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He watched Bail undress and neatly fold his clothes with a smile. The man was absolutely gorgeous and the methodical care was... endearing.

"You can." He didn't say of course, because he didn't want to discourage the asking. He stepped over and into Bail, but actually smirked a little at him. What? He'd said Bail could hug him. Him instigating now would be 'cheating' the letter of the request.

But please, please, hug him so he can hug back.

Bail was beginning to understand the shape of Ben's cheekiness. Not pure insolence, but not innocence either. One way to get attention without directly asking. Maybe a coping mechanism to shield him from rejection if that was the outcome...

Either way, Bail was more than willing to initiate the hug he'd asked for. His arm wrapping around Ben, gentle where his hands touched the man's back, but still a firm embrace all around. It was, by far, the most intimate thing they'd yet done. And Bail actually liked that.

"What part of the bed belongs to Elsa? And what part am I allowed to sleep on?"

Once Bail's arms were around him, Ben returned the embrace by wrapping his arms around Bail, leaning in and resting his forehead against Bail's chest with a soft, but deep, sigh.

Deep, contented, sigh.

"Elsa will settle around you, though she usually ends up sleeping on my butt or on my pillow and above my head. You can sleep on whichever side you prefer." The bed only having a headboard against a wall helps that issue. "And you should bring clothes over to leave at some point."

Bail slipped a hand up to the back of Ben's neck to play with his hair.

"I'll remember that- and a toothbrush," he said, "Next time I spend the night."

He looked at the bed, and Elsa.

"I'll take the right side."

"I actually have a stash of new toothbrushes under the bathroom sink. You can help yourself to one of those in the morning."

He was pretty content with the hand in his hair. It had the effect of making him feel relaxed, aware of his body, and in this particular case and after this particular day heavy and tired.

He was reluctant to move but after pressing a kiss to Bail's jaw he moved away to pull down the covers and slide into the left side of the bed, covers held up in invitation.

Bail smiled and followed after Ben, sliding in close. He settled into the bed and from how comfortable it was that he was not long for the waking world. But he propped himself on his side to face Ben, free hand seeking out Ben's.

He did have one more question pop into his head.

"Does our age difference bother you?" It wasn't the same as someone 32 years old dating someone 20 years old, but he still had to ask.

Ben was close to rolling over and pulling that arm over himself to settle for sleep, but the question stopped him.

It also caught him off guard enough that, had he not so clearly heard the concern, he would have snarked off about 'what age difference'. Since he did he just tightened his fingers around Bail's in a gentle squeeze.

"It doesn't. In truth, it didn't even register as something to be bothered by, but I know it would have if I was the older person. So does it bother you?"

Bail was silent as he thought about it.

"Honestly, I don't know how I feel about it yet." He wanted to say 'no' straight up because this budding relationship between him and Ben was new and exciting and he felt things when he was with Ben that he didn't want to let go of.

But he knew that saying no because he wanted the relationship to work was not the right answer.

"So far, it hasn't bothered me."

Everything between them felt so natural and easy, but what if that was just the excitement and physical attraction? Things could change...

"And I don't want it to."

Things could change for a dozen other reasons, too.

"But I don't think it would be fair to give an answer before I think about it more."

He listened to that all, with his eyebrows slowly going up just a little right at the very end.

Because minus the 'hasn't bothered me so far' that was....

It was certainly honest, but troubling. Not because Bail didn't know the answer but. "That sounds like you expect it to be an issue." And like Bail was maybe going to be actively looking for it to be.

Edited 2020-06-13 14:10 (UTC)

Bail can’t say he’s surprised that Ben went to that conclusion. And he could only answer with more honesty.

“Yes, I do.” He’s sorry for breaking the mood, but he never liked shielding reality with rose colored glasses when reality called for frankness.

“I’m sorry, I’m making this a bit too real. But, I know there will be issues, that’s the reality of age gaps. I’m not saying all of them will be serious. And none of them may actually be deal breakers. The way we address them is more important to me than that there are issues. But we won’t know that until we encounter them.”

He stayed silent for several long moments, trying to work through what exactly about this was making him... wary. He realized pretty quickly he was not going to come to be able to completely figure it out tonight..

"I don't think it's too real, I think it's too late." As in, at night, and his tone was wry and even a little amused, though there was some reserve in the humor. He switched which hand he was holding Bail's with, in preparation for rolling over and pulling that arm over him, but held off doing it so the timing wouldn't be suspicious. "But let me know when you find the issues and we'll either work through them or not."

Bail smiled, he could accept that.

"I'm sorry. When I understand it myself, I'll talk to you about it. For now we can go to sleep."

He lifted Bail's hand and kissed the inside of his wrist lightly, to accept the apology that wasn't necessary, tucked Bail's arm back around him and settled in between Bail and Elsa to sleep.