Chapter 295 - 293: Not What It Looks Like.

Chapter 295: Chapter 293: Not What It Looks Like.

​"It was good," Khobi agrees warmly, chin on the edge of the bath and his arms hanging over the edge, dripping.

The floor’s an absolute mess, but Binny doesn’t seem too bothered. "You should come next time." The offhand remark makes Binny smile, but this one is gentle, and oddly touched.

​"...Sure thing," he replies, just as warmly and just easily. They both know that that’s not the sort of thing the two of them are allowed to decide, but it’s a nice sentiment, all the same.

​Khobi’s not sure exactly how long he soaks for; letting the water wash away the hangover from his limbs and the sweat and shame from his skin, but by the time he emerges the water’s lost most of its heat and his skin’s started to prune.

He feels so much better though, and by the time he’s all bundled up in his warmest, comfiest clothes; fresh and clean and dozy from the time spent in the bath, he’s actually starting to feel human again.

​The headache is finally gone too, thank fuck.

​"...Thanks for the bread by the way," Khobi makes sure to add, towelling off his hair as Binny pads across the wet floor barefoot to start letting out the dirty water, "Probably saved my life."

​" –Always happy to be of service," Binny trills back, and when he flashes Khobi a toothy grin they both snort.

​It’s not even that late, but Khobi suddenly can’t wait to be back in bed.

It always looks so comfy when it’s freshly made, and with the warmth of the bath set deep into his bones and the high of the night starting to fade he suddenly feels absolutely shattered .

​Yawning and bleary-eyed, he nudges open the bathroom door, and immediately notices two things.

​The first is that Loac’s back.

​The second , is that he’s shirtless – again – stretched out on the bed with his arms tucked up behind his head; his blue eyes lazy and glimmering and the marks Khobi made on him shamelessly on display. In the dim evening candlelight his dark skin looks otherworldly; stained red.

​Khobi’s breath catches in his throat then stutters to an absolute halt.

​Because shit , who said it was okay for Loac to look like that? Laid out as he is the flickering shadows sink into each and every dip and valley of his body, and catch on each and every curve.

It’s a treacherous maze, and one that Khobi is suddenly completely, hopelessly lost in. Gaze roving, roaming , he tracks the dark marks down the thick line of his throat and then further; skimming over the bare, sculpted planes of his chest, and then lower still, where the subtle shift of his hips against the sheets makes his mouth run dry .

​A flicker of movement catches Khobi’s eye; calling him away from the deep, tempting recesses of Loac’s abdomen, and he raises his gaze just in time to see the slow, almost contemplative way the tip of Loac’s tongue traces his lower lip.

​It’s fucking indecent .

​Khobi manages to resist the urge to adjust his pants. Just barely.

​(Sometimes Binny wishes his eyes weren’t quite so sharp.)

​"Oh don’t tell me, " he deadpans, gaze swinging from one to the other and then back again to settle Khobi with a dry, incredulous look, " No one , huh?"

​Khobi instantly feels his face colour.

​"It’s...not what it looks like?" he offers, dragging his hands down his face with a resigned groan. Binny most decidedly does not look like he believes him.

​"Oh, so you do know what it looks like," he remarks reproachfully as Loac rolls up and pushes off the bed in one fluid motion, snickering.

​" –You done with the bath?" he inquires casually, yawning wide and with his whole body as he pads over towards them. The flex of his arms is particularly distracting. As is how dangerously low his pants are riding on his hips.

​" Obviously ," Khobi huffs back, eyes rolling as a convenient excuse to look away. But his skin still prickles as Loac hums and sends him a slow, sweeping look.

​"...Damn."

Khobi’s honestly going to strangle him in his sleep, and the moment he passes them by Binny’s deadpanned expression takes a hard right turn into plain judgmental .

Because as he saunters towards the bathroom the two of them get a full view of his broad back and there across the expanse of dusky skin, amongst the thin, knotted scars, are a mess of thin lines; red and closing over, but undeniably there.

​They look suspiciously like nail marks.

​Khobi swallows, thickly; fingers unconsciously curling in on themselves.

​Did he...?

​The memory comes back to him in a rush –the memory of Loac between his thighs, grinding him senseless –and himself wrecked beyond measure and spinning wildly out of control, sinking his nails into the raw expanse of his back and dragging, and dragging like he’s being swallowed up by the void and Loac’s body is the last remaining tether holding him back from oblivion.

​Ah, shit .

​Today just keeps getting better and better.

​In the doorway Loac pauses, as if sensing their eyes on him.

One hand on the door frame, he flings a look over his shoulder, eyebrow raised as he glances down at the lines scored into his back as if to say well, would you look at that ? And then with a smirk playing on his lips, he lets the bathroom door swing shut behind him.

​Silence descends.

​It feels like it stretches on forever.

​After an age, Binny obligingly reaches up and politely closes Khobi’s jaw for him. He hadn’t realised he’d been gawking.

​"... Not what it looks like , you say," Binny remarks matter-of-factly, like he too, can’t quite believe what they’ve just seen.

And then in a serious display of restraint, he very obviously bites the inside of his cheek.

​For not the first time that day, Khobi gives up.

​"Go on, then" he heaves, flinging his hands up in surrender and giving Binny a heavy look when he pretends to have no idea what he’s talking about, " Laugh. " Coz he very, very clearly wants to.

​"... Thank you ," Binny squeaks out on a whisper, then breaks . The laughter doesn’t bubble up, it forces its way out and Khobi just stands there grimacing at him as he cackles away, positively howling at Khobi’s expense.

Even with the door between them, there’s absolutely no way that Loac doesn’t hear.

​" Khobi ," he gasps, tears beading in the corner of his eyes as he clutching at his stomach with one hand and steadies himself on Khobi’s frame with the other, "Y-You...you seriously –" Khobi’s sure whatever he’s trying to say is entirely at his expense but he’s laughing so hard he can’t quite get it all the way out.

​"It’s not..." Khobi grumbles, folding his arms across his chest in a pout even as Binny howls even louder. "...Fine, fine , get it out of your system..."