slipped along the way

[unmarred]

(from here)

So... up the stairs they go, mostly side by side. Mark lags by a step or two.

There is a persistent silence.



"I... didn't think you'd react the way you did," he says finally. "I mean, I thought you might—that there might be something there, but not that you'd actually."

Comments

[unmarred]

"Towels? Why are you saying 'towels' like it has some kind of secret meaning that you expect me to find hilarious if only I knew it?"

Mark sits up, too, and scoots over to give Stalas a hug and an affectionate shoulder-nuzzle.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Because it does. I wasn't sure you didn't know it, actually. It seemed reasonably cross-cultural. But I'd be happy to explain."

Maybe after a quick kiss.

All right, maybe after two kisses.

[unmarred]

"Bath," Mark reminds him, grinning. "And the mysterious significance of towels."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah, yeah."

Bathward they go, then. Stalas operates its controls while he talks.

"The story goes, Lord So-and-so of House Somebody - you hear it with a few different actual historical figures, or with made-up names, or with no names at all - was a rich fellow with a taste for luxury, and his favourite thing in the world was a long hot bath. One day he goes to visit the house of his good friend Lord Somebody-Else for a few days, to wine and dine and talk about taxes on imported goods and what-have-you. Lord Somebody-Else, being a generous and thoughtful sort, has his servants draw a bath... but when Lord So-and-so steps into the bathing chamber, he notices that there are no towels. Puzzled, he looks for a servant to correct this oversight, but there are none to be found nearby. So he stands next to the bath with the door closed and his armour on, and sure enough, an assassin bursts in half an hour later. Various versions disagree on what happened next, but it's generally agreed the incident put an end to that friendship. And now a 'bath without towels' is a byword for any situation with a strong odour of trap."

[unmarred]

Mark giggles. "I see. You, of course, head this off by bathing with the assassin."

[thisvorlunatic]

Stalas gives Mark a look, and reaches into the half-full bath to splash water at him.

[unmarred]

Naturally, Mark splashes back.

[thisvorlunatic]

The floor is considerably bepuddled by the time the bath fills enough for them to actually get in it. But in between giggly kisses and exceptionally silly play-fighting, they do manage to accomplish their ostensible purpose of getting clean.

"Enough of this foolishness," Stalas declares, and he gives Mark a quick kiss and climbs out. The promised towels are not only present, they are also cuddly and soft.

[unmarred]

So soft! So cuddly!

[thisvorlunatic]

"You look like you want to marry that thing," Stalas observes.

[unmarred]

"It's soft," Mark explains, cuddling into his towel with a blissful expression.

[thisvorlunatic]

Stalas regards this spectacle. He shakes his head. He grins.

He steps around a puddle and wraps up Mark and Mark's terrycloth paramour in a hug.

[unmarred]

Mark freezes.

[thisvorlunatic]

"—Sorry, should I not—?" He lets go and draws back slightly.

[unmarred]

"No, it's fine," says Mark, although his wide-eyed breathless tension suggests otherwise. "You can. You can hug me. If you want."

[thisvorlunatic]

"...You look anything but fine," he says, but he hugs Mark again anyway.

[unmarred]

"You don't know, do you," he murmurs, shivering. "You don't know what you were going to say... maybe you weren't. Maybe I was imagining things."

[thisvorlunatic]

"What's got into you...? What was I..."

Stalas thinks back to how he felt in that moment, before concern interrupted.

"...oh."

He is quiet for a moment.

[unmarred]

Mark cringes slightly, but makes no attempt to break away from the circle of his arms.

[thisvorlunatic]

As gently as he can, Stalas murmurs, "I love you, Mark."

[unmarred]

He collapses, bursting into tears. If he didn't have Stalas to lean on, Stalas to hold him up, he'd sink straight to the floor.

[thisvorlunatic]

But Stalas is there, and Stalas holds him. His willingness to let Mark cry helplessly into his chest has not diminished at all.

"You know," he ventures after a minute, "normally I would think it was a bad sign that you found it this upsetting..."

[unmarred]

Mark giggle-sniffles and shakes his head. "Nooo," he mumbles into Stalas's chest. "I like it."

[thisvorlunatic]

"You have a funny way of liking things, friend."

[unmarred]

He dissolves into hysterical, slightly weepy laughter.