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“Can I help you with it?”
Kiem’s eyes seemed lightyears away, fixed on the leather band securing Jainan’s hair, fingers paused mid-reach towards the knotted ends just visible behind his shoulder. Jainan could see the bob of his partner’s throat as Kiem swallowed, waiting for Jainan to give him explicit permission to be touched. Kiem’s dark eyes sparked with something like awe. Jainan tried not to let his own breath catch as he twined his fingers with Kiem’s, and brought them to his lips.
“You want to help me comb my hair?” Jainan muttered the words around their joined hands. Eyes unfocused, Kiem nodded once, twice, three times. Then, Kiem started, dropping Jainan’s hand and flinging his arms around like he was searching for a safety command in a crashing flybug.
“Right. Yes! Comb. Where do I--ah yes, here we”--Kiem’s searching eyes landed on a polished wood comb sitting by the edge of the sink, and he started for it--“how shall I--”
“Wait, not like that.” Jainan’s laugh made the words bounce, and he pressed a hand to Kiem’s shoulder. “Your enthusiasm is one of your most endearing qualities--”
“But?” Kiem interrupted, “oh no, have I done something wrong? Oh, shit, you didn’t even say I could, did you! Fucking shit. I’m sorry, I--”
“No.” Jainan cut across. Just as Kiem’s face started to fall, he added, “No. Nothing would make me happier. It is that I have a...process. For my hair.”
The pause that followed echoed off of the creamy stone walls of the washroom. An inhale, and exhale, and then--
“Show me.” Kiem breathed, just as Jainan finished “I can tell you how.”
“Oh gods above, please, yes! Jainan. Yes.” the jovial sparks rekindled in Kiem’s eyes, the burn settling in next to newer embers of something wild.
“Very well. First,” Jainan said, “we shall start in the bath.”
“Oh, shall we? And where shall we end your process, darling husband?” Kiem, as always, put heartfelt effort into his teasing, but Jainan didn’t miss the quiver in his voice at the word process .
“That depends,” Jainan hedged, “on how patient you can be for me.”
Without pausing to see the havok play out on his partner’s face, Jainan turned and took a step toward the bath that took up most of the room. He flicked his wristband, starting a stream of water into the deep tub of their ensuite, taking a moment to adjust the temperature and activate some smaller taps of scented oils. Jainan watched Kiem’s face haze over gently with wonder. Baths were common, a standard here on Thea, but he supposed to Kiem it would still be strange as a replacement for a shower.
“Now.” Jainan’s voice came out cool as the stone tiles under their feet. “Would you like to undress for me, or shall I help you remove your clothes?”
This brought Kiem back to himself.
“Oh! I can, hang on, let me--” a fumble of tunic and trousers tripped closer to Jainan until, like a very charming miracle, he righted himself. Kiem stood, every inch of umber skin met by salt-tinged air. Irrationally, something like indignation flared in Jainan. Impossible. Impossible that his husband could stand there, more glorious than any person had a right to be, as if he were an ordinary person with ordinary skin and an ordinary smile.
“Come here.”
Jainan had barely finished the words before Kiem closed the space between them, hands coming up and palms hovering lightly over the edge of Jainan’s arms. He could feel the heat radiate from Kiem’s skin this close, from his hands, from his stomach. He felt Kiem’s breath ghost across his cheeks, scented of chocolate and malty tea sipped after dinner. Jainan’s eyes dropped to Kiem’s mouth, full and pillowed and giving slightly where the soft peak of his tongue traced his lower lip. Light pressure at his wrist, then a plink plink on the tile told Jainan that Kiem had removed their wristbands. Jainan crossed his arms to pull his light tunic over his head, and felt Kiem’s fingers slide with his own to free him of the fabric. With a gentle fwup the garment hit the stone at their feet, and Jainan took in Kiem’s roving gaze over his chest. Took in his partner’s endless eyes, the freckles dusting the bridge of his nose and cheekbones. Jainan wanted suddenly and fiercely to run the tip of his nose along them. And so he did. He felt more than heard Kiem’s intake of breath as his nose glided along the crest of his cheekbone, fingers moving up to trace the carved swoop of collarbones and the shadowed valley of his jugular notch.
“Can I?” Kiem breathed, his own fingertips ghosting the band of Jainan’s trousers.
“You needn’t ask.”
Jainan, still reasonably distracted with his work, muttered this into Kiem’s jaw as he skated his lips along the sensitive skin. At this, Kiem pulled back, pushing gently with his cheek to meet Jainan’s eyes.
