The room was nice. Much nicer than Lucius was expecting. The carpet was a colorful splash of pinks, reds, and grays to make up for the clean sleek white and black aesthetic. The painting stretching the length of the wall behind the beds was much the same, a myriad of flowers in the aforementioned colors reaching across it. The room was clean and large and had two beds, though Lucius didn't really think that was necessary. They could've downgraded to a single for cheaper, but he supposed money wasn't really an issue for Gior much like it wasn't for Corbin.

They were only on the sixth floor so there wasn't much of a view, but the windows were wide and tall anyway. Corbin had drawn the curtains back and was staring out at the streets below. Lucius, having leaned their luggage against the wall by the door, came up behind him.

He touched him, cautiously, on the hip and leaned his chin onto his shoulder. For what felt like a long time, Corbin said nothing.

Then, he whispered, "it's not much."

"You haven't seen it all yet," Lucius said. "You'll like it."

"Why are you so touchy with me?"

Lucius barely held back his flinch, startled. Ian had brought that up hours ago. Toward the beginning of the roadtrip. He'd thought they were well past it.

"I like touching you," he said. A crazy thing to say, he realized quickly. It could be taken so many wrong ways. It could so easily give Corbin the wrong idea, and then he would leave— "You're my best friend. I've known you forever. Why wouldn't I be?"

That was slightly better, wasn't it? A normal answer for a normal situation. Nothing to run from.

"You've been kissed before," Corbin said. Lucius noticed the way he didn't mention who he'd kissed exactly. Confrontational and avoidant all at once, but he was often a walking contradiction. Lucius had always liked that about him.

"Did you want me to say that?" he asked.

"You're the one who claimed it was normal," Corbin said. Lucius brushed his hair to the side to hang over one shoulder, tilting his own head so he could better see his profile that way. It didn't tell him much. "Are you ashamed of it now?"

"Are you?"

Corbin sighed, loudly. "Don't answer questions with questions, jackass."

"No," Lucius said, because he wasn't. He cared about Corbin more than he cared about most things. He'd never been afraid to show that. If anything, he thought, there could be some glee in telling people he'd kissed him before. That he had kissed the unkissable. Of course, he couldn't say that aloud. "It just didn't seem... It's not what she was really asking, you know?"

"What was she asking, then?"

"I don't know. If I've kissed someone I love, I guess? Like that, I mean."

Corbin reached for the hand that was still laid against his hip as if to rip it away. He didn't, though. He only held it there, his hand warm over his own.

"What's 'that', then?" Corbin asked. "Girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

"So you don't think she'd want to know if you kissed a stranger?"

An odd sound Lucius couldn't quite describe left his mouth. "What's with the interrogation? I don't know. I just wasn't sure if you'd mind. Do you want me to tell them I've kissed you? I would."

Corbin laughed and then he did pull his hand away, turning to face him. "Why would I want you to do that?"

"Then why are we talking about this?"

Corbin shrugged, his lips still ever so slightly quirked. Alluringly, so. Someone might kill to kiss those lips, and he had. It was a thought as hot as fire, burning through him. 

"I was just curious," Corbin muttered. "About what you'd say."

"You were thinking about it this whole time?"

"No. I was thinking about it just now, dumbass." Corbin shoved him back, suddenly, and he only stumbled a little. He took a seat on one of the beds, falling back against it. His hair spilled out around him against the covers and Lucius had to lick moisture into his suddenly dry lips. "I'm claiming this bed."

"Why don't we just share?"

"Fuck no. Why would we do that?"

"Why do you get to get the bed next to the window with the cool view?"

"You're jealous I get to look at the street?"

"Still!"

"Idiot," Corbin said. "No. I get this bed, you get the other."

That was disappointing. They'd shared a bed plenty of times before. Lucius didn't understand what was so different about doing it now. So what there was another bed? Just because there's a box of donuts in front of you doesn't mean you have to eat the whole dozen. One would work just as fine. One less bed to have to remake, too.

But speaking of. 

"Are you hungry?" he asked. "Wanna go out to get something to eat?"

Corbin nodded toward the phone on the dresser. "Call something in."

