As they boarded the train at King's Cross Station, Eames, Jacob, Alice, and Rachel were giddy with excitement for their adventure. They had managed to snag a set of facing seats with a table, and all four of them had dopey grins on their faces. "This is going to be amazing!" Alice declared, and she and Rachel collapsed against each other, giggling.
"Ok, we've got to do something other than act like idiots for the next hour plus. Otherwise, the other passengers are going to hate us," Rachel said.
"Cards?" Alice suggested as Eames made a deck appear from inside his light jacket.
"I don't know how to play much, but sure," Jacob agreed, watching with a smile as Eames expertly cut the deck and started to shuffle.
"What do you know how to play, love?" Eames asked.
Jacob's face turned a little pink. "Um...Go Fish. Old Maid...mostly kids' games."
"Me, too," Rachel admitted.
"You're so cute," Eames finished shuffling and gave Jacob a kiss on the cheek. "Ok, you want to learn a partners game or every-man-for-himself?"
"Every-*one*-for-themselves. We needn't be sexist with our fun." Rachel replied, nudging Alice with a smile.
Alice and Eames made eye contact and smiled before she replied, "Then we'll start off with Mum's and Will's favorite, poker. Five card draw."
"Alice, you know I can't play poker without betting," Eames protested with a wink. "And I am sure that I shouldn't take all of Jacob and Rachel's money."
"Mum taught us to play with old pennies," Alice explained, then pulled up her backpack and rummaged around in it, pulling out a large bag of M&Ms. "Well, these were supposed to be emergency provisions, but Will not having anything to bet in poker is clearly an emergency."
Rachel passed out napkins from her messenger bag, Alice distributed the M&Ms, and Eames dealt while explaining the rules of poker.
Almost precisely forty-five minutes later, Rachel gleefully called out. "Ok, show 'em." She plopped her cards down and declared, "Full house!"
"Oh, bollocks!" Alice cried out as she dropped her cards. "I only have a straight."
Eames had a shit-eating grin on his face as he revealed his cards. "As they say, read 'em and weep. Four of a kind."
"You're getting ahead of yourself, William." Jacob warned. "Straight flush." He grinned and popped more M&Ms in his mouth.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me! That's like the 6th bloody hand in a row!" Eames playfully pushed on Jacob's shoulder. "And it would even look like you were winning if you didn't keep eating your chips," he teased, as Jacob ate more M&Ms.
"I value chocolate over victory," Jacob answered before leaning over to give Eames a kiss.
Rachel unlocked the door to the picturesque little cottage. "Here we are!" She gestured for the rest of them to enter.
"This is really cute, Rach!" Alice declared. The door opened into a living room with overstuffed couches and armchairs decorated in florals that would have been over-the-top in anything but an English cottage. To the right the space changed over to a dining room and kitchen. In the left hand corner of the living room, a narrow set of steps emerged. A hallway disappeared out of sight towards the back of the house approximately the point where the living room became dining room.
"So, the bedroom with two beds is straight back the hallway. Alice and I will take that one. You guys can take the upstairs with the single queen." Rachel winked at Jacob.
"So we'll drop our things, freshen up a bit, and then head for Ely in about..." Alice checked her watch, "a half hour?"
"Sounds good!" Eames answered, eagerly heading up the stairs. At the top of the stairs starting to the left, there was a small bathroom, then a hallway of built-in cabinets, and then the door to the bedroom. Being an attic room, the ceiling sloped in on both sides to a peak. The furniture was all dark woods and deep blues. Pushed against the far wall and centered underneath the peak, there was a big bed covered in a luxuriously soft-looking cobalt blue duvet.
"Are our sisters plotting something?" Jacob asked as he set his bag on the low hardwood bureau.
"I think so, but only in the nicest way," Eames said with a chuckle, dropping his bag on the floor and flopping on the bed. He stretched out on his back and closed his eyes. "Oh, this feels every bit as comfy as it looks," he sighed.
Jacob crawled onto the bed and on top of Eames. His hands cupped Eames' face and they kissed. Jacob's tongue darted into Eames mouth, tentatively, exploring, and his boyfriend responded by wrapping his arms around him, one hand landing on the small of Jacob's back and the other gently cradling the back of his head. Their tongues met and danced as the kiss deepened. Breathless, Jacob drew back and stared into Eames' eyes. One hand moved from cupping Eames' face to brush stray locks off his forehead. "All the blue in this room makes your eyes even more amazing," Jacob whispered.
"You're just fucking beautiful," Eames replied, nipping playfully at Jacob's bottom lip. "How did I get this lucky?'
Jacob's mouth quirked up on one side, mischievous . "You watched me until I couldn't ignore you," the dark-haired man teased. "Do you know how intense your stare is?"
"Tell me. Or better yet, show me." Eames dared him. Jacob didn't say anything in response. Instead, he dipped his head and laid a trail of kisses up Eames' jawline. Eames responded with a hiss of pleasure and his arms tightened around his boyfriend's body. "How is it you know just what to do to make me crazy?"
"I'm just paying attention to you and what you like," Jacob answered simply, nibbling on Eames' ear. "Trust me, there is no plan. I've never done this before."
"Never?" Eames nudged Jacob's head up so they could look into each other's eyes.
"Not unless you count one very unfortunate 'Spin the Bottle' game when I was an exchange student in the States. And, trust me, you should not count it."
A new concern tickled the back of Eames' brain. He was Jacob's first...everything. It was sobering. What if he fucked up? What was Jacob expecting of him? What if Eames did things Jacob didn't like or didn't want to do? Before he could open his mouth, Alice's voice called up the stairs. "Boys! Five minute warning!"
"Damn." Jacob breathed against Eames' neck. "Shall we call this 'to be continued'?" He kissed Eames lightly on the lips before standing up.
Eames was glad that he'd brought a camera to Ely Cathedral, because he was finding it hard to focus on the architecture. He was a strange mixture of excited and nervous about the evening ahead. He and Jacob had yet to do anything more than kiss, and now they were going to have a room to themselves for two whole nights. He felt a sense of responsibility, being the more experienced sexually, and that responsibility was also a weight.
"Hey," Jacob sidled up to Eames, disturbing him from his spiral of thoughts. "Rachel and Alice headed up to the Stained Glass Museum." When Eames didn't answer, Jacob touched his arm. "Are you okay?"
Eames nodded. "Yeah. I was just thinking about...later."
Jacob smiled. "I've been thinking about it a lot, too. I'm really looking forward to spending the night in your arms." He leaned in closer, his voice barely audible. "You look nervous. We don't have to do anything you don't want to do."
Eames eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I thought that was supposed to be my line," he whispered back. But it did release some of the tightness in his chest. He took Jacob's hand, and they walked towards the stairs.