“I will ask. Every time. You always have a choice, we both do. So,” the slide of Kiem’s fingers dipped to meet the jut between hip bones, loosing a small gasp from Jainan. “can I?”
Jainan nodded, and Kiem’s fingers set to work on the neat row of copper buttons between him and his universe. Pulling away to give more space to his hands, Kiem’s gaze slipped slowly, lovingly from Jainan’s shoulders, to his chest, over his stomach, and then dropped to the offending barrier at hand. With solid pressure, Kiem bent as his fingers eased trousers and undershorts down over hips, then thighs, and, after pressing two quick kisses to kneecaps, stood and offered both hands to hold his partner steady.
Jainan took them, and stepped out of the fabric pooled at his ankles. His cock, half-hard already, swelled further when he found Kiem’s eyes busy drinking in the available inches of his own tawny skin. Jainan took the opportunity to catalog his husband’s hungry reaction, committing the dance of his eyes and the awed slack of his lips to memory. He found this to be a helpful strategy when Kiem did things he did not fully comprehend--make a note, a mental vid, save for later, draft an analysis. If Jainan was perplexed by the piety in Kiem’s gaze, he was further puzzled by Kiem dropping to both knees in front of him, eyes level with his navel.
All the sound had been sucked from the room. Jainan wondered if this was how it felt to be spaced. Transfixed, Kiem did not seem to notice. He was wrapped up in his own silent rite as he lowered his forehead to the wiry trail of hair below his husband’s navel, sliding down to nose at the hard heat of Jainan’s arousal. He held Jainan’s length at the root, and rubbed with his nose, his cheek, his chin against him from base to tip. Having reached a destination but seeming unprepared to end his journey, Kiem parted his lips to slide them down a veined edge of Jainan’s cock. Without stopping the slow glide, he mumbled something that could have been “sweet fuck” or maybe “my luck” or perhaps any number of small prayers to gods neither of them knew the names of.
Jainan didn’t remember closing his eyes but could tell objectively, when he blinked them open at a sudden loss of contact, that he must have. Kiem’s smile was sharp, teeth glittering like a ceremony blade and lips very much no longer on his cock. He dropped his grip on the base of Jainan’s length and let him bob obscenely into the air where his face had been moments ago. Reasonably displeased with the reduction of contact, Jainan cupped his fingers around his partner’s jaw, ghosting his thumb across that mouth and marveling at the friction a thumbprint could so successfully produce.
“The water’s stopped.” Kiem told the secret to the pad of Jainan’s thumb.
Experimentally, Jainan gave an inquiring press up and under with his hand below Kiem’s jawbone. The request was clear, asked with as much clipped diction as Jainan’s tongue wielded in speech. As in all things, Kiem was ready with an answer. Jainan kept the hand in a firm caress as his partner rose up off the tiles, offering the other to steady him. Kiem’s gaze on him was locked, but fogged like the steam-coated mirrors around them.
“You may untie my hair now.” Jainan gave permission like a promise.
To his credit, Kiem remembered fairly quickly that he possessed hands. Kiem’s sturdy fingers plucked at the free ends of the leather ties, and the bands fell away to join the discarded clothing on the floor. The wooden gender bead threaded along the cord, not yet removed as a symbol just for Iskaners, tapped the floor with a snic . Offerings were meant to be left behind. Kiem spent a moment combing his sturdy fingers through the ends of Jainan’s hair, letting it breathe. Jainan’s eyes fluttered shut, and he felt the ends tickle his skin as Kiem teased the tresses from the echo of the posture they had held all day.
“ Beautiful .” Kiem breathed, and Jainan remembered his exacerbated words from months ago in the tent. You’re beautiful, it’s really distracting. That moment in the tent and this moment now are individually cataloged, but sorted into the same file of Jainan’s mind. Bits of perplexion and incredulity that were slowly forming an evidence bank supporting Kiem’s claim back on Carissi. That Kiem loved him. That Jainan was a diplomat and a figurehead for his people, but that he was also a partner. A person with a partner. That love was their right, not their duty.
“You are the engineering lead of a massive interplanetary mining operation that could make or break the Thean economy. How am I the one keeping us on track here? What’s the next step in the process?”
Jainan cracked an eye to see the sprawling grin that accompanied Kiem’s question. His cock twitched in response to that grin. It was not a grin built of the winning charisma that had charmed the Empire, but one made of a trouble more precisely honed to unravel every last thread of Jainan’s fraying composure. He supposed that the efficiency with which it meted the chaos it was designed for would be fascinating in a more academic context.
