The Kwisling [The Isbjørn book 2]

Nine

Luce had curled up in the four post bed not long after John had tucked himself in. The bed was large enough that they could have slept the entire night without touching and yet Luce woke once with John at his back.

His heart thumped in accordance with slow, shallow breaths. Luce could feel his heavy pulse against his shoulder blades. He tried sleeping through it, but he found himself annoyed in how John's beating heart made him aware of his own breathing. Then, how the warmth escaping his skin made his front half cold. He could have easily scooted away and still had plenty of space to sleep, but he was oddly more content being agitated than being without the weight of John against him.

When Luce woke up again there was nothing of John but the indent in the bed where he had been sleeping. He sat up slowly, glancing around the open room and finding the entire suite absent of the sleep spooner.

Luce had not thought of the possibility that John had simply been in the bathroom until he found him in the tub on the way to the toilet.

"Sorry," Luce grumbled, catching the man as his head was breaking the water's surface after being fully submerged. "I didn't- just hurry up, I have to pee." He turned back around to leave.

John brushed the hair out of his face. The mop of curls over the top of his head were becoming unruly and he was in desperate need of a trim. "Do you usually piss in the tub?"

Luce stopped on his way out of the doorway, shooting a disgusted glance over his shoulder. "No! Why would I piss in the tub?"

His legs were hardly contained in the basin. The water could be filled to the very brim and John's knobby knees would have still breached the water's surface. He drew his arms out of the water. Soaking himself completely, he had unwound the bandages around his hand. The bruises had faded but the fracture was not perfectly healed just yet. His elbows rested on the rim as she shrugged. "I don't know what's stopping you from peeing, then."

Luce turned around if not just to cross his arms at John. "Because you're in here."

John rolled his eyes. "Hell, it's not like I'm gonna look."

"It's not that- I don't care if-"

While Luce stammered, John pulled his knees to his chest and took a firm grip to the sides of the tub. In one fluid motion, he stood, the water rolling off his body as he drew to his feet. "Just go pee you big baby," said John. Somehow nude he was not the one blushing as Luce diverted his eyes.

"Really nice, John." Luce had gotten an eye full of John's naked form despite having had a generous amount of time to look away as the man stepped out of the tub.

The chestnut haired man grinned as he absorbed the remaining droplets with a nearby towel. "Thanks, I like to think so." He was unable to resist turning the comment against the Saevan, and the grin overpowering his face told of just how hard he had fought to keep silent.

He tucked the towel around his waist and hobbled toward the exit. Expectantly, he stopped just inside the doorway. His hand landed just above Luce's head with intentional racket, drawing his attention.. Turning his chin down, John leaned over the other man and gave two sharp, blatant sniffs into Luce's hair.

"Wow, Luce." Their eyes met with the statement.

"What?"

"You reek."

Luce drew up a hand to shove him back but stopped himself. At his current angle, he would shove John back into the open door where the angle would jab right below his injured ribs. The spot was still discolored but John was finally back to carrying himself with the dignity of an uninjured man. Luce did not want to put their travel on hold by reawakening the injury, even if he was asking for it.