By contrast, Flint beside him is in no hurry to wrench himself upright. The withdrawal of weight and heat verges at the very edge of— not disappointment. But leaves him with the mess they've made, literally and figuratively, and the moment he shifts up off the ground is the one where he will need to begin to account for himself. To clean himself up and extract himself from his present occupation of Marcus' bedroll, find his shirt and be pricked by the first unavoidable thoughts toward strategy
—(they will not speak of this once they've made their return to Kirkwall; and, what is the implication in this? Nothing, except that occasionally there are certain impulses that are more distracting to ignore than to in some fashion satisfy)—
and he would like, for a few seconds more, to delay all that. So he lets himself give into that space. Straightens his legs. Settles his breathing. With the hand that has avoided the mess their release, Flint rubs his brow with the back of his wrist. Scuffs the palm absently back across close shorn scalp, and listens from inside the shadow of his wrist to the slap of rain on tent canvas and the rasping of clothing coming off and buckles being unbuckled.
Where they remain touching is warm, but the sweat on bare skin cools quickly.
Boots off, clothes after, Marcus sits for a moment, back curved forward and head bowing down to release some of the tension that had knotted up through to neck. Head pleasantly empty of niggling thoughts of what this will be, tomorrow, a week from now, or in the next five minutes, some kind of assurance in the notion that the specificity of this moment is unlikely to repeat itself.
Never mind that Marcus would not be able to a recall a time when, after one encounter with someone remaining in close proximity to him, he didn't pursue a second.
Anyway, there is one problem to address, and the more direct solution occurs to him immediately.
He is not usually very concerned for getting clean immediately in the wake of making a mess, especially in favour of laying still in a sweaty tangle for however long the other party will stand it, but these are close quarters and he can feel the day entire clinging to him, not just the last few moments. Brief calculations occur before he is moving without a word, unhurried but determined in his rolling aside onto all fours, up onto his feet, barely, and disappearing out of the tent, an ass that is even paler than the rest of him vanishing out into wild rain.
When he returns, it will be no great surprise to find that Flint has relocated from Marcus' bedroll to his own. That he has made some progress to cleaning himself up, or has at least slipped back into his shirt and redone his various lacings and buttons (though the altered resting place of the waterskin suggests otherwise). The lantern burning on the tent floor had cast some part this in shadows through the soaked tent canvas.
If he's doomed to chafe, then it can be blamed on the dirt and sweat as much as anything else. In the meantime, he folds his coat over into a thing to rest his head and doesn't bother to peel from out of his boots.
"You don't carry a book with you, do you?" he asks when Marcus and his white ass return.
(Appreciate that he didn't just go rummaging around to answer his own question.)
Marcus returns drenched, tense against the cold dousing he'd willingly taken, hand moving from where he'd taken some minimum effort to keep the padded bandaging dry, ish. A huff of breath at the relief from being out from under it again as he makes for his now empty bedding. Cleaner. Still some streaks of grime where limited mobility on one side had meant leaving behind, but it'll keep.
Rakes wet hair from his face, which sends a slightly inconsiderate spattering of water following the flick of it. Reaches for torn, soiled shirt.
Glances to Flint. "A book?" he asked, like Flint may as well have asked him if he'd packed some fine silverware. Folding over his shirt, looking for a patch that isn't bloodied. At least one side of it, and one sleeve. This, Marcus uses to remove the layer of wet from his body.
Fortunately, there's an extra shirt in there somewhere. He asks, "No, why?"
Why? Because he was considering eating it. "For reading," he says instead, propping the bundled coat at one end of his stolen bedroll.
It's not the first time since being cut off that he's wished his things had been on the wrong side of the rock slide with them, but it is maybe the most acute—the thought for the little volume of essays he'd been halfway through more pressing, mostly, than any glancing observation of Marcus' naked body as he wicks wet rain from it.
Stripping back at the top layer of the folded canvas, Flint moves to shift in under it with boots and all. Something definitive in it. When they make camp again in the following days, he will have decided, mostly, not to shoulder over to Marcus' side of the tent's narrow confines to press him with further biting kisses, or to reassert the mark made on the other man's throat, or to continue fucking around for whatever duration of time cutting through this backcountry is required of them, secure in the knowledge that there is quite literally nothing better to do and no one better to do it with.
(Mostly. Any sailor understands that boredom is an incredible inventor.)
He lays out on his back, shifting until he finds the patch of ground which pokes back at him the least.
yes, that certainly makes sense. It will occur to Marcus tomorrow, in the fourth long waking hour of trying not to move too much to aggravate his injury, listening to rain slice over canvas and not even hungry enough to be occupied with the dilemma of their dwindling rations, that a book would be nice to read.
