Martin Steins' eyes fluttered a bit as a slight shadow passed across the early morning sun. Later on he would say it was one of the testaments to his ability to adapt to his increasingly strange new life, that he quickly recognized it as a freshly showered Oliver Queen, or The Arrow, as the doctor had found out during their first meeting, quietly leaving a note on the bedside table. However, once the military abduction paranoia that still sometimes woke him up at night had been calmed by the recognition, his still very present state of exhaustion had quickly pulled back into the sleep his body craved.
It wasn't until the start of the afternoon that Martin woke up on his own. He mentally ticked another point on his adaptability chart when he immediately registered the warm, heavy seeming blanket splayed across his chest as the Still sleeping Ronnie Raymond, although the scientist still enjoyed the funny reactions he got when he called the younger man by his full name, Ronald.
Doctor Stein startled slightly when, in a seemingly odd contrast to his sleeping state, a muttered complaint about the hated name came from the other man. Waiting to see if Ronnie would wake up, he finally concluded that, apparently, their slight mental connection while separated from each other was more open when one or both of them was sleeping. He also figured the two of them would need to discuss that some time, as he now had a good idea where some of his stranger dreams might be coming from, and Ronnie might be having a similar problem on his end.
Figuring it was a discussion that could wait until both of them were up and awake, Martin instead turned his head towards the bedside table that he still vaguely remembered seeing Oliver Queen leave a note, a quick glance told him his instincts were indeed right, lifting his head slightly further up, he was able to read it. it was a simple note, indicating the fact that the room the two of them were currently in had an en suite bathroom located to the left, and that both he and Ronnie were allowed to make use of it. The few milliseconds it took for his mind to process this information, was apparently also enough time for his body to notice that, yes, it did in fact, rather desperately need to use said facilities.
However, this reaction was quickly followed by the thought that, at this moment, he still had a breathing, slightly heavy, human shaped blanket to get out from under. One that had a rather powerful protective streak that had recently expanded to include Doctor Stein himself. He didn't like the idea of waking a man who still clearly needed more sleep either. The best thing he could try to do was find a way out that got him to the much needed bathroom and still let Ronald sleep. Luckily, thanks to their little partnership, he had gotten used to finding himself in a bed with the younger man, as such, he'd developed a number of escape techniques.
The first attempt, he just tried to wiggle his way out, at no point would he consider it an elegant wiggle, if wiggles could be considered as such, it was also, a failure, the other mans currently unnecessary protective streak, had his arms tightening around the older man before he'd wiggled an inch. His second attempt, which also failed, consisted of him trying to gently lever the younger mans' arm off himself and onto a conveniently placed pillow. The doctor wondered, at times, if Ronnie was aware how similar his arms were to a vice... or an octopus.
A few more attempts later, Martin realized it was no use, he'd have to pull out the big guns, well, aside from actually waking the other man up. Twisting slightly in Ronnies' grip, he manouvered himself until he was facing the younger man, his previous movements had pulled the blankets down slightly, which made his job easier. For a few seconds, his eyes searched for the best possible area on Ronalds' torso. Making his decision... he extended a finger... and poked. Altering his angle slightly, he poked again, when this garnered a twitch he focused and poked again. A third prod had Ronnie finally twisting away from the offending digit. However, even with this, Martin was still only about halfway free.
Focusing again, he chose another point, this one close to the other mans belly button, but slightly off-centre. A few more prods and finally Ronald was flopping off of the doctor and onto his back, quickly taking advantage of the reprieve, he scrambled from the bed and towards the bathroom before the other mans unconsciously protective nature kicked in again.
Taking care of business, he made his way to the sink to wash his hands and check himself in the mirror above it. Under the brightness of the lightbulb above him, the lack of a shower the night before was clearly noticeable. A quick sniff had him concluding he smelt about as good as he looked. Unfortunately, he thought, a shower would not be possible without a change of clothes. just as that thought crossed his mind, a quiet knock from outside the bedroom door beyond the bathroom had him quickly exiting to open the other door.
Opening the door revealed a sheepish looking Barry Allen, the other man was holding out a couple of sets of pajamas and some towels. Waiting for the scientist to take them, he looked over to where Ronnie seemed to be stirring, although he wasn't yet awake. Looking back at the older man, he smiled slightly.
"Oliver thought you guys might like to clean up, these are some spare pajamas, they might be a little tight and short on you both as they belonged to a former partner of his, but they should do until this evening when he can get your clothes clean and dry, probably not until after dinner though."
Martin returned the smile as he took the offered clothing. Noticing the slightly uncomfortable look the younger man had at the mention of The Arrows' former partner, he decided not to ask after them. however Barry seemed to notice that he had an unanswered question, as he quickly responded.
"He's not dead, it's just not really possible for him to be around right now."
The unexpected relief that they wouldn't be wearing a dead man's clothes surprised the older man, but, in his own funny way, Barry seemed to have picked up on the underlying discomfort Martin himself wasn't willing to think about and decided to ease it.
"Thank you Mister Allen."
After exchanging a few more words, Barry left to let Oliver know he'd passed the items to Doctor Stein and, after quickly laying out the clothes for Ronald, Martin headed towards the inviting looking shower. Happily stripping out of his dirty and smelly clothing, he quickly turned the water on... then yelped as he, in his euphoric rush to get to scrubbed off, forgot to wait for the water to heat up.
A little while into his rather enjoyable shower, he shifted his eyes to the bathroom door as the distinctive sounds of one Ronald Raymond stumbling out of the bed reached his ears. There was some grumbling and shuffling sounds as the other man made his way around the room, followed by a slight pause as he took in the note left behind by Oliver and the clothes laid out on the chair. A little more muttering and shuffling occurred, before it stopped out the front of the bathroom door. realizing that the younger man was probably suffering the same problem he had during his wake up, the doctor called out a quick. "It's open." Which was quickly followed by the sound and light of the door opening to let a desperate Ronnie in to relieve himself.
They spent a short moment in a companionable silence, before Martin couldn't resist a slight teasing. "Sleep Well Ronald?" Ronnies' only response was to flush the toilet, garnering the older scientists' second yelp of the day, this time at the sudden rush of hot water. His revenge complete, Ronnie quickly told the older man he'd take his clothes out and pile it up with the ones he'd automatically removed the night before. Tactfully, Martin decided not to mention the almost show one Oliver Queen had nearly received at the time.
After deciding to spend only a few more minutes to get himself clean, he finished his shower, dried himself, and quickly got the borrowed clothes on, they were a little too tight across his stomach, but still quite comfortable, before opening the door. "It's free... just toss, what you're still wearing, out the door and I'll try to find out where to take our clothes for cleaning while you have a shower."
Standing up quickly, the other man nodded, before moving into the bathroom. A second later, a hand holding a pair of boxers was thrust through through the mostly open doorway. Using the currently dirty shirt he was holding... he couldn't really tell who's it was, even though he'd only recently removed his own clothes, he grabbed the item and went out the bedroom door to find either the laundry, or someone to lead him there.