Rin gave him a quick smile, then headed into the bathroom, closing the door behind themself. He did use the toilet before getting dressed, washing his hands and then pausing. "Arquis, are you decent? Can I come out?" they asked. They did not want to just assume, and barge into the bedroom. If Arquis was changing, Rin would wait. It was no big deal.
Arquis was very much not decent. He was shirtless when they asked, and he hurriedly tugged his top on over his head. He scooped the water bottles, which were still very warm, into the pockets of his pants, then slipped a new glove on over his good hand. The other hand would get irritated if he tried to cover it up; the bandages would have to suffice.
“I am now,” he called back.
The room was chillier than the lobby had been because it didn’t have a fireplace. Arquis shivered as he sat on the bed. The hot water bottles helped, but he was still eager to be under the covers.
(is there one bed or two?)
Rin came out of the bathroom, dressed in his pajamas. Their pajamas were just a simple pair of pants and a long sleeve shirt, and they set their dirty clothes into their bag. "Hey." They greeted, stretching slightly. "Tired?" They were tired, but not quite sure if Arquis was ready to go to sleep or not.
(I imagined one since a lot of hotels have one I think? would you prefer two though cause we could do that)
“Exhausted,” he replied with a short laugh. He went on walks nearly every day when given the chance, but his body was in no condition to have walked around three hours in the freezing cold. Every part of him felt sore. That was nothing a good rest couldn’t fix, however.
“What about you? I know you do this quite often. If you are not quite tired out yet, then I am sure I could arrange something. They usually have room service at these types of places—I could probably order some coffee.”
(nah one is fine!)
They laughed a little, sitting down on the bed. "No, I'm used to walking in the day after sleeping at night, I'm pretty tired too. Do we want to just…sleep?" He asked, raising their eyebrows a little bit as he looked over at Arquis. "Because that sounds good to me. Then when we wake up, we can figure out our next move." He yawned faintly, covering their mouth with a hand.
Arquis stared at Rin, suddenly realizing that there was only one bed. He made a strange sound in his throat and stood awkwardly. A flush crept up his neck as he hurried to the lights, turned them off, and then went to light the gas lamp on the desk near the bed.
“Ah, I… where should I…?” He pointed a thumb at the chair in the corner. “Over there, then? Would that be good? Or the floor, or…?”
A thought hit him, and he stopped stammering. “Why did you pause? What else would we do besides sleep? Is there something that you have to do first?”
Rin laughed a little bit at all the questions, shaking their head tiredly. "No, no, it's not…there is not anything else that I would need to do." they replied. "And, we can share the bed, if you're alright with that? If you are not, then I will take a blanket and pillow and sleep on the floor."
“Oh. I would be alright with sharing,” Arquis responded, voice as light and soft as a feather. He approached the bed, looking quite nervous, and pushed back the thick comforter. With a shaky sigh—his joints were stiff and achy, and it hurt quite a bit to move—he lowered himself down. The mattress wasn’t the best quality, but it felt heavenly on his poor legs.
He didn’t know how he should act. Should he get closer to him, or would they prefer to keep their distance? Should he just go straight to sleep, or would that seem rude? What if they didn’t want to be touched? What if they did? His frame was rigid with anxiety.
Rin hummed very faintly, getting under the blankets themself and pausing for a moment, trying to figure out what to do here. Was the best thing to do to turn their back to Arquis? Or come closer? What was the best thing to do? They sighed quietly, closing their eyes and curling up on their side.
Arquis turned off the lamp and let his head settle onto the pillow. It smelled of vanilla soap with a faint hint of something earthy. He breathed the aroma in slowly, gathering his courage, and slowly shifted closer.
“This alright?” he murmured, his voice sleepy. He was prepared to back away if he desired, but part of him really wished they’d move into his arms.
"Mm, this is fine." Rin said in a soft voice, shifting deeper into the blankets and letting out another soft, slow, quiet breath. "Thank you, Arquis."
(after this do you want to skip to daytime? I can send the first message again if you’d like, or if you had something else planned for the night then that’d be cool, too)
“Goodnight,” he whispered. Someday in the future, assuming all went well, he hoped that he’d be able to kiss them goodnight, but at that moment he was just glad to have them near. The whole journey would’ve been unbearable if he’d been alone.
Sleep caught up to him quickly, and he sank into a rather pleasant, abstract dream. He couldn’t discern much in it, but it felt as if he was floating, and the sky above looked like the prettiest sunset he’d ever seen.
(sure! I can handle the skip, or whatever you'd like. I have no plans for the nighttime, tho I 100% think they should end up accidentally cuddling while sleeping)
Rin fell asleep as well, curled on the bed with the blankets around their body. It did not take them very long to succumb to the warm grasp of sleep, drifting off into its dark, soft clutches.