“The next step is that you stop talking, get in the bath, and show some patience”--Jainan turned towards the counter to collect his thoughts and needed supplies--“while you wait for me to join you.”
Jainan braced his hands on the cool metal of the countertop, inhaling the jasmine, amber, and orange of the bath oils carried on the swirling steam. He was two breaths away from feeling composed again when the sound of a splash and an “oh hell!” broke his concentration. Turning, Jainan processed that the splash had come from the bath in response to Kiem falling into it, and Kiem was responsible for the “oh hell!” Kiem sat very still, with just his chest and head visible above the surface of the bath, seemingly hoping to avoid insulting the water any further.
“I think I did something wrong.” Kiem murmured this as though he were concerned moving his mouth would create further ripples in the water. “No, actually, I think I know I did. Any tips for next time?”
Having gathered all he needed, save his wits, Jainan stepped through the puddles, placed his supplies on a tray, and moved to step into the bath.
“Using the steps is generally recommended.” Jainan said, moving down the two short stairs leading into the water.
The bath was large enough to fit at least four, with steps submerging in and a shallow bank for sitting carved like a half moon into the stone basin. Kiem was perched on the stone outcropping, skin dewy from the rising steam and eyes hooded with warmth and want. Jainan held the tray of products just over the water and watched as the gravity stabilizers activated to balance it midair. He tapped it gently to float it over to Kiem. He followed it, and crossed to sit next to his husband in the water.
“Hold out your hand.” Jainan made the request, and then took a small copper bottle from the array. The bottle opened with a soft click. Jainan anointed his partner’s palm first with a kiss, second with rose oil that ribboned and pooled like honey. Clicking the cap shut and replacing the bottle, Jainan looked to Kiem. “This goes in first, starting at the ends, and then I rub it into my scalp.”
Quiet for once, Kiem brought the oil to his nose, sniffed, then closed a hand over the other to rub the oil in without spilling any excess. Jainan edged himself closer, until his knee pressed into his partner’s. Gingerly, Kiem turned to him and stretched out his hands, pulling Jainan’s hair over to rest on the shoulder closest to him. As before, he combed through the ends, first pressing his palms into the thick rope to apply some oil, then delicately sliding his fingertips through the lengths.
“I remember,” Kiem spoke softly, burying his fingers in the hair at the nape of Jainan’s neck, “our first night together, when you let your hair down--”
“Mmm,” Jainan hummed, eyes fluttering closed. Hands scratched small circles lightly over his scalp, rose wafting around him.
“--I well and truly lost my mind. I didn’t…well, I didn’t ever think you would trust me enough for that. I mean you were you and with everything…it just felt impossible. Completely unreal.”
The bite of fingernails smoothed into caressing fingertips, releasing tension Jainan didn’t know he had carried across his crown, down the base of his skull. Kiem slowly rappelled his fingers down the lengths in his hands, bunching halfway down to massage the tender skin where the knot of hair had sat throughout the day.
“Sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?” Kiem’s musing was barely a whisper. As he spoke, he ran his thumb and forefinger in a firm stroke down the two columns of muscle at the back of Jainan’s neck. Jainan let out a low, pleased groan. He heard the water splash softly, then felt the pressure of Kiem’s thighs as he moved to sit behind Jainan. The shelf in the bath was large enough for them both this way. Jainan had missed Thea.
“Is this good?” Kiem’s voice purred, chin hooked gently over his shoulder. His arms wound around Jainan’s middle, a grounding touch. Wordlessly, Jainan felt for the tray, touched the comb, then held it over his shoulder to Kiem. An amused breath left Kiem, and he pulled his arms away to continue his work.
Fingers raked softly through Jainan’s hair, pulling from the front edges of his hairline and trailing all the way down to the ends. Root to tip. He felt the firm teeth of the comb as they alternated with Kiem’s fingertips, caressing the sensitive skin of his scalp and releasing the ghost tension from the knot. The comb passed two, three, four times in even strokes, moving with the curve of his head. Kiem weaved the comb carefully around his temples, picking up strands that spread in front of Jainan’s muscled shoulders and sorting them neatly back into place behind his ears.
Jainan’s relaxation transformed to charged awareness as hot breath pressed against his neck.
