Brian laughed. "God, I wish I had your stamina. No, I just need a hot shower and then -- holy shit, is that the time? I have to get to bed after that. Early shift again tomorrow." A drop landed on his head and he looked up at the ceiling in surprise. "Wow, we really did make a mess, didn't we? Dunno how we're going to get that clean... but it'll have to wait. Shower."
Brian kissed John on the shoulder and gently took his hand off, then started heading upstairs to the bathroom.
"Brian? Would you, uh, like some help in the shower?" John called after him. "I could get you really clean!"
"Tempting, but you'd better not or we'd be there all night. I'll be quick!"
John's eyes followed him as he walked. There were five red welts on either side of Brian's butt. Did I do that, he wondered? He looked down at the black claws on his hands. I must have.
As the bathroom door clicked shut, John felt suddenly alone and insecure. Was Brian running away from him? He looked down at his grey-green body. It was funny, really. He was huge now, tough, as strong as five men -- and yet more vulnerable than ever.
He shook his head. Time for that later. Grabbing some paper towels, he started cleaning up -- first himself, then the floor. Thank goodness the kitchen has tile and not carpet, he thought.
A few minutes later Brian came back in, holding a towel around his waist.
"Shower's all yours." Brian looked down at the cleaning work. "Oh, hey, thanks for starting that."
John smiled up at him. "No problem."
"Listen, I'm going to get to bed now, OK? I'll see you soon."
"OK. Well, goodnight," said John, and turned back to his mopping.
Brian waited a few seconds. "Um, aren't you going to take a shower now?"
"Nah, I thought I'd clean here a while first." He cleared his throat. "Easier while it's wet. Then I've got to make up my bed and things."
"Yeah. Well, see, I figured out what all the noise was last night. You yelling, I mean."
"Heh, yeah," said John. "Sorry. I didn't really understand what was going on."
"Did you know you blush green? It's kind of cute. Anyway, what I mean is that after seeing how much, uh, spooge you make, I figure your bed is probably soaked. In fact, my room is probably the only one in the house that's not at least damp. So if you, uh, if you want somewhere clean to sleep and you don't mind sharing it a bit, there's always mine. But like I said I sort of need to get some sleep, so it would be better if you came to bed sooner rather than later. Which is why I was saying that if you shower now -- hey! Hey, put me down! I need that towel!"
John grinned, let Brian down from the sudden tight hug just long enough for his feet to reach the ground, then swept him up again easily, one arm under Brian's knees and the other running behind his shoulders. He kissed him, then trotted towards the stairs.
Brian hooked one arm around John's broad shoulders and ruffled the hair on his chest with the other. "Very romantic, but I do need a towel."
John laughed as he bounded up the stairs. "You'll be fine. I'm warm and absorbent."
"Soft, strong, and very long?"
"Something like that, yeah."
Giddily, he carried his room-mate -- boyfriend? -- to Brian's bedroom door. It was closed, but after a bit of bumping and fumbling he managed to turn the handle without using his hands and toed it open. Inside it was dark, with only a crack of light creeping in between the curtains, but he found he could see quite clearly. He took two big strides to the bed, laid Brian down onto it face up, then dropped down onto the bed on all fours, straddling him.
"Sleep! We're here to sleep, remember? I have to get up in, like, four hours."
John didn't move. "Right, sleep, no problem. I'm drifting off now."
"Uh-huh. Then what's this warm, hard thing that keeps bumping against my chin?"
"Oh, that? That's a, uh, hot water bottle. You should cuddle it when you go to sleep."
"Yeah, right. I don't know why, but I have this crazy feeling it might develop a leak in the night."
John grinned and kissed Brian once, then rolled onto his side. "Well, it was worth a try. G'night hun."
"Mmm, hun. I like that. G'night, John."
They snuggled up against each other, spooning, John more or less wrapping himself around Brian. Within minutes, Brian was asleep. John stayed awake longer, still hopped up on adrenaline and testosterone, but gradually relaxed and fell asleep too.