(since you sent the last part, I’ve got the skip! and I totally agree lol)
[Day Five]
It took Arquis longer than usual to wake up that morning. He blamed it on fatigue from the trip and the illness, but in truth he was just extremely comfortable. He felt incredibly warm and oddly safe. At first, he thought that was because he’d escaped the Palace, but when he opened his eyes he saw that he was tangled up with Rin. One of his arms was wrapped around one of their shoulders, and their legs were entwined.
He rubbed his hand against their shoulder gently. It wasn’t an attempt to wake him up; he did it instinctively. That silly part of his brain wanted to call it quits and go back to sleep, hoping that he’d get more time to cuddle. He quickly checked the clock. It was around seven, which was much earlier than he’d expected. They could have a nice, slow morning together, if that was what Rin wanted.
(Thanks! Perfect lol)
Rin had an arm slung over Arquis's waist, and they were nuzzled close to the nobleman, their face pressed to Arquis's shoulder. They were still sound asleep, their breathing soft and quiet. At the gentle rubbing, they leaned back into the touch very faintly, though they did not otherwise register it.
Arquis let out a blissful sigh and let his eyelids flutter shut. For several minutes, he was in paradise, about as cozy as a person could possibly be. He matched Rin’s breathing and tried to fall back to sleep. When that failed, he carefully attempted to removed himself, accidentally jostling them in the process.
He leant back a little, just enough to meet his eyes if they woke up. Their bodies were still mostly entwined. His ankle was on his calf; his hand was still on their shoulder; he was still washed in the warmth of their body heat.
At the jostling, Rin shifted faintly, eyes blinking open just a tiny bit to peek up at Arquis. Their gaze was soft and hazy, his face relaxed. His hair was sticking up just a little with bedhead, and he looked loathe to move. "Mmph." was the only greeting they gave, making no move to leave the warm embrace of Arquis's arms and body.
“Mmph to you as well,” Arquis whispered, clearly holding back a laugh. His voice was deep and husky from rest. He lifted his hand to push away hair that was threatening to fall into their eyes, then trailed his fingers down to stroke their cheek.
After a bit, he began attempting to detach himself from Rin. The task proved futile. One of his legs was pinned under theirs, and he couldn’t move it without bumping into them further.
“You can go back to sleep,” he promised, still speaking quietly, “but I do need my leg back. Would you be so kind as to set it free?”
Rin leaned into the hand that trailed down his cheek, letting out a quiet hum.. "Why?" they asked in a quiet tone, his own voice low and a little husky. "Do you need to go somewhere?" he rubbed his foot lightly against Rin's calf, their eyes drifting shut again for a moment, before they reopened them to look up at Arquis.
(wait did you mean Arquis’s calf or did I read that sentence wrong lol)
Arquis shuddered. The contact was doing lovely things to his brain. He wanted to stay in bed all day with him. He also wanted to do quite a few other things—many, if not all, of them involving Rin’s mouth—but he knew he couldn’t. They had time to have a nice morning, but they couldn’t stay under the covers for too long. They’d have to start getting ready soon, at the very least.
”I was going to ask about room service,” he breathed. He slowly swiped his tongue over his lower lip and exhaled. “Do you have an appetite for anything?”
(YES i'm just fucking stupid lmao sorry)
Rin's gaze flickered to Arquis's mouth for just a moment, then back up. "I…" they trailed off, debating whether or not to say the words that had popped into their head. "I have an appetite for you." they finally said, a smile flashing across their mouth as they looked over at Arquis.
(haha nah it’s ok it happens sometimes!)
“An appetite for- oh.” Arquis flushed, and he made a nervous sound. “Oh, yes, I see.”
He slid his thumb along the line of their jaw, testing his reaction. A wave of self-consciousness overcame him. He still had his glove on; he wasn’t touching their face. Would they find that strange? Repelling, even? And how was he meant to respond to what he’d said?
“Is there any way that I can, ah, help with that?” he finally replied, cringing internally. That hadn’t sounded smooth at all. He might as well have been a museum guide giving a tour or a receptionist at a shop.
(haha yeah)
Rin leaned into the touch faintly, their eyes flickering shut for just a moment. "Well– I'm sure a kiss would be plenty helpful. But only if that would be something you are comfortable with." they replied, opening their eyes to study Arquis. They did not mind the touch of the glove to their skin, not at all.
“Please, yes.” Arquis swallowed. He’d sounded quite desperate. He really didn’t care. The self-consciousness had vanished, replaced with want.
Unknowingly, he’d moved a little bit further towards him, fully rejoining their tangled embrace. He curled his hand to tilt their chin up so that their lips were inches away. All it would take was for him to make a move. Arquis waited with baited breath.
Rin took a breath, leaning in to press his mouth softly to Arquis's, their lips touching his in a careful, gentle way. They did not want to be too…intense, not when they did not know Arquis's boundaries, and when they knew that Arquis had not had much prior experience.