“Jainan…” Kiem’s voice was hushed, misted with need as he traced the shell of Jainan’s ear with his nose. Fingers threaded through Jainan’s hair, cradling his head without giving any room to squirm. A hiss escaped Jainan’s lips when teeth closed over his earlobe, which shifted to a full-bodied moan when slick, wet heat tongued across his skin. Kiem was single-minded, laving and rolling the flesh between his teeth. Jainan lolled back against his husband, feeling at once the security of his partner’s hand on him and the knife-edge precipice his touch had pushed him to. Greedy, Kiem moved his mouth down to the hollow just beneath his last target. Kiem skimmed his lips down to the joining of shoulder and neck, Jainan savoring the slow drag of skin on skin, then--
“What’s that for?”
Jainan whimpered low, aching for his husband’s mouth to be back precisely where it was instead of free to be asking questions. Instead, a hand stretched out around his shoulder to grasp for the hover tray. Kiem hooked a finger over the edge of the tray, replaced the comb, and peered at the last bottle Jainan needed for their evening.
“Tell me what it is? Let me take care of you, love.” Kiem’s words slid down Jainan’s spine as effectively as his velvet touch.
“That,” Jainan tried not to give in to embarrassment when his voice cracked, “is the final step. I wet my hair, put this in, and then rinse it out again. It cleanses, and seals the moisture from the oil in.”
“Oh! In that case I don’t think we’re quite ready yet are we? One last step so we can”--Kiem wrapped his arms tight around Jainan’s shoulders, then heaved all his weight into throwing them both sideways and under the bath’s surface.
It only worked because Jainan hadn’t been expecting it. Resurfaced, Jainan pressed the edges of his fingers to his eyes, wiping the water from them. When his eyes blinked open, he was face to face with Kiem.
“Very quickly,” Kiem smiled, “just, before you say anything, I would like to remind you that you love me,” he held up one finger to tick the item off, “we are married,” he added a second finger, “and our marital peace sets the precedent of interplanetary relations for everyone this side of the Link?” He paired this last with his newslog smile and two fully splayed, placating hands.
Kiem never really stood a chance. Jainan surged towards him, the water a boon allowing him to pull his husband close. Kiem’s legs wrapped instantly around Jainan’s waist as he crashed towards him, their mouths meshing at a feverish pace. The length of Kiem’s straining cock caught between them and pressed into Jainan’s stomach. Jainan groaned at the contact, and Kiem used the opportunity to breach his husband’s mouth, sliding his tongue over Jainan’s teeth, teasing at the roof of his mouth.
Not willing to cede the upper ground, Jainan slid his hands down from his partner’s waist to squeeze firmly at his ass--the whimper that leaked out of Kiem was a sound Jainan would risk his life for. Deliriously, he swallowed a laugh as he amended: again . Bears and the rugged elements had already been a worthy price for Kiem’s passion, as they would be always.
Jainan squeezed again, this time using the leverage to spread Kiem’s ass wide, sliding a tentative fingertip over his entrance. Kiem’s cry at the touch grew louder as he pulled his mouth from his partner’s, then muffled again as his lips mercilessly targeted a tendon in Jainan’s neck. Jainan traced teasing circles along Kiem’s rim, decimating him slowly, as he moved them both to sit. Kiem used his tightly-wrapped arms to pump his body down into Jainan’s hands.
“You are an unmitigated menace.” Jainan breathed the words into Kiem’s ear.
Jainan pulled his lips away so he could watch Kiem’s face as he applied steady pressure with his fingertip to Kiem’s rim.
“Do you want this?” Jainan asked, pressing as firmly as he could without plunging into him.
“I want you, so much. Jainan. Please .” Kiem’s voice was a reedy, breathy thing as he stared back. Jainan watched every expression that passed over Kiem’s face as he plunged his finger slowly inside of him; Kiem’s lips parted with a gasp at the entry, then the dark of his throat grew as his jaw went slack, eyes screwed shut, pulling his eyebrows down with them. Jainan pushed in one knuckle deep, then two, and grazed his partner’s collarbone with his lips. He kept his hands still on Kiem, giving him a breath to adjust to the fullness.
Based on the whine that leaked from Kiem, Jainan guessed he wasn’t especially interested in adjustment periods. Kiem unwound his arms from Jainan’s back, and found his long dark hair with one hand and a tan, pebbled nipple with the other. Fervent fingers twined up in Jainan’s dark hair, and a cry escaped his lips when his lover gave an insistent tug at the roots. His vision blurred slightly as he arched away from the pull, increasing the pain just enough to loosen a few of the knots that kept Jainan tied to his role as dutiful, scholarly diplomat. Every bit that Kiem tightened his grip gave a handful of glorious slack to Jainan, letting his lungs take in more air than they had known the moment before.
