victory_road | [closed] March Catch All

"Hmm...depends." Claude grins at him. "Does that make you more or less inclined to let me shower with you? My answer might change based on yours."

"Tch. You're incorrigible."

Felix pushes open the door when they get there and hangs the towel on the nearest rack, before starting to somewhat clumsily strip regardless of Claude's presence in the room.

"Do as you please. But I don't need help."

He narrows his eyes at Claude to emphasize the point.

"Did I say anything about helping at all?" Claude says innocently, even as he casually begins to undress himself. Felix can make of that whatever he likes. "I think we can all agree that I usually only pull this teasing attitude when I'm being the opposite of helpful. So that's fine, isn't it?"

Felix finishes undressing and then pauses in the middle of pulling his ponytail out in an attempt to parse that. Soon, he gives up and scowls as he finishes his task and drops the hair tie on top of the haphazard pile of his clothes on the floor. "You're trying to confuse me on purpose. You tease me all the time."

He makes his way slowly over to the shower and leans his head against the nice, cool tiles. He turns the water on and then sort of stares at the faucet, trying to remember which way to turn the...the bath handles, or whatever they're called, to adjust the temperature the way he wants. He doesn't remember before he just sort of zones out there.

Edited 2021-04-06 09:34 (UTC)

"Which means I'm definitely not giving you special treatment because you're sick," Claude replies cheerfully, even as he shucks out of the rest of his clothing. It occurs to him that, actually, this is the first time he and Felix have ever seen each other naked...even if it's in a very un-sexual context. It's hard to get too worked up over the physical attractiveness of his boyfriend when said boyfriend is sick as a dog and petulant as a child. There's not much room for Claude to feel anything but fondness, and a pressing desire to look after Felix whether he wants it or not. (Of course, since Claude is smart and Felix is not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer while he's sick, it's very easy to navigate around his prickliness.)

This isn't to say that Claude doesn't admire Felix some, in an offhand way, but it's honestly quite low on his list of current priorities. He can hardly avoid the sight, under the circumstances, so he might as well take some notes in passing.

When Felix zones out, Claude quietly moves up behind him to slip an arm around his waist, pressing a light kiss to his bare shoulder. Then he reaches past him to turn the handles, fiddling with the temperature. He goes for slightly cooler than he himself would like, and then upon reflection turns it a little cooler than that. Felix might have a fever right now; he doesn't want him to overheat. "How does that feel?" he asks, all but inviting Felix to reach out and test the temperature. It's obvious his boyfriend needs some direction to kick his brain back into gear.

"Mm? Thought you said you weren't being helpful," Felix grumbles, although he doesn't push Claude away or protest beyond that. Instead, he puts a hand out to test the temperature as expected. "S'fine."

He steps into the shower and just stands there for a moment under the water, one hand braced against the tiles to help him keep his balance. He glances over at Claude and seems to be processing something.

"You're naked," he points out helpfully.

"I might be incidentally helping," Claude says mildly. "But then I'm planning on showering with you, so I'm also helping myself here, right?"

He grins at Felix's statement. "And yes, generally I don't wear my clothes in the shower. You're naked, too, you know."

Felix's brow furrows. "I...suppose."

He rolls his eyes, which as it turns out isn't an advisable thing to do when your balance is off; he almost stumbles, but turns it into an excuse to just lean entirely against the tiles instead. "Obviously I know. I've seen myself naked before. But you're..." He waves a vague hand in Claude's direction. "Pretty."

Claude laughs quietly as he slips into the shower with Felix, leaning in to press a kiss to Felix's temple. "I'm flattered," he says with a smile. "And too bad you're not in better shape to properly appreciate it, huh?"

He lazily slides an arm around Felix's waist. It feels like a loose embrace, purely affectionate...but if Felix loses his balance as he's been threatening to, he'll get to see just how quickly that embrace turns into a steadying grip to hold him up. Claude's confident in his strength, after all; he's no Dimitri, but an archer's arms are no joke. And Felix is actually a tiny bit shorter than Claude; it won't be trying to hold up someone like Sylvain or Dimitri or Grant. If there's anyone Claude can hold up if he needs to, it's the man currently in his arms.

This does mean, of course, that he's naked and pressed right up against Felix's body in the shower. Of course, under the circumstances, the only thing particularly sexy about it is the concept(and visuals). Felix is too sick to be thinking too much of such things, and Claude is wholly focused on taking care of his boyfriend.

"My shape is fine," Felix grumbles, even as he looks up from somewhere in the middle distance to Claude's face. "And just because my head feels like it's filled with rocks, doesn't mean I don't appreciate how...how Claude you are."

He sways in place just a little in Claude's loose grip and then seems to decide that his boyfriend is much better to lean against than the tile wall, slumping forward to rest his head on Claude's shoulder, his wet hair falling down over the sides of his face like a curtain.

"Is my name code for 'unbearably attractive' now?" Claude teases, grinning. But then Felix is leaning into him, and...honestly, it's sweet. Claude's arms encircle him, holding him up. He thinks he can give it a minute or two like this, before he should probably help Felix wash his hair and finish up the shower so he can usher the man back into bed.

"Pff. No." At first it seems like he's just going to leave it there, but then he continues in a low mumble, "It's more than only that. Like...when your eyes do that...that thing, the warm sparkly thing, and then you talk to me and make me feel like I'm the only one there, like you...see me and I'm important. ...s'nice."

