Semper.

A few notes:

1. This is really goddamn long.

2. It's still not quite long enough. I'm not satisfied with this at all, and I think that to really get things laid out properly, have a nice narrative arch that, you know, keeps things from being retarded, I'd have to write a 100,000 word novel. I lack either the time or the talent for that. Plus, there be some growin' up I need to do if I want to really write this story the way that it should be written.

3. I don't think that male/male sex necessarily requires one guy to act like a chick. I have no guarantees that Horatio Hornblower being, in many respects, your average American dude unversed in gender and sex theory, does not.

4. While I did a decent amount of research for this -- a lot of time on Google, four books, reading every @(#)*@ article on Wiki -- it's not going to ring true for people who actually, um, know about stuff. You'll just have to suspend your disbelief, OK? Or better yet, just not read this.

( Book Horatio Hornblower and Company as 20th century US Marines. Crack levels: LEEEETHAL. NC-17, HH/WB, HH/Barbara. )

Thanks to iansmomesq for the original idea and for generous enough to let me play with it. Thanks, too, to black_hound and babel for hand holding. I SWEAR MY NEXT FIC WILL NOT SUCK LIKE THIS.