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]

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.

[thisvorlunatic]

"That's better. Sort of," says Stalas. "Do you and your towel want to come sit on the bed with me again?"

[unmarred]

Mark manages a nod.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Okay. Good. This way..."

And they and their towels make it safely back to the bed, where they can all be soft and cuddly together. Soft and cuddly and slightly damp.

[unmarred]

Mark cycles between giggles and tears a few more times before he reaches a soft and cuddly equilibrium.

At which point, after enjoying the quiet for a few long unhurried breaths, he says:

"I want to go back to Barrayar with you."