Tuesday - Afternoon (after classes) - 1-29-08 - 3rd Floor Bathroom

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He'd been good. He hadn't set anything on fire during cooking class.

He had gone out earlier and bought a few other colors of candy (why yes, he was trying to make Andrew happy) during the day, stashed the assembled baking supplies in the common room for later, grabbed his soap (as well as another bar he'd bought for Andrew as it smelled nicer, he thought), grabbed the scrub brush, and was now sitting in front of an empty tub in the third floor bathroom hoping that he wasn't about to look like an absolute fool.

As dates went, he reflected, this one was rather pathetic, especially judged against the one Andrew had taken him on, and that bothered him until he realized that it wasn't a date and he probably shouldn't even think of it as a date even though he'd tamed his hair and taken the time to let out the hem on his old trousers so that his ankles wouldn't be showing.

Also, he added to his thought process, breathing was good.

[ooc: for someone specific, but do feel free to come by]

Comments

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew peeked around the door slowly and broke into a smile when he spotted Liir. "I've brought clothes! Dirty clothes!" he exclaimed, walking in with his laundry bag.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir practically flew on his own, jumping to his feet.

"Good, good."

He looked at the bag, quirking at how many clothes Andrew had. Would he ever have so many?

As it was, his wardrobe felt mildly wasteful. More than two sets of clothes, as if a body needed more than that. He put it down as a cultural difference and decided, right then, to try and find a happy medium between what he'd grown up with and what seemed to be the norm here.

"That's quite a lot, but it shouldn't be hard."

He gestured to the soap that he'd left on the ground next to the scrub brush.

"I hope you don't mind the soap I picked," and he knelt back down, mostly to make sure he didn't reach out and do something stupid. Then he stripped off his shirt.

"If you don't like it, you can use mine."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

And he had actually dumped a little over half of his dirty laundry onto his bed before coming, not wanting to bring a lot when he wasn't sure how long it would take to wash them by hand.

Andrew bent down and picked up the soap. He gave it a sniff and then looked up with the intention of telling Liir that it smelled great, but he wasn't expecting shirtlessness. "It's... very pretty," he mumbled instead, staring.

"I'm mean it has a nice build. Smell!" He ducked his head, flushing a nice shade of pink.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

The nice thing about Liir, as Andrew would realize, is that he was oblivious to compliments or comments about his appearance unless they were made very very blatantly.

Preferably with brick-like subtlety.

He smiled at Andrew.

"I'm glad you like it. I wasn't sure."

He nodded to Andrew.

"You don't want to get soaked and soppy. That's the quickest way to a cold." His smile went a little crooked. "Well, it used to be. Now, it'll just be wet and sticky."

He held out his hand.

"First piece?"

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"So I should take off my shirt?" Andrew asked, already self consciously covering himself.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He blinked.

"You don't have to, but it'll probably get wet otherwise."

He was a little confused as to why this was a question, but he wasn't going to force Andrew to do anything.

He gave a shrug.

"Then again, you might be less clumsy than I am. I always splash."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew sat there for a moment, contemplating. Then he quickly removed his t-shirt and tossed it behind him. "Okay. Let's do this."

He reached into his laundry bag and pulled out a crumpled pair of pants. He held them out towards Liir.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He smiled and took a look at them.

"Hmmm."

Then he reached over to turn on the taps, the hot water mostly but the cold got a twist or two. As the water started flowing, he picked up Andrew's soap and used the side of the scrub brush to scrape a few curls of soap into the warm water.

"Warm," he said. "Not cold, since it won't get everything out, and not hot since it'll make things shrink and damage the fabric. It'll fade or rip or wear."

He looked at the pants critically.

"These are pretty light," he said thoughtfully before putting them in. "We'll want to do other pieces that're white or light-colored with it. You can start pulling things out and putting them in the water, as long as they're light."

He turned to smile encouragingly at Andrew.

"Any questions?"

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"Warm water, no shrinkage, light-colored clothing first." He nodded. "Got it."

He began to sort through his laundry, putting in what he hoped were appropriate items. He hesitated before tossing in a pair of his boxer shorts, not wanting to make Liir uncomfortable. But being that they were already in his hands and half way to the tub, he just quickly stuck them in, pushing them down towards the bottom.

"So do we scrub now?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He pushed everything down into the water, let the soap mix and swirl around on the surface a little, and then nodded.

"We scrub."

He took the brush and pushed it into the water before running it against the soap.

"Just on certain parts, though. Spots or stains, or areas where you know it's probably the dirtiest."

He reached in and pulled out a pair of pants and pointed to the knee, the cuff, ...and the crotch.

"You'll want to give a quick scrub here," he said as he put it against the side of the tub and did just that to the knee, "make sure there's nothing down here" and he pushed most of the pants into the water to scrub against the cuffs, "and in here," and now he pulled it back out of the water, turning it so that the waist was just over the edge of the tub and stuck the scrub brush inside, utterly matter-of-fact. After a couple of moments scrub, he let it sink back into the water.

