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[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.

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[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."

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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."

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"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?"

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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."

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"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..."

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"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...

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"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."

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

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"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.

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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."

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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.

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

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

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His lips twitch. He has no idea what to say, and yet, the words just tumble out of his mouth in one, hushed little string, "You're beautiful. Even when you drive me insane, you're just...so handsome, and I can't for the life of me figure out why you of all people, why now. I forget to breathe when you're around, and I can't even hate myself for it. I've tried, it didn't work."

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It steals Glitch's words and thoughts and for once he doesn't mind. He stares, Cain upside and beautiful and holding him so softly, and then he reaches up with sud covered hands to cup Cain's cheeks. "That's the most beautiful thing anyone's ever said to me," he says softly.

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"I--" He's fresh out of words. The flood came and went, and every last word went with it; an exodus of the brain.

All he can think is he can't run away. Not this time.

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Glitch keeps watching Cain, then draws him closer, tipping to try and kiss him.

Whether or not can is debatable, because Glitch might not be able to successfully kiss someone when everyone's the right way up.

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Cain isn't sure he can, period, but then sudsy hands move further back to his neck, and he goes with the silent encouragement, bending down and over, and what Glitch lacks, he makes up for by twisting sideways.

Anything that feels this right can't possibly be wrong.

Their lips touch, water and suds drench the front of his shirt from Glitch's head pressing into him, but he can't object, everything sends sparks flying.

His heart steps up the pace; he gasps into the press of soft, dark lips, and suddenly he's on fire.

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It's awkward, but it's perfect, so that more than makes up for the awkward. Cain feels like sunny days and open fields and satsuma.

It's very chaste, but he lingers for long moments before letting go, hands sliding back into the water as he hums and draws away.

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And it stops right before it can go too far, which is a blessing and a curse intertwined into one. He sighs, moving with Glitch as if to somehow make it last longer, but then he sways back.

It still doesn't feel wrong. "How..." He clears his throat. He has no idea what he wanted to ask.

His hands opt for more shampoo, then move closer to the zipper. The hair needs cleaning up there as well, and he likes to finish what he starts.

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Glitch looks up when he speaks, but decides it probably didn't matter if Cain doesn't push any further and he instead relaxes back down again with a contented smile.

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As he moves closer, his focus sharpens and his touch grows lighter. He wouldn't want to poke anything tender or sore, but he needs to make sure everything is healing properly, and that it's clean.

"I'm going to check your stitches, Glitch. Try to stay still. I'm just looking."

Surreality makes way for the real world all but too quickly, sometimes.

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Most importantly, he has stitches just to hold the zip firmly done up, stitched through the actual zip itself at the back of his head. But he stays still and quiet, apparently aware that Cain's no danger to his safety.

"I think I'm going to keep it."

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He nods, scrutinizing the stitches for any sign of swelling. Maybe it's a small area to fuss over, but if any sort of complications were to come from Glitch forgetting to keep them clean, Cain wouldn't know what to do with himself. Satisfied that it looks good enough, his hands slide down to rest on top of Glitch's shoulders.

"It's a reminder. For all of us."

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It's healing, despite Glitch's best efforts by running all over the countryside and beaning himself over the head earlier.

He looks up and back as Cain's hands slide to his bare shoulders, lifting one hand to cross his body and close on Cain's. "I'm used to it. It's part of me."