When Hal had heard of Flint’s sudden retirement, he certainly hadn’t believed it to be anything more than some sort of ruse. Some strategy for another mad scheme – but what he hoped to achieve had been so fucking incomprehensible that he had found himself looking into it more deeply out of sheer macabre curiosity.
In the end, it had all mounted up to his own return to Nassau and a rather early retirement as well – not that he had any intention of letting Flint know his reasons for stepping off the account had anything to do with him. His ego was dangerous enough, even if it was relatively quiet these days. He’d checked in on the man a few times, noting the steady slip toward a dangerous tip in the man’s humors and knowing if he was going to make any difference in it, now was the time to do so.
He hadn’t really known what to expect from the old gesture of familiar humanity and comfort, but a full embrace was so far off the list that he just stood there, struck stupid by such an unanticipated openness from the other man. The comment jarred him out of it, and earned a laugh even as Flint drew back and seemed to retreat in as complete a way as he could manage, that old Navy propriety snapping up like a shield so fast it was a wonder the man didn’t give himself a headache.
“Takes one to know one, I think,” He shot back, even as he reached out and slung an arm around the other man’s middle and giving him a squeeze back, shaking his head against the aborted mention of gratitude and the past between them – or rather the point of it which separated them. “We all make mistakes,” He remarked, almost lightly, “If we live to learn from them, we might as well do so.”
He recognized his own crime against Flint that day, belatedly. It had been months of frustration after the fact, before he had dawned upon that little realization, and with it he had found a strange balance between annoyance and understanding. It was a place Flint had lived so well for so long, it rather made sense that even this would be something Hal could figure out how to forgive.
“But enough of all that,” Hal cleared the air between them with acknowledgement and a focus forward, “How about you walk me through this garden – let’s see how much you know.” He was fair certain it had been Barlow that had maintained it, and while that did not necessarily mean Flint didn’t know how to manage it, it did give them something to focus on for a time and would be a project Flint could maintain, which should help form routines essential to balancing one’s humors.
Ocean Archive 