Soft Hearts Hold Secrets

Different Feelings

"I don't care," Muriel told Inanna, who followed on his heels as he made his way to the bathroom. In his hand, he held his rather dormant phone, still flicked shut and silent since he had used it the day before at the shop. "I don't care."

'You don't care.'

Muriel shook his head, opening up the small linen closet beside the bathroom door with a creak of old hinges. "Nope," he muttered, grabbing the last of his towels and slinging it over his shoulder. He would have to go to the laundromat soon -- just like the towels he was running out of clean clothes to wear. He'd been wearing the same sweatpants he wore then for the past couple nights when he went to bed. He had obviously abandoned shirts for sleeping due to the summer heat, but he wouldn't mind washing his sheets too. Maybe he'd go that weekend before his second job. "I don't. I don't care."

Inanna plopped down in front of the bathroom door as Muriel pushed it open, not following him inside, but still watching him and that phone in his hand with judging green eyes.

Muriel set the phone on the counter beside the sink, shuffling awkwardly around it as he stepped towards the back of his cramped bathroom -- as he always did. Muriel's bathroom had the essentials and the essentials only, there wasn't enough room in his budget for... well... room. Which of course caused problems for a man his size. He almost lay his hands flat against the ceiling if he stretched his arms up, easily touch it even with a bend of his elbows if he decided to use the tips of his toes for extra height. Muriel never really tried it since he had moved in, and he didn't think he would try it. Water stains and creeping spots of cobwebs in the corners didn't look very nice to touch again.

He turned the shower on, his hand nearly thrice the size of the faucet, and waited for the water to warm, eyes watching the phone on the counter a little bit too anxiously, arms folded over his bare chest. Once the water was warm enough to get in -- but never too hot, he liked his showers a cooler like rainwater -- Muriel did. He undressed himself and stepped in, ducking a little so the water could actually touch his face and wake him up, before standing and letting himself stand in that awkward little standing shower.

Muriel didn't wash himself in the mornings so his shower was short. He only washed himself in the nighttime, after work. He only showered in the morning out of habit, to wake himself up. A little luxury in his life of... not having many of them. It cleared his head, the cool water -- he could close his eyes and almost imagine it being rainwater. He could almost smell it, the wet grass, the mud, the sharp, heavy scent of the rain itself. Muriel didn't know why he liked rain -- he certainly couldn't stand those loud thunderstorms that would often roll over Veusvia from time to time -- but the steady patter against his skin and aching, overworked muscles... it was comforting.

He couldn't stay there forever. There was work to do, and his water bill could only take so much. Muriel shut off the faucet, and reached a hand out from behind the curtain for his towel. He dried himself off, dried his tangled hair off, and wrapped the towel around his waist, all part of the morning routine.

He'd just been tucking the corner securely at his hip when he heard it. The phone.

Muriel's eyes widened, face paling. Hastily, he pulled the shower curtain open, and started to step out, gaze having fallen upon the bright, buzzing phone that sat upon the old porcelain of his sink. In his hurry, he forgot the customary duck, and his forehead hit the metal bar that held the shower curtain in place. With a groan, one hand on his head and the other making sure to secure his towel, Muriel ducked, stepped from the shower, and reached for his buzzing phone...

Yep. That was Asra's number.

Muriel's heart leapt. He ignored it, swallowing hard, eyes flicking down as he hesitated. Did he want Asra to know it had been him who called and hung up right away? Would he laugh? Maybe Muriel could pretend it had been an accident-