Neon Rush {M/M} ❀

Ch.21.2 TLC

Gray clears his throat. While he stands, Sami leads Zef to a table laid out with oils, incense sticks, candles, clean towels. There's a sink to wash his hands. In his periphery, he sees Gray tug his shirt off by bowing his head and grabbing the back of it. Zef can count the knobs of his bent spine.

Rubbing oil into his palms, he follows Sami's lead and stands next to the table while Gray lies across it, leanly clothed in denim, gilded ink and nothing else.

Zef does his best impression of a professional. "Okay. Where do I start?"

"We'll begin with a simple back massage. Gray, please inform us if the temperature of the room is not to your liking, if you require pressure adjustments, or if anything is too uncomfortable for you. Zef, rub the oil into your hands to warm it and begin at the lower back."

Zef places the heels of his hands over the two dimples bracketing Gray's spine, just above the hem of his jeans. He glides his hands up the valley of Gray's back to the prominent edges of his shoulder blades, fanning them in the shape of a Y, before dragging them down his waist to start over. It's a cyclical, repetitive motion, and Sami encourages him to lean some of his weight into it. She gives him a summary of what they're trying to do. Encourage blood flow, pushing tension out towards the lymphatic system, acclimatising Gray's body to the touch and pressure.

Gray stays silent, his face hidden in the headrest of the table. At first, his body tenses. Girding itself against pain. Particularly when Zef applies more pressure. Gradually, that tension unwinds. His muscles melt, pliant like candle wax warming to touch.

Sami teaches him a few more techniques. Ways to roll the muscle between his thumbs, to find knots and encourage them to release. At first, Zef worries a little about a layer of awkwardness. Perhaps this solves the issue regarding Gray's aversion to anyone else touching him, but it introduces a new problem: that lack of aversion is tied directly to the trust and affection brewing between them, and massages were...kinda sexy.

But Gray's gild mitigates the problem entirely. His neck is so tense that even gentle ministrations hurt. The tattoo of a ram's skull, framed by peonies with a serpent caught in its horns, takes up a portion of his back as knotted as the imagery. Sami tells him to breathe through it, to relax, but Zef still hears him hold his breath through the worst of it.

"You have the basics, now," Sami says. "I wouldn't advise going further just now. Massage can be quite intense, particularly with gild mistreating your body this badly. I'll teach you a few last techniques, Zef. They should only be pleasantly relaxing and not painful. Hopefully this will soothe and encourage your body to heal, Gray."

She instructs Gray to turn over onto his back, rolling towels to pillow his head. Zef sits in a stool, looking at Gray upside down. Sami guides him through a gentle scalp massage, fingers rubbing slow circles into Gray's temples.

After that, she tells him to follow the nasolabial fold.

The word 'labial' has Gray snorting. Zef says, "Shh, you're supposed to be relaxing."

"Didn't know it was that kind of massage," Gray jokes.

Zef slaps his shoulder lightly. He catches a look from Sami. It's a kindly considering look. Not displeased. He clears his throat and starts doing as asked, running his thumbs along the shallow groove from the sides of Gray's nose to the corners of his mouth. It pulls his lips down in a frown. Moulding his face like clay. Gray can't seem to help laughing.

It makes Zef chuckle, too. "Stop."

"Naw, can't. I probably look ridiculous."

He doesn't. His smile is gorgeous. Zef runs his thumbs along the dimple lines bracketing his perfect mouth. He runs his fingers through Gray's unfairly soft hair. He splays his hands, applying pressure to the pads of his fingertips like Sami says. It has an immediate effect. The worry lines in Gray's face smooth. His body slackens a little.