses the boy's face one last time, thumb lightly tracing the firm line of the young midshipman's jaw.
I won't let him destroy you.
He stands up and grabs his cloak. He has a duel to attend to.
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November 2003