Deliverance [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

Clean spiritually.

Physically, I smelled like I hadn't bathed in weeks and my curls were actually weighed down by the amount of grease in my hair. After Arikos had gone to bed in his own room, after a good hour of convincing him I was fine on my own tonight, I managed to make my way to the bathroom where I'd drawn a hot bath, and very carefully lowered myself into the water, letting out a hiss through clenched teeth as the hot water went a long way in soothing my aching muscles.

My wound had closed completely, but the internal damage was still kicking my ass. I still moved like a damn sloth, still ached and sometimes felt a sharp pain when I picked things up, but aside from that, I could at least move around on my own. I was tired of being a burden to Arikos, despite his constant reminders that it wasn't a burden and he enjoyed taking care of me.

It felt so strange to have someone honestly enjoy me, and even more so, taking care of me. My own mother made sure to remind me how grateful I should be she sacrificed part of her life to ensure I was reared like a good soldier and god. Yes, thank you, mother. I appreciate the daily degradations and constant reminders that my idiot brothers were better than me, even Atlas.

Rolling my eyes before closing them, I settled down in the bath, listening to the calm silence around me, the distant waves against the cliff that the palace sat on. The crispy popping of the bubbles around me. It felt strange to be able to relax like this, and also a bit uncomfortable. I didn't want to rest and be pampered. I didn't have time with the war going on, and with Atlan's final attack approaching quickly.

Soon, the time would come to wear the uniform Hannibal had given me. It would be time to stand by Hannibal's side and kill Atlan and restore balance back to the universe, the balance Atlan had so cruelly tipped for nothing more than experimental sadism.

Dekokles's words resonated with me. How odd that I was more attuned to a child than I was to any adult, not that Dekokles was necessarily a child, but I felt far more comfortable with him, and with Amenti, then I ever had with anyone else... Well, setting aside Arikos. I rolled my eyes, feeling a smirk tug at the corner of my mouth as I remembered my earlier conversation with Arikos at breakfast.

"Holy Double Espresso," Arikos had said when he walked into my room in the morning. I turned to look at him with an arched brow, seeing him wheeling in a cart of food with a couple of mugs of coffee. The smell of the coffee reminded me of the coffee Arikos had made in my dream. I relaxed as he wheeled the cart over, and appeared to be staring at me-- scratch that, staring at my chest.

I'd taken my shirt off because it, too, had begun to stink from lack of bathing. I hadn't even really thought about it. I'd gone out of my way to make sure no one had seen me shirtless, for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because of the scars criss-crossing along the inside of my forearms. However, Arikos's eyes weren't glued to them, but my chest.

"Sorry," I said, confused, reaching for my shirt, "I wasn't thinking--"

"No, you really don't have to put that back on," Arikos said, eyes still locked on my chest, "Wow, you are totally ripped." I frowned.

"Ripped," I repeated. Arikos looked up at me now, grinning.

"Like, ripped to the max. Like, you have washboard abs I'd kill a bitch to do laundry on."

"Sometimes you say things that are completely out of this world," I admitted, lying my shirt back down, and taking a plate of food off the cart. Strangely enough, I hadn't been at all uncomfortable with being shirtless with Arikos all morning. Even when he touched my bicep to give it a squeeze.