Brownies and Tangerines

When Haulean's legs tightened around his chest, he let one hand come up and wrap around the younger man's ankle, thumb rubbing over the calf muscle there, trying to return the favor of safe physical touch. Yoonjie had a theory in his mind, that Hau had been the victim of unsafe physical touch at some point in the past, so he had always done his best to let Haulean touch him freely, and only return touches that weren't easy to mistake as being overly intimate in nature. All touch was intimate in nature, when two people trusted one another enough to allow one another in their personal space.

It was easy to forget the Woman, and his dad, and the impending trip to Tevinter, what he'd have to do there gathering information, easy to forget the things he had done, stolen, broken in the past sitting there in the tub with Hau, letting the younger man wash his hair. He made a noise that wasn't exactly a reply to the comment about being too tired to bother with a bath -- that was many times when he came back from a mission, an outing that either taxed him physically or spiritually. He was over taxed mentally all the time, so he felt there was never going to be a time that he'd recover from that.

It smells like something I might have passed over in the store. He reached back and plucked the soap from Hau's little stash, his thumb stopping where it was working the muscle in the man's leg, before he brought the bar to his nose and gave it a good sniff. It was good, almost made him think of being on the road, a cup of black coffee on the small camp fire, in black leathers to move easily through the night, the acidic bite and then smooth finish of earth and woods. Just as long as you don't call me Nairn, we're good. I'm much more handsome.

It was easier for him to be playful, the more he was away from the different masks and faces he had to wear with others, Haulean never made him wear any of them, he was free to just exist with Haulean. But then deft fingers moved from his scalp to his shoulders and neck and he was putty, head falling back into the young man's lap and eye's fluttering closed. My wife gives the best shoulder massages.. he breathed, both hands coming up to work Haulean's calf muscles now, anything to do with his hands, even if his intrusive thoughts were telling him to playfully pull the other man into the water. Yeah. Don't think I'm gonna forget you need to wash your hair tonight too. I already have an inkling you're gonna try and crash my bunk tonight, aren't you?

He patted Haulean's leg, twice, and then went to stand up, and step up out of the tub, to switch places with the man. In. Get your hair wet.

@Haulean Oruven