Chapter Text
Galileo took a drag from his cigarette as he strolled. Venice in the mid afternoon was a decent setting for a holiday.
Not quite what he'd go for usually but the older man refrained from being predictable when it came to himself and how he ran his life.
Nevertheless, he loved predictability in his findings because it proved his ideas right.
It was then he noticed a tall, dark haired young man sitting on a chair outside some smoky cafe he didn't bother to check the name of. He felt a familiar warmth stirring in the pit of his stomach upon seeing him and decided to approach the man.
"Your suit jacket. It goes well with your complexion."
"Oh, why thank you, Signore," the younger man replied before going back to reading his newspaper.
"How about I buy you a drink? Not here. Somewhere else. This cafe looks abysmal."
"What makes you think I want a drink, Signore?"
Galileo half snorted, half scoffed. "What's your name?"
"Ludovico Marsili. And yours?"
"Galileo Galilei."
"I believe my cousin is one of your students. I don't much care for those sort of endeavours."
Galileo lightly bristled at that. If this went the way he wanted then Ludovico wouldn't have a choice. He'd feel what science does to a man.
Still, the older man acted as if he hadn't heard his comment and handed him a small card with the details of the hotel he was staying at inscribed.
"You come for the drink or you don't. It makes little difference to me, Marsili."
"What time if I bother to show?"
"7.30. If you're late, I'm not going to get you a drink; you'll get me one instead to apologise for wasting my time."
Marsili laughed.
Oh, he was absolutely going to go.
***
"You weren't late. I'm impressed." Galileo muttered.
"It's a pet peeve of mine. People being late."
"Are you one of those people who also wakes up at unreasonable hours?"
"Yes. I assume you don't."
"No. I stay up at unreasonable hours. Science cannot wait. It's a very competitive field, Marsili."
"Ludovico."
"Hm. Ludovico."
"Do you do anything else? Hobbies? Anything of that sort?"
Galileo shrugged. "I drink, sleep around and read. Do you like wine? I live for it."
"Who doesn't like wine?"
"Idiots. Idiots like the Pope."
"Well, I don't think the Pope is an idiot, Signore."
He laughed. "A Catholic? I'm hardly surprised. You look as if you're perpetually resisting temptation."
The younger man laughed too. "One has to in our current climate."
"Or you could pull your head out of your arse and lose your virginity."
"Before marriage?"
"Well, yes. Everyone is doing it."
"I would be a disgrace to my family if I did something so foolish."
"What Century is your family living in, Ludovico? The 15th? Waiter, two glasses of red wine, please. And quickly."
"I actually prefer white."
"God, how rich are you? You're having red and that's final."
"I want white."
"Fine," he grumbled. "Have white instead. I respect you less for it."
Ludovico conceded. "I'll have red."
"Good."
The waiter, a slim creature, gave them a bottle and a glass each.
Galileo snuck a glance at the waiter's backside as he walked off. "I love this restaurant."
"I can see why," Ludovico replied, not wanting to dredge up his drinking partner's pervetedness. "They're very quick."
"And they provide great service. They'll do anything for a tip."
***
Neither of them could remember the previous night's events clearly. Ludovico woke up sprawled on the bed. The sheets were a mess and Galileo wasn't even in bed. Instead, he was having a smoke on the balcony.
"Aren't you going to come back to bed?"
"What for?"
"A cuddle or something."
"A cuddle? Do I look like the type?"
"I don't know! I shouldn't have done this anyway."
"Why keep it all in? Sex is the best thing for a man."
"I suppose. Will you cuddle me or are you expecting me to leave?"
"I thought you would've left as soon as we'd finished. You were drunker than I thought. I'll humour you this once."
"What?"
"I said I'll humour you this once."
The older man then flicked his cigarette to the ground and violently stamped on it. Galileo subsequently did up his fly and returned to his temporary bed.
He awkwardly lay next to the younger man, leaving Ludovico to be the one to initiate the cuddle.
"How long are you planning to stay, Marsili?"
"Until I feel in the mood to get up."
"You rich people. Sloth and all the other sins you claim to frown upon are sewn into your nature like seeds in soil. If you were a woman, I have no doubt I would've fertilised your soil with what we how much we did it last night."
Regrettably, the older man's gleaming smile made Ludovico feel weak.
"It's a shame you're so crude."
"Don't be so sensitive. It's not attractive in men of your stock."
"I'm not cattle."
"You treat the poor like cattle. They are not as stupid as you think," the older man stated. "and you're more stupid than they think."
"Well, I wouldn't know that. I never really get to talk with them. Not that I want to. And I am not stupid."
Galileo moved away and grabbed a pack of cigarettes from his bedside table.
"Here." he said, lazily passing the pack to his bed's current resident. The astronomer was only doing this so he'd shut up.
"I don't have a lighter."
"Then find one. I don't know where mine is, Marsili."
"You haven't even properly looked." Ludovico bit back.
"And I don't need to."
"I'm leaving."
"I won't stop you. Keep the cigarettes. That's what I'm paying you with." Galileo spat before smearing some of the spit onto the younger man's forehead.
For the first time, he genuinely gave Galileo a look of "what the actual fuck?"
"You look like a virgin who's just finished masturbating for the first time. Close your mouth."
"You're disgusting. I heard you were clever."
Despite saying he was going to leave, Ludovico hadn't yet taken the initiative.
"I am clever. You can have both wit and sexual experience. You lack both."
"Must you berate me? We were just cuddling and now you're being like this."
"You know, you actually look pretty when you're not being pious and childish," Galileo cooed semi-mockingly. "I prefer the quiet. It means I can work."
"Is that my incentive to shut up?"
The astronomer rolled his eyes. "You can keep up with my arguing. Fine. I concede. You're not completely stupid."
"Is that the highest compliment you can give me? Even my father can compliment better."
"Is that why you slept with me? Forbidden fruit to make Father angry that his son is a sodomite? That doesn't surprise me. I've slept with your type before. Pretty to make scream but nothing in the mind apart from money and material things. You're not spiritual, Ludovico. Your family lost that generations ago. There hasn't been a truly religious Marsili since The Middle Ages."
"I didn't sleep with you to make my father angry. I did what I did because I find you handsome."
Galileo shrugged. Ludovico fidgeted nervously as he'd concluded that even a compliment would anger the older man in some way.
"You've got a good poker face. I'll do things to it later."
"You're going to beat me? After all I did?"
"'After all you did?' Don't be so sentimental, Marsili. I didn't mean punch it. I was referring to the probable event of you letting me come on your face. Well, I'll do it to upset you. How about that?"
"Are all intellectuals naturally debauched?"
The astronomer snorted. "Never use that word again," he spat. "It's too large for a brain like yours."
"I thought you said I wasn't a complete idiot."
"Opinions change, Ludovico. Much like my preference for who I have sex with or my results if they're unreliable. And, I said you weren't completely stupid. There's a difference."
"Not really."
"Arguing with you is more energy than having sex with you. Remarkable."
The younger man grimaced, immensely disliking his constant bringing up of the subject of sexual intercourse.
"Oh, does the little bambino not like the scientist bringing up sex?" he mocked before switching to a sharper, more serious tone. "Suck it up, Ludovico. You're too sensitive for a man approaching 30 and for a newly non-virgin."
***
At that, he stood up and began to get dressed.
"Really, Ludovico?"
"Yes. Really."
"You child," the astronomer grumbled. "If you get desperate, which I won't put past you, come back and I'll make you forget who you are. You know you need it."
But Galileo's foul mood quickly dissipated and he grinned upon realising he'd managed to get the last word in.