Day 34: Men's Showers

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

Artemis Fowl was, yet again, exceedingly displeased to be naked.

As much as Haku insisted that since he had experienced public bathing before, this time would be easier, the feeling was not mutual. Artemis' body was his own personal business, as far as he was concerned, and no one else's. His only comfort was the fact that he was not hideously tattooed anymore with various and sundry insults branding him a moron.

Still, that did not stop him from taking a towel into the shower area once again, Nurse Hedgerow grudgingly allowing it. She could see no other way of getting the boy to bathe. He was as stubborn as ten teenage boys. And after that lecture on psychological torture through means of public humiliation...

The boy let the water run over his head, the towel clutched firmly around his body. And he thought. July. How was it July when it had been fall just a week previous? It was impossible, logically speaking. But what part of this place fit in with any sort of logic Artemis had ever encountered? No, if he didn't let go of the fact that things would be as insane as people claimed he was, he would lose his mind.

His fingers brushed the burn mark Caleb had given him for what seemed the fortieth time. ...He had to get himself together, or this would only be a small taste of what awaited him in the hallways.

[For Omi]

Comments

[the-clown-king.livejournal.com]

"Who...who told you that?!?!" Tamaki asked, though he had his suspicions. He took a deep breath to calm himself, because poor Ed didn't know what he'd just said. That was a very cruel trick!

He looked around and leaned over, to whisper very quietly to his boyfriend.

"I...I suppose it could be romantic," he admitted. "In the right circumstances, but...Ed...." He swallowed hard and his voice dropped another notch, to be safe. "You just...ah...asked me...oh, how do I put this? You just...er...asked me to...go to bed with you."

He ran a hand through his hair, deciding he'd have to have a little talk with someone. Or two someones.

"Yes, Tamaki is Japanese, Rene is French. And... oh, I don't know. I'm terribly used to Tamaki now. Most people don't even know I ever went by anything else."

[lost-metal.livejournal.com]

"The... one of your twins!" he said, sounding confused and hurt and not at all happy like he'd been feeling just a few moments ago. He didn't know what he'd done wrong!

Then Tamaki leaned in and told him what he'd actually said and his face turned bright red, his jaw dropping. He'd... he'd asked for... for sex? He looked at Tamaki in abject mortification. "I didn't... I didn't know! I swear! I...I'm going to kill them!" As soon as he'd killed Envy. They were next on The List. He should probably be more worried that he actually had a List and that in his head it had capital letters.

"I like them both," Ed replied, thinking about the two names. He was probably forever going to think of Tamaki as, well, Tamaki now, but Rene suited him too.

[the-clown-king.livejournal.com]

Tamaki nodded. "Yes, you said 'will you sleep with me tonight'," Tamaki translated. "And I had a feeling it was one of them." He shook his head and closed his eyes. He was both mortified and a little amused. It was...something they would have done before. But did they have to go with...with...sex?

"I don't think they meant any harm," he pointed out, calming down from his initial reaction. "I think in their own way, they were trying to help. They just...have a very terrible way of going about it." Or maybe they thought...well, maybe they thought Ed should ask him that. Who knew?

"I'll speak to them," he assured his boyfriend, offering a smile. "Really, I think they're both too terribly concerned with my romantic life than is healthy. Perhaps they need their own to concern themselves with...." He finished with his hair and turned back to Ed, still smiling.

"But it was a very sweet thought, Ed. French is a romantic language. Ah....Vous êtes le mon soleil et lune, mon ciel étoilé, la lumière dans ma vie," he spoke, fluidly and with the accent of a native. Now that was romantic!

[lost-metal.livejournal.com]

Ed wished that he had his alchemy at full strength right then so that it would be perfectly possible for him to, if not disappear into the floor, then at least blow a large hole in the wall, slip through and close it after himself. Admittedly, if he had his alchemy at full strength then this situation would never have occurred in the first place.

"Help?" he sputtered. "But that's..." It made no sense! And now both of them had been utterly mortified while naked and in the shower together. He sighed heavily, pressing his forehead against the cool tiles for a moment before looking back at Tamaki and nodding, managing to smile again.

He listened as Tamaki spoke, recogniasing it as the same language but still having no idea what it meant. It certainly sounded kind of romantic he thought. "What does that mean?"

[the-clown-king.livejournal.com]

"Well, they do have a terrible way of going about it," Tamaki repeated. "But it's...something they would have done when things were normal. I think maybe they're just trying to...help me get back to normal." Which was a nice thought, even if they'd had to go that route to do it.

And then he flushed, because Ed wanted to know what he'd said.

"Oh, just...complimenting you, that's all," he mumbled, because he didn't want to admit just how sappy he'd been. "I was...being romantic."

[lost-metal.livejournal.com]

Terrible was definitely something of an understatement in Ed's opinion. Sadistic was probably nearer the mark in his opinion. Curelly sadistic. "Well, I suppose if they did it was good intentions," he replied, a little sceptically. Maybe they had been trying to make Tamaki feel better, but he also suspected that a lot more of it boiled down to them wanting to entertain themselves.

That flush was rather suspicious and Ed narrowed his eyes for a moment before Tamaki spoke. A compliment? Oh... He felt a flush starting to creep across his face. "Oh... I... thankyou," he said, awkwardly.

[the-clown-king.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure they didn't mean to be cruel," Tamaki insisted. "And...well, you are my boyfriend. So it isn't...horrible that you said that." It had just taken Tamaki completely by surprise.

"You're welcome," Tamaki said, still flushing pink slightly. "I just...I told you that...how much you mean to me. And how...wonderful you are." Which was essentially true. It was just...quite a bit more flowery, directly.

"And you do...mean so much to me."