(no subject)

[thewidewideworld]

From here

Sinric's room is small, simple. A slightly narrow bed spread with furs, a long free-standing wardrobe and a padded window seat that overlooks the gardens. But what dominates the room is a large baroque harpsichord.

Sinric ducks his head, tucking some stray books away, hair hiding his face shyly. "I'm sorry, I know it's not much."

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[thewidewideworld]

Sinric rolls onto his side to look at Emcee, his smile soft and deeply content. His fingers move gently against Emcee's inner wrist, drawing soft spiral. "I haven't felt this... right in myself for a long time. Thank you."

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee opens his eyes and turns his head to look at Sinric, his remark drawing a faint line between his brows. In reply, he kisses him, almost chastely, but warm and sincere.

"Why was that so?" he then asks in a near whisper.

[thewidewideworld]

The kiss makes his sigh softly. "I think because I haven't been able to do this. Not with anyone who truly sees me for who I am. So much so, I fear I was beginning to forget myself."

[i_am_your_host]

He ponders this and nods, turning to look back up at the ceiling, as he idly traces over the fine bones in Sinric's hand with his fingertips.

"We are placed on pedestals and showered with compliments in one moment, and then in the next, reviled and kicked while we are down. And so we forget who we are, when we constantly see ourselves through the eyes of others, and not from within. Sometimes it takes someone else to remind you-- of yourself."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric's head resting beside Emcee's shoulder, his eyes half closed. "Just so." His voice is barely a whispers. "The eyes of others make poor mirrors. They bend and distort, show us ourselves in shapes we begin to to bend to for we think it is our true image."

He sniffs and squeezes Emcee's hand gently. "But in me, you see yourself. So in your eyes, I see me."

[i_am_your_host]

He smiles a little crookedly.

"Funny how that works," he says, gently wry, squeezing Sinric's hand in return.

With a sigh, he tips his head toward him, their foreheads almost touching.

"You said that I would have been your brother at your master's court. I think you would have done well at the Kit Kat Klub. The other boys and girls would adore you."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric closes the gap, rubbing his nose softly against Emcee's in an affectionate little gesture. "Tell me what it's like there?"

[i_am_your_host]

He hums a low chuckle, taking a lock of Sinric's hair and sliding it through his fingers as he speaks.

"Well, imagine a place like the bar downstairs. Make it smaller-- cozier, more intimate-- then dim the lights down, all the way down. Add a stage at the far end of the room, with yellow footlights and well-trodden floorboards. Each numbered table has a little lamp on it with a red shade, decorated with fringe, and a telephone, so that if you see someone sitting across the room that you would like to get to know better, you just dial the number that's on their table to instantly chat with them. The waiters and waitresses are all beautiful and-- mm, friendly. They wear as little as possible, only slightly more than the dancers and musicians, who are also just as beautiful. These are my boys and girls.

"And every night I welcome our audience of revelers, everyone from artists to working men to tourists to politicians. And every night we put on a show for them, to make them laugh, to make them happy, to make them forget all their troubles. The singing and dancing and drinking lasts into the wee hours of the morning. And then? The next night, we do it all again."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric closes his eyes, letting the scene unfold for him. He hums warmly. "Yes, I can see how I would fit in there. But what's it like, for you?" Not the red lamps and the prettiness but the truth, unseen by the guests.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee is quiet for a moment. It's a heavy sort of quiet, pensive, anxious, even sad.

He sighs.

"It used to be better."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric opens his eyes, his expression open and compassionate. "I'm sorry." Both that things aren't as they were, but also that he made Emcee think on it.

[i_am_your_host]

"It's all right," he murmurs, touching his temple to Sinric's brow.

"Things can't be helped. The coming war is a fixed point in several histories, it seems. And it starts with the ascension of a new leader. A megalomaniac. A dictator. A year has passed with him in power and already he's made life difficult for those who do not agree with him or fit his standards. His police are closing down 'unsavory' businesses like the Kit Kat Klub; it's only a matter of time before this haven for our kind gets shuttered. And who knows what will happen to me or my boys and girls if we're in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He sighs again. "We didn't have to live in so much fear before."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric listens with wide eyes. He has fear, under Leo's threat as the others must have under his rule. But nothing like that. Nothing so wide spread.

He doesn't offer to help or make any suggestions, because no doubt Emcee has worried on the problem far harder and deeper than Sinric ever could.

Instead he leans in to kiss Emcee softly, lovingly, giving him this moment safe and warm to hold on to.

[i_am_your_host]

The kiss surprises him. But it's a sweet surprise, and very much appreciated in spite of himself.

When he doesn't know which way to turn, and when he stubbornly clings to the notion that he can weather the storm, a kiss like this is as much help as anyone could give at this point.

He cups Sinric's cheek and lingers in the kiss for a while, just letting things be. No worries. No troubles.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric strokes Emcee's cheek, happy to linger as long as they both wish. No future, no past, just the joys of here and now.

He draws back enough to smile into Emcee's eyes.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee catches the light of his smile and it reflects in his eyes.

He chases after his lips for one more kiss, before drawing back as well, though their faces are never farther apart than truly necessary.

Taking Sinric's chin in his fingertips, he sweeps the pad of his thumb back and forth under his charmingly full lower lip.

"What shall we do now?" he murmurs.

[thewidewideworld]

"Would you allow me to wash you?" Sinric asks softly, "When my brothers and I had had a long night, we would wash and massage each other. And I would very much like to do that for you."

[i_am_your_host]

It doesn't take long for him to consider this, and he nods.

"Yes. That sounds lovely."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric smiles and kisses him, before slipping off the bed. "Stay there."

He vanishes into the small bathroom and returns with a silver basin that steams with hot water and the scent of exotic oils.

Sinric sits in the bed at Emcee's side, resting the basin on the beside table and rings out a cloth, stealing another kiss.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee had thought that they would bathe, together, in the bathroom. But at Sinric's insistence, he stays put, wondering what he has in mind.

And then he emerges carrying a basin of fragrant water.

A rather incredulous smile spreads across his face and he shakes his head.

"All right," he chuckles, licking Sinric's kiss off his lips, "I didn't expect this."

[thewidewideworld]

"In the palace, we had access to one of the big communal bath houses but after a long night, none of us would feel much like dealing with other people. We had a large copper hip tub but the time it took to hear the water was more than we could be bothered with."

He rings out the cloth and starts by washing across Emcee's brow, over his temple and down to behind his ears, repeating the path on the other side.

"So we would do this for each other instead."

[i_am_your_host]

He lays still under the touch of the warm, damp cloth, a little unused to such attention, but he likes it all the same.

"Quite a practical idea. And one where you can indulge in each other as well. I feel spoiled already."

[thewidewideworld]

The water is just the bearable side of hot and the oil is sweet and spices.

"We were all slaves, all of use sold young. We were all the family any of us had. How could we but love each other." He refreshes the cloth and gently closes Emcee's eyes with his fingertips before sliding the cloth over his eyes.

[i_am_your_host]

"You were fortunate to have one another," he murmurs as he lets his eyelids fall closed. When Sinric draws the cloth away, it's stained with black makeup.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric's use to make up of a sort and wipes it away carefully, making sure not to leave streaks on Emcee's face. "We were. There were arguments from time to time, like all brothers I'm told but never more than squabbles."

He rinses the cloth and moves over Emcee's cheeks and jaw, smooth and gentle.