"Nothing too hard," he told Andrew, "unless there's a real spot or something there. You don't want to rub the cloth to split, after all."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew stared, not knowing if he should be fascinated or horrified. It's funny how personal something like the crotch of one's pants can seem.

He reached in and pulled out another pair of pants. "Like this?" he asked, scrubbing furiously at a knee.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He reached out to put his hand over Andrew's, to hold him from scrubbing a hole into the cloth. His touch was soft, firm and businesslike but with an obvious attempt at gentleness.

"Not so hard. The soap and the water will do most of the work in a few minutes."

He gave Andrew a warm smile.

"Though it's good you're not afraid to put your back into it."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew slowed down dramatically, concentrating on keeping his breathing even and steady as there was shirtless and pretty touching him right now.

"Sorry," he apologize. "I tend to get a little enthusiastic over learning new things."

He suddenly wished he had brought the rest of his dirty clothes.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He smiled and ran his thumb over Andrew's wrist, tapping him lightly when he got to the other side.

"Much better," he said as he pulled his hand away. He tilted his chin towards the tub.

"I'll start kneeding it," he said, "which would be the next step. You sort of treat it like bread in the warm water to let the soap seep in and get everything clean."

At which point he leaned over the edge of the tub and started to work the clothing with his hands, splashing only a little really. He was rather practiced at it.

"I'll try and push over pieces you haven't scrubbed yet. When you get to a shirt, I'll stop to show you the spots there."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew scrubbed another pair of pants. Probably not doing the best job of it as he was pretty much enraptured by Liir. And for all of the other boy's careful lack of splashing, Andrew was managing to sling water everywhere.

And then he had an impulse: it was sudsy and warm, and without considering any consequences, Andrew sent a cascade of soapy water in Liir's direction.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

The water hit him in the side of the head, the unruly black curls slapping down against his skin to make him look like nothing so much as a drowned cat (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v719/hephaestoschick/Screencaps/Louis%20Garrel/mamere-capture_002.jpg). Then he turned, sputtering just a little before giving a bark of a laugh and picking up the sides of a shirt to fling water right back at him.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Graceful reactions have never been one of Andrew's strong points. This was more than evident as he attempted to scramble onto his feet to avoid the oncoming water while simultaneously reaching into the tub to splash more towards Liir, and, naturally, he slipped, laughing and flailing at the same time, and falling backwards into the tub.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

The splash finished soaking him, but then he was (still laughing) trying to pull Andrew up and out of the clothes. Unfortunately, soap (and soapy clothing), makes things hard to grip. And Liir, soaked as he was now... sort of fell in right after.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew made a completely ineffectual attempt at keeping Liir from falling in on top of him, but he was laughing too hard.

"I'm wet," he observed upon regaining his ability to speak. "And so are you."

He wasn't even thinking of moving.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

When he could breath again, he looked down at Andrew through a couple of black, soaking curls.

And nodded.

Because if anything else moved, from his toes to the top of his head, he would do something incredibly stupid. And he couldn't blame it on Peter's dancing. Not even close.

Instead, he just looked at Andrew, at wet blond hair and bright eyes. And his mouth. He couldn't help himself from looking at Andrew's mouth for reasons he couldn't quite figure out.

And not. Moving.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

There was a shirt button digging into his back, but Andrew didn't notice. His leg was sitting underneath him a little uncomfortably, but Andrew didn't notice.

He was, however, noticing a number of other things, like how warm Liir was. And how close he was. And how he was looking down at Andrew.

Things suddenly seemed very serious, and Andrew reached up with a surprisingly steady hand to touch Liir's cheek, accompanied by a very brief and nervous smile.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

As he had the last time Andrew had deliberately touched him like that, his eyes closed and he leaned into the touch like a deprived kitten, simple peace lighting his features.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

His heart was beating loud enough that he was sure the other boy could hear it, and Andrew's hand slid from Liir's cheek around the the back of his neck. He didn't take his eyes away the face in front of him, and the rest of the room seemed to fade away.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

If Liir had enough experience with cats (or a Cat in the family), he might have purred. As it was, he relaxed against Andrew.

He didn't care that he was in the water. He didn't care that he was soaking wet. He didn't even really care that this might be inappropriate.

Andrew was warm and Andrew was petting his neck and the world was a very good place. The only movement he was prepared to make until it stopped was to arch his neck up to make it easier for him to reach.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

The sensation of wet skin moving against wet skin as Liir seemed to draw in closer caused Andrew to make a small appreciative noise, and in turn, he shifted ever so slightly to feel it again.

It almost didn't seem real, or maybe it was that Andrew was acting with perfectly clarity and he just wasn't used to it. He lifted himself closer towards Liir, until he could just barely nuzzle the skin of the other boy's shoulder.