Carlos pressed his lips together tightly and he nodded a
bit, even though Hancock couldn’t see him as he’d already turned around. He
pressed the wet cloth against Hancock’s shoulder blade and slowly started to
scrub at the marred skin. His other hand was placed on Hancock’s other
shoulder, just so he knew where Carlos’ hands were. Carlos worked carefully but
pressed down the cloth some as he moved the cloth across Hancock’s back. He
tried to focus on his task, wanting to be distracted from his unhappiness and
his headache.
Tag: //nudity
Carlos sat quietly for a few moments, not doing anything
with the soap or the washcloth. He wondered if Hancock would prefer to take a
little break from him. Just… for a day. Carlos thought maybe he could go into
the workshop early and work for the day – there was always something that
needed fixing or tuning up in the town after all. Yeah… he could do that.
He looked at the man in front of him, watching him wash
himself for another moment. Carlos thought he should give him a hand…
Well, he could just ask.
“Hey, uh… do you want me to…” Carlos trailed off. His voice sounded incredibly vulnerable and Carlos didn’t like it. He didn’t
want to talk too much and have a new reason to be upset. Gently he put his hand
on Hancock’s shoulder blade, hoping that the other would get his meaning.
Carlos nodded to him. The water was still kinda warm, but it
wasn’t going to be warm for long so they should probably get cleaned up and out
of it pretty soon anyway. They just spent so much time beforehand ‘dinking
around’…
Carlos reached for a washcloth and a bar of soap. He wet the
cloth and then started to lather the soap onto it.
Carlos resisted the urge to groan in disbelief. He still got
shivers from Hancock’s hand in his hair. At the moment though, he didn’t think
they were ‘good’. He was going to mess up again, he knew it – he just didn’t
know when.
But of course Carlos didn’t say anything about it. Instead
he just nodded and slowly pulled his arms around Hancock, hugging him again. He
didn’t want to discuss it again – he just wanted to finish the bath, go to bed,
and hopefully feel better in the morning.
“I want you to be happy, Han. That’s all I want.”
Carlos just shut his eyes and shook his head as Hancock
spoke. No, no, no – Hancock didn’t need to apologize. He tried to keep his arms
relaxed when Hancock took his hands.
“No, I’m sorry… I didn’t think it through and I didn’t… I
didn’t mean that. I… I know you think more of me.” Though Carlos still couldn’t
fathom why. But still, here they
were. And still, Carlos did mess up.
God… what was he going to do?
Carlos froze immediately. He stared at Hancock, wide-eyed
and uncertain as the dread and guilt from before quickly crawled up his spine
once again. Hancock wasn’t a person who yelled when unhappy, but Carlos still
felt like he’d been snapped at. Shit – and he was doing so well…
Carlos’ hands loosened his hold on Hancock and slowly Carlos
started to pull them away. His shoulders hunched as he tried, unsubtly, to
shrink in on himself.
“Th-that’s not what I…” He cut himself off and gulped,
trying to actually think about what
to say. “I… I’m sorry, Ba… uh, Hancock. I’m sorry. I… I didn’t mean…” He looked
to the side of the tub, unable to try to keep eye contact.
Carlos was starting to doubt himself again. He wasn’t ‘perfect’—how
could Hancock think he was? He clearly didn’t know what to say to Hancock
without making him upset.
Ironic that the guy
who likes me for my brain is an actual zombie. Carlos almost snorted aloud
at his own joke – he thought it was pretty good and, if he were a ghoul too,
maybe Hancock would appreciate it. But he decided against saying it aloud –
more than once Hancock had jokingly referred to himself as ‘King of the Zombies’
but that was something Carlos was going to stay away from. Too bad… it could
have been a good joke.
“Well, it’s good to know that there’s something about me you like,” he hummed, and he gave Hancock’s jaw
a small kiss.
Carlos hummed, his nudging turning into nuzzling. He didn’t
feel completely there at the moment with his head hurting, but he was vaguely aware
that Hancock’s response was in a slightly different tone from previously. He
wondered if he said something wrong, but for the life of him couldn’t think of
what it was at the moment.
“It’d be fun to figure it out,” he told Hancock. “Figuring
out the components and how to distribute the heat… I could totally do it, I
think. We should keep an eye out for home and living books or something that I
can study. Maybe an instruction manual too – that’d be great.”
Carlos snorted softly. “Of course you would,” he teased, nudging Hancock’s cheek with his chin. Honestly, that sounded dangerous to Carlos. It’d be tough to find a hold on something, and then with wet hands trying to work a bottle of oil (because God knows water wouldn’t be enough)… just seemed like a bit of a hassle. “Honestly, I’ve never heard of that. It seems… weird.”
“Hm…. Sounds pretty good. Bigger tub…” Better than two grown
men sitting in one tub together, no matter how much they like being this close.
“If there’s electrical components… maybe it’s how it keeps the water hot? That’ll
be nice too.” He nodded slightly against Hancock’s shoulder. “Next research
project…” he promised sleepily.
The Perfect Scientist 