(no subject)

[amicably_absent]

Glitch had swum for hours, chasing fish and insects and bubbles and sunbeams. Eventually, worn out and tired, he had swum to shore and curled up on the bank on the sun warmed pebbles, grumbling about his lack of coat until he fell asleep.

He woke up with Rennie shaking him, a scolding voice telling him he had to come in, he was all wet and dirty and needed a bath and clean clothes, and was she going to have to strap him in the chair.

Glitch reacted predictably.

He screamed at her, judo flipped her while sitting down, dove into the water, swam to a far edge and took off.

Rennie asked Cain to go find Glitch and bring him in before he froze or hurt himself.

Glitch had retreated to the rotunda, sitting on the seat and swinging himself back and forth, watching the sun setting on the lake. He was soaking wet again, but his trembling didn't seem to worry him at all.

Comments

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Glitch sinks into the water further, until his chin is in the bubbles. "I got dressed without her."

He reaches up to rub some of his hair between his fingers. "Maybe it does need more than water."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

Sliding his arms out of his coat and folding it before laying it down on the floor, Cain looks at Glitch with something approaching fondness. It's tinged by what he doesn't want to be pity or empathy or anything at all degrading. He hopes it's just compassion, nothing more.

He rolls up his sleeves, even if he feels like a fool for it. "Need a hand?"

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Glitch brightens considerably. "Would you? I'm not sure I can..." he looks at his hands. "I put watches together with these hands. Tiny little clockwork birds to sing in the hallways..."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"Of course I would." His confidence grows from that boost of energy alone.

"Let's get your hair soaked. I won't go near your zipper, I promise."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"You won't open it, so I don't mind." Not that there's a tag.... and it's stitched shut, but he's forgotten that.

Glitch takes a breath, pinching his nose and sliding underwater, surfacing quickly and shaking off water and bubbles.

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

Shaking off water and bubbles all over Cain, that is. He closes his eyes, face scrunched up in a bout of mirth that takes him completely by surprise.

"You're-- You're like a wet dog on the beach!"

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

He rubs his eyes with his fists and blinks and beams at Cain. "It's wet, though!"

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"Kind of goes with the territory, doesn't it? Come on, scoot on over, give me some shampoo." He holds out his hands for that exact purpose.

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Glitch grabs the bottle, gets it open and turns to kneel and dollop some on Cain's palm. The bottle gets done up and set precisely in place. He sits back down, tucking his knees to his chest.

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

With all that water, there's a lot of splashing going on, but Cain doesn't strictly mind. It's easier to focus on the task at hand than at what bubbles and water does to Glitch's general...qualities.

He starts at the back of Glitch's neck, working his way up with soft, gentle touches, careful to work out knots and kinks as he goes. "Tell me about those clockwork doohickeys you mentioned."

Maybe that'll keep him distracted from his having lived a nightmare.

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Um..." He closes his eyes and sighs softly. "The clockwork birds... I made birds, for the princesses. They flew and sang and perched on fingers. They ran off moratanium. It was expensive and maybe a frivolous, but they loved them..." He trailed off with a hum.

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"Nothing but the best for your favorite girls."

He'd loosen his collar if he kept it buttoned. As he doesn't, he keeps up this...thing they're doing, that's turning more and more from just helping a friend with washing his hair into something else. Something like leisurely massaging out tension, something like going on muscle memory, even if he doesn't remember ever washing Adora's hair. He doesn't think he ever did. He never thought he would, but here he is, and it's...

It's oddly nice.

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Glitches eyes close, head tipping back into Cain's hands and leaning there, trusting and relaxed and content.

"Wyatt," he murmurs softly. "That's real nice."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

He can feel blood rushing to his face, but Glitch can't see it, so maybe that's okay. "Yeah."

Maybe it's okay to get lost in the contrast between squeaky clean hair and frothy, soft lather and skin, pale skin everywhere he looks, and bubbles. Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles.

"Not too bad."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Mm?" Glitch hums deep in his throat and chest. "You're not on this end. You don't get to call it not bad until you're on my end. It's real nice."

He slides down a bit more, hands coming up to hold onto the edge of the tub. "Did you have a bath after we went swimming?"

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

Cain shrugs, though the motion probably goes unnoticed. That sound reverberates somewhere deep inside him, and it would be so easy to toss convention out the window and just live a little, but he needs time. This isn't the right time.

"A shower. I can't stay still for too long." One hand cradling the dark curls and the back of the head, Cain reaches for the shampoo bottle. Within moments he's worked open the cap one-handed and poured some more onto not yet lathered curls.

"Makes me restless."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"I like lying in a warm bath. I think... maybe I used to work in the bath." He wrinkles his nose. "Showers remind me of being in the rain. But a bath is warm." He kicks his feet a little in the water and then sticks one out to knock the hot water back on. "Someone should make a thing to keep baths hot..."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"What's wrong with rain? I love rain, to walk in it, feel it wash away all your troubles," Cain murmurs, moving on to the sides of Glitch's head, hands working in tandem.

It's a startling realization, that he could get used to this. Not this as in just being here, but this as in doing this for Glitch. He thinks, he might just do a great deal for Glitch, should he need to. That's a startling realization, too...

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"It's cold. It's cold and it soaks through and it makes me wet for ages and makes everywhere you try to sleep wet and damp as well." Glitch huffs and sighs, sinking into Cain's hands again. "But this is nice. Really nice."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

He cringes inwardly. "Didn't think of that. I can see how that would change your perspective."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"We all have our things. You don't like still and dark. I don't like being trapped in rain." He tips his head back more to look at Cain upside down.

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

His hands, cradling the dark head of curls, his heart beating faster simply because all of a sudden he's got dark eyes watching him; dark eyes framed by the darkest set of lashes he's ever seen. Dark lips, dark eyes, dark hair, pale skin and big, bright heart. He forgets how to breathe.

"Neither of us is perfect."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Watching Cain, those lovely blue eyes and blonde scruffy hair and recovering tan... "You sure," he asks softly. Because from here, he's not sure about that.

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

He blinks, wide-eyed and uncertain and suddenly feeling terribly insecure. "No. Not at all."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Me either," he whispers. Watching Cain in that moment, he forgot the times he drove him nuts. "You make complexes look attractive."