"You don't wanna get some air—"

"No. I'm tired." Corbin shut his eyes. "We'll be out all day tomorrow, anyway."

"How's your back?"

"What?"

"I can massage it for you."

"What is your problem lately?" Corbin asked and his tone stung. Embarrassment crawled up his spine like spiders. "No. I'm fine. Order food or don't."

Lucius hadn't been the only one being strange lately. He refused to think so. Corbin was just so undercover about it. Sneaky, and always operating under an umbrella of deniability. He forced him to say the awkward things and sank back against reciprocity of any kind.

Lucius had kissed him, sure, but Corbin had let him. He was touchy but only because Corbin let him be. He'd been saying weird things, but only because Corbin had asked him to. And because it always started with him, Corbin made sure it ended with him, too.

He ordered food. Pizza, because it was simple enough he was sure they'd both enjoy it. Lucius ended up eating most of it because it seemed Corbin had started to retreat again. There was a haze that'd pass over his eyes when he got like this. Everything Corbin looked at would appear distant. 

He wanted to sit beside him. Lay beside him, maybe, and hold him like he did sometimes. But he didn't want to be scolded again. Didn't want to give Corbin even the slightest opportunity to hurt him with the vulnerability he so willingly gave him.

It was late enough for dinner but not quite late enough for sleep. He put on a random movie and curled up by himself, pulling his knees to his chest. Corbin had set his plate aside, a half eaten slice growing cold on the plastic. He was turned on his side, face hidden again behind his curtain of hair.

"Corby," Lucius said, trying to test whether or not he was still awake.

"What?" he asked, grumpy. 

"Are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

He loved him, but he really was such a prick. 

At some point, Lucius had begun to doze off without realizing, stretching his legs out so he could lay more fully. He was stirred awake only by a dig in his mattress and a weight between his legs. 

He looked down, eyes wide, as Corbin laid his head on his stomach, his body tucked carefully between his thighs where he'd curled up. Like instinct, his hand fell to cradle his head, fingers digging gently into his hair. It was only then that he realized the room was darker and the movie's volume had been turned down. Corbin had shut off the lights then, and was clearly prepared to fall asleep for the night.

"Corby?" Lucius whispered, and he hummed his response. "You okay?"

"My body hurts," Corbin murmured into the fabric of his shirt. "And my head."

"I can—"

"Stop talking. Just..." He trailed off, a hand curling around his thigh. He shifted again and Lucius shifted with him. This time when they settled, the puzzle pieces fit more perfectly together. "Just for tonight. Just... sleep."

"Okay," Lucius said with a nod Corbin couldn't see. "Goodnight."

I love you, Lucius thought but didn't say. Too many words for the moment. Corbin had demanded silence, and it was one of his easier demands. He could give that to him.

The hand on his thigh clenched and then loosened. When Corbin responded, the words were all air.

"Goodnight, Lucius."

The next day was relatively lax, too. Corbin had woken before Lucius and hadn't mentioned the way they'd slept the previous night, so neither did he. The group of them hung out in Gior and Ian's room for the better part of the morning and afternoon, talking and eating and playing a few card games that Elena had brought.

It wasn't until evening, when the sun slowly began to sink, that the fun really began.

Lucius showered, a little nervous to be the star of the show but also excited. It would be the first time any of them had really seen the entire outfit put together. As he ran a towel down his legs, he realized he hadn't shaved. Considered whether or not he should and then settled on probably. 

It wasn't a necessity, but girls did it for this kind of thing. And Gior had refused him stockings of any kind, so they were going to be bare and on display. It probably wouldn't matter much— the place they were going would almost certainly be dim— but it wouldn't hurt just in case. And he wanted his legs to feel good, too. In case someone touched them.

Huh.

"Corby," he said, poking his head out of the bathroom door, towel wrapped around his waist. "Wanna help me shave?"

Corbin looked up from his phone with furrowed brows. "What?"

"Help me shave," he said again, more of a command this time instead of a suggestion. "The few times I've tried, I've always cut myself. I don't wanna be bleeding on the dance floor."