Now, whose heart wouldn't melt at that? Claude thinks even Jaskier would be affected, albeit against his will. And Claude, who already loves Felix...well, he'd melt if he wasn't holding the other man up.

"Of course I see you," he murmurs. "And of course you're important. One of the most important people in the world to me, in fact. I hope you know that's real, and not just an impression I'm giving you." He lifts a hand to card fingers through Felix's hair, letting the water work through the strands better. "So it's not just my looks that make me pretty to you, huh?"

He eyes a nearby bottle of shampoo - small, of course, since this is essentially a hotel - then snags it one-handed. He thinks he can support Felix with his arms - especially since Felix is leaning heavily into him, held up by Claude's own body as well - even if his hands are busy opening the shampoo and working it into his lover's hair.

Of course, Claude says, as if it's obvious.

"Why? I didn't...do anything. I still don't do anything. You do...everything. I want to but. You're so...Claude, and words are hard."

Felix isn't sure any of that made sense.

He shakes his head just a little as Claude starts lathering his hair with shampoo. Oh, that feels nice. Way better than if he'd done it himself. Can't tell Claude that, though. It'd prove him right.

"'Pretty' is...I used the wrong word. I think." He did mean 'pretty' at first, but somehow he's moved on to something else. "You're good. Not for any useless reasons but just because you are. I remember...the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. We won, but you lost the fewest people. That's good. I'd follow you."

"You do plenty," Claude murmurs. "I might not ask for help and advice from you the way you do from me, but that doesn't mean you don't do anything for me. Loving and accepting me...it doesn't seem like much, but it's something I didn't get at home from almost anyone, sunshine. That's rare and valuable to me - more than anything."

He kisses Felix's temple. "And, well, let's face it...the people and problems that weigh on me the most aren't here, so I don't need to ask for help with them. And I've been through so much less than you or Sylvain or Dimitri, or even Grant. So much less loss and tragedy. I've had my hardships, sure, and I didn't necessarily come out unscathed, but I'm a lot less scathed than any of you. It doesn't mean you don't have anything to offer me; it just means there's not a lot of things I need help with here. And help isn't what it's all about, is it? You guys don't love me just because I help you out, do you?"

He hates the thread of genuine uncertainty that creeps through him as he voices that question. It should merely be an illustrative question he already knows the answer to, but...

At the mention of the battle at Gronder, Claude laughs softly, almost sadly. "The Alliance really shouldn't have lost anyone. And who we did lose was more or less on my head, for fighting so hard to try to get through to Dimitri when he was in no state to be reasoned with. I'm surprised you're counting that as a success."

"That's..." Felix makes a low, frustrated noise and wraps his arms around Claude. "Those...bastards. The ones who made you feel like you were...bad and weak. I'll crush them all. I could be, I could be your shield, too."

At Claude's question, Felix lifts his head abruptly, eyes slightly wide and brow deeply furrowed. The sudden movement has him swaying in place, but Claude's support keeps him on his feet as he vaguely glares. "What? No. Did I - I didn't say that. Did I?" He scrambles to remember the exact words he's said during this conversation, but they're slipping out of his head.

"You help because you care. And that's the - the caring part. That's the good part. And you care about everyone. The whole world. You're - you have a. A vision. You're going to make the world better. You work so hard. You're so...so smart, and you do things for. For the right reasons. For actual real people, and the future, and you don't ever give up."

He feels like he's probably babbling by now, but Claude's not allowed to forget why they love him. Felix won't allow it.

He lays his head back down, tucking his face into Claude's neck, entirely forgetting about the shampoo and the whole reason he was trying to take a shower in the first place.

"Success. It was. You protect people, Claude, you save lives. That's what battle is really for. You saved your people in Derdriu, right? I heard...Sylvain told me. You sent them away on boats to protect them. That's what all your schemes are for. I want...to fight for you."

Claude laughs softly. "I think you already are my shield," he murmurs. "You just haven't had much to protect me from yet. But you would if you did, wouldn't you?"

Gods help him, Felix is being so sweet and cute right now...Claude really can't take it. It's almost as bad as Dimitri at his most earnest. He busies himself with working his fingers through Felix's hair, helping the water rinse the shampoo out of it. "I don't know how anyone could possibly earn all the nice things you're saying about me, sunshine. Your opinion of me is seriously that high? You're going to make me blush."

The thing is, if Felix looks, Claude actually already is a little flushed. It's not the water, either.

"Hmph. Obviously I would. I'll keep getting stronger. And protect you."

Felix doesn't feel very strong right now, but once he's finished feeling like a horse trampled on his head, anyone who even thinks about hurting Claude is going down.

"I don't say things I don't mean." He frowns and lifts his head to look at Claude, as the other man's fingers gently chase out the last of the shampoo. "You don't believe me? ...your face is red." He pulls one arm back from clinging to Claude so he can lift his hand and run his fingers over his boyfriend's cheek.

Claude chuckles, averting his eyes slightly from Felix. He really is embarrassed, even if he's more subtle in the signs of it than, say, Felix himself. "Anyone would be red if you were saying the things you're saying about me about them."

"Mm. Maybe. You're Claude, though." Once again, he says it like this explains everything, with a pleased little smile. "But all the things I said are true, so you'll just have to deal with it."

He returns his arm to the task of clinging and lays his head down on Claude's shoulder. "Is my hair clean yet? I think...I should lie down."

[closed] March Catch All

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