This was what they were most skilled at--the give and take where their devotion was sweet negotiation. Neither Kiem nor Jainan could bear the thought of receiving a pleasure that went unreciprocated, unmatched, unknown by the other. The belief that there was no loving touch the other did not deserve was a guiding principle they both observed solemnly.
The leverage Kiem gained from his hand in Jainan’s hair was enough to rock himself forward, bucking the branding heat of his erection along Jainan’s belly. The cant of his hips was desperate and seeking, and Jainan was loath to deny Kiem anything for long. Jainan sheathed the final length of his finger into Kiem, down to the hilt. Lacking the ideal lubrication to slide in and out of his husband, Jainan opted to pulse his hand against Kiem’s entrance, a devastation of rhythm and depth that earned a steady hnnn hummed into his ear. With his free hand, Jainan made a tight circle of his fist and fucked it down Kiem’s cock to the root. For one mad moment, Jainan thought that with enough sheer will, he might be able to meet his two hands together at Kiem’s center. If he wanted it badly enough, he could join them both together; he could squeeze and tighten and grip enough that they would never be unbound. Jainan continued to fuck into Kiem and drive down on his cock, forcing the two repelling magnet poles of his hands as close as possible again and again.
“Jai-- nn , j--, I, huu ,” the slew of fractured syllables came from Kiem like a jumping stream, punctuated by fierce, full-body jerks and twitches. With a guttural shout, Kiem tensed in Jainan’s hands, and then pulsed, pulsed, pulsed, and slackened. Beautiful .
Kiem rested his forehead against Jainan’s shoulder, guiding a weary hand down to meet Jainan’s and ease him from his entrance. A soft noise escaped from him the moment their bodies were unjoined. For a moment, their heaving breaths mingled with the steam that still clung to the air.
“I’m afraid we may have veered off course a little, darling.” Kiem slurred.
He unlocked his ankles and pushed gently away from Jainan. Kiem’s skin shone like the frosted mountains of Iskat, face flushed with exertion and eyes unfocused and glittering. The words hung in the air and floated on the steam as Kiem bobbed back and forth in the water. Mind dampened by a fresh, painful awareness of his swollen cock, it took Jainan until Kiem rejoined him on the bench to notice that he had retrieved the bottle of lotion from the hover tray.
“Oh. Kiem, we don’t have to--”
“No, I won’t hear of it. When Empire-renowned Jainan nav Adessari offers to teach you something, you damn well learn it. Turn around.” Kiem twirled a finger to make sure Jainan got the message, and then took a moment to swipe with a submerged hand and float his come to the other side of the bath.
Resisting the urge to palm himself, Jainan swiveled on the stone bank to offer his damp hair to Kiem. Again, fingers smoothed from the top of his scalp down the ends of his hair. Kiem rubbed the lotion in small circles at his temples, behind his ears, at his hairline. Every touch sent a spark of heat down his spine, increasing the already impossible pressure of his cock. Jainan couldn’t remember being this hard in his life. After a last few lingering strokes from root to tip, Jainan thought he might vibrate out of his skin. He was about ready to very calmly, rationally tell his husband that he was on the brink of death, when Kiem’s tentative voice came from behind him.
“It has to sit now, right?”
“For a moment, yes. But you do not need to linger if you are tired, or if you wish to go.”
“What. Jainan. ” Kiem was annoyed.
Turning to look at his partner, Jainan found that the serene, debauched expression of a few moments before had pinched into something like exasperation. Jainan gathered the evidence that told him this was a safe irritation, and not one that signaled pain: this was Kiem, there were kind sparks in his eyes, a smile was starting to play on his lips, Kiem always told him what he was thinking, this was Kiem --
“Jainan, my love, my darling. You are an incredible man and an absolute mystery, and I would very much like for you to fuck my mouth and come down my throat. Is that agreeable to you?”
“Oh. Yes, that sounds nice.”
Laughter peeled from Kiem and ricocheted off the stone tiles, skipped on the surface of the water like a stream-worn stone.
“Ah, well, with enthusiasm like that! What’s a man to do?”
Jainan lifted himself from the outcropping under the warm water to sit on the lip of the tub. He leaned his back against the cool wall behind him, and spread his knees so Kiem could kneel between them.
