Secrets

Author's Note: Okay, this is what happens when I stay up till god knows what time in the morning and I get bored but too tired to fall asleep. The ending didn't turn out that brilliant but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

The hotel in Paris wasn't the nicest Martin had ever stayed at but then again, it was a step up from the dank, shabby, broken hotels he used to have to share with Douglas. Not that he minded in the slightest, sharing with Douglas was the reason they started dating behind everyone's backs in the first place and that was a whole year ago. At least Martin had a room with a connecting door to Douglas'. They had already eaten dinner in the restaurant on the ground floor when they sat down at a table to watch people dancing to the half-decent music.

Carolyn had sat herself over by the bar and was having a conversation with the bar-maid about something-or-other. Arthur, on the other hand, had already gone back to his room to go to bed. Martin had just gotten up to get drinks for Douglas and himself when he was stopped by a familiar voice from behind him.

"Martin?" A tall woman with flaming red hair came into view and beamed at Martin as she pulled him into a hug. Douglas stood up, about to interfere as Martin smiled nervously back and greeted her like an old friend.

"Caitlyn, how've you been?" Oh, his sister... Whoops. Douglas sat back down and shook Caitlyn's hand when Martin introduced them to each other. He stayed mostly quiet and chipped in when it was appropriate while Martin and Caitlyn caught up with each other. After the short chat, Martin offered to get drinks for the three of them and left the table to head for the bar.

"So are you two together or what?" Caitlyn questioned Douglas. Her voice had a friendly tone and she looked at Douglas knowingly.

"Is it that obvious?" Douglas thought that it'd be easier for Caitlyn to find out now than later.

"To me it is," she smiled again; she was obviously the only family member that actually cared for Martin for she seemed to know him well. Douglas furrowed his brow and Caitlyn went on to explain. "I took a course in psychology when I was in Uni and I already knew that Martin was gay."

"What gave us away then?" Douglas was genuinely curious; he had tried to be as discreet as he could for Martin's sake. The younger man was afraid that people would disapprove, Carolyn mainly.

"Well, when I first said 'hey' to Martin you definitely looked defensive." She paused to think of other examples but Douglas nodded in agreement, he was ready to get defensive over his boyfriend any day. "And when he left just then you couldn't keep your eyes off of him." Douglas smirked mischievously as he glanced over to the bar where Martin was picking up the drinks and making his way back. As Martin sat down, Caitlyn took a sip from her wine then asked Martin a question that nearly made him drop his drink.

"So how long have you two been together?" Although he was shocked that his sister knew, Douglas' soothing smile gave him enough confidence to forget about hiding their relationship.

"It's been about a year, hasn't it?" Martin moved closer to Douglas and laced their fingers together as they usually did when they were alone. His partner hummed in agreement and looked at Martin. Caitlyn looked surprised when Martin said that they had been dating for so long yet they had told no one. Especiallynot Carolyn, Caitlyn still found it funny that both men were scared of their boss.

"Why don't you 'accidentally-on-purpose' let Carolyn know? So then it would be way less awkward for you guys and she can't get angry about something that wasn't meant for her to see." Caitlyn seemed very enthusiastic about Douglas and Martin's relationship and clearly wanted it to work.

"We wouldbut I'm afraid you underestimate Carolyn" Martin admitted. He was also worried about people's reactions; he wasn't exactly 'out of the closet', even if Caitlyn already knew. Martin glanced back up at Douglas as he spoke, "but I s'pose you've always been ready to tell her."

"Yeah, I have. But I want what's best for you." Douglas purred into Martin's ear. The loud beat that was emanating from the dance-floor and speakers in the restaurant came to a halt and a smooth ballad began to fill the room. Martin vaguely recognised it as some sort of Christina Perri song (Maria, one of the students, was an avid fan). Douglas looked into Martin's eyes and lifted his other hand up for Martin to take. "Care for a dance?"

"Of course" Martin took the offered hand and let himself be led over to the dance-floor where couples were already gathering to slow-dance with their partners. Douglas looked deep into Martin's eyes, placed one hand on the small of his back and held his hand (but not intertwining their fingers); this brought their bodies together and closed the small gap between them so they were pressed against each other. Douglas led Martin in small circles as they swayed and moved around to the slow beats of music. After the first verse had finished, Martin nuzzled his head into the crook of Douglas' neck and he let his hand travel up from Douglas' shoulder and into his silver hair.

"I love you," Martin whispered into Douglas' ear. Douglas leaned his head onto Martin's lightly and whispered back.

"I love you too." Both men continued to move to the music for what literally felt like a thousand years before the lyrics stopped and the instrumental slowly started to fade out. Just before the music fully stopped, Martin lifted his head, looked up into Douglas' deep brown eyes and pressed their lips together. Douglas closed his eyes and leaned into his boyfriend as he deepened the kiss which caused Martin's hold on Douglas' hair to tighten. When the music finally faded to a finish, the rather flustered pilots fell apart and linked their hands together again while they made their way back to the table. A voice caused Martin to nearly jump out of his skin and Douglas had to quickly hook an arm around his waist, hoping the familiar action would calm him down a little.

"Gentlemen, I see you're having a pleasant evening. Care to explain what thatwas?" The ever-familiar voice of Carolyn Knapp-Shappey barked at them as she stood in front of them, blocking their path to the table. Martin looked nervously up at Douglas and received a whisper in the ear from his partner.