And when Flint chooses not to press back through boundaries, letting invisible walls brick back up between them, Marcus opts not to breach them either. In part because he would prefer not to suffer rejection, sensing its potential, but also some sense that there's wisdom in not making more of what they started. Eventually, the rain lets up.
Eventually, they will be back in Kirkwall, with a new knot of scarring to recall this particular excursion by.
For now, Marcus silently finishes drying himself, to the best of his ability, paying particular attention to his feet, which will be going back into his boots. Ties his hair into an orderly bundle with only a breath of complaint for the motion it requires. The sound of fabric as he dresses himself, and then lays down.
The flooding in of shadow, with the lantern's extinguishing, is so thick as to be nearly tactile.
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no subject
—(they will not speak of this once they've made their return to Kirkwall; and, what is the implication in this? Nothing, except that occasionally there are certain impulses that are more distracting to ignore than to in some fashion satisfy)—
and he would like, for a few seconds more, to delay all that. So he lets himself give into that space. Straightens his legs. Settles his breathing. With the hand that has avoided the mess their release, Flint rubs his brow with the back of his wrist. Scuffs the palm absently back across close shorn scalp, and listens from inside the shadow of his wrist to the slap of rain on tent canvas and the rasping of clothing coming off and buckles being unbuckled.
Where they remain touching is warm, but the sweat on bare skin cools quickly.
no subject
Never mind that Marcus would not be able to a recall a time when, after one encounter with someone remaining in close proximity to him, he didn't pursue a second.
Anyway, there is one problem to address, and the more direct solution occurs to him immediately.
He is not usually very concerned for getting clean immediately in the wake of making a mess, especially in favour of laying still in a sweaty tangle for however long the other party will stand it, but these are close quarters and he can feel the day entire clinging to him, not just the last few moments. Brief calculations occur before he is moving without a word, unhurried but determined in his rolling aside onto all fours, up onto his feet, barely, and disappearing out of the tent, an ass that is even paler than the rest of him vanishing out into wild rain.
He'll be back shortly.
no subject
If he's doomed to chafe, then it can be blamed on the dirt and sweat as much as anything else. In the meantime, he folds his coat over into a thing to rest his head and doesn't bother to peel from out of his boots.
"You don't carry a book with you, do you?" he asks when Marcus and his white ass return.
(Appreciate that he didn't just go rummaging around to answer his own question.)
no subject
Rakes wet hair from his face, which sends a slightly inconsiderate spattering of water following the flick of it. Reaches for torn, soiled shirt.
Glances to Flint. "A book?" he asked, like Flint may as well have asked him if he'd packed some fine silverware. Folding over his shirt, looking for a patch that isn't bloodied. At least one side of it, and one sleeve. This, Marcus uses to remove the layer of wet from his body.
Fortunately, there's an extra shirt in there somewhere. He asks, "No, why?"
no subject
It's not the first time since being cut off that he's wished his things had been on the wrong side of the rock slide with them, but it is maybe the most acute—the thought for the little volume of essays he'd been halfway through more pressing, mostly, than any glancing observation of Marcus' naked body as he wicks wet rain from it.
Stripping back at the top layer of the folded canvas, Flint moves to shift in under it with boots and all. Something definitive in it. When they make camp again in the following days, he will have decided, mostly, not to shoulder over to Marcus' side of the tent's narrow confines to press him with further biting kisses, or to reassert the mark made on the other man's throat, or to continue fucking around for whatever duration of time cutting through this backcountry is required of them, secure in the knowledge that there is quite literally nothing better to do and no one better to do it with.
(Mostly. Any sailor understands that boredom is an incredible inventor.)
He lays out on his back, shifting until he finds the patch of ground which pokes back at him the least.
"See to the lantern before you sleep."
no subject
yes, that certainly makes sense. It will occur to Marcus tomorrow, in the fourth long waking hour of trying not to move too much to aggravate his injury, listening to rain slice over canvas and not even hungry enough to be occupied with the dilemma of their dwindling rations, that a book would be nice to read.
And when Flint chooses not to press back through boundaries, letting invisible walls brick back up between them, Marcus opts not to breach them either. In part because he would prefer not to suffer rejection, sensing its potential, but also some sense that there's wisdom in not making more of what they started. Eventually, the rain lets up.
Eventually, they will be back in Kirkwall, with a new knot of scarring to recall this particular excursion by.
For now, Marcus silently finishes drying himself, to the best of his ability, paying particular attention to his feet, which will be going back into his boots. Ties his hair into an orderly bundle with only a breath of complaint for the motion it requires. The sound of fabric as he dresses himself, and then lays down.
The flooding in of shadow, with the lantern's extinguishing, is so thick as to be nearly tactile.