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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 11:53 am
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Five days later, Finn staggered out of the woods, minus both shoes and wearing a work uniform that would never again be suitable for service. His recollections of the past few days were foggy. Fuzzy. He'd been to the Otherworld - that much he knew. He'd been... a rabbit or something. That much was also clear. And Jamie had been there.
Where was Jamie now?
Finn would worry about that when he had shoes and a jacket that wasn't torn six ways to sunday.
Or he'd send a text.
He found his way back to the parking lot, and found his keys still, thankfully, clipped to his belt, and drove home through the quiet, just-past dawn streets of Ashdown. It was almost like he'd worked a night shift and was heading home.
If not for the mud caked on his bare feet or the leaves and twigs in his hair.
He let himself into Aleksy's house, wiped his feet gingerly on the mat, and stepped into the living room. Aleksy was asleep on the house - a sight for sore eyes.
Finn crossed the room and shook him gingerly awake.
"Hey."
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 12:02 pm
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Aleksy had been driven to distraction. No one had seen Finn. No one had heard from Finn. His car was parked at the ranger station and he'd taken a radio with him. They'd found the radio, signs of a disturbance, and no Finn. Honestly, at this point he was expecting to get a call from Jeremiah, I'm sorry to tell you--
He'd been up for twenty-six hours before passing out on the couch. When he woke up, it was to Finn. Dirty, rank, blessedly alive Finn.
For a moment, it occurred to Aleksy to say something sweet. Maybe throw his arms around Finn and cry. Except then that thought was gone and Aleksy pushed Finn's hand away. "You smell terrible," said Aleksy, "Where have you been? You need a bath." He pulled a twig out of Finn's hair and held it up for both of them to consider. There were pine needles still stuck to it.
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 12:44 pm
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"Yes," said Aleksy. "I am putting that uniform in the trash." He rubbed his hands over his face. Eugh, mistake. This was what soap was for.
He was relieved, but trying not to show it. Being vulnerable was not a state he liked to be in, especially not when it was so, well, emotional. Finn was, whether Aleksy wanted him to be or not, important. The idea that he might not have ever seen him again, might have lost him to the otherworld, was utterly terrifying. It must have been worse for Finn. Whatever had happened, Aleksy knew his boyfriend was a creature of duty. If he'd been able to come home, he would have.
"We are rinsing the dirt off you first," said Aleksy. "All that mud. Then a bath. Then you nap while I call Jeremiah and tell him you are safe, alive, and certainly not in a shallow grave at the bottom of a ravine." As he talked, he was pulling out his soap, shampoo, conditioner, and one of the aforementioned special-occasion bath bombs. He considered a gray one, then a pink one, then a white one with flowers in it, and eventually decided on the pink. "Which is where I thought you were. I am sorry for snapping."
(He sounded relieved.)
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 3:53 pm
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Aleksy was puzzled by this. It looked like he was about to ask something like--why?--but he swallowed it down. "Okay," he said. He thought about it, and then took off his gloves. Scrubbed his hands through Finn's hair, ignored the leaves and the dirt and the water soaking his sleeves. He kept his powers tucked back and away.
"I will stay," he said. "And we will deal with becoming a rabbit or hare when the bridge is here to burn."
When the water was running clean, or cleaner, and Finn's hair was wet and shiny from the conditioner, he chivvied Finn out of the shower. Just for a minute, to get the tub clean enough for a rose-scented bath.
Aleksy sat on the edge of the tub, scooped up a handful of bubbles, and smudged them in Finn's hair.
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 4:03 pm
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"Okay," replied Finn, exhaustion taking over as he sank into the water. He wasn't sure he trusted Aleksy to do as he said he would - the initial rejection still stung, and Finn was hardly confident at the best of times. He leaned forward, hugging his knees to his chest, and considered just disappearing underneath the water's service, never to reappear.
Except, like, Aleksy's hands were in his hair, and that was nice.
Finn leaned towards Aleksy. "I smell okay now, right?" he asked. "I can stay? Because I have been through an ordeal."
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