"I'll handle this one." Douglas raised his voice to his normal volume and spoke to Carolyn, "that's called dancing."

"Douglas," Carolyn's warned. She didn't mean the dancing, she meant what happened afterwards. Douglas simply smirked, sneaking a quick peek at Martin; his face had gone a bright crimson red. Douglas might just have to kiss that away later but for now he went with one of the many snarky retorts he had ready to go.

"Thatis called a kiss. It's what happens when two people like each other very mu-"

"I know what kissing is, don't be patronising with me." Carolyn's voice grew sharp and there was also a hint of slight exasperation. She was most certainly notin a good mood. "I would just like to know why I caught my two pilots snogging in the middle of a restaurant."

"L-like Douglas said," Martin turned to look into his eyes and Carolyn could have sworn his voice dropped an octave, "when two people think the world of each other and all they want is to be together, they do this," and Martin pulled Douglas by his lapel into another kiss. Carolyn took a shocked step back and stared at them in disbelief. Martin slowly drew back, slipped his hand back into Douglas' and smirked back at Carolyn whose jaw was hanging open in utter bewilderment. Never in a million years would she guess that her two pilots would fall for each other. Douglas, meanwhile, had a grin on his face that made him look like the cat that got the cream.

"Is there a problem here?" Caitlyn appeared between Carolyn and Martin; she smiled sweetly at her brother and Douglas before looking at Carolyn for an answer. The CEO of MJN Air looked from Martin to Douglas to Caitlyn and finally gave an answer.

"No, not at all. Everything's fine I suppose," she replied with a hint of defeat in her voice. "If I'm honest, I'm quite glad." The two pilots and Caitlyn gave her some rather questioning looks. "It means that I don't have to fork out for two separate rooms any more." This made the couple smile, it was very true that Carolyn had been paying for one too many rooms for a long time, Martin and Douglas frequently ended up in the same bed together. Whether it was Douglas' room they wound up in or Martin's, it still ended up as a very enjoyable night. Meanwhile, Caitlyn checked her watch for the time.

"Sorry, I've got to go now. The boss'll kill me if I'm late for the meeting in the morning," she promptly hugged her brother and Douglas, shook Carolyn's hand and turned back to Martin, "oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Simon said for you to call him the next time you're in England." Martin resignedly nodded and made a mental note of it. Caitlyn stepped back, waved goodnight and gave Martin and Douglas a small wink before walking past the now crowded dance floor and out through the door.

Douglas and Martin walked back to the table, Martin had wound an arm around Douglas' waist and closed the gap between them once again. After they had sat down, they were shortly joined by Carolyn who positioned herself opposite the couple. Douglas had instinctively draped an arm over his captain's shoulders and Martin snaked his arm back around Douglas' waist. Carolyn merely rolled her eyes at the school-girl behaviour of her two pilots.

"I still don't understand how I could have possibly missedthis!" Carolyn sighed in exasperation.

"Believe me, keeping my hands to myself in public for over a year was harder than it looked," Douglas quipped back, Martin smirked and nodded in agreement. "Especially when it meant not being able to seduce the socks off my gorgeous captain," he spoke into Martin's hair with his deep baritone, this made the younger pilot blush an even deeper red. There it was again, Douglas couldn't help but find his captain's nervousness extremely adorable.

"Yes, alright, I don't need details." Carolyn waved his comment off with her hand. Douglas grinned as conversation returned to normal and Martin relaxed a bit, leaning on Douglas slightly. Carolyn seemed to ignore the moments when Martin would make eye contact with Douglas and they would stay like that for a few seconds before snapping back to reality.

When time was nearing eleven o'clock they decided to go back to their respective rooms to go to sleep. They needed to be ready to fly GERTI at ten-thirty the next morning. Martin and Douglas walked back, hand in hand and when they got to Douglas' door, he opened his door, bid Martin goodnight and was about to close the door when he was stopped in the doorway by Martin leaning up and kissing him again. Douglas was caught slightly off-guard but once he had one hand around Martin's waist and another tangled in his ginger sea of curls, he allowed Martin to take control. Martin ended up pulling Douglas out of his room, into the hallway and pinning him against the wall separating Douglas' room with his own. Martin began to undo the buttons on Douglas' shirt and lifted his other hand underneath the shirt to rest on his bare chest. They would have stayed in the hallway for quite some time if it hadn't been for Carolyn who loudly cleared her throat. Douglas reluctantly pulled apart from Martin and couldn't resist grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"For the sake of my sanity, pleasego into your own room and do it," Carolyn really didn't want to keep image of her two pilots making out in the hallway of a half-decent hotel in her head. She would much prefer they stayed in the comfort of their own room. While she knocked on the door for Arthur to let her in, Douglas and Martin carried on where they left off and Martin guided them both into Douglas' room through the open door and onto his bed. Martin vaguely recalled the door being shut (maybe even slammed) by Carolyn but after that he was blind to his surroundings. All that mattered was Douglas and him. After what felt like years but was probably only an hour, Martin crept next door and they both changed into their pyjamas. Once they were back in each other's arms, they slipped into Douglas' cold bed, cuddled together to keep warm and stayed that way throughout the night.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are much appreciated and favourite/subscribe as you wish.

DesireAndDread