"You can't be serious," Corbin drawled. "It's not hard."

"You shave?"

"No, but it's not rocket science."

"How would you know, then? You're probably not any better than me."

"Shave what, Lucius?"

"My legs. I'm not that hairy anyway, but you're the one who wanted me to show skin—"

"You wanted to show skin, dumbass." Corbin was pinching his nose, clearly agitated. He pulled his hand away and gave him an aggrieved look. "So you're really doing this?"

"Duh. Did you think I would just waste your money?"

"You're such a headache, you know that?" He threw his phone to the side and stood. Lucius's heart skipped a beat as he approached. Corbin pushed the bathroom door fully open and crowded him back toward the shower. "Sit on the edge of the tub."

"Oh fuck," Lucius wheezed. "Really?"

Corbin glared at him. "Really, what?"

"Uh. I don't have shaving stuff. Might need to ask Gior or one of the girls."

"I hate you," Corbin said and then disappeared. He reappeared within the span of just a few minutes and Lucius's eyebrows rose. He waved a razor and a mint green bottle of shaving cream in the air. "You don't shave your face?"

"Oh. My facial hair doesn't grow that fast. Didn't see the point in packing that kind of thing."

Corbin's lips curved the slightest bit. He kneeled down in front of him and Lucius fought not to gape down at him stupidly. They were really doing this. Corbin was really doing this. He was on his knees in front of him in a steaming bathroom about to shave his legs for him. And Lucius was practically naked, covered by nothing more than a flimsy towel. Corbin was so close to him, anyway, and hadn't even mentioned it.

What the fuck.

Corbin grabbed his ankle and Lucius twitched. He hummed. "You weren't kidding. Your body hair is fine, too."

"What the fuck," Lucius said aloud, parroting the thoughts that kept beating against his head like a mantra. He hadn't meant to, really, but it was too late to take it back.

"If you keep being weird about it, I'm gonna leave," Corbin threatened. "Stretch your leg out."

He reached behind him to run some water into the tub, pulling the stopper and letting a shallow pool collect. He twisted the water off when he was satisfied and then got to work.

Lucius watched as he squirted the shaving cream into his hand and then applied a generous layer along the length of one of his legs from knee to ankle. 

"Is your skin sensitive?" Corbin asked, voice quiet.

"Hm?" he hummed, stupidly distracted. "What's that mean?"

"Did you make yourself bleed because you bleed easy, or are you just a blundering dumbass?" he rephrased the question. "Both, maybe?"

"Uh, yeah. Probably both." He laughed, nudging Corbin's thigh with his foot. "You don't have to be extra mean to make up for being nice to me, you know?"

Corbin didn't respond to that. He only brought the razor to his skin, precise but still careful, and began to shave upward. The strokes were small and light. Barely felt. With every stroke or so of the razor, he'd dip it clean in the bath water. He had to lean in closer to him, that way, and Lucius bit his lip. 

He was truly going to lose his mind.

If he thought the beginning was bad, though, it only got worse. Once he'd finished his legs, he moved higher to his thighs. Lucius, idiot he was, completely forgot how sensitive he could be there. Or maybe it'd simply never come up before.

He'd never been touched by another person on the inside of this thighs. Not this intently. Certainly not without clothes as a barrier.

"How high am I going?" Corbin asked.

Lucius swallowed. "However high you want."

"That's not an answer."

"Um..."

His groin was gathering warmth. He could feel it, and with nothing but a towel to shield him, Corbin would be able to see it, too, if it got worse. 

"Lucius."

He released the breath he'd started holding in a singular explosion, opening his eyes to glance down at Corbin. Corbin, kneeling between his legs with a hand on his bare thigh and looking up at him with those pretty dark eyes—

Warmth built higher, a subtle throbbing starting to follow it.

"Fuck, actually," Lucius hissed, knocking Corbin's hand free and holding a hand out for the razor. "I can just finish myself. I think I know where I was going wrong now, watching you. I don't wanna waste your time—"

"You love wasting my time," Corbin said, holding the razor away so he couldn't grab it. "I've gotten this far. I'm almost finished."