Jainan’s breath caught in a corner of his ribs as Kiem took him in hand, lifting his cock slightly at the root to pull one of his balls gently between his lips. Jainan shut his eyes, overwhelmed by the opulence of being able to both be touched by and also look at Kiem in the same moment. It was too much for just one person to bear. Kiem let out a filthy mmmmn of delight, the usage of which Jainan had only ever identified from Kiem in situations much like this or when he had his first sip of coffee the morning after a gala or dinner where the wine had flowed generously. Kiem puckered with gentle suction, tugging softly at the flesh while he ran his tongue back and forth underneath. Jainan peeked an eye open, about to encourage his partner to reposition his mouth in accordance with their previously discussed plans, but was stopped short by the soft pop Kiem’s lips made when they released him.
“By all the gods.” Jainan whispered. He was perhaps going to die.
A string of saliva stretched from Kiem’s mouth. Jainan wound it around his thumb, and smeared the wetness across the other man’s lips. Kiem parted his mouth instantly, ducked his head to catch the pad between his lips, and gave a hard suck to the skin that made Jainan’s vision go white for a moment. Releasing his thumb, Kiem honed on a different target as he aimed a near-fatal lick to the slit of Jainan’s aching length, lapping away the slickness that had already beaded there. Then, Jainan watched as the dark, wet miracle of Kiem’s mouth circled his cock and sank down.
Kiem’s lips were swollen and slick with spit as they opened to take Jainan in as deep as he could go. With one hand fisting the base of his cock, Jainan watched as Kiem closed his eyes ( eyelashes , Jainan’s mind noted helpfully), hollowed his cheeks, and bobbed his head down. A chorus of sloppy, sinewy noises bubbled up from where Kiem’s mouth was destroying any hope Jainan had of forming a coherent thought. He might have been contemplating the word accommodate as he sunk his fingers gently into the tight coils of Kiem’s hair. Kiem’s lashes fluttered up at the touch, a beseeching noise vibrating at the back of his throat.
Jainan pushed his hand further into the thick curls and pressed his palm behind the crown of Kiem’s head. He found his footing on the carved bench of the bath, planted a palm flat on cool stone, and pushed up cautiously into Kiem’s steady mouth. Kiem keened a nonverbal plea at the entry, and then it was like the merging of their bodies had punched a hyperdrive lever. Jainan plunged into Kiem until his lips met his fingers, then snapped his hips back so that his cock almost slipped completely from the slick wet heat.
Jainan set a pace that was perilous, and kept his eyes locked on Kiem’s to watch for signs of discomfort or dissent. He managed one final stroke before Jainan’s fingers left Kiem’s hair and framed his face. Jainan pulled out far enough to watch as Kiem flattened and extended his tongue, pillowing the pool of release that spilled from the tip of him. Kiem wrung his fist from the root of Jainan’s cock to the tip for the last pearl of Jainan’s come, and then he closed his lips and gave a hungry swallow. Kiem’s cheek pushed warmly into Jainan’s hand as he flashed up an impish grin.
“Ready to rinse?”
Jainan blinked twice before responding, “I’m...not sure I can move.”
Kiem huffed a quiet laugh, then rose up on his knees to wrap his arms around Jainan’s chest. Jainan kicked his legs and secured them around Kiem’s middle. With a grunt, Kiem leaned back to pull Jainan into his lap, submerging them both in the bath again. Kiem twisted to the side, and pushed out from under Jainan to let him wet his hair. Jainan was grateful for the still-steaming warmth of the bath as he dipped his head back, wringing the lotion out of his tresses. He dropped his hands after minimally rinsing his hair, too wrung out himself to lift his arms any more than was absolutely essential.
When he righted himself again, he saw Kiem had stepped out of the bath and retrieved two towels. He waited at the edge, extending one to Jainan. Warmth filled his belly. Cared for. Jainan felt cared for, in a way he had maybe never known. A new one for the files.
“I love you.” Jainan said.
“I know you do,” said Kiem, “and I love you too.”
---
They were both dried off and sitting on the edge of their bed before either of them spoke again.
“So, can I braid it now?”
“Kiem, where in the seven vassels did you learn to plait hair?”
“Honestly Jainan, you can’t visit as many children’s charities as I do and not learn how to give a dolly a decent hairstyle. It’s like you think I don’t know anything.”
“You know many things, darling.”
“Yes I do,” and Kiem smiled as he said, “let me walk you through my process.”