(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

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

An odd match, but obviously a good one. "That's what I kept thinking. He sounds so much like her. And he's sneaky like her, subtle about things."

He tilts his head, touching his forehead to Glitch's, ever mindful of the zip. "He said I only hear what I want to. I misinterpreted things he said, and he called me on it straight away."

Fatherly pride fills him up like hot air in a balloon. It's a good, good feeling. They're bonding. Finally, after their tentative, awkward attempts at getting to know each other again, they're actually getting there. Thanks to Glitch being Glitch, and Cain being Cain.

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Good man. You need to be called on it before you puff yourself up into a state of hot air and bluster." Glitch smiles brightly at Wyatt, nose to nose and brow to brow.

"So. Are you going to invite him down here or not?"

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"I'll get you for hot air and bluster." But he smiles back, gazing tenderly at this man he cares so much about he could go to pieces, tiny little smithereens of subdued joy.

"Yeah. I think I will. He's got to get a good look at us, you know."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"And he needs a holiday. And you need time together. But you can call him in the morning, it's too late now and I'm comfortable." He nods, settled on this.

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"We all need a holiday, Glitch." But he's right; it would be nice to spend some time with his son.

"You know, if you've half a mind to sleep on me, you're sadly mistaken. I'll be hunched over like an old man in the morning. All immobile joints and stiff muscles."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Glitch whines. Clearly, he had intended on sleeping on Cain tonight and not moving. "Fine, if your old joints can't take it, I suppose I better not sleep on you. I had three quarters of a mind to do it. The other quarter probably approve, to be honest. Ambrose was a bit funny about personal space."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

That's an intriguing little sound, which makes him think relocating to the bed is just too tempting to resist. "Yeah? The reserved type?"

Helping Glitch on his feet, Wyatt takes him by the hand and drags him on over. "My main objection was the armchair. Just so we're clear."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Mm. He had trouble with people. He never knew how to talk to them, because he knew too much, too young. And he didn't know how to make them understand."

He gets up with a sigh and flops down on his bed, bouncing. He pats the bed next to him. "It'll be clear soon."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"And most of them didn't want to." Cain nods, sitting down on the edge, figuring he might at least get rid of his belt and socks if he's about to stay the night, acting stand-in mattress. They're put away neatly by the side of the bed.

And then, only then, Cain turns to look at Glitch. He scoots on up to lie down beside him, bluer eyes than ever in the moonlight.

"I might as well tell you I don't sleep well. You're in for a rough night."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"I guess not. It was a lot of trouble." Glitch rolls onto his side, watching Wyatt closely.

But not half as closely as he did when the moonlight caught those lovely eyes.

"Hm? Oh, I don't sleep inside on beds for long. Your eyes are amazing. Luminescent."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"Most people wouldn't bother. Can't say I..."

He catches up with Glitch's random comment, and blinks. First time anyone's called his eyes glowing, and it figures it'd come from the zipperhead with a heart of gold and a zipper that glimmers like the moonlight itself.

"Thanks. You're not half bad, yourself."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"No, really," he urges. He doesn't think Wyatt really gets it. "They glow, like back lit sapphire, all pure colour and radiance. It's beautiful."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?"

He averts his eyes for a split second, scooting closer. "No one ever waxed poetic about my eyes before. Not any part of me, to be frank."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"I'm not waxing poetic, I'm describing," Glitch says softly, smiling as Wyatt moves closer. "I can wax poetic if you want."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well, maybe I just don't know a complimenting description from waxy poetry."

He winks reaching out slowly to seek out one of Glitch's hands.

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Glitch giggles. "And that's why you shouldn't read at night by candlelight. You'll get your poetry all waxy."

His fingers brush Wyatt's, just touching without holding.

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"Not to mention you run the risk of setting your hair on fire." A beat, for comedic effect if nothing else. Glitch has the most heartwarming laughter. "Well, maybe I don't, but with all those curls you most certainly do."

His hand closes in, wrapping itself securely around it's rightful owner. "I like your hands."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Glitch laughs again. "Maybe. I wouldn't put it past me to do something silly like that."

He colours slightly, looking pleased. "I like my hands too. Especially the one I gave to you."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"I've noticed. But I suppose you're right, it can be real practical. You can do so much with three hands instead of one."

Running his thumb over bony knuckles, he turns his eyes to it. Them. Their hands, one pale, the other one just slightly tan. It makes a nice contrast.

"But I like the other two best. They're good hands. Graceful, animated, calloused in places... They show you're more than just a member of the royal court. You're a hard worker."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Mm, you can." And for a moment, his mind clearly wanders off somewhere else, possibly to the thought of a third mechanical arm and how useful it would be.

The touch draws his attention back. "I was always told I had lovely hands and I should stop wringing them and putting creases into them." He flexes his fingers in Cain's grip and then curls them back on Wyatt's. "You're so tan, even after all that time in the case."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"And you're awful pale after all that time on the road."

He smiles, scooting up even closer. "Maybe I just tan fast, and you really don't?"

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Maybe I wasn't out in the sun lots..." He isn't sure. He doesn't remember. "I don't think I ever tanned up. I burn."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

"Then you'd better make sure you don't stay out in the sun too long." The 'or else' should be right there between the lines. He sneaks one of his arms around Glitch's waist, feeling soft skin beneath fabric and liking it very much. He feels strangely liberated, as though letting him out of the iron suit wasn't enough.

"How about this? If we do manage to go to sleep, when one of us wakes up, he wakes up the other. We'll go dancing in the dark, outside. Maybe the moons will still be up."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"I guess so. Or I'll go bright red and it'll ache. And there's no DG to magic it away." Glitch shifts a little closer, biting his lower lip and then smiling shyly.

"Mm, but you don't sleep well. I'd sooner let you sleep if you manage. I can talk to myself and when you wake up, we can go outside."

[less-hugging.livejournal.com]

He could point out that those of us less magically gifted resort to rubbing lotion all over the redness (and what's a massage between good friends?), but he doesn't want to give Glitch bad ideas. Innuendo is one thing, Glitch burnt to a red, flaky crisp because of something he suggested is a whole different bucket of awful.

He shrugs, eyes drawn to the tempting display of teeth and lips. "But I like listening to your voice..."